A control room is a crucial facility featured on many Forerunner installations, most prominently those of the Halo Array. The control room of a Halo contains the installation's Core data center, and is used to manage the entirety of the Halo's systems, including its primary weapon, which can be activated by inserting the Activation Index into the Core or even disabled, given sufficient expertise.[1] Other functions include the management of the installation's safety protocols,[2] and control over the Halo's gravity anchors, enabling the ejection of select environmental sections into space.[1] The Halos' control rooms are typically located within a pyramidal temple-like structure.[3]
Control rooms are featured on other installations as well; shield worlds, for example, possess dedicated control centers for the Forerunner fleets or weapons they may contain.[4]
Installation 00Edit
- Main articles: Clarion, Installation 00 Citadel
Installation 00 had the Clarion network, a series of control facilities for the Halo Array.[5] The Citadel in particular served as a control room from which the IsoDidact fired the rings at the end of the Forerunner-Flood war[6] and from which the Prophet of Truth attempted to do the same.[7] The Citadel was subsequently badly damaged when Installation 08 fired and exploded over the Ark.[8][9] Due to the damage the Citadel sustained, it was eventually completely destroyed as the Ark repaired itself and changed its surface in countless different ways.[10]
By October 2559, all but one of the other facilities in the Clarion network, Epsilon Clarion, were off-line for repairs. According to the Epsilon submonitor, the other facilities in the network like the Citadel were either inoperable or inaccessible and may remain that way for some time.[5] Epsilon Clarion was later destroyed by the UNSC Spirit of Fire in order to keep the Keepers of the One Freedom, Intrepid Eye and Dhas Bhasvod's Covenant from firing the Halo Array. With the destruction of Epsilon Clarion, the Ark lost its ability to fire the Halo Array until a new Clarion facility could be constructed or one of the existing facilities was repaired and put back in working order.[11][12][13]
Installation 03Edit
- Main article: Control Room (Installation 03)
The interior of Gamma Halo's control room resembles that of Installation 04 in general layout. It was here that John-117 defeated the Ur-Didact following the New Phoenix Incident. The Master Chief utilized the ring's activation index to manually disable the installation's safety protocols, allowing monitor 859 Static Carillon to eject the fragment of the ring housing the control room into the planet below, seemingly incinerating the Didact in the impact but keeping the control room intact.[2]
Installation 04Edit
- Main article: Control Room (Installation 04)
Installation 04's Control Room was a ziggurat-like structure located in a snowy chasm. The main console and Core was located within a massive spherical chamber behind a set of doors and connecting corridors. The room features a massive hologram of Installation 04 and the Threshold system in its center. Suspended in the air is a large circular catwalk.[3]
The Master Chief reached the main console and inserted Cortana, who sent him to the installation's Flood containment facility to attempt to stop Captain Keyes from unleashing the Flood.[14] He returned to the Control Room at the start of Two Betrayals to insert the Index as prompted by 343 Guilty Spark, but was stopped by Cortana. 343 Guilty Spark then sent Sentinels to stop the Chief. After the Chief destroyed the Sentinels, he took Cortana and left.[3]
Installation 05Edit
- Main article: Control Room (Installation 05)
Installation 05's Control Room is located on an offshore island in a large body of water. It bears significant structural differences from Installation 04's room.[15]
Here, the Jiralhanae Chieftain Tartarus brought Miranda Keyes to the Control Room along with 343 Guilty Spark to attempt to activate Delta Halo. He succeeded in initiating the activation sequence of the installation, but was slain by Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee and Sergeant Johnson. The Index was removed by Miranda before the weapon could fire. Upon activation of the firing sequence, the control room's central chamber reconfigured from its inert state into a three-leveled structure with a gravity lift in the middle.[15]
Installation 08Edit
