Crux Installation 02

"This is the Crux of the Ecumene's connection to the domain, where prayer, worship, knowledge, and confirmation was once held... alas, with the great infliction to the domain, this and the other installations will soon degrade again as they are as much the domain as this plane." "Other installations? Again?" -Monitor 02A Inhibited Catalogue to Spartan Chandler upon gaining access to the Crux installation's control room. 
== Background ==
The Crux Installations were religious sites held by the Forerunner Ecumene during their reign over the galaxy Crux sites were used to conduct pilgrimages, meditation, scientific inquiry, and judiciary counsel. Originally where Crux installations now exist were once organic thresholds and access points to the Domain believed to have been used by the Precursors prior to their overthrow at the hands of the Forerunners. With this history lost, the wonders were rediscovered by the Forerunners and embraced as focal points of their belief in the Mantle of Responsibility. 
=== Pre-Firing of the Array ===
Prior to the firing of the Halo Array the Crux sites were used regularly and similar to holy sites to the Forerunners. Judiciaries most notably frequented the Crux Installations to seek guidance from what was considered a more direct connection to the Domain as it was often noted that the sites emanated a distinct essence which was understood as the presence of the Domain in real-space. 
=== Post-firing of the Array ===
Following the firing of the array the Crux installations physically degraded due to be deeply bonded with the Domain itself as the Halo Array damages the Domain due to its neurophysical engineered nature. The installations were able to repair themselves by the time of their rediscovery by the UNSC Deliverance in 2559, of Crux Installation 02, however they were once again weltering due to being cut off from the Domain, somehow by choice, following Cortana's rise to power and contact with the Domain. 
==== Crux 02 ====
During the UNSC Deliverance's exodus out of Human space it encountered the Crux installation. Upon arrival immediate scans revealed little beyond mysterious energy readings and slip space signatures which could not be triangulated. Far enough from Cortana's known influence Commander Larose ordered Spartan Fireteams Thermal and Desert onto the installation to investigate. Smit noted that if the Slipspace anomaly could be implemented within allied fleets it may be able to hide slipspace signatures from the Created and offer a critical strategic advantage in the blossoming conflict. Lead first hand by Spartan Commander Chandler the team of Spartan IV's discovered the semi-organic nature of the installation along with an increasingly instable structural integrity. 
Deeper within the facility it was noted that some sentinels seems to be busy working while others drifted aimlessly or were powered down in a sort of sleep mode. With seismic instability increasing the Spartans hastily located the cartographer of the installation revealing its religious significance and allowing a dialogue with Inhibited Catalogue, one of the stations A.I. caretakers. Teleporting Fireteam Thermal and Spartan Commander Chandler to Mausoleum of the station Inhibited Catalogue revealed the nature and condition of the installation. Apparently following the Deliverance, Inhibited Catalogue warned of powerful forerunner Slipspace signatures detected in nearby systems. The interference from the installation has actually caused Cortana's forces to track the Deliverance to a nearby system instead of directly to them. Using the opportunity to escape Inhibited Catalogue accelerated the decay state of the installation to avoid falling into Cortana's grasp. 
Thermal was able to rendezvous with Fireteam Desert and Spartan Commander Chandler lead the Spartan IV's back to the Deliverance avoiding being crushed beneath the layers of the station. Commander Larose ordered an emergency slip space jump once the Spartans were back aboard and it is unknown the condition of Crux Installation 02 thereafter. 
=== Theories ===
Science teams aboard the Deliverance believe the Crux Installations may have severed their connection with the Domain due to Cortana's Created claiming the Mantle as their own. The Crux Installations being a focal point the true knowledge of the Domain may have understood the Domain was being possessed by an entity not worthy of holding the Mantle of Responsibility and thus removed itself from the Domain in order to not allow its information to be privy to the Created.
Category:Installations