Halo timeline: Discovery of Alpha Halo, and its destruction

In the last article, we went over the UNSC's crippling loss at Reach, as well as how the Pillar of Autumn was able to flee.

Complete Halo timeline series

In this one, we'll cover the events of the first Halo game: how the crew discovered Alpha Halo, and ultimately caused its destruction.

September 19, 2552 CE (Current Era): The Pillar of Autumn arrives

Following their slipspace jump away from Reach, the crew of the Pillar of Autumn found themselves near a Halo ring. Shortly after, Covenant pursuers began to assault the Autumn. While the artificial intelligence Cortana made use of the Autumn's weapons, Captain Jacob Keyes made the decision to crash land it. John-117, the Master Chief, was woken out of cryosleep and given Cortana. He then assisted in defending the ship from boarders before joining the Marines in an escape pod.

As the Autumn careened into Alpha Halo, Master Chief and other UNSC forces launched escape pods and landed onto the gigantic alien ring. As Cortana hacked into the Covenant's battle network, Chief assisted survivors in setting up a resistance force against Covenant hunting parties. Cortana then revealed disturbing news: Captain Keyes had been captured.

The resistance frees the captain

Led by Chief, several sniper and assault team attacked the CCS-battlecruiser Truth and Reconciliation, where Captain Keyes was being held. After dispatching of ground defenses, the teams used the vessel's anti-gravity lift to enter its cargo hold. With the help of Chief, the UNSC was ultimately able to free Keyes, who flew all of them to safety by hijacking a Covenant drop ship.

September 20, 2552: The Cartographer and the Flood

The following day, Cortana learned of a location called the Cartographer. This place contained a map of the entirety of Alpha Halo, and as such the UNSC made it top priority. Unfortunately, the Covenant did the same, and both sides fought. The result saw the UNSC win, largely due to the efforts of Master Chief. Using the Cartographer to chart the Halo ring, Cortana discovers another place of interest: the Control Room.

Meanwhile, Captain Keyes and a small detachment of soldiers headed towards what was assumed to be a Covenant weapons cache. However, once reaching it, they discovered that it was a Flood containment facility that the Covenant had barricaded. With it open, the Flood infected Keyes and began to spread throughout the ring, attacking both human and Covenant alike.

Master Chief tries to save Keyes

Following the discovery of the Control Room, Chief leads a heavy assault force on its location. After breaching the Covenant's defenses and going inside, Cortana interfaces with the terminal there and then becomes aware of the situation with the Flood, quickly urging Chief to try and save Keyes' life while she stays behind to learn about Halo.

Chief heads to the "weapons cache" but finds only Flood. Captain Keyes was then labelled missing-in-action and Chief planned to continue the search for him. However, Alpha Halo's robotic overseer, 343 Guilty Spark, teleported him to a place called the Library, which contained the key (called the Index) in order to activate Halo.

September 21, 2552: Halo's true purpose is revealed

After getting the Index, Chief and Guilty Spark went to the Control Room. When they arrived, Cortana revealed what she had learned: Alpha Halo, and all the other rings, were super weapons meant to cleanse the galaxy of life. Once aware of this, Chief ends up refusing to go with Guilty Spark's plan of activating the ring and becomes his enemy. They managed to escape Guilty Spark, however.

Cortana came up with a plan to detonate the engines of the Pillar of Autumn to destroy Alpha Halo, but they needed the approval of Keyes. Cortana used the ring's teleportation system to bring Chief back to the Truth and Reconciliation, where the Covenant and Flood were engaged in heavy fighting. Ultimately, Chief found Keyes' corpse among a large mass of bodies; they were being used by the Flood to try and make a monstrous intelligence called a Proto-Gravemind. With no other option, he "retrieved" Keyes' neural brain chip with his bare hands.

Alpha Halo is destroyed

As Chief retreats to the Autumn in order to destroy Alpha Halo, both the Covenant and the Flood try to stop him. The Covenant do it because they worship the Forerunners and don't want their creation to be obliterated; the Flood would all be killed, and need the ring intact in order to eventually spread through the galaxy. However, the biggest threat is Guilty Spark. Wanting to both use and protect the ring, Spark halted the self-destruct that Cortana set in motion.

Just when it seemed like all hope was lost, Cortana had the idea of launching explosives into the engine containment fields. Once Chief did this, the engines began to overload and Spark could do nothing to stop them. Using a Warthog, Chief and Cortana managed to reach a Longsword fighter craft in one of the Pillar of Autumn's hangars and fly away, narrowly escaping Alpha Halo's destruction and the subsequent death of all the humans, Covenant, and Flood on it.

There was one survivor, though: Guilty Spark. Now left with no installation to protect, he made his way to the gas mine on the nearby planet of Threshold. There, he would cause the birth of an uprising...

Your thoughts

What did you think of Alpha Halo and the way it was destroyed? Let me know.