- "This installation has a successful utilization record of 1.2 trillion simulated and one actual. It is ready to fire on demand."
- — 2401 Penitent Tangent
Installation 05, or Delta Halo as it is called by Humans, is one of the seven massive Halo fortress worlds built by the Forerunners. It is also the second Halo ring to be discovered by Humanity. Installation 05 orbits a gas giant known as Substance, and was managed by its Monitor, 2401 Penitent Tangent.
Summary
The purpose of Installation 05, along with its brethren, was to preclude and thwart the parasite forms known as the Flood from consuming all sentient life in the galaxy. In the event of a Flood outbreak, one of the seven installations could be triggered to annihilate all sentient life within 25,000 light years. Once one ring is set off all remaining rings would activate. All seven rings could be fired at once if need be.
The climate of Installation 05 is similar to that of Installation 04, with varying weather conditions in different areas. Its terrain includes lakes and jungles, as well as the ice and snow-filled Quarantine Zone.
Architecture
- "You know, I think the Forerunners built these new structures around the old, to protect them, to honor them."
- — Cortana, commenting on some of the structures on Delta Halo.[1]
A curious feature on Installation 05 are some of its ruins. While consistent with Forerunner architecture, the ruins seem clearly older and more primitive than most Forerunner structures. They are also made of stone, as opposed to the metallic material seen on the majority of Forerunner constructs. This brings up the question of whether these are Forerunner structures at all, or if they were built by an even more ancient civilization or the Forerunners themselves long time before the construction of the Halo installations, and later moved to the ring for unknown reasons.[2] Still, only a fraction of the installation's structures represent the older variety, as most of them are in a similar condition as on other known installations. The reasons for these differences are unknown.
It may be that the clearly older structures were brought on the ring after its construction, with structures built around them later to support them. Another possible reason would be that some of the less essential structures have fallen into disrepair due to the capture of the installation's monitor by the Gravemind as the monitor became incapable to coordinate the repairs on them by Sentinels. The aging could also be due to battles that have taken place, hinting that this is where a battle may have taken place during the Forerunner-Flood War. If Delta Halo was in fact the site of a battle between Forerunner and Flood forces, one must question why the Flood did not have a stronger presence among the rings.
It is also possible, that each Halo, while similar in architecture (I.E angular design, and same basic functional structures), has a different style from the next, an example being Installation 05's Control Room having similarity to Installation 04's Control Room in purpose, but with a different look, including a spherical shape at the center of the building. This is different from both versions of Installation 04, which look almost exactly the same (being of the same style), and have the same surroundings. However, a combination of this, and the weathering caused by unknown reasons could be why Delta Halo's structures look so dissimilar. Structures constructed out of the same material as the Temple in the lake seem to be more resistant to the elements.
Forerunner stone ruins aren't exclusive to Installation 05 however. A complex of ruins in an unknown location holds similar structures. Much like some of the ruins on Installation 05, this ruin complex is also surrounded by newer structures.
History
- "Those who built this place knew what they wrought. Do not mistake their intent, or all will perish as they did before."
- — Gravemind
It is assumed that Installation 05 was built around the same time as Installation 04, circa 100,000 years before the events of 2552. It was activated shortly thereafter by the Forerunners, eradicating all sentient life in the galaxy and, presumably, destroying the Flood as well, with the exception of those specimens kept in the Halos for research. As of 2552, it had a record of 1.2 trillion simulated firings and one actual activation.
Flood Disaster
About 200 years prior to 2552, the Flood on Installation 05 escaped and evaded containment due to negligence on the part of the installation's Monitor, Penitent Tangent. [3] The Flood quickly grew out of control around the area of the Installation's Library. The Flood were kept contained by a Sentinel Wall built around the Library, but 2401 Penitent Tangent was captured. Without it, the Sentinels of the Halo lacked a controlling intelligence and so many of the structures around Installation 05 fell into horrible conditions, and most of the Installation came to look like a jungle strewn with ruins.
