Oasis
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
- "I’m a big fan of all things Halo, so it’s really exciting to get back into this universe. I’m always interested in the areas that are hinted at. In this case, I wanted to look at the impact war has on the civilians caught up in its maelstrom, and Oasis is a story about the prices paid and the way in which war continues to follow some, no matter how far away from it they’ve tried to run."
- — Tobias Buckell[1]
Oasis is one of several short stories in Halo: Fractures: Extraordinary Tales from the Halo Canon. Set in July 2558, it follows Dahlia, a colonist on Carrow, a world co-inhabited by humans and Sangheili, as she attempts to retrieve medical supplies for her critically ill parents from a Sangheili settlement. Oasis was written by Tobias Buckell[2] and has narrative connections to Buckell's full-length novel Halo: Envoy,[1] essentially serving as a prequel.
Official summary[edit]
- "This story takes place in July 2558, five years after the Covenant War came to a sudden conclusion (Halo 3 era) and a year after the shocking and deadly attack on Earth by the Forerunner commander known as the Didact (Halo 4)."
Plot synopsis[edit]
The story focuses on Dahlia, a sixteen year old girl living in the human settlement of Sandholm on the planet Carrow. Her and her family were survivors of the Covenant attack on Arcadia in 2542 and spent the remainder of the Human-Covenant War as refugees. After the war's conclusion, her family and other refugees traveled to Carrow in the hopes of settling fertile land along the Astlehich River. Once they arrived, however, they found that the land had already been settled by the Sangheili on the planet and was the location of the city of Rak. As such, they were forced travel into the Uldt Desert, establishing Sandholm and attempting to carve out an existence on the world.
In late June of 2558, a viral hemorrhagic fever swept through Sandholm and devastated the town's population. Dahlia fell ill and slipped into a fever-induced coma on June 25, after which her parent used up their supply of antibiotics on her before falling ill themselves. She woke up on July 2nd, finding her parents in a dire state She attempted to care for them, but was not able to accomplish much without adequate medical supplies. Eventually, Dahlia ventured from her home into Sandholm in search of help, finding the town to be mostly empty. Eventually she found Danzer, an old family friend, who was burning his partner Pha's body outside of their home. He told her about the damage the virus had done to the settlement and that the town's communications repeater had gone down. Hiking up Signal Hill to investigate, Dahlia found the repeater damaged beyond repair, leaving the colony isolated from the other humans on the planet. Knowing that she needed to get help quickly, Dahlia decided to travel to Masov Oasis to find human traders and use their radio to call for help. Danzer initially tried to dissuade her from doing this, as Masov was controlled by the Sangheili, but eventually relented and gave her access to a Mongoose quad bike and a M295 Designated Marksman Rifle. With these new supplies, Dahlia left Sandholm and traveled until the evening, when she stopped to rest in a boulder field.
Dahlia was awoken by a firefight between Jat and Ruha, two Sangheili warriors. Finding Ruha about to execute Jat, she was able to distract the former for long enough to allow the latter to kill his attacker with an energy sword. Dahlia's Mongoose was destroyed in the firefight, leaving her to have to ride the rest of the way in Jat's Spectre. Dahlia continued to treat Jat with great hostility while the Sangheili offered his life to her because she had saved his life.
After arriving at Masov, Dahlia parted ways with Jat and went to where the human traders were located. Upon entering the depot, she was quickly captured by two Sangheili who had taken over the building and locked in a cell in another structure. She then met Paul des Hommes and Greta, who told her about the deteriorating situation between the humans and the Sangheili in the Uldt Desert. After this, Masov was attacked by a Sangheili death squad loyal to Thars 'Sarov, who used human weapons in a false flag attack. Two Sangheili removed the humans from their cell and began to take them outside to execute them, but were intercepted and killed by Jat. Dahlia accompanied the Sangheili and fled Sandholm while Paul and Greta returned to the depot to radio for help. They were chased by Thars's forces and their Spectre was eventually disabled, forcing them to make a last stand. They were able to wound and kill several Sangheili but were both eventually wounded and overpowered. They were then saved by the Surakan Militia Volunteers, who had been called in by Paul and Greta and went to examine the firefight. Dahlia initially welcomed their presence, but then one of the militia soldiers executed Jat. She yelled at them and tried to defend Jat's name but was only chastised for viewing an alien as her friend. Dahlia then received medical attention and new equipment from the militia before returning to Sandholm, where the surviving residents were also helped by the militia. She was present when her father awoke from his illness and told him that she was prepared to defend Sandholm from a Sangheili attack.
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