Halo: 'Ghosts & Glass' by B. Giraud
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Halo: 'Ghosts & Glass' by B. Giraud is an entry in the Halo Waypoint Chronicle series of short stories published by Halo Studios, that was released online on Halo Waypoint and YouTube for free on September 14, 2025 to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of Halo: Reach's release. It is set to be included in the 2026 print anthology compilation Halo: Waypoint Chronicles - Volume One.[1] The story's name comes from one of the tracks of Halo: Reach Original Soundtrack.
Official Summary[edit]
| “ | 2558. War journalist Benjamin Giraud pieces together stories of heroism and sacrifice from archives of recorded communications during the fall of Reach. | ” |
Plot Synopsis[edit]
Journalist Benjamin Giraud, playing two last-day Fall of Reach recordings involving Bravo 001 and Recon 43's engagement, explains his mission: Preserve recordings of United Nations Space Command soldiers at Reach, weaving together both critical comms and idle chatter.
Even five years since the battle and the Human-Covenant War, the debris field around the planet is still being combed for recordings more than he's playing. He emphasizes the heroic Human stories behind mankind's worst military defeat, from Marine Privates Goodman (the discussion starter) and Deakins joking about zombie survival plans to Spartans charging Covenant armor.
Giraud knows that much of the data may be dismissed as junk, especially with his archive of bored troopers rambling while awaiting orders, many seasons long. These untold fragments form a memorial archive, a way to process the trauma of Reach's fall and preserve humanity's spirit and identity beyond military strategy into the little things facing the backdrop of apocalyptic conflict.
He adds the nuance that extinction always chased them, either almost certainly taking all they cared for or burning them into cinders as well. The glasslands are being chipped away, people have time to slow down and mourn for the intensive time needed, and the post-Covenant War conflicts are no longer the old nightmare of the past, although striking at peripheral colonies. Thus, this library, while not serving historical understanding, preserves the soul of what passed on, and continues to expand.
Although not like the Sedlec Ossuary that stands to this day, he hopes the Museum of Humanity receives it for generations hence to learn of the war that has redefined Humankind, especially Reach's fall itself, which has led to “Remember Reach” being the most widespread graffiti across urban Earth.
He notes the massively conflicting timeline reports—some claiming a single day, with the idea of a month-long campaign being mere morale propaganda, while Waypoint conspiracy theorists claim the Office of Naval Intelligence lured the Covenant to Reach for reasons yet to be discerned—but reminds the audience that such claims, along with those of Kig-Yar riding enslaved Gúta, are not being given credence, but rather true recordings, specifically this time of UNSC Majestic; today's episode is on Charlie Company and SPARTAN-II unit Beta-Red.
All recordings are dated August 30, 2552, the war's biggest Spartan deployment per survivor accounts and Reach's fall date. He exposits on orbital defense platforms, their Reach role, and their ability to shoot at 4% of lightspeed, then finally, the Spartans' role at holding back the Covenant's impossible odds by defending their generators. He expresses astonishment on the two Marines who made it out alive in the wake of Beta-Red's apparent inability, and calls out for their safety; many would love to know they are fine. He holds out hope for Beta-Red likewise being alive, knowing Buckman's words: Spartans never die.
Benjamin closes with an image of a Spartan in art by now-deceased brilliant Anaru Kawiti, who perished during the New Phoenix Incident: Defiant, helmet off, bloodied, and holding a tactical nuclear device as Covenant swarm him, a settlement and burning space elevator beneath a snowy huge mountain. An inscription quotes "The Charge of the Light Brigade."
Past wars would've had medals and mementos to remember fallen close ones. With no keepsakes left—only scorched glass—recordings of voices are all that remain. On March 3, 2558, five years after the Covenant War's end, Benjamin urges listeners to remember Beta-Red, Charlie Company, Reach, and the billions lost. He calls on people to share stories, before signing off Ghosts & Glass, promising future coverage of Reavian efforts to “deglass” and rebuild the planet.
A week later, Giraud answers a comms call, surprised to hear someone recognize him. The caller introduces himself as Michael Sullivan, Senior Comms Director of ONI Section Two, and claims to be a fan of Benjamin's journalism.
Sullivan quickly pivots, saying Benjamin has been wasting his talent digging through old Reach broadcasts. He insists those events are yesterday's news and urges Benjamin to return from freelance work to something bigger.
Benjamin hesitates, sensing Sullivan already has a plan in mind and he hasn't agreed. Sullivan, confident he'll accept, confirms it, promising to set up a meeting for a major assignment: A profile on the Master Chief.
The perspective shifts to Beta-Red during the last day on Reach; the battlefield is chaos. Human and Covenant forces collide in waves, bodies surging forward and falling back amid green, blue, and purple plasma streaks, fiery muzzle flashes, roaring cannons, and vehicles charging like armored cavalry. Across the horizon, a wall of fire and black smoke rises as columns of plasma rain down from Covenant ships hidden in storm clouds, turning everything—soil, metal, and flesh—into scorched glass. The Covenant already control the generator and linger only to destroy what remains.
