Halo: Nightfall (2014–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - It's Only Just Beginning - full transcript
A Covenant attack on the planet Sedra unveils a plot to destroy humanity. An ONI team and Sedra military staff must work together, despite their differences, to uncover the location of the element and prevent it from being used again.
AIKEN: Every day birthed anew.
Born a promise.
A million possibilities taking shape
under each new day's sun.
But what if the next time that sun rose
there were no possibilities at all?
Only death.
Yours and of everything
you've ever known.
How would you act
in that darkness beforehand?
How would you go out?
We are simple things, soldiers.
We are taught honor.
Honor means sacrifice.
Sacrifice means death.
Either our own,
or our enemy's.
In some ways,
beneath it all,
that's all a soldier's really trained for.
To undo all of God's work.
To take life where only
God can give it.
Were it that we were not soldiers
but gods.
I'll tell you, Locke.
Worst thing about being
at peace with the Covenant
we're reduced to this.
Trailing small fish.
[Speaking alien language]
Never know.
Chatter we've been getting off this guy is
he's up to something.
Something that would not
bode well for the UNSC.
Any bets on what he's carrying?
Drugs.
Exotic fauna?
HORRIGAN ON EARPIECE: You actually
just said that, didn't you?
Gotta say something to keep it interesting.
[Speaking alien language]
That interesting enough for you?
Vector in.
What's a Covenant dropship doing here?
Backwater like Sedra?
HORRIGAN: What the hell?
An Elite Zealot?
Been years since I've seen a roach.
ESTRIN: Whatever he's got,
that's just black-hole cold.
Stasis refrigerant?
That's only used for one thing.
A bomb.
Not good.
We're moving people. Split up.
Ramos, the little one.
Copy.
[Grunting]
I got him.
Gaines, it's Locke.
Target just handed off to a Zealot.
An Elite?
We think it's a bomb.
Where is he? Where'd he go?
He's heading for the city.
Vectoring to you now.
[Water running]
He's broken into a city access tunnel.
Might lose comm inside.
HORRIGAN: Roger that.
Horrigan, mark my last.
[Footsteps fading]
He ran from the fight.
His target must be the city.
We've got the east side, Locke.
What's there? Talk to me.
Main market.
Maybe 500 Sedrans.
Damn it, we gotta take him out.
He's been seen entering the mall.
[Gun firing]
[Panting]
It's over.
[Breathing heavily]
Give it to me.
[Whirring]
[People screaming]
That can't have been it.
What kind of device was that?
No damage?
It could have been a dud.
An Elite Zealot wouldn't come all this way
to make a mistake like that.
Why did they come all the way
out here at all?
We gotta tell Admiral Goodwin.
He's at the UN meeting.
I wouldn't rattle any cages till
we know what we're dealing with.
[Gasping]
What's going on with her?
I don't know.
She's been affected by something...
[Gaines groaning]
Gaines...
[Alarm blaring]
Keep breathing.
- Secure the entrances.
- Yes sir, Colonel.
Keep breathing.
You're gonna be alright,
you hear me?
Hold it.
ONI, we're clear.
Only Sedran passports
get entrance.
I've got wounded, Colonel.
We can talk politics later.
Go ahead.
Get 'em to decon unit
with the rest of his team.
I don't want 'em spreading
this thing if contagious.
Yes sir, Colonel.
AIKEN: Like that someone can
play God to you.
Someone you don't know.
Invisible, like a malevolent force
beyond the firmament.
Taking from you
our only birthright.
Life.
So what do we do? Just wait?
Find out if it gets us?
Medical says they've never
seen anything like it.
But if we're not showing symptoms at this
point, we might be in the clear.
What the hell did they do to us?
Ramos.
Talk to me, medic.
What do you got?
They're coming in from further
and further from the blast site.
People eight, ten kilometers away
are being affected.
Population of this ward
is 100% human.
It's not affecting
other species.
You're saying they got
their hands on a compound
that selectively kills humans
and nothing else?
RAMOS: It's not a compound.
An element. Closest they can pin it
is the 120 family.
