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This fanfiction article, Installation 06, was written by Underlord1271. Please do not edit this fiction without the writer's permission. |
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The author of this article, Underlord1271, urges anyone who reads it to provide feedback on the quality of the article. Thank you! |
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This is a fanon expansion of a canon element. To see the original canon article, follow the link to Halopedia: Installation 06. |
| Kappa Halo | |
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| General overview | |
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Location: |
Mdorkon System, Perseus Arm |
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Orbits: |
Deorain III |
| Operation overview | |
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Type: |
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Function: |
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Caretaker(s): |
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Date of construction: |
c. 97,445 |
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Date of destruction: |
Partially bombed in 2573. |
| Structural information | |
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Diameter: |
10,000 Kilometers (6200 Miles) |
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Surface width: |
300 Kilometers (186 Miles) |
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Gravity: |
0.90 G |
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Temperature: |
10.00 °C - 26.67 °C |
Installation 06, designated Kappa Halo, is one of the seven massive superweapons comprising the Halo Array. It orbits the planet Haakuth in the Mdorkon System, in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy.
It was the last Halo to be located by humanity, after its coordinates were received from Installation 00 in the year 2570. The Battle of Installation 06 in 2573 was humanity's first contact with the Flood in nearly two decades. Installation 06 was considered a faulty ring due to the risk of structural collapse during its construction, and also due to breakdowns in security measures caused by its malfunctioning monitor, 16807 Shattered Endeavor.
Overview[]
Design Specifications[]
Installation 06, like its sister ringworlds, was responsible for the containment and research of the parasitic Flood, as well as the development of weapons to thwart them. Among these is an onboard superweapon which, when fired with the rest of the rings, could eliminate all sapient life throughout the galaxy.
Unlike the rest of the Halo rings, Installation 06 faced numerous major problems during its construction, including a theory that it would be too light to support the heavier environment scheduled to be constructed on it. One particular point collapsed under its own weight, causing severe damage to a section of the ring. Due to this, Installation 06 boasts a "reinforced" outer perimeter which wraps around some of the ring's surface. This makes the ring's total area slightly smaller than its companions, and also makes it look thicker from orbit.
Geography[]
The surface of Installation 06 is mostly forest-like in appearance.
Installation 06 is covered in smooth, moon-like rocks of various shades. Installation 06's plants are capable of growing out of these rocks, though how they get their nutrients is unknown. Much of Installation 06 is composed of rainforest-like trees which can grow as tall as 300 meters, although other biomes such as swamps, taigas, and small deserts could be found too. The ring also has several prominent mountain ranges, the most notable of which being the Buckle; when a section of Installation 06 collapsed during construction, it produced some mountains as tall as 7 kilometers. In the valley where the ring split, there is an ancient Forerunner Hangar Bay.
Flora and Fauna[]
Installation 06 is home to several alien species that were new to humanity when it was discovered; there are at least 5 unidentified avian species and 2 new rodent species. The "Mud Monster" is a species that was encountered by soldiers in the installation's swamps; it appears to be amphibious and can travel underneath thick water with no issue. It appears to be carnivorous.
Installation 06's plant species are also unique compared to life on Earth or other Human colonies, and are capable of using nutrients that are toxic to other known plants. Certain plants have leaves capable of dissipating rainwater into warm steam in an instant.
History[]
Construction and Early History[]
The Lesser Ark, where the Halos were made.
Main Article: Halo Array (Construction)
During the Forerunner Era, Faber and his guild of High Builders started building experimental superweapons. When a parasitic species known as the flood began attacking the empire, he proposed to build a series of weapons which could "protect" the galaxy from them by exterminating all living organisms. During their construction, the Librarian proposed the structures could also serve as environmental reserves as part of the Library Project, so that if the array was fired life could continue.
Installation 06's planned synthetic environment was nearly three times heavier than the average for a halo ring, which some skeptics believed would cause the ring to collapse. Faber ignored these warnings, which resulted in a large section of the ring buckling around a particularly heavy area. The ring was repaired and its outer walls were reinforced, allowing the ring to function normally but also making it considerably thicker. To make use of the new space, dozens of hangar bays were constructed along the ring, including one directly underneath the weak point.
At the end of the Forerunner-Flood War, the array was fired to stop the Flood. Alongside its other rings, Installation 06 fired successfully and killed all sentient life in the Milky Way.
Post-Purification[]
Because of its repairs, the ring's security systems had suffered defects due to its accelerated construction schedule. This eventually caused the Flood's containment chamber to break down, releasing several flood spores to the ring. Initially, Installation 06's monitor 16807 Shattered Endeavor used enforcers to fight the infection, but quickly realized the situation was out of her control. As a final attempt to contain the outbreak, she concentrated the ring's collected rainwater around the facility, sealing the Flood on their own island.
Though the threat had been contained, Shattered Endeavor still felt considerable stress with the island on the ring, which caused her to suffer rampancy. Not long after, she purged all information of Installation 06 from foreign databases and placed the ring on lockdown, forbidding any sentient life to touch down on the ring.
Human-Covenant War[]
- "Fail-safe protocol: In the event of unexpected shutdown, the entire system will move to standby status. All remaining platforms are now ready for remote activation."
