Dawn

Dawn is the second campaign level of Halo 4. It involves John-117 awaking from cryo sleep and fighting the Covenant remnant in the remains of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. Accessing John's service record during the level grants the player the Digging up the Past achievement, while completing the level on any difficulty unlocks the Dawn achievement.

Transcript
{Cutscene}

Several ship parts are floating in space in a tight group.

2557 - FOUR YEARS AFTER HALO EVENT

''As the largest part comes into closer view, the name "Forward Unto Dawn" becomes visible. Cut to the inside of the ship. An automated message is playing.''


 * Cortana: "Mayday Mayday Mayday- this is UNSC FFG201, Forward Unto Dawn requesting immediate evac. Survivors aboard- prioritization code victor zero five dash three dash sierra one one seven."

''Scene shifts through in the ship as several ship parts float in the ship. Scene shifts to a core room, which starts shaking. Suddenly, a visible scan line appears that moves through the ship, scrambling some of the still active electronic parts. Scene continues to move, entering the cryoroom. A bright blue light is visible at the far end of the room. The light source is shown to be a sphere of blue light on an AI pedestal. As the ship shakes again, the sphere disappears as blue light shines on the pedestal, replaced by the figure of Cortana sitting down.''

''Cortana gasps and looks around. She stands up. A hologram appears in front of her, with the words "UNSC" visible on the top left. She starts moving things around. Cortana begins searching desperately, shaking her head and looking visibly scared. She reaches a status report, with red circles outlining hull breaches. 5 red circles are highlighted on the ship. She then brings up the cryostatis control page. One of the sections shows John-117's MJOLNIR armor. Cortana presses the command to reactivate after some consideration. The status update with the red words "ACTIVE" comes up. She closes her eyes and turns to the Chief's cryotube.''


 * Cortana: "Wake up, Chief. I need you."

''The frost covering its glass surface thaws, and John-117 can be seen. Cut to black.''


 * {Gameplay}


 * John-117: "Ungh..."


 * Cortana: "Chief! Easy. You've been out for a while."


 * John-117: "Where are we?"


 * Cortana: "We're still adrift on the Dawn."


 * John-117: "Why did you wake me?"


 * Cortana: "Hang on. Bringing your systems online now."


 * Cortana: "I rewrote your suit's firmware while you were out."


 * John-117: "You've been busy."


 * Cortana: "Activating the ships's gravity generators."


 * System: "Partial system restoration. Initializing system diagnostics."


 * Cortana: "Chief, look up. You need to pull the maunual release."

''John-117 looks up and pulls the cryo-tube's manual release lever. The cryo-tube opens and John-117 steps out and walks over to the holotank that Cortana is occupying.'''


 * Cortana: "Seems like old times."


 * John-117: "Ready to get back to work?"

Cortana crosses her arms.


 * Cortana: "I thought you'd never ask."

''John-117 pulls Cortana out of the holo-tank and inserts it into his neural interface. John-117 raises his MA5D Assault Rifle in preparation for combat.''


 * Cortana: "We've got intrusion alerts lighting up on multiple decks. Our best bet to figure out who's boarding us is the observation deck - four floors up."


 * John-117: "Could it be a rescue team?"


 * Cortana: "I wouldn't bet on it."


 * John-117 maneuvers down many hallways.


 * John-117: "How long was I out?"


 * Cortana: "Four years, seven months, ten days."


 * John-117: "Somebody should have found us by now."

''John-117 enters a circular room with a center console displaying a holographic replication of somewhere in space with one area marked with a red icon. A large, orange wave of energy scans the ship, producing a loud noise and disrupting all electronics.''


 * John-117: "What's that?"


 * Cortana: "Sensor scan, high intensity. Doesn't match any known patterns."


 * John-117: "How close are we to the observation deck?"


 * Cortana: "It's directly above us."

''John-117 leaves the circular room and leads into another rectangular room with an elevator.


 * Cortana: "The elevator doors look sealed tight."

John-117 approaches the elevator toors and pries them open with his hands.


 * Cortana: "Chief, be careful!"

''John-117 successfully gets through the elevator doors. The elevator shaft has been depressurized causing a few crates to hit John-117 from outside the elevator shaft. John-117 grabs the side of the elevator shaft, avoiding falling debris from the top of the shaft, while slowly climbing the shaft to reach the next level.''


 * Cortana: "Because some areas might have lost pressure!"


 * John-117: "Right."

''John-117 climbs a few feet. Debris falls from the top of the shaft and John-117 is forced to act fast.''


 * Cortana: "Chief, watch out!"

John-117 jumps to the left, managing to avoid the falling debris.


 * Cortana: "I didn't realize the ship had deteriorated so badly."

''John-117 manages to climb to the top of the shaft, avoiding falling debris. After stepping into the opening to the next level at the top of the shaft, John-117 is ambushed by an Elite wielding an Energy Sword. John-117 blocks the Elite's sword strike, then grabs his face and punches it, then continuing to throw him down the depressurized elevator shaft. The shaft's door locks behind him.''

John-117: "I thought we had a truce with the Covenant."

Cortana: "A lot can happen in four years. Either way, he's probably not alone. We should be careful."

Trivia

 * This level is reminiscent of the level The Pillar of Autumn from Halo: Combat Evolved: both levels involve the Master Chief awakening from cryosleep, retrieving Cortana, and defending a ship from Covenant boarders before crash-landing on a Forerunner installation. It is also similar to the level Cairo Station from Halo 2, in which John repels boarders, fights on the eponymous station's outer hull, and destroys a Covenant ship with explosives.
 * Several cases resembling that of the Halo 4 Limited Edition can be found floating in the ship's airlocks. One can also be found in the ship's observation deck.
 * John-117's service record misidentifies the as a frigate.