Installation 08
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
| Installation 08 | |
|---|---|
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| General overview | |
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Location: |
Over the Ark |
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Gravitational anchor: |
Threshold (intended) |
| Operation overview | |
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Type: |
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Function: |
Galactic sterilization/Flood containment and research |
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Attached AI(s): |
343 Guilty Spark (de facto) |
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Date of construction: |
Between September 2552 and December 2552 |
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Date of destruction: |
December 11, 2552;[1] destroyed due to premature firing |
| Structural information | |
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Diameter: |
10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi)[2] |
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Surface width: |
318 kilometres (198 mi)[2] |
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Gravity: |
.992G (approx)[2] |
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Surface temperature: |
-23°C to 40°C (-9°F to 104°F) (controlled)[2] |
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Atmospheric composition: |
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- "A replacement. For the ring you destroyed."
- — Thel 'Vadam observing the second Installation 04's construction alongside John-117.[3]
Installation 08[4] was a partially completed Halo installation which was constructed at the Ark after the destruction of Installation 04.[5] Incomplete to the point where firing would result in its destruction, this replacement was destroyed by Spartan-II Master Chief John-117, only for yet another replacement to be constructed years later.[6]
Overview[edit]
Installation 08 was designed as a very similar replacement to Installation 04, or Alpha Halo, in order to ensure that the Forerunners' Halo network was intact, and therefore able to encompass the entire Milky Way galaxy. Within the Halo Array's firing sequence, Alpha Halo is the first ring to fire, and the destruction of the original Alpha ring in 2552 left a gap in the array that required filling. As a replacement for Installation 04, Installation 08 was built utilising the same construction template as its predecessor - though does bear some notable differences in its design and capabilities.[6] For example, the installation's control room had a broadly similar design to that of the original Alpha Halo, containing a pyramidal structure set into the backdrop of icey chasms - though the exact specifics of how these chasms connected and the structure's overall layout differed.[7]
At the time of its deployment and destruction, Installation 08 was incomplete; many of its functional and habitation elements were unfinished, with lots of core superstructure left exposed. Despite this, it retained functional life-support systems including atmosphere and gravity. However, the incomplete nature of the ring meant that its superstructure was unable to take the force of its activation, causing the ring to shatter.[6]
Locations[edit]
- Control Room
- "Avalanche" - A Forerunner power station set upon a glacial shelf on Installation 08.[8]
History[edit]
Construction[edit]
Following the Battle of Installation 04 and its subsequent destruction, Installation 00 was notified, and an automated function began building a new replacement for the missing installation's position. Though it has been eluded that the ring was partially constructed as part of a failsafe.[5] The main weapon was built first with the surrounding circular metal structure after by using materials that came from the strip mining moon located at the center of Installation 00.[citation needed]
Before it was released into space, the installation had a number of primary features available even though it was still not complete. These included the environment, atmosphere and main structures, and the main weapon, though the ring structure was not yet stable enough to survive this weapon's discharge.[7] This installation was intended to be a replica of Installation 04, as similarities can be noted with the design of the control room for this ring and that of its predecessor. Installation 08 was not a complete replica in every physical characteristic as it was noted that 343 Guilty Spark as custodian of the ring had made modifications and changes to the installation.[5]
At some point prior to the Battle of Installation 00, Cortana became aware of Installation 08's existence. While being held prisoner by the Gravemind on High Charity, she sent a covert message to John-117 on Earth informing him of a "solution to the Flood" that did not require activating the Halo Array.[9]
Discovery[edit]
The still-incomplete installation was released into space just above the Ark. John-117 first discovered its existence shortly after he and Thel 'Vadam killed the Prophet of Truth. He decided that the only way to stop the local Flood infestation (which included the Gravemind from Installation 05) was to fire the incomplete Installation, which was out of range of the other rings.[3]
