Anders' Signal

Anders' Signal is the eighth campaign level of Halo Wars.

It is the first level in the Halo Wars campaign to feature the Flood. After the finishes its slipspace travel to pursue a Covenant ship holding Professor Anders, they enter into orbit around an unknown planet, and as Captain Cutter orders Sergeant John Forge to the surface, they encounter units of new Covenant species, the Brutes. As Sergeant Forge's Elephant crew kills all of the Jiralhanae, they are assisted by Spartan Red Team. Two other Elephant crews on the surface, Echo and India, however, reported attacks from unknown hostiles, before all contact from them was lost.

As Sergeant Forge's units and Spartan Red Team investigate, they eventually encounter the Flood, and are forced to destroy and clear any Flood forms surrounding the two other Elephants. Then they are ordered to bring all the three deployed Elephants back to a nearby firebase.

Plot
On Arcadia, Professor Ellen Anders records the Arcadia Forerunner ruins and destroyed Super Scarab with a handheld camera while Sergeant John Forge horses around. Suddenly, the two are attacked by the cloaked Arbiter who bests Forge in a fight and wounds him. Anders stops the Arbiter from killing Forge, promising to go quietly in exchange. As the two depart in a Covenant dropship, Red Team arrives in a Warthog in a failed attempt to stop the Arbiter's departure with Anders. Retreating to the, Forge reports Anders' capture while Serina tracks her transponder signal which quickly goes to lightspeed. With little time to make a decision and at the urging of Forge and Jerome-092, Captain James Gregory Cutter orders the Spirit of Fire to pursue.

On February 23, the Covenant vessel emerges from slipspace followed by the Spirit of Fire in uncharted space above a planet. Forge, Red Team and Marines are sent down with Elephants to secure a base, coming into contact with Covenant forces, including Brutes. As the teams clear the area, Recon Teams Echo and India come under attack by the Flood. Forge and Red Team must attempt to rescue Echo and India and retrieve their Elephants to bring them and Forge's Elephant to the newly constructed base.

Transcript
{She Is Not My Girlfriend}

''Fades into Professor Anders and Sergeant John Forge, who are at the remains of the destroyed Type-29 Scarab. Anders holds a small hand-held camera, documenting the Scarab's remains. Forge grabs a piece of debris and poses with it.''


 * Sergeant John Forge: "Hey, how 'bout one for the scrapbook, Professor?"


 * Professor Ellen Anders: "If you don't mind, Sergeant, I'm trying to document this area for study."

''Forge drops the piece and turns his back at Anders. Anders steps forward and continues observing, but finds a camouflaged entity in front of her. Almost immediately, the invisible entity grabs Anders by her throat and uncloaks.''


 * Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee: "You will come with me."



Forge draws his M6C magnum and points it at the Arbiter.


 * Forge: "Why don't we put the lady down and talk about this, man to freak?"


 * Ripa 'Moramee: "As you wish."

''Arbiter drops Anders and moves towards Forge. He shoots the Arbiter with his pistol but it has no effect. The Arbiter activates his camouflage, moves behind Forge and cuts his Pistol in half with a swing of his Energy Sword. Forge falls down and the Arbiter moves to finish him with a stab. Anders runs in between them.''


 * Anders: "Stop!"


 * Forge: "Anders, get out of here!"


 * Anders: "I'll come quietly if you let him live."

''The Arbiter grabs Anders by her throat and walks into the Gravity lift of a Spirit dropship hovering above. The ship flies away as the Spartan Red Team arrives with a Warthog firing at it. After the ship goes away, the Spartans get off the Warthog and secure the area. One of them approaches Forge, who is still lying on the ground from the attack.''


 * Jerome-092: "Sir?"


 * Forge: "I'm okay. Spirit of Fire, this is Forge. I lost Anders."

Cuts to the bridge of the Spirit of Fire, where Captain Cutter is facing a monitor, which shows data of Anders and Forge.


 * Captain James Gregory Cutter: "What happened?"


 * Forge (COM): "Some massive Elite came out of nowhere."


 * Serina: "Captain, I'm tracking her transponder. It's heading away from the planet."


 * Cutter: "Damn it! Sergeant, get up here on the double."

A Pelican flies towards the Spirit of Fire.


 * Forge (COM): "Already en route, sir."

''Forge enters the bridge with Jerome-092 behind him. Captain Cutter leans over the holographic display of Arcadia. The two stands beside him.''


 * Forge: "We're all accounted for; why haven't we left yet?"


