Shutdown

Shutdown is the 6th level in the Halo 4 campaign. It was first announced along with the rest of the achievements for Halo 4. For the first time in any Halo game you can pilot a D79H-TC Pelican as part of the Campaign or Multiplayer. In Halo: Reach this was only achieved with use of an easter egg in Campaign.

Synopsis
The level starts with Master Chief and Cortana in a room on the. Lasky comes down and tells the Chief that he has a fully prepped Pelican gunship in the hangar. Master Chief gets in and leaves the ship through a launch tunnel. John and Cortana head to a tower in an attempt to take down the Didact's shields. They meet much resistance and are stopped twice before taking out the first part of the shield. They return to the Pelican and move to destroy three antennas regulating signals to the Didact. They destroy all three and find that the Didact knows of their plan. They head to a final tower to forcefully block the Didact's escape. Upon defeating heavy Covenant resistance, they reach the control room. Master Chief plugs Cortana in and she takes control of several pillars. However, a rampancy outburst makes her lose control. Several Liches are seen heading towards the Didact's ship as he prepares to leave. Master Chief jumps on one as the fleet exits Requiem and enters slipspace, heading towards the Ivanoff Research Station near Installation 03.

Transcript
Cutscene

Screen fades to Cortana looking at the "sun" Cortana turns around to see Chief loading his weapon. Lasky enters room. Pelican slowly rises behind Chief. Lasky nods his head toward the Pelican. Lasky leaves the room and Cortana looks to Master Chief. Chief retrieves Cortana from the holo-tube and inserts her into his helmet. Screen fades to black.
 * Cortana: I can give you over forty thousand reasons why I know that sun isn't real. I know because the emitter's Rayleigh effect is disproportionate to its suggested size. I know it because its stellar cycle is more symmetrical than an actual star. But for all that, I'll never actually know if it looks real... If it feels real...
 * Cortana: ...before this is all over, promise me you'll figure out which one of us is the machine.
 * Lasky: So what's your plan?
 * Master Chief: Infinity's tracked the Didact's vessel to a docking structure southeast of here. We'll jump ship as Infinity exits the roof.
 * Lasky: You know, I was sent down here with orders to prevent you from leaving. In case you had already gone, I took the precaution of ordering a Pelican outfitted for full combat pursuit.
 * Lasky: I hope to God you're wrong about that Forerunner or whatever he is, Chief. But in the event you're not...
 * Lasky: ... And Chief? Good luck. Both of you.
 * Cortana: ... C'mon, Chief. Take a girl for a ride.

{Gameplay}

Edges of the HUD start to turn into blue static The Pelican's landing pad lowers down to a launch chamber. ''The Pelican launches and flies straight out of the chamber. Behind it, the Infinity gets further and further away as it leaves. The Didact's Cryptum is seen in the center of a large network of floating Forerunner structures, patrolled by CRS-class light cruisers.''
 * Cortana: The Didact used this 'Composer' to create the Prometheans from ancient humans.
 * Cortana: If he's to finish the job, he'll have to find it first. Our best bet to stop him is keep him firmly on Requiem.
 * Marine: Uh... Sir.
 * Cortana: Let's hope Lasky didn't skimp on that Pelican.
 * Marine: That's pretty much the way things are going, ain't it?
 * Marine: This is all kinds of wrong, man.
 * Marine: Master Chief, Sir.
 * Cortana: Initiating pre-flight diagnostics. Forward Autocannon: Check. Lateral Rail Turrets: Check. Main Thrusters: Check. Auxlilary Boosters: Check. All right, keying engines... now.
 * Cortana: It may be a while before we find another ride home. You know that, right?
 * Master Chief: It'll be OK.

