Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science
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The Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science (abbreviated AJJ or AJAMS)[1][4] was a military academy hidden on the classified frontier world of Nysa, where members of the Spartan Operations train. It is posthumously named after the Insurrection and Human-Covenant War veteran Avery Johnson, a member of the SPARTAN-I program, who was killed in action during the Raid on Installation 08 in late 2552.[5][1] During the Created conflict, it served as a rally point and staging area for surviving Spartans and other UNSC forces who escaped destruction at the hands of the Created after the destruction of Laconia Station.[6] Keeping the facility's location a secret was considered important enough to revive Cole Protocol safeguards.[2] The facility was overwhelmed during an attack by the Banished in March 2560.
Overview[edit]
Campus[edit]
As part of the Spartan Training and Qualification Program, the academy has an outdoor training arena at the base of the Hesychius Mountains.[7] This training arena allows for live fire practice. Part of this training arena includes Buildings 5, 7, 8 and 9 as well as Tower 187.[5] The main building has an AI calibration lab, where Spartans can access their personal AIs, and it is adjacent to the Movement Yard, where Spartans can practice their movement skills in an obstacle course. There is also an armory and a firing range, where personnel can run weapon drills.[8]
Many walls throughout the campus are adorned with various logos and insignias, including one that features a Mark V (B) helmet with the name of the academy surrounding it in a circle.[7]
Air facilities[edit]
The academy is kitted with various facilities to support the landing and deployment of aircraft. These include landing pads for the use of dropships like the Pelican,[7] alongside a large hangar situated around 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the main campus capable of housing a number of larger dropships and small starships. As of early 2560, the hangar hosted four Condor dropships and a single Zheng He-class courier, with most of the base's defences having been relocated to Earth to fend off a Banished attack there the previous year.[9]
Communications[edit]
In response to the Created uprising in 2558, the academy was fitted with a slipspace COM launcher, allowing for secure point-to-point communications that cannot be intercepted by the Created. To facilitate the launching of the probes, the base has a mass driver, capable of flinging low-mass projectiles into Nysa's orbit to send into slipspace. The base also has a number of FTL communication-capable dishes (presumably wavecom relays) which can be used for more general communications.[9]
Defenses[edit]
The academy is equipped with numerous surface-to-air missile launchers for air defense duties. These weapons were successfully hijacked by Iratus during its attack on the base, resulting in them being used to fire on UNSC evacuation efforts.[9]
Personnel[edit]
Staff[edit]
- Spartan Commander Laurette Agryna - Trainer
- M. Brinkley - Range Master[10]
- Chief Engineer Hannah Roberts - UNSC Cybersecurity & Network Infrastructure[11][9]
- S. Melvoin[4]
Marines[edit]
The Avery Johnson Academy is home to over one hundred Marines.
Recruits/Spartans[edit]
The Academy is home to over fifty SPARTAN-IV recruits.[12]
History[edit]
Early history[edit]
At the start of the Human-Covenant War, an ONI Section Three facility was built underground at the site of what would become the Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science.[3] After the end of the war, the academy was named after the late Sergeant Major Avery Johnson.[1] As a new recruit, Spartan-IV Hieu Dinh received his set of Mirage IIC armor at the ONI facility beneath the academy.[3]
Created conflict[edit]
The academy was operating and training forces even in the midst of the Created occupation of parts of the galaxy in either late 2559 or early 2560.[1] It is likely run—in some part—by the Spartan Training and Education department. On December 20, 2559, Spartan Commander Laurette Agryna escorted a surviving group of Spartan-IV recruits to the academy, following the destruction of Laconia Station. From there, she took charge in training and mentoring those Spartans in order to prepare them for future conflicts.[14] A slipspace COM launcher was installed at the facility after the onset of the Created, as part of a broader effort to revert back to more secure communications methods that could not be intercepted by the Created.[9]
In mid-December of 2559, the UNSC issued a mass recall of its military assets to Earth in the face of an imminent threat posed by War Chief Severan and his armada. As such, the academy was left with only a few slipspace-capable vehicles; four Condor drophsips and a single Zheng He-class courier.[9]
Attack by the Banished[edit]
- Main article: Battle of Nysa
Between January 24 and February 15, 2560, Spartans Hieu Dinh and Sigrid Eklund were deployed from the academy to a reconnaissance mission against a Banished operation in the Chiltift Basin on Camber. During the mission, Dinh was attacked by, and infected by, a rogue AI named Iratus. The Spartans were able to commandeer a Phantom dropship and return back to the academy for assistance, arriving on February 15. In response, Spartan Commander Agryna ordered that the base's Spartan complement use the site's War Games simulators to try and draw Iratus out of Dinh's neural interface by presenting it with new targets; if successful, the Spartans would be able to draw Iratus onto the academy's servers and then contain it there. The plan worked, and on February 18 Iratus was trapped on the academy's mainframe. Dinh awoke from his coma two days later.[14][15]
