Covenant Ship

As revealed by Joseph Staten in the Halo 3 Legendary Edition commentary, originally in Halo 2 there was going to be a level after Cairo Station taking place on a Covenant Ship, which would have served as Miranda Keyes main introduction.

Content
After opening the airlock you would be blasted toward the covenant ship and board it instead of blow it up with the bomb. This level would involve infiltrating the covenant ship, probably an Assault Carrier, taking on its crew and eventually stealing a Wraith and end up destroying the ship by shelling its powercore with the Wraith's mortar. As mentioned by Joseph Staten, Commander Miranda Keyes and her ODSTs would have also been running around aboard the ship in order to help you and may have played a big role in the eventual outcome. This level however was cut due to time constraints and replaced by a cinematic that created "just as much work". Though it would of been a good addition to the already intense and awesome storyline.

Trivia

 * It would have probably revealed a lot of information about the assault carrier and its interior.
 * The "Giant Covenant Space Pickle" was added in order to destroy this ship without needing the level and find a reason for The Chief to open the airlock.