Alright, rather than make elaborate write-ups and get left in the dust by Spartan Ops itself, I'm going to attempt to outline my ideal situation for the last few episodes:
Episode 8
CGI Cutscene already discussed.
Chapter One
Your team hijacks up to 4 Liches and engages in an airborne Firefight-like scenario fending off Banshees, Phantoms, and other Liches with your Heavy EMP Cannons. Afterwards you all fly to a docking station on the Cruiser.
Chapter Two
You fight your way through a bunch of rooms in the Cruiser similar to Long Night of Solace. You end up in a central chamber where you actually have to keep one Elite alive so that you can free the imprisoned Arbiter from his suspension in Hardlight shackles. Ending Cutscene features some brief exposition.
Chapter Three
Thorne and Glassman have been detected as prisoners on the Mantle's Commendation. You and the Arbiter have to fight your way through to them with gameplay similar to Gravemind. Arbiter is fairly beefy with decent AI but he can die, which is grounds for failing the mission. There are multiple approaches to areas; the Arbiter still has Camo, like always, so you can actually go through the entire mission without being detected. This mission also has the potential to be largely expositional if you do wait it out and take the stealthy route, revealing a few tidbits - notably that the Didact is back on Requiem but requires an unspecified artifact to be awakened once more. Some UNSC transmissions were also intercepted and 343 Guilty Spark is also alive, took control of an unspecified ship (let's just say the UNSC Cornucopia) and has located the Librarian's Cryptum, which is similar to the Didact's, just blue.
Chapter Four
Once you find Thorne and Glassman you also make your way to an Engine Room to blow up the ship and do an escape sequence. Thorne has half the Arbiter's health but jukes much more frequently whereas Arby is more of a physical tank; Glassman is just a "civilian" with a pistol; high health but stays back. Needler-toting enemies are more uncommon in this mission.
Chapter 5
You're now piloting up to four Liches like last time. The Arbiter is on one Lich as is Glassman. You play in an area similar to Shutdown but it'd have a modified environment to keep things diverse. Your objective is to survive, everyone has one life. You still have your weapons, obviously, but you have to fend off wave after wave of air traffic. Eventually it gets to ridiculously high levels but you hear "We've got a new contact - it's the UNSC Cornucopia!"
-Cutscene-
"How did their ship get access to Requiem's interior coordinates?"
343 Guilty Spark: "All will be explained in due time, Reclaimers. In the meantime, I will see to it that your fireteams may safely return for briefing."
-Massive swarm of Sentinels, Enforcers, and possibly Promethean aircraft (resembling angular Broadswords in speed and power but Falcons in size) come in from that grounded structure and utterly destroy the Remnant air troops-
Miller: "Objective Complete, Crimson. Let's get you back to the Infinity to try and sort this out."
Episode 9 - Revival
UNSC teams on the Cornucopia and Infinity meet up and have the Librarian's Cryptum on an observation deck, with Guilty Spark providing exposition as necessary; the Librarian is revived with pretty surprising ease. She looks different than what we've seen due to her suspended state; she's bluer with more prominent "quills" or feathers on her head as opposed to hair, but still has a headdress; nothing as damn stupid as her Halo 4 incarnation though. She's still humanoid but doesn't have as blatant "curves," instead having her silhouette being mostly made up by mechanical components to her suit/body. Her voice is fragile, like glass - closer to the singer from Haven (Hundred Waters Remix) than her Halo 4 voice. The Librarian informs them that if they can revive the Didact again, she can potentially convert him to a more stable state with a mutation. Due to how recenty he was revived, a failsafe has been enacted; an Index is needed to unlock his Cryptum in stasis once more; he was placed in there again to heal as an emergency failsafe. Palmer directly brings up the whole "space magic" thing and the Librarian clarifies she had no one or two humans in mind; she had sown seeds for progress and humans like Chief and Halsey just happened to be the lucky ones.
Meanwhile, the Arbiter, Halsey, and the Master Chief are all reunited and have some brief exposition - the Arbiter says he can potentially rally a Sangheili army and bring them to Requiem. The Arbiter runs off to see progress with the Oracle. Green and Blue plays and we finally get an in-game confrontation between Chief and Halsey. He informs her of Cortana's death. He asks if he's been everything she's wanted, basically being Chief's mother and all. She replies with "John... you've been swift, strong, brave. You're the soldier we've needed you to be." He pauses briefly before giving her a hug.
-cue audience tears/bro scoffs-
Transition to Gek and Jul. Jul apparently put a monitoring device on the Arbiter and learns that the Master Chief is back and better than ever; if they capture Halsey, essentially his one true emotional crutch at this point, the UNSC will have to meet their demands.
