The Truth and Reconciliation (Level)

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The Truth and Reconciliation is the third campaign level in Halo: Combat Evolved in which the Master Chief and a team of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers must rescue Captain Keyes, who is being held prisoner aboard the Covenant ship, the Truth and Reconciliation. After boarding the ship by using its Gravity Lift, the Master Chief fights his way through the interior of the Covenant battlecruiser to rescue Captain Keyes and several other prisoners from the ship's brig. This is the first level in which Hunters, Zealot Elites, and Stealth Elites are encountered.

Part 01: Truth and Reconciliation
{Cutscene}

The view pans across a plateau with a Covenant Cruiser above it.

Cortana: "The enemy has captured Captain Keyes, and are holding him aboard one of their cruisers, the Truth and Reconciliation. The ship is currently holding position approximately three hundred meters above the other end of this plateau."

Pelican Echo 419 comes into view, it starts to land.

Marine ODST 1: "So how do we get inside the ship if it's in the air? The Corps issued me a rifle, not wings."

Staff Sergeant Johnson: "There's a Gravity Lift that ferries troops and supplies between the ship and the surface. That's our ticket in."

As the Pelican lands:

{Gameplay}

Cortana: "Once we get inside the ship, I should be able to lock on to the tracking signal from Captain Keyes' neural implants."

Marine ODST: "Everybody out!"

Staff Sergeant Johnson: "Hit it Marines, go go go! The Corps ain't payin' us by the hour!"

The ODSTs and the Chief head forward.

Cortana: "Stick to the higher ground on the right. We should be able to recon the Covenant position without being spotted. I'm detecting Covenant Stationary Guns near the next pass. I recommend using your Sniper Rifle to take out the gunners while I call for Marine support. (over radio) Get ready to move in to support us, Sergeant. The Master Chief is going to covertly take out as many of the Covenant as he can. Don't open fire until you hear the enemy return fire on us. That should let us keep the element of surprise."

Once the Covenant spots the Chief.

Sergeant Parker: "Let 'em have it!"

The Marines open fire.

If all the Covenant soldiers are not taken out yet, a Grunt will run towards a Shade turret.

Cortana: "Alert! A Covenant is making a run for that stationary gun. (Drops NAV point on Grunt) Take him out!"

Once the area is secure:

Marine ODST 1: "Hey, we did it! We're right behind ya, Chief!"

The Chief starts to move up the slope.

Cortana: "Stop. Motion Tracker shows movement around the next bend."

Sergeant Parker: "We're ready to advance as soon as you call for us, Cortana."

As the Fire Team Charlie move further up the plateau.

Cortana: "Covenant forces detected up ahead. The path up on the left should let us sneak up around them."

Sergeant Parker: "We'll hang back while you get into position, Chief."

If the Chief takes the left flank:'

Cortana: "Cortana to Fire Team Charlie. The Chief has the left flank covered. Recommend you move up the middle."

If the Chief moves up the middle:

Cortana: "Cortana to Fire Team Charlie. The Chief has secured the middle. Get ready to move up the left, you should be able to flank the enemy."

Marine ODST 2: "Roger that."

After the Chief takes out the last of the Covenant infantry:

Cortana: "Alert! Covenant Dropships are inbound!"

After area is secure:

Cortana: "We're directly under the ship now."

Marine ODST 1: "Alright! Are we bad or what?"

Marine ODST 2: "Mother of God...I'd never thought I'd get close to one of these things. How the hell are we suppose to get inside that monster?"

{or}

Marine ODST 2: "If we're gonna board that thing, we need a plan."

Cortana: "The Covenant use a Gravity Lift to ferry troops and supplies between the ship and the surface. We need to ambush them at the Grav Lift's loading zone, and use the lift to enter the ship."

If three or more Marines from the team are dead:

Cortana: "Cortana to Echo 419, requesting reinforcements from our position."

Foehammer (O.S.): "Roger, Cortana, Echo 419 on approach."

Covenant troops soon drop from the cruiser's Gravity Lift, engaging the team.

Marine ODST: "Contact, enemy in sight!"

{or}

Sergeant Parker: "Covenant forces sighted! Let's hit 'em, Charlie Team!"

Marine ODST 1: "Crap, those stationary guns are gonna tear us to pieces!" {or}

Marine ODST 1: "Sir, those freakin' guns have us pinned down!"

As another Covenant dropship approaches:

Cortana: "Alert! Covenant Dropships are inbound!"

Marine ODST 2: "Man, there's always something..."

After the team kills everything, including a pair of Hunters:

If 4 or all 5 Marines are alive:

Sergeant Parker: "We've cleared the area, let's square away the gravlift. Marines! Prepare for boarding."