Despite Iratus' seeming isolation inside the academy servers, the transfer process resulted in damage to the network and the presence of glitches throughout the academy's War Games systems. These issues persisted over the next week, with the UNSC underestimating the scale of the threat posed by Iratus. On February 29, Spartans Dinh and "Rook" were able to access the old ONI facility underneath the academy, only to discover that Iratus had broken its containment and was now accessing the academy's databases. Iratus then proclaimed its loyalty to the Banished and began a widespread takeover of the academy systems.[14][15] While initially contained by the academy's network countermeasures, it began seeking ways to break out onto Nysa's broader planetary network, which could threaten the rest of the UNSC's facilities on the world. The Spartans responded by preparing to evacuate the base's key personnel, enact the Cole Protocol, and use the base's slipspace COM launcher to send a request for help to Anvil Station. However, Iratus was ultimately able to send out a signal using the base's wavecommunications equipment, alerting the Banished to the location of the academy and - by extension - Nysa as a whole. Lastly, Iratus was able to gain control of the academy's SAM missile defences, which allowed it to prevent any UNSC evacuation of the base.[9]
On March 3, the academy (alongside the rest of the planet) was attacked by a contingent of the Banished; the New Colonial Alliance led by Ilsa Zane from her dreadnought Ghost of Kholo.[9] Zane initially met Spartans Agryna, Dinh, and Eklund on the ground for a parley, where she offered to let the base evacuate if they surrendered willingly. The Spartans refused the offer, which led to the Banished beginning to drop occupation infrastructure onto Nysa. In the early hours of March 4, the Swords of Sanghelios frigate Sword of Conjunction alongside UNSC frigate UNSC Fearful Symmetry arrived on station to try and relieve the siege of the academy. Both ships deployed troops into the academy to assist in fending off Banished ground forces, while Fearful Symmetry was able to temporarily disable Ghost of Kholo. Ultimately, however, the Banished were able to break into the base's AI lab, which led to Ilsa Zane retrieving Iratus and taking custody of the AI within her own MJOLNIR armor. Ultimately, Fearful Symmetry was able to successfully evacuate the base's key personnel, at the cost of the academy itself being overwhelmed.[16]
Gameplay[edit]
The Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science acts as the setting and framing device for the tutorial and matchmaking practice of the Halo Infinite multiplayer. It is also the setting for the map Live Fire in the game as well.[7] The Forge canvas map Institute is set in the valley clearing adjacent to the academy.[17]
Gallery[edit]
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Browse more images in this article's gallery page. |
Concept art[edit]
Concept art of the academy.
Concept art of the map Live Fire, set at the academy.
Concept art of a firing range at the academy.
Concept art of the AI calibration lab.
Screenshots[edit]
Spartan Commander Agryna and her trainees in the academy.
Outside a foyer at the academy.
A foyer in the academy.
The AI calibration lab.
A locker room.
The movement course.
The armory.
A view of the training arena.
Building 5 of the training arena.
An area of the campus.
The academy logo on a wall of the training arena.
The training arena.
Tower 187 with Building 9 in the back right.
SPARTAN-IVs training at the academy.
Another view of some of the training area.
List of appearances[edit]
- Halo Infinite (First appearance)
- Halo: Empty Throne
- Halo: Battle for the Academy – Part 1
- Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 2
Sources[edit]
- ^ a b c d e Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Showcase Sensitive (Retrieved on Jun 16, 2021) [archive]
- ^ a b Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Legendary Endings (Retrieved on Dec 13, 2021) [archive]
- ^ a b c Halo Infinite, Site Unseen: Unbound cinematic
- ^ a b Halo Waypoint, Halo Infinite - Lone Wolves Intel (Retrieved on Nov 3, 2022) [local archive] [external archive]
- ^ a b Halo Infinite marketing, A New Generation
- ^ Twitter, Halo (@Halo): "👥 CHARACTER DATABASE - AVERY J. JOHNSON
Folks need heroes to give ‘em hope, and that’s what the next generation of humanity’s finest are trained to become under the watchful eye of Spartan Commander Laurette Agryna. #FictionFriday" (Retrieved on Apr 2, 2023) [archive] - ^ a b c d Halo Infinite marketing, Halo Infinite Multiplayer Overview
- ^ Halo Infinite, campaign level Tutorial (Halo Infinite)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 1
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj Halo Infinite, campaign level Tutorial
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Halo Infinite - Echoes Within Intel (Retrieved on May 14, 2023) [local archive] [external archive]
- ^ Twitter, Halo (@Halo): "Located on the hidden frontier world Nysa, the Avery J. Johnson Academy —named in honor of one of the UNSC's most legendary soldiers—is home to over fifty Spartan-IV recruits as they are trained to become a new generation of heroes. #FictionFriday" (Retrieved on May 9, 2025) [archive]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag Halo Infinite, multiplayer map Live Fire
- ^ a b c Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Tasty Tomes (Retrieved on Mar 24, 2025) [archive]
- ^ a b Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Falcon Fiction Flight (Retrieved on Aug 6, 2025) [archive]
- ^ Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 2
- ^ YouTube - HALO, Halo Infinite | Forge Fundamentals – Canvases & File Sharing (Retrieved on Oct 17, 2022)
