The Pillar of Autumn

Summary
The very first level of Halo: Combat Evolved. As the Master Chief, make your way to the bridge of the titular ship, and then proceed to fight your way through some Covenant enemies to an escape pod.

Usable Weapons

 * Pistol
 * Assault Rifle
 * Plasma Pistol
 * Plasma Rifle
 * Needler
 * Frag Grenade

Drivable Vehicles
No vehicles are available during this mission.

First Cutscene
{fades into space, Halo is there} {slowly turns and zooms in onto the Pillar of Autumn}

Captain Keyes: "Cortana, all I need to know, is did we lose them."

Cortana: "I think we both know the answer to that."

{inside ship, see the captain}

Captain Keyes: {sigh} "We made a blind jump, how did they--"

Cortana:   "Get here first? The Covenant ships have always been faster. As for tracking us all the way from Reach, at light speed, my maneuvering options were limited."

{the captain begins pacing around, looking at screens}

Captain Keyes: "We were running dark, yes?

Cortana: "Until we decellerated. Nobody could have missed the hole we tore in subspace." {pause, the captain looks at a crewman's screen} "They were waiting for us on the far side of the planet."

Captian Keyes: "So, where do we stand?"

Cortana: "Our fighters are mopping up the last of their recon picket now, nothing serious. But, I've isolated approach signatures from X CCS battle groups. And in about 90 seconds they'll be all over us."

Captain Keyes: "Well that's it then. Bring the ship back up to combat alert alpha. I want everyone at their stations."

Cortana: "Everyone, sir?"

Captain Keyes: "Everyone."

{everyone runs to their stations}

Captain Keyes: "And Cortana?"

{Cortana appears}

Cortana: "Hmm?"

Captain Keyes: "Let's give our old friends a warm welcome."

Cortana: "I've already begun."

''{transition through Cortana's face into Marines preparing. Shows several things, until we see Sergeant Johnson walking through a line of soldiers}''

Sargeant Johnson: "You heard the lady! Move like you've got a purpose!"

Sargeant Johnson (Easy): Men...keep your eyes downrange, fingers on your triggers, and we all go home in one piece. {Pause} Am I right Marines?!

Sargeant Johnson (Normal): Once again, it is our job to finish what the flyboys started. We are leaving this ship platoon, and engaging the Covenant on solid ground. When we meet the enemy, we will rip their skulls from their spine, and toss 'em away, laughin'! {Pause} Am I right, Marines?

Sargeant Johnson (Heroic): Men, here is where we show those split-chin squid-head sons of bitches that they could not have picked a worse enemy than the human race. We are going to blow the hell out of those dumb bugs until we don't have anything left to shoot 'em with! And then, we are going to strangle them with their own-living-guts! {Pause} Am I right, Marines?

Sargeant Johnson (Legendary): Men, we led those dumb bugs out to the middle of nowhere to keep 'em from gettin' their filthy claws on Earth. But, we stumbled onto somethin' they're so hot for, that they're scramblin' over each other to get it. Well, I don't care if it's God's own personal anti-son-of-a-bitch machine, or a giant hoola hoop, we're not gonna let 'em have it! What we will let 'em have is a belly full of lead, and a pool of their own blood to drown in! {Pause} Am I right, Marines?

Marines: "Sir, yes sir!"

Sargeant Johnson: "Uh-huh. Damn right I am. Now move it out! Double time!"

''{camera angle changes to outside of where they were. Marines running, the sarge is walking}''

Sargeant Johnson: "All you greenhorns who wanted to see Covenant up close...this is gonna be your lucky day."

{cut to screen}

Crewman 1: "Whoa! Sir..."

Crewman 2: "Right. Let's thaw him out."

{begin pressing buttons}

Crewman 1: "Okay. Cracking the case in thirty seconds." {pause, as they show Master Chief's cryo tube} "He's hot! Blowing the pins in five."

{enter Master Chief}

In Master Chief
(only happens in Easy & Normal)

{tube cover goes up}

Sam (always up top, with radio sound): "Tube shows green. Cycle complete."

Crewman: "Sorry for the quick thaw, Master Chief. Things are a little hectic right now. The disorientation should pass quickly."

Sam: "Welcome back, sir! We'll have you battle ready static."

Crewman: "Chief, please look around the room. I need to get a callibration reading for your battle suit's diagnostics."

{look around}

Crewman: "Good. Thank you sir."

Sam: "I'm bringing your health monitors online, sir."