Chapter One
You have to defend the Infinity from waves of invading Remnant troops. Ultimately, Halsey gets captured.
Chapter Two
You go on a torch-and-burn operation to essentially set everything in place for the Didact's awakening. Has the potential to be a gimmick mission, possibly something open for once.
Chapter Three
Not quite sure about this yet. A biggie is that exposition reveals plans for traveling to Installation 03, near Ivanoff station, to go to the Library and get the Index. A few people sound worried because, well, they have Chief's old helmet cams detailing the whole endeavor. The Librarian reminds them that... she's the librarian. Libraries are storehouses for all the species archived and aren't just flood-infected immediately. She can get the Index fairly painlessly, but recommends that the UNSC come with her at least partially.
Chapter Four
Essentially a two-parter with Chapter Five. You learn that all Shield Worlds have at least one teleportation terminal leading to a Halo as a safety measure. Shield World terminals can send users to the Halo freely, but there are some special requirements to get from the Halo to the Shield World in case of things like Flood infection. You're essentially fighting your way to the mass teleporter, which is being seized by Gek.
Chapter Five
Gek boss battle! He's being bolstered by Remnant Honor Guards. Winner gets the awesome prize of getting a mix of first and third-person cutscenes fighting him hand-to-hand once his shields are down. The other Spartans show up in the background holding off the last few Honor Guard troops.
Episode 10 - Nemesis
CG Cutscene
The Librarian, Spark, and the like go through the teleporter first, establishing a base of operations at Installation 03's control room, Index firmly in hand. Similar to the Floodgate ending Cutscene, we get to see the UNSC mobilizing for their trip to the Halo ring. Lasky comforts Chief with some typical "Don't worry, Chief. We'll get her back." lines. Jul has only a small company of Remnant soldiers accompanying him at this time as well as Prometheans. Halsey is with them. Due to coordinate data left over by the Didact's original jump, he simply sends their remaining fleet to Installation 03.
Chapter One
???
Chapter Two
???
Chapter Three
???
Chapter Four
Remnant Drop Pods cover the nearby Ziggurat, with Jul having a sole contingency plan: if he can get to the Didact in time, he can use the Index to activate the Halo rings. It's one massive siege on the control room versus a mix of Honor Guards and Prometheans. You're joined by Miller, Thorne, the Arbiter, Master Chief, Palmer, and the like. It's a mix of Halo 1, 2, and 3 architecture in order to keep the battlefield more open.
Chapter Five
Boss battle against Jul 'Mdama in the Control Room; it features a mix of the architecture from the Alpha and Delta Halo control rooms. The "winner" scores a lethal blow on Jul, but doesn't kill him. As a last-ditch effort he fatally wounds Halsey... right in front of Chief. Yeah.
Cue elaborate cutscene of Jul, with dual energy swords, getting curbstomped by Master Chief. To the point that bones end up broken and everything. The Episode ends with Chief kneeling over the dying Halsey and Halsey "passing away," hallucinating, treating Palmer like Miranda and apologizing for her harshness.
Epilogue
CGI Cutscene:
The Remnant is defeated. The Librarian revives the Didact, whom has a little speech about the Promethean nature of duality and how it extends to technology. When a Cryptum and a Control Room unite (going so far as to having the architecture rearrange to a Combat Evolved-style control room), it allows the user access to a teleportation grid that spans all of Forerunner-controlled space. He "composes" a few marines, stray Remnant troops, Palmer, Miller, Roland, and Crimson. In reality, he teleported them to the Greater Ark as a "test." He begins to Force Choke Chief, only to be interrupted by the Librarian, who has a lengthy discussion with him and ultimately sways him; a mix of that and a Mutation bring him back to his old, Ur-Didact self, and formally places him as an ally. Halsey, unable to be revived physically, has to be Composed...
and becomes Chief's new AI. There may be a snippet in there of her researching the Precursors but nothing major.
The shot could potentially end with a rallying of Sangheili and human troops, and maybe even some Promethean foot soldiers; mechanical in nature of course, but redesigned to not look like utter shit.
Bonus: Legendary Epilogue
In a Mario-style fashion, you have to:
-Beat ALL of Spartan Ops Season One on legendary.
-View all terminals.
-Watch all the CG cutscenes.
This unlocks a final Episode 11, simply titled Epilogue or maybe Legend, Prisoner, etc.
CG Cutscene
The Greater Ark should, for all intents and purposes, look Forerunner... but it doesn't. The technology is bleak, organic, dismal. Almost crustacean-looking. As though a parasite had infected most of it. Cut to Palmer and friends, who are sitting around a fire; they're low on munitions, morale, and numbers. They're actually having heart-to-heart talks. We hear some of Palmer's backstory; it, along with her character development brought on by Halsey, have formed her into a much more believable and relatable character. Eventually, they decide they should attempt to find a vehicle, a teleportation relay, a comm relay, anything. Everybody looks noticeably shaken from sleep deprivation.