- Main article: Control Room (Installation 04)
The Control Room for the replacement Alpha Halo is a nearly identical copy of the original ring's Control Room. The temple structure has the same basic triangular shape as Installation 04's Control Room, with a long support beam running from the ground to the top of the structure. There are minor aesthetic differences, including the walkways on each level being more narrow, as well as the tower at the top being replaced by a large flat landing.[16]
Inside the control room, the corridors and doorways are reminiscent of Installation 04, while offering minimal changes. The actual control room and control panel is scarcely different from the original. The large dome-shaped room still shows a holographic image of the Halo ring, although Threshold is missing from this image (as the ring has not been moved to that point).[16]
The differences in design from the original Installation 04 may be due to the ring's incomplete state, as suggested by Cortana's observation, "Halo. It's so new...unfinished."[16]
Installation 09Edit
- Main article: Control Room (Installation 09)
The control room for Installation 09 is different from that of its predecessors, both in design and location. It now lies below the surface of the installation, and can be accessed by descending from a circular aboveground structure. The control room also features an energy shield for protection. Instead of placed at the corner of a cliff, it appears to be on a large landmass.[1]
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Omega HaloEdit
Omega Halo possessed a control room where, at the conclusion of the Battle of the greater Ark, Faber-of-Will-and-Might fired the installation's weapon at Path Kethona in an attempt to clear out the tangle of Precursor star roads that had been weaponized by the Flood. This disintegrated multiple star roads and opened a path away from the Ark while sterilizing Path Kethona. Unfortunately, the Forerunners' position was quickly overrun and some of the remaining star roads converged on the Halo. Enormous tidal and kinetic stress rent the installation asunder; the vast degree of friction caused parts of the Halo to superheat and melt. The floor of the control center gave way, causing Bitterness-of-the-Vanquished, the Examiner, and the Master Builder to plummet to their deaths. The IsoDidact was unable to grab a salient as he fell, though the monitor Chakas fortuitously arrived and resuced the IsoDidact.[17]
Etran HarborageEdit
- Main article: Apex Site
The Etran Harborage's Apex Site was classified as a form of control room.[4] This facility was an elongated platform suspended in the air high above the interior surface of the miniature Dyson sphere, surrounded by docking towers housing Forerunner dreadnoughts. At one end of the platform was a control panel which, like many Forerunner artifacts, could only be operated by a Reclaimer.[18]
TriviaEdit
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The control room was first seen in the pre-Xbox Halo demo in 1999. In the video, the control room was about one third the size of the version later seen in Halo: Combat Evolved.
GalleryEdit
The entrance to the control room of Installation 04.
List of appearancesEdit
- Halo: Combat Evolved (First appearance)
- Halo 2
- Halo 3
- Halo Wars
- Halo Legends
- Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
- Halo: Silentium
- Halo: Escalation
- Halo: Broken Circle (Mentioned only)
- Halo 2: Anniversary
- Halo: Hunters in the Dark (Mentioned only)
- Halo Wars 2
- Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual (Mentioned only)
- Halo: Divine Wind
- Halo: Campaign Evolved
SourcesEdit
- ^ a b c Halo Wars 2, campaign level Last Stand
- ^ a b Halo: Escalation, issue 10
- ^ a b c Halo: Combat Evolved, campaign level Two Betrayals
- ^ a b Halo: The Essential Visual Guide, page 35
- ^ a b Halo: Divine Wind, chapter 8
- ^ Halo: Silentium, page 326-328
- ^ Halo 3, campaign level The Covenant
- ^ Halo 3, campaign level Halo
- ^ Halo: Hunters in the Dark
- ^ Halo: Divine Wind, chapter 7
- ^ Halo: Divine Wind, chapter 16
- ^ Halo: Divine Wind, chapter 17
- ^ Halo: Divine Wind, Epilogue
- ^ Halo: Combat Evolved, campaign level Assault on the Control Room
- ^ a b Halo 2, campaign level Two Great Journey
- ^ a b c Halo 3, campaign level Halo
- ^ Halo: Silentium: String 33
- ^ Halo Wars, campaign level Beachhead: opening cutscene: Judgment Day