{health appears}

Crewman: "Vital signs look normal. No freezer burn. Okay sir, go ahead and climb out of the cryo tube."

{Master Chief gets out of tube}

Crewman: "I gave you a double dose of the wake-up stiff. Take a quick walk around the cryo bay and join me at the optical diagnostics station when you're ready."

{crewman walks over, Master Chief stands on red square}

Crewman: "I know the ordinance tecs usually take care of your targeting sensors, but we're short of time, Chief. Just look at each of the flashing panels to target them. When you lock on, it'll change color."

{Chief looks at the flashing lights}

Crewman: "Okay, that looks good..."

Sam: "Sir, I'm getting some callibration errors. I'm going to invert your looking pitch, so you can see if you like it better that way." {pitch is inverted} "Try targeting the flashing lights again. Is that better or should I switch it back?"

{Chief decides}

Sam: "I'm ready for the energy shield test now."

Crewman: "Please follow me to the energy shield test station."

Loudspeaker: "Fire teams: Sensors show inbound Covenant boarding craft. Stand by to repel boarders."

Crewman: "Okay, bring his energy shields online please."

{shields appear}

Sam: "Alright. Shields read as fully charged."

Crewman: "Okay Sir. Bring them down to test the automatic recharge."

{shields get zapped away, recharge}

Sam: "Recharging normal. It's showing green across the board."

Meeting Keyes
Captain Keyes (radio): "Bridge to Cryo 2, this is Captain Keyes. Send the Master Chief to the bridge immediately."

Crewman: "Captain, we'll have to skip the weapons diagnostics and I-"

Captain Keyes (radio): "On the double, crewman."

Crewman: "Aye aye sir. {Pause} The skipper seems jumpy, we'd better get moving. We'll find you weapons later."

Sam: "Okay. I'll leave the self-diagnostics running, at least."

Crewman: "You'd better get to your evac group, Sam!"

Sam: "Affirmative. I just have to reset the computer and I'm outta here!" {banging on the door} "Oh god! They're trying to get through the door! Security! Intruders in Cryo 2! No, please don't- AHHHH!!!"

Crewman: "Sam! Sam! C'mon, we've got to get the hell out of here. This way!"

{he leads Master Chief out, door explodes, kills crewman, Chief finds his way to another room with an Elite, Marines kill it}

Marine 1: "Chief, Cortana says, get to the bridge, double quick!"

Marine 2: "Sir! The Captain needs you on the bridge, ASAP! You better follow me." {as they come apon more Covenant} "Get clear, Chief!" {as they get to the bridge} "Captain Keyes is waiting for us, Sir!"

{Master Chief approaches Keyes}

Master Chief: "Captain Keyes."

Captain Keyes: "Good to see you, Master Chief. Things aren't going well. Cortana did her best, but we never really had a chance."

Cortana: "A dozen Covenant superior battleships against a single Halcyon-class cruiser. Given those odds I'm content with three... make that four kills." {to Master Chief} "Sleep well?"

Master Chief: "No thanks to your driving, yes."

Cortana: "So, you did miss me."

{loud expolsion}

Captain Keyes: "Report!"

Cortana: "It must have been one of their boarding parties! I'd guess an anti-matter charge!"

Crewman: "Ma'am! Fire control for the main cannon is offline!"

Cortana: "Captain, the cannon was my last offensive option!"

Captain Keyes: "Alright, that's enough. I'm initiating Cole Protocol Article 2. We're abandoning the Autumn. That means you too, Cortana."

Cortana: "While you do what, go down with the ship?"

Captain Keyes: "In a manner of speaking. The object we found, I'm going to try and land the Autumn on it."

Cortana: "With all due respect, Sir, this war has enough dead heroes."

Captain Keyes: "I appreciate your concern, Cortana, but it's not up to me. The Protocol is clear. Destruction or capture of a shipboard AI is absolutely unacceptable, and that's means you're leaving the ship. Lock in a selection of landing zones, upload them to my neural lace, and then sort yourself for a hard transfer."

Cortana: "Aye aye, Sir."

Captain Keyes: "Which is where you come in, Chief. Get Cortana off this ship. Keep her away from the enemy. If they capture her, they'll learn everything. Force deployment, weapons research... Earth."

Master Chief: "I understand."

Cortana: "The Autumn will continue evasive maneuvers until you initiate a landing sequence. Not that you'll listen, but I'd suggest letting my subroutines handle the final approach."