Chapter One
You and up to three friends come across a small module made up of the same technology as the rest of the "infecting" tech found on the Greater Ark. Rather than just being picked up like a weapon, it integrates with parts of your suits. Your HUD is rewritten in an incredibly disorienting, even nauseating fashion before fading into something more visible but with way less HUD elements; it looks as though something with compound eyes was meant to read this display. Palmer had Roland steam your helmet cams to try and get a better sense of what's going on.
A voice permeates through your armor; it is direct, distorted, mechanical, and pronounced.
SPECIES AND LANGUAGE RECOGNIZED AS HUMAN. YOU MAY CALL THIS WEAPON THE PROBOSCIS.
It does not seem to have visible ammunition. Almost immediately after being "integrated," you're attacked by Sentinels looking to "purge" you. This is your first time having this problem.
Something is very clearly wrong with you, Crimson.
Chapter Two
You fight your way through a few small areas similar to the first section in The Covenant. Your Proboscis weapon simply destroys Sentinels beyond repair. Eventually, you come across a lone, emaciated Thorn Beast in the middle of the clearing where the Wraith and Prowlers were at the first tower. The voice returns.
CALIBRATE WEAPON ON THORN BEAST.
On organic matter, the weapon operates differently, frighteningly so. Your Proboscis sends out a few concentrated bursts of what can only be described as jet-black "nanite locusts." The Thorn Beast reconfigures into a smaller, but bulkier, hunk of biomass. It moves like a gorilla, following you. You eventually go to the top of the beam tower; the Citadel area is as it was in Halo 3, but is covered in strange new technology. A large creature resembling a Harvester, but mobile, surveys the area. And it spots you.
Chapter Three
The Harvester swipes at the glass casing of the tower, knocking you and your squad down into the muck in first-person. Your "Thorn Beast" survives. You have to damage one of its legs enough to enter the "Harvester," destroying core components within to disable it. It does not look anything like the one you previously encountered on the inside. Parts move and pulsate and breathe.
Chapter Four
COMMUNICATION RELAY DETECTED.
You're given one last waypoint, pointed at the Citadel control room. The Citadel interior is wider than the first one; three Enforcers spot you. A "crate," if it can be called that, holds up to four weapons of the same type of technology. Picking one up modifies your suit further. Your Spartan lets out a wail in anguish when it finishes augmenting you, but it's made you stronger, you can feel it. You jump faster and hit harder. You can fire large clusters of nanolocusts at the Enforcers and they are brought down quickly. You make your way to the last elevator and tension builds. Your Thorn Beast does not join you on the elevator. You can barely understand Palmer, Miller or Roland anymore. They're speaking English, but something just isn't right. At the top of the elevator, you have a clear view down the walkway. It has two legs, long, spindly arms and a bulbous torso, a spine protruding from its back. You don't know what it is, but...
There is something waiting for you at the other side.
Chapter Five
Palmer and Miller look visibly frightened. You try using your Proboscis on it, to no avail. You switch to a Battle Rifle... something's wrong with it. Nothing's changed about it but you can barely hold it anymore. Your hands just aren't meant for it. Trying to reload it bends and contorts the rifle, breaking it. The creature lurches forward and impales Miller. Palmer lets out a scream. One by one, this creature goes from Spartan to Spartan, breaking visors and impaling them in the abdomen. You cough up some blood, which is brownish-black. Small insectoid creatures are swimming through it. Your camera ends on its side, Crimson finished.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETED.
There is one final Cutscene; Palmer is the last one alive. She tries again and again to shoot the creature to no avail; it swipes at her and knocks her unconscious, dragging her body to the control panel of the Citadel. She briefly reawakens, facing the beast. It is now surrounded by a mass of angular limbs similar to those on the Harvester, but smaller in nature. She gives it a look of despair.
"Kill me."
A familiar voice... a timeless chorus responds to her, not from the monster, but emanating from the entire room.
This is not your grave.
You will spread our salvation.
She teleports to the bridge of the Infinity, surrounded by the Didact, Arbiter, Chief, Lasky, and Librarian, making plans. They all react with shock. She somehow stands, visibly battered and bruised, covered in blood and the black nanites. Her voice is now one with the chorus, pulling the Pistol up to her head, struggling to do so.
"We meet again, young ones. I am the last of those that gave you breath and shape and form, millions of years ago. I am the last of those your kind rose up against and ruthlessly destroyed. I am the last Precursor. And our answer is at hand."
The sound of a lone Pistol round punctuates an immediate change to black.
