Halo: Still Midnight
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It has been suggested that this page be split into Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 for the following reason: as per Battle for the Academy. Please see the talk page for more details. |
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Halo: Still Midnight is an entry in the Halo Waypoint Chronicle series of short stories, released in three parts throughout August and September 2026 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Halo franchise.[2] It was produced by Halo Studios in conjunction with the community podcast group JumperScape, who had previously recreated other stories from the series in an audio drama format in an unofficial series titled "Stories From Waypoint". They also contributed to the audiobook release of Halo: Waypoint Chronicles - Volume One, alongside guest hosting Canon Fodder Live at the Halo World Championship in 2025.[3] The team behind Stories From Waypoint team worked on the audio component of the story,[4] which included other members of the Halo community.[5]
Still Midnight follows a group of new characters aboard UNSC Infinity while the ship is en route to Installation 07, immediately before the events of Halo Infinite.[2]
The story's full audio transcript is set to be included in Halo: Waypoint Chronicles - Volume Two.[6]
Official summary[edit]
| “ | December 2559. A faction of rogue artificial intelligences known as the Created, led by the Archon Cortana, have enforced an imperial peace upon the peoples of the galaxy. Whole worlds are now subject to martial law under threat of annihilation.
Aboard the UNSC Infinity is humanity’s best hope to turn the tide as preparations have been made for an all-out assault on Cortana’s throne—Zeta Halo. With the UNSC flagship just hours away from exiting slipspace, the crew savors their final moments of peace...[7] |
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Plot summary[edit]
Part 1[edit]
On December 12, 2559, aboard the UNSC Infinity, Doctor Audra Galiniene met with Armor Technician Gustavo Torres, scolding him for being late because he had been polishing his hydraulic actuator, "Asuka" due to Gustavo having his name down to be part of Operation: BREAKER TRIP. Gustavo then asked why Audra didn't gone ahead and grabbed their table, Audra responded that she hated sitting alone and was concerned of other people sitting there, to which Gustavo told that no one else likely would after their shift rotation since they started hanging out before realizing that she hadn't checked if the others would join them. Audra admitted that she had been busy going through her notes of an "artifact", about to discuss the intricacies of slipspace translocation through alien technology when she interrupted Gustavo receiving a call from Sergeant Riley Anderson asking where the two were. He tells them that Ersu 'Kybol was likely on his way and told there to get there quick so he would avoid making small talk with him, who Riley was about call a "Split-jaw" before correcting himself, on what he believed would be their last day alive.
On their way, Audra asks Gustavo what Spartan Locke was like, giddily speculating of the prototype Watershed Division "toys" and wondering why he was deployed ahead of time. Gustavo simply told her that it was a suit-up job before telling her that he had told her more than he should about it. The two eventually meet Riley in the Universal Translator and begin ordering drinks. Gustavo initially planned to order Hiskal, but Riley wanted something fancy for what could be their last day while Audra wondered where Ersu was.
Elsewhere, Varo 'Ahtal asks Ersu why they are there. Ersu asks if Varo is asking a spiritual question, but Varo specifies that he is asking why they are on the Infinity working alongside humans. When Ersu inquires as to what he means, Varo brings up that Ersu once served as an Ossoona and asks if their alliance is folly. Ersu asks if Varo thinks so, to which Varo states that he believes they are in an alliance of convenience, first against the Covenant and now against Cortana and the Created, noting that Cortana was a human creation and that the Prophets at least possessed the wisdom to not create Smart AIs themselves. Ersu recommends Varo get some rest, but Varo tells him that he is tired because of what the humans had unleashed upon the galaxy and asks if he thinks of the crimes they had committed. Ersu tells him that he thinks often of their own crimes during their time in the Covenant, refusing to think for themselves, allowing generations of Sangheili to be used as warriors for the Prophets and subjugating numerous other species into the hegemony, bringing peace through subjugation. He asks if they were any different from Cortana before leaving to meet with Audra, Gustavo and Riley in the Universal Translator for a game of cards.
