The Refuge

Shield World 0673, also known as the Refuge, was a Forerunner shield world. It was maintained by a monitor named Enduring Bias.

History
Decades before the Covenant's formation, a Sangheili known as 'Crecka discovered the shield world while fleeing assailants of an unidentified alien species in the System of Miasmic Giants. 'Crecka entered the world and encountered Enduring Bias, who urged that the Sangheili submit himself for study and give the ancilla information about his species. However, 'Crecka escaped and the monitor did not take all available measures to stop him as its programming had deteriorated considerably over the tens of thousands of years of overseeing the installation.

In 851 BCE, 'Crecka led Ussa 'Xellus, the leader of a Sangheili resistance movement against the budding Covenant, as well as his mate Sooln, to Shield World 0673 aboard 'Xellus' ship Clan’s Blade. The trio entered the shield world through an access portal and made their way to the terrestrial interior of the world where they were greeted by Enduring Bias. Recognizing the Sangheili as a species indexed by the Librarian in the Conservation Measure, the Forerunner AI offered shelter for Sangheili although it demanded to know their intentions.

Ussa 'Xellus intended to use Shield World 0673 as a refuge for his rebel movement until they could gather sufficient strength to strike against the Covenant. He put this plan to action upon returning to his hideout in Nwari, Sanghelios.

Description
Shield World 0673 featured a silver-gray metallic exterior surface whose interior was home to a miniature Dyson sphere. The interior of the Dyson sphere—known as the "eco level"—possessed a habitable terrestrial environment filled with transplanted species. Unlike Shield World 0459 whose interior was largely empty space with a miniature star in the center, Shield World 0673 housed a planetoid inside the inner sphere. Illumination was provided by light emanating from shafts in the ground as well as panes in inverted, stalactite-like structures in the convex "ceiling" formed by the inner planetoid.

The shield world was known to have at least one rectangular entrance portal, though which the Sangheili gained access inside. Once the spacecraft had entered the portal, walls and a ceiling formed around the ship; the interior of the newly-formed room soon pressurized and a door opened. After a series of descending corridors visitors would arrive on a platform overlooking the interior of the shield world. The platform would then descend down, providing access to the ground level in an area described as looking "too haphazard to be a cultivated garden, but too orderly to be wilderness."

Various Forerunner automatons, including what appeared to be an airborne freight transport, moved about in the interior.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Broken Circle