Lightning flashes overhead, followed by the ear-splitting detonation of a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon (MAC) round striking the ground miles away. The blast hurls dirt, bodies, and wreckage skyward in a tsunami of destruction. More flashes follow as MAC rounds, fired by UNSC ships, begin targeting Reach itself. A second impact strikes less than half a mile away, tearing the battlefield apart. Unggoy and Kig-Yar falter, some ready to flee, but the Covenant horde presses on. Soldiers realize the generator is lost, and Reach is falling.
Beta Romeo Actual warns all units to escape the blast zone. Two more successive MAC impacts rip through the land, shattering armies of both sides. Human and alien alike scream and scatter, no longer fighting each other but struggling to escape annihilation. The fifth MAC round obliterates the generator facility, and darkness swallows the battlefield. Beta Romeo Actual never hears the sixth.
Time passes. Silence falls. Beta Romeo Actual regains consciousness in a crater, alive but battered. Fires burn around her, surrounded by corpses of Humans and aliens frozen in expressions of terror. Her Mjolnir armor is scorched, circuitry exposed, nanocomposite bodysuit torn and bloody, systems sluggish or unresponsive. She transmits twice if anyone can hear her; only static answers.
Climbing from the crater to the summit by hand, she identifies herself: Naomi-010. She confirms the orbital generator is destroyed, Charlie Company is gone, and Beta-Red's status is unknown. The Covenant forces have moved on, leaving only devastation. She promises to transmit every 30 minutes while searching for survivors or a rendezvous point.
Surveying the area one last time from the crater top, Naomi sees no survivors. Reach, like other worlds before, is reduced to ghosts and glass. She sets off across the wasteland, not looking back. A survivor once lost in Reach's wilderness, she now pushes forward again—scarred, but determined to report in, repair, and return to the fight.
Appearances[edit]
Production notes[edit]
Ghosts & Glass contains several meta-nods to real-world Halo production trivia:
- The framing of the radio dialogues themselves is taken from the radio conversations that can be heard throughout many of the multiplayer maps in Halo: Reach.
- The reference to in-universe Waypoint arguments discussing whether the Battle of Reach took place over a month or a single day is a nod to the differing timelines of the Fall of Reach presented by the original novel and the game. At the time of Halo: Reach's release, the game's seeming-retcon of the battle's timeline from a day (as presented in the book) to a month caused considerable stir among franchise fans, though these discrepancies were eventually explained by 343 Industries via mediums such as Dr. Halsey's personal journal, the 2010 reprint of the novel, the Data Drops and the Halo: Fleet Battles - The Fall of Reach tabletop campaign.
- The reference of an in-universe conspiracy theory regarding ONI's use of Reach as a deliberate lure to draw in the Covenant is a nod to Data Drop #4, in which Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth and Admiral Margaret Parangosky agree that the Covenant are bound to find Reach in short order anyway, so they present the world as a credible target to draw in a critical Covenant ship that can be targeted for Operation: RED FLAG. While the conspiracy is, in fact, correct, it is dismissed as nonsense in-universe.
- The reference to noncredible reports of Kig-Yar riding Gúta is a nod to some unused concept art for Halo: Reach produced by Isaac Hannaford, in which the player could encounter the Covenant using Gúta as mules. This was ultimately cut from the final game.
Gallery[edit]
The full cover art for the story, presented in-universe as a painting by Anaru Kawiti in the "Believe" series.
Halo: Reach concept art by Mark Goldsworthy of Long Night of Solace's appearance at the end of the level Tip of the Spear, used in the story.
Halo: Reach concept art by Isaac Hannaford used in the story, depicting two Ket-pattern battlecruisers glassing New Alexandria.
![Artwork of Beta-Red used in the story; originally Halo: Reach concept art by Isaac Hannaford. This artwork was also used in the Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition) to represent the SPARTAN-III program.[2]](https://halo.wiki.gallery/images/thumb/7/79/GhostsAndGlass_BetaRed.jpg/200px-GhostsAndGlass_BetaRed.jpg)
Artwork of Beta-Red used in the story; originally Halo: Reach concept art by Isaac Hannaford. This artwork was also used in the Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition) to represent the SPARTAN-III program.[2]
The remains of an M12B Warthog.
![Artwork of Beta-Red used in the story; originally Halo: Reach concept art by Isaac Hannaford. This artwork was also used in the Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition) to represent the SPARTAN-III program.[2]](/File:GhostsAndGlass_BetaRed.jpg)
External links[edit]
- Halo: 'Ghosts & Glass' by B. Giraud - The official Waypoint post in which the short story was released for free.
- Halo: 'Ghosts & Glass' by B. Giraud Official PDF - The PDF of the short story released on Halo Waypoint (Archived copy).
- Halo: 'Ghosts & Glass' by B. Giraud | Audiobook - The audiobook narrated by Alex Wakeford.
Sources[edit]
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Halo: Waypoint Chronicles – Volume One | Cover Reveal (Retrieved on Jul 3, 2025) [archive]
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 70
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