- — 343 Guilty Spark, after the Halo Array is placed into standby mode
On November 3, 2552, during the Battle of Installation 05, Chief Tartarus of the Covenant activated Installation 05, though Human and Sangheili forces managed to deactivate the firing sequence before the Halo could fire. As per fail-safe protocol in the event of an unexpected shutdown, a signal was sent to Installation 06 and the rest of the Halos from Installation 05, placing all Halos in the array on standby mode, ready for remote activation from The Ark. A readout from Installation 05's control room showed that Installation 06 was fully prepared to fire on demand.
Post-War Discovery[]
After the Human-Covenant War, human ships such as the Infinity were tasked with locating and decommissioning the remaining halo rings. Because of Shattered Endeavour's information purge, Installation 06 was exceptionally difficult to find compared to the other rings. Its coordinates were finally found after a UNSC Smart AI was able to decipher them from a small handbook that was found on the Ark. An expeditionary fleet, called Discovery Group Cupertino, was assembled and entered slipspace on December 30th, 2570, and arrived at the ring in February 2573. One person had suffered severe freezer burn, but otherwise, the fleet was intact and an on-foot expedition was launched on February 11th.
After the initial exploration, the fleet began searching for the ring's control room. It was located on February 13th, but because of the ringwide lockdown it was impossible to break into. The fleet's lead ship, the UNSC Abigail, was contacted by Shattered Endeavour, who expressed confusion on how they got there. Although she did not talk much, she did reveal there was a Flood outbreak and pleaded for the fleet to leave. Despite Shattered Endeavour's wishes, the Abigail's captain, Olaf Nilson, offered to assess the threat and help stop it. All UNSC forces were evacuated from the ring by the morning of February 14th.
The Battle of Installation 06[]
A hologram of Installation 06 on The Ark.
On February 14th, a probe deployed from a frigate named the UNSC Palisade was able to produce a topographical map of the Flood's island and surrounding regions. As the data was being compiled, the Palisade came under attack from Flood-infected sentinels. The Palisade was able to send the data and a distress beacon to the main fleet before her weapons and communications systems were shut down. After the fleet received the Palisade's information, a destroyer arrived alongside 2 extra frigates and engaged in combat with the sentinels, who were too small to be picked up by the ships' sensors. As soon as all the sentinels were either destroyed or had retreated, the survivors onboard the Palisade were evacuated. After the incident, Nilson criticized Shattered Endeavor for withholding information on the corrupted sentinels; the monitor retorted that she had no obligation to share any information about a classified ring, and that they shouldn't be there in the first place. After a lengthy argument, Shattered Endeavor finally agreed to aide the fleet in its efforts, even though she secretly believed that they would be fruitless.
On the morning of February 15th, a trio of frigates observed the Flood Island from low orbit. There were at least fourty infected sentinels on the island, and too many infection forms to count. Most of the island had been converted into a large blightland which would make landing ground troops difficult. Shattered Endeavor also warned Nilson that it was highly likely the Flood had colonized underground caves, and that their sphere of influence could extend many kilometers underground. Nilson then authorized orbital strikes on the island, which were to begin in no less than 48 hours. After a third of the fleet was mobilized, Shattered Endeavor realized she did not support damaging her ring under any circumstances and disabled the ships involved in the operation through the use of her own sentinels. After the ring had been spared, she began a dogfight with the main fleet's fighters. After losing 3 destroyers to the sentinels, the Abigail and the other surviving ships escaped to the other side of Deorain III, outside the range of Endeavor's sentinels. A strike-team of SPARTAN-IVs were tasked with disabling Shattered Endeavor on February 19th, and after a battle at the control room, Endeavor was detained.
Shattered Endeavor's capture resulted in the delicately maintained processes on the ring to fall out of order, which allowed the water level around the Island to drop and the Flood to escape. The fleet returned to the ring and began attacking the Island with MAC rounds and Nuclear weapons, but were unable to track the Flood's movement through the thick rainforest. On February 21st, they were contacted by the ring's sub-monitor, 2801 Distant Advisor, who had been granted full control over the ring after it had lost contact with Shattered Endeavor. She informed the fleet that the Flood had been eliminated from the surface of the Island, but that they had spread across the rest of the ring and were being fought by friendly sentinels. Small groups of SPARTANs and Hellbringers were sent to the surface to investigate the caves after the main strikes were over, and they determined the Flood had retreated; however, on February 27th, a group of SPARTANs discovered a Proto-Gravemind about 800 meters underground. In an effort to locate the Gravemind's location, a team of ODSTs and regular Marines were sent to the last known location of the SPARTAN-IVs. The team was able to flag down its location, before all of the personnel were absorbed into the Gravemind. Nilson initially considered sneaking a Fury bomb into the cave, but with Advisor's permission, the section of the ring with the Gravemind in it was ejected into space.
Post-Battle[]
After the battle, a small base known as Anders Outpost, named after the scientist Ellen Anders, was established on the surface of the ring. Anders Outpost's main goal was to house a permanent 20-member detachment of SPARTAN-IVs, which were to help police the remaining Flood forms on the ring; however, Distant Advisor continued to operate without the UNSC's assistance and the outpost was abandoned in October. Most of the fleet had returned to Earth by April, except 5 ships which remained to monitor the ring. By 2578, all personnel from Discovery Group Cupertino had left and a permanent research satellite, Delmarva Station, was established in 2582. The UNSC maintains a friendly relationship with Distant Advisor.
Since December 22nd, 2575, 16807 Shattered Endeavor has been detained in a secretive ONI facility at an undisclosed location.