Halo: The Flood
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
| Halo: The Flood | ||||
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 1st Edition Del Rey cover (2003)
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| Attribution information | ||||
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Author(s): |
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Cover artist(s): |
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Illustrator(s): |
Kenneth Scott (2010 edition onwards) | |||
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Editor(s): |
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Audio book narrator(s): |
Todd McLaren | |||
| Publication information | ||||
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Publisher: |
Del Rey Books (see editions) | |||
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Publication date: |
April 1, 2003 (see editions) | |||
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Media type: |
Print (see editions) | |||
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Pages: |
352 pages (see editions) | |||
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ISBN: |
0345459210 (see editions) | |||
| Part of The Original Series | ||||
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| Other information | ||||
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Notable info: |
This novel is a novelization of Halo: Combat Evolved. | |||
- "We think we have a story that is so good, you could write a book about it and sell it as a sci-fi novel."
- — Jason Jones, August 2000.[2]
Halo: The Flood is the novelization of Halo: Combat Evolved written by William C. Dietz following the events of the book Halo: The Fall of Reach. This novel attained the Publisher's Weekly bestsellers list during May 2003.[3]
The novel, along with The Fall of Reach and First Strike, was reissued in 2010 by Tor Books, with the new version including some content updates.[4] In 2026 the book will be included alongside The Fall of Reach and First Strike in an omnibus collection titled Halo: The Master Chief Omnibus, featuring further canonical fixes and new adjunct story content.[5]
Official summaries
Original
| “ | The Human-Covenant War, a desperate struggle for humankind's very survival, has reached its boiling point on the mysterious ring world called Halo. But the fierce Covenant warriors, the mightiest alien military force ever known, are not the only peril.
As the fortress world of Reach and its brave defenders were bombarded to rubble, a single cruiser fled the carnage with the battle's only human survivors - Captain Keyes, his small crew of Marines, and the last SPARTAN super-soldier, the Master Chief. With the cruiser's artificial intelligence, Cortana, concealed in his battle armor, the Master Chief crash lands on Halo in the midst of a massive Covenant occupation. Curiously, the alien soldiers appear to be searching for something hidden on the ring. Built by a long-dead race, Halo harbours many deadly secrets, but one overshadows them all. Now the Master Chief must lead the scattered troops in a brutal race to unravel Halo's darkest mystery - and unleash its greatest source of power ... |
” |
Definitive Edition by Tor
| “ | Reach has fallen.
The Covenant war machine rages on. Humanity's last hope lies with the crew of the Pillar of Autumn — the indomitable Captain Jacob Keyes, Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, the AI Cortana, hundreds of fearless marines . . . and Spartan 117, Master Chief. Having barely escaped the battle for Reach, the crew of the Pillar of Autumn is forced to make a jump into slipspace in hopes of evading the vast alien alliance hell-bent on wiping out humanity. But their destination brings them to an ancient mystery and an even greater struggle. In this far-flung corner of the universe floats a magnificently massive artificial ringworld… a construct from a long lost race. The humans’ only hope of survival is to crash-land on its surface and take the battle against the Covenant to the ground. But they soon discover that this enigmatic ring world is much more than it seems. Built 100,000 years ago by a civilization known as the Forerunners, this “Halo” is worshipped by the Covenant—a sacred artifact that they hope will complete their religious quest for supposed transcendence. They will stop at nothing to control it. Engaged in a fierce ground battle, Master Chief and Cortana go deep into the Halo Construct to uncover a dark secret; this enigmatic ring world is also the universe’s most dangerous weapon. Its purpose: the destruction of all sentient life. For the Forerunners built the Halo to battle the universe’s most vicious enemy—a virtually unstoppable and suddenly reawakened force known as The Flood. |
” |
2019 Gallery Books reprint
| “ | 2552. Having barely escaped the final battle for Reach against the vast alien alliance known as the Covenant, the crew of the Pillar of Autumn, including Spartan John-117—the Master Chief—and his AI companion Cortana, is forced to make a desperate escape into slipspace. But their destination brings them to an ancient mystery and an even greater struggle. In this far-flung corner of the universe floats a magnificently massive, artificial ringworld. The crew’s only hope of survival is to crash-land on its surface and take the battle opposing the Covenant to the ground.