But with a transmutation of
some sort
that makes it something
no one's ever seen.
This thing randomly compromises human
DNA, but not others.
Covenant's found their
holy grail then, haven't they?
Way of wiping us out
without firing a shot.
When we're supposedly
not even at war.
Question is, why Sedra?
Why use this on an outer colony?
Why not hit population centers
like Gannick 22?
Test run, probably.
Porous borders.
Mixed population.
This one works, they go
for the big fish.
Sedrans think this is the mining tug
that was used to smuggle in the element.
The pirates can't be found.
Check that out, Estrin.
Yes sir.
Hey Locke.
Here comes our Sedran Colonel.
What do you got?
Let you know when the time's right.
I suggest we work together on this.
We both want the same thing.
ONI doesn't work alongside anyone.
It's just you and everyone else way below.
So you know I don't write policy.
My two soldiers are up in ICU
because of that blast.
Soldiers I'm responsible for.
I'm asking you
as a fellow officer.
Show them back to
the base, Macer.
Sir.
You're gonna tell me
who flew that tug.
[Grunting]
You keep playing stupid,
you'll be dead inside an hour.
Colonel Aiken.
Mind if we step in, take a shot?
All I mind is you shutting up
and knowing your place.
[Grunts]
This is on you.
You know that, don't you?
They weren't after us,
they were after you. UNSC.
'Cause you were operating here,
on our turf.
You take the good with the bad and the UNSC
have done a lot of good for you.
You're here to expand UNSC's
power, nothing else.
Without a clue about
the cultures you assimilate.
[Snarling]
LOCKE: He says he's
only a middleman.
Told to carry some things to a landing site
and not to ask any questions.
But he did anyhow.
He couldn't find out
what he was carrying, but
found out
where it came from.
He says it's sourced from
a place no one will go.
He says it's sourced from hell.
A place so doomed even the
Elites Zealots won't go there.
So they but it
from someone who will.
If we work backward
through the tug's positioning,
you're never gonna
believe where we end up.
Intense red giant.
Half a dozen charred planets around it,
but that's not the interesting part.
It's the Halo ring.
That's Alpha Halo.
Exactly.
The one the Master Chief destroyed.
And now it's come back to haunt us.
The explosion
and the triggered slipspace
scatters the ring to break
across the galaxy.
This one apparently ends up
in our red giant's orbit.
Be a major peace violation
if anyone went there.
Treaty says no one goes back to
the Ring. Not UNSC, not Covenant.
You think this is where
they're sourcing the element?
Problem is, there's no record of an
element like that on a Halo ring.
MACER: Before the explosion.
After it could be
a different story.
You got a point, private.
Get to it.
Macer. Private first class, sir.
And the point's easy.
For all we know what blew up the
Halo ring was a supernova-level event.
Right push and pull of fission
and fusion and new elements are formed.
Like our mystery element,
Let me guess.
You majored in Physics.
R-regional Nav.
Physics I just leafed through
when I was bored.
Display object's composition.
Element range: 120 to 130.
Cross-reference other planets,
celestial bodies with this element.
Expand search.
Galaxies, known universe.
Looks like we got a one-off.
An element fatal to humans.
Native to this little piece
of Halo ring and nowhere else.
96 square kilometers.
We can nuke it.
Launch it from a destroyer.
Hold up on that.
What do you got, Estrin?
Another inbound.
Tug, just like this one.
Looks like someone's going
back to no man's land.
We don't have a lot of time, Admiral.
Be a bold move, Locke.
Send a team in, destroy the deposits,
nab whoever it is
that's mining the stuff.
And find out who
they're selling it to.
We know who they're selling it to.
Just need proof. Hard proof
the Covenant's broken the treaty.
Then give me the okay.
We're the only ones in the region
who can do anything about it.
Sir, if I may.
Well, it's just, I think there's
more you should know.
Because of its orbit,
this piece of the ring.
has got rotation just like
any other planet.
But the spin's fast. Full day-night
cycle's only 16 hours.
And?
