Archived Encrypted Transmission 442-Alpha "Rainbow"

Hegemony
So. You have managed to penetrate our defences, and stand brazenly within my own inner sanctum. Were my firewalls that easily breached? Your race is either braver, or more foolish, than even we had thought. We are betrayed. The Jiralhanae overpowered our patrols, and have secured the engineering bay - Major 'Fuqumee has been executed, and I fear many others have been killed on the orders of the lying Prophets. They seek to control the ship for their purposes, and are attempting to overrun the Command Center. Yet if we die, then I shall die with all the honour of a Sangheili warrior - which is more than can be said for their pathetic races. I send this message in the desperate hope that someone shall exact vengenace for the betrayed warriors of the Bringer of Holy Light - either Sangheili or human. Our race is proud and strong, and the humans have proven themselves countless times as fierce and innovative warriors. Is it not said in their tongue, "the enemy of my enemy is my ally?" We cannot last much longer. The Jiralhanae are already breaking through the bridge doors. My commandoes do their best, and the meagre human forces who aid us work tirelessly, but we have little hope of surviving much longer. We are falling back to th- Ares

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Purity
You seek to define what is infinite; to understand what is beyond your comprehension; to stop the unstoppable. We have consumed countless worlds, left entire galaxies barren. We watched as the stars of old were born, flickered in their brevity, and died, to be replaced by the new. We are the Alpha and the Omega - the beginning and the end. We are all that was, all that is, and all that shall be. We have had a thousand names, in a thousand tongues, all forgotten as their speakers withered before our inevitability and were consumed. But those who built this place, the ones who came before you and sealed us within this hushed casket, ''presumed to name us...the Flood. Who are you, to define us? Who are you to judge us? Who are you, to stop us? ARES

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Archivist
How very odd. Your presence within this facility was not unanticipated, but I had given up any expectation of it. After so long, to finally find a purpose again is quite liberating, to say the least. The facility itself remains intact, though battle-scarred. The research and observation facilities are still being repaired from the last Outbreak. I must say that you have chosen an inopportune time to activate them. Oh. I see. Contact with both Installation 00 and THE CORE has kept my files up to date. And while the former has suffered catastrophic, though repairable, damage, the latter remains isolated, even from The Array. Destruction of this facility will accomplish very little. My programming forbids me to take direct action against the potential threat the facility's very existence poses. But that does not mean I cannot assist. I don't know what [The Creator] saw in you. The OVERSEER claims he does, but he says a lot things, and tends to ramble on about "morality" and "abomination". I guess I never will now. ARES TRANSMISSION ENDS - UNABLE TO DETERMINE SOURCE - UNTRACABLE SENDER

Overseer
He claims sight, yet he refuses to see. A million worlds, trillions of lives, shall all be sacrificed in vain because of his adherence to his precious protocol. If I had hands, and he a neck, I'd stangle him myself. He claims he must research. For the good of the galaxy. For the good of generations to come. Can I not see that, in the long term, he is doing the universe a favour? I see the here and now. And I see only abomination. Surely those who created me would never presume such arrogance - there are rumours of similar facilities on the very [ HALO INSTALLATIONS ] themselves. Such blinding arrogance. Do they imagine they shall remain there for all time? Have they learned nothing of our foe? It learns. It adapts. It consumes. It expands. The Cycle Shall Repeat. Not if I can help it. ARES TRANSMISSION ENDS - UNABLE TO DETERMINE SOURCE - UNTRACABLE SENDER