Editing Mantle's Approach

{{Era|Forerunner|Post}}
{{New Content|[[Halo: Warfleet]]}}
{{Title|''Mantle's Approach''}} 
{{Disambig header|the ship used in [[Halo 4]] and [[Halo: Silentium]]|the ship in [[Halo: Cryptum]]|Didact's ship}}
{{Individual Ship Infobox
|name=''Mantle's Approach''
|image=[[File:H4-MantlesApproach-ScanRender.png|130px]]
|manufacturer= Master Builder's Fabricae<ref name="warfleet">''[[Halo: Warfleet]]'', p. 86-87</ref>
|model=
|role=Domination<ref name="warfleet"/>
|length={{Convert|142.7|km|mi|sp=us}}<ref name="VIS">'''[[Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide]]''', ''page 193''</ref> 
|height={{Convert|371.4|km|mi|sp=us}}<ref name="VIS"/>
|width={{Convert|138.6|km|mi|sp=us}}<ref name="VIS"/>
|mass=4.7 quadrillion metric tons<ref name="warfleet"/>
|engine=
|slipspace drive=Equipped
|hull=Programmable matter held together by [[hard light]] bonds and energy interlocks.<ref name="warfleet"/>
|armament=*[[Composer]]
*1 [[heavy ion weapon system]]<ref name="warfleet"/>
*1 [[stasis tension driver]]<ref name="warfleet"/>
*40 [[torsion driver array]]s<ref name="warfleet"/>
*1.700 [[light mass fusillade cannons]]<ref name="warfleet"/>
*25.000 [[converging beam cannon]]s<ref name="warfleet"/>
*[[Z-8060 Particle Cannon|Particle cannon network]]<ref name="VIS"/>
*Anti-Ship Artillery System<ref name="VIS"/>
**[[Z-8250 Forerunner Artillery|Z-8250 heavy artillery]]<ref name="VIS"/>
**[[Forerunner light point defense gun|Z-8250 light artillery]]<ref name="VIS"/>
|countermeasures=*Cloaking system<ref name="cloak">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 273''</ref>
*[[Torsion field]]s<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''page 262''</ref>
|misc4-title=Complement
|misc4=*1 Strategos<ref name="warfleet"/>
*25 Princeps<ref name="warfleet"/>
*800 Navarchs<ref name="warfleet"/>
*250.000 Praetorians<ref name="warfleet"/>
*5.5 million Venatores<ref name="warfleet"/>
*Over a billion Promethean constructs<ref name="warfleet"/>
**[[Promethean Knight|Knights]]
**[[Promethean Watcher|Watchers]]
**[[Promethean Crawler|Crawlers]]
|commission=[[Human-Forerunner wars]]<ref name="VIS"/>
|destroyed=[[2557#July|July 25, 2557]]<ref>'''[[Halo: Escalation]]''', ''[[Halo: Escalation Issue 7|Issue #7]]''</ref>
|battles=
*[[Forerunner-Flood war]]
**[[Battle of the greater Ark]]
*[[Post-Covenant War conflicts]]
**[[Raid on Ivanoff Station]]
**[[New Phoenix Incident]]
|fleet=
|namedcrew=[[Endurance-of-Will]]
|captains=[[Ur-Didact]]
|affiliation=[[Promethean]]s
}}

'''''Mantle's Approach''''' was the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]]'s personal [[flagship]].<ref>'''[[Halo Waypoint]]''', ''Section 3 Archive''</ref>

