LEVEL 06: "The Arbiter"
CHAPTER 01: "The Arbiter"
CINEMATIC
The scene opens up with a blurry camera shot focused on the floor, before clearing and focusing on the back of Tartarus. The shot then changes to show Tartarus walking down a hallway, two Brutes behind him, carrying the Elite Commander on their shoulders. They are walking through a prison.
BRUTE 1:
How much further must we heft this baggage? Any cell will do. Why not toss him in with this lot?
The Brutes pass a cell containing three Jackals, which hiss and reach out through the bars at the Brutes as they pass.
BRUTE 1:
They could use the meat.
BRUTE 2:
Them? What about us? My belly aches, and his flesh is seared, just the way I like it.
TARTARUS:
Quiet! You two whimper like Grunts fresh off the teat. He's not meant for the jails. The Hierarchs have something special in mind.
The Brutes and their cargo move out onto a platform overlooking the Mausoleum of the Arbiter. They ride a grav lift down to the walkway leading up to it and pass dozens of Elite Honor Guards standing at attention, staves ready. They enter the Mausoleum, where the Prophets of Truth and Mercy await. The Brutes and Tartarus bow.
TARTARUS:
Noble Prophets of Truth and Mercy, I have brought the incompetent.
TRUTH:
You may leave, Tartarus.
Tartarus looks up, surprised.
TARTARUS:
But I thought-
TRUTH:
And take your Brutes with you.
Tartarus hesitates, and then bows again.
TARTARUS:
(whispering) Release the prisoner.
The Brutes drop the Elite to his knees and rise, leaving the room. The Elite touches the Mark of Shame on his chest.
TRUTH:
The Council decided to have you hung by your entrails and your corpse paraded through the city. But, ultimately, the terms of your execution are up to me.
ELITE COMMANDER:
I am already dead.
TRUTH:
Indeed. Do you know where we are?
ELITE COMMANDER:
The Mausoleum of the Arbiter.
TRUTH:
Quite so. Here rests the vanguard of the Great Journey. Every Arbiter, from first to last. Each one created and consumed in times of extraordinary crisis.
MERCY:
The Taming of the Hunters, the Grunt Rebellion . . . Were it not for the Arbiters, the Covenant would have broken long ago!
ELITE COMMANDER:
Even on my knees I do not belong in their presence.
TRUTH:
Halo's destruction was your error, and you rightly bear the blame. But the Council was . . . overzealous. We know you are no heretic. This is the true face of heresy, one who would subvert our faith and incite rebellion against the High Council.
Truth presses a button on his chair, and a miniature hologram of an Elite in different equipment appears.
HERETIC LEADER:
Our Prophets are false! Open your eyes, my brothers! They would use the faith of our Forefathers to bring ruin to us all! The Great Journey is-
Truth cuts off the hologram.
TRUTH:
This heretic, and those who follow him, must be silenced.
MERCY:
Their slander offends all who walk the Path.
ELITE COMMANDER:
What use am I? I can no longer command ships, lead troops into battle-
TRUTH:
Not as you are. But become the Arbiter . . . And you shall be set loose against this heresy, with our blessing.
A large container pod floats into the center of the room, opening to reveal a suit of ancient armor surrounded by white light. The Elite stares at this for a moment, before turning back to Truth.ELITE COMMANDER:
What of the Council?
MERCY:
The tasks you must undertake as the Arbiter are perilous, suicidal. You will die, as each Arbiter has before you. The Council will have their corpse.
The Elite rises, and walks toward the armor. He pauses before it, and looks to the pods containing the corpses of the Arbiters who fell before him. He reaches up and takes the helmet of the Arbiter, and places it upon his head, then looks to the Hierarchs.
ARBITER:
What would you have your Arbiter do?
The scene changes to show the outside of High Charity, the fleet surrounding it. Three Phantoms fly past the camera and swoop past the ruins of Halo, a large piece of it still intact and with landscape and clouds still visible. As it flies, the voice of the Spec Ops Leader can be heard.
SPEC OPS LEADER:
When we joined the Covenant, we took an oath!
The scene cuts to the inside of the phantom, where Elites in black armor, along with the new Arbiter, line the walls, with a line of Grunts in the center. A white armored Elite, the Spec Ops Leader, walks among them.
ELITES:
According to our station! All without exception!
SPEC OPS LEADER:
On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our sons, we swore to uphold the Covenant!