At the time of the Human-Covenant War, a Gravemind was holding 2401 Penitent Tangent captive. Even with the addition of Forerunner Sentinel Majors and Enforcers, the Flood were able to remain loose, albeit contained within the Quarantine Zone by the Sentinel Wall. This stalemate is believed to be the cause of the slow decline into the horrible condition of the structures of the Installation. The Gravemind itself resided in the chamber directly below the Index Chamber in the center of the Library. A battle record has been shown on Bungie.net:
REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] has experienced catastrophic specimen containment failure. All apertures into facility will be locked until further notice. Atmosphere evacuation and [reduction of ambient temperature] protocols have already been enacted. Request maintenance and security detail [at earliest opportunity]. [8 minutes] elapsed since initial containment failure. REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE
Waiting for maintenance and security detail. [32 minutes, 9 seconds] elapsed since request. REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE
Still waiting for maintenance and security detail. [24 hours] elapsed since request. REPORT: SECURITY BREACH
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] has experienced a security breach via emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits. Emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits have been placed in recursive mode to contain unauthorized hostile life forms. Request emergency security detail. Still waiting for primary maintenance and security detail. [2512332 hours, 14 minutes, 6 seconds]elapsed since initial request.
REPORT: DERELICTION OF DUTY
2401 [PENITENT TANGENT] has been lax in the areas of maintenance and security.
LOG: QUERIED ADJACENT FACILITIES LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility [alpha, beta, gamma, epsilon, zeta, and kappa sites] have all replied [systems normal] within expected constraints. This would tend to signify that the containment failure was purely mechanical in nature; perhaps a manufacturing flaw. As no [outside agent] has accessed [delta site] in the past [874068942 hours, 4 minutes, 46 seconds]—[allowing for a 61360 hour, 54, minute, 2 second margin of error]—sabotage would seem unlikely.
LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] is currently being held at [.01 atm] / [184K]. Local maintenance and security hubs have failed to reply within expected constraints. [Bumping maintenance and security request up] to [quadrant oversight].
LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] is currently being held at [1 atm] / [278K] as atmospheric seals were showing signs of stress. [Quadrant oversight] has failed to reply within expected constraints. [Bumping maintenance and security request all the way up] to 2401 [PENITENT TANGENT].
LOG: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO FACILITIES LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits have been accessed by unauthorized parties.
LOG: FILED COMPLAINT TO INSTALLATION 00 2401 [PENITENT TANGENT], monitor of Installation 05, has been lax in the areas of maintenance and security. Requests for aid in said areas have gone unanswered by both 2401 and [subservient] systems well beyond expected constraints.
Discovery
In 2552, the High Prophet of Regret, a Covenant Hierarch, discovered the location of Installation 05 during the Battle of Earth. He made a Slipspace jump from Earth to the Halo, followed closely by Miranda Keyes' ship UNSC In Amber Clad.
When they arrived, Commander Keyes ordered the Master Chief to capture the Prophet of Regret. After fighting the Covenant in various temples and structures, the Master Chief and Cortana overheard Regret talking about activating the ring, which according to him, would start the "Great Journey." Miranda Keyes ordered the Chief and Cortana to find and kill Regret, while she and her Marines on board In Amber Clad went to the Library to retrieve the Index.
The Master Chief fought through waves of Covenant enemies onboard gondolas, through underwater structures, and more mysterious structures until he finally located Regret in a huge temple over the lake and killed him just as the Covenant city High Charity arrived with hundreds, possibly thousands of ships. One ship destroyed the Prophet of Regret's temple, which caused the Master Chief to fall into the lake and ultimately be captured by the Gravemind.
The Battle
- Main article: Battle of Installation 05
After the Covenant had arrived, the Prophet of Truth ordered Thel 'Vadamee to go on Halo's surface and retrieve the Sacred Icon to enable the start of the Great Journey. The Arbiter, after fighting waves of Sentinels and a large Enforcer, finally deactivated the Sentinel Wall in order to retrieve the Index.
The Flood escaped, and were able to attack and infect much of the Human and Covenant forces on the ring, even taking control of the In Amber Clad and eventually High Charity. After fighting the Flood with the help of Rtas 'Vadumee, who had been sent into the Quarantine Zone beforehand, the Arbiter entered the Library. He found Miranda Keyes and Sgt. Johnson in the Index Chamber, and after neutralizing the pair, the Arbiter managed to retrieve the Index, believing it necessary to begin the Great Journey.
