Halo: First Strike

Eric Nylund returned to write the third novel, Halo: First Strike, a sequel to Halo: Combat Evolved taking place before the events of Halo 2. It was published in December 2003, after being written in a period of sixteen weeks.

DATE: August 30, 2552-September 13, 2552 (Date Revised due to an Anomalous Slipspace Bubble)

Brief Summary
Halo: First Strike clarifies a few plot questions that might have been raised by Halo fans, including exactly what happened to the SPARTANs on Reach and also how Johnson survived the attack of the Flood. It is written by Eric Nylund, who also wrote Halo: The Fall of Reach, and is part of the official Halo canon. This has led to certain inconsistencies in Halo 2.

Detailed Summary
Spoiler Warning: Following contents may contain ending details

Section 0: Reach
The novel starts out before the Battle of Reach, at the part in Halo: The Fall of Reach where Captain Keyes informed the Master Chief of the matter of the undeleted NAV database. Frederic-104 is made the leader of Red Team and ordered to take the other SPARTAN-IIs down to Reach to protect the generators powering the orbital MAC guns.

Red Team took a Pelican down to the surface, but were forced to free fall to the ground after the pilot got hit by Banshee fliers. The impact killed several of the Spartans and left many seriously injured. Most lost their guns, but improvised using rocks. The Spartans then grouped up with the remaining four marines in Charlie Company. The Marines summarised how the battle had gone, saying that they were the only ones who survived the entire battle.

Vice Admiral Whitcomb contacted the Spartans and ordered an extraction. Fred took Spartan-087 (Kelly) and Spartan-029 (Joshua) on a mission to destroy a large Covenant camp in a valley near the bunker Charlie Company once occupied. Taking three Banshees, they delivered a Fury tactical nuke into a Covenant starship. Joshua's Banshee slipped under enemy fire and he was killed. Fred and Kelly then completed the mission.

Despite their efforts, however, the Covenant managed to take the reactors on Reach. The Covenant starships then initiated the glassing of Reach, even though they glassed only near the poles. However, Fred refused to sit around and die to the plasma firepower. As there was always a way to stop the Covenant.

Section 1: Threshold
"You were dead. I saw you die. On Jenkins' mission record. The Flood got you."

- Master Chief

"The Flood? Hell, Chief, it'll take more than that pack of walking alien horror-show freaks to take out Sergeant A.J Johnson."

- Sergeant Johnson

The novel then moves to the debris field of Installation 04, right after the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. Aboard the Longsword used to escape the destruction, Cortana and the Chief conversed, with the Chief insisting that Cortana repeat her scans of the debris for any signs of life.

A battle group of seven Covenant starships entered the system, as did a Covenant flagship. Cortana found three cryopods that were jettisoned from the Pillar of Autumn prior to its crash on Alpha Halo. While she moved the Longsword towards the cryopods, she found a Pelican landed on a nearby asteroid. As the Chief retrieved the cryopods and returned to the Longsword, the Pelican took off and attacked the lead Covenant starship, diverting attention away from the Longsword. The two small ships linked up, and several survivors jumped out of the Pelican, including Sergeant Johnson, Corporal Locklear, Petty Warrant Officer Shelia Polaski, and Lieutenant Haverson. As the Master Chief saw a video of Johnson getting infected, he pointed a pistol at Johnson's head, waiting for an explanation on how he could have survived. Apparently, Johnson didn't taste right and was not infected.

Together the group managed to attack the flagship, called the Ascendant Justice. After fighting their way to the bridge, they plugged Cortana into the vessel's computer. She effectively killed most of the combat crew by decompressing most of the decks of the vessel. The humans are now effectively in control of the vessel. In the confusion between the other vessels, the Ascendant Justice entered Slipspace, escaping Halo's remains. The group argued about where to go next, but ultimately, the Chief persuaded them all to return to Reach. First, because the Cole Protocol forbids them from taking a Covenant vessel to Earth directly. Second, because the Chief wanted to see what became of his fellow Spartans.

