Keyes (Level)

Looking for the Captain or his daughter?

Keyes is a campaign level in Halo: Combat Evolved. Once more, rescue Captain Jacob Keyes from inside the Truth and Reconciliation. This time, however, the ship is under attack from the Flood as well.

Usable Weapons

 * Pistol
 * Assault Rifle
 * Sniper Rifle
 * Shotgun
 * Frag Grenade
 * Plasma Pistol
 * Plasma Rifle
 * Needler
 * Plasma Grenade
 * Shade

Part 01: Under New Management
''{Opening cinematic-Camera flies through a canyon filled with pools of reactor coolant, under a Covenant cruiser. The cruiser is resting on the top of the canyon, apparently heavily damaged. Flood and Covenant forces are fighting all throughout the region.}''

Cortana: "The Covenant network is in absolute chaos! From what I've been able to piece together, their leadership ordered all ships to abandon Halo when they found the Flood, but they were too late. The Flood overwhelmed this cruiser and disabled it. The Covenant are terrified the Flood will repair the ship and use it to escape from Halo. They've sent in a strike team to neutralize the Flood and repair the ship for immediate departure. I've got a good lock on Captain Keyes' CNI transponder signal! He's alive! And the implants are intact! There's some interference from the cruiser's damaged reactor. I'll bring us in as close as I can."

''{Master Chief teleports into the end of a corridor in the cruiser. The camera view flips over, upside down, and Master Chief falls on his head; he was teleported in upside down.} ''

Cortana:"Ohh... I see! Coordinate data needs to be- "

{Master Chief bangs the side of his head with his fist as he stands up.}

Cortana:"Right. Sorry."

{After walking down the hallway several meters}

Captain Keyes (O.S.): "Chief... Don't... Be a fool... Leave me..."

Cortana: "Captain? Captain?! I've lost him."

{After getting to a hangar, with a large hole in the floor just past the door, blocking your progress}

Cortana: "Analyzing damage...This hole was caused by some kind of explosive. Very powerful if it tore through a ship's hull. All I detect down there are pools of coolant. We should continue our search somewhere else."

{After the staying in that corridor for a few moments, Flood begin dropping out of a hole in the ceiling behind you, cutting you off.}

Cortana: "Warning! Threat level increasing!"

{After fighting off the increasing horde of Flood for a few more moments}

Cortana: "That jump into the coolant is looking better all the time, Chief!"

{After holding your ground longer}

Cortana: "Trust me! It's deep enough to cushion our fall!"

{After continuing to hold your ground}

Cortana: "Chief, we need to jump now!"

{Flood continue to pour out the hole, and from down the hallway, never ending, forcing you into the hole}

{After falling into the hole.}

''{Master Chief falls into a large pool of coolant, which breaks his fall. Camera view begins under-coolant. Covenant and flood are heavily engaged around the pool.}''

Cortana: "Let's get out of here, and find another way back aboard the ship."

{While walking down a narrow canyon}

Cortana: "We should head this way, towards the ship's gravity lift."

{continuing farther down the canyons}

Cortana: "The crash did more damage than I suspected. Analyzing. Coolant leakage rate is significant. The ship's reactor should already have gone critical."

{farther along in the canyons}

Cortana: "Power source detected. There's the gravity lift. It's still operational! That's our way back in!"

{once you take the gravity lift back inside the ship}

Part 02: Upstairs, Downstairs
Cortana: "We should be able to get into the ship's control room from here."

{upon finding an unlocked door}

Cortana: "The Covenant Battlenet is a mess. I can't access the ship's schematics. My records indicate that a shuttle bay should be... Here."

{Cortana marks the spot with a nav point}

{Upon reaching the nav point, it turns out to be a cargo bay}

Cortana: "Look, in the corners. The Flood are gathering bodies."

{Continuing on, entering a shuttle bay}

Cortana: "Looks like another shuttle bay. We should be able to reach the control room from the 3rd level."

Captain Keyes (O.S.): "I... gave you an order, soldier! Now pull out!"

Cortana: "He's delirious! In pain! We have to find him!"

{reaching the door on the 3rd level}

Cortana: "The control room should be... This way."

{She assigns another nav point}

{nearing the control room}

Part 03: The Captain
Captain Keyes (O.S.): "Waahhhh... Ahhhh ohhhh gaahhhhh..."

Cortana: "The Captain! His vitals are fading! Please, Chief, hurry!"

{once in the bridge of the cruiser}

''{A brain form sits on the command center in the bridge. The Captain's face sticks out of it, with his body dangling below, deformed.}''

Cortana: "No human lifesigns detected. The Captain! He's one of... them. We can't let the Flood get off this ring! You know what he'd expect... What he'd want us to do."

''{Master Chief punches into Keyes' skull(not burning it because bungie said "too gory"), sticking his hand inside. He pulls out the neural implants, shakes the Flood goo off of them, and inserts them into his helmet.}''

Cortana: "It's done. I have the code. We should go. We need to get back to the Pillar of Autumn. Lets go back to the shuttle bay and find a ride."

{Once you reach the shuttle bay, a Covenant dropship enters the hangar, dropping off more troops, escorted by two Banshees}

Cortana: "Perfect. Grab one of the escort Banshees, and use it to return to the Pillar of Autumn. "

{Once you and get in one of the escort Banshees, Master Chief flies out of the hangar, being fired on by the Covenant.}

Trivia

 * The ship in which most of this level takes place is never explicitly stated to be the Truth and Reconciliation in the game. This was proven in the novel Halo: The Flood by the mission clock at the beginning of the chapter.
 * In the cutscene, "The Captain", where the Master Chief retrieves Captain Keyes' neural implants, the Master Chief was meant to burn Keyes' skull out of the Brain Form with the Flamethrower and retrieve the implants. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, the flamethrower was removed from the game. Keyes's skull was reused for the multiplayer gametype "Oddball".
 * At the start of the level, look to your left, where a locked door is, look at the ground. You should see an Assault Rifle just sitting there. You cannot take rounds from it or pick it up. Also, if you look to your right,you will see a grating with Infection forms behind it trying to attack you. Go up to the grating and look behind the Infection forms. You should see Captain Keyes as a Brain Form.
 * When you get to Captain Keyes, look a bit to the right of the ramp and you should see one of Captain Keyes' tentacles. Sticking out of the tentacle is Captain Keyes' pipe, which has the Marathon logo on it.
 * If you shoot to one of the large Energy Shields, deactivate it and stand over it and wait for it to reactivate, if you stand in the right place one of several things could happen: You could fly through the walls and in-game blocks, getting to the part of the Brain Form and freezing the Combat Forms, or you could jump up into the ceiling, free to explore wherever you want without limitations.
 * When the Spirit dropship arrives and drops off a team of Spec Ops Covenant, you can jump down onto the dropship. Oddly, the Grunt with the Fuel Rod Gun will always die upon impact with the ground. Even stranger, the Gun's subsequent explosion does not kill any of the nearby grunts.
 * It almost looks like the Brain Form has more than one body in it: another pair of deformed legs is visible to the left of the Captain's body, and a face or two are somewhat visible in the main body of the Brain.
 * If you didn't kill all enemies before going to the brain form, you'll be killed in the cutscene but you can continue the game after the cutscene.
 * In the hangar, there are Ghosts and Wraiths, but they are not drivable. However, they can be destroyed.
 * On the platform with Keyes on it, there are several Flood and human blood splatters. Keyes was not infected there, so how they got there remains a mystery. One theory is that, since there appears to be more than one body composing the Brain Form, it's possible that other humans were brought here while they were still alive or found their way in, were infected, and were absorbed into the Brain.
 * When you reach the gaping hole in the beginning of the level, you can grenade-jump over it. Make sure to land on the small ledge on the right where the crates are. Then you can grab the health pack and explore.
 * At the part where you are about the enter the Control Room, you can actually take an alternate path towards it, so as to skip the cut-scene "The Captain".