 * Cutter: "Why aren't you in the med-bay, Sergeant?"



The holo-table shows a red dot, a representation of Anders' signal, heading away from Arcadia's hologram and a green hologram of the Spirit of Fire''. It is leaving Spirit of Fire's Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) limit and approaching the Long Range Weapon System (LRWS) limit.''


 * Serina: "The professor's signal has gone to lightspeed, headed for the border."


 * Jerome-092: "That puts it outside weapon range."


 * Forge: (angrily) "What? We have to go after her!"


 * Serina: "Sir, I can only track that transponder a few more seconds."


 * Sgt. Forge: "Captain!"


 * Jerome-092: "Sir, Anders represents a significant security breach."

Cutter pauses momentarily, then finally makes a decision.


 * Cutter: "Serina, get us underway immediately. Follow that signal."


 * Serina: "Aye aye, sir."

''Forge and Jerome leave while Cutter approaches the front of the bridge. Hatches begin to seal around all the windows as the ship prepares for slipspace travel.''


 * Serina: "So...we left a note saying we're leaving, right?"

Cuts to black.

''Fades in to two ships coming out of slipspace in orbit, as seen in the atmosphere of an unknown planet. A piece of the landscape twitches, then turns around towards the camera as three small tentacles twitch around its chest, revealing an unknown lifeform that resembles a Sangheili.''

UNKNOWN LOCATION

FEBRUARY 23RD 2531

Cuts to Spirit of Fire's bridge, Cutter is looking from the front windows as hatches unseal around the windows, revealing a red planet.


 * Cutter: "Where the hell are we, Serina?"


 * Serina: "We're in orbit around a planet in the middle of... Actually, I'm still working on that, sir.


 * Cutter: "Anders?"


 * Serina: "The Covenant vessel we pursued appears to have taken cover on the planet's surface. I have rough coordinates."


 * Cutter: "Any sign of other Covenant activity?"


 * Serina: "Not that I can detect, although this world is giving off some pretty crazy readings."

Cutter pauses, sighs and turns around, walking towards the bridge's door.


 * Cutter: "Get Forge down there."


 * Serina: "I believe he is already aboard a Pelican, awaiting your word."

Captain Cutter exits the bridge.

{In-Game Cutscene}

Two M312 Elephants with two squads of marines each move though the terrain.


 * Recon Team ECHO/INDIA (COM): "Spirit of Fire, Elephant recon teams ECHO and INDIA are clear of hostiles and moving to potential base sites. Over."

The teams are revealed to be very close to a heavily fortified Covenant position, where two Spirit dropships just flew away from.


 * Cutter: "Roger that. Sergeant Forge, you will need to clear that fire line just ahead of your location and get to your beacon. We'll follow up at that time."

{Gameplay}


 * Cutter: "Sergeant, logistics are preventing reinforcements. Train squads out of that Elephant."

After enough Marine squads are trained, Forge and the Marines move towards the beacon, running into Covenant forces.


 * Forge (COM): "Serina, I thought you said there weren't any signs of the Covenant down here. What do you call all this?"


 * Serina: "Designation "Jiralhanae", a.k.a. "Brutes". Responsible for the attack on Harvest."

If an Elephant takes some damage from the Covenant attack:


 * Cutter: "Keep an eye on that Elephant, Sergeant. You lose that, we lose our foothold."

If an Elephant takes heavy damage:


 * Cutter: "We can't lose any of our Elephants. We need all of them intact."

After a bit of heavy fighting, a Pelican drops off Spartan Red Team behind Covenant positions.


 * Alice-130 (COM): "Spartan Red Team, reporting in. Sergeant, we will flank the enemy and move to your location."

With the help of Red Team, the Covenant forces are eliminated.


 * Forge (COM): "Our beacon is just up ahead. Should be easy going now."

They regroup near the beacon.


 * Recon Team Echo (COM): "Echo is operational. Situation normal. All is... Hold on. Something's... moving! We've got movement, all over!"

''Several groups of squid-like creatures approach the Marines. The creatures latch themselves on the Marines and the Marines fall on the floor.''


 * Recon Team Echo (COM): "This is Echo! Help! Help! They've breached our-aaahhhhh!!"

Echo Team suddenly disappears on map and radar.


 * Serina: "Echo signs are offline - quite suddenly I might add."


 * Cutter: "Sergeant, take a team out there and find out what's happening."

Very soon, Recon Team India reports in.


 * Recon Team India (COM): "India, reporting in. Elephant's unpacking. Hold for...wait. Over there...what the hell was that?"

