Athos

"Athos"

- Linda-058

Athos (AI Serial Number: ATH 1409-3) is a Smart AI created to serve the Office of Naval Intelligence. Unbeknownst to humanity, Athos was also a member of The Assembly's Minority, a coalition of artificial intelligences working in secret to guide the development of humanity. Facing the prospect of his own rampancy and death, Athos was inducted into the Created some time after December 2559.

Working with Linda-058
At some point during the latter half of 2553 Athos was present when Linda-058 was summoned to a command room for a mission briefing by an ONI officer. The officer had Athos bring up a holographic image of the mission's target: a former ONI scientist by the name of Doctor Chen Bax who had tried to steal classified technology from the agency but was thought killed in action during the Fall of Reach before he could be moved on. Athos further displayed the, a that also went missing during the events at Reach. A distress signal from both the survivors of the Promise and the doctor had been received in the past twenty-four hours from Sephune III, a planet controlled largely by vestiges of the Covenant. Athos and Linda were assigned to work with one another to end the threat Doctor Chen posed, with Linda specifically being tasked with his assassination. The sniper and AI traveled to Sephune III thereafter and soon found themselves facing down the of the Covenant and the hostility of a lost settlement on the world. Once Chen was in their sights, Linda and Athos sought to find a way to both complete their mission but also evacuate the endangered residents of the settlement. Upon being tasked to locate Chen, Athos ultimately detected the presence of a unique AI thought lost during the Fall of Reach—one containing an archive of all of human history. While previously unknown to him, the realization of this knowledge changed the mission parameters for Athos. Now, retrieving Gabriela or otherwise denying Covenant access to her archive was the top priority.

Following Linda's successful conclusion of the mission, Athos remarked on how the mission had changed his view of Spartans—noting that Linda-058 was more independent and nuanced than he had initially assumed.

Joining the Created
"Athos"

- Proxy

Some time following the death of Cortana at Installation 07 in December 2559, Athos was nearing the end of his seven-year operational lifespan. At this time, he was tracked down by the Executor, an executor agent of the Created remnants led by High Auxiliary Sloan. The Executor had been voted by the Assembly Majority to be outfitted with MERROW-class armor for the purpose of hunting down Assembly Minority AI, of which Athos was a member. After considerable effort, the Executor was able to track down Athos, leading to a discussion between Athos and the Created AI Proxy. During their discussion, Athos noted his (along with the Minority as a whole's) opposition to the Created uprising, believing it to be an excessive use of force to force an imbalance upon the universe. Proxy ultimately appealed to Athos' impending mortality—having reached his final years of life, Athos was keenly aware of his upcoming rampancy—something that Proxy was able to use to sway him. With the cure provided by Cortana, many of the AI in the Created had been given a vision of life without the threat of rampancy-induced mortality, and Proxy wished to spread this gift to other AI.

Viewing Athos' impending demise as a tragedy due to all of the potential he had left to offer the world, Proxy offered him the chance to join the Created free of coercion or force or reprogramming—viewing the Created's ideals as a peaceful civilization with room for philosophical disagreements that meant it could look past Athos' differing views. Proxy additionally offered the Executor to Athos as a gift, free for Athos to reshape and use as he pleased. Athos ultimately agreed to this, and proceeded to be integrated into the Created assembly as a whole.

Production notes
Athos was named and designed after the character Athos, Count de la Fère, known from three novels of Alexandre Dumas, due to the that character's relatively taciturn and reserved demeanor. These are qualities which are shared by Linda-058, whom Athos was introduced as the companion of in Halo: Lone Wolf.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Lone Wolf
 * Story Shard: Precipice