Meanwhile, back at Earth, UNSC High Commander Facility Bravo-6, Sydney, the military learned of the destruction of Reach and concluded that they cannot try to retake the planet and must prepare for the final defense of Earth. All Spartans and vessels are assumed destroyed, though they do know that the Pillar of Autumn escaped destruction.

Section 2: Defense of Castle Base
The novel then returns to Reach, where Kelly and Fred, after destroying the Covenant ship, crash-landed their Banshees into a pair of Hunters, killing one and disabling the other's gun. They then stole a pair of Wraith tanks, and blasted their way into the ONI base under the mountain. There, they met up with the surviving Spartans of Delta team, the injured and the four Marines, including Issac, Vinh and Will. They met up with Doctor Halsey, who treated their injuries, and sent them to retrieve some new weapons, which in Halo 2 appear as the Battle Rifle and the Magnum Pistol.

At the lab, Dr. Halsey discovered Colonel Ackerson's plans, which were extensive lists on "her Spartans", a star chart reference, and a third file labeled "King Under the Mountain". The Covenant then invaded the base, and the Spartans and Doctor Halsey escaped to the old Titanium mines beneath Castle Base, right before it's destruction, which destroyed their only exit. Having no other alternatives, the Spartans and Dr Halsey venture deep into the tunnels

In the tunnels, the Spartans received armor upgrades and Spartan Frederic-104 discovered several symbols which ultimately led to a huge tunnel that led into an even larger room. In the center of the room, there was a crystal. The Spartans and Halsey found that if they walked straight towards it, it would bend the space around them and, if brought to slipspace, would allow them to travel further using the same amount of energy used in the same vessel. They retrieved the crystal, but the Covenant found them due to emission of radiation from the crystal. They landed forces inside the giant room, and Issac and Vinh died while fighting the Covenant.

Section 3: Rescue
Meanwhile, out in space, Master Chief and Cortana, along with the last survivors of Installation 04 and Sergeant Johnson, find out that one of the cryotubes that Master Chief found is a SPARTAN-II. The Spartan happens to be Linda-058. While in the Pelican the Master Chief strips off some pieces from the pelican, to reinforce a Covenant dropship they're going to use. As they walk into the hanger of the Ascendant Justice, the two men (Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson) witness Polaski practicing how to drive a Covenant dropship. As they enter Reach in real space, they see what has happened to it after the Covenant glassed the planet. They move the flagship closer as they notice that, during the glassing of Reach the Covenant "missed" a spot. The small fleet - consisting of a dozen cruisers, two assault carriers, and three squadrons of seraphs - ask why a flagship is at Reach. While on the ship, the survivors hear a UNSC E-band. The E-band is "Oly Oly Oxen Free". No one on the bridge recognizes it - except the Master Chief. The section then returns to the year July 14, 2523. The memory plays the time when the Spartans played capture the flag against Tango Company.

Back on Ascendant Justice, the human crew debate whether they should go down to Reach in the reinforced Covenant dropship. Cortana looks around to see a spot which can be a extraction site to pick up the people going down to Reach. On the way down, cruisers start to surround them in their dropship. The humans find a canyon with some movement in it. Before landing Master Chief says the code for "Oly Oly Oxen Free" and says to land them in a safe spot where the survivors would find them. The Chief wanders out alone to see if there is a trap - if there is, he wants to trigger it. Haverson backs him up. At the bottom of the ramp Chief senses a single signal. The friend-or-foe tag wasn't working, so the signal isn't working. The Chief drew his pistol and turned to see it was a Spartan. The Spartan was Anton-044 (he had disabled his FoF tag so the Covenant wouldn't attack him). He led the Master Chief to the entrance of a cavern, where two Spartans, Grace-093 and Li-008, were operating chainguns that were bolted to the sides two boulders. The Master Chief and Anton, followed by Grace, went into the cavern. Inside, Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb was standing at foldout card table, which was the headquarters for Camp Independence.

