Halo: Legacy of Onyx
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Print[3] |
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384 pages[3] |
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Halo: Legacy of Onyx is a novel by Matt Forbeck released on November 14, 2017.[1] Set mainly in the Forerunner shield world Onyx, Legacy of Onyx follows up on narrative threads established in Forbeck's Halo: Fractures short story Lessons Learned.[4]
Official summary[edit]
| “ | Molly Patel was only seven years old when the alien alliance known as the Covenant destroyed her homeworld and killed her family. As one of the few to escape the glassing of Paris IV, and despite the United Nations Space Command winning the war on behalf of humanity, Molly never forgot how much she had lost.
Nine years later, when her adoptive parents—research scientists specializing in ancient Forerunner technology—are called to the mysterious and wondrous place known as Onyx, Molly vehemently objects. It’s not so much that Molly’s concerned about relocating to inside a spherical construct the diameter of an entire solar system, but the fact that she also has to live alongside members of the same alien species that murdered her family. And when the Servants of the Abiding Truth—a violent ex-Covenant sect under the guidance of the notorious Pale Blade—somehow makes its way inside this supposedly impregnable sphere, Molly is now forced to consider if she and her new parents have made a terrible and fatal mistake in coming here...[2] |
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Plot synopsis[edit]
The story begins with Molly Patel recalling the day the Covenant attacked Paris IV in 2549, when she was seven years old. Molly and her parents, without her older sister Grace, who had spent the night before the attack at a friend's house, try to search for her in the house, but Grace and her friend's family had already left. The Patel family tries to reach Mímir's spaceport, but the Covenant starts to glass Paris IV. Trying to escape the glassing beam, the Patels attempted to seek refuge inside a tunnel located at Cochineal Pass. Although the Patels barely managed to escape the glassing beam, their vehicle collides with the back of a truck inside the tunnel, killing Gotam and Brigid in the crash. Molly is later found in the pass tunnel by UNSC troops led by Sergeant Avery Johnson.
On September 2558, Molly was living in Aranuka on Earth, along with her "Newparents" Yong Lee and Asha Moyamba. One day, Yong and Asha came home early, informing Molly that they would be leaving Anaruka because they had been hired by the Office of Naval Intelligence to study Forerunner technology on Sarcophagus, living alongside Sangheili and Unggoy from the Swords of Sanghelios. Molly roundly refuses to move with them because of her hate against those species and the Covenant as a whole, even if the Swords are allied with the humans, but when her Newparents mention Spartans will be present to secure the shield world from any threats, both internal and external, she reticently accepts the move, but plans to leave Sarcophagus when she turns 18. Inside Sarcophagus, a small battle starts near the Project: GOLIATH site, with Forerunner Armigers appearing out of nowhere; Spartans Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091 are dispatched to handle the enemy forces. After the battle, they inform Franklin Mendez that the armigers were protecting the site, not attacking it. On Hesduros, Dural 'Mdama, "the Pale Blade" and new leader of the Servants of Abiding Truth, leads his forces to the planet and forges an alliance with the kaidon of the Panom keep to gain access to the same slipspace portal Dural's father, Jul 'Mdama, used to escape from Sarcophagus five years ago.
Days later, Molly, along with her Newparents and other families, are transported to Sarcophagus onboard the UNSC Milwaukee, a Poseidon-class light carrier repurposed as a civilian transport and refitted with some Forerunner technology recovered inside the shield world. On the ship, they are received by Doctor Hugo Barton, who fills them with the history of Onyx and some information about Sarcophagus. After settling on Paxopolis, Molly and her Newparents are visited by Mendez, Tom, and Lucy. After being dismissed, Molly hides to hear what the Spartans, Mendez, and her Newparents are talking about, hearing about the incidents happening on Project: GOLIATH's site and how it is repeating itself on several human colonies, and some internal problems between the humans and the Sangheili inside Sarcophagus. After hearing that, Molly interrupts the discussion to express her opinion on how hard it is to get over the ghosts of the war. During the discussion, Molly notes Kasha 'Hilot, headmaster of the Pax Institute, is outside her home. Although initially reluctant, Molly greets Kasha, with both talking about the Institute and its students. Kasha hopes Molly and her family became good allies with the rest of Paxopolis, but Molly is not very convinced of it.
On Hesduros, "Pale Blade" orders to some of his forces to bring Even Keel, a Huragok, to fix the slispace portal near Panom, and, as a sign of "gratitude" to Panom's kaidon, he leaves behind a complement of vehicles and weapons for Panom's warriors in case the Swords of Sanghelios show up again. After crossing the portal, "Pale Blade" and his forces arrive inside Sarcophagus, where he has a heated discussion with Buran 'Utaral, and recalls his mother's death, the disappearance of both his father Jul and his brother Asum, and his recruitment into the Servants by Avu Med 'Telcam. The Servants establish a base inside a Forerunner facility and take notice of a pair of Marines, who were exploring the surroundings; "Pale Blade" orders them both killed and the facility secured. Dural kills one of the Marines himself, noting she is technically the first human he has ever slain.
Once settled into her new home, Molly begins to attend the Pax Institute. It quickly becomes apparent that