It would be 3017 instead of 2517.
The only difference I'd see is the technology. But at that point the Covenant would have advanced more as well, if not already activated the Halo array.
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How would they have accomplished this? The only beings in the universe that can activate things like the Halos or the Ark, or other vastly important Forerunner artifacts, are the Humans, and the Forerunners themselves. Even if the Covenant managed to find the Halos they would be completely incapable of activating them, the only bad thing they'd be able to do with a Halo without humans around is unleash the Flood, and that's it...they would not be able to do anything remotely close to activating the Array.
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"Only" release the flood ...Because the Halo array was only built for shits and giggles, right?
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Good point, I hadn't considered that.