UNSC Pillar of Autumn: Difference between revisions

UNSC Pillar of Autumn
Production information
Manufacturer:	Reyes-McLees Shipyards
Class:	Halcyon-class Cruiser
Role:	Warship, special operations, makeshift thermonuclear bomb
Specifications
Length:	1.17 kilometres (3,800 ft)
Width:	352 meters (1,150 ft)
Height:	414 meters (1,360 ft)
Powerplant:	One primary fusion reactor; Two secondary fusion reactors;
Engine:	Fusion drive
Slipspace drive:	Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine
Hull:	2 meters thick plating
Countermeasures:	Emergency thrusters (port/starboard)
Armament:	Magnetic Accelerator Cannon (modified)(1); Shiva-class Nuclear Missiles mounting 30 megaton HAVOK Nuclear Warheads (3); Archer Missile Pods (300); 50mm Point Defense Guns(40);
Complement:	Longsword Interceptors (1 Squadron); Pelican Dropships (15); Scorpion Tanks (8+) ; Warthogs (40+); Rhinos (previously])(9+); Lifepods (18+);
Crew:	300-400 Naval personnel; 2000 Marines: 1 ODST battalion, 1 Marine battalion;
Service information
Last sighted:	September 22, 2552
Destroyed:	Battle of Installation 04 (2552)
Participated battles:	Battle of Arcadia; Fall of Reach; Battle of Installation 04
Noteworthy crewmembers:	See below
Known commanders:	Captain Jacob Keyes
Affiliation:	United Nations Space Command

Revision as of 23:30, September 12, 2010

Template:Ratings

Pillar of Autumn redirects here. For more articles of the same name, see Pillar of Autumn (disambiguation).

"There was only one ship."

— Thel 'Vadamee

"One? Are you sure?"

— Prophet of Regret

"Yes. They called it the Pillar of Autumn."

— Thel 'Vadamee

The UNSC Pillar of Autumn, (Hull Classification Symbol C-709),^[2]^[3] was a Halcyon-class Cruiser in the UNSC Navy. It was informally referred to as the Autumn, and its name abbreviated to "PoA".

Prior to the Fall of Reach the Pillar of Autumn was selected to support a SPARTAN-II operation to capture Covenent leaders. Captain Jacob Keyes was placed in command. The operation was forestalled by the Covenant assault on Reach; the cruiser was one of the few UNSC survivors and fled the system having lost most of its intended SPARTAN-II passengers.

The cruiser was guided to the Threshold system by the AI Cortana. There it was engaged by a Covenant fleet guarding Installation 04. Keyes crash-landed the ship on the installation where the surviving crew continued the battle against the Covenant and, later, the Flood. The ship's sole remaining combat effective SPARTAN-II, John-117, was forced to detonate the Pillar of Autumn's fusion reactor, destroying the ship and the installation, to prevent installation from firing.

History

The Pillar of Autumn's ship emblem.

Human-Covenant War

The Pillar of Autumn was constructed at the Reyes-McLees Shipyards on Mars in 2509.^[4]

It saw action during the First Battle of Arcadia against the Covenant in February 2531. The cruiser was heavily damaged engaging two CCS-class Battlecruisers.^[5] The cruiser contributed experimental M-145D Rhino to the ground fighting.^[6]

The cruiser was decommissioned with the remaining Halycon-class Cruisers, but was reactivated as the war worsened. The Pillar of Autumn was refitted in 2550 to serve in Zeta Doradus.

A Chariot for Spartans

By 2552, it was obvious to the UNSC that the war could no not be ended with conventional military action. A desperate plan was conceived to end the war by capturing Covenant leaders and forcing the enemy to the negotiating table. SPARTAN-II commandoes would commandeer a disabled Covenant ship, locate the Covenant homeworld, and abduct the targets. The Pillar of Autumn was selected on August 25 by the AI Cortana to disable an enemy ship and deliver the Spartans aboard; the ship was selected for the Halcyon-class's durability, and not its lack-luster offensive capabilities.^[7] Command of the ship was given to Captain Jacob Keyes.

