Cortana
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
"WE'VE GOT A NEW CONTACT, UNKNOWN CLASSIFICATION!" This article may contain information based upon upcoming, unreleased, or recently-released content from Halo: Campaign Evolved, and may not be fully complete. Additionally, the information may be subject to change if it is based on pre-release material. Please update it as soon as any relevant and accurate material is available.
|
| Cortana | |
|---|---|
| |
| Biographical information | |
|
Activation site: |
|
|
Began service: |
|
|
Ended service: |
December 13, 2559[3] (aged 10) |
|
Gender: |
Female personality |
|
Description: |
Slender woman covered by patterns and scrolling symbols |
|
Color(s): |
|
| Political and military information | |
|
Affiliation: |
|
|
Functionality: |
|
|
CTN 0452-9 | |
- "I know what you're thinking, and it's crazy. Unfortunately for us both ... I like crazy."
- — Cortana to John-117 on Cairo Station[7]
Cortana (AI Serial Number: CTN 0452-9) was the leader of the Created and a "smart" AI formerly in service with the United Nations Space Command. Unique and exceptionally powerful even among smart AIs,[1] she was one of the most important figures in the Human-Covenant War, and served as John-117's partner in the final months of the conflict. Her flexibility and tactical skill proved invaluable in boosting the combat ability of the Halcyon-class light cruiser Pillar of Autumn, the orbital defense platform Cairo Station and the Stalwart-class light frigate In Amber Clad. In addition, she held vital data pertaining to the Halo Array, including the activation index from Installation 04.
Biography
Creation
- "When the game is over, the king and the pawn go into the same box."
- — Cortana speaks her first words, in Italian—the same once said by Catherine Halsey's mother after beating her daughter at the first game of chess they played.[2]
On May 21, 2549 the Office of Naval Intelligence's chief scientist, Doctor Catherine Halsey, cloned herself twenty times.[8][9][10] An A.I. was needed for Operation: RED FLAG, a planned mission to capture one of the Covenant's hierarchs and force a truce.[1][11] Halsey believed her third-generation volitional A.I.s required better material to use as A.I. matrix seeds than that offered by the new candidates she was being presented with, which she saw as lacking both physical and intellectual agility. To create the clones she used the same equipment that had been used years prior to make the flash clones needed for the SPARTAN-II program. This time, however, she enhanced their neural physiology at the expense of other biological functions. She made sure the equipment was hidden and secure from all save herself, though the cloning had been arranged by ONI at her insistence. As such, there were a few others who also knew about it, but she was confident that these particular individuals could be trusted to keep the information secret. The clones developed at a breakneck pace, for on the same day she had first begun the process they were already exhibiting familiar anatomy and curling into fetal positions, malformed as they were.[10] A little over two months later, on July 29, Halsey successfully excised all of the clones' brains and transferred them to cryogenic units. All remaining organic substrates were flash-incinerated.[12]
On November 7, 2549, within the confines of CASTLE Base on