All Finds: "Winter Contingency" (Mission 2)

[Phantasm 08]

I'm still confused by the audio files. Do they play when the data pads are accessed? And if so, how the heck are we gonna get  number 19?

[Phantasm 08]

I'm going to go in order, by what I hear.  I'm not looking at what CG's posts say, because I don't want to give myself a bias.

1)Either "Welcome, Scion" as Apollo hears, or "Welcome child".  I'll check halopedia for anything that might be related.  I'll also check other things that sound similar.

2)"Retransmit" or "retranslate"

3)"Corruption contained"

4)"Readyage confirmed", or "lineage confirmed" (I think I was biased on this; CG, you should probably separate the clips from what we think they say)

5)"Purge initiated"

6)"Rogue confirmed" or "Role confirmed"

7)"Protocols reinstated"

8)"Purge initiated"

9)"Reach identified" or "Breach identified"

10)"Corruption contained"

We should take this one to the masses.  Take the full recording and ask people what they hear each time; we need a larger sample size than we have on this site, and we also need to separate the audio clips from speculation of what they say.  

[turokman2000]

I have a rather extensive theory, that I'm not so sure about anymore, which if you want to read it is here:
http://reachtheory.blogspot.com/2010/09/ai-theory.html

It has more to do with Halsey's Journal, but the gist as well as major supporting fact of the theory has to do with Dr. Sorvad's coincidental death.  Dr. Sorvad is the dead scientist in this level, and the relay hub in Visegrad went dead two days beforehand right when Dr. Sorvad sent Halsey a message saying he was about to send her the 'latchkey'.

The basic premise of my theory is that the AI's in the data pads are behind what happened to Dr. Sorvad and therefore possibly bringing the Covenant to Reach

I won't go too much into my theory, but here's a discovery: In Halsey's Journal, it says that Dr. Sorvad was paranoid about his safety and that of his crew.  The journal references a 'Farragut Station' and how people there had disappeared (farragut station is the old run-down building outside of Sword Base) in connection with what seems to be xenoarchealogical work.  We know from "the Package" what Sword Base is all about in that respect.

In the journal, it says that Dr. Sorvad intentionally keeps a "skeleton crew", because he doesn't want too many to be sacrificed in case they 'find out too much' (that's the clear implication).  The Data Pads make it clear that the AIs knew about the Forerunner for some time and did NOT want the humans to know about them.  Read my theory for more evidence.

Interestingly, in "Winter Contingency", the label that appears in-game right before you discover Dr. Sorvad's body is "Skeleton Crew".   At the relay switch at the end of the level, the dead civilians have a screwdriver, a voltimeter for EE work.  Can we find out more?  Maybe piece together clues about what really happened between the time Dr. Sorvad sets out for the relay hub to send the latchkey to Halsey, and two days later when Noble arrives and finds the Covenant there.  It doesn't seem likely that the Covenant have been there for too long, Sorvad's daughter is still alive....

Also, a last bit of evidence.  The radio chatter on overlook talks about how the innies might have hit the relay hub because it connects Northern Reach to the rest of the colonies (not the whole planet).  The transcript I read mentions ?oilfields?, but I think this could be "ONI bases".  ONI seems to like to build on top of Forerunnersites, so, is there a deeper connection between this attack, the latchkey, and ONI?

I'm saying this in this thread because I think search parties should keep this in mind as they try to find clues in the game about what was going on.

[Pulse Cloud]

I'm kinda throwing pancakes here, but I keep thinking about the word "latchkey".
In the game, Halsey made clear "latchkey" was an important word...
So I searched a dictionary for "latchkey"'s meaning and found that a latchkey is "a key for an outside door or gate, esp one that lifts a latch".

So, after Winter Contingency, ie, after having the "latchkey" (the Data Crystal Chip from Sorvad), what outside, latched door or gate could be opened with it?

[nightcrafter27]

I have a rather extensive theory, that I'm not so sure about anymore, which if you want to read it is here:
http://reachtheory.blogspot.com/2010/09/ai-theory.html

It has more to do with Halsey's Journal, but the gist as well as major supporting fact of the theory has to do with Dr. Sorvad's coincidental death.  Dr. Sorvad is the dead scientist in this level, and the relay hub in Visegrad went dead two days beforehand right when Dr. Sorvad sent Halsey a message saying he was about to send her the 'latchkey'.

The basic premise of my theory is that the AI's in the data pads are behind what happened to Dr. Sorvad and therefore possibly bringing the Covenant to Reach

I won't go too much into my theory, but here's a discovery: In Halsey's Journal, it says that Dr. Sorvad was paranoid about his safety and that of his crew.  The journal references a 'Farragut Station' and how people there had disappeared (farragut station is the old run-down building outside of Sword Base) in connection with what seems to be xenoarchealogical work.  We know from "the Package" what Sword Base is all about in that respect.

In the journal, it says that Dr. Sorvad intentionally keeps a "skeleton crew", because he doesn't want too many to be sacrificed in case they 'find out too much' (that's the clear implication).  The Data Pads make it clear that the AIs knew about the Forerunner for some time and did NOT want the humans to know about them.  Read my theory for more evidence.

Interestingly, in "Winter Contingency", the label that appears in-game right before you discover Dr. Sorvad's body is "Skeleton Crew".   At the relay switch at the end of the level, the dead civilians have a screwdriver, a voltimeter for EE work.  Can we find out more?  Maybe piece together clues about what really happened between the time Dr. Sorvad sets out for the relay hub to send the latchkey to Halsey, and two days later when Noble arrives and finds the Covenant there.  It doesn't seem likely that the Covenant have been there for too long, Sorvad's daughter is still alive....

