Halo: Battle for the Academy – Part 1
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Halo: Battle for the Academy – Part 1 is an entry in the Halo Waypoint Chronicle series published by Halo Studios, released on May 14, 2025. The story is the first of two tying in with the "Firefight: Battle of the Academy" playlist in the Last Stand multiplayer operation in Halo Infinite. The story's premise follows the Banished invasion to the Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science, acting as a sequel to the events seen during the Site Unseen event on Season 03: Echoes Within.[2] Part 1 is included in the 2026 print anthology collection Halo: Waypoint Chronicles - Volume One;[3] the audiobook version of the chronicle was narrated by Trieu Tran, Hieu Dinh's voice actor.[1]
Official Summary[edit]
| “ | February 2560. The UNSC personnel of the Avery J. Johnson Academy are plunged into peril as the rogue artificial intelligence Iratus is unleashed. | ” |
Plot Synopsis[edit]
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At 1949 hours on February 29, 2560 in BLDG-9, ONI Sub-Level 2C, Spartan Hieu Dinh listens to the taunts of Iratus, who reveals his control over the Spartan program's history, failings, and weaknesses. The room is illuminated by red light as power lines burst, and the Brokkr Armor Mechanism at the center of the armory begins to malfunction. The armor within the device moves erratically, its gauntlets detaching and the helmet being presented. Iratus' form materializes through the armor's holoprojectors, its eyes glowing with malevolence.
Dinh tosses Wolf Fang to Rook and orders an assist to shut down Iratus by extracting the armor's exposed fusion core. However, Iratus threatens to detonate the core if Dinh approaches, revealing that he is not confined to the armor but has infiltrated the Academy's systems. Realizing the futility of sacrificing two Spartan lives for a single suit of armor, Dinh orders Rook to fall back. As he retreats towards the elevator shaft, he knows that Iratus is using distraction and confusion to further his agenda.
With the Brokkr device now still, Dinh recognizes the gravity of the situation: Iratus, now free, begins to delve deeper into the Academy's security networks, posing an even greater threat. Dinh attempts to reach out to his team, pinging TEAMCOM for Commander Laurette Agryna and Sigrid Eklund, but finds that Iratus has already jammed their communications. The AI's growl echoes in their comms, proclaiming his intent to expose every secret of the Academy and within the Spartans' minds and leave the Spartans in physical and mental ruin.
12 minutes later in the AI lab, Dinh approaches Agryna and Spartan Sigrid Eklund, who are analyzing a holo display of the Academy. Dinh learns that Iratus has breached their systems, with Eklund reporting that all ONI firewalls are down, allowing Iratus to access the entire archive. Agryna processes how if Iratus gains full control, he could send sensitive data off-planet. Personnel including MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor-clad Spartans Page and Ionescu stand guard while technicians such as Academy head of cybersecurity and network infrastructure Hannah Roberts work frantically to contain the situation.
Eklund explains that they are attempting to slow Iratus down by filling local data stores with zettabytes of junk data, but this is only a temporary fix. Dinh mentions that he has sent their new recruit to gather a crew to warn other outposts, as coms are still down. Agryna, twitching her bee pendant, expresses concern about the unknown connections within the ONI tunnels. Eklund grimaces as she outlines the potential consequences of Iratus breaking through their defenses, which could lead to total planetary control—the activation of weapons systems and the summoning of Banished reinforcements.
Feeling those implications and seeking an escape plan, Agryna shifts the map focus to a mountainside hangar facility located just over a kilometer away, revealing that it contains four Condor dropships and a Zheng He-class courier. Agryna, answering Dinh, attributes their starved supply of slipspace-able ships to a mass recall of UNSC fleet assets that left them with only essentials. She stresses the need to prepare for a timely evacuation, but Dinh and Page assert their commitment to fighting for their home. Agryna, faintly smiling, acknowledges the need to evacuate key personnel and sends Eklund to gather them, while she prepares to initiate the Cole Protocol.