Well, because of proximity
to that star
daytime temperatures reach 900 degrees.
HORRIGAN: They're working
the night shift.
Harvesting the element and they're
long gone before the sun comes up.
Cools to about 130 degrees or so
at night because of the mass.
Gotta admit to them
they do have balls.
We still have enough time to get there
before they're done.
We destroy the deposits
with the Havok,
grab our smugglers,
be off-planet within hours.
Havok's a big ask.
These are big circumstances, sir.
Look, you wanna do this tonight,
your only option is the Sedrans.
Where's Aiken?
Well, he's not to be accessed, sir.
He's not to be accessed, sir!
I hear you need a ship.
All these years
heard about the Halo ring.
Never thought
we'd actually step foot on it.
Won't be the Halo ring
of yore, that's for sure.
They're hooking us up
with a Condor.
LOCKE: Good enough.
ESTRIN: Looks like there's
strings attached.
Sir?
Oxygen packs.
We weren't planning on
co-opting this thing.
You underestimate Sedrans, Commander.
We get punched in the mouth, we don't just
outsource our fight to other people.
We work better alone.
You're lucky ONI is even
coming in an advisory capacity.
We're the ones going to be doing
all the heavy lifting.
We'll see about that.
Lift-off's in 10.
We can't do this.
These people are two
centuries behind us.
They still believe in Valhalla.
LOCKE: I don't think
we have a choice, Horrigan.
[Powering up]
Ready to go to hell, Colonel?
Ever seen a Havok nuke before?
Your friend's wrong about us.
We can fight.
AIKEN: This is a Sedran operation.
Well, we'll be the ones
setting the nuke.
HORRIGAN: Last chance, Colonel.
We can do this on our own.
AIKEN: We do this as a team.
RAMOS: Something about this
place freaks me out.
Whole thing's fried.
Used to be rivers, forests.
LOCKE: If it was living,
it's dead now.
ESTRIN: Not getting any movement.
AIKEN: Got a cave, Macer.
HAISAL: Put down your weapons,
I'm telling you!
[Gunfire]
AIKEN: Take cover!
What the hell are they?
ARRIS: They can even
sense your movements.
HORRIGAN: We gotta get out of
this hole.
Born a promise.
A million possibilities taking shape
under each new day's sun.
But what if the next time that sun rose
there were no possibilities at all?
Only death.
Yours and of everything
you've ever known.
How would you act
in that darkness beforehand?
How would you go out?
We are simple things, soldiers.
We are taught honor.
Honor means sacrifice.
Sacrifice means death.
Either our own,
or our enemy's.
In some ways,
beneath it all,
that's all a soldier's really trained for.
To undo all of God's work.
To take life where only
God can give it.
Were it that we were not soldiers
but gods.
I'll tell you, Locke.
Worst thing about being
at peace with the Covenant
we're reduced to this.
Trailing small fish.
[Speaking alien language]
Never know.
Chatter we've been getting off this guy is
he's up to something.
Something that would not
bode well for the UNSC.
Any bets on what he's carrying?
Drugs.
Exotic fauna?
HORRIGAN ON EARPIECE: You actually
just said that, didn't you?
Gotta say something to keep it interesting.
[Speaking alien language]
That interesting enough for you?
Vector in.
What's a Covenant dropship doing here?
Backwater like Sedra?
HORRIGAN: What the hell?
An Elite Zealot?
Been years since I've seen a roach.
ESTRIN: Whatever he's got,
that's just black-hole cold.
Stasis refrigerant?
That's only used for one thing.
A bomb.
Not good.
We're moving people. Split up.
Ramos, the little one.
Copy.
[Grunting]
I got him.
Gaines, it's Locke.
Target just handed off to a Zealot.
An Elite?
We think it's a bomb.
Where is he? Where'd he go?
He's heading for the city.
Vectoring to you now.
[Water running]
He's broken into a city access tunnel.
Might lose comm inside.
HORRIGAN: Roger that.
Horrigan, mark my last.
[Footsteps fading]
He ran from the fight.
His target must be the city.
We've got the east side, Locke.
