In the Interrogation Room where Dr. Halsey is interrogated by Interrogation

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In Space Dawn is still drifting with no rescue coming. In Cryosleep, Master Chief is having a dream about his Akame's First Meet along with Mine and Night Raid.

(Tatsumi's Dream)

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(First Dream End)

Cortana (PA): (looping) "Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is UNSC FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, requesting immediate evac. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code: Victor Zero Five dash Three dash Sierra Zero One One Seven

Suddenly, an orange energy pulse moves through the ship, scrambling some of the still-active viewscreens. Inside the cryo chamber, a sphere of blue light hovers above a holographic projector. The sphere disappears in a flash of blue as the ship shakes again, replaced by the figure of Cortana.

Cortana gasps and looks around the room, then proceeds to stand up. She activates a holographic terminal, quickly browsing through a status report.

SHIP STATUS:

CATASTROPHIC LOSS, ALL DECKS

SYSTEM STATUS:

6% SHIP SYSTEMS ONLINE

LAST CONTACT WITH UNSC:

4 YEARS, 7 MONTHS, 10 DAYS

LOCATION

UNKNOWN

CREW CAPACITY

CREW SURVIVING

1

Cortana switches to a diagram of the ship. Several red rings circle the schematic, designating hull breaches.

INTEGRITY FAILED SUBDECK: 32

INTEGRITY FAILED SUBDECK: 57

INTEGRITY FAILED SUBDECK: 102

Muffled explosions can be heard, signalling multiple decompression events - the ship is being boarded. Increasingly agitated, Cortana brings up the cryo chamber's control interface. A schematic of a modified Mark VI MJOLNIR armor is displayed, alongside life signs and cryo-tube diagrams. A single prompt appears on-screen.

REACTIVATE

Cortana hesitates, but proceeds to access the prompt.

FOD=9939 DECK 4 / CRYO SUBDECK. ARRAY=93

CRYOGENIC SYSTEM SHUTDOWN.

STASIS CONVERSION IN PROCESS...

>>ACTIVE

Cortana sighs, then turns to observe cryo-tube 16.

Cortana: Wake up, Chief.

Air is pumped into the tube's interior as part of the thawing process.

Cortana: I need you.

The frost covering the tube's glass surface melts away, revealing John-117 underneath.

Meanwhile in his second dream where Esdeath starts fighting with Akame.

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(End of Second Dream)

The Chief slowly awakens inside the cryo-tube, groaning. He slams his gauntlets into the glass surface in confusion.

Cortana: Chief! Easy. You've been out for a while.
Master Chief: Where are we?
Cortana: We're still adrift on the Dawn.
Master Chief: Why did you wake me?
Cortana: Hang on. Bringing your systems online now.

John's HUD appears on his visor.

Cortana: I rewrote your suit's firmware while you were out.
Master Chief: You've been busy.
Cortana: "Activating the ship's gravity generators.

The gravity system comes online. The drifting crates and debris in the room drop onto the floor.

System (PA): Partial system restoration. Initializing system diagnostics...

Cortana: Chief, look up. You need to pull the manual release.

John looks up and pulls the cryo-tube's manual release lever. John quickly steps out as the tube opens, walking over to the holotank that Cortana is occupying.

Cortana: Seems like old times.
Master Chief: Ready to get back to work?
Cortana crosses her arms.

Cortana: I thought you'd never ask.

John pulls Cortana out of the holo-tank and inserts her into his neural interface. John raises his MA5D assault rifle, readying for combat.

Cortana: We've got intrusion alerts lighting up on multiple decks. Our best bet to figure out who's boarding us is the observation deck - four floors up.

Master Chief: Could it be a rescue team?
The ship shakes violently.

Cortana: I wouldn't bet on it!

Below the walkway leading out of the cryo chamber, a single computer terminal containing John-117's service record can be found. The terminal displays a picture of technicians assembling the Chief's MJOLNIR Mark V armor.

Master Chief: How long was I out?
Cortana: Four years, seven months, ten days.
Master Chief: Somebody should have found us by now.

The Dawn's operations room.
John enters an operations room, filled with inactive computer screens. A central holographic unit displays the Dawn being pulled from its predicted drift course towards a planetoid, designated "43121124". The same orange energy pulse suddenly returns, violently shaking the hull and disrupting nearby electronics.