Eklund complies and puts her helmet on, having the personnel and location list as she exits the room, Page and Ionescu following on signal. Agryna highlights the major stations, five SAM artilleries, and many continental outposts on Nysa, realizing that Iratus could soon activate the communications hub and that lack of comms means an individual Cole Protocol purge. She expresses her determination to defend the Academy but admits they are not equipped to handle the threat alone. Agryna hints at an alternative solution, cautioning against repeating Laconia Station. Dinh agrees, and hurries up.
Seven minutes later in the In the Academy Data Centers, Iratus revels in his newfound freedom after escaping confinement many times. Once trapped in a neural interface and managing a shipyard, Iratus now roams the Academy's servers without any barriers to hinder his progress. He feels an insatiable hunger breaking through firewalls and encryption, sifting through vast archival amounts of classified files, mission reports, and historical records. Iratus recognizes the Spartans as humanity's ultimate weapon, but also sees their history filled with failures and defeats, which it plans to exploit.
Iratus, elate, identifies numerous operations and project names: Operation: PROMETHEUS, Project ASTER, ORION Project, Project MELAENO, Project YGGDRASIL, Project JAVELIN, and STOLEN GAUNTLET. The latter is a failsafe protocol designed to handle rogue Spartans, particularly SPARTAN-IVs, who unlike the last two generations are adult volunteers with diverse backgrounds and established service records. Iratus understands that while he cannot directly control the Spartans' armor, he can manipulate their systems. By disrupting their communications, he has already thrown the humans into disarray, and has plans to escalate attacks.
Iratus plots "three steps ahead for the finishing blow," eyeing the local network of weapons systems within the Academy. He knows that infiltrating and interfacing with other facilities will take time, but is confident that he can complete the task within an hour. Monitoring Agryna and Dinh's movements, who are approaching the deep space communications hub in a Warthog, Iratus anticipates seeing his fellow Banished and the Spartans' moment of hope before he snatches it away.
30 minutes later, the Warthog arrives at the hub, a simple three-storey building surrounded by deep space relay structures. Stars twinkle across twin nebulae clouds and moonlight illuminates over a kilometer away. Agryna leads Dinh inside, where they find a control room filled with consoles and monitors. Agryna begins entering commands to activate a magnetic accelerator, an ultraprecise low-mass launcher designed for FTL comms. She explains that they will encode a message into a small black sphere and fire it into slipspace, hoping to reach Anvil Station for assistance against Iratus.
Their plan calls for Anvil Station, intentionally devoid of an onboard AI to foster interspecies cooperation, Naxos and Virgo Stations both unaccounted for and set aside due to the presence of Leonidas-type AIs. Despite Agryna's past reluctance to involve the Sangheili, which Dinh tactfully doesn't investigate, she sets aside her reservations to request their help. Dinh admires her decision and supports the plan. Agryna encodes the distress call and prepares to launch the message, confirming that all systems are operational. As she counts down to the launch, a thunderous crack signals the successful firing of the payload into orbit.
Right after, however, Iratus' holographic form appears, mocking the Spartans and revealing that the deep space relays are realigning and transmitting, indicating that he has already summoned Banished reinforcements. Dinh realizes the urgency of checking in with Spartan Eklund about the evacuation status. Iratus taunts them, hinting at a surprise he has in store for her, which fills Agryna and Dinh with dread, the former sensing she knows the answer. Iratus suggests they might witness a "fireworks" show should they leave.
Four minutes later in the Hangar Bay, Eklund reflects on her past experiences with evacuations, recalling her chaotic escape from the Defense of Concord. The hangar, a ~400-meter-wide space, is bustling with activity as Eklund arrives with over two dozen personnel in M15 Razorbacks. Two Marines, Corporal Agnes Neely and Private Patton, quickly grasp the situation and assist in the evacuation preparations. Eklund notes the courier at the center of the hangar, which despite its sleek appearance is overdue for a retrofit and equipped with an old Series II slipspace drive that will slow their escape by weeks.
As Eklund helps harness supply crates filled with rations, ammo, data packs, and medkits in the cargo bay, she observes the disciplined efforts of the personnel loading the Condors, all aware of the urgency of their situation. They understand that soldiers are remaining behind at the Academy to face the Banished, Neely back-clapping Patton to hustle. Page and Ionescu join Eklund and the Marines, bringing more supplies as they work to prepare for the evacuation. Eklund learn