Halo 2 (Mission 3) Cairo Station Walkthrough
Video Walkthrough: Halo 2 (Mission 3) Cairo Station Walkthrough
Skull Location: Thunderstorm Skull Location
Terminal Location: Cairo Station Terminal Location
The first real mission of Halo 2 is Mission 3: Cairo Station; the previous two missions are a cutscene and a tutorial. You begin this mission aboard a flying ship known as Cairo Station shortly after the Covenant begin attacking. For the first half of this mission you're going to be going from room to room in this ship clearing out the Covenant that you come across.
When you first begin this mission you'll be introduced to two of the new weapons in Halo 2, a Battle Rifle and an SMG. The Battle Rifle is by far the best weapon in the game but for right now I recommend you grab two SMGs are dual wield them for the first part of this mission. I recommend this for two reasons, one because dual wielding is a load of fun and because SMG ammo is given to you everywhere on this ship.
For more information about what weapons are good and why I recommend you check out my Halo 2 Weapon Tier List. That page has information about every single gun in Halo 2 and it ranks them from best to worst so you know what to pick up and what to leave on the ground.
As you'd expect for the first mission in the game, this level is pretty straight forward. Doors with a green light are unlocked and mark the way forward, doors with red lights you can't access and are not the correct route. Sometimes you'll come across rooms that require you to kill all Covenant before proceeding, the first of these rooms is pictured below.
Once you defeat all the enemies in the room shown above you'll get a short scene involving another ship blowing up nearby. Continue through the nearby door into another hangar where you'll fight more Covenant. Much like before you will need to kill all the Covenant before you get another scene.
You'll get a new objective, find the bomb on our ship before it detonates. The door below you will open and you'll have to go through a small tunnel then up some stairs again to reach another part of the ship. You'll find the Terminal for this mission in this room if you're interested in getting it. For more information about where this Terminal is located check out my Cairo Station Terminal Location Youtube Video.
Eventually after clearing a few more rooms and hallways you will come to an airlock which you'll have to open so that you can go out into space! When you open the airlock some jetpack Elites will attack you but they shouldn't be too much of an issue. As you may expect while you're outside you'll be able to jump higher and you'll also fall slower.
While you are outside if you get lost keep an eye on the ground for arrows pointing in the direction of the next airlock. You're looking for a big red arrow with the work Shipping inside of it. Once you find the airlock and go inside you'll come to a large room with an elevator inside of it. You'll also meet a new Covenant enemy, Drones!
Drones are flying enemies and they're really annoying but thankfully very weak. My advice for dealing with them is to wait until they land then shoot at them; short controlled bursts is the best method for taking them out. You'll get this advice in Halo 3 too early on when you first encounter Drones.
Once you've defeated the enemies you'll want to press the button on the elevator in this room (pictured below). Look for a computer terminal on the far end of the room near the glass looking out into space and you'll find what I am talking about.
Shortly after the elevator you'll come to another outside portion - this one you'll have to do some jumping! Ride the pistons up to the area we need to go then jump off and go through the door. The next notable area is the final room of this level where you'll find a half dozen Elites guarding the bomb that we're after.
All that's left for you to do is kill all of the Elites then walk up to the bomb to trigger a cutscene. Enjoy the cutscene, it's a great start to one of the best Halo games in the franchise!
Continue to Mission 4: Outskirts Walkthrough
Return to Halo 2 Prologue & Information