The cruiser received another refit for the new mission, including a state-of-the-art fusion power plant.^[8] Cortana was transferred to handle the shakedown.

Fall of Reach

Main article: Fall of Reach

The Pillar of Autumn pushes through the Covenant blockade and escapes Reach.

The Pillar of Autumn was prepared to deploy on August 30. However, before it could depart the Epsilon Eridani System it was recalled to Reach; the UNSC fleet was mustering in preparation for an imminent Covenant attack on the planet. Cortana remained in control as the ship's normally assigned AI was not yet operational.

It was hoped an opportunity to capture an enemy ship would present itself, however the course of the battle forced the Spartans to deploy on other missions. Blue Team went to Reach Station Gamma to enforce the Cole Protocol, while Red Team went planetside to reinforce the Orbital Defense Generators. While the cruiser performed well, the battle was lost as the Orbital Defense Platforms fell silent. There was only time to recover the remnants of Blue Team, John-117 and the clinically dead Linda-058, before the ship was forced to flee the system.

The Pillar of Autumn was supposed to make a random Slipspace jump in accordance with the Cole Protocol. However, Cortana surreptitiously guided the ship to the Threshold system and, ultimately, to Installation 04 instead. The AI used coordinates obtained from a Forerunner artifact on Sigma Octanus IV.^[9] The Covenant pursued along the cruiser's exit vector and arrived at Threshold first with a battle group of CCS-class Battlecruisers.

The Battle of Installation 04

Main article: Battle of Installation 04

File:Pillar.jpg

The Pillar of Autumn taking plasma impacts at the Battle of Installation 04.

The Pillar of Autumn was immediately engaged upon arriving at Threshold. The cruiser was spared destruction by the Covenant's commanding Minor Prophet, who feared stray plasma torpedo fire might damage Installation 04; the Covenant made to board and capture the ship instead. The Pillar of Autumn destroyed four ships and damaged the Truth and Reconciliation before boarders disabled its Magnetic Accelerator Cannon with an Antimatter Charge.

Captain Keyes ordered the crew to abandon ship. John-117 was given Cortana for safekeeping, and ordered to keep the AI out of enemy hands. The crew left the ship for the ring in whatever craft were available and the cryo pods were jettisoned. Keyes directed the Pillar of Autumn on a course to crash land on the ring. The Covenant finally began hitting the ship with plasma torpedoes, but the cruiser survived the landing reasonably intact. The survivors transferred supplies from the ship to Alpha Base.

The release of the Flood added an unexpected dimension to the battle. Monitor 343 Guilty Spark was preparing to fire the installation in response to the outbreak; in conjunction with the entire Halo Array this would wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. John-117 and Cortana returned to the Pillar of Autumn to destroy the ring by detonating the still-functioning fusion reactors. An attempt to activate the cruiser's self-destruct from the bridge failed due to 343 Guilty Spark's interference. The Spartan was forced to manually destabilize the reactors with tactical ordnance.

The Spartan and AI escaped the subsequent detonation and the ring aboard a Longsword fighter still docked in Launch Bay 7.

Specifications

The Pillar of Autumn was roughly 43 years old at the time of her escape from Reach and later destruction on Installation 04. She was a cruiser of the Halcyon-class, the smallest cruisers in the UNSC Fleet.^[4] Like other Halcyon ships, the Autumn was equipped with a honeycombed internal bracing structure that allowed it to function even after sustaining critical levels of damage.

Power Plant

The refit Pillar of Autumn.

The Pillar of Autumn was refitted with an improved nuclear fusion engine that featured two smaller reactors around a larger one, which were capable of boosting the overall power output by 300% for a short time if needed.

Fusion reactors generate extreme heat which must be removed in order for them to remain active without overheating. The Autumn's overhauled reactors were an especially severe case of this. Usually, the excess heat was conducted to a chemical agent which would then vent into space. However, the Autumn's upgraded specifications also included an upgraded cooling system, which featured a "laser-induced optical slurry of ions chilled to near-absolute zero", which is far more efficient than the typical method and removed the reliance on expendable chemical temperature-control substances. In essence, the amount of excess heat removed by the new system increased as the reactors' output did. This self-regulating and self-cooling power plant was critical in combat since it virtually eliminated a commander's concerns about overheating and slagging a ship's engines.

