Zeta Halo project: Difference between revisions

{{Status|Canon}}

{{Quote|Isolate and contain.|Henry Lamb reiterates one of the project's goals, specifically with regard to Zeta Halo's [[activation index]].}}{{Ref/Reuse|HHITD1}}

The '''Zeta Halo project''' or '''Zeta Halo operation''' was a [[Unified Earth Government]] initiative to study, decommission, and occupy [[Installation 07]], the fourth [[Halo Array|Halo ring]] to be discovered by modern humanity.{{Ref/Reuse|HHITD1}}{{Ref/Reuse|HHITD2}}{{Ref/Reuse|HOSFM99}} Overseen by Doctor [[Bob Casper]], it involved both a scientific outpost and a large military presence.{{Ref/Reuse|HHITD1}}{{Ref/Reuse|HOSFM99}} The project was first launched in early [[2555]] and within a few months its researchers discovered a countdown signaling the imminent activation of the entire Halo array.{{Ref/Reuse|HHITD1}}{{Ref/Reuse|HHITD2}} In the years which followed the averting of this near-crisis, what was originally only around three hundred researchers grew to include [[UNSC Armed Forces|armed forces]] of the [[United Nations Space Command]].{{Ref/Reuse|HHITD1}}{{Ref/Reuse|HOSFM99}}

The Office of Naval Intelligence set about conducting research on the vast interior world that composed the inner workings of Zeta Halo shortly after its location was revealed.{{Ref/Reuse|HHITD1}} No expense was spared for the project, as there was lots of territory to cover and the risk of something being overlooked was great. In addition to the researchers delivered to the ring, hundreds of automated probes began to be used to scan every canyon, riverbed, and facility. As had been the protocol for other Halo installations, a primary goal of the project was the isolation and containment of the [[activation index]].{{Ref/Reuse|HHITD1}} As such, finding the [[library]] was of great importance. Ideally, all important facilities would be quickly located and secured. Ultimately the Halo's [[control room]] could provide all the necessary information and some of the critical functions the humans sought. Despite much searching, the ring's library, [[control room]] and [[monitor]] were still yet to be located by early March. On [[Installation 04|Alpha]], [[Installation 05|Delta]], and [[Installation 03|Gamma Halo]]s the control room had been the largest uniform structure near the [[phase pulse generator]]s, but these also remained undiscovered. As for the lack of a monitor, [[Henry Lamb]] wondered if perhaps there simply may not be one or if [[117649 Despondent Pyre|it]] might be hiding for some reason. [[Luther Mann]] figured that if it were hiding, one obvious reason for it to do so would be [[Battle of Installation 04|the]] [[Battle of Installation 05|recent]] [[Raid on Installation 08|history]] humanity and the [[Covenant]] shared with the Halo rings. A monitor remaining hidden didn't sound consistent with the historic understanding they had of the [[ancilla]]s, but both men had to admit consistency was by no means mandatory and that it was possible this ring had been made differently for reasons they didn't understand. This early into the ring's exploration it was already apparent that clear and subtle differences distinguished it from the others in the [[Halo Array|array]], after all. Some clear differences on a meta level dealt with the physical infrastructure and material composition of the ring itself, but other far subtler ones involved things like the architectural aesthetics of various building structures and machinery or even the machine language of its distributed systems. Zeta Halo, as a whole, was unlike any other such installation anyone was familiar with. Mann and Lamb theorized that it may have been constructed before all the others, incorporating lessons learned from previous Halo architecture, or that it could have come first and served as a sort of prototype.{{Ref/Reuse|HHITD1}} It was not until much later that year that a [[Halo: Primordium|data drop]] recovered from deep space revealed the [[Installation 07#Background|real reasons]] for Installation 07's marked differences.<ref name="HR13">''[[Halo: Renegades]]'', ''Chapter 13''</ref>

At some point circa the initiation of the Zeta Halo project, the Office of Naval Intelligence established at least one research facility dedicated to the analysis of findings brought back from Installation 07. At this facility, a particular effort was invested in attempting to reverse engineer the ring's architectural structures, as well as its notable construction and [[Reformation|remediation]] techniques. However, in order to replicate these systems, it was found that it would require immense amounts of power and therefore creative solutions on a grand scale.{{Ref/Site|Id=CFEchoes|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/canon-fodder-echoes-with-dinh|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Echoes With-Dinh|D=24|M=03|Y=2023}}