Zeta Halo project

The Zeta Halo project was a project started in 2555 by the Office of Naval Intelligence to research Installation 07. ONI's Xeno-Materials Exploitation Group was involved in the project. The project's purpose was to research the installation's structures and environment systems. The project is managed by Doctor Bob Casper.

History

Background

While exploring the enormous Forerunner shield world Onyx in late 2553 or early 2554, respected scientist and expert on Forerunner history and culture, Doctor Luther Mann, discovered records hidden deep within the shield world's vast information pathways. He labored to translate them for a year before they finally revealed the existence and location of Installation 07 just as 2555 was dawning. Doctor Mann's discovery catapulted his academic career, placing him front and center with many scientific publications and organizations. In addition to invitations to lecture at numerous universities, he was summoned to the headquarters of the United Nations Space Command on Earth to provide a detailed report of the methods he had used to locate the Halo. The Office of Naval Intelligence was primarily concerned with quarantining and securing all known Halo installations in order to alleviate the risk they posed to the galaxy.

Project

ONI set about conducting research on the vast interior world that composed the inner workings of Zeta Halo shortly after its location was revealed. No expense was spared for the project, as there was lots of territory to cover and the risk of something being overlooked was great. In addition to the researchers delivered to the ring, hundreds of automated probes began to be used to scan every canyon, riverbed, and facility. Naturally, Doctor Mann's participation in the project had been not only welcomed, but insisted upon by top individuals within the agency. By March of 2555 he had joined an expedition on the ring that also included Henry Lamb of ONI's Xeno-Materials Exploitation Group. There was no human more conversant with or qualified to study and if possible, fix, Forerunner technology at the time than Lamb. Despite much searching by their team, the ring's control room and monitor were still yet to be located by mid-March. On Alpha, Delta, and Gamma Halos the control room had been the largest uniform structure near the phase pulse generators, so the difficulty they were having finding the same on Zeta Halo was puzzling to them. As for the lack of a monitor, Lamb wondered if perhaps there simply may not be one or if it might be hiding for some reason. Mann figured that if it were hiding, one obvious reason for it to do so would be the recent history humanity and the Covenant shared with the Halo rings. A monitor remaining hidden didn't sound consistent with the historic understanding they had of the ancillas, but both men had to admit consistency was by no means mandatory and that it was possible this ring had been made differently for reasons they didn't understand. Template:Expand-Section

Personnel

By March of 2555 around three-hundred individuals were exploring different areas of the ring, each looking for something else. Specialists in planetary engineering studied biomes which had been seeded there from other worlds long ago. Others explored flora; others fauna. Some, such as Doctor Mann, had a particular interest in Forerunner language, an understanding of which was indispensable for the effort to unlock Zeta Halo's secrets. The ring was divided into sectors which could be assigned to specific explorers, teams, or archaeological parties. Template:Expand-Section

List of appearances

• Halo: Hunters in the Dark (First appearance)
• Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual (Mentioned only)