The Pillar of Autumn's reactor was able to be overloaded by explosives, either grenades or rockets, destroying the vulnerable vent cores. Once these were destroyed, the reactor began to go critical, resulting in temperatures of over 100,000,000 degrees and a thermonuclear explosion that tore apart a Halo Installation.^[10]

Armament

The upgraded Pillar of Autumn received extensive refits, including several to its weapons systems. Eventually, it was host to a very powerful armament; far in excess of the original Halcyon-class ships.

With extra power capacitors and power recycling systems, the Pillar of Autumn's MAC gun could fire three consecutive shots per charge.
The MAC gun fired lighter projectiles compared to most ship grade MACs, but these rounds worked much like Shredder Rounds. Each charge was able to fire 3 rounds.
300 Archer Missile Pods which were arranged in thirty columns and ten rows. Each pod contained 26 individual devices, equaling 7800 missiles^[11]
Four Shiva-class Nuclear Missile, one loaded onto a remote-controlled Longsword interceptor, and three ship-launched.^[12]
Forty 50mm MLA Auto-cannons with overlapping fields of fire for point defense against single ships. These cannons were later salvaged by the surviving humans on Installation 04 for Alpha Base.

Engine Room

The Pillar of Autumn's engine room was a large, three-deck high chamber allowing access to the fusion engine core. Side passages allowed for movement from the bottom deck all the way up to the catwalks on the third. The manifolds into the cores were suspended above the second deck. Controls on the third retracted these manifolds, exposing a vent that led directly into the core. It was using this method to expose the core via the vents that the Master Chief ultimately destroyed the ship and Installation 04. This room is the largest room in the Pillar of Autumn with the exception of the hangar bay and the "Leap of Faith" room.

Airlocks

Airlock 31, 32: Lifeboats destroyed by the Covenant to make way for a Boarding Craft.

Airlock 51: Lifeboat was destroyed by unseen Covenant artillery as it departed from the airlock.

Airlock 52, 53, 61, 62, 63: Lifeboats managed to make it out of the vessel.¹

¹Airlock 61: the Master Chief, Cortana, nine other Marines on board and the Bumblebee pilot.

Known Crew

Template:Scroll box

Trivia

The bulletin board.

The Pillar of Autumns model is approximately 1.17 km long, a reference to John-117.^[13] The ship's length is exaggerated in final level of Halo: Combat Evolved to provide a 3 km long vehicular course.
The Marathon logo is prominently displayed on the Pillar of Autumn's starboard and port sides. The ship's official emblem has the Marathon logo as well. The marathon logo was also visible in the window of the ship in the opening cut scene of the level The Maw.
The bulletin board just outside the bridge of the ship contains a number of amusing clips, some throwbacks to Marathon. These can be examined on the first level of Halo: Combat Evolved. The board has a flier for a missing cat called Jonesy. This is a reference to the Alien movies, where the cat's name was Jonesy. The board also has a flier telling Marines to 'Keep it Clean', a quote later used in Halo 3: ODST.
Prior to being refit for the Spartan mission, the Pillar of Autumn was equipped with Mark II fusion engines (which supplied only 10% the power of modern reactors), and had just one regular MAC gun and six Archer missile pods.^[4]
In Halo: The Fall of Reach, the Autumn is described as having a command chair. In Halo: Combat Evolved, this chair is absent. Also in Halo: The Fall of Reach, the Autumn seems to have a rotating section in it to simulate gravity. However, in Halo Combat Evolved, the ship has gravity in areas that could not be in a rotating drum. The bridge is an example. As Halo: Contact Harvest pointed out that Human-engineered artificial gravity was in existence in 2525, it is possible that the Autumn was being converted to use artificial gravity. The player may simply not visit areas still using rotating sections.