At the bar, Ersu orders three Hiskals and an Alt Burgundy from Marina Rebledo. After hearing of the two-drink limit due to pre-mission rules, Ersu points to the M90 shotgun mounted on the wall behind her and suggests it could be relocated for use during an engagement, but Marina tells him that it doesn't have any ammo in it to comply with regulations, something she is unsure if she remembers to do so. After telling him that she'll bring the drinks to their table, Ersu invites Marina to join them, to which she agrees. After introducing each other, Marina remarks they seem like an odd group and asks how they came to be friends.
Riley recounts an engagement during the Requiem Campaign while serving as a support group aboard G79H Pelican Romeo 41 in early 2558, where they received orders to take an artifact recovered by Fireteam Crimson back to the Infinity. During the return, they were pursued by Covenant craft led by a Bkowe'nei-pattern Vampire. Audra was able to take out the Vampire using the Pelican's M8C Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Cannon, and finish off the other Is'belox-pattern Banshees and Ru'swum-pattern Phantoms with some help from the Infinity's F-41 Broadswords and the Swords of Sanghelios Elsedda-pattern Banshee Accord Wing, led by Ersu. The Pelican's pilot Caleb Ward offered Ersu an invite to the Universal Translator for a round of drinks to celebrate, which he agreed. Since then, the four had then had kept coming back to the bar. Marina then asked what happened to Caleb, to which the group falls silent before Ersu proposed they toast to him.
Upon arriving at Zeta Halo, the group prepares to deploy until the Infinity is suddenly violently hit. After finding their bearings, they look to see Banished dreadnoughts and prepare for boarders.
Part 2[edit]
Picking up where Part 1 left off, Doctor Audra Galiniene, Armor Technician Gustavo Torres, Sergeant Riley Anderson, Bartender Marina Rebledo and Sword of Sangheilios Ersu 'Kybol prepare to fight off Banished forces after the UNSC Infinity is ambushed by them immediately upon arriving at Installation 07 for its mission to end Cortana's reign over the Milky Way. They encounter Professor of Advanced Xenobiology Tobias Martell and free him from under a girder that fell on him in the initial attack before bringing him back to the Universal Translator to give him medical attention. After being told the ship is being boarded, Tobias laments that he is tired the UNSC keep losing. After Gustavo grabbed the dog tags of five crewmembers who died in the crash, Audra asks how they can deal with Banished forces when Infinity is staffed at 39% with a lot of them not Marines. Riley tells her they need to stick together and find weapons.
Ersu informs them of a nearby armory before they are interrupted by Banished forces, which they manage to dispatch. With more incoming, Ersu requests Marina's M90 shotgun before activating his active camouflage. Riley initially thinks Ersu was defecting to the Banished, which leads to an argument between him and Audra. During the argument, he asks if there is not a part of her that hates that they are supposed to forgive and forget what the Sangheili did during the war. As more Jiralhanae arrive, Ersu dispatches them with the shotgun and his energy sword before returning the shotgun to Marina and picking up a pair of plasma pistols from fallen Unggoy.
As the group makes their way to the armony, they hear an emergency update from Captain Thomas Lasky to evacuate Infinity before more Banished dreadnoughts ram the ship. Audra then informs them that there are no more lifeboats in their section of Infinity, followed by Marina learning the intraship transit pod is down. Tobias then tells them that there is another to get off the Infinity that he and Audra had been working on; the artifact. Planning to make their way to the nearby lab, Gustavo asks Riley if he still has their deck of cards and Riley agrees to play a game if they make it off the ship.
As they make their way to the lab, taking a shortcut through the mess hall, Tobias continued lamenting that they keep losing more people on every mission and that they need something that can tip the scales against their enemies. Marina asked him if he had any ideas, to which Tobias told her that Infinity's original mission was to study the Halo rings for decommission but he believed they should be more open minded with the "opportunities" the Halos could offer.
