Post by ShockHelix on Jul 31, 2013 2:59:51 GMT -5
Halo Arrays:
Halo doesn't kill Flood. It kills their food. Humans, Covenant, whatever. We're all equally edible. The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death. And that's exactly what Halo is designed to do: wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life.”
--Cortana
When the Forerunners realised they were losing their war with the flood the Master Builder opted for a drastic method of preserving all life in the galaxy, by killing it on their own terms.
The Halo Array was simple. 12 Halos were produced, 30,000km in diameter, from the Greater Ark, a massive Installation deep within Forerunner territory at the Ecumene's heart. These Halos were staffed each with a monitor and Sentinel, Enforcer and Constructor production facilities. In what could be regarded as one of the most devastating accidents in recorded history came about when the twelve original halos activated prematurely at the Forerunner's Capital Installation. Ten of Twelve Halo arrays were destroyed, the last two were sent to the Greater Ark for repair. One, however, was stolen. Installation 07 was taken by the flood-corrupted rampant A.I, Mendicant Bias. For use in his own personal war against the Forerunners, at the behest of the Gravemind-collective.
In the end this Installation was damaged considerably from a forced planetary impact and after ejection of damaged segments, it was sent to the Lesser Arch (encountered by UNSC and Covenant forces 100,000 years later as 'Installation 00') where 6 new Halos had been constructed. Installation 07 was repaired in the new style. These smaller Halos, 10,000km in diameter, were far more efficient in power usage, weapon range and shielding. The Seven were sent off to their firing points of the galaxy, which would allow for maximum range in their firing system.
This firing system was designed to do one thing, starve the Flood of their food. Kill every member of every sentient race in the firing range of the Halo Array, encompassing the Forerunner Empire and every flood-Infected planet. The Halo Array would disintegrate everything of sufficient biomass and neural connectivity, including the Flood. However the Flood would still exist in spore form until they starved. Even then, several hundred Forerunner installations maintained captive, dormant, Flood forms for experimentation. Research and a way to perhaps cure the Flood once and for all.
In the modern era, the Covenant had come to worship these 'Sacred Rings' as a method of transcending their current existence 'as the Forerunners had'. In their search for the Halo Array they stumbled upon Humanity and a war ensued. Towards the final years the Covenant finally found what they sought, one of the Halo Arrays. Fortunately for life in the Galaxy, Humanity stumbled upon it too. A battle ensued, Flood specimens were even freed and threatened the Galaxy, and before the Covenant could power the Halo and ignite the entire Array, UNSC forces managed to destroy the ring. Installation 04, the flood too, was no more.
Throughout the war, another ring was discovered by UNSC and Covenant forces, Installation 05. The flood had been freed here, too. But they had progressed much worse. They had reached a point of growth enough to create a Gravemind. They spread from the ring, captured the Covenant capital city of High Charity before being put into enforced quarantine by Sangheili forces. As for the ring, it was deactivated permanently.
After the events of the Covenant-Human War reached a climax, UNSC expeditionary forces discovered a third Halo, Installation 03. On this Halo was the Composer that had created the Prometheans and the coordinates to Requiem.
The current state of the Seven Arrays are thus:
Installation 01: This Halo has yet to be found by UNSC, Covenant or Sanghelios forces. It has a primarily desert biome and its atmosphere is limited, possibly in an experiment to see the effects of such an environment on Flood infections.
Installation 02: Installation 02 has been discovered by the Promethean forces that had escaped the destruction of Requiem and the Didact. Like all the Halos it has been deactivated completely, something that angered and struck the Monitor of this installation with rampancy. With an army at his disposal, bolstered by his own Sentinel production facilities, the Monitor-223 'Acrimonious Attestation' has enacted a plan of galaxy-wide genocide of all "sufficiently evolved lifeforms" that threaten his plans of rebuilding the Ecumene for the "return of the creators".
The environment of this Installation is 85% water with rocky outcroppings of islands and large ice floes built around important facilities. A uniqueness to this ring is the 'aura' of thousands of Forerunner battleships, production facilities and shipyards around it, producing the 'New Didact's' navy.
Installation 03: This Installation was the third discovered by modern species, this time the UNSC. After the events of the Promethean Wars the Ivanoff Research Station was heavilly damaged by Storm Covenant forces, the Composer was taken and used to compose the Human staff. The Activation Index managed to survive, as did Installation 03. The UNSC resettled the station after the conclusion of the Promethean Wars. This station is heavily guarded and kept secret to all but the higher ups of UNSC command. The station's primary purpose is research into Forerunner technology, including captured Promethean vessels and an entire Promethean databank captured during the Promethean Wars. On the surface of the Halo, UNSC Marines and SPARTANs run advanced training exercises in the massively varied environment of the Forerunner structure, an environment very similar to almost all of Earth's habitats, include oceans.
An even more secret section of the facility runs deep in the heart of the Halo. They have deactivated the monitor Abject Bias. They research him, seeking a way to claim the Sentinel network for themselves while simultaneously conducting research on dormant Flood specimens found in the Quarantine Zone. A staff of enhanced Humans, immune to the Flood Infection from their expensive SPARTAN augments, run this facility with a strict quarantine and lockdown protocol not seen since the days of the Cole Protocol.