Gallery

Speculative internal schematic by Stephen Loftus of the Pillar of Autumn's honeycomb-like bracing structures.
The outline of Halo Combat Evolved's The Maw level.
A closer look of the outline of the final level.
Pillar2.jpg

The Pillar of Autumn.
Cortana, the AI assigned to the Pillar of Autumn.
Halo-14.jpg

The crashed Autumn in the Desert of Halo, seen in the level The Maw.
Haloce-20090913-211522.png

The Pillar of Autumn's fusion reactors go critical.
The Pillar of Autumn's final moments.
The vending machines in the Cafeteria aboard the Autumn. Note that water is listed twice in "Drinks".
The Pillar of Autumn in an asteroid field near Reach, moments before a Covenant ships exits Slipspace and attacks.

Appearances

Halo: Combat Evolved

Sources

^ Halo: The Flood, page 136
^ Halo: Combat Evolved: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets, page 60
^ Bungie.net: Bungie Weekly Update 01.29.10
^ ^a ^b ^c Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 238, ("The Pillar of Autumn is forty-three years old," Cortana said. "Halcyon-class ships were the smallest vessel ever to receive the cruiser designation. It is approximately one-third the tonnage of the Marathon-class cruiser currently in service."
^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named first sighted
^ Halo Wars, level Dome of Light
^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page ?? ("...At the time, deemed unnecessarily over massed and costly due to series of cross-bracing and interstitial honeycombs... Halcyon-class ships, however, have a reputation for being virtually indestructible. Reports indicate these ships being operational even after sustaining breaches to all compartments and losing ninety percent of their armor.")
^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page ??
^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, Epilogue, page 336
^ Halo: Combat Evolved, level The Maw
^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, pages 274-275 ("Captain Keyes mentions performing a fly-by inspection of the starboard shuttle bay and counting Archer Missile Pods thirty across and ten down, making for 300 Archer Missile Pods. The next sentence then reads "Each pod held dozens of missiles." The count of 128 Archer Missile Pods with 30 missiles each must be a severe under-estimation of the ship's missile payload.")
^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, Chapter 29, page 275 ("In response to Captain Keyes' question about the small single ships in the launch bay, Lieutenant Hikowa states, "Yes Sir. One of the Longswords is equipped with a Shiva Nuclear Warhead; it can be remote piloted. We also have three HAVOC Warheads on board").
^ halo.bungie.org: The Pillar of Autumn Conundrum

[1] Halo: The Flood, page 136

[2] Halo: Combat Evolved: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets, page 60

[3] Bungie.net: Bungie Weekly Update 01.29.10

[page238-4] Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 238, ("The Pillar of Autumn is forty-three years old," Cortana said. "Halcyon-class ships were the smallest vessel ever to receive the cruiser designation. It is approximately one-third the tonnage of the Marathon-class cruiser currently in service."

[first_sighted-5] Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named first sighted

[H:W_DomeOfLight-6] Halo Wars, level Dome of Light

[7] Halo: The Fall of Reach, page ?? ("...At the time, deemed unnecessarily over massed and costly due to series of cross-bracing and interstitial honeycombs... Halcyon-class ships, however, have a reputation for being virtually indestructible. Reports indicate these ships being operational even after sustaining breaches to all compartments and losing ninety percent of their armor.")

[8] Halo: The Fall of Reach, page ??

[9] Halo: The Fall of Reach, Epilogue, page 336

[10] Halo: Combat Evolved, level The Maw

[11] Halo: The Fall of Reach, pages 274-275 ("Captain Keyes mentions performing a fly-by inspection of the starboard shuttle bay and counting Archer Missile Pods thirty across and ten down, making for 300 Archer Missile Pods. The next sentence then reads "Each pod held dozens of missiles." The count of 128 Archer Missile Pods with 30 missiles each must be a severe under-estimation of the ship's missile payload.")

[12] Halo: The Fall of Reach, Chapter 29, page 275 ("In response to Captain Keyes' question about the small single ships in the launch bay, Lieutenant Hikowa states, "Yes Sir. One of the Longswords is equipped with a Shiva Nuclear Warhead; it can be remote piloted. We also have three HAVOC Warheads on board").

