Argent Moon
Production information
Manufacturer:	Special Assembly Plant Concord[1]
Role:	Research and development[2]
Service information
Commissioned:	May 7, 2553[2]
Destroyed:	October 23, 2558[2]
Affiliation:	UNSC Navy[2] Office of Naval Intelligence[2]

Argent Moon(AGES-004)^[1], sometimes shortened toARGMN, was a research and development station in service with theUNSC Navy'sOffice of Naval Intelligence.^[3]Rooker served as the station's shipboardartificial intelligence in2557.^[3][4]

Overview[edit]

Design details[edit]

The design ofArgent Moon loosely resembled that of some deep survey craft designs of the 22nd century. The station is equipped with maneuvering propulsion systems at the aft that allowArgent Moon to travel through space, thoughArgent Moon is still classified as a large-scale production plant rather than a ship. With propulsion systems at its aft and navigation and operation controls at the fore, production and experiments onArgent Moon occur in the center of the station, within a massive, city-sized superstructure.^[2]Argent Moon was an ONI research and development vehicle that went missing. In addition to its secretive nature, the station's hangar bays housed at least oneWinter-class prowler and a stealthcorvette.^[3]

Development history[edit]

Argent Moon was one of several mobile shipyards/research stations constructed atSpecial Assembly Plant Concord.^[1][5]

History[edit]

Research and accident[edit]

Commissioned on February 13,2546,^[3] it did not enter service with ONI untilMay 7, 2553.^[2] During its time with ONI, theArgent Moon served as a top-secret research and development station for theOffice of Naval Intelligence.^[3] The station's existence was known to only a handful of individuals, with ONI personnel experimenting with a variety of highly classified and experimental projects, as well as weapons testing. ONI crew aboardArgent Moon also experimented with technology retrieved from theHalo Array.^[2] The crew ofArgent Moon were also experimenting with unsanctioned stealth technology.^[6]

Following the capture of theForerunnerarcheon-class ancillaIntrepid Eye, she was taken toArgent Moon where the AI was imprisoned and interrogated in a room in which no technology was allowed. However, Intrepid Eye was able to, overtime, smuggle out pieces of her code, creatingremote aspects of herself all over the galaxy with which she began manipulating events to prepare humanity for theMantle of Responsibility. One such remote aspect was in the station's own processing systems. Intrepid Eye also began to only help LieutenantBartalan Craddog who rose to the position of the station's Chief Science Officer as a result. Intrepid Eye began blackmailing Craddog to do her bidding, forcing him to give the AI access toArgent Moon's communications array so that she could reintegrate with her other aspects. When Intrepid Eye's plan to weaponizeAsteroidea merozoite was endangered byOperation: RETRIBUTION, she dispatched Craddog and thePapa-10 security unit to retrieve the Tuwa family's organs. The attempt was thwarted byBlue Team andVeta Lopis'Ferrets, exposing Intrepid Eye'sbioweapon plot. However, Intrepid Eye's involvement was never discovered with the plot being instead pinned on Craddog andRear AdmiralSerin Osman ordered the bioweapon project shut down. Instead, Intrepid Eye manipulated the final report so that it was instead given an unlimited black budget, research was moved toArgent Moon itself,EnsignsJess Wallace andKris Gaston were promoted toLieutenant Commanders and given permission to seek out new asteroidea antibody donors and permission was given to test its effectiveness on the enemy species of the UNSC. ThoughArgent Moon's AIRooker tried to intervene, Intrepid Eye used a control worm, deception routine, logic trap and memory leech to successfully deceive him.^[7] Despite this, ONI eventually discovered Intrepid Eye's network and released millions of dumb AI hunter-killer teams that ultimately overwhelmed even Intrepid Eye's prodigious capabilities and destroyed her network and her remote aspects, leaving the ancilla trapped once more aboardArgent Moon.^[8]