But they soon discover that this enigmatic ringworld is much more than it seems. Built one hundred thousand years ago by a long-lost civilization known as the Forerunners, this “Halo” is worshipped by the Covenant—a sacred artifact they hope will complete their religious quest for supposed transcendence, and they will stop at nothing to control it. Engaging in fierce combat, Master Chief and Cortana will go deep into the Halo construct and uncover its dark secret and true purpose—even as a monstrous and far more vicious enemy than the Covenant emerges to threaten all sentient life on Halo and the galaxy beyond… |
” |
Plot synopsis
Sections I to III
Halo: The Flood takes place between September 19 and September 22, 2552. It is based on the game Halo: Combat Evolved. It begins as the UNSC cruiser Pillar of Autumn is exiting slipspace (on a randomized vector due to the Cole Protocol) after retreating from the fallen military base at Reach. The AI Cortana's exit vector leads the ship to a system discovered when she decrypted Forerunner glyphs found by the Master Chief on Sigma Octanus IV. When the Pillar of Autumn drops out of slipspace, her crew encounters a massive ring-world in orbit around Threshold, a gas giant. This ring-world is called Installation 04, also known as Alpha Halo.
In the system, there is a host of Covenant ships, who notice the lone UNSC ship. A Prophet forbids the fleet from firing on the Pillar of Autumn, for fear of damaging the ring. Instead, the Covenant are willing to sacrifice more lives to board and capture the ship rather than blasting it to pieces. As a result, the Pillar of Autumn and her crew are able to destroy four Covenant ships, but not without being further crippled by the Covenant onslaught. Meanwhile, technicians on the Autumn prepare for battle and thaw out a single soldier from cryogenic sleep: the presumed last SPARTAN-II, known as the Master Chief.
The Covenant proceed to take out the Autumn's defenses and board the ship. Deprived of defensive options, the Autumn's captain, Jacob Keyes, initiates the Cole Protocol and orders the crew to abandon the ship. The Master Chief is entrusted with the AI Cortana; given the wealth of tactical information the artificial intelligence contains—force deployment, weapons research, and the location of Earth—Keyes cannot allow Cortana to fall into Covenant hands. The Chief fights through the Covenant invaders, reaches the last remaining lifeboat, and heads to the surface of the ring-world known as Halo. At the same time, a special contingent of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, or ODSTs, leave the Autumn via Human Entry Vehicles. On the surface of the ring, the ODST Commander, Major Antonio Silva, and his second-in-command, Lieutenant Melissa McKay, prepare to establish a ground base from where the human forces will launch their guerrilla resistance against the Covenant. Silva is aided by a Class C Military AI, Wellsley, named after the Duke of Wellington, who advises them to capture a high butte.
Meanwhile, a Covenant Grunt named Yayap leads his squad into the Pillar of Autumn. Extremely cautious and cowardly by nature, Yayap and his team decide to rescue a Covenant Special Operations Elite wounded by the Master Chief, rather than fight the humans. The five small aliens drag the black-armored Elite back to their craft and escape the deteriorating Autumn as it plunges towards the ring-world's atmosphere.
An Ossoona named Isna 'Nosolee manages to survive, using active camouflage to board Keyes' lifeboat after tracking him down in an attempt to take him hostage. However, the Captain spots him and shoots him with a Corporal's M6D pistol. Isna's corpse later allows the Covenant to realize that they should capture Keyes. Keyes and his crew are forced to evade Covenant forces after they crash onto Halo. Finally, they are betrayed by Ensign Ellen Dowski. Consequently, everyone including the Ensign is executed, save for the Captain, who is captured for interrogation aboard the Truth and Reconciliation.
The Master Chief lands on Halo and helps rescue Marines from their lifeboats, while the ODSTs secure Alpha Base after a clash with Covenant forces. Yayap is rewarded for his rescue of the Elite, named Zuka 'Zamamee, with the terribly dangerous assignment as the Elite's assistant.
The Master Chief and a squad of Marines board the Truth and Reconciliation, rescuing the Captain. Keyes has learned that the ring-world they are on has vast significance to the Covenant (who believe that "Halo", as they call the ring, is a weapon of unimaginable power). Escaping from the Covenant cruiser, Keyes gives the Master Chief the mission of finding Halo's control room before the Covenant does. In the meantime, Zuka ’Zamamee and Yayap are given permission to hunt for the Master Chief but fail in their attempts. Meanwhile, Lieutenant McKay and her company assault the now Covenant-controlled Pillar of Autumn for supplies and vehicles.
Keyes, a squad of Marines, and Sergeant Johnson are dropped into a swamp in an effort to discover a weapons cache. The Marines take prisoner a disillusioned Elite named 'Qualomee, who claims to be delivering a shipment of weapons to a force guarding a structure. Pushing deep into the mysterious structure, the squad finds something unlike anything they have ever seen before: dead Covenant freakishly ripped open and scattered about. In a locked room, the squad discovers the cause of the fatalities: the Flood. These bulbous aliens attempt to latch themselves onto the Marines, and despite their fragility, the sheer number of the creatures overwhelm the soldiers, tapping into their nervous systems and taking over their bodies. One soldier, Private Wall