Captain Keyes: "Excellent work, Cortana. Thank you. Are you ready?"

Cortana: "...Yank me."

{Keyes pulls a data chip out of the holotank and gives to to MC, MC slides the chip in his helmet}

Captain Keyes: "Good luck, Master Chief."

Walkthrough
Reveille

Needless to say, you should be able to make it to the bridge without difficulty. Just follow the only path forward and try not to get caught in any explosions or crossfire.

AI Constructs and Cyborgs First!

As you leave the bridge, you'll come across your first enemies on Legendary. Three grunts. Only peek in far enough to shoot one at a time. Aim for the head and nail them each in turn. Step back through to door to recharge as necessary.

The next encounter in the mess hall is your first real fight and can be very nasty. Get through this battle as fast as possible. You want to do as much as you can while there are still marines around creating a distraction. First, pick up the assault rifle in the doorway. Switch back to your pistol, zoom in and look for a lone grunt. He may have survived the onslaught of your marines and he needs to go down. After he's toast, switch back to the assault rifle and reload it while you're running straight ahead at the two elites in front of you. If you can club them with your rifle from behind go for it. If not, just lay into the closest one with the assault rifle, bashing and even reloading if necessary. Pick up the pulse rifle it dropped, ditch your assault rifle, and proceed to blast the other elite, being careful not to hit any marines. The pulse rifle you just picked up absolutely rules this level in my opinion. I say this because it can quickly and easily dispatch elites, even from long distances. Once you start connecting with shots, elites will just stand and twitch while you pour on the hurt. They don't have any room to dodge like they do in later levels. As usual be careful not to overheat, but even if you do, they're usually so mad by that point they'll rush you and you can melee them or switch to your pistol, which you should still have at this point. So back to the mess hall. Head towards the new group of enemies at the far end of the room. Three elites and several grunts just showed up to ruin your day. The marines should be taking a lot of fire for you, so pause to dispatch a few elites or toss a few grenades if the opportunity presents itself, but soon you should head through the enemy and through the doors they used to enter. Once you're out of the mess hall, clean up any grunts in this next hallway. You can then peek back into the mess hall and take out one enemy at a time without too much of a problem. Remember there are two entrances to the mess hall from where you are now. Use them both. Definitely take out as many elites as you can while peeking in. If that's a problem, just go for grunts. If you're pulse rifle runs out of ammo, run in and get another one. Once you've killed all the grunts the remaining elites will rush into the hallway after you. Leave a grenade for them to run into and mop up any leftovers. Congratulate yourself and go scavenge the battlefield for grenades, a health pack, and the fullest pulse rifle.

Follow the hallways (bashing an elite in the back on the way) and you should come across the first boarding party blowing open a door into the ship. Immediately after you see the explosion toss a plasma grenade into the doorway that was just blown open. Follow it up with another thrown deeper into the alien ship. After they go off, run in and finish off any leftovers. Don't pick up the overshield yet! Follow the hall and you should come across a few grunts and an elite in a darkened hallway. Toss them a grenade to soften them up. After finishing them off, then you can go back to pick up the overshield.

Follow the hallways until you see some marines fighting ahead of you. Turn right into the hall before you get to them and follow it around to the left. You should be in a nice flanking position now, so start chucking grenades and blasting away. Many waves of Covenant will show up, but they all seem pretty concentrated on the marines ahead of them, so they shouldn't be much of a problem. Especially since you want them to take down your overshield. Yes, you read correctly. Leave one grunt alive to take down your overshield. You can't pick up a new overshield if you still have any vestiges of an old one left. Go back and pick up a fresh one, and grab that health pack on the way to the next area if you need it.

Next, you'll see marines fighting on your left down a darkened hallway. Ignore them and follow the hall ahead, then left. Drop a grenade into the middle of the Covenant and blast any grunts nearby. As before, the elites will focus mainly on the marines and should be easy to take down.

The next group of Covenant has already blasted a way onto the Autumn. Too bad you couldn't catch these guys as they boarded. This section is pretty straightforward, though not necessarily easy. Use cover often to recharge, throw those grenades, and try to focus on one enemy at a time. Take out grunts first to reduce incoming fire, then elites. After you've fought your way past them, grab an overshield and scavenge as usual.