Admiral Whitcomb asked why the Chief was here, instead of a mission with Captain Keyes deep in Covenant territory. The Chief told him about the events that happened on Halo, and while he was telling the story, Haverson and the others from the dropship arrived. Haverson asked Whitcomb how he was alive, and the Admiral told Haverson that while everyone was evacuating, he had stay behind because the UNSC was working on a new bomb called a Nova. Whitcomb armed the Novas with failsafe tampering detonators and a countdown timer. Whitcomb had a team of Marines, Charlie Company, to help arm the Novas, but they were wiped out, but he then saw Red Team on coded COM and 'asked' to borrow a few Spartans, who armed the Novas and give the Covenant trouble with hit-and-run exercises.

The rest of the Red Team was trapped underground in the tunnels beneath the mountain in the CASTLE facility. The Chief's group used a Covenant dropship to rescue the remaining Red Team. They entered a huge cavern filled with Covenant forces - a few Elites, Jackals, and mostly Grunts that were clearing a cave-in. They landed the dropship a half a kilometer away from the Covenant forces. They destroyed the Covenant forces and three Spartans, Kelly, Fred, and Will, emerged from cover. Whitcomb asked if that was everyone and Fred replied that there was one more. That person turned out to be Dr. Halsey who was holding a fist-sized crystal. They were about to leave when they detected Covenant forces. They were surrounded by thousands of Covenant forces on each of the 12 levels of the gallery, and crowding the balconies were Grunts, Jackals, Elites and several pairs of Hunters. They all prepared to open fire on them, when a Hunter pair roared with rage and fired their weapons at the Master Chief and his team; the rest of the Covenant forces opened fire a split second later.

Back in space, the Ascendant Justice emerged from Slipspace into a frozen Oort cloud to hide from the Covenant forces because they knew that the Ascendant Justice wasn't one of theirs. Cortana eavesdropped on the data streams of the Covenant, using the dissected Covenant AI to help. Cortana discovered that the Covenant forces were heading to Earth.

Section 4: Gambit
As it turned out, the Covenant forces weren't shooting at the group, but rather the Hunters. They had had orders not to harm Dr. Halsey's crystal, and they risked harming it by shooting at the Master Chief and the others around him. The Covenant then proceeded toward the group. Whitcomb signaled for Polaski to pick them up; they got whisked out in the nick of time. However, while going up the grav lift, the Covenant begin to use it to push them back down. When Anton-044 opens the door to fire Jackhammer rockets up the shaft, Dr. Hasley's crystal changes ship an completly disables the grav Beam. Once they exit the tunnel, the crystal returns to normal.

In the Ascendant Justice, Cortana had used Engineers to combine the Covenant ship with another ship - the UNSC Gettysburg. She needed two reactors for her maneuver. She jumped into Slipspace, and jumped out right in the middle of the Covenant fleet, at the rendezvous point. The Chief's men got into the Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice (G.A.J.). However, when Cortana jumped back into Slipspace, they didn't go into normal Slipspace, and they dragged the Covenant fleet with them. The fleet opened fire, but the plasma behaved erratically - doing loops, curving, teleporting, etc. During the fight, Elites that had survived the purge of the Ascendant Justice blew a small hole in its hull. The Spartans and Polaski went out to repair it, but ran into the Elites. They fought, but Polaski, Li, and Anton were killed and Kelly was critically wounded. Desperate to escape, Cortana attempted to jump back into normal space. She succeeded, leaving the Covenant stranded in Slipspace, destroyed by sudden decompression of the extended slipspace field created by the crystal.

Section 5: Massacre at Eridanus Secundus
In the G.A.J., Halsey told the Chief that Linda would live. She then talked to him about Johnson and his survival against the Flood. She revealed that Johnson has Boren's Syndrome, the only known defense against the Flood (see full article for details). After he left, Halsey and Cortana discussed the crystal and found that it can warp space, gravity, and even time. When her group had found the crystal, the Chief and his group were transported back in time.

For repairs, the group headed to the Eridanus Secundus asteroid belt, home of a rebel resistance. During not-too-friendly negotiations, a Covenant ship dropped out of Slipspace (it found them because the crystal emits radiation upon exit from Slipspace). Despite malfunctioning plasma turrets, the crew of the G.A.J. decided to engage it. When Cortana informed them that the magnetic coils used to shape the plasma aren't working, the Chief came up with the idea to use the magnetic coils of the Gettysburg's MAC gun to shape it. During the fight, Halsey took Kelly away for a secret project, and Locklear, whom she had given the crystal to to protect, blew it (and himself) up so the Covenant couldn't get it.

