Editing Installation 08

{{Status|Canon}}

|anchor=[[Threshold]] {{C|intended}}

|destroyed=[[2552#December|December 11, 2552]];{{Ref/Marketing|Id=Fortitude|Halo Waypoint|Heroes Never Die|Detail=Fortitude}} destroyed due to premature firing

|diameter={{Convert|10000|km|mi}}{{Ref/Book|Id=VIS|EVG|Page=6|Detail=Statistics provided for Alpha Halo are relevant for all Neoteric Halo rings.}}

|surface width={{Convert|318|km|mi}}{{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}

|gravity=.992G (approx){{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}

|surface temperature=-23°C to 40°C (-9°F to 104°F) (controlled){{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}

|atmosphere=1 ([[Wikipedia:Nitrogen|N₂]], [[Oxygen|O₂]]){{Ref/Reuse|VIS}}

{{Quote|A replacement. For the ring you destroyed.|[[Thel 'Vadam]] observing the second Installation 04's construction alongside [[John-117]].{{Ref/Level|Id=TC|H3|The Covenant (level)|The Covenant}}}}

'''Installation 08'''{{Ref/Site|Id=grim|URL=https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/70wbxc/return_to_the_denomination_installation_04_b_c/dn6n4h7/|Site=Reddit|Page=Return to the denomination. Installation 04 (B), (C). Canonically. 343 PLS|Quote=Sorry, 08 and 09 make way more sense :-)<br>In actuality, they aren't meant to directly replace an individual ring, but to replace the loss in coverage that ring offered the galaxy.|Quotee=Jeff Easterling|D=14|M=01|Y=2024}} was a partially completed [[Halo Array|Halo installation]] which was constructed at the [[Installation 00|Ark]] after the destruction of [[Installation 04]].{{Ref/YouTube|Id=lorestream|fYaxRoAf96s|HALO|Halo Lore Stream: The Halo Array|D=08|M=03|Y=2024|Time=2444|Detail=40:44}} 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 [[Installation 09|another replacement]] to be constructed years later.{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22|Enc22|Page=356}}

Installation 08 was designed as a very similar replacement to [[Installation 04]], or Alpha Halo, in order to ensure that the [[Forerunner]]s' 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.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}} 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.{{Ref/Level|Id=Halo|H3|Halo (Halo 3 level)|Halo}}

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.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}

 

*[[Control Room (Installation 08)|Control Room]]

*"[[Avalanche]]" - A Forerunner power station set upon a glacial shelf on Installation 08.{{Ref/Site|Id=Avalanche|URL=http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=13382|Site=Bungie.net|Page=Legendary Map: Avalanche|D=12|M=10|Y=2014}}

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.{{Ref/Reuse|lorestream}} 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|reason=Where is the construction process explained?|date=November 2019}}

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.{{Ref/Reuse|Halo}} 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.{{Ref/Reuse|lorestream}}

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.{{Ref/Level|Id=Floodgate|H3|Floodgate}}

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.{{Ref/Reuse|TC}}

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.{{Ref/Level|H3|Cortana (level)|Cortana}} 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 pod]]s 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.{{Ref/Reuse|Halo}}

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.{{Ref/Reuse|Halo}}

{{Quote|When Halo fired, it shook itself to pieces. Did a number on the Ark|Cortana briefing John-117 of the aftermath of their escape.{{Ref/Reuse|Halo}}}}

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.{{Ref/Reuse|Halo}}

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.{{Ref/Novel|HiTD|Chapter=7}} By May [[2559]], the Ark had been repaired and completed another [[Installation 09|replacement]].{{Ref/Level|Id=HW2|HW2|Hold the Line}}

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 [[2559#June|June 2559]],{{Ref/Game|Id=HW2 AtK|HW2|Halo Wars 2: Awakening the Nightmare|Awakening the Nightmare}} and even a few [[Kig-Yar]] and [[Jiralhanae]] surviving inside the ''[[Anodyne Spirit]]''.{{Ref/Book|Sacrifice}} 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.{{Ref/Twitter|GrimBrotherOne|874380206785445888|Jeff Easterling|Quote=Guns that are blowing up while firing might not be quite as effective...|D=11|M=11|Y=2020}} Another possibility may be the variable harmonics of the Halo's pulse.{{Ref/Twitter|GrimBrotherOne|766840297498157056|Jeff Easterling|Quote=There is quite a bit we still don't know about the rings. Even Spark spoke of how variable the tuning could be.|D=29|M=10|Y=2020}} 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.{{Ref/Reuse|HW2 AtK}}

During the {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}}'s [[Second Ark Conflict|battle]] with the [[Banished]] at the Ark in [[2559#March|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 beacon|distress signal]] to [[Human colonies|human space]].{{Ref/Reuse|HW2}} On the way to the original site of Installation 04 however, a Forerunner [[Guardian|Guardian construct]] controlled by Cortana's [[Created]] intercepted the ring.{{Ref/Level|HW2|Last Stand (Halo Wars 2 level)|Last Stand}}

 

Installation 08 is the setting of the multiplayer map [[Avalanche]],{{Ref/Reuse|Avalanche}} alongside a [[Cut Halo 3 levels#Battle Creek|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 (Halo 3 level)|Halo]] with otherwise untextured and unfinished terrain.

 

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.{{Ref/Reuse|grim}} 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 [[Halo 3 skulls#Cut hunts|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 (2009 edition)|Halo Encyclopedia]]'' (and its [[Halo Encyclopedia (2011 edition)|2011 reissue]]{{Ref/Book|Enc11|Page=186}}) was the first source to officially provide a name for the ring, providing the term "'''Installation 04B'''".{{Ref/Book|Enc09|Page=176}} 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{{Ref/Reuse|grim}}{{Ref/Site|URL=https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/70wbxc/return_to_the_denomination_installation_04_b_c/dn6zt7s/|Site=Reddit|Page=Return to the denomination. Installation 04 (B), (C). Canonically. 343 PLS|Quote=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.|Quotee=Jeff Easterling|D=14|M=01|Y=2024}} - something which has been consistently used in all media releases since including ''[[Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual]]'' and the [[2022]] ''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition)|Halo Encyclopedia]]''.

File:H3_Installation08_Interior.jpg|Concept art of Installation 08's interior for ''[[Halo 3]]''.

File:H3 Installation08_Reveal_Concept.jpg|Concept art of Installation 08's reveal.

File:H3 Installation08_Matte.jpg|Closeup of the Halo.

File:H3_Installation08_Clouds.jpg|Concept art of the Halo over the Ark.

File:H3_Installation08_ControlRoom_Concept_1.jpg|Early concept art of the control room, with the Ark in the background.

File:H3_Installation08_ControlRoom_Concept_2.jpg|Finalized concept art of the structure, now bearing clear similarities to the original ring's control room.

File:H3_Installation08_Wall_Concept.jpg|Concept art of the Installation's incomplete environment.

File:Installation04S.png|The Forerunner symbol that represents Installation 08.

File:H3 HighCharityView.jpg|The partially constructed Installation 08 visible from the Ark's Citadel.

{{Ref/Sources}}