Cairo Orbital MAC Station A MAC Cannon is a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, from the storyline of Halo. The cannons fire metal slugs using a system of magnetic fields down a long shaft, increasing the projectile's velocity until they carry an incredible amount of energy. The ship-based models use Tungsten cores, while station-based versions use Nickel-Iron Ferric slugs. They are the only non-nuclear weapons that the UNSC possesses that can destroy Covenant shields.
Twenty MAC Cannons were used to defend the planet Reach from Covenant invasion, but they soon fell as the Covenant destroyed the underground generators that powered them. The planet Earth had 16, but production was stepped up quickly after Halo: The Fall of Reach, bringing the total up to 300. Some of the more famed Super MAC Orbital Stations above Earth are: Cairo Station, Malta Station, and Athens Station, each geosynchronized above the city they are named for.
MAC Cannons can also be mounted on ships, such as the destroyer Iroquois and the cruiser Pillar of Autumn. Shipborne MAC Cannons draw power from the ship's reactor and require a charge to be fired.
Both versions generally require an AI to aim the cannon, as the slugs fired are unguided.
Cairo Station was the station where the Master Chief (John-117) and Sergeant Johnson (Avery Johnson) received awards, along with Miranda Keyes, daughter of the famed Captain Keyes. When the Covenant came out of Slipspace, they attacked each of these 3 stations. At one time in the middle of the battle, Malta Station seemed to have won the fight, as they reported: "I don't believe it. They're retreating! It's over, we won!" However, the Covenant soon demonstrated their new technique for dealing with the orbital MAC Cannons, by using boarding parties to place a large bomb within the station. The Athens Station likewise exploded shortly thereafter, and those aboard the Cairo come to horrifying conclusion that there must also be a bomb on Cairo Station, and the Master Chief ran to find it and defused it with Cortana's help. The Master Chief manually placed the bomb in a nearby Covenant Capital ship and detonated it. The explosion propelled the Master Chief through space to land on the In Amber Clad, Commander Miranda Keyes' ship.
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