Halo: Legacy of Onyx

Halo: Legacy of Onyx is a novel by Matt Forbeck released on November 14, 2017. 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.

Plot synopsis
The story begins with Molly Patel remembering 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 spend the night before the attack in a friend's house, try to searching her in the house, but Grace and her friend's family 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 Patel attempted to seek refuge inside a tunnel located at Cochineal Pass. Although the Patel 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 her "Newparents" Yong Lee and Asha Moyamba. One day, Yong and Asha came home early, informing Molly that they will leave Anaruka because they were hired by the Office of Naval Intelligence to study Forerunner technology on Sarcophagus, living alongside Sangheili and Unggoy. Molly roundly refuses to move with them because of her hate against the Covenant and their species, but when her Newparents mentions Spartans will be present to maintain the shield world secure from any threats, both internal and external, she reticently accept to the move, but she 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 leader of the Servants of Abiding Truth, makes 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.

Trivia

 * The novel's cover is illustrated by artist Benjamin Carré, who also provided artwork for Halo Mythos, and illustrated Halo: Retribution ' s cover.
 * The novel first appeared on Simon & Schuster's website. However, the listing was taken down, then relisted on Amazon and again on Simon & Schuster several months later before its formal announcement.