Site 22

Site 22 is a location of a buried Forerunner starship on an asteroid orbiting a gas giant in the Marcey system. In 2556, miners and engineers working for BXR Mining Corporation and Imbrium Machine Complex discovered and accessed the starship, inadvertently releasing the Flood.

History

Ancient origin

Long ago, a Forerunner starship carrying the Flood found its way to Site 22, where it became buried. It is unknown if the ship crashed or was deliberately placed at this location, intentionally sealed away. Also, it is unknown if Site 22 was originally on this asteroid or if the asteroid containing the vessel simply broke off of a large planetoid.

Discovery and outbreak

In 2556, workers Imbrium Machine Complex and BXR Mining Corporation based out of Elvie—a habitat and corporate campus on LV-31, a nearby asteroid—discovered the buried Forerunner starship at Site 22. To access the find, BXR Mining Corporation bored a hole through the asteroid's gray-brown crust using EM-120 augers. At this point, it was up to the IMC hazmat corps to investigate further. Upon approach, the vessel opened to admit the hazmat team. Shortly after entering the Forerunner vessel, the team was attacked by the Flood, quickly turning them into attacker forms and escaping the mouth of the newly-formed cave leading to the ship. From there, the Flood began to infect other IMC and BXR personnel at the site.

Upon losing contact with the ground teams and receiving confirmation of the Flood's presence at Site 22, Captain Pedro Alvarez of the UNSC Saturn decided to deploy Fireteam Leviathan, a Spartan Flood containment unit, to clear out the infestation rather than simply destroying the site from orbit. Alvarez cited the UNSC Home Fleet's need for the site's resources and the asteroid's proximity to the inhabited LV-31 as reason enough to not risk destroying the asteroid with Shiva-class nuclear missiles.

Despite the team being backed up by Cyclops and Hellbringers, the Spartans ultimately fell to the parasite, forcing Captain Alvarez to declare the CORRUPTER and UPSILON protocols; all personnel on-site were given seven minutes to evacuate before bombardment from the ship's weapons commenced. Only a handful of dropships had managed to flee Site 22 before it was obliterated. However, at least one attacker form managed to board a Condor before the Shiva missiles detonated, presumably escaping prior to Site 22's destruction.

List of appearances

• Halo Infinite
  • Season 04: Infection (First mentioned)
• Halo: Saturn Devouring His Son (First appearance)