Kalmiya

Kalmiya (AI Serial Number: KMA 0991-X) was a prototype third-generation "smart" artificial intelligence construct created by Dr. Catherine Halsey. Although she was initially created as a platform for experimental software, Halsey decompiled, edited, and reconstructed Kalmiya numerous times over the years, effectively extending her lifespan far past the normal limit for "smart" AI.

Creation
Kalmiya was created on March 19, 2537 to serve as a host for prototype intrusion routines and software that would later be refined and integrated into the specialized AI, Cortana. In a sense, Kalmiya was Cortana's "older sister." By May 25, 2537, Halsey had worked with Kalmiya to decipher a root diction within the Covenant language system. As part of the research into techniques and algorithms that would be incorporated into Cortana, Dr. Halsey decompiled, selectively edited, and reconstructed Kalmiya many times, effectively prolonging her lifespan well past the seven-year limit of most "smart" AI. Each iteration was slightly different, and only Halsey could discern the subtle differences in each revision of Kalmiya.

UNSC protocol demands that prototypes such as Kalmiya must be destroyed promptly after their material goes into general use. Dr. Halsey intentionally disobeyed this order, however. She kept Kalmiya around, likely because her previous AIs, Déjà and Cortana, had been reassigned—to an unknown position in Déjà's case; and as John-117's attaché and the shipboard AI of the in Cortana's.

Fall of Reach and Destruction
Kalmiya resided in Halsey's office in ONI's CASTLE Base. She was left there with Dr. Halsey during the Fall of Reach, and proved very useful in helping Halsey and her Spartans escape the facility. Kalmiya was a potential alternative vessel for the Forerunner data found at the Babd Catha Forerunner complex. However, Halsey wasn't confident trusting humanity's only hope for salvation to an obsolete AI, and instead opted to split Cortana for the task.

Kalmiya was somewhat disturbed when Dr. Halsey used a hidden fail-safe to destroy Colonel James Ackerson's personal AI, Araqiel, and asked if such a fail-safe was included in her own code. Dr. Halsey carefully told her—as Kalmiya would possibly stress-analyze her voice to verify that she wasn't lying—that not every AI had the fail-safe, which was the truth, just not the whole truth. Kalmiya had to be destroyed as part of Operation: WHITE GLOVE to prevent the Covenant from collecting any information in the base. Dr. Halsey activated the fail-safe in her Riemann matrix, revealing to her that not every AI has such a fail-safe: It is a protocol implemented only in the ones that matter. Before ending service, she told Halsey it was an honor to work with her. Despite her destruction, some of Kalmiya's subroutines and independent processes remained active in CASTLE Base's surviving data cores for years to come.

Operation: WOLFE
In October 2559, Kalmiya reappeared during Operation: WOLFE after Kelly-087 used Halsey's handprints to open the door to the cryo-vault in CASTLE Base, surprising Kelly as Kalmiya had been destroyed years earlier. John-117 remembered that Kalmiya was Cortana's "older sister" and found the likeness between the two AIs to be painfully striking. Kalmiya called herself "Kalmiya but not Kalmiya" and started repeating that as Kelly attempted to convince her that Halsey wanted the AI to give her access. Seeing that the concept of giving someone else your handprints was confusing Kalmiya in a way that it never would a true AI, John realized that the real Kalmiya had been destroyed, but had left behind a subroutine, in effect a ghost of herself, to maintain the vault. John ordered Kelly to bypass it and guessed that Halsey hadn't expected them to encounter Kalmiya but a security program of some sort, since she gave them an override code. The override caused Kalmiya to recognize Kelly as Halsey and grant her access to the vault. As they left, John spotted Kalmiya watching them and gave the AI a wave before she disappeared again.

Trivia
"Whateverittakes" (Whatever it takes) was the nullification code for Kalmiya's ethics subroutines.

List of appearances

 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Reach
 * Dr. Halsey's personal journal
 * Halo: Shadows of Reach