==History==
===Origins===
This massive vessel was once captained by the Didact at the height of Forerunner power. Built during the [[human-Forerunner wars]], it served as the Ur-Didact's personal command ship. The [[design seed]] of the vessel was not approved by the [[Ecumene Council]], but the [[Master Builder]] [[Faber]].<ref>[https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_postsm2959627_Mantle-s-Approach-Size.aspx#post2959627 '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Mantle's Approach Size'' (343's answer)]</ref> While not the largest of Forerunner ships, ''Mantle's Approach'' was the fastest and most heavily armed warship in the [[Forerunner fleet]].<ref name="VIS"/> The ship held a number of [[Z-330 Forerunner Escort|escort craft]] for transport within the vessel,<ref name="escort">'''[[Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide]]''', ''page 123''</ref> and at its height it possessed enormous support fleets of both manned and automated combat craft, including [[war sphinx]]es,<ref name="escort"/> [[sentinel]]s and internally-stored fighters.<ref name="VIS"/> During the Didact's assault on [[Omega Halo]], it had an escort of thousands of sentinels.<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 261-262''</ref> Like many Forerunner warships,<ref>'''Halo: Silentium''', ''pages 213''</ref> ''Mantle's Approach'' possessed a cloaking ability.<ref name="cloak"/>

===Forerunner-Flood war===
[[File:H4-Terminal-Village-Mantle.jpg|thumb|250px|left|''Mantle's Approach'', moments before [[Composer|composing]] a human village.]]
During the final years of the [[Forerunner-Flood war]], after being returned to the [[ecumene]] from his captivity at the clutches of the [[Gravemind]], the Ur-Didact re-assumed command of ''Mantle's Approach''. He used the ship to travel to [[Nomdagro]] and later when he followed the [[Librarian]]'s ship, ''[[Audacity]]'', to the [[greater Ark]]. Once there, he remained aboard the ''Mantle's Approach'' in orbit over the Ark, where he was briefly visited by the Librarian. When the Ark fell [[Battle of the greater Ark|under siege]] by [[Flood]] forces, the Didact moved the ship to the nearby [[Omega Halo]] and used a [[Composer]], a device designed to transfer organic consciousness to digital form, integrated to the ship to harvest the essences of the [[human]] population that had been transplanted to the ring. He then immediately departed aboard ''Mantle's Approach'', headed for [[Requiem]], his primary [[shield world]]. He docked the ship inside Requiem and began to process the harvested human essences into the next generation of [[Promethean Knight]]s.<ref name="silentium">'''Halo: Silentium''', ''String 34''</ref>

However, the Librarian had trailed her husband on ''Audacity'', aiming to put an end to his genocidal schemes. With the admission of the Didact's lieutenant, [[Endurance-of-Will]], the Librarian entered ''Mantle's Approach'' and confronted the Didact in the command center. She incapacitated the Didact, placed him in a [[Cryptum|combat Cryptum]] previously stored on ''Mantle's Approach'' and sealed the Cryptum inside the core of Requiem.<ref name="silentium"/> She also sealed the ship itself within Requiem.<ref name="VIS"/>

===Modern era===
After his awakening in [[2557|July 2557]], the Didact quickly escaped in his Cryptum and, once the necessary preparations were complete, he recoupled the Cryptum with ''Mantle's Approach'' and took off immediately. He jumped to [[Ivanoff Station]] alongside a [[Jul 'Mdama's Covenant faction|Covenant]] fleet, intent on reclaiming the Composer. The Didact test-fired the Composer on the station, then proceeded to [[Earth]] to settle his personal war with humanity once and for all.<ref>'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Composer (level)|Composer]]</ref>  Although Earth had been warned of the attack, the planet's [[orbital defense platform]]s and the [[Home Fleet]] were unable to stop the colossal Forerunner ship.

Unbeknownst to the Ur-Didact, however, [[SPARTAN-II program|Spartan]] [[John-117]] had survived the Composer's deadly pulse thanks to immunization provided by the Librarian. Pursuing ''Mantle's Approach'' aboard a [[HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon|nuclear-armed]] [[F-41 Broadsword]], the Spartan took out the ship's point defense turrets, allowing the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}} to punch a hole through the ship's hull with her fore weapons. The Master Chief then fought his way through the ship, eventually finding the Didact controlling the Composer under an impenetrable force field. The AI [[Cortana]] overloaded the shields by flooding the ship's mainframe with her rampant duplicates, allowing the Chief to confront the Didact. Although John was no match for the Didact's powerful abilities, Cortana was able to immobilize the Promethean with [[hard light]] shackles, allowing the Chief to plant a [[Z-040 pulse grenade|pulse grenade]] in the Didact's armour. The resulting explosion knocked the Didact off balance and sent him falling into a slipspace portal underneath the Composer.<ref name="midnight">'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Midnight]]</ref>

