The Maw

Summary
The Maw is the last campaign level in Halo 1. The Master Chief makes his way through the Pillar of Autumn's wreck.

Part 01: And the Horse You Rode In On
''{Opening cinematic-The camera skims low over a large body of water, tinted gold by a gathering sunset. A very majestic Gregorian chant rises}''

''{The camera slowly pans up as it flies over the water, revealing a burnt coastline, and a giant gouge where the earth has been ripped away and the sea has flooded into the newly-formed canyon. At the top of that canyon rises the massive stern of the Pillar of Autumn, relatively intact. The camera circles around the side and front of her, revealing that her nose is hanging just slightly off a massive cliff, and that the antennae along the bow have been bent and torn away. The entire bow has been burned badly; the metal is scarred. As the camera circles around to reveal the starboard side, a slightly damaged, smoking Banshee drifts into the screen.}''

''{The camera cuts to a view of the outside through one of the ship's Bumblebee docking slips. The damaged Banshee comes into the frame and veers wildly towards the Pillar of Autumn.}''

CORTANA: "This thing is falling apart!"

MASTER CHIEF: "It'll hold."

CORTANA: "We're not gonna make it!"

MASTER CHIEF: "We'll make it."

CORTANA: "Pull up! Pull up!"

{The Banshee drops just before reaching the Bumblebee slip and smashes into the side of the ship, sending debris and fire hurling out madly.}

CORTANA: {sardonic} "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

{The Master Chief's hand appears from below and grips the edge of the slip, and he pulls himself up and onto the Pillar of Autumn.}

CORTANA: "We need to get to the bridge. From there, we can use the Captain's neural implants to initiate an overload of the ship's fusion engines. The explosion should damage enough systems below it to destroy the ring."

{When you reach the bridge}

CORTANA: "The bridge. We made it. Let's get to work."

{When you clear all the Spec Ops Grunts inside}

CORTANA: "I need you to upload me into the control systems. The terminal is located next to the main viewscreen."

''{Cinematic-The Chief takes Cortana's chip from his helmet and inserts it into the cylindrical terminal near the front of the bridge. Cortana appears above it.}''

CORTANA: "I leave home for a few days, and look what happens. This won't take long."

''{She concentrates for a moment, and the main screen flickers to life. "Self Destruct Sequence Initiated" is displayed across the top, and numbers begin counting down from what is, as far as we can tell, a random starting point between twelve and sixteen minutes.}''

CORTANA: "There. That should give us enough time to make it to a lifeboat and put some distance between ourselves and Halo before the detonation."

{The Master Chief moves to unplug Cortana from the terminal, but stops abruptly with an all-too-familiar voice}

343 GUILTY SPARK: "I'm afraid that's out of the question, really."

CORTANA: "Oh, hell."

{The camera cuts to show 343 Guilty Spark extending arcs of energy across a series of consoles in a large room which, we learn later, is Engineering}

343 GUILTY SPARK: "Ridiculous! That you would imbue a warship's AI with such a wealth of knowledge! Weren't you worried it might be captured? Or destroyed?"

{Cut to Cortana}

CORTANA: "He's in my data arrays, a local tap!"

{Cut to 343 GS}

343 GUILTY SPARK: "You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all of our lost time! Human history, is it? Fascinating."

{343 GS flutters around Engineering, as groups of Sentinels hover around in the background, and scans another console}

343 GUILTY SPARK: "Oh how I will enjoy every moment of its categorization! And to think that you would destroy this installation. As well as this record. I am shocked. Almost too shocked for words."

''{Cut to the bridge. A tone sounds over the ship's speakers}''

CORTANA: (with a note of awe in her voice) "He stopped the self-destruct sequence...."

{The Chief surveys the bridge carefully with his AR, never missing a beat}

343 GUILTY SPARK: "Why do you continue to fight us, Reclaimer? You cannot win! Give us the construct, and I will endeavour to make your death relatively painless and -"

{Another tone sounds}

CORTANA: "At least I still have control over the comm channels."

MASTER CHIEF: "Where is he?"

CORTANA: "I'm detecting taps throughout the ship, Sentinels most likely. As for the Monitor . . . he's in Engineering. He must be trying to take the core off line! Even if I could get the countdown restarted . . . I don't know what to do." (She shrugs her arms in desperation)

MASTER CHIEF: "How much firepower would you need to crack one of the engine's shields?"

CORTANA: "Not much. A well-placed grenade perhaps, but why-"

{She turns to see the Master Chief, who is calmly tossing a frag grenade up and down}

CORTANA: "Okay, I'm coming with you."

{A squad of Sentinels descend from above and take position along the shattered windows of the bridge}

CORTANA: "Chief! Sentinels!"

''{The Sentinels open fire, shattering the main display and touching off the Chief's shields. The Chief quickly drops behind cover, removes Cortana from the terminal and places her into his helmet, and raises his rifle}''

{Once you've dispatched the Sentinels and leave the bridge}

CORTANA: "The ship was heavily damaged when it crashed. Head to the cryo chamber. We should be able to get to the engine room through there."

'{When you reach Engineering}

Part 02: Light Fuse, Run Away
CORTANA: "Engine room located. We're here."

{As you run a little farther in}

CORTANA: "Alert! The Monitor has disabled all command access. We can't restart the countdown. The only remaining option is to detonate the ship's fusion reactors. That should do enough damage to destroy Halo. Don't worry, I have access to all of the reactor schematics and procedures. I'll walk you through it. First, we need to pull back the exhaust couplings. That will expose a shaft that leads to the primary fusion drive core."