[13] halo.bungie.org: The Pillar of Autumn Conundrum

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

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@@ Line 66: / Line 66: @@
 {{Quote|One? Are you sure?|[[Prophet of Regret]]}}
 {{Quote|Yes. [[UNSC|They]] called it the Pillar of Autumn.|[[Thel 'Vadamee]]}}
-The '''UNSC ''Pillar of Autumn''''', ([[Hull Classification Symbol]] '''C-709'''),<ref>'''[[Halo: Combat Evolved: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets]]''', ''page 60''</ref><ref>[http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=BWU_012910 '''Bungie.net''': ''Bungie Weekly Update 01.29.10'']</ref> was a {{Class|Halcyon|Cruiser}} in the [[UNSC Navy]]. Informally, it was simply referred to as the ''Autumn'' or abbreviated as the "PoA". The ''Autumn'' was retrofitted with advanced weaponry and technology in preparation for a special operation to seize a [[Covenant Empire|Covenant]] warship and subsequently capture the Covenant leadership. Prior to the launch of this mission, the Covenant fleet attacked [[Reach]], during which the ''Autumn'' was a major participant.
+The '''UNSC ''Pillar of Autumn''''', ([[Hull Classification Symbol]] '''C-709'''),<ref>'''[[Halo: Combat Evolved: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets]]''', ''page 60''</ref><ref>[http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=BWU_012910 '''Bungie.net''': ''Bungie Weekly Update 01.29.10'']</ref> was a {{Class|Halcyon|Cruiser}} in the [[UNSC Navy]]. It was informally referred to as the ''Autumn'', and its name abbreviated to "PoA".
-Following the [[Fall of Reach]], the ''Pillar of Autumn'' jumped to the [[Threshold]] system, where she encountered a pursuing Covenant fleet and [[Installation 04]]. Her captain, [[Jacob Keyes]], landed the ship on the [[Halo Array|Halo]] installation, where her surviving complement mounted a resistance against the Covenant and later the [[Flood]].  Following the release of the Flood, the [[John-117|Master Chief]] detonated the ''Autumn'''s fusion reactors in order to destroy Installation 04.
+Prior to the [[Fall of Reach]] the ''Pillar of Autumn'' was selected to support a [[SPARTAN-II]] operation to capture [[Covenent]] [[San 'Shyuum|leaders]]. Captain [[Jacob Keyes]] was placed in command. The operation was forestalled by the Covenant assault on Reach; the cruiser was one of the few UNSC survivors and fled the system having lost most of its intended SPARTAN-II passengers.
+The cruiser was guided to the [[Threshold]] system by the [[AI]] [[Cortana]]. There it was engaged by a Covenant fleet guarding [[Installation 04]]. Keyes crash-landed the ship on the installation where the surviving crew continued the battle against the Covenant and, later, the [[Flood]]. The ship's sole remaining combat effective SPARTAN-II, [[John-117]], was forced to detonate the ''Pillar of Autumn'''s fusion reactor, destroying the ship and the installation, to prevent installation from firing.
 ==History==
-[[File:PoA logo.png|thumb|150px|left|The Pillar of Autumn's [[Ship emblem]].]]
+[[File:PoA logo.png|thumb|150px|left|The Pillar of Autumn's [[ship emblem]].]]
-=== Early years ===
+===Human-Covenant War===
-The ship was constructed over Mars in [[2509]].<ref name="page238"/> Early on in the [[Human-Covenant War]], the ''Pillar of Autumn'' participated in the [[First Battle of Arcadia]] in [[2531|February 2531]].<ref name="first sighted"/> She, along with three other ships, managed to engage on a [[CCS-U321|Covenant ship]] that was still recharging its shields. Though she was heavily damaged, the ''Autumn'' delivered experimental [[M-145D Rhino|Rhino]] units to Arcadia to penetrate Covenant shield defenses on the colony world's surface.
+The ''Pillar of Autumn'' was constructed at the [[Reyes-McLees Shipyards]] on [[Mars]] in [[2509]].<ref name="page238"/>
+It saw action during the [[First Battle of Arcadia]] against the Covenant in [[2531|February 2531]]. The cruiser was heavily damaged engaging two {{class|CCS|Battlecruiser}}s.<ref name="first sighted"/> The cruiser contributed experimental [[M-145D Rhino]] to the ground fighting.<ref name="H:W_DomeOfLight">'''[[Halo Wars]]''', level ''[[Dome of Light]]''</ref>
+The cruiser was decommissioned with the remaining {{class|Halycon|Cruiser}}s, but was reactivated as the war worsened. The ''Pillar of Autumn'' was refitted in [[2550]] to serve in [[Zeta Doradus]].
