This thread details the ongoing ONI Archives series, the plot it follows, and efforts to understand and interpret said plot. Also includes efforts to decipher the potential secrets hidden within these archives and beyond.
Trivia
- The “CHELAN” mentioned in the ONI Archive interface is probably a reference to the CHELAN program used for MCC PC. - There doesn’t seem to be messages entangled with the audio in Halo 2’s ONI Archive, but that said I’ve never looked into it myself. ronnie42 has said he’s seen hidden letters here or there, but nothing substantial or coherent. stckrboy’s also taken a look at a spectrogram with what was suspected to be morse code at 2:13, but little came out of that. - LINKs(the number underneath the fluctuating bar) are frozen for Halo CE/2/3, yet aren’t for Reach. Reach’s LINK repeats. - The dates of ONI Archive files correspond to their release dates, except for Halo 2’s.**Noble Endavors-**ONI Archive – Noble Endeavors | Halo: Reach - YouTube
First of its kind and the introduction to the main character of the series: Comms Officer [REDACTED]. He’s the speaker throughout the entire thing(so far), so get used to the voice. He’s also an important character to the bits that aren’t talking about plot points of previous Halo titles; he’s relevant to the plot of ONI Archives.
The first one opens up with an explanation to why ONI Archive exists in the first place: to improve UEG(and moreso ONI) relations with their citizens by educating them on the history, evolution, and application of the Spartan Program, ordered by Schaefer(a high ranking member of ONI Section Two). Except for the bits they don’t neeed to know. Other than that, the Officer speaks on Noble Team’s efforts to fight against the Covenant before the introduction of Noble Six, including mentioning Spartan Thom: The Noble Six before Noble Six, and his sacrifice. Not a lot of hidden plot to this one.
**Conflict Evolved-**ONI Archive – Conflict Evolved | Halo: CE Anniversary - YouTube
The second introduces the legend himself: Master Chief. CO briefly touches on what makes Chief so strong(his augmentations, his armor, Cortana), then moves on to the Pillar of Autumn’s discovery of Installation 04, the beginning of CE.
After, our Comms Officer talks, either to himself or to someone else, about the initial efforts of ONI to try and restore trust and “foster a more unified sense of pride and progress” between the UEG/ONI and the population. He mentions “the brass”(prolly UNSC?) being skeptical about the plan, but would quickly lose that skepticism once their first public enlightenment program was green-lighted and citizens poured into Outpost Discovery. In universe, Outpost Discovery was their way to properly introduce the citizens to Spartans and the history of the Human-Covenant War. It’s success made a couple of ONI’s faces light up.
**Changing Tides-**ONI Archive – Changing Tides | Halo 2: Anniversary - YouTube
The third begins with Chief nuking Installation 04, starting up the events after CE. The Covenant, while in the middle of a civil conflict, faced humanity at Earth, only to have some demon give the them back their bomb. Comms Officer finishes the archive introducing Chief and the UNSC In Amber Clad to Installation 05.
We meet CO with an unidentified, unintelligible voice.
- Comms Officer asks whether or not the info/orders he’s recieving is coming from Schaefer(high-ranker in Section Two responsible for ONI Archive) or Sullivan(most probably Michael Sullivan, Senior Communications Director at ONI) - Whatever info/order he’s receiving sounds out of place for ONI. He notes that he doesn’t even know if ONI has enough reach to do/know about such things. - Comms Officer notes having problems with “mixed messaging” in the past. I see it as a reference to Hunt The Truth and Halo 5’s marketing campaign, but take it as you will.After that, CO is interrupted by Comms Producer Monique Angelo, and cuts the conversation, asking the voice on the other end to send what he has. What exactly this is all about? No clue.
**Allied Forces-**ONI Archive – Allied Forces | Halo 3 - YouTube
Fourth in the series, Comms Officer explains the events of Halo 2: The effects of the Great Schism on the Covenant, preventing the firing of Delta Halo, subtly mentioning the Flood, and Chief’s plan to finish the fight(which he didn’t…). The Covenant made their way to the plains of Africa for the ancient portal at Voi. He concludes with a talk about the importance of unity, whether it be different races or different species.
Our Comms Officer is joined by Comms Specialist P. Andres for a talk on what I’d assume to be the same problem developing in Changing Tides:
- Andres didn’t know who to go to, and decided our Comms Officer would be a worthy pick. - He shows CO data he found during his last “public sentiment scrub on the underground Waypoint channels.”, thinking they weren’t meant to be found but whoever posted them didn’t care if they were. - Whatever was found didn’t have any sort of encryption. Probably why he thinks the leaker didn’t care. - Comms Officer acknowledges that whatever he just found could potentially be a problem.**HELLJUMPERS-**ONI Archive – Helljumpers | Halo 3: ODST - YouTube
Newest to the series, CO gives some respect to the parts of the UNSC that keep it running beyond the Spartans. He specifically notes the ODSTs, and uses the events of Halo 3: ODST’s to show a notable example of the ODST’s importance. He also says that the members of Alpha-Nine had become legend amongst their ranks.
More pressing matters.
Comms Produced Monique Angelo tells CO a “Parker” has been trying to get a hold of him, but CO had been busy. He logs into a comms net and starts communicating with this Parker, now called “Codename FIXER” in the bottom left. Some brief banter about Section 2 is shared, but then Parker drops the niceties and gets straight to the point. Parker needs to know where CO got the “assets”, and CO plays dumb, not knowing what Parker means. Parker makes it clear that he knows what the “assets” are, but doesn’t know from where Section 2 got its hands on it. He just needs to know the source.
Parker isn’t some colonist looking for ONI word games. Chances are Parker is apart of ONI too, given his connection to ONI’s interface and him only going by a first name, suggesting he’s known. Seems like he’s interested in what P. Andres showed CO during Allied Forces.
Reclaiming Our Place - ONI Archive – Reclaiming Our Place | Halo 4 - YouTube
Well, if there was any question about what threat ONI was beginning to notice, I think its somewhat clearer: I think ONI Archives is a precursor to the events of Halo 5, ending at the beginning of the Created uprising. There is also a different section, like a jump in the timeline, that occurs after the Created uprising. There’s no clear explanation what data ONI found that worried them, but given the sudden appearance of a Guardian, part of me would think they were starting to get some warning signs of the Created and Cortana. What specifically, I don’t know.
CO also asks for a “she”(ship? AI? Experimental tech? Actual person, like a Spartan? Dunno) that’s somewhat important to CO’s department. Whatever it is, its pretty important. Its about all I know, but maybe we’ll discover something more later in time.
TLDR - ONI has found a problem and was getting to it. I think ONI Archives tells the story of ONI finding clues of the Created, the sudden attack of the Created during Halo 5, and what ONI’s been doing after the Created uprising to fight back.
