After exploring the surface of the ring for a few days, Catherine and her team had explored what seemed to be the main structure of the ring.
Within this main structure, the team had found a massive control room. Catherine approached the main controls as she was used to dealing with Forerunner technology from her time on the Forerunner Shield world.
But before she could touch the controls, a Monitor had appeared right in front of her "Greetings Reclaimers" called the Monitor. "I am the Monitor of installation Zero Four. I am 343 Guilty Spark." Guilty Spark had been watching Catherine's team as they explored the Halo ring because of him identifying them as the Reclaimers.
Normal protocol would have been to activate the defenses of the ring and order the vessel to jump on light year away from the ring. However, with reclaimers onboard his protocol changed, and he allowed them to land on the ring.
He didn't guide them as they explored but he watched and tested them to see how long it would take them before they reached the main control room. And he was quite surprised when it only took them a few days.
"Nice to meet you Monitor, my name is Dr. Catherine Halsey, this is Professor Ellen Anders, and this is my team of scientists here to learn about this Forerunner structure" Stated Catherine.
"Well Dr. Halsey, if you wish to know more about this structure then allow me to tell you" said Guilty Spark as he pulled up some data and displayed it in front of the team.
"This structure called installation Zero Four is one of seven Halo Arrays or Superweapons that have been constructed around the Galaxy to deal with the Flood. When activated the Halo Arrays will wipe out all sentient life within the Galaxy to stop the Flood from completely taking over" Explained Guilty Spark.
Catherine had absorbed this information, and she was interested in hearing more about the history of the Halo Arrays and the Flood.
"Can you explain the history behind the Flood?" asked Catherine.
"The Flood is responsible for consuming most of the sentient lifeforms in the galaxy, including the vast majority of Forerunners, during the Forerunner-Flood war in the ancient past, prompting the activation of the galaxy sterilizing Halo Array in 97,445 BCE or Approximately 100,000 years ago" Guilty Spark gave a brief explanation of the Flood and how they were the reason behind the first firing of the Halo Array.
Catherine's mind was racing with questions as well as Professor Anders upon hearing the explanations about the Flood. They wanted to know more about the Forerunners, the Flood, an Ancient History.
Guilty Spark didn't mind telling them about this as he had been alone for almost 100,000 thousand years so having people to talk to was quite enjoyable for him.
Eventually after talking for an hour, Catherine called for a research base to be set up outside of the control room. They had finally discovered something great, and she wanted to gather all the knowledge she could.
Guilty Spark on the other hand was curious as he did the scan of their ship, he also accessed their systems and learned a whole bunch of knowledge about what was going on in the Galaxy. He was very interested in meeting the reclaimer called Axel Woods.
Meanwhile, back on Reach the process to replace the UEG government with a new Government was underway. Small forms of propaganda reminding people of the UEG's inability to maintain control over the colonies and ensure the security of the people was being advertised by Corporations and other civilian companies.
In favor of their contracts and to stay on Axel's good side, they had accepted the request to start advertising that information to the populace. ONI oversaw and controlled the information that was being distributed to ensure that the information had proof behind it and was not some fabricated lie that could be proved wrong by politicians.
Axel would tread this path carefully, since it could cause the public to become both confused and scared of what this would mean for the future of their system, there was a delicate balance to maintain between asserting new power and reassuring an anxious populace. But by presenting statements, images, and videos of the how the UEG was not ready to retake control over the colonies discontent towards the UEG would spread and eventually turn the populace against the UNSC and force a reorganization without it seeming like he was taking control.
Back on Installation Zero Four, Catherine and her team were making astonishing discoveries at each turn. With Guilty Spark as their guide, they managed to unlock secrets about the Forerunner's technology and culture that had once seemed out of reach.
Guilty Spark was also finding his own sense of purpose within this newfound alliance. As he observed Catherine's team navigate through the control room, understanding more about them and their world filled him with an unexpected sense of fulfillment. He had been alone for a very long time and being able to offer his knowledge felt rewarding.
It was during one of these moments when he found himself recounting the Forerunners' history that he realized how much he missed interaction.
With each passing day, their understanding of the Forerunners grew. Yet with every answer they found, new questions arose. What had led to their ultimate downfall? What became of them after they activated the Halo Arrays? And how had they managed to keep this colossal installation operational for over 100,000 years?
Guilty Spark watched as Catherine's team exhausted themselves in their pursuit of knowledge. Despite his function as Monitor, he could not help but feel a measure of empathy for these curious beings. They were undeniably intelligent, yet still so limited in their perspective.
Outside of the control room, the Research base was in its initial stages of construction as Axel planned to make it their main base of operations on the ring. Two Addition ships carrying MCUs for construction had arrived two days ago to speed up the construction with additional scout teams to explore the Installation.
Guilty Spark had restricted the knowledge about the Flood containment facilities to prevent the worst-case scenario from happening. No matter how careful they were there is always a chance that when they learn about the flood containment facilities, their drive for knowledge and understanding might cause them to accidentally release the Flood and he could not allow that to happen.
As things were progressing on installation Zero Four, within UNSC space, civilian traffic had begun flowing between the various colonies. However, the process to board them was strict and all civilian transport was required to have thermal detectors and scanners to detect explosives, cloaked Covenant agents, etc.
In addition, one much acquire a travelers pass to be able to travel between colonies. The travelers pass didn't cost any money but just required people to fill out some information before they could be granted the pass.
A new initiative was also started, to start reclaiming the worlds lost in the outer colonies. Former colonists for those worlds were offered the chance to return to their world and help rebuild. Majority of people accepted while some refused since their current life was better than what it was when they lived in their previous world.
Slowly the UNSC started to reclaim worlds lost to being glassed and discover new worlds within the uncharted regions of space. Teams of specialists and AI were working on the captured Covenant ships to extract the location of Covenant space, while the Covenant prisoners were transported to a special Black site on Reach for interrogation. Axel didn't plan on attacking the Covenant directly as they didn't have the means to attack the Covenant within their own space, but eventually he planned to go to Covenant space for some aggressive negotiations.