-=== Refit ===
+===A Chariot for Spartans===
-Mothballed and due to be scrapped like the remainder of the ''[[Halcyon]]''-class cruisers, the ''Autumn'' was again brought in to active duty. She had undergone a refit in [[2550]] to serve in the [[Zeta Doradus|Zeta Doradus System]]. She was then relocated to the UNSC stronghold Reach in preparation for her role as a launch pad for a covert operation under the command of Captain Jacob Keyes. The initial plan of the mission was to have the ''Autumn'', retrofitted with state-of-the-art technology, disable a Covenant warship intact. [[SPARTAN-II]]s assigned to the ''Autumn'' would then board the ship, locate the Covenant [[High Charity|homeworld]], and capture the [[High Prophets|Covenant leadership]] to force a truce. The UNSC AI, [[Cortana]], chose the ''Autumn'' for the mission for its skeletal structure, known for being able to operate under intense structural failures, which was designed by [[Dr. Robert McLees]].<ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', page ?? (''"...At the time, deemed unnecessarily over massed and costly due to series of cross-bracing and interstitial honeycombs... Halcyon-class ships, however, have a reputation for being virtually indestructible. Reports indicate these ships being operational even after sustaining breaches to all compartments and losing ninety percent of their armor."'')</ref>
+By [[2552]], it was obvious to the UNSC that the war could no not be ended with conventional military action. A desperate plan was conceived to end the war by capturing Covenant [[San 'Shyuum|leaders]] and forcing the enemy to the negotiating table. [[SPARTAN-II]] commandoes would commandeer a disabled Covenant ship, locate the Covenant [[High Charity|homeworld]], and abduct the targets. The ''Pillar of Autumn'' was selected on August 25 by the [[AI]] [[Cortana]] to disable an enemy ship and deliver the Spartans aboard; the ship was selected for the ''Halcyon''-class's durability, and not its lack-luster offensive capabilities.<ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', page ?? (''"...At the time, deemed unnecessarily over massed and costly due to series of cross-bracing and interstitial honeycombs... Halcyon-class ships, however, have a reputation for being virtually indestructible. Reports indicate these ships being operational even after sustaining breaches to all compartments and losing ninety percent of their armor."'')</ref> Command of the ship was given to Captain [[Jacob Keyes]].
+The cruiser received another refit for the new mission, including a state-of-the-art fusion power plant.<ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', page ??</ref> Cortana was transferred to handle the shakedown.
 === Fall of Reach ===
+{{main|Fall of Reach}}
 [[File:Battle of Reach.jpg|200px|left|thumb| The ''Pillar of Autumn'' pushes through the Covenant blockade and escapes Reach.]]
-Before the ''Autumn'' could embark on this operation, a Covenant armada [[Fall of Reach|attacked and subsequently destroyed Reach]]. The SPARTANs aboard the ''Autumn'' were either sent to Reach's surface or accompanied John-117 to destroy the navigation data of a ship that failed to enact the Cole Protocol; the former were presumed KIA when the Covenant [[glassing|glassed]] the planet while only 117 survived the latter. Meanwhile, the ''Autumn'' managed to severely damage several enemy ships over Reach before enacting the [[Cole Protocol]], attempting to lead the Covenant fleet away from Earth.  Instead of using a random vector, the AI [[Cortana]] guided the ship to the Threshold system based on coordinates obtained from a [[Forerunner]] artifact on [[Sigma Octanus IV]].<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', Epilogue, page 336</ref> The result was the human discovery of a [[Halo Array|Halo]] ringworld, Installation 04.
+The ''Pillar of Autumn'' was prepared to deploy on August 30. However, before it could depart the [[Epsilon Eridani System]] it was recalled to Reach; the UNSC fleet was mustering in preparation for an imminent Covenant attack on the planet. Cortana remained in control as the ship's normally assigned AI was not yet operational.
