Pillar of Autumn: Difference between revisions
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The '''''Pillar of Autumn''''' is a heavily modified [[United Nations Space Command]] ''Halcyon''-class cruiser in the ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' [[video game]], often abbreviated as "POA" or "Autumn". |
The '''''Pillar of Autumn''''' is a heavily modified [[United Nations Space Command]] ''Halcyon''-class cruiser in the ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' [[video game]], often abbreviated as "POA" or "Autumn". |
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Before the war with the [[The Covenant (Halo)|Covenant]], the ''Pillar of Autumn'' was set to be decomissioned. The ''Halcyon''-class cruiser was poorly regarded by UNSC officers and crewmen and considered to be too lightly armed and armoured for its role. After being refitted, the ''Pillar of Autumn'' was a much more formidable and powerful ship in the [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] fleet. Modifications to the ship included reinforced armor, increased missile capacity, an improved Shaw-Fujikawa engine, and an upgraded [[MAC_cannon|Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]] capable of firing three "shredder shots" on a single charge. Overall, the ship's armaments consist of a MAC cannon, 128 Archer missile pods, 40 50mm cannons, and 4 Shiva nuclear missiles. [[Halo characters#Captain Keyes|Captain Jacob Keyes]] wanted to have the bridge's view port armor plated, but did not have enough time. |
Before the war with the [[The Covenant (Halo)|Covenant]], the ''Pillar of Autumn'' was set to be decomissioned. The ''Halcyon''-class cruiser was poorly regarded by UNSC officers and crewmen and considered to be too lightly armed and armoured for its role. After being refitted, the ''Pillar of Autumn'' was a much more formidable and powerful ship in the [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] fleet. Modifications to the ship included reinforced armor, increased missile capacity, an improved Shaw-Fujikawa engine, and an upgraded [[MAC_cannon|Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]] capable of firing three "shredder shots" on a single charge. Overall, the ship's armaments consist of a MAC cannon, 128 Archer missile pods, 40 50mm cannons, and 4 Shiva nuclear missiles. [[Halo characters#Captain Keyes|Captain Jacob Keyes]] wanted to have the bridge's view port armor plated, but did not have enough time. These modifications occur in the book '''Halo: The Fall Of Reach''', the ship also features in the game tie in book '''Halo: The Flood'''. |
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Revision as of 03:06, 26 April 2006
The Pillar of Autumn is a heavily modified United Nations Space Command Halcyon-class cruiser in the Halo: Combat Evolved video game, often abbreviated as "POA" or "Autumn".
Before the war with the Covenant, the Pillar of Autumn was set to be decomissioned. The Halcyon-class cruiser was poorly regarded by UNSC officers and crewmen and considered to be too lightly armed and armoured for its role. After being refitted, the Pillar of Autumn was a much more formidable and powerful ship in the UNSC fleet. Modifications to the ship included reinforced armor, increased missile capacity, an improved Shaw-Fujikawa engine, and an upgraded Magnetic Accelerator Cannon capable of firing three "shredder shots" on a single charge. Overall, the ship's armaments consist of a MAC cannon, 128 Archer missile pods, 40 50mm cannons, and 4 Shiva nuclear missiles. Captain Jacob Keyes wanted to have the bridge's view port armor plated, but did not have enough time. These modifications occur in the book Halo: The Fall Of Reach, the ship also features in the game tie in book Halo: The Flood.
The Pillar of Autumn was one of only a few ships to escape the Covenant armada following the fall of the planet Reach. The ship made a blind jump through Slipspace to the gas-giant Threshold, location of Halo Installation 04. The Covenant believed the ring world was their religious icon "Halo", capable of carrying out their "Great Journey". The ship's crew believed the jump to be random, in order to avoid leading the Covenant to Earth as per the Cole Protocol; in actuality the shipboard AI, Cortana, interpreted symbols from an alien artifact into coordinates where the ship could emerge.
Covenant battleships, already at the ring due to much faster Slipspace engines, intercepted the Pillar of Autumn upon its arrival at the planet Threshold. Reluctant to use their more powerful weapons for fear of causing collateral damage to "Halo", the Covenant armada attacked with relatively light fire in coordination with numerous boarding craft filled with assault troops. The boarding parties were charged with retrieving senior officers, including the commanding officer Captain Jacob Keyes, for interrogation. Outmatched on their own ship, Captain Keyes later had the Autumn's crew and marines escape using the remaining lifeboats.
Keyes and the rest of the command staff managed to crash the ship on the surface of Halo while the many surviving Marines quickly formed a formidable resistance movement. But their only chance of holding out was to search and salvage the grounded Autumn for additional weapons, vehicles and equipment for their base, before the Covenant could claim the entire ship. After 343 Guilty Spark's true intentions of activating (Halo) were revealed, Cortana and the Master Chief manually detonated the ship's fusion engines in order to destroy Halo, preventing the escape of Flood and Covenant forces as well as the massive destruction that Halo's activation would have brought.