Voi

Voi was an industrial city in Kenya, East African Protectorate in Africa on planet Earth. After its infestation by the Flood and subsequent glassing by the Fleet of Retribution, it became known as the Voi Exclusion Zone.

Background
Voi is located about 140 kilometers away from the coastal city of New Mombasa, and on the edge of the Tsavo National Park, the largest wildlife reserve in the region. The town served as the crossroads for railway lines between three Kenyan cities. In Voi, a highway known as Tsavo Highway, or A23, joined with the Nairobi Road which connected the cities of Mombasa and Nairobi. By the 26th century, Voi was a futuristic worker town, and it was filled with mechanical factories and shoreline buildings. A number of water pumping stations managed by the GWC Trans-African Pipelines, such as the Voi Municipal Water Pump House 03 located around 17 kilometers from Voi, took care of the water supply in the town.

In the mid 26th century, Voi was situated beside a large man-made lake, which was connected to an ocean inlet leading all the way to New Mombasa on the coast. This waterway provided a way of carrying large amounts of cargo from the facilities in Voi to the space tether in New Mombasa and other locations around the globe. The shorelines of the lake were filled with warehouses and docking structures; one of the most prominent industrial facilities in Voi was the Factory Complex 09 of the Traxus Heavy Industries. Another facility, Traxus Factory Complex 71, was also located nearby on the shores of the lake.

The law enforcement agency of Voi was called Voi Greater Outlands Police Bureau. New Mombasa Waste Management provided the waste management services in Voi.

History
About 97,445 BCE, near the end of the Forerunner-Flood war, the Librarian landed on Earth near the site where the town of Voi would be built millennia later. There, she oversaw the creation and subsequent burying of the Ark Portal structure, which would be hidden for thousands of years to come, and would spend her last days in the nearby region before the Halo Array purged the galaxy of sentient life.

Voi has a long history. The town is centuries old, and was formerly a simple market town. According to local history the name of town comes from a slave trader called Chief Kivoi who settled near the Voi river around the 17th century. There after the town grew as a trade post between the local Taita people, other Kenyan tribes and Arabs. The town started to grow at the end of the 19th century when the Kenya-Uganda railway was constructed. People started to move in to work on the railway and the nearby Sisal estates.

Covenant occupation
When the Covenant invaded Earth in 2552, the general region between Voi and Mombasa became their top priority due to the Portal buried underneath it. When the Mombasa Tether collapsed on October 20, 2552, debris rained down upon Voi and the surrounding region. At one point, the UNSC placed a SAM launcher in the vicinity of Factory Complex 09 in Voi. During the following weeks, the Covenant forces occupied the city and placed heavy defenses around their excavation.

On November 17, due to the return of John-117, the UNSC was ready for a counterattack. By disabling a Covenant anti-aircraft battery from the ground, the UNSC would be able to assault the Prophet of Truth's Forerunner Dreadnought resting on the center of the Portal.

The Master Chief arrived in Voi via the Tsavo Highway and joined up with the Arbiter and a large group of Marines. The battle for the city begun with the UNSC attacking entrenched Covenant forces. During the engagement, many surviving workers from the Traxus facilities, armed with recovered UNSC weapons joined the Marines in their fight to liberate Voi. Together they destroyed multiple Anti-Air Wraiths, a Scarab, and the Covenant anti-air gun. With the anti-air forces destroyed, Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood's ships attacked the Prophet of Truth's Dreadnought, until Truth activated the Portal to the Ark and escaped through it, with his fleet following.

Flood infestation


After this, a Flood-controlled ship slipped in, and crashed in at the western edge of the city. This ship was full of Flood, and the Master Chief and the Arbiter began to fight this new threat. Under orders from Commander Miranda Keyes, they started to move to the downed cruiser, hoping to destroy it in an effort to contain the Flood. As they neared the cruiser, the Sangheili Fleet of Retribution arrived, led by Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum. The Sangheili flagship, Shadow of Intent, deployed Sangheili ground forces to assist the humans. Voi was ravaged by the Flood infestation and many Marines and surviving civilian personnel were infected in the ensuing chaos, but the Chief and his surviving allies forged ahead into the heart of the city.

The humans learned that the Sangheili were looking for the AI construct Cortana, who was supposedly aboard the Flood cruiser. Separating from the Arbiter, the Chief went aboard the cruiser. What he found was not Cortana, but a damaged message left by her. As he was inspecting it, 343 Guilty Spark arrived to repair Cortana. All human and Elite forces retreated to the Shadow of Intent as the fleet glassed Voi, therefore destroying all Flood in the vicinity and preventing the parasite from spreading any further.

Voi was terminated as a result of the excavation event; only a few industrial buildings remained. The area was subsequently termed the "Voi Exclusion Zone". Operation: JOINT MONITOR saw Alpha-Nine deployed to the zone to ensure any and all Flood were eliminated. They did not encounter any remnants of it.

Post-war
On March 3, 2553, after the end of the war, a memorial ceremony was held atop a hill in the remains of the town. As humanity began the arduous process of rebuilding, it was decided that this hillside be kept untouched as a memorial to those who did not return from Installation 00 and those fallen in the war at large.

Within a couple years, ONI had established extensive facilities at Voi as part of the effort to study the portal artifact, now closed. In March, 2555, a joint operations team arrived in town in preparation for Operation: FAR STORM, the third manned mission to Installation 00 that commenced once the portal was reactivated. However, in a plot to mine the Earth's resources as recompense for the damage incurred to the installation during the battle a few years prior, its monitor sent thousands of Sentinels streaming through the portal over Voi; this attempt was foiled by elements of the UNSC Home Fleet.

Due to the artifact's importance, by 2558 Voi housed the largest Spartan-IV garrison on Earth.

Trivia

 * The last movement of the Halo 2 Soundtrack is called "The Road to Voi".
 * One of the ferries used to transport cargo across the lake is encountered stranded on a beach during the level The Storm.

List of appearances

 * Halo 3
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Petra
 * Halo: Glasslands
 * Halo 4
 * Halo: Spartan Assault
 * Halo: Initiation
 * Halo: Mortal Dictata
 * Halo: Hunters in the Dark
 * Halo 5: Guardians
 * Limited Edition dossiers
 * Halo Mythos
 * Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual
 * Halo: Renegades