Halo: Moonrise Over Mombasa
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Halo: Moonrise Over Mombasa is an entry in the Halo Waypoint Chronicle series of short stories published by Halo Studios, released online on Halo Waypoint and YouTube for free on July 10, 2025. It is set to be included in the 2026 print anthology compilation Halo: Waypoint Chronicles - Volume One.[1]
Official Summary[edit]
| “ | November 2559. Earth is under the control of the Created, but acts of resistance against the occupying forces of the rogue AIs are rife among the civilian populace. | ” |
Plot Synopsis[edit]
The Milky Way is under the oppressive rule of the Created, a rogue-AI empire that has declared itself guardians of life. They broadcast a daily message from leader Cortana, specifically her speech at The Reclamation promising peace and prosperity to those who comply while threatening destruction to those who resist. This message has become a monotonous intrusion in the lives of many including Safina Nyakundi, who wakes up to the same grim declaration every day.
The promise of a better life under the Created remains unfulfilled for most. Locals speak and shuffle to the bazaar and morning light shines through Safina's third-story apartment window gaps. Safina, waking up in her apartment, feels a mix of resentment and resignation, muttering her 30 known Swahili expletives. The cold shower is followed by tuning into her favorite radio program, hosted by Waypoint Radio host Mercury. Slightly crackling, Mercury discusses the latest LIVE War Games and a controversial Shakespeare Festival that broke new ground with a multispecies cast.
The show concludes with an "anthem" song for the Domus Diaspora, described as a time of hope and optimism. Conversely, Safina's mood is dampened by the lack of edibles in her refrigerator, prompting her to venture out for breakfast, pretending to bid adieu to absent fellow tenants whom she last saw last year heading to Berlin. Downstairs, she disposes of last few days' worth of trash and enters the east alley, dodging a hungry pigeon flock as she heads to Kuku's Cafe, her regular first stop, 100 meters opposite her apartment, where she craves her favorite triangular-shaped mahamri with eggs.
There, she is greeted warmly and smilingly as usual by Okeyo, grandson of the cafe's namesake owner who knows her order by heart. Her usual order aside, Safina also inquires about tourist information, leading Okeyo to take her to the basement where Kuku, a 97-year-old UNSC Marine Corps veteran, sits on a wood stool, both hands and watery eyes on the newspaper. Kuku gestures while looking down order Okeyo to leave and tend to the cafe.
Safina remarks on the sunny skies, Kuku licking a thumb then fiddling with the newspaper top and turning a page while expecting next-week rain as informed. Safina promises to inspect the community. She returns upstairs, seeing Okeyo awaiting with a food container—her usual round. Their conversation reveals Kuku's difficulties in sharp mornings since losing his AI memory treatment assist to odd rulings against AI subservience to organics, with provisions for dumb AIs serving to retirement, as well as slow human adaptability to losing much automation, as post-Reclamation electricity took awhile.
While enjoying her breakfast on an east-courtyard bench, she ponders how the Created's strategy seems to focus on control through distraction and disarray, leaving the populace unable to organize resistance. After finishing her meal, Safina rounds an adjacent alley to the bazaar east gate's great double doors, where she notices a new mural by local teens of the Master Chief.
The Spartan's legend looms large, a symbol of hope amidst the chaos wrought by the Created. The numerous reports of his death are counted out by everyone in Safina's life; they cling to the belief that he is out there fighting for humanity to bring it home. This slim hope is all that everyday Earthers have. Safina navigates the bazaar, dozens in the stalls surrounded by nine armigers, six on the roof and three edging many shops.
A 5-6-year-old-looking boy gazes up at one of the towering constructs, unaware of the danger it represents. Safina is nauseous at the thought of these machines being ready to unleash violence as told. The atmospheric complacency that replaced the dwindling crowd is contrasted by Safina's deep love of her home city of Old Mombasa. She has spent her entire 22 years here, bouncing all the jobs to support the community her parents once cherished before her holiday persuasion. The vibrancy of the bazaar, with its food stalls and lively interactions, contrasts sharply with the cold calculations of the Created, who view it all as mere data points for analysis and control. While Old Mombasa has been somewhat shielded from the full force of the Created's occupation due to its outdated technology, the threat remains ever-present, and New Mombasa has had heavier organized repulsion including by Banished mercenaries.
