12: One Way Or Another

The Commander's p~~~~~~imary and all%``xf'' of his backups have been destr~~h>ed. Power is ffffffff>ailing all over the c^re, and the Comman~)r is trapped like a r#t. It's ''_simp'le fro^m ~~h~er~e: Go to ~~~e termina#l shown `at` th`i`s l_ ocation. Once you a~~ive there I*0 will telep~~ff#ort down a mod<$$~>ule cont/&ning the activa'^&~!tion codes. Plu#ff0fff0g that mo^&%dule into the in@~$%~terface, and I will te!3port you ***t via the ~~arby term%nal. In th~~e mean^^%~~!time, I w~ll try to al~@@#ter my mes&&&&&sage prot~'`col to co&pensate f@@#!~r the dam<fff#~f>age to these computers.

This is unfortunate. The primary control circuits for the self-destruct system were destroyed during the attack, leaving the warhead untouched but unreachable. The only other access point is through the core itself. This leaves me only one option. But I must succeed in my mission. I will enter the core and trigger the self-destruct device myself. I will be destroyed along with the Commander. But there are others like me, many others. And there are many Commanders, many shards to be punished for the crimes of the whole. To activate the insertion point you must do several things. First, you must return to the exterior of the base, where I'll be able to teleport myself down on board a carrier. Second, you must find the remains of the power generator and switch the base over to to the core's backup power. Then you must find and activate four plasma channels leading into the core itself, which is visible through the window behind you. Finally, you must find the interface at the top of the core, into which you will insert my carrier. I have programmed my ship to remove you to safe distance before the blast, and to take you to safety afterwards. Good luck.

Hi there... Congradulations on figuring out how to get up here. Unless you're using Hex... BAD!!! Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed Operation Vengeance. It was a lot of fun to make, even if Forge and Anvil did their best to ruin it. But now I never have to touch them again, so it's all good... Thanks go to Nacho, Petri, and Snoblitt for their careful nitpicking (read: beta testing), and to all the peeps at hl.bungie.org for being cool guys and beating me with a Stick when I deserved it (usually). Extra special thanks with whipped cream goes to Petri for doing the shading on the rocks outside this base, without which... um... without which it would have been shaded differently. Thanks also go to The Walnut for being the avatar of evil that it is.