Shaps III

"Shaps III is a wasteland. There is nothing there except Forerunner ruins."

- Wendell

Shaps III, designated Wuatera Thresis by the Forerunners, is the third planet in the Shaps system, located within the Isbanola sector among the human Outer Colonies. Once a Forerunner colony of the ecumene, Shaps III is currently an uninhabited wasteland with remains of Forerunner cities and an installation.

History
"It is in a system only eight-point-seven light-years from here, the third world of an F2 star with fourteen planets. A beautiful world with beautiful cities."

- Intrepid Eye, referring to a prehistoric Shaps III

Shaps III was once part of the Forerunner ecumene and was host to numerous cities. Following the firing of the Halo Array, the Forerunners had left behind many of their structures and artifacts on the surface of the planet, including Line Installation 444-447 of the Maginot Line. It was also where the Intrepid Eye was created.

On April 14, 2553, the planet was chosen to be partially glassed by the pirate Sav Fel to demonstrate the destructive power of Pious Inquisitor's ventral beam to Staffan Sentzke. Fel considered it to be a wasteland full of ancient ruins, however, Sentzke was astonished by its Forerunner buildings. Against the wishes of the ship's Huragok, Sometimes Sinks, Fel and his crew activated the ventral beam and glassed a Forerunner site on the planet. Staffan was speechless upon seeing the planet's molten surface caused by the cleansing beam and asked to try it himself, which Fel approved. Sentzke asked Sometimes Sinks to aim the beam elsewhere to avoid damaging more ruins and then proceeded to glass a portion of the planet.

The glassing of Shaps III's Forerunner structures caused Line Installation 444-447, and a number of nearby line installations, to activate and to send out an automated distress signal which was received by Covert Support Base 4276 on the planet Gao in the nearby Cordoba system. This roused Support Base 4276's AI Intrepid Eye from stasis, triggering a chain of events which led to a conflict on the planet in early July 2553. Around the time of their operation on Gao, the 717th Xeno-Materials Exploitation Battalion deployed a company to Shaps III to survey the line installation, where the unit discovered valuable boson beads created when Fel glassed a hard light device within the Forerunner ruins on the planet. In mid-2556, the crew of Ace of Spades undertook a job on Shaps III that required them to utilize active camouflage units.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Mortal Dictata
 * Halo: Last Light
 * Halo Mythos
 * Halo: Smoke and Shadow
 * Halo: Retribution