The Pelican lands at the first facility and Chief enters. Disruption appears on Chief's HUD. Disruption subsides. Chief activates the switch ''Chief gets onto the gondola and it starts moving toward the carrier wave generator. On its way it is engaged by Kig-Yar Snipers''. ''The gondola abruptly stops. Disruption appears on Chief's HUD.'' The Chief comes under increasingly heavy fire. John-117: Cortana, the override! The Chief fights through Covenant forces, eventually reaching the switch. ''Promethean Knights suddenly teleport into the area. John fights them off.'' ''John reactivates the gondola. Two Knights phase in shortly afterwards.'' A binary rifle-wielding Knight on the second structure fires at the Chief. The gondola grinds to a halt. ''Several Knights, supported by Watchers and Crawlers, block the way ahead. The Chief disposes of them, freeing the gondola.'' ''A Knight Commander phase in to stop John, wielding an incineration cannon. He fails. The Chief enters the energy field.'' ''The beam vanishes, depleting the Chief's shields. Half a dozen Watchers phase in, attacking him.'' The Didact's voice oddly echoes, as if he is speaking directly into John's mind. The Watchers are quickly wiped out, allowing the Chief to reactivate the gondola. The Chief exits the spire and boards his Pelican, heading for the second tower. After downing the patrolling Phantoms, the Chief enters the second spire. After a short battle with a Watcher and Crawlers, the Chief enters the main chamber. A NAV point appears on the Chief's HUD. He proceeds to activate the switch. ''The walls reassemble themselves, forming bridges to the attennuators. More Knights phase in to protect the orbs.'' After killing the Knight, the Chief destroys the first attenuator. ''The Chief proceeds to destroy the second attenuator. Waves of Prometheans attempt to stop his intrusion.'' Advancing despite heavy opposition, the Chief successfully destroys the final attenuator. The Chief exits the tower after disposing of stragglers, boarding his Pelican once more. ''John enters the third spire's interior. The tunnel leads to a gravity lift, which the Chief proceeds to board.'' ''John arrives upstairs. Covenant forces occupy the interior, composed of hovering platforms linked by hardlight bridges. Several platforms ahead of him suddenly crumbles.'' ''John charges ahead, eliminating Covenant forces along the way. A Sangheili Warrior blocks his path, but is quickly dealt with. To his left is a platform occupied by Jackals; here lies the fifth Terminal.'' ''Two Hunters descend down the gravity lift, forcing the Chief to confront them. John rides up another gravity lift afterwards, arriving at a massive chamber patrolled by Covenant infantry and air units. After wiping out hostile forces with his own Banshee, the Chief enters a doorway on the far side of the chamber and into the control room. Outside its window, the Cryptum hovers ominously.'' ''John plugs her into the terminal. Cortana's avatar appears, distorted and flickering.'' The spires move to surround the Cryptum, physically blocking it from launching. The towers begins to fall apart. ''Cortana suddenly thrashes in agony as the spires plummet downwards, crushing a nearby Lich in the process. Several more fly towards the Cryptum.'' ''Cortana's avatar fades back into a sphere, flickering between blue and red. John plugs her back into his helmet.'' John's HUD flickers purple as Cortana speaks. The control room's floor retracts downward, allowing the Chief outside. John runs off the edge of the platform, aiming for the Liches below. {Cutscene} ''John spreads out his arms, then tucks himself streamlined to fall as fast as he can. He then spins himself upright and uses his thrusters to slow and land on top of the Lich. He crashes hard into the dropship and slides off the hull; unsheathing his combat knife in the nick of time, he stabs into the plating to stop his descent. With some effort, John climbs back on the Lich.'' ''Above them, the Cryptum plummets into the ground. An entry point opens up, allowing the Cryptum access. The ground parts to reveal an enormous Forerunner flagship, surrounded by hundreds of Liches. Requiem's entrance portal opens up, allowing the ship to leave for orbit.'' John, still aboard the Lich, observes as the flagship opens a portal into slipspace. ''John activates his thrusters and leaps up, taking cover behind one of the Lich's fins. The flagship and its Lich escorts raise their shields as they approach the rupture. After the vessels have crossed the event horizon, the portal dissolves.'' ''Cut to black. Level ends.''
 * Cortana: Contact. Didact. Dead Ahead.
 * Master Chief: How do we get inside those shields?
 * Cortana: Marking two of the larger facilities on you HUD.
 * Cortana: They're acting as traffic control for resources moving to and from the satellite.
 * Cortana: If we can disrupt their communications, I can forge an override code and convince it to lower those defenses.
 * Cortana: This tower's directing traffic to the Didact's satellite through a carrier wave generator located somewhere inside.
 * Cortana: Of course, if Infinity wasn't on its way back to Earth, locating and disabling it would be trivial.
 * Master Chief: We can handle it.
 * Cortana: That's hardly the point, is it?
 * Cortana: I've found the carrier wave generator. It's on the opposite end of this chamber.
 * Cortana: We can use this gondola to cross to the other side. Find the activation switch.
 * Cortana: To take a page out of our old playbook, I'm going to tune your shield to emit an EMP at the same frequency as the communication network.
 * Cortana: All you'll need to do to trigger it is to make physical contact with the carrier wave generator.
 * Cortana: Taking fire! Starboard side!
 * Master Chief: Why are we stopping?
 * Cortana: Stopping?
 * Cortana: They've... they've overridden the gondola controls?
 * Master Chief: Light up the override on the HUD.
 * Cortana: ...here!
 * Cortana: Okay; the lockout has been released, but-
 * Cortana: Okay, start us back up.
 * Cortana: They're not going to make this easy, are they?
 * Cortana: Look out!
 * Cortana: We've got another squad, moving to override the transport controls. Power this crate back up, we're just about to the carrier wave generator.
 * Cortana: On the platform; that's the carrier wave generator! Enter the carrier field to trigger the suit's EMP.
 * Cortana: Give it a second...
 * Didact: The others scatter like embers over sand. And yet the Librarian's champion is unmoved.
 * Cortana: Well done. All communications from this tower have ceased.
 * Didact: "The Mantle of Responsibility for the galaxy shelters all, human. But only the Forerunners are its masters."
 * John-117: Cortana, where's this coming from?
 * Cortana: Where's what coming from?
 * John-117: The Didact's voice.
 * Cortana: I'm not picking up anything, Chief.
 * John-117: He's there. Keep trying.
 * Cortana: Covenant air traffic's increasing. If we don't disable the other tower quickly, reaching the Didact could become exponentially more difficult.
 * Cortana: Chief, there's a lot more comm traffic passing through this tower than just what's servicing the Didact's satellite. These systems use data attenuators to regulate the flow of communications. Destroying those would drown out the towers' transmissions. The towers' instructions to the Didact's shields would be drowned in noise.
 * Cortana: The tower's attenuator would most likely be housed in a Faraday enclosure. Let's see if we can find its controls around here somewhere...
 * Cortana: Okay, the structure actually contains three central attenuators. We'll have to sever all three connections.
 * Cortana: Knight!
 * Cortana: Nicely done, Chief. Two more to go.
 * Didact: Your actions tread between honor and foolishness.
 * John-117: Cortana, are you hearing him?
 * Cortana: No. Didact?
 * Cortana: More Knights!
 * Didact: You are a fool. Even now, your kind tinkers with the Composer in the shadow of the third ring. Children and fire, who disregard the welfare of the galaxy.
 * Cortana: Success - the system's overloading. I don't think we'll be having any more trouble from those shields.
 * Didact: Do you truly believe that your theatrics can prevent my departure? Embrace your sad fate and retain your nobility - I am already beyond you.
 * Cortana: He knows what we're trying to do. If we try to get too close to that ship, we're dead. I...I have an idea. Head for that waypoint.
 * As the Chief approaches Cortana's waypoint, the spire's surface splits into segments, uncovering the entrance.
 * Cortana: Those defense spires we keep running into are being controlled from this tower. Get me to the control room and we might be able to reposition them to block the Didact's ship from leaving.
 * Didact: You will relent, Human, or you will perish! All in life is choice. And your day to choose...has come.
 * Cortana: He's altering the tower!
 * Cortana: I'm seeing a control facility at the top of the tower. We need to be there yesterday!
 * Cortana: Quick, let me at the spire controls.
 * Cortana: Tapping into the spires' central net.
 * Cortana (rampant): They're mine... Now to imprison them?!
 * John-117: What are you doing?
 * Cortana: Like he imprisoned his Prometheans? Like Dr. Halsey imprisoned me?!
 * Cortana: Chief...
 * John-117: His ship's online! They're leaving!
 * Cortana: ...I'm sorry, I don't know what-
 * John-117: Track those Liches. We can go across them to get to the Didact's ship.
 * Cortana: Wait. Across them?!
 * John-117: Yes.
 * Cortana: Um, there...there are several Liches moving in formation towards the Didact's ship. We're only going to have one shot at this.
 * Cortana: Okay...go!
 * John-117: Cortana, what's happening?
 * Cortana: "I don't know. Hang on!"
 * Cortana: "They're jumping into slipspace - get below deck!"
 * John-117: No time.