Section 6: Operation: FIRST STRIKE
While the crew of the G.A.J. were able to retrieve a few shards of the crystal, they had more important things on mind: the Covenant invasion of Earth. Cortana knew that they were gathering at a battle station called the Unyielding Hierophant. The Chief came up with a daring plan to blow up the station and put a sizable dent in the fleet: he and the Spartans will go to the station in a modified dropship, infiltrate the station, and blow up the reactors, with help from a copy of Cortana.

The Spartans made it to the station without incident, but were forced to take a detour through a temple complex. There, they encountered Brutes for the first time. The Chief grappled with a Brute, and barely made it out alive. Grace was killed by Brute shots. They still managed to make it to the reactors, and they were successfully rigged to explode. The remaining Spartans exited the station, but only saw the Gettysburg when they made it back to the G.A.J.. The crew had taken the Ascendant Justice's Slipspace engine and installed it on the Gettysburg, while Whitcomb and Haverson had taken the Covenant ship. They broadcasted a message to the fleet that if they wanted the crystal's shards (which they had for proof), all they had to do was come and get them from the Ascendant Justice - which they had impaled into the central section of the Unyielding Hierophant. When the Unyielding Hierophant exploded, it destroyed some five hundred ships of the Covenant invasion force leaving roughly a dozen ships to attack Earth. The human survivors of the operation proceeded to Earth.

Section VII: Harbinger
In the epilogue, Tartarus gives shards of the Forerunner crystal to the High Prophet of Truth. The Prophet gives Tartarus orders to praise the survivors, then execute them, and punish the incompetent who lost Ascendant Justice; "make sure his fate matches the magnitude of his failure." In this epilogue, the Elite who was punished was most likely the future Arbiter, who had fought with the Master Chief and failed to kill him.

Characters
UNSC
 * Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-II John-117
 * Senior Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-II Fred-104
 * Petty Officer Second Class SPARTAN-II Kelly-087
 * Petty Officer Second Class SPARTAN-II Linda-058
 * Petty Officer Second Class SPARTAN-II Will-043
 * Li-008
 * Vinh-030
 * Isaac-039
 * Anton-044
 * Grace-093
 * Dr. Catherine Halsey
 * Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb
 * Lieutenant Elias Haverson
 * Petty Officer Second Class Shiela Polaski
 * Staff Sargeant Avery J. Johnson
 * Corporal Locklear

Covenant Zawaz(grunt), Covenant AI, Tartarus, and High Prophet of Truth

Trivia

 * On the cover of the novel the artist's signature is showing below a Marine's arm behind the Master Chief.
 * The original cover of the book had a graphic error on the Master Chief's head. The top part of his head was a little to the right of the bottom part, causing a split in his head. This was later corrected in recent versions.
 * On page 38, it says that a Longsword has 110mm rotary cannons, but on page 58, it says that "The Longsword's landing gear deployed and raised the craft a meter off the floor. "Guns clear," Polaski announced. "Bye, boys." She brought up a targeting reticle and swept it around the bay. A hail of 120 mm rounds tore through the Grunts' cover.
 * Near the end of the book, it says that Ghosts are fliers, like Banshees, but this is probably referring to how Ghosts hover above the ground.
 * Except for the seventh section, all the sections are numbered using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.); the seventh section is numbered using Roman numerals: VII.
 * After the Unyielding Hierophant exploded, there were a only a dozen or so Covenant ships left. These ships might have been the ones led by Regret that attacked Earth in the First Battle of Earth.
 * The Elite that SPARTAN-117 fought in Ascendant Justice was initially presumed to be the Arbiter, until it was realised that it was a Special Operations Elite, and not a Supreme Commander. Add to that the fact that the Arbiter's own ship was called the Seeker of Truth, and it is very unlikely.