Marine ODST 1: "Yes, sir!"

ODSTs gather under the gravlift

If 3 or more Marines are KIA:

Cortana: "Cortana to Echo 419. We've reached the Gravity Lift and are ready for reinforcements."

Foehammer (O.S.): "Copy that, Cortana. Hang tight, gentlemen. Foehammer out."

Cortana: "Once we're inside the ship, I can home in on the Captain's command-neural interface. He'll probably be in or near the ship's brig, which should narrow our search."

Foehammer (O.S.): "Echo 419 inbound, clear the drop zone."

Staff Sergeant Johnson: "Everybody out!"

{or}

Staff Sergeant Johnson: "Go go go!"

Marines exiting the Pelican greet the Chief before taking position around the lift.

Part 02: Into the Belly of the Beast
{Cutscene}

Marine 1: "Whoa!"

The Marine begins to float into the air.

Marine 2: "Yeehaw!"

Chief begins to float upwards.

Once the team gets inside:

{Gameplay}

Cortana: "We're in. I've got a good lock on the Captain's CNI transponder. No Covenant defenses detected."

Marine 1: "What, there's no Covenant here? Maybe nobody's home..."

The bay doors open and Covenant troops begin to attack the squad.

Marine 2: "Contacts! Lots of contacts!"

Marine 3: (sarcastically) "No Covenant! Ya had to open your mouth!"

Once the squad kills the Covenant in the room:

Marine 2: "Area secure, Sir. We'd better keep moving. How about that door?"

As the team come to a massive blast door:

Marine 2: "The door's locked, sir. I can't bypass it. We can't get through here."

Cortana (O.S.): "We can use the side passages to find a way around."

Sergeant Parker: "We'd be sitting ducks in that narrow space. We'll hold this position until you can find your way around and open the door from the other side, Chief."

Cortana: "Chief, let's see if we can find a way to open this door."

As the Chief goes alone and approaches a large hangar:

Cortana: "Wait. That's the locked door down there. The Marines are waiting on the other side. The controls to open it must be somewhere in this room."

As the Chief opens the door:

Marine 3: "All clear, sir!"

Cortana: "We should get moving."

Marine 1: "Alright, everybody stay cool. Yell if you see anything."

As the team enters a big docking bay:

If three or more Marines are dead:

Cortana: "Cortana to Echo 419, requesting reinforcements at our position.

Foehammer (O.S.): "Foehammer here, Cortana ... I read you, but you're inside the Covenant ship. I'm not sure I can — "

Cortana (O.S.): "Lock onto my signal and approach fast and low. There's a shuttle bay on the ship's starboard side."

Foehammer (O.S.): "Roger, Cortana - Echo 419 on approach."

As the Chief and the rest of the team go around killing Covenant inside the big docking bay:

Marine 3: "Hey, which way should we go now? All the doors on this level are locked!"

Cortana (O.S.): "Wait a moment. I'm going to access the Covenant Battlenet and locate an override code to open a door."

Marine 2: "You'd better hurry Cortana, we can't hold them off all day."

As two Hunters emerge into the bay:

Cortana (O.S.): "Working on it." (To the Master Chief) "I'd like to see you crack a 128,000-bit modulating encryption key."

Once you kill the pair of Hunters:

Cortana: "Got it. The door is open. Everyone should move through now. I can't guarantee that it won't lock again when it closes."

If every Marine in the team is dead, as the Chief approaches the second level of the docking bay:

Cortana: "I'm going to call for reinforcements. There's no sense going in with anything less than full strength."

Cortana (O.S.): "Cortana to Foehammer. We need additional support troops. We're going to open the shuttle bay door again. Move in and drop off reserve troops on my signal."

Foehammer (O.S.): "I copy, Cortana. Echo 419 standing by for your signal."

As the Chief disengages the energy shield over the bay doors:

Cortana (O.S.): "Cortana to Echo 419. The shuttle bay door is open. You can start your approach."

Foehammer (O.S.): "Roger. Echo 419 inbound."

Once the team reaches the ship's bridge and kill all Covenant forces including the Zealot Shipmaster:

Cortana: "This looks like the ship's command centre. The Captain's transponder signal is strong, he must be close."

Marine 1: "This looks like a good spot, Chief. We'll mind the store here while you go find the Captain, good luck sir."

{or}

Sergeant Parker: "This looks like a good spot. We'll mind the store here while you go after the Captain. Good luck."

When the Chief come across an empty brig:

Cortana: "We must be in the brig. These look like holding cells. There are probably multiple detention stations. The Captain must be in one of them. We need to keep looking for him."