Tartarus, the Chieftain of the Brutes arrived in the Index Chamber, and told the Arbiter of the Prophet's betrayal. Tartarus used a gravity pulse from his Gravity Hammer to throw the Arbiter off the edge of the platform, and Tartarus then took the Icon, Miranda Keyes, and Sgt. Johnson to the Prophets. The Arbiter fell into the chamber of the Gravemind, where he met the Master Chief, 2401 Penitent Tangent, a Prophet Form of Regret and the Gravemind.
There they "edified" him of the true nature of the Installation. The Gravemind sent the Master Chief to High Charity in search of the Index, and the Arbiter to a location on the ring near the Control Center. By that time, Tartarus had brought the Index to the Halo's Control Room. The Master Chief fought through waves of fighting Brutes and Elites in High Charity until he and Cortana witnessed the flood-infected UNSC In Amber Clad arrive from Slipspace into the city, where it then crashed into a tower. The Chief continued through the city, until he reached a climatic battle in the Mausoleum of the Arbiter where large groups of Brutes and Elites were fighting. He neutralized both sides, and continued in pursuit of the Prophet of Truth and the Index.
Meanwhile, the Arbiter had helped support a group of besieged and betrayed Elites against the Brutes. The group of Elites and Grunts fought through a sequence of buildings and forests until the Arbiter arrived on a cliff overlooking the Control Center, where he met Rtas 'Vadumee.
Tartarus, with the unwilling help of his captive, Miranda Keyes, prepared to activate the Installation while the Arbiter rescued Johnson and helped commandeer a Scarab. He escorted the Scarab to the Control Center in a Banshee, where it destroyed the doors, enabling the Arbiter to slip inside. After the Arbiter battled Tartarus and killed him, Miranda Keyes removed the Index from the chamber, canceling the firing sequence. However, the installation had a fail-safe protocol which activated and sent superluminal signals to the other Halos, putting them on standby mode, ready for remote activation through The Ark.[4]
Meanwhile, in space above the Installation, the Brute and Elite fleets had been fighting ever since Regret's assassination.[5] With the threat of the Flood escaping Halo, both sides focused a small number of their ships to the burning of any ships trying to escape Halo. By the time Tartarus had been killed, Delta Halo was under Separatist control and the Prophet of Truth had escaped the completely Flood-infected High Charity in the Forerunner Dreadnought, with the Master Chief inside.
Aftermath
When Installation 05 was last seen, Flood were running loose as well as in High Charity and the surrounding Fleet. The Flood appeared to have been in control of the Installation and High Charity, as the Great Schism had caused fighting between the remaining Covenant forces on the ring. After the battle died down, what is left of the Sangheili fleet sterilized Delta Halo, most likely by glassing the surface.[6] The hologram in the Citadel on Installation 00 shows Installation 05's surface as completely barren;[7] This may be due to the Sangheili fleet glassing it to contain the Flood.
Locations
Trivia
- 2401 Penitent Tangent was the first known Monitor to be captured by the Flood.
- The Halo 3 Multiplayer map Cold Storage is present on Installation 05.
- There are six Halo 2 levels that take place on Installation 05; Delta Halo, Regret, Sacred Icon, Quarantine Zone, Uprising, and Great Journey.
- It is unclear why Installation 05 is referred to as "Delta Halo" by human forces. Considering Installation 04 is given the moniker "Alpha Halo," a more appropriate name, as it was the second such installation to be found by humanity, would have been "Bravo Halo" or "Beta Halo"; the other set of bypassed names is "Charlie Halo" and "Gamma Halo" respectively. However, it could be because Alpha and Delta are the only 2 letters from the NATO Phonetic Alphabet which are also in the Greek alphabet.
Gallery
- Tanget.JPG
The Monitor of Installation 05, 2401 Penitent Tangent.
- Jungle.jpg
Jungles and lakes on Installation 05.
- Argodaemon-DeltaHaloTank-1600-1200.jpg
A structure and a bridge on Installation 05.
- Uprising.jpg
The Control Room of Installation 05.
The Control Room of Installation 05.
- Llibraryday.jpg
The Library of Installation 05.
Birds on Delta Halo.
Sources
- ^ Halo 2, level Regret
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Memory Lane: Template:Levelname
- ^ Halo 3 level, Cold Storage
- ^ http://www.halo3.com Story section
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page ??
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia, page ??
- ^ Halo 3, level The Covenant