Cortana

Cortana (AI Serial Number: CTN 0452-9) is a "smart" A.I. formerly in service with the United Nations Space Command. Unique and exceptionally powerful even among smart AIs, she was one of the most important figures in the Great War, and served as John-117's partner in the final months of the conflict. She held vital data pertaining to the Halo Array, including the activation index from Installation 04.
== Biography ==
=== Creation ===
On May 21, 2549 the Office of Naval Intelligence's chief scientist, Lieutenant-Commander Catherine Halsey, created a number of flash clones from her own DNA. An A.I. was needed for Operation: RED FLAG, a last-ditch attempt to end the Great War. Halsey believed her third-generation volitional AIs required better material to use as matrix seeds than that offered by the new candidates she was being presented with, which she saw as lacking both physical and intellectual agility. To create the clones she used the same equipment that had been used years prior to make the flash clones needed for the SPARTAN-II program. This time, however, she enhanced their neural physiology at the expense of other biological functions. She made sure the equipment was hidden and secure from all save herself, though the cloning had been arranged by ONI at her insistence. As such, there were a few others who also knew about it, but she was confident that these particular individuals could be trusted to keep the information secret. The clones developed at a breakneck pace, for on the same day she had first begun the process they were already exhibiting familiar anatomy and curling into fetal positions, malformed as they were. On July 29, Halsey successfully excised all of the clones' brains and transferred them to cryogenic units. All remaining organic substrates were flash-incinerated.
On November 7, 2549, within the confines of CASTLE Base on Reach, Halsey transferred and authenticated the H-1 specimen's neural pattern to A.I. matrix strata, completing the initiation sequence within normal quantum flux tolerances. The newly-made intelligence called herself "Cortana". Halsey placed a viral termination code in her kernel but then could not tell whether she remained unaware of it or had already isolated and bypassed it, perhaps just having the tact not to mention it to her. Halsey also programmed her with ONI's best insurgency software and every ONI computer insurgency routine, as well as the determination to use those code-cracking skills. The first words spoken by Cortana were those Halsey's mother had said to her after beating her daughter in chess decades prior. Halsey recognized in the choice of phrase a confluence of morality, mortality, and metaphor. On February 11, 2550 Catherine recorded a research excerpt in which she took note of certain metrics which implied the viral termination code in Cortana's matrix would have been unlikely to be successful and that the typical seven-year life cycle estimate may not apply to her. She'd determined that the unique circumstances of her creation had triggered what Halsey could only refer to as a "recessive variant" in the A.I. seed, but the doctor was at a loss concerning this rogue element's origin.
===Fateful meeting===
:"They let me pick. Did I ever tell you that? Choose whichever Spartan I wanted. You know me. I did my research. Watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be. Like the others, you were strong and swift and brave. A natural leader. But you had something they didn't. Something no one saw, but me. Can you guess...? Luck."
:— Cortana
The first few years of Cortana's existence were spent assisting Halsey within the confines of CASTLE Base, but after the doctor began studying a mysterious alien ship buried in the ice shelf at Babd Catha by May of 2551, she eventually began to use Cortana to retrieve data from the ancient vessel. In preparation for RED FLAG, Cortana was asked by Dr. Halsey to pick a soldier that would act as her "carrier". Cortana chose John-117 for their neural compatibility, as well as his uncanny luck in battle.
On August 29, Cortana was inserted into John-117's MJOLNIR Mark V armor for the first time, and the two then took part in a test to determine the abilities of their bond as an AI-human team. The test was devised by Colonel James Ackerson, a bitter rival of Halsey's who held contempt for the SPARTAN-II program, and by extension John-117. Ackerson incorporated armed Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, Lotus anti-tank mines, automated turrets in a razor wire field, and even a Skyhawk jumpjet into the test in order to have John killed. Despite the test being rigged, John was determined to finish without breaking the rules. With Cortana's assistance providing battlefield intelligence and boosting his reaction time to its limits, John managed to traverse the course relatively unharmed.
After the test, Cortana was installed into the UNSC Pillar of Autumn as the ship's primary AI, with another AI, Wellsley, as backup. While aboard, she exacted revenge upon Colonel Ackerson by hacking into his system and blackmailing him, hoping that this would send him back to the front lines. She also hacked into the SPARTAN-II highly classified personal files, and read over John's file. Cortana was shocked and divided over the dubious morality of the SPARTAN-II project, and secretly vowed to protect John to the best of her ability. On August 30, as the Autumn was making final preparations for the mission, Captain Jacob Keyes was informed that a massive Imperial fleet had dropped out of hyperspace and was moving towards Reach. The Autumn was forced to abandon its original mission and assist in defending Reach.
=== Fall of Reach ===
During the battle, Cortana excelled in her capabilities as an onboard AI, managing to maneuver the Autumn through an asteroid field upon the appearance of an enemy carrier, destroying the vessel with little effort. Cortana also assisted Captain Keyes in destroying a dangerous, theretofore unknown warship, which had wreaked havoc upon the defending UNSC fleet. However, the orbital defence generator complexes were destroyed and the Imperial fleet initated an orbital bombardment. The Autumn was eventually forced to flee the burning planet, jumping to a random location as per the Cole Protocol. However, Cortana secretly inserted coordinates translated from symbols on a rock that Blue Team discovered on Sigma Octanus IV, leading the Pillar of Autumn to Installation 04.
== Description ==
As Cortana is an AI, she has no physical body. She can communicate through comm systems and project a holographic image of herself from appropriate projectors, such as holotanks. Her chosen avatar is a female human roughly in her early twenties, wearing a white one-piece body suit decorated with geometric patterns. She appears with purple/blue skin, short purple/blue hair, and blue symbols scrolling down her body. When in a different emotional state, Cortana usually changes colors.