Canon

Project ARC DREAM

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The ship recovered by Project: ARC DREAM.

Project: ARC DREAM is a research endeavour conducted by the Office of Naval Intelligence[1] focused on the study of the Ancestors (referred to by ONI as "archeohomina" or, "ancient humans") and their technology.[2] While the project has existed for some time, a significant advance was made in the post-war era upon the discovery of a derelict ancient human cruiser found drifting in deep space. Once examined, ONI's Xeno-Materials Exploitation Group (XEG) recommended the ship be assigned to ARC DREAM, resulting in a vast expansion of modern humanity's knowledge about the Ancestors.[1] The research effort is ongoing as of April 2560.[2]

Overview[edit]

When ONI became aware of ancient humanity's sprawling interstellar empire and rivalry with the Forerunner Ecumene, and thus ARC DREAM's beginning, is unclear. In 2544 humanity encountered Ancestor ruins on Heian which prompted some initial questioning about their relationship to modern human civilisation,[3][4] and in 2554 ONI recovered the Bornstellar Relation from Onyx. The Bornstellar Relation definitively detailed the final years of the Forerunners and their relationship with ancient humanity. The Bornstellar Relation was also a critical piece of evidence used by Project BOOKWORM, a parallel project to interrogate and recover information from 343 Guilty Spark - an AI created from the mind of the ancient human Chakas.[5] Further information sources used by ARC DREAM include Archeohomina: An Introduction, the Guide to Protogenic Civilizations penned by Keely Iyuska, San'Shyuum: Past, Present, Future? by Cadence Lux, and the Requiem Terminal Dialogues recovered by John-117 during the Battle of Requiem in July 2557.[2] While not specifically attributed to ARC DREAM, the United Nations Space Command have also been able to recover information about the Ancestors' capital-system. thanks to environment scans recovered from the Forerunner shield world of Requiem. The UNSC Cartographer Initiative was able to reconstruct a Forerunner memorial site in orbit of Sothra Hakkor - a world in the same system as the Ancestor empire's capital Charum Hakkor.[6]

Materials from a "dead world" and a "shattered starship" were also recovered by ARC DREAM, which allowed for the development of the Hellcat variant of armor for MJOLNIR (GEN2) and (GEN3).[7][8] Hellcat armor systems tested by SPARTAN-II supersoldiers were found to have near-perfect synchronisation, whereas SPARTAN-IVs have proven to require more acclimisation and maintenance before deployment.[9]

The derelict[edit]

At an unknown time in the postwar era, the Office of Naval Intelligence came across a derelict Ancestor cruiser drifting in deep space, at a site designated Yankee-002-G3[1] in a star system containing three small planets and a dense asteroid field.[2] It is unclear whether this cruiser is the same "shattered starship" as the one which supplied some of the material for MJOLNIR Hellcat. ONI's Xeno-Materials Exploitation Group conducted an assessment of the ship and concluded that it was neither Forerunner nor Covenant in origin, nor did it bear any traces of Flood infection. The report further detailed that the ship had sustained damage consistent with energy projectors and torsion drivers, and that they believed the ship was Ancestor in origin. As such, they recommended that the ship be assigned to ARC DREAM for further analysis, though noted that the ship's fibril cutter weapons be analysed by the team on AZURE MOON.[1]

Work on investigating the derelict was conducted by a team of a few dozen researchers led by Codename: PANGAEA, ferried to the derelict aboard an Anlace-class light frigate. Shifts involved a control group given eight hours to access and analyse the ship before a 36 hour "cooldown" period, during which time other teams were cycled in. These measures were instituted beyond what would be considered usual safety protocols due to the ship's apparent unusual effects that manifested among the ARC DREAM crew, predominantly unusual visions - though no correlation has yet to be found between time spent on the ship and the manifestation of strange visions. These effects included hearing noises and seeing things that weren't there, multiple people all having identical memories, and strange dreams.[2]

While aboard the derelict the teams salvaged several pieces of Ancestor technology which have since been reverse-engineered into advanced prototype equipment for various power armor programs. These included a number of null state stasis containers,[2] which were adapted into the UTIL/Null Bag container.[10] The hulk also contained several suits of Ancestor battle armor, some of which contained a device that allowed the user to communicate via clicks and whistles that can be understood by those wearing the device, but are completely opaque to even advanced translation software. This technology was adapted into the Project ENOCH attachment for the Locus helmet.[11] One of the ARC DREAM researchers who discovered the aforementioned Ancestor suits, Hudson, reportedly went nonverbal shortly after encountering them, except for trying to whistle.[2]

One of the researchers aboard ship was able to communicate with the geas of an Ancestor warrior by putting on one of the ENOCH faceplates, after hiding aboard the ship once their fellows' shifts had ended. The Ancestor was able to talk "through" the researcher and showed them visions of both her, and the ship's, ancient history. These included Forerunner Prefects attempting to board the vessel during the Human-Forerunner wars, a Flood infection of the ship and the conversion of both the Prefects and the Ancestor crew, and a Guardian Custode. However, the largest revelation was the Ancestor essence's ability to nudge the researcher toward the ship's bridge and activate the ship's systems - revealing data about the extent of ancient humanity's empire and many locations that had managed to escape destruction by the Forerunners, particularly located in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy far beyond the Ecumene's reach. The essence was also able to imprint the Ancestors' philosophy of daowa-maad on the unknown researcher.[2]

In April 2560, Codename: PANGAEA sent a report detailing the findings and strange visions experienced by the ARC DREAM crew to Codename: YUGA.[2]

Known personnel[edit]

List of appearances[edit]

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Halo: Warfleet, page 14
  2. ^ 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 Halo: Tulpamancy
  3. ^ Halo Legends, timestamp The Babysitter
  4. ^ Halo: Evolutions - From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal
  5. ^ Halo: Renegades, chapter 13
  6. ^ Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide, page 223
  7. ^ Halo 5: Guardians, Armory: Hellcat body description "Built of knowledge stolen from enigmatic ruins on a dead world and materials stripped from the vault of a shattered starship, the HELLCAT is both utterly alien and strangely familiar."
  8. ^ Armor customization (Halo Infinite), Armor Hall: Hellcat helmet description "HELLCAT helmets are an amalgamation of recovered ancient craftsmanship and breakthroughs in materials engineering procured with Project ARC DREAM. Though derived from non-Forerunner technology, the helmets and their black-box neural interfaces have proven to be remarkably compatible with Spartan physiology."
  9. ^ Halo 5: Guardians, Armory: Hellcat helmet description "Tests with Spartan-II veterans show near-perfect synchronization with HELLCAT armor, but compatible Spartan-IV operators require an acclimatization period and tweaks to their augmentation maintenance before deployment."
  10. ^ Halo Infinite, Armor Hall: UTIL/Null Bag utility description "A product of the ARC DREAM research group, these seemingly mundane containers completely and utterly block all signals, including esoteric energy bursts used by Forerunner mechanisms. Users are warned to never place living creatures in the bags."
  11. ^ Halo Infinite, Armor Hall: Project ENOCH helmet attachment description "Another esoteric experiment of ARC DREAM's labs brought into use by dire need, this mechanism allows the user to "speak" with tonal patterns that are understood by nearby humans but cannot be interpreted through recordings or remote monitoring."
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