After crouching under a door, run through the next hall until you can just see a health pack on the left by a door. There's a piece of junk just to the right of the door, but you should be able to squeeze a grenade between it and the wall. Aim for the doorway and you should blow up a lot of this group. Back up and turn to your right. There should be a doorway that leads around to a flanking position on the remaining troops. There will probably be a lone elite here to blast through. Toss another grenade once you finish him off and follow the hall around. Mop up any survivors moving back and forth between the main hallway and this flanking hall. Once again you want your overshield to get depleted here so you can go pick up another one. If you have a partially damaged one, you can take it down yourself by bouncing assault rifle bullets off an energy shield. You'll definitely want a full overshield for the next section. You should also grab the health pack even if you're only moderately wounded. You're going to need all the health you can get for the next battle.

Next comes the stairs. This is probably the hardest part of the level. Rush in and run straight up the stairs to the top level. When you reach the top head left and go recharge in the corner of the room (that's the corner immediately on your right and up one level as you entered this room). Blast Covenant only if they get directly in your way. Now if you're facing the middle there should be a door to your right and the exit from this room further around the landing to your right. Take about five seconds to blast an elite if one's nearby then head to the door on your right. It should be opening slowly for a pack of elites and grunts. As soon as the door is open wide enough, drop a grenade in the center of the room. This should blow them all up, but instead of staying to watch continue on around and exit the room. As soon as you get out, turn right and bury yourself in the corner immediately on your right as you enter this room. There isn't much cover here just inside the door, but it should be enough. Just peek out and whittle down the enemy one by one. Go back in the room after the top level is clear and finish off any stragglers on the bottom level. An elite and a few grunts should be down there. Scavenge thoroughly after they've been eliminated.

Go back up now and leave the stair room. You should be looking down a long hallway at a group of Covenant. From this far off, shoot at the grunts with whatever is laying around from the stair room. Use charged shots from those plasma pistols. You may not hit anything, but they were just going to go to waste anyway. Once you've thinned their numbers, move slowly down the hall running from cover to cover until your behind the energy shield. Toss a grenade, then peek out and blast anybody you can in the confusion. Repeat until everything's dead. Now there should be just a few stragglers between you and that well-deserved health pack. Again, send a lot of charged shots of plasma down the hall to make your job easier before moving in for the kill.

Move ahead and use your pistol long-range on the grunts at the end of the escape pod hall. Enter the maintenance shafts.

There are several exits from the maintenance shafts and you should use all of them. Peek out, throw a grenade or blast a grunt, then retreat and go to a different exit. The last exit empties into some hallways that lead back to the Covenant, so use those halls to fire from as well, then go back in the tunnels. Occasionally you get them so twisted up coming from different places you can walk right up behind one and bash him. Be patient, look for opportunities to take one out each enemy by himself, and whittle them down until they're all gone. The next hall probably has an elite in it, so be careful of him as well

Pass through the cryochamber and on to the next hallway. Blast the elite at the end of the hall from long range, but keep running forward. An explosion should make him easy to finish off. Retreat into the long hallway. Peek out and shoot at grunts. Be patient and a few more explosions should take almost all of them out for you. Head back into the maintenance shafts.

Take out some stress on the grunts in the tunnel, then when you see an exit in front of you run up and throw a grenade out of it into the middle of the hallway. Quickly back up and turn left. Move forward and take a right then throw another couple of grenades out of the blocked exit. Back up again, turn left, and go through the last exit. Turn left and you should see just the tops of a few grunts in the corner. Toss a grenade into their midst, then head back to the right to clean up. After securing this area, scavenging, and picking up the health pack, look for a blue cylindrical thingy by itself. Near it is a door, which will lead you to a few grunts. Take them out, then head right around to a nice little flanking spot blocked by some junk. Toss all of your grenades (you'll get a lot more soon) to soften them up, and then go back around through the halls or just jump and squat over the junk to finish them off.

Now for the last fight of the level. This part is fun and easy. Crouch down when you see a pile of frag grenades scattered in front of you. Slowly creep up to the pile and fill up, staying crouched the whole time. Move back, staying crouched and chuck all your grenades over into the fray, being very careful not to bounce one back towards yourself. Move back up and fill up again. Keep throwing grenades until you're completely satisfied that everything nearby has been blown to smithereens. Enter the maintenance shaft to your left if you're extra cautious and peek out of the exits looking for any leftover Covenant. Any stragglers should be easy prey for such a hardened veteran of this level. You'll know everybody bad is dead when Cortana tells you to leave. Get back to the escape pod and you're done.

Related Links

 * Pillar of Autumn