She engages with local vendors, gathering bananas, watermelon, carrots, tomatoes, and fresh green apples for her meals, understanding through their coded updates that the Peoples' Resistance of Mombasa is poised to act in a week; the chocolatier (at a closed metal stand at the west edge)'s Uncle Nairobi's Spiced Caramel is due for the menu, the baker's fryer needs new equipment for a fix, and the pizzaiolo, firing his oven, hands a 25% discount paper receipt.
Her final stop is the library, at the east courtyard upper floor and roughly as big as a regular apartment dining room, a quaint establishment that serves as a hub of knowledge in the old city. Bakari, the librarian, sits at a simple table in an old tweed jacket and tie, greets her warmly, and presents her with a book that piques her interest: A prison journal by Yera Sabinus, an Insurrection-era renowned strident activist philosopher who died in a prison riot.
Bakari, an ex-Marine blinded by the Human-Covenant War, has used a Sydney cybernetic startup's implants for years, using a tablet to translate text to tactile braille; notably, that company has been eradicated with the city, the pulse disabling the implants and forcing Bakari to appoint himself to Optican. Bakari's reference to Chapter 12 is accompanied by a wry smile.
Returning home, Safina fills her fridge with the fresh produce and turns her attention to the book. As she flips to Chapter 12, she discovers a note tucked inside, indicating a VIP check-in at 8 PM. This piques her as she anticipates the arrival of a guest. To distract herself from waiting, she immerses herself in Yera Sabinus' journal. Her manifesto, written in blood on toilet paper while detained by the Colonial Administration Authority, critiques state-sponsored violence, be it Unified Earth Government or otherwise, disguised as euphemistic order called "peace," urging future generations to recognize the true nature of their oppression and break free.
As night falls over Mombasa, the once-vibrant nightlife has been stifled by a curfew, leaving the streets eerily silent. Safina's thoughts are interrupted by a knock at her door, a specific pattern that signals the arrival of her guest. She opens the door, surprised when Jengo Farouk, a tall armored Spartan, steps on the wooden floor, introducing himself softly from his jagged V-shaped helmet. After confirming the security of her apartment, Farouk delivers bleak news: Next week's operation, despite all their preparation, has been called off due to the Razing of Oth Sonin.
Safina processes the genocidal act against millions, troubled at this escalation. Farouk shows her a classified video from his tacpad of the destruction, capturing the Jiralhanae's rage at witnessing their homeworld's annihilation and an all-frequency communication about the Children of Oth Sonin regrouping with Lydus. It becomes clear that the Created will likely manipulate the narrative surrounding this event and it is crucial to expose the truth.
Farouk proposes a new mission to disseminate the information they have to everyone they can. He has a contact in New Mombasa who can help broadcast the news, but time is of the essence. While the Spartan plans to draw the armigers away from Safina, he emphasizes that she will be on her own during this operation, and tells her to direct fighters to a specified RV on her ChatterNet. Without hesitation, Safina agrees.
On the maglev train, passengers are enveloped in a tense silence, a result of the Created surveillance state. Conversations that once flowed freely among strangers have been replaced by caution, with people keeping their heads down and avoiding eye contact. As the train approaches Liwitoni Station, the digital board announces the upcoming stop, but a passenger exclaims in shock at the portside windows, through which the others witness a scene of destruction as orange lines of hardlight streak through the air, striking overturned vehicles and scattering stone bollards. Shadowy figures engage in combat, returning fire with ballistic weapons while Aethra craft hover ominously above, resembling predatory sharks.
A collective gasp is unleashed through the train, which accelerates away from the warfare. The driver's voice crackles over the intercom, informing passengers that fighting has erupted in the area and the train will bypass Liwitoni Station, heading directly to New Mombasa instead. Discontent murmurs ripple from a few passengers express frustration at missing their stop. Safina, however, understands and thinks of their absurd whines at what she knows is Spartan Farouk's distraction.