John headed to the Flood-controlled High Charity to retrieve Cortana, as she held the Activation Index from the first Installation 04. Aided in his escape by Thel, John found a crashed Pelican near the exterior of High Charity and piloted it to the incomplete ring.[10] The Pelican crashed in a snowy valley near the ring's Control Room, which was situated atop a high tower. As John and Thel made their way towards the tower, Flood dispersal pods descended from the sky to prevent them from activating the new Halo. The two, aided by Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, fended off the Flood and reunited with 343 Guilty Spark, who let them into the Control Room.[7]
Inside the Control Room, Guilty Spark informed the trio that the installation would be completed in a few more days. However, with Flood reinforcements banging on the Control Room doors, Johnson declared they didn't have time and decided to activate the installation immediately. Guilty Spark, realizing that a premature activation would destroy the new ring, turned against the trio and fatally wounded Sergeant Johnson. The Chief used Johnson's M6 Spartan Laser to seemingly destroy the rampant Monitor. John then proceeded to activate the new Halo with the Index kept by Cortana.[7]
Destruction[edit]
- Main article: Raid on Installation 08
- "When Halo fired, it shook itself to pieces. Did a number on the Ark"
- — Cortana briefing John-117 of the aftermath of their escape.[7]
As Spark predicted, the new installation was not ready to fire, and it began to shake itself apart and disintegrate. John and Thel escaped through the second phase pulse generator chamber and proceeded towards the Dawn in Johnson's Warthog as the shockwave of the activation caused explosive reactions all across the incomplete sections of the installation. John-117 and Thel 'Vadam barely managed to reach the Dawn before the Installation fired and subsequently exploded. Most of the Flood were destroyed in the explosion or perished from the ring's sterilization pulse, including the Gravemind, while the Ark itself suffered severe damage.[7]
By March 2555, a large chunk of the Halo was impaled on the Ark's central hub, like a dead, arcing tree climbing thousands of kilometers into space. There was also debris from the ring in space, some of it still raining down through the atmosphere and blooming into flame before crashing on the Ark's surface.[11] By May 2559, the Ark had been repaired and completed another replacement.[12]
The activation and firing of Installation 08 was extremely impractical and prone to many of faults, resulting in a few Flood spores or forms surviving on the Ark as late as June 2559,[13] and even a few Kig-Yar and Jiralhanae surviving inside the Anodyne Spirit.[14] This may have been due to the unfinished state of the ring, and/or because the ring was fired in the midst of its own destruction.[15] Another possibility may be the variable harmonics of the Halo's pulse.[16] The Banished were drawn into a fierce conflict against the Flood on the surface of the Ark after they had inadvertently released them from the rubble of High Charity, causing them to spread and multiply. After the Banished killed a Proto-Gravemind and reactivated the Ark's Sentinel defenses, the Sentinels and the Banished were able to contain the Flood and seal off High Charity once more.[13]
Replacement of a replacement[edit]
- Main article: Installation 09
During the UNSC Spirit of Fire's battle with the Banished at the Ark in March 2559, Captain James Cutter, Professor Ellen Anders, and logistics AI Isabel formed a plan to deploy the second replacement for Alpha Halo, Installation 09, to the Soell system in an attempt to send a distress signal to human space.[12] On the way to the original site of Installation 04 however, a Forerunner Guardian construct controlled by Cortana's Created intercepted the ring.[17]
Production notes[edit]
Installation 08 is the setting of the multiplayer map Avalanche,[8] alongside a cancelled multiplayer map remake of the Halo: Combat Evolved map Battle Creek. The Battle Creek remake can be accessed in the Halo 3 Editing Kit, and features a reuse of the skybox for the campaign level Halo with otherwise untextured and unfinished terrain.
Name[edit]
The name of Installation 08 has been subject to numerous changes throughout the years, prior to 343 Industries formally settling on the term "Installation 08" in 2017.[4] When Halo 3 first released in 2007, the ring went formally unidentified in the game's campaign - with the only reference to its name coming in the form of a cut hint for the Mythic skull. The hint, which was never used in the final game, references the ring by its in-development name of "Installation 04v2". At this time, this wiki referred to the ring by the fan-made term "Installation 04 (II)".
The 2009 edition of the Halo Encyclopedia (and its 2011 reissue[18]) was the first source to officially provide a name for the ring, providing the term "Installation 04B".[19] However, this name was never used in any other source, and was formally abandoned following the release of Halo Wars 2 in 2017. At this time, 343 Industries settled on the Installation 08/09 nomenclature[4][20] - something which has been consistently used in all media releases since including Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual and the 2022 Halo Encyclopedia.