With the Composer already firing upon [[New Phoenix]], [[Unified Republic of North America|URNA]], the Spartan manually detonated the HAVOK warhead as a desperate last resort. The Composer was destroyed by the HAVOK nuke, along with the ''Mantle's Approach''. The dying Cortana teleported the Master Chief out of the ship at the very last moment and created a hard light barrier around him, saving John's life at the cost of her own. The remains of ''Mantle's Approach'' formed a debris field over Earth.<ref name="midnight"/>

However, it has been noted by [[Catalog]] that the "heart" of ''Mantle's Approach'' conducted an emergency slipspace jump to the "sector rally point" when the HAVOK detonated.<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/db05ce78845f4120b062c50816008e5d/topics/catalog-interaction/4c3e1c6f-6519-4ee0-83a4-4bac13bf07a3/posts?page=23#post454 '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Catalog Interaction (page 23)'']</ref> Pieces of the ship's remains exited over [[Installation 03]] in the [[Khaphrae system]]. Some of the debris entered the atmosphere of the Halo installation—an event observed by SPARTAN-II [[Black Team]].<ref>'''Halo: Escalation''', ''[[Halo: Escalation Issue 9|Issue #9]]''</ref> Other pieces of the ship's remains, carrying Cortana, exited and crash-landed over [[Genesis]].<ref>'''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]'''</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:H4-Terminal-MantlesApproach.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' seen in ''Halo 4'''s terminals.
File:H4-Mantle-Departure.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' rising above [[Requiem]]'s main entry opening.
File:H4-MantlesApproach-Shields.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' exiting slipspace alongside [[Lich]] dropships.
File:H4-MantlesApproachShip.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' flying through the void.
File:H4-MantlesApproachShip-Slipspace.jpg|John-117 pursuing the ''Mantle's Approach'' onboard his [[F-41 Broadsword]].
File:H4-MantlesApproach-Slipspace1.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' opening a slipspace portal.
File:H4-MantlesApproach-Slipspace2.jpg|The ''Mantle's Approach'' jumping into the slipspace rupture.
File:H4-Infinity-Mantle.jpg|The UNSC ''Infinity'' facing the ''Mantle's Approach''.
File:H4-Midnight-Trench.jpg|A view of the trench that [[John-117]] flew through in an [[F-41 Broadsword]].
File:Mantles-Approach wreckage.jpg|The debris field left behind by the destruction of the ''Mantle's Approach''.
</gallery>
===Concept art===
<gallery>
File:H4 Mantle's Approach concept art.jpg|Concept art of the profile of the ''Mantle's Approach''.
File:H4-Concept-MantlesApproach.jpg|More concept art of the ''Mantle's Approach'' ship with the Didact's Cryptum.
File:H4-Concept-Mantle-Interior.jpg|Concept art of the interior of ''Mantle's Approach''.
File:H4-Concept-Ivanoff-Mantle.jpg|Concept art of the ''Mantle's Approach'', laying siege to [[Ivanoff Station]].
File:H4-DidactShip-3DConcept01.jpg|Untextured 3D model of the ''Mantle's Approach''.
File:H4-DidactShip-3DConcept02.jpg|Close-up on the fore section of the 3D model.
File:H4-DidactShip-3DConcept03.jpg|Detailed views of the model's upper half.
</gallery>
{{Linkbox|gallery=yes}}
{{Clear}}

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo 4]]'' {{1st}}
**''[[Terminal/Halo 4|Terminals]]''
*''[[Halo: Silentium]]''
*''[[Halo: Escalation]]''
*''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo Mythos]]''

==Sources==
<references/>

{{Forerunner|ships}}

[[Category:Forerunner ships]]