In2557, some personnel aboard the station continued experimenting withasteroidea merozoite that remained dormant and asymptomatic as it spread through a population before it was activated by an otherwise harmless aerosol dispersal;^[2] all test formulas were tested on liveKig-Yar subjects. There were alsounknown, misshapen creatures detained in the laboratory's tanks. InMarch 2557,^[4] an accident caused a particularly aggressive form of the biological agent^[2] to vaporize and spread throughout the station via its air systems, killing nearly all aboard. Those closer to the accident were killed instantly and, depending on distance from the accident, the rest of the vessel's personnel began suffering symptoms from the chemical minutes or hours later. Although shipboard Rooker attempted to enforce quarantine protocols, they "massively" failed and all personnel aboardArgent Moon were dead byMarch 17, 2557. As a result, ONI lost contact withArgent Moon and Rooker sent a message that warned any ONI personnel who board the station of the situation. Rooker then took further actions to quarantine the vessel; he putArgent Moon on a course that kept it away from all inhabited systems and jettisoned what remains he could into open space. OnSeptember 12, 2557, Rooker was now suffering fromrampancy due to being six months past his "expiration date". Feeling he could no longer manage the vessel, he initiatedhis own destruction.^[4] Despite being the cause of the bioweapon's research, Intrepid Eye was not responsible for the accident, having been left so isolated following the discovery and destruction of her network that she wasn't even aware that anything had happened.^[8]

Destruction[edit]

Main article:Operation: BIRD IN HAND

InOctober 2558, nineteen months after it went missing,Argent Moon was discovered by Kig-Yar scavengers, who sold it toJul 'Mdama'sCovenant.^[3] Preparing for an attack onSanghelios, the Covenant infiltrated the station in search for weapons and resources to use against theSwords of Sanghelios.^[6] One week later,Spartan-IIBlue Team was tasked withsecuring the vessel and its intel, encountering the Covenant scavengers aboard the vessel. However, a Covenantfleet soon arrived in response to their leader'srecent demise. Outnumbered, Blue Team decided toscuttleArgent Moon instead to keep it out of enemy hands. Though Blue Team started a reactor overload,Argent Moon's containment systems attempted to cool the reactor from an outside location, forcing Blue Team to use CovenantBanshees to destroy the cooling system. WithArgent Moon self-destructing, Blue Team escaped in the station'sWinter-class prowlerONIAcrisius as they were unable to reach their Pelican. The reactor explosion destroyedArgent Moon and several nearby Covenantwarships.^[3]

Due to the station's obscurity, UNSC investigators who examined the remains ofArgent Moon were unaware of the station's role. The investigators searched the debris for clues, and eventually discovered that the station's crew were manufacturing bioweapons.^[2]

Intrepid Eye was believed to have been destroyed along with the station. However, she barely managed to escape by latching onto theAcrisius as Blue Team fled.^[8][9]

Gallery[edit]

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  Concept art ofArgent Moon forHalo 5: Guardians.

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  Conceptual views of theArgent Moon.

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  Concept art of the stealth vessel being constructed insideArgent Moon.

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  Concept art of one ofArgent Moon's elevators.

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  Concept art of a console onboard the station.

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  Concept art of a console onboard the station.

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  Concept art of a console onboard the station.

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  Concept art ofArgent Moon's reactor room.

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  The interior ofArgent Moon.

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  The stealth vessel that was being developed onArgent Moon.

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  Ahologram ofArgent Moon.

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  A display of a Kig-Yar neural network aboard theArgent Moon.

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  Blue Team deep in the bowels ofArgent Moon.

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  TheONIprowlerAcrisius inside one ofArgent Moon's hangar bays.

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  Sangheili soldiers occupying the ship's hangar bays.

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  Kelly-087 in the process of clearing the hangar bay.

Browse more images in this article'sgallery page.

List of appearances[edit]

• Halo 5: Guardians(First appearance)
• Halo Mythos
• Halo: Retribution
• Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual
• Halo: Divine Wind(Mentioned only)

Sources[edit]

• Space stations

• Articles with outdated content