Also, a last bit of evidence.  The radio chatter on overlook talks about how the innies might have hit the relay hub because it connects Northern Reach to the rest of the colonies (not the whole planet).  The transcript I read mentions ?oilfields?, but I think this could be "ONI bases".  ONI seems to like to build on top of Forerunnersites, so, is there a deeper connection between this attack, the latchkey, and ONI?

I'm saying this in this thread because I think search parties should keep this in mind as they try to find clues in the game about what was going on.

I agree with you, 100%. Nice of you to join us.

[Imppa]

So, after Winter Contingency, ie, after having the "latchkey" (the Data Crystal Chip from Sorvad), what outside, latched door or gate could be opened with it?

Wasn't it for the Forerunner Artifact that was seen in Halsey's lab?

[turokman2000]

I think the artifact in Halsey's lab is just "knowledge" of which Cortana is the "guardian".  The ONI lab is like a bridge and there are wires connecting the glowy ball to Cortana's chamber, so there's that connection.

The 'latchkey' is probably some code that gives basic access.  Is Bungie retconning the Fall of Reach?  Is the "knowledge" merely getting to Halo?  Or is there more to it?

The important question to answer is, if there is more to it, what exactly is that?

And of course, why was Dr. Sorvad so paranoid?  In other words, WHO was he afraid of?

[nightcrafter27]

I think the artifact in Halsey's lab is just "knowledge" of which Cortana is the "guardian".  The ONI lab is like a bridge and there are wires connecting the glowy ball to Cortana's chamber, so there's that connection.

The 'latchkey' is probably some code that gives basic access.  Is Bungie retconning the Fall of Reach?  Is the "knowledge" merely getting to Halo?  Or is there more to it?

The important question to answer is, if there is more to it, what exactly is that?

And of course, why was Dr. Sorvad so paranoid?  In other words, WHO was he afraid of?

Wait. If Cortana is the guardian of the knowledge of Halo...then was the slipspace jump that led to the finding of Halo not so random?

[Scatcycle]

I think the artifact in Halsey's lab is just "knowledge" of which Cortana is the "guardian".  The ONI lab is like a bridge and there are wires connecting the glowy ball to Cortana's chamber, so there's that connection.

The 'latchkey' is probably some code that gives basic access.  Is Bungie retconning the Fall of Reach?  Is the "knowledge" merely getting to Halo?  Or is there more to it?

The important question to answer is, if there is more to it, what exactly is that?

And of course, why was Dr. Sorvad so paranoid?  In other words, WHO was he afraid of?

Wait. If Cortana is the guardian of the knowledge of Halo...then was the slipspace jump that led to the finding of Halo not so random?

That makes sense. The brig wouldn't set a slip space jump to a random coordinate, Cortana gave them the path to halo.

[Kevoun]

Been pondering things today.

I've been thinking about how the 10th pad is being carried by an elite and why that would be so.  Has anyone considered that there may be some significance to where the pads are found?  Considering he is running away from the beacon it's probably just something he grabbed that looked important.

It seems pretty suspicious that all of the pads would be crossed during specifically Noble 6's missions without some kind of manipulation or big coincidence, especially if you consider that the AIs might be manipulating some of the covenant's actions as well.

There is also a striking parallel between the Elite Recon teams (the red guys from the cutscene) and the Spartan Noble team: the fact that they are likely carrying out secretive missions concerning sensitive data about forerunners.  Also they are both at the same place at the same time right after this Sorvad incidence, and Halsey is angry that the Elites got away.  It seems like the Elites sabotaged what the Spartans were really investigating by killing the Skeleton crew

Also I was playing Halo CE the other day and Keyes seems surprised that the covenant were able to 'follow' them into the 'random' slipspace jump.  Cortana probably knew exactly where the Pillar of Autumn was going and why, but I don't know enough about what is going on to determine if the covenant were already there or if they showed up at the same time.  If they showed up at the same time, how did they have the location of the Halo ring as well?

[Imppa]

Also I was playing Halo CE the other day and Keyes seems surprised that the covenant were able to 'follow' them into the 'random' slipspace jump.  Cortana probably knew exactly where the Pillar of Autumn was going and why, but I don't know enough about what is going on to determine if the covenant were already there or if they showed up at the same time.  If they showed up at the same time, how did they have the location of the Halo ring as well?

I think the jumps are traceable: the Covenant seem to be able to locate the destination of the jump, and thanks to their speed, they can easily be there first.

[Kevoun]

Also I was playing Halo CE the other day and Keyes seems surprised that the covenant were able to 'follow' them into the 'random' slipspace jump.  Cortana probably knew exactly where the Pillar of Autumn was going and why, but I don't know enough about what is going on to determine if the covenant were already there or if they showed up at the same time.  If they showed up at the same time, how did they have the location of the Halo ring as well?

I think the jumps are traceable: the Covenant seem to be able to locate the destination of the jump, and thanks to their speed, they can easily be there first.

Yeah they probably just have better tech

[nightcrafter27]

Also I was playing Halo CE the other day and Keyes seems surprised that the covenant were able to 'follow' them into the 'random' slipspace jump.  Cortana probably knew exactly where the Pillar of Autumn was going and why, but I don't know enough about what is going on to determine if the covenant were already there or if they showed up at the same time.  If they showed up at the same time, how did they have the location of the Halo ring as well?

I think the jumps are traceable: the Covenant seem to be able to locate the destination of the jump, and thanks to their speed, they can easily be there first.

Yeah they probably just have better tech

I think Cortana says something like:"Noone could have missed the hole we tore in slipspace", meaning the whereby being sneaky, just trying to GTFO

[turokman2000]

This is a good point: is there a significance to the DP locations?  It could be that they're there for gameplay sake (hard to find), but it's worth making a list.  Everything in Reach is well scripted, there are no 'random dead marines'.  For example, on Nightfall, there are dead militia guys.