Gallery[edit]
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Browse more images in this article's gallery page. |
Concept art[edit]
Concept art of Installation 08's interior for Halo 3.
Concept art of Installation 08's reveal.
Closeup of the Halo.
Concept art of the Halo over the Ark.
Early concept art of the control room, with the Ark in the background.
Finalized concept art of the structure, now bearing clear similarities to the original ring's control room.
Concept art of the Installation's incomplete environment.
Concept art for the Warthog run at the end of Halo 3.
Concept art for the exterior of the partially-constructed Halo.
Concept art for the interior of the partially-constructed Halo.
Screenshots[edit]
A hologram showing the status of Installation 08 before its destruction.
The Forerunner symbol that represents Installation 08.
The incomplete Installation 08 rises from the Ark's center.
The partially constructed Installation 08 visible from the Ark's Citadel.
Installation 08 in the skies of the Ark.
The scaffolding on the new Halo.
Installation 08's Control Room.
Hologram of Installation 08
The surface of Installation 08.
The Master Chief and the Arbiter driving at full speed in Johnson's Warthog to reach the Dawn before the new Halo is destroyed.
Thel 'Vadam, John-117, 343 Guilty Spark, and Avery Johnson on Installation 08 in Halo Mythos.
Surface of Installation 08 being constructed.
Installation 08 fires and crumbles over the Ark, severely damaging it.
An incomplete section of Installation 08, as seen from space.
Halo disintegrating as it prepares to fire.
Halo charging above the ark.
The ring charging as it prepares to fire.
List of appearances[edit]
- Halo 3 (First appearance)
- Halo Legends
- Halo: Hunters in the Dark
- Halo Mythos
- Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual (Mentioned only)
- Halo: Divine Wind (Mentioned only)
Sources[edit]
- ^ Halo Waypoint marketing, Heroes Never Die: Fortitude
- ^ a b c d e Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, page 6: Statistics provided for Alpha Halo are relevant for all Neoteric Halo rings.
- ^ a b Halo 3, campaign level The Covenant
- ^ a b c Reddit, Return to the denomination. Installation 04 (B), (C). Canonically. 343 PLS: "Sorry, 08 and 09 make way more sense :-)
In actuality, they aren't meant to directly replace an individual ring, but to replace the loss in coverage that ring offered the galaxy." - Jeff Easterling (Retrieved on Jan 14, 2024) [archive] - ^ a b c YouTube - HALO, Halo Lore Stream: The Halo Array: 40:44 (Retrieved on Mar 8, 2024)
- ^ a b c Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 356
- ^ a b c d e f Halo 3, campaign level Halo
- ^ a b Bungie.net, Legendary Map: Avalanche (Retrieved on Oct 12, 2014) [archive]
- ^ Halo 3, campaign level Floodgate
- ^ Halo 3, campaign level Cortana
- ^ Halo: Hunters in the Dark, chapter 7
- ^ a b Halo Wars 2, campaign level Hold the Line
- ^ a b Halo Wars 2, Awakening the Nightmare
- ^ Sacrifice
- ^ Twitter, Jeff Easterling (@GrimBrotherOne): "Guns that are blowing up while firing might not be quite as effective..." (Retrieved on Nov 11, 2020) [archive]
- ^ Twitter, Jeff Easterling (@GrimBrotherOne): "There is quite a bit we still don't know about the rings. Even Spark spoke of how variable the tuning could be." (Retrieved on Oct 29, 2020) [archive]
- ^ Halo Wars 2, campaign level Last Stand
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2011 edition), page 186
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition), page 176
- ^ Reddit, Return to the denomination. Installation 04 (B), (C). Canonically. 343 PLS: "No, I'm saying that the main reason you would build a replacement ring is to make sure you covered for the area that was suddenly now uncovered. The Alpha etc nomenclature itself denotes the firing order of each ring. The "Installation XX" number simply denotes which number that ring is in relation to the total number of rings manufactured - regardless of where they are positioned or in which order they would fire." - Jeff Easterling (Retrieved on Jan 14, 2024) [archive]