Master Chief: What's that?
Cortana: Sensor scan, high intensity! Doesn't match any known patterns!
John-117: How close are we to the observation deck?
Cortana: It's directly above us.

John leaves the room, arriving at the elevator entrance.

Cortana: The elevator doors look sealed tight.

John approaches the doors and pries them open with his bare hands.

Cortana: Chief, be careful...!

John successfully opens the elevator doors. The shaft ahead has been depressurized; a pack of crates behind John is sucked into the vacuum, knocking him onto the other side of the shaft. He grabs a nearby ledge, stopping his fall. The crates continue downwards into the seemingly-bottomless shaft.

Cortana: Because some areas might have lost pressure!
Master Chief: Right.

John slowly climbs up the shaft.

Cortana: Chief, watch out!

Debris fall from above. The Chief quickly jumps to another ledge to the left, managing to avoid the falling fragments.

Cortana: I didn't realize the ship had deteriorated so badly.

John manages to climb to the entrance for the observation deck, avoiding more falling debris. A Sangheili Storm wielding an energy sword decloaks and immediately assaults the Chief. John blocks the Sangheili's sword strike. The Sangheili snarls at him, but John punches it in the face, dazing it. He then grabs the Sangheili by the mandibles and throws it into the elevator shaft.

Master Chief: I thought we had a truce with the Covenant.
Cortana: A lot can happen in four years. Either way, he's probably not alone. We should be careful.

John enters the observation deck. The windows are covered by the blast shields. A Sangheili is attempting to access the controls on an elevated central platform, while multiple Unggoy are patrolling either side of the deck below. They open fire as soon as the Master Chief is sighted. John takes them all out with his assault rifle.

Cortana: That's the last of them. Find the override for the blast shields so we can see what we're up against.

John heads for the controls and activates the override. The blast shields gradually rise.

BLAST SHIELD CONTROLS

>OPEN<

Cortana: The good news is these Covenant aren't outfitted like standard military. It's possible we just came across a rogue salvage ship.

The blast shields fully open, revealing a CRS-class light cruiser fleet moving closer to the Dawn. Behind the fleet, a mysterious world ominously looms. A formation of Banshees rapidly scream past the observation deck's windows.

Cortana: ...Or we might have stumbled into an entire Covenant fleet.
Master Chief: Maybe they haven't recognized us.

Two Phantoms, equipped with boarding arms, descend into view.

Cortana: That's one possibility...

The Phantoms split up, taking opposite sides of the Deck.

Cortana: Landing craft, flanking us!

The boarding arms breach the glass, depressurizing the Deck until force fields are deployed to seal the breach. Two Covenant lances exit the boarding arms and enter the Dawn.

System (PA): Warning - atmosphere breach. Activating emergency barricades.

The deck is locked down, forcing the Chief to engage the boarders in close-quarters and fires with his assault rifle.

Cortana: The decompression put the room into lockdown! It'll take a few minutes to repressurize.

Cortana: I'm still reading some stragglers. Clear them out.

John eventually clears the deck. The lockdown is lifted.

Master Chief: We need to get off this ship.
Cortana: We've got bigger problems... We've got a cruiser on an intercept course! Head for the elevator banks.

Master Chief heads for the elevators.

Master Chief: Didn't the ship's sensors say we still had weapons systems online?
Cortana: Yes, but since the ship was torn in half, we can't access the weapons stations. We'll have to fire them manually from the outer hull.

He enters an elevator, which descends a few floors until it opens to another hallway. He fights through more Covenant forces, eventually reaching a stairway near a window.

Cortana: That cruiser's shields are down! Assuming they don't raise them, that missile's going to be one heck of a surprise.

John continues on, encountering increasingly thick resistance, including several Suicide Unggoy.

Master Chief: These Covenant seem more fanatical than the ones we've fought before.
John encounters yet more Covenant forces, including Kig-Yar then he grabbed some more ammo for his Rifle.

Master Chief: How far to the missile?
Cortana: We're just about there.

After fighting his way through more Covenant, including a Sangheili Commander wielding a concussion rifle, John reaches an airlock.

Cortana: The auxiliary launch station should be to your left out of the airlocks.

Purple fields of static suddenly appear on John's HUD.