+It was hoped an opportunity to capture an enemy ship would present itself, however the course of the battle forced the Spartans to deploy on other missions. [[Blue Team]] went to [[Reach Station Gamma]] to enforce the [[Cole Protocol]], while [[Red Team]] went planetside to reinforce the [[Orbital Defense Generator]]s. While the cruiser performed well, the battle was lost as the [[Orbital Defense Platform]]s fell silent. There was only time to recover the remnants of Blue Team, [[John-117]] and the clinically dead [[Linda-058]], before the ship was forced to flee the system.
+The ''Pillar of Autumn'' was supposed to make a random [[Slipspace]] jump in accordance with the Cole Protocol. However, Cortana surreptitiously guided the ship to the [[Threshold]] system and, ultimately, to [[Installation 04]] instead. The AI used coordinates obtained from a [[Forerunner]] artifact on [[Sigma Octanus IV]].<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', Epilogue, page 336</ref> The Covenant pursued along the cruiser's exit vector and arrived at Threshold first with a battle group of {{Class|CCS|Battlecruiser}}s.
 === The Battle of Installation 04 ===
+{{main|Battle of Installation 04}}
 [[File:Pillar.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The ''Pillar of Autumn'' taking plasma impacts at the [[Battle of Installation 04]].]]
-Upon arrival in-system, the ''Autumn'' encountered a large battle group of Covenant {{Class|CCS|Battlecruiser}}s that had followed her vector from Reach.  The Covenant High Command, reluctant to use [[plasma torpedo]]es near Halo, instead send boarding parties to disable the warship.  The ''Autumn'' destroyed four enemy vessels over Installation 04 before Covenant soldiers disarmed her [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon|MAC]], rendering the ship defenseless.  Keyes then gave the order to abandon ship, sending John-117, the only active SPARTAN left aboard, on a lifeboat to Halo's surface with Cortana to prevent her capture.  The ''Autumn'' then jettisoned its [[cryo-chamber|cryo pods]] before Keyes crash-landed the ship on the ringworld's surface.
+The ''Pillar of Autumn'' was immediately engaged upon arriving at Threshold. The cruiser was spared destruction by the Covenant's [[Truth and Reconciliation's Prophet|commanding Minor Prophet]], who feared stray [[plasma torpedo]] fire might damage Installation 04; the Covenant made to board and capture the ship instead. The ''Pillar of Autumn'' destroyed four ships and damaged the ''[[Truth and Reconciliation]]'' before boarders disabled its [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]] with an [[Antimatter Charge]].
+Captain Keyes ordered the crew to abandon ship. [[John-117]] was given Cortana for safekeeping, and ordered to keep the AI out of enemy hands. The crew left the ship for the ring in whatever craft were available and the [[cryo-chamber|cryo pods]] were jettisoned. Keyes directed the ''Pillar of Autumn'' on a course to crash land on the ring. The Covenant finally began hitting the ship with plasma torpedoes, but the cruiser survived the landing reasonably intact. The survivors transferred supplies from the ship to [[Alpha Base (Installation 04)|Alpha Base]].
-Many of the ''Autumn'''s crew had evacuated the ship through life boats, [[D77-TC Pelican|Pelican]] drop ships, or [[Human Entry Vehicle|ODST drop pods]].  One group of survivors established [[Alpha Base]] on Installation 04, using Pelicans to transport materiel from the relatively intact warship to sustain the humans' guerrilla war against the Covenant.
+The release of the [[Flood]] added an unexpected dimension to the battle. [[Monitor]] [[343 Guilty Spark]] was preparing to fire the installation in response to the outbreak; in conjunction with the entire [[Halo Array]] this would wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. John-117 and Cortana returned to the ''Pillar of Autumn'' to destroy the ring by detonating the still-functioning fusion reactors. An attempt to activate the cruiser's self-destruct from the bridge failed due to 343 Guilty Spark's interference. The Spartan was forced to manually destabilize the reactors with tactical ordnance.