Finally arriving at the lab with the artifact, Varo 'Ahtal arrives not long after escorting three crewmembers and informs them that Banished forces were close behind, as well as that Atriox himself is on board. Varo volunteers to sacrifice himself to distract the while the group escapes. After gathering what weapons they can, Audra tells them the plan: the artifact they got from Requiem is able to provide translocation access after connecting to a Forerunner installation, thus it would connect to Zeta Halo. However, the artifact is only able to connect to individual site-to-site portals and could only translocate one person at a time. Activating the artifact and connecting it to Zeta Halo, Audra readies to teleport the group. However, she is unable to read the language of the artifact interface after setting to the default language of Zeta Halo: Jagon, the language of the Builders, while Audra had spent two years studying Digon: the language of the Warrior-Servants.
Despite this, with some encouragement from Marina, she is able to select a random location and begins teleporting the group, starting with her. As they do, Gustavo asks Tobias if he is doing alright. The professor responds negatively: repeating that they have lost friends and colleagues on every mission while on the run from Cortana, and questions for what it was all for. Gustavo confesses that he signed up to work on Infinity back 2558 purely for job experience, hoping it was accelerate his career for an early retirement. But he ended up staying because of the friends he had made aboard. Gustavo asks Tobias if he stayed for anyone, but the doctor is teleported as he answers yes. Gustavo is the last to escape just as Banished troops break into the lab.
The group finds themselves in an underground facility on the ring containing Cylixes. Tobias is ecstatic about it, but Riley tells him to stick with the group until they better understand the situation and their location. Audra goes with Tobias to keep on eye on him. Meanwhile, Gustavo angrily rants that the mission to stop Cortana is a bust due to the Banished's interference, but Riley tells him that they can get back into the bigger picture after they find a way out of their current location. After which, he speaks with Ersu of Varo's sacrifice, surprised that he would lay down his life for them. Varo agreed, noting him questioning the nature of their alliance and still giving his life for it.
A cry from Tobias snaps the group to attention. Finding him standing before an activated cylix containing a Flood pod infector, Tobias told them it would all be okay as he had found their answer to winning against the Banished and Created. Calling it their salvation, he tells them that the universe had been trying to tell them something that they would not hear and that they were not in any position to win the war or complete their original mission on their own. Riley tells him to step away from the cylix, even threatening to shoot him, but Tobias refused. He tells them that they need an equalizer in the fight, a wildcard that would take the Banished and Created's attention off humanity and potentially bring unity, and that what they do with their lives matters more that their lives themselves, to sacrifice themselves so that others may have chance to survive. Audra asks if Tobias knows what is in the cylix, to which Tobias answers that he does as it opens. The pod infector within latches onto Tobias, who repeats that it this is their salvation, before transforming him into an attacker form.
Part 3[edit]
Tobias Martell starts by quoting the poem Darkness by Lord Byron:
- "I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
All earth was but one thought—and that was death."
In a memory, Tobias is giving a guest lecture at Edinburgh University on advanced Xenobiology to initiates of ONI Section One. In it, he initially states that while ONI had already shared little to the public on alien life with the Outpost Discovery project, what he had been researching for years was highly classified. He then likens what he was about talk about to more of a sermon than a lecture before revealing his subject: the Flood. He speaks of its nature as a virulent parasite, consuming and infecting living organisms, as well as the air and ground, before speculating on what it would take to satiate their ravenous hunger. He next talks about how the Flood form a compound intelligence after infecting millions of organisms, then describes humanity as children in the galaxy, understanding nothing about it after taking their first steps beyond their "cradle", and that the Flood were beyond humanity in ways they cannot fathom. He concludes by questioning whether the Flood is something more than death incarnate. All throughout, the voice of the Gravemind spoke;
- "There is only one truth. That which was done will be done again.
No vengeance, no plague, only unity.
Mind after mind will shape and absorb. In the end, all will be quiet with wisdom.
We are the last of those who gave you breath and form millions of years ago.
Until all time and space are rolled up and life is crushed in the folds… no end to war, grief, or pain.
There will be unity again and wisdom. Until then… Sweetness."
In the present day, Tobias opens a cylix containing a Flood pod infector and is transformed into an attacker form. The Flood-infected Tobias then begins