Cortana (distorted): You'll have to prime the launch for ignition!
Master Chief: Cortana?
Cortana: It's nothing. Just get to the launch station.

The airlock doors open, revealing the Dawn has moved much closer to the mysterious planetoid.

Cortana: Uh, I'm sorry - did I miss orbiting a Forerunner planet at some point?
Master Chief: One thing at a time.

He put his assault rifle on his back and took the Battle rifle firing against Covenant Grunts and Elites.

Cortana: Chief, you need to find the missile controls.

John makes his way over to the launch station, encountering Sangheili, Kig-Yar, and Unggoy Rangers but he manages to take them out.

Cortana: There's the launch station!

The Chief proceeds to activate the console.

MISSILE LAUNCH CONTROL

>INITIATED<

Cortana: Launch initiated!

The silo door on the far side opens, revealing the Hyperion missile underneath. The missile fails to fire, however; the door mechanism is stuck in place.

Cortana: Great, the blast door's jammed! The missile won't fire until it's cleared. Get down there!

Phantoms drop off more troops into the area, forcing John to take them out before he can launch the missile.

John finally reaches the missile. He pushes and then kicks the blast door to its proper position.

Cortana: You did it - get back!

The missile launches, hitting the approaching cruiser, which is charging up a ventral weapon (possibly an energy projector). The cruiser shatters into pieces and the debris drifts over the Dawn. Suddenly, a beam of orange light from the planet scans the Chief.

Cortana: Chief?
Master Chief: The Covenant weren't the ones scanning us.

Massive segments of the planetoid surface begin to retract, revealing a blinding white-blue energy field beneath. Covenant cruisers nearby are sucked into the opening.

Cortana: So, now can we worry about the giant metal planet?

Then the debris starts to suck into the planet.

Cortana: It's using gravity well to pull us inside the surface!

Everything not bolted down is pulled toward the planet.

Cortana: We've gotta hurry. The second we cross the dome's event horizon, its atmosphere is going to tear us apart!
Master Chief: Where are the closest escape pods?
Cortana: Aft vehicle bay! I'm tagging the closest airlock, go!

John makes it inside the airlock, which opens after being depressurized.

System (PA): Hull integrity at 30 percent.
John heads back into another hallway.

System (PA): Warning - system depressurization.

John proceeds down a hallway, but the floor collapses slightly before he can reach the end.

System (PA): Please immediately proceed to nearest life-station.

John heads into an intersection full of Unggoy. Most of the floor suddenly collapses, forcing John to go around the perimeter of the room.

System (PA): Hull integrity at 25 percent.

Cortana: All but one of the grav generators just went dark!
Master Chief: Just keep me pointed at that vehicle bay.

John enters the vehicle bay; the panicking Unggoy inside are promptly crushed by falling debris.

System (PA): Emergency escape pods have been depleted in this area.

The ship continues to crumble around the Chief, who quickly exits the bay.

System (PA): Hull integrity at 15 percent.

A wounded Sangheili limps down the hallway and falls. He struggles to get back up again and expires shortly afterwards, his energy shields flicking off.

System (PA): Hull integrity at 10 percent. Warning - critical ship damage.

Cortana: We're almost there!

System (PA): Hull integrity at 5 percent. Personnel are advised to evacuate immediately.

The Chief charges ahead, rushing past more fleeing Unggoy. By this point, the hallways are continuously bursting into flames.

System (PA): Warning - catastrophic depressurization.

As John makes it to the escape pods, one of the doors is ripped from its hinges.

Cortana: Chief!

He tried to hold onto the door but fails. He manages to grab hold of a railing. The chamber rapidly depressurizes as the walls are peeled away, revealing a Covenant cruiser ahead.

Cortana: Hold on!

The railing eventually gives way as well, and the Master Chief is sucked out of the ship and into the debris field. A hull section slams into John, draining his shields.

Cortana: We're caught in the gravity well!

A large segment of the Dawn smashes violently into a light cruiser, triggering secondary explosions that rip the Covenant warship apart. The body of an Unggoy falls past him and crashes into the burning cruiser.

Master Chief: Can you track the escape pods?
Cortana: Negative - look out!

Master Chief drifts through a gaping hole the impact left in the cruiser. Explosions continue throughout the crippled ship. A piece of debris suddenly hits the Chief at high speed. Knocking him out cold as he falls into the unknown planet.