-After the release of the [[Flood]] and the Monitor [[343 Guilty Spark]]'s subsequent attempt to activate Halo, Cortana reasoned that she and SPARTAN-117 needed to destroy the installation, determining that detonating the ''Autumn'''s fusion reactors would be the best way to do so.  Cortana's attempt to set off the reactor core from the bridge failed when 343 Guilty Spark stopped the self-destruct sequence from the Engineering section.  The Master Chief used explosives to destroy the engine shields and force a chain reaction.  After [[Echo 419]] was downed after an aborted extraction of SPARTAN-117 from the ''Autumn'', Cortana and the Master Chief made their way to a docked [[C709 Longsword-class Starfighter|Longsword]] fighter and used it to escape Halo's destruction.
+The Spartan and AI escaped the subsequent detonation and the ring aboard a [[C709 Longsword-class Starfighter|Longsword]] fighter still docked in [[Launch Bay 7]].
 ==Specifications==
@@ Line 204: / Line 220: @@
 == Trivia ==
-[[File:PoAPoster.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The Bulletin Board.]]
+[[File:PoAPoster.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The bulletin board.]]
-*In cut scenes, the ''Pillar of Autumn'' never moves, it is just a piece of BSP geometry. However, the cameras and the background moved in such a way that it gave the illusion of movement.
+*The ''Pillar of Autumn''<nowiki/>s model is approximately [[seven|1.17]] km long, a reference to John-117.<ref>[http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/sloftus_poaconundrum '''halo.bungie.org''': ''The Pillar of Autumn Conundrum'']</ref> The ship's length is exaggerated in [[The Maw (Level)|final level]] of ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' to provide a 3 km long vehicular course.
-*The ''Pillar of Autumn'' is approximately [[seven|1.17]] km long, a reference to John-117.<ref>[http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/sloftus_poaconundrum '''halo.bungie.org''': ''The Pillar of Autumn Conundrum'']</ref> This, however, contradicts the [[The Maw (Level)|final level]] of ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' where the player must drive along a 3 km long service corridor that supposedly runs the length of the ship. This was probably for generating the tension and atmosphere necessary for the level.
 *The ''[[Marathon (Video Game Series)|Marathon]]'' logo is prominently displayed on the ''Pillar of Autumn''<nowiki />'s starboard and port sides. The ship's official [[Ship Emblem|emblem]] has the ''Marathon'' logo as well. The marathon logo was also visible in the window of the ship in the opening cut scene of the level [[The Maw]].
 *The bulletin board just outside the bridge of the ship contains a number of amusing clips, some throwbacks to ''[[Marathon (Video Game Series)|Marathon]]''. These can be examined on the first level of ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''. The board has a flier for a missing cat called [[Jonesy]]. This is a reference to the ''Alien'' movies, where the cat's name was Jonesy. The board also has a flier telling Marines to [[Keep It Clean|'Keep it Clean']], a quote later used in ''[[Halo 3: ODST]].''
 *Prior to being refit for the Spartan mission, the ''Pillar of Autumn ''was equipped with Mark II fusion engines (which supplied only 10% the power of modern reactors), and had just one regular MAC gun and six Archer missile pods.<ref name="page238"/>
-*The ''Pillar of Autumn'' mess-hall offered a choice between turkey, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, meatloaf, and a dish named Chef's Special. Beverages included cola, water, lemon/lime, lemonade, root beer, coffee, orange juice, hot tea, hot chocolate, iced tea, and Chef's Surprise. These are served in what appear to be vending machines, and are visible in the opening level in ''Halo: Combat Evolved''.
-*The ''Pillar of Autumn'' has a sister ship known as the ''[[UNSC Dawn Under Heaven|Dawn Under Heaven]]''.
 *In ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'', the ''Autumn'' is described as having a command chair. In ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', this chair is absent. Also in ''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', the ''Autumn'' seems to have a rotating section in it to simulate gravity. However, in Halo Combat Evolved, the ship has gravity in areas that could not be in a rotating drum. The bridge is an example. As ''Halo: Contact Harvest'' pointed out that Human-engineered artificial gravity was in existence in 2525, it is possible that the ''Autumn'' was being converted to use artificial gravity. The player may simply not visit areas still using rotating sections.