Your Name:
	Your E-Mail Address:
	Subject:
	Message: : Stage 8: Two Betrayals continued from Stage 8A : Act 3: The Tunnels Below – The Dead Live in The Catacombs : Cortana gets back to me on the Pillar of Autumn: she put down 12000 : kilometres up spin and the fusion reactors are not only still working, but : still powered up! There’s one small problem: “The systems on the Pillar : of Autumn have fail-safes even I can’t override, without authorisation : from the Captain.” Cortana tells me. “We’ll need to find him, or his : neural implants to start the fusion core detonation.” Last we saw him, he : was being infected by the Flood and the passages from the book we’ve seen : hint that unlike other Flood forms, he’s been subjected to a fate worse : than death. You may be able to guess what that is… : The CNI transponder/neural implants are basically a Halo version of the : Pfhor’s control glands, but cybernetic instead of pheromone based and for : humans instead. They seem to be a form of HUD outside armour, going by the : definition of neural interfaces our two cyborg protagonists in the System : Shock games have. : The tunnel has shades lining the bottom and there’s rocket Flood around the : corner once you reach the manmade part. I guess the tunnel in Halo (the : level) was meant to be like this, but they made it artificial at both ends : so the one here wouldn’t come across as repeating tricks. I fly as close : to the ceiling as I can and dash quickly around the corners, trying to : avoid the rockets. It’s harder than it sounds as the covenant will aim up : at you as you fly over them and rockets are faster than you close up so : the tunnel feels narrower at the bottom. : This section kills me a lot as I find out that the brute needlers that the : infantry are carrying are very effective against sparrowhawks so I hang : back and rocket them all to death. Even then, the little fucks with RPGs : around the corner at the bottom still get me a few times before I thrash : them. If you can make it past without killing them, just keep going: : you’ll hit a loading zone and the enemies behind you will despawn. : The door into the underground chasm with the broken bridge explodes and : breaks apart when I try to open it, forcing me to continue on foot. : : It’s gasbag city in here with a couple of elite carrier forms. There’s just : enough space in the gap between the door pieces for one of the vanilla : carrier forms to waddle through. : : “Frog Blast the Vent Core!” : That is what an elite carrier form looks like. You get human versions too. As : I cross the bridge, 2 whole swarms of flugs come out of the alcoves when : there was no sign of them hiding there just seconds before in vanilla. Now : it’s a bunch of jackal carrier forms. At least one rocket launcher combat : form waits on the other side of the bridge, by the next forerunner : terminal and an ammo cache. The bridge itself now has a lot of space : crates and computer things on them whereas it doesn’t in the original : game, giving both you and the Flood more cover. : : Remember the lower areas we can’t get to in the anti-grav elevator shaft in : Alpha Base’s motte? There’s a grated floor down there that connects to : maintenance areas and vent shafts under the ring’s surface, connected to : Alpha Base by a single staircase that ascends through the grate. The Flood : attack from there but the marines and ODSTs were expecting it according to : the book: when Jenkins was infected, the flug that got him had been : weakened in stasis and wasn’t able to control him properly, leaving him : not only alive, but fully aware of what was happening to him. He couldn’t : talk, and could only fight to gain control of himself when the Flood was : either preoccupied or allowed it. : After being captured by marines after they saw the Flood for the first time : during a failed ambush on the Covenant below the buttea fair distance : away, Jenkins was able to mime to the ODSTs’ leader and second in command : what the Flood was planning. They do make it out and attempt to use the : Truth and Reconciliation to escape the ring. More on that later. : Spark however sounds like he’s found his next victim. I hope he has the sense : to attack the Monitor and run. 2 more doors and an empty tunnel bring me : back outside into the cold, icy, embracing snow. : Act 4: Final Run – Final Rush : : For the second time in the game, Under Cover of Night from the Truth and : Reconciliation plays, this time in full. I spend my final rockets on some : Flood to the right and a banshee. More of them including rocket combat : forms attack the Covenant on the snowy knoll with the ghosts and shades. : Let them infect or kill the covies and then come to you. The rocket guys : are killed in the fight. : When I drive my recently stolen ghost into the area where the grizzly was, : rocket Flood are facing off against more brutes and other covenant. I : drive toward the far end and deal with them first before turning my : attention to the others. Circle strafing the rocket Flood in a ghost here : works very well. The next terminal is by the now caved in tunnel, by a big : cache of ammo and weapons and health. : : : Something tells me this was their last stand, assuming I don’t find another : terminal of Erik’s in the 2 new levels after Keyes. I drive past the : crashed pelican and carefully nudge the ghost over the ridge using the : airbrake. More covenant and Flood are fighting in this final part of the : first canyon (or third as it is now) below the original footbridge, with : wraiths and hunters at the far end of the Fjord. There’s now 2 large : boulders where there was once an ice wall and the banshees I need to get : to the top of the fjord in front of them. I blast the Flood hiding in the : shadows behind the shade hill where there used to be a spectre. Normally I : drive quickly behind the boulders, slip out through the middle and take : off in a banshee before they can shoot me down, but not this time: The : final terminal is by a covenant deployable shield but I need to clear the : area first. Boarding a wraith will do. : : : Here’s the problem with evacuating: the Flood have attacked the Truth and : Reconciliation and disabled it, bringing it down on another part of the : desert plateau it was originally parked on, though I think it will still : be on the Mountain as it was before in SPV3, albeit lower down the slopes. : It’s not even hovering now, but resting on top of the small maze of : canyons there like a fat man lying on a Persian carpet. The Covenant know : the Flood are trying to use the ship to leave the ring and they will not : let that happen. It just so happens that this ship is where we will be : heading next. I grab the left banshee for luck and fly over the top of the : footbridge. : Both doors including the one back to the vent shaft are now forever sealed so : I keep ascending towards the very top of the first canyon. : : 2 Enforcers are waiting by the landing pad outside the final pulse generator. : They make an easy dogfight to win. Normal sentinels and sentinel majors : wait inside the building around the generator. Triggering the EMP blast : and destroying the generator is enough to destroy all the sentinels as : well. “Final target neutrailsed.” Cortana says as I step back just : afterward. “Let’s get out of here.” : “Let’s find a ride and get to the Captain.” I agree with her and turn to : leave. “No, that’ll take too long.” “Do you have a better idea?” : “There’s a teleportation grid that runs throughout Halo. That’s how the : Monitor moves about so quickly.” She explains. “I learned how to tap into : the grid when I was in the Control Centre. Unfortunately, each jump : requires a rather consequential expenditure of energy.” : So at least she’s honest about why she couldn’t just teleport us to the pulse : generators. She doesn’t have a way into Halo’s systems to reroute the : energy we need. “Something tells me I’m not gonna like this.” I tell her. : “But I’m pretty sure I can pull it from your suit without permanently : damaging your shields. Needless to say, I think we should only try this : once.” : “Do it.” Cortana then triggers the same teleportation that 343 Guilty Spark : used with us earlier. Next stop: the damaged Truth and Reconciliation. : The Truth and Reconciliation is now damaged itself and the Flood are : everywhere! Coolant leaks from every available hole or broken pipe like a : bleeding fish in a reef. Captain Keyes is on the bridge of the ship and we : aim to storm the place and rescue him for the second time, but so is the : embryo of the most horrible Flood form to date. You won’t believe the : shocking creation of the Flood! Next time on Halo SPV3; Stage 9: Keyes. : Now the adventure evolves.
	If you'd like to include a link to another page with your message, please provide both the URL address and the title of the page:
	Optional Link URL:
	Optional Link Title:
	If necessary, enter your password below:
	Password: