User:Dab1001/RefStressTest: Difference between revisions

In 2507, while still a doctoral candidate, Halsey met Doctor [[Elias Carver]] at an academic social mixer and couldn't resist correcting his obsolete algorithm implementation when she heard him describing the matrix mechanics of the socio-economic and politico-economic vectors of human expansion.<ref name="HJ12410">''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'', ''December 4, 2510''</ref> She outlined a corrective matrix calculation to him which revised his dimensional parameters so that the sixteen dimensions were used rather than seven. Doctor Carver did not appreciate being challenged by someone he saw as a young upstart, but her words seemingly caused [[Captain]] [[Michael Stanforth]] of the [[United Nations Space Command]]'s [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] to take note of her. Three weeks later, a [[Wikipedia:Grant (money)|grant]] she had proposed for using [[artificial intelligence]]s to control N-dimensional matrices was green-lit by the UNSC, with its funding contingent on the successful testing of a model of its choosing. Naturally, it was Carver's model which she was directed to test. Halsey knew his flawed model would produce flawed results, so she ran her sixteen dimensional variant as a [[Wikipedia:Controlling for a variable|control]] in addition to his seven-dimensional version. Carver's model predicted a breakdown of social order in the [[Outer Colonies]] within twenty years unless strict governmental control was established, reinforced by an immediate and permanent military presence. Catherine ran more than fourteen hundred simulations during this time, varying every parameter, and even in the best-case scenario it was clear to her that the Outer Colonies at large would [[Insurrection|rebel]] against the [[Unified Earth Government]] ''soon''. She determined that at a minimum, the resulting conflict would lead to thirty years of war and the deaths of five billion people. The maximum effect was unbounded and could involve interminable war and a new [[Wikipedia:Dark Ages (historiography)|Dark Age]] for [[humanity]]. Halsey took her findings to Stanforth only to learn that ONI had already reached the same conclusion. The agency had been keeping an eye on her for years and it had been decided that in order to recruit her, she would need to convince herself that working with the agency was necessary to save the human race.<ref name="HJ12410"/> [[Ysionris Jeromi]], who considered Halsey his star pupil at the time, discouraged her from working with ONI.<ref name="HTFOR6">''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'', ''Chapter 6''</ref> Halsey, however, had no problem admitting that ONI's tactic had worked on her.<ref name="HJ12410"/> She allowed herself to be recruited in [[2508]] and in early [[2510]] she was brought to the [[Inner Colony]] of [[Reach]] and contracted to work as a [[civilian]] consultant on a number of classified projects.<ref name="WaypointCatherineHalsey"/><ref name="HJ8810">''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'', ''August 8, 2510''</ref><ref name="HM60">''[[Halo Mythos]]'', ''page 60''</ref>

Halsey was awakened from [[cryostasis]] alongside Keyes shortly after 0430 hours on [[2517#August|August 17]] while the ''[[Han]]'' was still in slipspace but set to emerge soon in the [[Eridanus system]].<ref name="HTFOR1"/> Giving not so much as an acknowledgement that they were both naked, Halsey simply climbed out of her tube and told the lieutenant to get cleaned up and dressed as she headed for the showers herself, making it clear to Keyes that she was in charge. Halsey was already strapped into the navigator's couch and on the bridge and tapping in commands across four keypads when he joined her soon thereafter. The doctor welcomed him and asked that he be seated at the communication station to monitor channels when they reentered normal space. She then had [[Toran]] provide her with [[astronavigation]] maps of the system and asked if any planets between their current position and [[Eridanus II]] could be used to pick up a [[Wikipedia:Gravity assist|gravitational boost]] to let them arrive sooner. Additionally, in rapid succession she had the A.I. begin to play [[Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto Number Three]], begin a preburn warmup cycle for their [[fusion engine]]s, and halt the rotation of the shuttle's central carousel section to conserve power. Toran obliged with each request and informed her they would exiting slipspace in about five minutes, give or take three minutes. From the way Keyes was glancing at her, Halsey could tell he was impressed at her ability to put Toran through his paces so rigorously, so she asked if he had a question for her. In response he composed himself before inquiring as to the exactly what they were doing. Halsey told him that they were on a reconnaissance mission of sorts, as they were heading to Eridanus II in order to observe [[John-117|a child]] whom she hoped would only be the first of many. She suggested the junior lieutenant should just think of it as a UNSC-funded psychological study and then sternly told him that was exactly what he was to say it was to anyone who asked. The ''Han'' soon decelerated as it dropped out of slipspace near a gas giant and then began a hard burn, accelerating for sixty-seven seconds before arcing away from the planet. As soon as the boost was complete Toran informed the two humans that their [[Wikipedia:Estimated time of arrival|ETA]] was forty-three minutes and three seconds. At this, Halsey unlocked her harness and floated free. Just before they had dropped into normal space, Keyes had started to ask her if she knew how dangerous the Eridanus system was then and now she finally answered him in the affirmative. After stretching and strapping herself back into her couch, she reminded her escort that he was supposed to be monitoring their comms for that very reason. Catherine spent the next thirty minutes with her back to Keyes while she read over reports on her navigation screens. The Keyes eventually spoke up to candidly ask why he was there, and Halsey told him the truth about why she had selected him for the job. She also assured him that though he may have rather been on the {{UNSCShip|Magellan}} then, which now-rescinded orders had previously had him rotating to, the child they were traveling to observe could make all the difference for the ongoing struggle against the [[Insurrection]]. Once Toran announced they were approaching Eridanus II Halsey had him plot an atmospheric vector for the [[Luxor]] [[Luxor Spaceport|spaceport]] and ordered Keyes to make ready to land.<ref name="HTFOR1"/>

On [[2521#October|October 15, 2521]], while enjoying a slice of custard pie from [[Havadi Goodwan|Havadi]]'s, Halsey took the time to muse somewhat in her journal on the vulnerabilities created by the standardization of operating systems, highlighting the recent disabling of [[UNSC Persephone|a patrolling destroyer]] by a [[terrorist]] who hacked its code.<ref name="HJN1724">''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'', ''October 15, 2521''</ref> Given that the [[UNSC]], conversely, had not had much success penetrating the homegrown collections of software employed in the [[Outer Colonies]], she concluded that the time had come to think outside the box as far as programming practices were concerned. She had spared no resource in the development of routines that allowed the newly-operational third-generation A.I.s to penetrate any system software. Additionally, they had already learned to mutate and defend established UNSC operating systems from attack, a side effect of the routines which Halsey found serendipitous. Before she concluded writing that day, she took note of the frustration she felt at the way the acronyms for [[Illegal Entry Protocols|illegal entry protocols]] and [[Counter-Illegal Entry Protocols|counter-illegal entry protocols]] had been commonly misspelled and then vocalized based on those misspellings.<ref name="HJN1724"/> On [[2522#June|June 5, 2522]] Halsey was finally offered the position of chief scientist within ONI, after years of only officially serving in an advisory role involving a series of undocumented but well-paid contracts.<ref name="HJN1724"/><ref name="JS6526">[[Jessica Shea]] on Twitter 06/05/2522 [https://twitter.com/bsangel/status/606903711663681536]</ref> Since she had always lacked the time or interest to spend the money earned, these contracts had always benefited her little. Halsey accepted the offer, but was uncertain why it had been presented to her then. In her journal she theorized that the promotion might have something do to with the curiosity of her colleagues and the wider scientific community or might simply reflect suspicions that her temporary unofficial advisory role was in reality none of those things.<ref name="HJN1724"/> Once around this time, when [[Soren-066]] was nearly eleven years old, she approached him as he ran through an exercise with the other children.<ref name="HEP2"/> Soren had been hesitating, unsure of which team to join, so she asked if everything was alright. The boy replied in the affirmative, but slipped up and called her "Sir" before blushing and correcting his mistake. Halsey just smiled and told him he shouldn't get distracted by irrelevant data, then pointed past him as both teams ran for the skirmish ground and added that above all he shouldn't let himself get left behind.<ref name="HEP2"/>  

On [[2524#January|January 18, 2524]] [[Wikipedia:Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope|CFHT]]-[[Mars]] captured a ten-minute [[Wikipedia:Exposure (photography)|exposure]] image of an [[High Charity|anomalous object]] within the star cluster [[Wikipedia:NGC 2244|NGC 2244]] and nearing human space.<ref name="HJextras"/><ref name="H11824">[[343 Industries|Halo]] on Twitter 01/18/2524 [https://twitter.com/Halo/status/424662516803710976]</ref> [[J.C.|An acquaintance]] of Halsey's later sent her the image for evaluation along with a note describing the unidentified object as having guided movement and not belonging to the UNSC.<ref name="HJextras"/><ref name="H11824"/> They also gave her a way to reach them on [[ChatterNet]], should she wish to weigh in on this mystery.<ref name="HJextras"/> [[2524#August|August 22, 2524]] left Halsey furious after she learned that her candidates had been rerouted during a training exercise to a [[UNSC Special Forces|Special Forces]] camp on the other side of [[Reach]].<ref name="HJN1724"/> Mendez had told her that "interested parties" within [[ONI]] wished to observe the teens in action firsthand, which made her immediately wonder about someone trying to usurp her project or cut its budget. She took her grievances to Admiral Stanforth, who claimed to know nothing about what had happened and told her to stop being paranoid. Convinced he was not being truthful and that something was going on without her knowledge, she requested that the production of the next-generation A.I. matrix strata be expedited so her new intrusion and counter-intrusion software could be developed to aid the Spartans and protect herself.<ref name="HJN1724"/> On [[2524#November|November 17]] of that same year, Catherine made an entry in her journal following a conference she had attended at the [[University of Calippus]].<ref name="HJN1724"/> While at the conference, she had reunited with [[Jacob Keyes]] and had [[Reproduction|sex]] with him.<ref name="WaypointCatherineHalsey"/><ref name="HJN1724"/><ref name="HG6">''[[Halo: Glasslands]]'', ''Chapter 6''</ref> She was unsure whether her decision to do so had been a result of the dizzying pressure she was under, a response to a chance encounter with a kindred spirit in a strange place, or something else, but she was glad it had been him she'd run into.<ref name="HJN1724"/> The romantic liaison with Keyes left her pregnant with [[Miranda Keyes|a daughter]].<ref name="WaypointCatherineHalsey"/>

On March 9, the day before [[Project ASTER|Project: ASTER]] was to be initiated, Halsey and the seventy-five teens could be found aboard [[Medical Facility Endurance]] in orbit over Reach.<ref name="HTFOR6">''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'', ''Chapter 6''</ref> At 1130 hours the doctor was pacing in the observation room while she waited for Déjà to decrypt [[UNSC Priority Transmission 09872H-98|a transmission]] from Vice Admiral [[Ysionris Jeromi]]. Catherine had previously proposed a hypothetical series of experiments involving [[Wikipedia:Bonobo|bonobo]]s to he and his team in order to obfuscate her true intentions for the protocols. To her dismay, the latest from Jeromi informed her that further analysis had failed to yield viable alternatives that might mitigate any of the risks inherent to her "hypothetical" experimentation. As soon as she was finished with the file he'd sent Halsey erased all traces of it and even sent Déjà to track its pathways all the way back to the {{UNSCShip|Hopeful}} to destroy his related notes and files. Given the news, Halsey seriously considered delaying the procedures and only put such thoughts aside due to Déjà pointing out that ONI would only find someone else to move the project forward if she started dragging her feet. Chief Mendez met the doctor in the hall outside the observation room and at her insistence followed her up the stairs to the hospital's pre-op wing. Upon seeing John in Room 117 she forced a smile and asked how he was feeling. John, thinking of the procedures as just another exercise, asked her if she could just this once tell him how to win. To that, she could only lean in close and tell him he needed to survive.<ref name="HTFOR6"/> Later that day Halsey divided the various augmentations into two groups according to their risks of failure or long-term side effects not adequately studied.<ref name="HJ3925">''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'', ''March 9, 2525''</ref> Those that she considered to have unacceptable fail rates were to be tabled for then in order that further research could be done. Already she had begun to quietly arrange [[Operation: TENDRIL|long-term studies]] on the gradual application of cyclo-synthetic neural transmission gene sequences during subjects' early lives and noted in her journal that research on the injection of [[Wikipedia:Virus|viral]] [[Wikipedia:Neutrophil|microphage]]s at neuron surfaces was pending. Halsey closed that day's journal wishing there was a god to pray to.<ref name="HJ3925"/> As she was being readied for the procedures within Lab 7, Halsey visited the girl [[Yasmine Zaman|Yasmine]] and assisted a nurse in strapping her down.<ref name="ILBPM">''[[i love bees]]'', [[Princess Monologue|princess monologue]]</ref><ref name="ILB12">''[[i love bees]]'', ''[[Axon Clips Chapter 12|Chapter 12]]''</ref> She attempted to reassure the girl that she would barely feel anything apart from slight pain that accompanies injections.<ref name="ILBPM"/><ref name="ILB12"/><ref group="note">In the [[Axon Clips Chapter 11|eleventh chapter]] of ''[[i love bees]]'' the A.I. [[Durga]] recites the date [[2537#September|September 16, 2537]] immediately after mentioning Yasmine's involuntary recruitment for the Spartan-II program. Following this recitation Durga mentions Yasmine's post-procedural designation as a medical washout. It may be likely that an error was introduced by seemingly having records which show her as having been abducted for the Spartan-II program years after Project: ASTER had been initiated. Whether the given date actually refers to her original childhood conscription, however, is not completely clear. She is also stated to have died prior to [[2546#January|January 2546]]. The possibility exists that each given date is in error due to having twenty years mistakenly added to the dates [[2517#September|September 17, 2517]] and [[2526#January|January 2526]].</ref> While visiting [[Serin-019]] before the procedures commenced the girl asked her how different she would feel when she woke up.<ref name="HG15"/> Halsey was honest with her and let her know just how painful and persistent the side effects of the surgical enhancements would be if she survived—possibly lasting months or even years.<ref name="HG15"/>

It was at 1750 hours on [[2525#November|November 27]] that the ''Commonwealth'' finally emerged in real space in the [[Chi Ceti system]].<ref name="HTFOR12"/> Halsey then immediately summoned John to the bridge, where she waited with the ship's Captain [[Wallace]]. The doctor called his attention to a screen displaying deconvoluted radar signals, including one which was repeatedly appearing and might represent another ship eighty million kilometers away. Though Wallace didn't see the need Halsey urged that they go to battle stations and let he and John know that at Harvest the aliens had been observed making an intrasystem slipspace jump, something beyond the capability of human technology. This new information was enough to change the captain's mind and before long the ship had changed its heading and its bulkheads had been sealed. The doctor informed John that they'd be taking one of the ''Commonwealth'''s dropships to the surface of [[Chi Ceti IV]] and instructed him to get the others ready to depart, seeing as it was vital the Spartans reached Project: MJOLNIR before the [[Covenant]] did. Almost immediately after he'd relayed orders to muster them [[Unrelenting|an alien ship]] [[RCS-class armored cruiser|a third]] the size of the ''Commonwealth'' suddenly appeared three thousand kilometers off its prow. Both vessels quickly engaged one another and Halsey was surprised to see that even a Covenant ship of such small size was equipped with [[energy shielding]]. Even a direct hit from the frigate's [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon|magnetic accelerator cannon]] only served to disable its shields rather than destroy the ship. Captain Wallace gave orders to ready another round at that, but Halsey argued against this, instead imploring him to initiate evasive maneuvers. Having the doctor second-guess his command led the captain to threaten her with being ''gagged''. Yet soon enough they were been struck amidships by the enemy's weapons and multiple decks had melted in Section One. When fires were reported throughout various sections Catherine suggested the crew don [[respirator pack]]s so the atmosphere could be vented on all decks outside the [[bridge]] and this time, Captain Wallace assented to her reccomendation. When he demanded to know what they'd been hit with she explained that the aliens could evidently [[Plasma torpedo|guide]] the trajectory of [[Plasma weaponry|plasma]] through space. Their MAC system having been destroyed, Halsey next floated the idea of attacking with [[Nuclear weapon|nuclear missile]]s but was once more rebuffed by Wallace since the enemy was far too close to them to make their use safe. Both she and John then concluded that using [[GA-TL1 Longsword]]s to distract the aliens could afford them the safe distance they would need to use nuclear weaponry. To their dismay the smaller ship still remained intact, although obviously crippled, after being hit with the blast of a [[Shiva-class nuclear missile|Shiva-class warhead]]. For her part Halsey could at least appreciate that even if they couldn't destroy the enemy's ships they could evidently at least slow them. With the Covenant craft moving off Wallace ordered the ''Commonwealth'' to execute a [[Wikipedia:Planetary flyby|flyby orbit]] so that Halsey and the teenagers could depart for the [[Damascus Materials Testing Facility]] in [[Vhalkem]] as they passed by it. He told the doctor he would attempt to lead the Covenant ship away if it came back but that they should plan to reconvene in orbit no later than 1900 hours. She immediately turned back to John and told him to they needed to hurry, as there was much she had to show the Spartans.<ref name="HTFOR12"/>

On [[2549#September|September 9]] Halsey reflected on the recent [[Second Fall of Arcadia|loss]] of [[Arcadia]], as she had come into possession of a near-complete record of the attack taken from an orbiting weather satellite.<ref name="HJ72949"/> In her journal she expressed the agony viewing the destruction caused her, noting that she knew some would smirk at the thought of her shrinking from it. As the entire world's surface was mercilessly [[Glassing|glassed]] rather than only portions, she wondered variously whether the planet posed a threat to them, had religious or political value, or was simply designated for sending a message to humanity.<ref name="HJ72949"/> By September 14 Halsey had hacked into the redacted portions of other Arcadia reports.<ref name="HJ91449">''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'', ''July 14, 2549''</ref> At some point in September the annex in [[CASTLE Base]]'s Omega Wing where Halsey was working was quarantined.<ref name="HRO"/> On [[2549#November|November 7, 2549]], she transferred and authenticated the H-1 specimen's neural pattern to A.I. matrix strata, completing the initiation sequence within normal quantum flux tolerances.<ref name="HJ11749"/><ref name="WaypointCortana">[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/characters/cortana '''Halo Waypoint''' - ''Cortana'']</ref><ref name="HRO">''[[Halo: Reach]]'', ''[[Outpost (level)|Outpost]]''</ref> The newly made intelligence called herself "[[Cortana]]" and represented a generational leap in volitional A.I. technology.<ref name="HRO"/> Halsey placed a viral termination code in her kernel but then could not tell whether she remained unaware of it or had already isolated and bypassed it.<ref name="HJ11749"/> Halsey also programmed her with ONI's best insurgency software and every ONI computer insurgency routine, as well as the determination to use those code-cracking skills.<ref name="HTFOR25"/><ref name="HTFOR27"/> She first designed and tested these routines on [[Kalmiya]].<ref name="HFS13"/> Only once the process had been debugged and streamlined did she incorporate them into Cortana. Afterward, the brass in [[ONI Section Three|Section Three]] instructed Halsey to destroy any prototype routines—an order which she promptly ignored.<ref name="HFS13"/>  

By [[2551#May|May 2551]] Catherine had begun to lead the excavation of an ancient [[Forerunner|alien]] [[Babd Catha Forerunner vessel|vessel]] that lay [[Babd Catha Forerunner complex|buried]] beneath the area occupied by ONI's [[SWORD Base]] within the [[Babd Catha Ice Shelf]] in northern [[Eposz]].<ref name="DD3"/><ref name="DD2">[[Data Drop]] [[Data Drop/Two|#2]]</ref><ref name="HRTP">''[[Halo: Reach]]'', ''[[The Package (level)|The Package]]''</ref> Even so, her residence remained in [[Csongrád]] where she also continued to work with Doctor Sorvad on the Visegrád findings.<ref name="DD3"/> On May 8 she was interviewed by analyst [[B.M. Parkes]] so that they might conduct a [[Hemley and Aubourn Behavior Analysis|Hemley and Aubourn behavior analysis]] of her.<ref name="DD3"/> Following the encounter Parkes recorded that she had not been terribly forthcoming and ultimately recommended assigning two to three handlers to her at both sites where she was working. Parkes also was confident she needed to be surveilled were she to be called off-planet, though her leaving Reach was something they and their colleagues strongly discouraged at that time.<ref name="DD3"/> Two days later Halsey noted in her journal that a security issue which she blamed Sorvad for had caused her to begin keeping an eye on the inhabitants of [[Visegrád]] to ensure they didn't disappear thanks to Section Three.<ref name="HJ51051"/> As an insurance policy, she told Stanforth that the people there for valuable for being the only ones with extended exposure to the site under study and as such may need to be studied. She met with Sorvad and he assured her that only certain members of the dig team and a few other "necessary parties" on her side had seen the items recovered from the site. He insisted on continuing the work with only a skeleton crew of his most trusted people and promised he would not tolerate "another [[Farragut Station]]", referring to the communications outpost. Halsey simply nodded but was displeased, wondering if Sorvad might actually know what had happened at Farragut Station in the past and the reason for its relocation.<ref name="HJ51051"/> On [[2552#May|May 15, 2552]] Kalmiya caught a glimpse of several documents in Vice Admiral Stanforth's [[Beta-5 Division|Beta-5]] server which ranged from service order transfers of existing Spartan-IIs to highly classified non-Spartan-II detachments.<ref name="HJ51551">''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'', ''May 15, 2552''</ref> This had evidently been going on for years, and Halsey was incensed at having been kept in the dark about it. She resolved to not let this go, and as she had a list of names with [[James Ackerson|one man]] she considered particularly obscene at the top, she planned to send Kalmiya back in as soon as she got a handle on the affairs with Sorvad.<ref name="HJ51551"/> At various points during her time spent beneath the Babd Catha shelf Doctor Halsey kept tabs on a number of individuals and groups, recording her thoughts on each.<ref name="HRTR"/> She noted, for example, that she felt inspired by and grateful for those among the [[Seventh Column]] community who had been willing to reach out to her. Halsey was similarly comforted by those involved with the initiatives "[[Fight the Flood]]" and "[[Be a Hero]]". Other civilians which merited her attention during this period included those of [[Red vs. Blue|RvB]] and [[Halo.bungie.org|HBO]], the former having entertained her on multiple occasions and the latter impressing her enough to make her consider providing the faction with direct access to her internal systems. When the doctor initially caught wind of a training protocol which had seen [[Randall Glass|a]] marine [[Warthog Jumping|lift]] an [[M12 Warthog]] with [[M9 fragmentation grenade|grenades]], she did not believe the reports. Upon seeing video footage of the accomplishment, however, she decided to flag his file for investigation. It was her opinion that though he should be recommended for the ODSTs, it was too risky to keep him in the field and run the risk of others emulating his foolish actions. And finally, Catherine took care to recognize [[HCFS]], which represented her eyes and ears in the field. At some point during this time she worried she might have a security breach, as a file in her workspace had been opened which she could not recall ever accessing.<ref name="HRTR">''[[Halo: Reach]]'' "[[Tribute Room]]"</ref>

By 1126 hours on July 26 [[SWORD Base]] had come under attack by an {{Class|SDV|heavy corvette}} and Covenant ground forces from the [[Fleet of Valiant Prudence]].<ref name="HROSB">''[[Halo: Reach]]'', ''[[ONI: Sword Base]]''</ref> Following the attack's repulsion Halsey requested permission to debrief with NOBLE Team, the six members of which met her within the base's science wing thereafter. Upon seeing them her suspicions were confirmed: they were [[SPARTAN-III program|Spartan]]s, as incomprehensible as that was to her at the time. Only one of them, [[Jorge-052]], was one of hers. She had already begun conversing with the team's leader, [[Carter-A259]], when Jorge and [[SPARTAN-B312|sixth member]] of the team finally joined them. She was in the midst of telling Carter to dispense with telling her about the recent engagement outside so she could hear about what happened in [[Visegrád]] when Jorge's entrance made her stop mid-sentence to greet him. She couldn't help but ask after the obvious modifications made to his armor before returning to the matter of the [[Visegrád Relay|Visegrád relay]], and Doctor Sorvad's death in particular. From Carter, Jorge, and [[Spartan-B312]] she learned that [[Devoted Sentries|a group of three]] [[Sangheili]] [[Sangheili Zealot|Zealot]]s were likely responsible. The same had ambushed NOBLE Team when they'd arrived at the relay and the one which appeared to be their leader had gotten away from the Spartans. Halsey dismissed mention of Sorvad's daughter [[Sára Sorvad|Sára]] in the interest in maintaining focus on the Elites and what their leader might have escaped with. She bristled at Carter's defense of his order not to pursue the last zealot, worried that it might have stolen valuable ONI excavation data. She let them know about the supposed latchkey discovery Sorvad had made and emphasized its importance, stressing that they should hope a [[data module]] found on his corpse contained what was so important. At this [[Catherine-B320]] handed the module over to the doctor through a transaction drawer, as a wall of glass separated her from NOBLE. She let the lieutenant commander know she'd been alerted when she'd tried to access its contents, threatening her with imprisonment for attempting to interfere with her work. This prompted Carter to rush to Kat's defense, citing the [[WINTER CONTINGENCY]] directive and the provision against civilian interference with a Spartan deployment to make the same threat to Halsey. Jorge lingered when the rest of the team began to leave, but Halsey told him they'd talked enough, allowing him to move on as well.<ref name="HROSB"/>

In order to pull RED FLAG off, it had been determined that a colony of significant value to the Covenant and boasting many [[Forerunner|ancient alien]] artifacts would in all likelihood need to be sacrificed in order to draw the required Class-Five assets, possibly with hierarchs, in so that Spartans could infiltrate them. The best shot at taking over a large ship would come after a fleet believed it had secured a major victory.<ref name="DD5"/> Given the current situation on Reach, ONI had decided to make the most of a losing fight and enact RED FLAG there. It was for this reason that not one of the twenty-five Spartans was yet aware that [[Reach]] was already [[Fall of Reach|under siege]], largely thanks to the efforts of Halsey and Stanforth, who had been making sure to keep them well away from the primary target sites.<ref name="DD5"/> Later that day Halsey reflected on the meeting in her journal, being hopeful for the Spartans' ability to secure a temporary peace that would but humanity time.<ref name="HJ82752"/> She expressed her thrill at seeing so many of them together once again and mourned for those who had died years past, truly surprised at how emotional the gathering had made her. She was confident they were ready, but still resolved to appear strong for their benefit. She noted that the [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark V|Mark V]] armor they'd soon be gifted with was one small operation and a few tests from completion. With only a few days left before she expected to learn whether all her discoveries and sacrifices had been worth it, she closed that day's entry wishing there was time to properly analyze her feelings and reminding herself that four small tasks still remained to complete.<ref name="HJ82752">''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'', ''August 27, 2552''</ref> By this point she had begun splitting Cortana into separate programs in order to juggle the [[Visegrád]] findings with RED FLAG.<ref name="DD5"/> Cortana, for her part, was continually updating her separated portion and would keep doing so until the last possible moment. Catherine was excited to see how she and John took to one another.<ref name="HJ82752"/> She had assured Stanforth that Cortana remained fully functional even with a large portion of her processes excised.<ref name="DD5"/>

By 0600 hours on August 29 Catherine and others were waiting for John at the "Prep and Recovery" area of [[Military Reservation 01478-B]].<ref name="HTFOR27">''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'', ''Chapter 27''</ref> She entered a prefabricated structure there just as the Spartan was having the back of his neck swabbed to tell him it would only take a moment to upgrade a few components of his [[neural interface]].<ref name="HTFOR27"/> She asked him to lie back and remain still, and once the procedure began she assisted to some degree with fusion of the new components.<ref name="HTFOR27"/><ref name="HJ82952">''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]'', ''August 29, 2552''</ref> She took a brief moment to note in her [[Dr. Halsey's personal journal|journal]] that the surgery had gone flawlessly and that his recovery would be well within regenerative parameters.<ref name="HJ82952"/> At that moment tests to evaluate the integration of the [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark V|Mark V]] Mjolnir and A.I. were planned to commence in around three hours.<ref name="HJ82952"/> Once John was finished receiving his upgrades she asked him to follow her to a field command dome on the reservation's range.<ref name="HTFOR27"/> After presenting her credentials to the [[military police]] standing guard and submitting to identification scans she led John in to introduce him to the Mark V armor.<ref name="HTFOR27"/> Halsey asked him to put it on, averting her eyes as he did so with assistance from two technicians. She explained hundreds of minor technical improvements had been made compared to the [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV|Mark IV]] and that she would send the specifications to him later. The two most significant additions, she added, were the armor's [[energy shield]] system and a weave of memory-processor super-conductor which allowed it to carry an A.I. She taught him how to adjust the shielding and assured him he'd get to see how much punishment it could take soon (she herself had suggested live rounds for the upcoming testing) before finally introducing him to [[Cortana]].<ref name="HTFOR27"/><ref name="HTFOR28"/> The A.I. had been provided with the very best [[Sangheili (language)|Covenant language]] [[translation software]], Halsey said, so that she could infiltrate their computer and communications systems. Halsey promised Cortana would not be able to control his armor when John asked, though she would improve his reaction time. It was her explanation that, like him, Cortana would do whatever was necessary to complete [[Operation: RED FLAG|their mission]] that relieved the Master Chief. He knelt so Halsey could insert her [[Data crystal chip|memory processor matrix]] into his helmet and then watched with great interest as the Spartan and A.I. met one another for the first time.<ref name="HTFOR27"/>

Upon entering SWORD Base the surviving members of NOBLE were led at [[Cortana]]'s direction to a tram which would carry them one-and-a-half kilometers east and around two thousand feet underground, where Halsey's laboratory was.<ref name="HRTP"/> Once the four of them had climbed aboard she appeared on a monitor and apologized to [[Carter-A259]] for the unusual security measures which had kept them from fully knowing what to expect at the base. He started to remark on the fact that she'd been listed as having died, but the doctor dismissed the casualty reports relating to her as false before he could finish and said she only wished the same could be said for the rest of his team, both [[Jorge-052]] and [[Catherine-B320]] having been killed within the last few weeks. She offered what might have been a small comfort in sharing that the [[data module]] delivered by Kat had unlocked the secrets of her nearby [[Babd Catha Forerunner vessel|excavation]]. She then explained that their orders to destroy all sensitive material at the base had been overridden, as they had always been nothing more than a pretext to bring them to her so that they could take possession of this vital data and deliver it elsewhere. Carter argued that he would need to confirm this change with Colonel [[Urban Holland|Holland]], but Halsey assured him he would be briefed and said that they belonged to [[ONI]] now. As soon as NOBLE team first laid eyes on the [[Babd Catha Forerunner vessel|massive ship]] Halsey explained that it was [[Forerunner|alien]] but not Covenant in origin and that thanks to Kat's data its decryption was nearly complete. Carter urged her to have it ready when they reached her but the doctor insisted the decryption was still underway and, should they allow any of it to be left buried there, they'd be burying [[Human|mankind]]'s [[Installation 04|best chance]] for survival. Covenant attackers soon began encroaching on her lab and she implored the Spartans to defend it in order to buy her all they time they could. As NOBLE Team fought off successive waves of enemies Halsey occasionally updated them on the progress of the data's final decryption, and as soon as it was complete she let them know she was opening the laboratory's door. Within, she explained to them that [[Cortana]] was the important data's custodian and had been the one to choose them as her couriers. [[Emile-A239]] found the notion strange, and at that Halsey made it known that ''this'' A.I. was special. She then told them they were to carry her to the [[Asźod ship breaking yards|ship-breaking yards]] in [[Asźod]], where they would find the {{Class|Halcyon|light cruiser}} {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} waiting to spirit her away. Carter indicated his understanding of the mission, but Halsey made sure he understood the importance of it, claiming that humanity's annihilation was all but certain unless they could gleam some way to stop the Covenant from the information the ancient ship had provided.<ref name="HRTP"/> Once she'd received Cortana's permission to do so, she took her offline so she could be transferred to an [[armored matrix]].<ref name="HRTR"/> With that, she removed it from where it had been plugged in and handed it to [[SPARTAN-B312]].<ref name="HRTP"/> She said that Cortana had chosen him specifically to carry her and made him confirm he'd taken secure possession of the matrix before finally letting go.<ref name="HRTP"/>

In mid-[[2558#February|February 2558]] Doctor Halsey arrived at the [[shield world]] [[Requiem]] in the [[Epoloch system]] aboard the {{Class|Sahara|heavy prowler}} {{UNSCShip|Aladdin}}.<ref name="H4SOC">''[[Halo 4]]'', ''[[Spartan Ops]]'', ''[[Catherine]]''</ref> There, she was delivered to the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}}, which had arrived just days earlier for its [[Second Battle of Requiem|second]] excursion to the massive [[Forerunner]] planetoid. Four marines turned her over to Captain [[Thomas Lasky]], to whom Catherine demanded that she be freed from her restraints on the grounds that she would not walk around the ship ''she'' built with her hands cuffed. The captain consented and [[Spartan]] [[Paul DeMarco]] proceeded to undo them, at which point the doctor told Lasky to take her to an [[Requiem translocation artifact|artifact]] which had been brought aboard the ship on February 10 and unexpectedly caused a number of problems for it.<ref name="H4SOA">''[[Halo 4]]'', ''[[Spartan Ops]]'', ''[[Artifact (Spartan Ops)|Artifact]]''</ref><ref name="H4SOA"/> Among these was the disappearance of [[Henry Glassman]], the ''Infinity'''s chief engineer, who had been unwillingly [[Slipspace translocation|teleported]] by the artifact to an unknown location.<ref name="H4SOC"/><ref name="H4SOA"/> Lasky had been forced to request Halsey's aid following the loss of Glassman.<ref name="HM179">''[[Halo Mythos]]'', ''page 179''</ref> As she approached the artifact in question she asked if any other unexplained reactions had followed.<ref name="H4SOC"/> She was told that none had, but Lasky still cautioned her once she touched it, fearing the same could happen to her.

[[File:KatCarterHalsey.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Halsey addresses [[Carter-A259]] and [[Catherine-B320]].]]

Above most of her compatriots in terms of both intelligence and knowledge, Halsey prefers to perform her most important work personally, rarely entrusting particularly significant scientific tasks to others. She often assumes a certain ownership over her work, most prominently seen with her referring to the Spartan-IIs as "her" Spartans and reacting negatively to others co-opting her work. Halsey is keen to note any flaws she finds in her colleagues' work, and quick to point out when she considers someone unqualified.<ref name="Composer logs"/><ref name="journal"/> However, she also has an eye for talent and will give credit for any accomplishments she sees as remarkable.<ref name="journal"/> It is not uncommon for her to have respect for someone and yet also dislike them, as shown in the cases of her student [[Ellen Anders]]<ref>'''Dr Halsey's journal''': (Halsey: "If that Anders girl was still around, she would have come in handy right about now. She was always so difficult, but this has, without a doubt, become a shared interest.")</ref> and the Spartan-III [[Catherine-B320]].<ref>'''[[Halo: Reach ViDoc: A Spartan Will Rise]]''': (Halsey: "Kat, Noble Two. She is brilliant. There are no technical hurdles she can't overcome. But her curiosity borders on insubordination."</ref> Halsey is an atheist, lacking belief in the existence of any god.<ref>'''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx''', ''page 157''</ref>