Editing Zone 67

{{Status|Canon}}

'''Zone 67''' was a highly-classified area on the planet [[Onyx]]. After the [[UNSC]] expeditions uncovered "[[Forerunner|alien]]" artifacts, the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] took over, creating the "Zone" for excavation and extracting of any Forerunner artifacts and technology as an advantage over the [[Covenant]].<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''pages 122-127''</ref> Zone 67 was the location of an ONI base, supporting a complement of troops and an [[artificial intelligence]].<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 175''</ref> It also housed a [[slipspace COM launcher]], one of only three known launchers in the galaxy.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 176''</ref> The zone was surrounded by an expansive savanna with canyons, ravines, mesas and other rock formations. Acacia trees grew in the region, and the jungle housing [[Camp Currahee]] was located some distance away.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''pages 264-265''</ref>

After [[Camp Currahee]] was constructed south of Zone 67 in [[2531]], a team of [[Spartan-III]]s from [[SPARTAN-III Beta Company|Beta Company]] went missing in Zone 67 in [[2539]].<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 94''</ref> ONI cordoned off the area, ensuring that in the future, no more Spartans (or anyone else) would go there. Zone 67's AI helped Camp Currahee through the years, though it was always a [[smart AI]] and so it had to be replaced every seven years. At first the AI was [[Eternal Spring]], who was replaced by [[Deep Winter]], who was then replaced by [[Endless Summer]].

In [[2552]], after [[John-117]] destroyed [[Installation 04|Alpha Halo]], Zone 67 turned active, with huge numbers of [[Onyx Sentinel|Sentinels]] coming out of the area and destroying the excavation team, eventually attacking Camp Currahee as well. The Sentinels then continued to excavate Zone 67 during the [[Onyx Conflict]]. The planet eventually dissolved, destroying Zone 67 and the entirety of the planet's landmass along with it.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''pages 375-378''</ref>

==Forerunner ruins==

Buried below Zone 67 was a vast Forerunner city. First excavated by the ONI, the uncovering was later completed by Onyx Sentinels, which had dug a crater over a hundred kilometers in diameter, on the bottom of which lay the gargantuan Forerunner complex. As a result of the extensive excavation operation, the city was separated from the surrounding grasslands by mountain-sized ridges of earth and rock which could at first be mistaken for a mountain range. The city was mostly built of [[Onyx (material)|onyx]] and chalcedonic quartz, polished to optical flatness, mirroring the sky with superimposed rainbow bands. There were pillars and arches, elevated aqueducts; columned temples with crowns of three-dimensional Forerunner symbols; a forest of sculpted geometries of spheres, cubes, and tori; roads that curved up and twisted into abstract surfaces. The largest columns rose to what had once been ground level. The structures reflected numerous different images as sunlight hit them, forming various shapes and illusions.<ref name="city">'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''pages 267-274''</ref>

One of the massive structures included a dome, three kilometers in diameter. The top of the dome faceted into [[seven]] flat surfaces, each with a tall arch leading to the interior, each tens of meters in diameter. On the bottom of this was an ascending staircase, each step a hectare of unbroken polished stone. The interior surfaces of the structure were angled and carved with star charts and [[Forerunner symbols]]. Below, seven flat surfaces, each the size of [[UNSC carrier|carrier]] landing decks, were evenly spaced. There was nothing beyond the landing pad save darkness. Around the giant pedestal supporting the landing pad, a helix-shaped staircase led into the depths of the structure. Each stair step was spaced a quarter meter, but they fanned out from the pedestal ten meters. The staircase and the structure were made of a strange, reflective material. Below this was Onyx's vast tunnel network, including the installation's [[Cartographer|map room]].{{Ref/Reuse|city}}

Zone 67's name and enigmatic background might be an allusion to the real-world [[Wikipedia:Area 51|Area 51]].

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