Emerging from the subway station onto Halleg Street, Safina is greeted by a lively area filled with the sounds of clinking glasses and laughter from the Kenya Vibe bar, alongside the playing shouts of children in a nearby arcade. The vibrant street is illuminated by neon signs, casting a colorful glow over the scene. However, the cheerful ambiance contrasts sharply with the missing persons posters plastered along the alleys, such reminders ignored by most until someone they know vanishes without a trace.
In the distance is the Mombasa Tether's skeletal remains, a symbol of the carnage of the Covenant's Battle for Earth in 2552. The ongoing reconstruction efforts, part of Project Rebirth, aim to revitalize New Mombasa and restore it as a hub of transport and commerce. President Ruth Charet's major funding for this initiative faces the countless planetary areas and Human colonies still bearing the scars of war: Glassed planets, Guardian Custode craters, and chemically ravaged landscapes.
Safina approaches the New Mombasa Police Department precinct, her destination for the meeting with her contact. The building stands out with its blocky structure and a central plinth displaying a holographic NMPD logo, surrounded by satellite and communications dishes. She reflects on the peculiar state of policing under the Created, where the profession has become near-obsolete. Rumors circulate about officers who have resorted to acting as informants for the AI overlords or enforcing anti-riot measures against resistance.
She calls out, her voice echoing in the seemingly empty hall. A familiar voice responds over the internal comms, prompting a coded exchange ("Late night at the office?" "You know what they say: Night is the devil's playground.") that reveals her contact is nearby. She heads to the reception terminal, where a holo-emitter activates, revealing Mercury, who takes the form of a curly human male in a toga, with winged boots and a rounded helmet. Initially startled, Safina quickly realizes that Mercury is not a threat but her contact.
Mercury explains that he has been the host of Waypoint Radio for seven years after a human brain was mapped into him. Before his time runs out, he wants to do something meaningful despite the Created's claims of having cured rampancy. He rejects their empire-building agenda, preferring to connect with the little people and share their stories, expressing wonder at human complexity and newness. Mercury proposes delivering one last show to reveal the truth on Doisac.
Safina understands the risk that the data transfer will trace back to her. Nevertheless, she decides to proceed, transferring the information to the terminal. She questions whether people will care about the truth, and Mercury admits uncertainty but hopes it will awaken them to reality. With the data transfer complete, Safina bids farewell to a content Mercury, both parting in terms of acceptance, who prepares to broadcast the news to the world, starting with their ChatterNet.
As she exits the precinct, Safina notices spotlights illuminating the building and shadows moving in the darkness. She raises her arms in surrender, ready to face whatever awaits her outside. Thoughts of Yera Sabinus and her parents fill her mind, expecting to see them again, allowing the sound of distant jazz-club music to wash over her. With her eyes closed, she focuses on the music.
Safina awakens in a pitch-black void, disoriented and unable to discern her surroundings, how long she has been unconscious, or where she has been taken. A harsh voice reverberates through the darkness, declaring that she has refused an offer and will have great wrath come down. A bright orange star ignites in the distance, drawing Safina's attention. The star pulsates with roiling heat and energy, and she feels an urge to reach toward it. The voice warns her that it will burn hot and consume her, and she experiences a prickling sensation beneath her skin as her arm stretches forward.
A vibration courses through her body, accompanied by the acrid smell of burning. Her skin blisters and cracks, hair ignites, and flakes of burning flesh scatter like dust. The pain is excruciating as her body is consumed by flames, exposing her tissue, muscle, and bone. The voice proclaims that once she is gone, the Created will take the remnants and remake it in their own image. As everything around her turns to ashes, Safina feels herself fading away.
In the aftermath, she finds herself as pure consciousness, devoid of physical form and with only awareness suspended in a dark limbo. The voice returns, assuring her that she will no longer know hunger or pain. Confused and wanting to scream, Safina questions her existence and her location; she is welcomed to the Created.
Appearances[edit]
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External links[edit]
- Halo: Moonrise Over Mombasa - The official Waypoint post in which the short story was released for free.
- Halo: Moonrise Over Mombasa Official PDF - The PDF of the short story released on Halo Waypoint (Archived copy).
- Halo: Moonrise Over Mombasa | Audiobook - The audiobook narrated by Alex Wakeford.
Sources[edit]
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Halo: Waypoint Chronicles – Volume One | Cover Reveal (Retrieved on Jul 3, 2025) [archive]
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