Omega Halo
General overview
Location:	Near thegreater Ark,extragalactic space
Operation overview
Type:	Halo installation
Function:	Flood containment and research; directed/localized sterilization
Date of construction:	c.98,445 BCE-97,745 BCE
Destroyed:	c.97,445 BCE[1]
Structural information
Diameter:	30,000 kilometers

Omega Halo, originally known asGyre 09,^[2] was one of the original twelveHalo installations built at thegreater Ark, and the last to be destroyed.^[3]

Background[edit]

Unlike the six rings of the final Halo Array, Omega Halo was manufactured at thegreater Ark instead ofInstallation 00.^[3] Like the other Halos built at the greater Ark, Omega Halo's main weapon was designed to fire directed pulses as opposed to the omnidirectional effects of the newer Halos.^[4] Omega Halo was the last 30,000 kilometer Halo to be built. By the last year of theForerunner-Flood war, all but one of its counterparts had been destroyed either during theassault on the Capital world or byFlood/Precursor forces in the intervening years;^[3][5] Installation 07 had been severely damaged, reduced in size, and repurposed alongside the smaller, final Array.^[3][4][6] Omega Halo itself retreated from the fall of the Capital through aslipspace portal, the only one of the two Halos that tried to make the transit and survived.^[7]

Siege of the greater Ark[edit]

Main article:Battle of the greater Ark

As theecumene's territory was driven back toward the heart ofForerunner civilization, theCapital world fell to the Flood. As such, the surviving members of theNew Council moved the seat of government to the greater Ark, outside the galaxy.^[8] The tattered remnants of the Forerunner military gathered at the Ark in preparation for a final stand;^[9][10] Omega Halo was positioned near the Ark in case its use became necessary. Oriented toward the satellite galaxy ofPath Kethona,^[3] the Halo would fire a directed pulse designed to purge Path Kethona of all life, Precursor artifacts or Flood. Specimens from theLifeworkers'Conservation Measure were moved to the Ark; manyhumans were soon moved to Omega Halo to prevent excessive crowding on the larger installation.^[10]

Shortly after theIsoDidact, theLibrarian, and theUr-Didact arrived at the staging ground, an enormous Flood fleet emerged fromslipspace only a few million kilometers away. Led by the rogue ancillaMendicant Bias, the Flood-controlled fleet was merely a screen for a swarm of Precursorstar roads,^[11][12] which could physically crush entire planets.^[13]

The Ur-Didact's betrayal[edit]

The Ur-Didact preparing to compose Omega Halo's human population.

As the battle raged, the Ur-Didact took hispersonal ship to the surface of Omega Halo. There, he used aComposer to convert the relocated human population, around two million people, into digital forms.^[14][15] He then returned to thePrometheans' primaryshield world,Requiem, where he implanted the essences intoPromethean Knights.^[16][17] The Librarian, a former companion of the Ur-Didact; andChakas, a monitor; were unable to stop this quasi-genocide;^[14] however they managed to recover a relative handful of live specimens and DNA samples, which were immediately transferred to thelesser Ark.^[18][19]

Activation and destruction[edit]

As the Ur-Didact fled to Requiem and the Librarian made for Installation 00, the IsoDidact,Bitterness-of-the-Vanquished, and theExaminer traveled to Omega Halo'scontrol room.^[20] Knowing that Precursorneural physics were extremely vulnerable to Halo radiation, they hoped to clear an egress route among the vast tangle of star roads. Soon after the trio's arrival,Master BuilderFaber entered the control center and vaingloriously insisted that he be the one to fire the installation's weapon. He managed to fire a single pulse toward Path Kethona, disintegrating multiple star roads and opening 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.^[1]

The floor of the control center gave way, causing Bitterness, the Examiner, and the Master Builder to plummet to their deaths. The IsoDidact was unable to grab a salient as he fell,^[1] though the monitor Chakas fortuitously arrived and carried him to the lesser Ark to coordinate the final stages of the Halo Array's activation. As the pair escaped, the star roads crushed Omega Halo and the greater Ark.^[18] With the loss of Omega Halo, the Forerunners were forced to resort to the smaller, more powerful secondary array of 10,000 kilometer-wide Halos; these rings would, in the coming weeks, destroy all sentient life in the galaxy.^[21][22]

Production note[edit]

Omega Halo first appeared in the sixthterminal inHalo 4's campaign. The events depicted in this terminal were later adapted and expanded (in a highly modified form) inHalo: Silentium. The terminal depicts Omega Halo in orbit around a gas giant with several nearby moons; there are no signs of the battle described in the novel. Another key difference is that the Librarian and a team of Lifeworkers are shown investigating the attack on the human population shortly after its occurrence; the Librarian confronts the Didact via a hologram and rebukes him for refusing to speak to her in person.^[16] In the book the Didact leaves as soon as the humans are composed, while the Librarian is focused on getting the remaining humans to the lesser Ark.^[14]

Fictionally,Halo 4's terminals are depicted as transmissions from within theDomain, whereasSilentium is presented as legal testimony from several individuals who were present during the battle, most importantly the Librarian, contained within the memory banks of aCatalog and amonitor. The terminals have since been explained as abstractions of historical events on behalf of the Domain with the narrative ofSilentium being treated as factual. The real-world explanation is that343 Industries wished to tell the stories presented in the terminals within a short timeframe, leading to the compressed relation of the events in question.^[23]

Gallery[edit]

• 

  Concept art for what appears to be Omega Halo.

List of appearances[edit]

• Halo 4
  • Terminals
• Halo: Cryptum(First appearance)
• Halo: Silentium
• Halo Mythos(Mentioned only)
• Halo: Epitaph(Mentioned only)

Sources[edit]

• Halo Array