Halo: Axios
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| Halo: Axios | |
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Author(s): |
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Audio book narrator(s): |
Darren O'Hare[1] |
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Publication date: |
May 26, 2026 (part of Halo: Waypoint Chronicles Volume One) |
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Media type: |
Short story |
Halo: Axios is a short story in the Waypoint Chronicle series written by Jeff Easterling and Alex Wakeford. It is exclusively included in the print compilation Halo: Waypoint Chronicles - Volume One, released on May 26, 2026.[1] In the Volume One audiobook, the story is narrated by Darren O'Hare, the voice actor for Thomas Lasky in the Halo games.[1]
Official summary[edit]
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Plot synopsis[edit]
On December 1, 2559, Captain Thomas Lasky is sitting in his quarters onboard the UNSC Infinity, exhausted from another round of meetings about the numerous factors overwhelmingly holding the fate of humanity at stake. For the first time in a long time, Thomas listens to one of his brother's messages. Although Thomas' personal messages were lost when the Corbulo Academy of Military Science was destroyed by the Covenant, Michael Sullivan had managed to extract caches of data from their former home. Listening to it, Thomas is struck by the realization that he is now far older than Cadmon will ever be and sits there thinking about how he would give anything to be someone else, to have fallen in one of the battles that had claimed so many of the people Thomas cares about. Thomas pulls out the shard of Mgalekgolo armor given to him by John-117 during the Battle of Circinius IV from which Thomas has attached the dog tags of Cadmon, Dimah Tchakova, Junjie Chen, Walter Vickers, Chyler Silva and at least a dozen other people Thomas has lost along the way as a keepsake.
Thomas' musings are interrupted by Roland who informs him of a private transmission from Circinius IV. The transmission is from Thomas' mother, Rear Admiral Audrey Lasky, who continues their ongoing chess game. The two exchange some light-hearted banter with Audrey admitting that she'd rather be in her son's place aboard the Infinity then leading the deglassing of Circinius IV. Luckily, the Covenant had decided that something on the planet was valuable enough to keep most of it intact and with a little luck, Corbulo will be open again in a few years. Audrey reveals that she found Colonel Kennedy Mehaffey's office on her third day and nearly walked out on the job before remembering that she had taken it for her old friend. Thomas remembers seeing Mehaffey die in front of him, and Audrey reminds him that no plan survives contact with the enemy. Audrey orders her son to stay sharp and to give whatever's coming all of the hell that a Lasky can raise, although she brushes him off when Thomas asks what his mother means by "whatever's coming."
Audrey reminds her son of their game and Thomas discovers that Audrey has him in check in a position where he's surrounded and outnumbered. Audrey ends the game for the day, telling Thomas that he is going to need a long time to figure his way out of this one and when he does, Thomas is going to tell her all about it. Thomas realizes that she is talking not just about the game, but the hard situation that he is facing. The two sign off with a salute and an "axios" to each other.
Thomas mulls on the meaning of axios, how it has followed him from Thomas' time at Corbulo, into the Covenant War, to Requiem, to now when they are on the cusp of a battle that could turn the tide of the war. Thomas still vividly remembers General Daniel Black's lesson about how the Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo had yelled the word while falling upon his sword on the orders of Nero and how Black had berated then-Cadet Lasky's performance and insubordination. Thomas has learned from time, experience and loss that axios is a promise that his family has taken as their responsibility to live and die fulfilling.
Roland returns with the news that Sarah Palmer, Jameson Locke, Blue Team and Catherine Halsey are waiting on the bridge for him and Halsey has a plan. Looking at the chessboard's new configuration, Thomas knows that he's outnumbered and surrounded and in a tough position to think himself out of, but he isn't in this fight alone. Filled with new confidence, Thomas returns to the bridge.
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Sources[edit]
- ^ a b c Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Casting Chronicles (Retrieved on Mar 27, 2026) [archive]
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