Trivia

 * Through a glitch, one can skip the first two towers and head directly to the third tower, drastically cutting the level short.
 * The mission is similar to the New Alexandria night mission on Reach in that the player must navigate great expanses between towers to get to their objectives. Both levels also enable the use of an aircraft that are not normally piloted by the player in Campaign (the Falcon in the case of Reach).
 * There is an easter egg in this level in which comedians Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter are featured. They discusses a worker's union, boxes, rugs, and "never waking ancient aliens" with another marine.
 * There is another Easter Egg similar to the one above, except one will hear the War Games announcer, Jeff Steitzer. The Easter Egg can be seen here.
 * If an autosentry is deployed on the Gondola, it will not move along with the Gondola and will instead remain stationary. If it comes into contact with any solid part of the Gondola, it will simply pass right through.
 * This is actually the first level the player is meant to use the Pelican.
 * ​In the hangar were the Pelican is, there are a total of 39 marines and Spartans occupying the hangar.
 * If one knows where the Conan O'Brien easter egg is, then look to Conan's direct left, there will be a box of shotguns in the far corner.
 * If one approaches Didact's Cryptum, one will be killed by a "shockwave" similar to the one seen on Forerunner.
 * Looking for a "challenge" on this level? Try setting the game to a higher difficulty, add skulls, and start the mission. Stockpile weapons in a "console room" and try to clear the hangar of UNSC forces. It is interesting to note when trying this, multiple squads of Marines and Spartans will spawn, sometimes directly behind you.
 * Killing enough UNSC personnel in the bay may cause a Marine resembling Sergeant Johnson to spawn with a shotgun.
 * Playing in Co-op will make the side turrets and a "scorpion cannon" on the top usable. These weapons are extremley lethal if used while in the hangar, being able to kill a Spartan in one shot.