ELITES:
Even to our dying breath!
SPEC OPS LEADER:
Those who would break this oath are heretics, worthy of neither pity, nor mercy! Even now they use our lords' creations to broadcast their lies!
ELITES:
We shall grind them into dust!
(Note: the subtitles at this point include the line "Wipe them as excrement from our boots!" It is unknown why Bungie removed this)
Spec Ops Leader turns his head to face the camera, revealing he is missing the mandibles on the left side of his head.
SPEC OPS LEADER:
And continue our march to glorious salvation!
Spec Ops Leader approaches the Arbiter.
SPEC OPS LEADER:
This armor suits you, but it cannot hide that mark.
ARBITER:
Nothing ever will.
SPEC OPS LEADER:
You are the Arbiter, the will of the Prophets. But these are my Elites. Their lives matter to me. Yours does not.
ARBITER:
That makes two of us.
Spec Ops Leader responds to this with a respectful "hm."
The Phantoms fly over a Forerunner structure, a gas mine, and descend toward another structure dangling below it on a long cable. An intense storm swirls below the structure.
PHANTOM PILOT:
"Leader, there is no doubt: the storm will strike the facility!
SPEC OPS LEADER:
We'll be long gone before it arrives.
The Phantoms fly lower, near the top of one of several towers sticking out from the center of the main structure. They deposit a group of Grunts and an Elite, followed by a second one that drops two Elites and the Arbiter.
SPEC OPS LEADER:
Warriors, prepare for combat!
The Arbiter ignites his blade and looks down at it, before the mission begins.
CHAPTER 02: "A Whisper in the Storm
SPEC OPS LEADER (radio):
We are the arm of the prophets, Arbiter, and you are the blade. Be silent and swift, and we shall quell this heresy without incident.
(as the Arbiter approaches the doors where the rest of the team is waiting to enter)
SPEC OPS LEADER (radio):
The storm has masked our approach, and has their local battlenet in disarray. We have the element of surprise . .. For now."
(the Arbiter enters the airlock beyond, with a team of Grunts and Elites.)
ELITE 1:
Engage active camouflage! Reveal yourselves only after the Arbiter has joined battle with the enemy!
SPEC OPS LEADER (radio): "You may wish to do the same, Arbiter, but take heed:
your armor's system is not as . . . new . . . as ours. Your camouflage will not last forever.
The team enters the next room. If you wait without being seen for a moment, the two heretic Elites in this room will talk to one another.
HERETIC ELITE 1:
Any word on our missing brothers?
HERETIC Elite 2:
Still nothing. Given what we have learned, I fear they are lost.
HERETIC ELITE 1:
Maybe the Oracle will protect us . . . .
HERETIC Elite 2:
Perhaps. But his Sentinels are too few. Better we protect ourselves!
Past this point, the team enters an elevator and descends into a hangar. A new enemy appears: the familiar Sentinels.
ELITE 1:
Sentinels, the holy warriors of the Sacred Rings. Why have they sided with these heretics?
(during the battle in the hangar)
PHANTOM PILOT (radio):
Arbiter, clear the hangar and open this door, so I may drop the second lance!
The Arbiter opens the door.
PHANTOM PILOT (radio):
Hold position, I am making my approach.
The Arbiter descends through the facility, eventually entering a room featuring a window looking out onto a landing pad with three Banshees. The Heretic Leader appears.
HERETIC LEADER:
Deal with him, my brothers! I will defend the Oracle.
He hops onto a Banshee and runs off.HERETIC ELITE 3:
This truth must not be silenced!
CHAPTER 03: To The Hunt
SPEC OPS LEADER (radio):
The heretics are mobilizing their air forces, Arbiter. Get after their leader, but watch your back. I'm sending one of our Phantoms to support you.
(after the first wave of Banshees is eliminated)
PHANTOM PILOT (radio):
The heretics have weapons emplacements all over the facility, Arbiter. We'll take them out, one by one, until we find the heretic leader.
If you take too long to head for the final emplacement:
PHANTOM PILOT (radio):
No sign of the heretic leader - or his banshee. We must keep searching!
Alternately:
PHANTOM PILOT (radio):
That was the last of them - but there are more ahead.
The Arbiter nears the final emplacement.
SPEC OPS LEADER (radio):
We've tracked the leader to this part of the station. Clear that landing platform, and get inside.
The level ends once you clear the platform and arrive at the door.