When the Chief comes across a full detention centre:

Marine POW 1: "It's the Chief!"

Marine POW 2: "Chief! Chief!"

Marine POW 3: "Chief, lemme out man!"

Captain Keyes: "Watch out Chief, the Covenant guards are using some sort of stealth systems."

When the Chief kills all the Covenant guards:

Captain Keyes: "Good work, Chief."

Marine Corporal (POW): "That was amazing, sir, you really kicked the shi—"

 Captain Keyes: "Stow it, Corporal! Chief, open these cells, and let's get the hell out of here. The power control's along the back wall."

The Chief opens all the cells.

Marine POW: "Wow!"

{Cutscene}

The Chief helps Keyes to his feet

Captain Keyes: "Coming here was reckless. You two know better than this....thanks."

''Keyes and the Chief leave the cell. Keyes addresses the freed Marines.''

Captain Keyes: "Marines! Lock and load your weapons, let's be ready to move."

Marines pick up a Plasma Rifle each.

Marine 1: "Okay, Sir."

Marine 2: "Yes, Sir."

Captain Keyes: "While the Covenant had us locked up in here, I overheard the guards talking about this ring world. They call it... "Halo"."

Cortana (O.S.): "One moment, sir. Accessing Covenant battlenet. (Pause) According to the data in their networks, the ring has some kind of deep religious significance. If I'm analyzing this correctly, they believe that Halo is some kind of weapon. One with vast, unimaginable power."

Captain Keyes: "And it's true... The Covenant kept saying that whoever controls Halo controls the fate of the universe."

Cortana (O.S.): "Now I see...I have intercepted a number of messages about a Covenant search team, scouting for a "Control room". I thought they were looking for the bridge of a cruiser that I damaged during the battle above the ring. But they must be looking for Halo's control room."

Captain Keyes: "That's bad news. If Halo is a weapon, and the Covenant gain control of it, they'll use it against us and wipe out the entire human race." (Pause) "Chief, Cortana. I have a new mission for you. We need to beat the Covenant to Halo's control room. Marines! Let's move!"

Marine 1: "Yes, Sir."

Marine 2: "Okay, Sir."

The Captain picks up a fallen Needler.

Captain Keyes: "Chief, you have the point."

Part 03: Shut Up and Get Behind me...Sir
{Gameplay}

Cortana: "We should head back to the shuttle bay and call for evac."

After fighting their way back to the bridge, the Chief and the others discover that Sergeant Parker and his squad have been killed by two Stealth Elites with swords.

After the Stealth Elites have been killed:

Cortana (O.S.): "We made it! Cortana to Echo 419. We have the Captain and need extraction on the double."

Foehammer (O.S.): "Negative, Cortana, I've been engaged by Covenant air patrols, and I'm havin' a tough time shakin' 'em. You'll be better off findin' your own ride...sorry."

Cortana (O.S.): "Acknowledged, Foehammer. Cortana out. (To Keyes) Air support is cut off, Captain. We need to hold here until she can move in."

Marine POW 1: "Aw, man! We're trapped in here! We're screwed! We're screwed, man!"

{or}

Marine POW 2: "Oh great! Now we're trapped here. We're screwed!"

Captain Keyes: "Stow the bellyaching, soldier. Remember you're a leatherneck. Cortana, if you and the Chief can get us into one of those Covenant dropships, I can fly us outta here."

Cortana (O.S.): "Yes, Captain. There's a Covenant dropship still docked."

The Chief takes the Captain and the Marines back to the hangar

Once you release the dropship from the clamps (or open the shuttle bay doors on the floor below):

{Cutscene}

Cortana: "That's it, the dropship is loose."

Captain Keyes: "Everybody, mount up, let's get onboard."

Cortana (O.S.): "Give me a minute to interface with the ship's controls."

Captain Keyes: "No, no need. I'll take this bird out myself."

A pair of Hunters appear and start firing on the dropship

Cortana (O.S.): "Captain! Hunters!"

Captain Keyes: "Hang on!"

He rams the two Hunters with the dropship

Marine POW 3: "Nice one, sir!"

Captain Keyes: "Time for a little payback."

The Spirit flies out, fade to black

If Captain Keyes dies at some point:

Cortana: "No! Without the Captain... (Sad and slow) the Covenant have already won..."

{or}

Cortana: "No! We lost the Captain..."

