Terminal (Halo 2: Anniversary)/Eight

Covenant Record: Taming the Hunters

Scene opens on the San'Shyuum scribe operating a holographic terminal. Close-up on his face.

• Scribe: "Our holy city was not always as it is."

Cut to the scribe standing on an outside platform overlooking High Charity. The Forerunner Dreadnought can be seen in the background.

• Scribe: "Nor was the Covenant."

Scene dissolves to High Charity in the past. Fade in to a Sangheili kneeling before a Hierarch.

• Scribe: "At one time, it was only San'Shyuum and Sangheili."

The Hierarch places his hand over the Sangheili's helmet in a blessing.

• Scribe: "But as we grew, and new species were added to our number, radical steps had to be taken."

A Covenant craft resembling a Phantom lands outside, as the Prophet and the Sangheili watch. Close-up of the Sangheili's helmeted face.

• Scribe: "Our first encounter with the Lekgolo was an effort in futility."

The craft departs High Charity. Fade to black.

Fade in on the planet Te.

• Scribe: "The blasphemous creatures had devoured a Forerunner orbital-"

Zoom in on the moon Rantu.

• Scribe: "-shattering its remains into a trillion pieces."

Cut to a Covenant HUD scanning the surface of the moon.

• Scribe: "What was left became the rings of Te."

A Covenant craft lands on Rantu. Cut to a close-up of a Lekgolo worm. A Sangheili's foot steps into frame. The worm slithers away.

• Scribe: "As no conventional methods could purge the rings of their infestation, we sent one of our most faithful: an Arbiter."

Close-up of the Arbiter, followed by an overhead shot of him following the fleeing worm.

• Scribe: "For a full year, this Arbiter ventured across of one of their moons, learning both their strengths..."

The Arbiter uses his EVA jetpack to descend into a pit. Fade to black.

• Scribe: "...and their weaknesses."

Open up on the Arbiter as he lands at the bottom of the pit. He readies his plasma rifle.

• Scribe: "It was there that we discovered the Lekgolo's secret."

The Arbiter casts his search lights around, revealing an enormous mass of Lekgolo in front of him. The worms begin to stir. Several rise up and form a Hunter-like creature.

• Scribe: "Although some of their kind rightly bore the blame for the orbital's desecration, others had only devoured around the Forerunner materials."

The Hunter starts to advance on the Arbiter, who opens fire. After taking several hits, the creature falls apart. Three more Hunters rise up from the Lekgolo mass.

• Scribe: "And with reasoning and much labor, these could be used to serve the Covenant."

Fade to black.

Fade to inside the Dreadnought, where the Arbiter stands behind a pair of Hierarchs who are inspecting front of a large structure.

• Scribe: "And by these means, the great Arbiter had given us one of our most sought-after treasures."

Close-up of the Hierarchs. One of them is holding a Lekgolo worm, which he places inside the structure.

Cut to a close-up of the worm as it slithers its way into the structure through a glowing bluish-white opening.

• Scribe: "Access to innumerable processing pathways of the might Forerunner Dreadnought, and to the many secrets it held."