I am pretty sure this ViDoc is Halsey talking to Auntie Dot....I think that this scene is Halsey seeking a transporter for Auntie Dot and Noble Team happens to be the closest group of Spartans. Halsey then goes through all the members of Noble Team and settles on 6, when Auntie Dot chooses Noble 6 to be her carrier.
I think Apollo is correct on this, especially if
the Halopedia article about Auntie Dot is correct. About 47 seconds in, upon Halsey's command to "Show me Noble team," we see a graphic of an AI working in response. This image is very similar to
Auntie Dot's symbol. And here CG and I were all hyped that it might be our beloved Cortana!
As for Halsey's presence, I can think of two explanations. First, we don't really know much about the shield world that is accessed at the end of
Ghosts of Onyx and we know nothing about what happens to the characters once they enter it. Like John and Cortana's, the fate of Halsey, Kelly, Fred, Mendez etc. is unknown. Since we know nothing about the workings or real (in terms of human time and space) location of the shield world, I suppose it is possible that Halsey is operating from there or has returned from there, but this would put the events of Reach, the game, well after the events we commonly associate with Reach, the planet, since the shield world doesn't open until November 2552. This does not seem to juxtapose with the script of the vidoc, which leaves one with the impression she's in some kind of command and control center on Reach during or in the immediate aftermath of the destruction of Reach.
The more likely explanation is that the events depicted in the vidoc - and one assumes the game as well - are taking place during the period after the Fall of Reach (around August 30) and before Halsey's rescue from Reach by John, Cortana, and company sometime between September 7 and September 12. Does this mean John could conceivably make an appearance in Reach? I bring you good tidings: it is possible. For according to the Halo canon, at least as best as CG and I can figure after a three hour phone call on Saturday which involved lots of annoying mumbly speed-reading on my part, John is, if you like, in two places at once. (This is a poor and I think incorrect way to put it but bear with me.)
The physics escape me - and it is all about physics, as time travel gimickry always is. But the gist is that after the events depicted in Halo 1, John travels back in time via the amazing powers of the crystal discovered by Halsey and team on Reach. How, you ask, is this possible? In version 1 of events, John is in cryo in slipspace aboard the Pillar of Autumn on his way from Reach to Installation 04, or to the events of Halo 1 if you like, from August 30 to September 19. He fights the Flood and Covenant for approximately three days. On September 23, Cortana, John, et al enter slipspace aboard the stolen Ascendant Justice for their journey back to Reach. During the journey, some unusual things happen and we are made aware that Cortana has become unable to predict the length of their trip/their destination time with her usual pinpoint accuracy.
Meanwhile, on Reach, Halsey and several Spartan-II's (NOT III's mind you) have fled underground to escape the Covenant, who are in pursuit of a holy relic. Beneath Menachite Mountain and the UNSC complex located there, Halsey et al discover this relic/crystal on September 7. The crystal is revealed to bend time, space, and gravity. (For more on the crystal, read Enigma's largely plagiarized post
here .) After John's team's rescue of Halsey and the Spartan-II's with her, it is revealed that it is September 12. On September 13, John and company indeed make the "first strike" (I never understood the title of this book until now) when they attack the Unyielding Hierophant, the base where Truth is massing Covenant to attack Earth. Now what does this all mean? I am not the one to explain it for sure but these are the things I grappled with in trying to understand this. Does this mean John has to go back and re-do the destruction of Halo 1? How do the events of timeline 2 re-converge, so to speak, with the events of timeline 1? OR, if you prefer, how does John's physical body (John #2, space traveler) catch up with John #1, Halo destroyer? This isn't really explained as
First Strike ends on the 13th. I imagine a physicist would tell me it's a moot point and there's only ever one version of John, but just at the moment I start to grasp some hazy outline of this, my mind blows up.
I theorize (perhaps?) that it has something to do with slipspace and the fact that John #1 is in slipspace, which is outside of time and space (read: some sort of eternal now) when John #2 is rescuing Halsey. In this sense, the Johns are one and the same. Or something like this....I just made that last part up but I think it sounds cool.
And thank you, CG, for bearing with me and providing all your ideas regarding this thorny issue, which has perplexed me all summer.
P.S.
It can't be Halsey unless it's a legendary ending because Halsey didn't find out about the S-III's untill Ghost's of Onyx (She gained the info in First Strike)
I too am puzzled by Halsey's appearance, CIA, though it does seem to be her. The presence of Spartan-III's on Reach is a complete mystery to me. The Spartan-III is the brainchild of Col. Ackerson, Halsey's mortal enemy. Halsey is not privy to the development of this program, nor would she approve of the methods - Spartan-III's are basically a cheaper, more expendable version of Spartan-II's. Further, Ackerson advocates for the abandonment of Reach. Why would he do this if he knew his troops were on the ground? Is this a renegade group of Spartan-III's or (perhaps more likely) an early experiment that Ackerson wishes to be destroyed? Are there two batches of Spartan-III's, unbeknownst to us, one engineered by Halsey, one by Ackerson? Is Noble Six the Spartan-III flash-clone version of the old MC himself? For these reasons, though, I think it is unlikely the the main game events will revolve around Halsey and Master Chief. The Spartan-II's with Halsey underground are named, and they are not Noble Team.
All that said, I will be vastly disappointed if there isn't something that brings us full circle, especially after all the run-up taglines such as "From the Beginning You Know the End" and, in this case, "A Spartan Will Rise." @: