Editing Upgrade seed

{{Era|Forerunner|Post}}
{{Quote|The [[Forerunner]]s were master shipbuilders, among other things. They were explorers as well, spreading across a galaxy of three million occupied worlds. It was not uncommon for them to find themselves in contact with other species and races with rudimentary ships such as yours. They utilized [[design seed]]s to build their own ships from local resources if necessary. But there were many occasions when resources could not support a design, so the Forerunners used whatever local vessels they could obtain and created an upgrade seed - hard light instructions, blueprints, if you will, which bonded to an existing structure, reinforcing the materials, molding them as needed, and upgrading components and systems.|[[343 Guilty Spark]] explains the upgrade seed to the crew of the ''[[Ace of Spades]]''.}}
An '''upgrade seed''' was a type of [[design seed]]<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 210''</ref> utilized by the [[Forerunner]]s to upgrade vessels of other species to have Forerunner technology upgrades within the ship's original framework of operating functional capability.
==Design and operation==
Upgrade seeds were designed to be tailored to specific types of vessels from races other than the [[Forerunner]]s. The upgrade seed would not change the outer appearance of the vessel. Instead, the upgrade seeds would only strengthen its existing materials by [[hard light]] bonding. Inside, quantum and hard light filaments would intertwine with the ship's existing systems, directed by smart upgrade code, to create a custom integration between Forerunner technology and the ship's current specifications and technologies. As a result, the upgrades were limited by the limitations of the ship's original design. While the designs could be applied in orbit, it was better to ground the ship and run on auxiliary power as the upgrade seed did its work. <ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''pages 225-226''</ref>

While the upgrade seed could create an upgrade to the vessel's slipspace drive, it required a Forerunner [[slipspace flake]] like any Forerunner vessel did.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 178''</ref> The upgrade seed would then create a seamless intergration between the vessel's original FTL drive, Forerunner translight technology and the slipspace flake taking into account the materials available to work with and the size of the vessel. Other known upgrades that the seed was capable of granting included stealth technology, upgraded comms, weapons and navigation systems, all kept with the framework of its original operating functionality.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 226''</ref>

After hijacking the {{UNSCShip|Rubicon}} in [[2554]],<ref>'''[[Halo: Primordium]]'''</ref>, [[343 Guilty Spark]] intended to take the ship to the [[Etran Harborage]] to get an upgrade seed for the vessel, unaware that it had been destroyed in [[2531]] by the {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}}. However, the ''Rubicon'' instead crashed upon [[Geranos-a]] and was destroyed.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 143''</ref> After being rescued by the crew of the ''[[Ace of Spades]]'', Spark decided to take the ship to the [[shield world]] and get an upgrade seed for it instead in order to continue his mission to find the [[Librarian]]. To help entice the crew's compliance, Spark offered them the opportunity to salvage from the planet.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''pages 143-146''</ref> Following the destruction of the Etran Harborage debris field by a massive UNSC fleet, Spark explained his intentions to the crew and suggested that using an upgrade seed on the ''Ace of Spades'' would allow the crew to match the vessels of [[ONI]] and regain their personal property and the projections made by [[Little Bit]] of where the ''Spirit of Fire'' could've gone. After Spark revealed his history to them, the crew agreed to help him.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''Chapters 24-25''</ref><ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 197''</ref>

In order to get the upgrade seed, Spark took the ''Ace of Spades'' to the lost Forerunner world of [[Triniel]] which contained a [[Builder]] facility that had everything Spark needed to create an upgrade seed. After [[Rion Forge]]'s touch as a [[Reclaimer]] activated the facility, Spark retrieved a slipspace flake from the laboratory where the crystal was cut. Spark led the crew to the lab where the design seeds were created where he input the design specifications for a {{Class|Mariner|transport ship}} and designed an upgrade seed for the human vessel while the ''Ace of Spades'' crew salavaged from the facility.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''Chapter 28''</ref> Though originally hesitant to apply the seed, Rion agreed after being offered a deal by Agent [[Walter Hahn]] of [[ONI]] in order to give the ''Ace of Spades'' the advantage it needed with the upgrade process taking approximately eighteen hours, fifty-three minutes and eleven seconds.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''pages 223-227''</ref> The cloaking technology the ship gained made it invisible to two searching ONI [[Prowler]]s<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 250''</ref> which were also completely unable to catch up to or track the ''Ace of Spades'' when it jumped to slipspace.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 254''</ref> However, its cloaking was briefly penetrated by the AI [[Thea]] who detected a strange ship's signature on Earth that was registering as both human and Forerunner.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 307''</ref> Despite this brief penetration of its defenses, the ''Ace of Spades'' was never actually found by ONI and was able to spend a week on Earth undetected before departing right under the noses of Earth's [[Home Fleet]].<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 323''</ref> The ''Ace of Spades'' became a one-of-a-kind fusion of human and Forerunner. Unlike other human ships with Forerunner technology, it was not a human retrofit but a seamless, unifying intergration led by Forerunner-driven technology.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 265''</ref>

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: Renegades]]'' {{1st}}

==Sources==
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{{Forerunner|technology}}
[[Category:Forerunner technology]]