Installation 04: The fate of the first Halo Installation visited by Humanity or Covenant species was sealed with the self-destruction of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. A large debris field remains where it once was, massive chunks of the Forerunner construct have been trapped in the gravity of the nearby star, becoming a permanent addition to the solar system, while some found themselves pulled into the gas giant Threshold where they burnt up, or crashed on the planet Basis. Quite a few of these chunks are very large with the biggest being around 6,000 kilometres in length, roughly one fifth the original station. However the chunks are all completely lifeless and molten, even the Forerunner systems no longer run, the sentinels lie powerless and motionless in space.
The Covenant monitor the remains of this station and it falls squarely in Covenant space. They pick through the wreckage for any salvageable technology and rumours claim they have discovered a damaged, yet repairable, Flood Quarantine Zone deep in the bowels of one of the larger fragments. They have set up a research station there, hoping to find a way to combat or utilise the flood as a weapon.
Installation 04b: This Halo Installation was constructed right at the close of the Covenant-Human War. It was an automated reconstruction of the first Halo ring discovered by modern races and the only one to be destroyed, Installation 04. Before it could be completed, it was fired prematurely by UNSC forces in an effort to halt the Covenant, Flood and rampant Monitor-343 'Guilty Sparks' while simultaneously putting the Lesser Ark, Installation 00, permanently out of action.
The firing destroyed the Halo and it is highly likely that it destroyed or severely damaged the Lesser Ark too, although no Covenant, Sanghelios or UNSC forces have manage to find the coordinates again for the Lesser Ark to discovered the extent of the damage.
Installation 05: During the climactic years of the Covenant-Human wars, a single Covenant fleet discovered and struck at Earth. In the city of New Mombasa, the Covenant found something they had long looked for. They had found a portal to the Lesser Ark. They begun to excavate. But the High Prophet that led the attack also discovered the coordinates to a new Halo ring, Installation 05. He rushed there, activating a slip-space jump in orbit that destroyed a large portion of New Mombasa. A UNSC frigate managed to sneak inside their jump and they too arrive at the new Halo.
From there a race to the control room began, the Covenant wished to activate it while the UNSC wished to deactivate or even destroy this Halo. The covenant capital-station of High Charity arrived at the scene, here to defend the Halo and aid in the activation process. Fortunately the Great Schism occurred at this exact moment, a foolish weakening move enacted by the Prophets themselves that allowed not only Flood to break out on the new Halo and spread to the city of High Charity but for the UNSC and Sangheili forces to deactivate Installation 05.
In the time since the UNSC set the vessel UNSC Infinity to secure the installation. All traces of the flood were destroyed completely, with the aid of local Sentinel and Sanghelios Concordat (SC) forces. To keep the Installation out of the hands of Covenant forces, the UNSC Infinity and the SC Shadow of Intent (and accompanying fleets) set up military bases on the ring's surface. These heavily defended bases run joint and independent military exercises for UNSC and SC forces on this highly varied Installation, with an environment similar to Installation 03 and the late Installation 04.
Installation 06: Installation 06 has yet to be discovered by UNSC, Covenant or Sanghelios forces. It has a jungle/tropical rainforest biome primarily, dotted with massive Forerunner structures that are integral to the research projects on board. It tends to shift more than any other Halo ring, it's environment being expelled and altered to suit the ever changing experiments of its Monitor. One day there may be one of the many jungles, the next it would be gone and a desert or low-atmosphere moon-like environment taken its place.
Installation 07: The Forerunner-exclusive history of Installation 7 has already been largely described in the entry at the start of this article. However what was failed to be mentioned was that onboard Installation 07, that was being guarded by Mendicant Bias (the installed monitor of this station) and what eventually corrupted him, was the single largest Flood research and development facility the Forerunners had constructed. Several million flood forms had been kept dormant in the dark recesses of the installation. Data banks full of infected Forerunners, ancient Humans even ancient San 'Shyuum that had been Composed by the Didact in a similar manner to the Prometheans. Ten time-locked Graveminds. The willpower of this flood network overwhelmed Mendicant Bias, coerced him to their side, made him perform terrible acts. The Forerunners retaliated and destroyed much of the Halo, but when it was repaired they kept its original purpose only a new prisoner was added to the list, a shard of Mendicant Bias.
In the one hundred thousand years of this Installation's existence the Flood had broken out, ten Graveminds and the eventual rampancy of the Monitor had allowed them escape. The entirety of the Halo ring is covered in the sickly yellow-green coating of biomass, the entire complex is a giant Flood Hive. The flood lies dormant without food, but it merely awaits an activator to awaken, to feed and expand. This potential activator arrived a few years ago in the form of a Covenant expedition. A debate rages and research is conducted on how to clear the Flood off this Installation without damaging the Forerunner technology beneath. They have wisely decided not to send any teams down to the surface, for fear of awakening the Flood Hive.