What's there? Talk to me.
Main market.
Maybe 500 Sedrans.
Damn it, we gotta take him out.
He's been seen entering the mall.
[Gun firing]
[Panting]
It's over.
[Breathing heavily]
Give it to me.
[Whirring]
[People screaming]
That can't have been it.
What kind of device was that?
No damage?
It could have been a dud.
An Elite Zealot wouldn't come all this way
to make a mistake like that.
Why did they come all the way
out here at all?
We gotta tell Admiral Goodwin.
He's at the UN meeting.
I wouldn't rattle any cages till
we know what we're dealing with.
[Gasping]
What's going on with her?
I don't know.
She's been affected by something...
[Gaines groaning]
Gaines...
[Alarm blaring]
Keep breathing.
- Secure the entrances.
- Yes sir, Colonel.
Keep breathing.
You're gonna be alright,
you hear me?
Hold it.
ONI, we're clear.
Only Sedran passports
get entrance.
I've got wounded, Colonel.
We can talk politics later.
Go ahead.
Get 'em to decon unit
with the rest of his team.
I don't want 'em spreading
this thing if contagious.
Yes sir, Colonel.
AIKEN: Like that someone can
play God to you.
Someone you don't know.
Invisible, like a malevolent force
beyond the firmament.
Taking from you
our only birthright.
Life.
So what do we do? Just wait?
Find out if it gets us?
Medical says they've never
seen anything like it.
But if we're not showing symptoms at this
point, we might be in the clear.
What the hell did they do to us?
Ramos.
Talk to me, medic.
What do you got?
They're coming in from further
and further from the blast site.
People eight, ten kilometers away
are being affected.
Population of this ward
is 100% human.
It's not affecting
other species.
You're saying they got
their hands on a compound
that selectively kills humans
and nothing else?
RAMOS: It's not a compound.
An element. Closest they can pin it
is the 120 family.
But with a transmutation of
some sort
that makes it something
no one's ever seen.
This thing randomly compromises human
DNA, but not others.
Covenant's found their
holy grail then, haven't they?
Way of wiping us out
without firing a shot.
When we're supposedly
not even at war.
Question is, why Sedra?
Why use this on an outer colony?
Why not hit population centers
like Gannick 22?
Test run, probably.
Porous borders.
Mixed population.
This one works, they go
for the big fish.
Sedrans think this is the mining tug
that was used to smuggle in the element.
The pirates can't be found.
Check that out, Estrin.
Yes sir.
Hey Locke.
Here comes our Sedran Colonel.
What do you got?
Let you know when the time's right.
I suggest we work together on this.
We both want the same thing.
ONI doesn't work alongside anyone.
It's just you and everyone else way below.
So you know I don't write policy.
My two soldiers are up in ICU
because of that blast.
Soldiers I'm responsible for.
I'm asking you
as a fellow officer.
Show them back to
the base, Macer.
Sir.
You're gonna tell me
who flew that tug.
[Grunting]
You keep playing stupid,
you'll be dead inside an hour.
Colonel Aiken.
Mind if we step in, take a shot?
All I mind is you shutting up
and knowing your place.
[Grunts]
This is on you.
You know that, don't you?
They weren't after us,
they were after you. UNSC.
'Cause you were operating here,
on our turf.
You take the good with the bad and the UNSC
have done a lot of good for you.
You're here to expand UNSC's
power, nothing else.
Without a clue about
the cultures you assimilate.
[Snarling]
LOCKE: He says he's
only a middleman.
Told to carry some things to a landing site
and not to ask any questions.
But he did anyhow.
He couldn't find out
what he was carrying, but
found out
where it came from.
He says it's sourced from
a place no one will go.
He says it's sourced from hell.
A place so doomed even the
Elites Zealots won't go there.
So they but it
from someone who will.
If we work backward
through the tug's positioning,
you're never gonna
believe where we end up.
Intense red giant.
Half a dozen charred planets around it,
but that's not the interesting part.
It's the Halo ring.
That's Alpha Halo.
Exactly.
