Activation index

"We must collect the Index before we can activate the installation."

- 343 Guilty Spark

The Activation Index, often simply referred to as the Index and known as the Sacred Icon by the Covenant, is an object found in every Halo installation's Library. The Activation Index is the key needed to operate the installation's most critical systems, the most notable of which is its main weapon, an energy pulse that will kill all sentient life within the ring's effective range. Its secondary purpose is to simultaneously initiate the Conservation Measure, the repopulation process of the worlds sterilized by the Halo's pulse. An Index cannot be used to activate any Halo besides the one to which it is assigned.

Overview
The Index is vaguely T-shaped, with a faint green or blue glow emanating from a stripe on each side. The object seems to be merely a digital storage device containing the software or access codes needed to activate the rings, as shown when Cortana extracted the Index's data and stored it within her memory, and when she activated the second Installation 04 with the stored Index. Each Index is stored safely within an Index chamber, a large room that is located at the core of every Library on each Halo installation and guarded by waves of Sentinels.

According to containment protocols followed by the monitors of each Installation, only a Reclaimer is allowed to retrieve the Index from the Library. Immediately after this, however, the Index will be taken by the monitor for safekeeping to ensure it does not fall in the hands of the Flood in the event the Reclaimer is infected. Once safely in the Installation's Control Room, however, the monitor must hand the Index over to the Reclaimer, as monitors are not allowed to activate their Installations by themselves.

When inserted into the Core inside a Halo's Control Room, the Index immediately initiates the charging sequence of the ring's main weapon. The activation process may be aborted by physically removing the Index before the firing; however, doing so sends out a signal which places the entire Array into standby mode, ready for activation from the Ark. An AI construct inside the Core is able to prevent the initiation of the ring's firing sequence even if the Index is inserted, as demonstrated when Cortana prevented John-117 from activating Installation 04. While inside the Core, Cortana also had complete control over the Index itself, as she was able to remove the Index's data and store it within her system.

However, it is also possible to insert the Index into the the Core without triggering the ring's main weapon and instead use the authorization provided by the Index to manage the Halo's custodial systems. This capability was demonstrated when John-117 used Installation 03's Activation Index to disable the Halo's safety protocols, allowing the monitor 859 Static Carillon to detach the entire segment of the Halo housing the control room and plunge it on the Composer's Forge in order to vanquish the Ur-Didact.

John-117 noted in his debriefing of the Halo event that, if not for Cortana's intervention, he would have accidentally activated the weapon and destroyed all life in the galaxy. Halo's main weapon exists primarily in case the Flood manage to escape containment and spread their infection to other planets. Only one firing of the rings occurred, at the close of the Forerunner-Flood war. Immediately following the activation, the secondary purpose of the Index also came into play, triggering the re-seeding of life on the worlds whose sentient species were indexed in the records of each Installation's Library in addition to the archives on the Ark.

Trivia

 * The Index resembles common depictions of Mjölnir, the hammer of the god Thor in Norse mythology and the namesake of the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor.
 * In the beginning cutscene of the campaign level The Library, the container holding the Activation Index unlocks, revealing it for two seconds before the animation by what is seen appears to have restarted since the Index seems to disappear as if the container was never even opened. This might have been caused by a scripting error.
 * On the level Composer in Halo 4, Installation 03's Index can be seen within a display case in a Hunter-occupied laboratory on Ivanoff Station. The item is accompanied by a short researcher log.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Combat Evolved
 * Halo: The Flood
 * Halo 2
 * Halo 3
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * Human Weakness
 * Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
 * Halo 4
 * Halo: Silentium
 * Halo: Escalation
 * Halo 2 Anniversary