Mission 1: Trinity
Fade in from Black
A pelican is flying high above agricultural fields towards a far off city.
The camera cuts to the inside of the pelican, showing the 5 ODSTs sitting on the seats.
Pilot (Australian Accent, Radio): 1 minute until we reach the LZ, Foxtrot.
David Fox: Acknowledged. Foxtrot, we’ll be quelling riots in the Capital, New Alhambra. Crowd control only, no lethal bullets except you, Chris. You know your way around the gun. No fatalities unless absolutely necessary.
Christopher Birch: Yes sir.
The camera cuts to the pelican ducking under a bridge between two skyscrapers and dropping the ODSTs in a wide side street near protestors in a plaza. The buildings are very tall.
The player gets Christopher Birch’s First Person View as he climbs down the ramp.
Flash White, Fade in FPS
The player gains control of Christopher Birch. The player has a black pistol, with a Silenced SMG as a secondary.
David Fox, Radio: OK Foxtrot Grey, move out! Collect the civilians in a pincer movement! No fatalities! Use your weapons to scare them!
Christopher Birch: Understood.
A tutorial appears on screen on Easy and Normal. On Heroic and Legendary, only a single line appears.
ON SCREEN COMMAND: RT to scare civilians. Don’t shoot them!
If the player doesn’t shoot, a civilian shouts that they aren’t scared of the player. If the player trains their sight on the civilian, they back up. If the player shoots, the whole crowd backs up screaming. Shooting a civilian makes the other ODSTs hostile, and fails the mission.
Dmitri Karashnokov, Radio: Why are we doing ONI’s dirty work for them?
David Fox, Radio: Ours is not to ask why, Dmitri! Just push em’ to the centre and then let ONI disperse them.
Anywhere the player walks, Civilians back up. Occasionally the player must shoot to get them moving.
ONI Officer, Radio: Well done, Foxtrot Grey. I’ll drop a friendly word in with the Endurance’s Captain for you.
Dmitri Karashnokov, Radio (Hostile): I bet you will.
David Fox: Dmitri, I know you don’t like it, and neither do I, but I’ll be -Yoink!- if your brother ever complained. Baeriswil Karashnokov was the best soldier I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t be here today if he hadn’t saved me from that Hunter.
Dougal O’Brian: Like I haven’t saved your life, boss.
The player advances once more and crushes the crowd against a flagpole with the Insurrectionist flag on it in the centre of the Plaza.
David Fox: You probably all have. OK guys, I think we’re almost done here. Time to hand over to the ONI guys. Chris, time to shoot down the Flag.
A waypoint is marked on the flag.
The player must line up a shot with zoom on the flagpole. As they do, a scripted first person cutscene occurs where a Civilian rushes forward and knocks the gun out of your hand, knocking you out of zoom.
Civilian A: What gives you the right to rule us from lightyears away? Let us control our own destiny!
The man is shot in the head by an ONI officer. Several civilians scream.
Birch raises his SMG at the Officer’s head.
Christopher Birch: Drop the gun!
The Officer drops his pistol.
Christopher Birch: That civilian was defenceless. Crowd control is one thing, but this is another. This is oppression. Get on your knees, hands on head.
Several civilians scream and tell Chris to kill him.
ONI Officer: But…
Christopher Birch: ON YOUR KNEES!
The ONI officer get onto his knees and places his hands on his head.
ONI Officer: Please! Don’t kill me!
Christopher Birch: You’ve broken the one rule every soldier must stand by. Never kill a civilian. You have to die.
ONI Officer: Oh god…please…I don’t want to die!sobs
Birch lines up his SMG, but David Fox grabs his arm and lowers it.
David Fox: Christopher. There’s no need for any more deaths today.
The ONI officer stands up.
ONI Officer: I’ll have you on a charge for insubordination! You’ll be sorry!
David Fox: Get out of here now. Use our pelican, it’s parked over there. Tell the pilot you have my permission to be transported to Endurance.
The ONI Officer leaves.
The view turns to face Fox.
David Fox: Leave it, Birch. That’s an order.
Birch walks away, but turns as Fox begins to shout to the crowd.
David Fox, Shouted: Hey, everybody, listen up!
The crowd go quiet.
David Fox, Shouted: I’m proud to announce that you got yourselves a new negotiating team! You won’t put up with that, and neither will we!
The crowd cheer.
Ingrid Brave (Radio): Sir, I’ve got a Slipspace signature 16 clicks north of us. No scheduled path either, so I’m…wait. The signature is Covenant!
Three phantoms fly overhead, spattering the crowd with plasma fire. One hits the aforementioned bridge between two buildings and explodes, wedging it’s wreckage in the bridge. A carrier passes overhead. The crowd begins screaming and running. More phantoms come, this time dropping troops.
The player regains control and can pick up the pistol and ammo on the ground in the panicking crowd.
David Fox, Radio: Birch, get on the Covenant in the plaza. Kill the -Yoinks!-, goddamnit!
The crowd gone now, having escaped down various alleyways which have now been closed off by blast doors. A few are running for cover under a building’s canopy, which is up some stairs behind some cars which were barricades for protestors.
David Fox, Radio: Brave, get over to that elevator. It’s probably been disabled, but our pelican’s gone and I don’t have radio contact with Endurance. We need a holdout place. A roof is a great place to do that. I want it working in 5.
Ingrid Brave, Radio: I’ll try sir.
More phantoms and two spirits begin dropping more higher-level troops.
David Fox, Radio: Dmitri, Dougal, I want you guarding her. Birch, I’m with you.
A “defend” objective appears at the elevator. The player must survive three waves with various updates from Ingrid. After three waves…
Ingrid Brave, Radio: I’ve got it, sir! It’s ready to go!
Christopher Birch: Roger.
David Fox, Radio: Go, go, go!
Another wave of phantoms arrive, much stronger this time, and begins attacking.
When the player reaches the elevator. There are many civilians waiting in the large elevator, which closes as soon as the player and Fox arrive in it. There is a short wait, and then the doors open out to a roof high above the plaza.
Two phantoms rise above the building and begin pelting it with fire. There is a rocket turret on the edge of the building.
Once both are destroyed…
David Fox: I’ve made contact with Endurance, team. The pelican is arriving now.
When the player reaches the pelican, a cutscene starts, showing the interior of the pelican as it flies away.
Dmitri Karashnokov: We need to return and save the city.
David Fox: We will, but this time we’ll have Endurance behind us.
The camera cuts to the pelican flying upwards into the grey clouds.
Fade to Black
That’s mission one of Halo: Uprising. The plot’s gonna twist a bit. What are your thoughts and suggestions?