The one the Master Chief destroyed.
And now it's come back to haunt us.
The explosion
and the triggered slipspace
scatters the ring to break
across the galaxy.
This one apparently ends up
in our red giant's orbit.
Be a major peace violation
if anyone went there.
Treaty says no one goes back to
the Ring. Not UNSC, not Covenant.
You think this is where
they're sourcing the element?
Problem is, there's no record of an
element like that on a Halo ring.
MACER: Before the explosion.
After it could be
a different story.
You got a point, private.
Get to it.
Macer. Private first class, sir.
And the point's easy.
For all we know what blew up the
Halo ring was a supernova-level event.
Right push and pull of fission
and fusion and new elements are formed.
Like our mystery element,
Let me guess.
You majored in Physics.
R-regional Nav.
Physics I just leafed through
when I was bored.
Display object's composition.
Element range: 120 to 130.
Cross-reference other planets,
celestial bodies with this element.
Expand search.
Galaxies, known universe.
Looks like we got a one-off.
An element fatal to humans.
Native to this little piece
of Halo ring and nowhere else.
96 square kilometers.
We can nuke it.
Launch it from a destroyer.
Hold up on that.
What do you got, Estrin?
Another inbound.
Tug, just like this one.
Looks like someone's going
back to no man's land.
We don't have a lot of time, Admiral.
Be a bold move, Locke.
Send a team in, destroy the deposits,
nab whoever it is
that's mining the stuff.
And find out who
they're selling it to.
We know who they're selling it to.
Just need proof. Hard proof
the Covenant's broken the treaty.
Then give me the okay.
We're the only ones in the region
who can do anything about it.
Sir, if I may.
Well, it's just, I think there's
more you should know.
Because of its orbit,
this piece of the ring.
has got rotation just like
any other planet.
But the spin's fast. Full day-night
cycle's only 16 hours.
And?
Well, because of proximity
to that star
daytime temperatures reach 900 degrees.
HORRIGAN: They're working
the night shift.
Harvesting the element and they're
long gone before the sun comes up.
Cools to about 130 degrees or so
at night because of the mass.
Gotta admit to them
they do have balls.
We still have enough time to get there
before they're done.
We destroy the deposits
with the Havok,
grab our smugglers,
be off-planet within hours.
Havok's a big ask.
These are big circumstances, sir.
Look, you wanna do this tonight,
your only option is the Sedrans.
Where's Aiken?
Well, he's not to be accessed, sir.
He's not to be accessed, sir!
I hear you need a ship.
All these years
heard about the Halo ring.
Never thought
we'd actually step foot on it.
Won't be the Halo ring
of yore, that's for sure.
They're hooking us up
with a Condor.
LOCKE: Good enough.
ESTRIN: Looks like there's
strings attached.
Sir?
Oxygen packs.
We weren't planning on
co-opting this thing.
You underestimate Sedrans, Commander.
We get punched in the mouth, we don't just
outsource our fight to other people.
We work better alone.
You're lucky ONI is even
coming in an advisory capacity.
We're the ones going to be doing
all the heavy lifting.
We'll see about that.
Lift-off's in 10.
We can't do this.
These people are two
centuries behind us.
They still believe in Valhalla.
LOCKE: I don't think
we have a choice, Horrigan.
[Powering up]
Ready to go to hell, Colonel?
Ever seen a Havok nuke before?
Your friend's wrong about us.
We can fight.
AIKEN: This is a Sedran operation.
Well, we'll be the ones
setting the nuke.
HORRIGAN: Last chance, Colonel.
We can do this on our own.
AIKEN: We do this as a team.
RAMOS: Something about this
place freaks me out.
Whole thing's fried.
Used to be rivers, forests.
LOCKE: If it was living,
it's dead now.
ESTRIN: Not getting any movement.
AIKEN: Got a cave, Macer.
HAISAL: Put down your weapons,
I'm telling you!
[Gunfire]
AIKEN: Take cover!
What the hell are they?
ARRIS: They can even
sense your movements.
HORRIGAN: We gotta get out of
this hole.