Mona Lisa
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| Mona Lisa | |
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Class: |
Prison ship (converted freighter)[1] |
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Role: |
Transportation of prisoners and ore to and from penal colonies[1] |
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Mona Lisa was a prison ship that was in service during the later years of the Human-Covenant War.[1]
Design details[edit]
Like other prison ships, the Mona Lisa was a converted freighter meant to transport prisoners and ore to and from penal colonies. The vessel had minimal defenses and few firearms kept aboard as a precaution against prison breaks,[1] and it was observed to be in noticeably rough shape by the time of its discovery on October 25, 2552.[4][7]
Layout[edit]
A large and heavy vessel, the Mona Lisa's hangar bay was located near its front on the lower decks, not far from the prison cells. The bridge was situated at the uppermost decks while the kitchen, mess, infirmary, and berths—the majority of which were repurposed as cargo holds—in the decks between them.[1] In the ship's infirmary, there was a small safe room that could only be opened from the inside as a precaution against a prison riot.[8] The ship also had an expansive recycling plant[9] and a cavernous engine room.[10]
Service history[edit]
Flood outbreak[edit]
- Main article: Outbreak onboard Mona Lisa
Following the return of the survivors from the Battle of Installation 04, the Office of Naval Intelligence learned of the Flood lifeform. Smith, with the help of the AI Rebecca, hacked the classified files on the events surrounding Halo, including helmet camera footage from the Master Chief of the Flood. Having learned of High Charity from files on Operation: METEORITE, Smith saw the chance to turn Halo into a trap for the Covenant by turning the Flood into a bioweapon and unleashing it on the station when it inevitably came to view the ruins of Halo. Smith saw the Flood as the ultimate weapon that would cause the Covenant to turn on each other as the parasite spread. As such, Smith executed Operation: WHITE SAND.[5]
In October 2552, Smith and his ONI science team took control of the Mona Lisa. During their weeks of slipspace travel, Smith and his team made modifications to the prison ship to turn it into their laboratory. The Mona Lisa arrived in the Soell system on October 18 and began searching the habitable fragments of the ring for Flood specimens and survivors, collecting any specimens they found with the cargo scoops.[5] Amongst the survivors recovered by Smith's team were fourteen-year-old Charlie Collins and Sangheili Seelior 'Andolee. When Charlie woke up on the ship, Smith greeted him and called both the boy and the Sangheili good specimens. Smith brushed off Charlie's questions and told his men that it was the pair's turn the next day and ordered that they be fed, watered and kept secure, even the teenager. Prisoner Patrick Rimmer explained the situation to the two and gave 'Andolee the nickname of "Henry" because Rimmer couldn't pronounce his name. Unlike Rimmer, Charlie and 'Andolee were well-aware of the Flood, having fought it on Halo.[11]
However, the Flood soon broke quarantine and infected the ship,[3] beginning the process of building a Proto-Gravemind to attempt FTL travel without needing access to the bridge, which was locked off.[12]
Shortly afterward, the Office of Naval Intelligence sent a prowler, the UNSC Red Horse, to assess the status of the Mona Lisa. A squad of Marines among her crew was sent to investigate it, at first presuming it derelict as they had intentionally not been informed about the ship's true purpose. They split up, with the mission of initiating the Cole Protocol by purging the ship's navigational databases, but were quickly alerted to the horrors of the ship.[13] Among its survivors were "Henry," a Sangheili who had teamed up with a prisoner named Patrick Rimmer in order to survive,[14] and John Smith, the ONI operative responsible for the experiments aboard the Mona Lisa,[3] who had locked himself in a safe room near the medical bay.[8]
The squad of Marines was slowly whittled down as they attempted to escape the ship. Only four members of the squad survived long enough to reach the corridor leading to the vessel's escape pods: Sergeant Lopez, Private MacCraw, Clarence, and Corpsman Benti), along with Henry and Rimmer. Upon reaching the escape pods, Clarence shot Rimmer and it was revealed that he was an ONI operative sent to make sure no one but the Marines escaped the ship. The remaining survivors were caught in a standoff pointing guns at one another as th