(the game then reverts to the last checkpoint)

Glitches

 * If you use a grenade to flip the turret the Grunt is supposed to run to and man (the one Cortana marks with a Nav Point), Cortana will still warn you he's going to take the turret and will still mark him but he will behave as a normal Grunt Minor armed with a Needler.
 * Right before you go into the valley where the Gravity Lift is, if you move fast enough the checkpoint will be reached before any of the Marines, Cortana will call for more men to be dropped while your Marines follow up behind you. If you've been careful you now have 10 marines to fight against the reaction force that is sent to deal with you. The same glitch can be performed when you first enter the hangar, meaning Echo 419 can say (scripted) “Roger Cortana, Echo 419 inbound” three times.
 * In the brig where Captain Keyes is being held, you can actually kill him and the three Marines while the Energy Shields are still up just by aiming in a precise location while standing up against the shields. If you kill Keyes and the Marines and then activate the cutscene where Master Chief rescues them, then after the cut scene Keyes and the Marines will be there and turn against you and open fire. If you run, they will chase after you.
 * Before reaching the second level of the shuttle bay, there is a dead Grunt lying on the ground with a (usually) fully charged weapon and two grenades. If you walk out the door and walk back in, he will disappear.
 * If you kill two allies in the last part of the level, Keyes will appear as an enemy on your HUD. In Legendary difficulty, he will either fire his Needler at you occasionally or repeatedly throw grenades at you. The amount of grenades he can throw seems to be infinite. Occasionally, he will fire on you in the ending cutscene.
 * It is possible to kill yourself when you activate the cell controls. You can shoot the door and if you're close enough you will die. During the cut scene, your body will float around where the Master Chief is supposed to be walking, and when it is over you will still be dead and will have to restart from the last checkpoint.
 * If Keyes dies at the same time you release the dropship, the first part of his death cut scene will play but will cut off halfway. The end of level cut scene will then play and you will go onto the next level.
 * If you open the doors then kill yourself as the cutscene starts, you will be dead on the floor as Keyes and the others are shooting and killing the enemies but you still don't respawn.
 * If you kill your troops before going up on the grav lift they will be there in the grav bay and in addition they will try to kill you as soon as the level begins (In the Belly of the Beast). If you want to truly test your skills, try killing them all then throwing a plasma grenade on the grav lift and walking in on top of it so that it explodes as the game goes into the cut-scene. If you try that you will start the next level with the damage and no shields.

Mistakes

 * There was a bug earlier in the development of the game in which Keyes had AI behavior which was "taunt enemy corpse" and when he picked up a Needler, he would fire it into a dead Covenant soldier, which would explode and kill himself. This bug was described by Joseph Staten on the Halo 3 Legendary Edition Bonus Disc.
 * Just like on The Silent Cartographer, you will find groups of dead Marines inside the ship and out during the level with no explanation why. One possibility is that they may have been executed by the Covenant, although for some reason there are weapons lying with the Marines. Another possibility is that they were scouts who infiltrated the ship before the Master Chief arrived.
 * Somewhere within the hallways of the vessel, there is a small patch of Flood blood on the ground. This is odd as the Flood were not released until later in the game. There is only one patch, and it is the same sickly green as you encounter from 343 Guilty Spark onward.

Miscellaneous

 * This level may include the largest grenade jump possible. The jump includes four grenades and will skip the second floor completely. A video is here: ; the jump occurs after about 13 minutes. A video is also available on youtube: ; the jump is at around 2:47. This jump includes 3 plasma grenades and 1 frag. Three plasma grenades are thrown near the Overshield, each one is lower than the other. Then, a frag is thrown at the ground. Grab the Overshield before jumping, so no damage occurs.
 * If you pay attention while searching for Captain Keyes throughout the level, you will find random groups of marines lying dead in the hallways of the Truth and Reconciliation. This is odd considering that all the marines that were with Captain Keyes went to the brig with him and the only other marines to enter the ship were with the Master Chief. It is also possible that they were a reconnaissance force sent in before the strike team. It is reinforced by the fact that in Halo: The Flood, it says that reconnaissance had confirmed Keyes was capture and there are also dead Elites below the ship and in the launch bay. However, it was also mentioned that Chief past several groups of dead marines when traveling through the ships corridors.
 * The rescued Marines and Keyes will often be very good at killing enemies. They fire more often and more accurately than normal marines.
 * This is the only level in the entire game/trilogy that you start with a sniper rifle with a total of 64 bullets. When your ammo is less than 24 bullets and you collect ammo, you can only get up to 24 bullets like a normal sniper rifle. A reason they probably gave you a sniper rifle with that much ammo is because the first half of the mission is sniping and they wanted players to get used to sniping.
 * This is the first time in any Halo game that you could fail the mission by not dying, however, but by letting the objective get destroyed. This is repeated in The Maw.
 * This is the first level that the player encounters and confronts a Zealot in the games series.

Internal

 * Truth and Reconciliation