Several groups of the same squid-like creatures approach the Marines, and the Marines suffer the same fate as that of Echo Team.


 * Recon Team India (COM): "Spirit! This is India! They've...they've taken over...get us...aaahhhhh!!"

India also disappears from the map and radar.


 * Serina: "India signs are offline as well. How very ominous."

''The UNSC forces move close to where Recon Team Echo was stationed. A red flare is on the ground.''


 * Marine #1: "Signal flares. We must be close."

They reach Echo Team's last known location...

{In-Game Cutscene} ''Many of the small squid-like creatures crawl over the ground. Echo Team Echo's Elephant is covered with giant biomasses and large tentacles. Marines from Recon Team Echo lie on the ground, lifeless.''


 * Forge (COM): "Forge here. I believe teams Echo and India are compromised, over."


 * Cutter: "Covenant? I'm not reading any Brute signatures."

The small squid-like creatures crawl over the dead Marines, and the bodies stand up, mutating.


 * Forge (COM): "Not Covenant, sir - something else, something worse. Much uglier."

{Gameplay}


 * Forge (COM): "Clear that crap around the Elephant. We need to get it mobile."

The UNSC forces destroy the Flood forces surrounding the Elephant.


 * Forge: "You're clear - let's get you home."


 * Captain Cutter: "Sergeant, I'm approving your beacon for a firebase site. Serina, prep pods for launch."


 * Serina: "Aye aye sir. Location marked and pods launched. Don't do it wrong, boys."

The UNSC station and its base turrets have been set up.


 * Serina: "Well, this is new... and scary. These organisms are...interesting. Our database has nothing on their origins - or, well, anything about them, really. At first glance, they appear to be a species of virulent, parasitic organisms that thrive by consuming other sentient life of sufficient biomass."


 * Forge (COM): "Serina, you ever hear the phrase "too much information"?"

If a lost ODST squad is found:


 * ODST #1: "There were more of us in our platoon. We all scattered when it hit the fan."

If another ODST squad is found:


 * ODST #2: "Thanks for the rescue, sir."

If the third lost ODST squad is found:


 * ODST #3: "Thank god you found us - we thought we were goners for sure."

At the last missing ODST squad:


 * ODST #4: "One of them bit me and ran off... Is that bad?"


 * ODST #5: "Something's wrong. I feel funny..."

''The entire ODST squad turns into Flood combat forms. The UNSC forces have no choice but to kill them.''

With a stronger UNSC force, Sergeant Forge heads out to recover the second Elephant, and succeeds.


 * Forge (COM): "Hostiles clear. Let's move - it's getting darker out here."


 * Cutter: "We need those units intact. Bring all Elephants back to base, Sergeant!"


 * Forge (COM): "All right, let's get everyone back to the base. Move. Move. Move!'

All Elephants are back at the base.


 * Cutter: "All Elephants are home. Hold for new orders."

{In-game Cutscene}

The three Elephants lock down beside the UNSC base.


 * Forge (COM): "Spirit, any closer on that transponder's location?"


 * Serina: "I'm still trying to confirm Professor Anders' coordinates...a watched pot and all that."

Level ends.

Trivia

 * Not only is this the first mission in Halo Wars to feature the Flood, but, chronologically, it the first mission in the entire series to feature the Flood.
 * This is the first level in the entire series where the Brutes are referred to as Jiralhanae, their proper names. This is also the first level in the series in which a Covenant species is referred to by its proper name in scripted dialogue, though the names of most Covenant species are sometimes said by NPCs in Halo 3.
 * Sergeant Forge's report about the discovery of the Flood, "Not Covenant, sir - something else, something worse. Much uglier.", is similar to dialogue between Thel 'Vadam and John-117 on the level The Storm in Halo 3, when the Flood-captured battlecruiser arrives over Voi: 'Vadam asks, "What is it? More Brutes?", to which John replies, "Worse."
 * If the SPARTANs are used to hijack any of the Choppers at the beginning of the level, the player can not gain control of the SPARTANs until the hijacked Choppers have been destroyed.
 * Serina's line "Well, this is new. And scary," was first said in the original Halo Wars demo video. However, rather than the Flood, she was referring to the sudden appearance of a Scarab.
 * The ODSTs squads found on this level have five veterancy points, two more than the normal limit of three for ODSTs squads, causing them to be exceptional stronger than normal squads.
 * If the last ODST squad is fighting when the ODSTs say their lines, they will not mutate into Flood combat forms.