Force Subtraction: Halo

[Master_Baerne]

And for my next trick, I shall present an entirely new type of Force Sub: Now, instead of switching armies, we remove them entirely!

Specifically, what would happen in Halo: Combat Evolved if the Flood had not captured the Truth and Reconciliation? Imagine that the UNSC Marines sent to capture the cruiser (as per the novel) succeeded, and arrived back at earth with a Covenant Cruiser, the Master Chief, and Cortana. What would happen?

I suspect that, as the plan was for the Master Chief to destroy Halo and then meet Truth and Reconciliation in orbit, the Arbiter's saga would remain unchanged. Halo 2 would probably happen as planned, but with a Covenant Cruiser and whatever could be reverse-engineered or duplicated from it bolstering the human forces.

Meanwhile, Section 3 would have a field day with the Covenant technology, and human ships would receive energy shields in fairly short order. This would be very useful, to say the least.

[Mr Bean]

According to Halo's EU the marines and the Spartan's were going to steal SOME Covenant crusier and use it to find the Covenant home planet and then decapitate the Covenant leadership. Not as a simple technology grab.

Minus the flood, there exists no reason to blow Halo, and no reason to give a damn about 343. Remember the Arbiter only ended up that way because Master Chief blew up the "holy ring" that was Halo.

[Lazarus]

I think he means rather than remove the flood entirely, simply remove them from the Truth, else it changes the entire Halo story.

I reckon the Truth's capture will aid the defense of Earth considerably, but not enough to prevent Covenant landfall. However, the vessel itself would probably make a good account of itself against the first Covenant fleet which broke through to New Mombassa, especially with Cortana's modifications, and so might prevent any ships breaking through the defense grid at all.

As for reverse-engineered technology, I'm not so sure that 'UNSC ships would gets shields' is too likely. The time between the destruction of Halo and the Covenant attack of Earth is a matter of a few months at most, which is certainly enough to increase understanding of Covenant tech but not really enough to start applying it wholesale.

[Master_Baerne]

I didn't explain enough. According to Halo: The Flood, the companion novel for Halo: CE, the Marines on Halo were going to go back to Earth onboard the Covenant Cruiser Truth and Reconciliation, after capturing it from the Covenant. It was, unfortunately, occupied by the Flood, and a Marine Lieutenant was forced to destroy the cruiser in order to prevent Flood expansion. What would happen if this cruiser was not occupied by the Flood, and was able to make it back to Earth?

[Peptuck]

Minus the flood, there exists no reason to blow Halo, and no reason to give a damn about 343. Remember the Arbiter only ended up that way because Master Chief blew up the "holy ring" that was Halo.

I don't think it would change things much. He'd still get reamed for his other failures, and may still get busted down in rank or branded a heretic. And one way or the other, Truth is going to betray the Elites, and the Supreme Commander/Arbiter would probably take command.

[Molyneux]

That really struck me as a badly-written scene in the book; hadn't they mostly cleared the T&R of Flood infestation when the ship was sabotaged (by an uninfested Marine)?

Anyway, Halo has a few more living heroes, which provides an additional morale boost to humanity, and the capture of a semi-intact Covenant warship can't be construed as anything other than a great opportunity for UNSC R&D. Given the Covenant's conservative stance towards changes in strategy or equipment, it could essentially give the UNSC a copy of the Covenant playbook.

[Master_Baerne]

That really struck me as a badly-written scene in the book; hadn't they mostly cleared the T&R of Flood infestation when the ship was sabotaged (by an uninfested Marine)?

The Marine's CO, one Major Antonio Silva, planned to take samples of Flood forms back to Earth, to show the populace the new threat. Seeing the idiocy of this plan, his XO destroyed the ship.

[Molyneux]

That really struck me as a badly-written scene in the book; hadn't they mostly cleared the T&R of Flood infestation when the ship was sabotaged (by an uninfested Marine)?

The Marine's CO, one Major Antonio Silva, planned to take samples of Flood forms back to Earth, to show the populace the new threat. Seeing the idiocy of this plan, his XO destroyed the ship.

Okay, so the scene is even dumber than I'd thought.
So instead of implementing a failsafe self-destruct on the off chance that the Flood wouldn't break containment, or relieving her CO of command on grounds of obvious mental incompetence...she commits suicide and murders a shipload of Marines. A shining example of military intelligence, that.

[Peptuck]

That really struck me as a badly-written scene in the book; hadn't they mostly cleared the T&R of Flood infestation when the ship was sabotaged (by an uninfested Marine)?

The Marine's CO, one Major Antonio Silva, planned to take samples of Flood forms back to Earth, to show the populace the new threat. Seeing the idiocy of this plan, his XO destroyed the ship.

Okay, so the scene is even dumber than I'd thought.
So instead of implementing a failsafe self-destruct on the off chance that the Flood wouldn't break containment, or relieving her CO of command on grounds of obvious mental incompetence...she commits suicide and murders a shipload of Marines. A shining example of military intelligence, that.

To be fair, she was apparently in a state of complete and total mental collapse by that point.

[The Grim Squeaker]

The Marine's CO, one Major Antonio Silva, planned to take samples of Flood forms back to Earth, to show the populace the new threat. Seeing the idiocy of this plan, his XO destroyed the ship.

Okay, so the scene is even dumber than I'd thought.
So instead of implementing a failsafe self-destruct on the off chance that the Flood wouldn't break containment, or relieving her CO of command on grounds of obvious mental incompetence...she commits suicide and murders a shipload of Marines. A shining example of military intelligence, that.

To be fair, she was apparently in a state of complete and total mental collapse by that point.

There was also the fear that the Flood would stow away inside the ship, or that the infection might pass on via the cellular level. A rather justified fear, if you consider how good the Flood where at hiding inside barrels, weapons, pipings in the Forerunner station in Halo 2 or Truth's infection.

[Ma Deuce]

I don't see how capturing it would make much difference. Remember that in First Strike, the Chief and Co. captured the flagship of the Covenant fleet at Installation 04, the Ascendant Justice, which was later destroyed during Operation First Strike while being used as bait to lure a large Covenant fleet toward their marshaling station Unyielding Hierophant, destroying both it and the fleet when the station's reactors were detonated by the Spartans. If the T&R had been captured instead of Ascendant Justice, it is most likely it would have been used in the same role.