Something Has Happened

Something Has Happened is one of several stories in Halo: Tales from Slipspace. Written by Alex Irvine and drawn by Vasilis Lolos, it narrates the Flood infestation on the in January 2537.

Plot synopsis
On January 1, 2537, the, having sacrificed its Shaw-Fujikawa drive during the battle of the Etran Harborage six years earlier, travels slowly back toward human-controlled space. The ship's degrading AI, Serina, notes in a report that she is six days away from reaching the end of her seven year operational lifespan. In keeping with procedures, she awakens engineering specialist Violeta Maldini from cryosleep to perform routine maintenance examinations around the ship. As Maldini completes her inspection of Cryo-bay Foxtrot 7, she is attacked by a stowaway Flood infection form and is overtaken by the parasite. After placing the sector under lockdown, Serina spends the following days examining the organism' actions for future interest to the UNSC, as well as to quench her own misplaced curiosity. On January 4, Serina witnesses the specimen reach the end of its life cycle and produce more infection forms. Having absorbed Maldini's knowledge of cryo chamber codes, the Flood then proceeds to open cryotubes and infect more crew members. Realizing her duties were being inhibited by rampancy, Serina awakens professor Ellen Anders to ask her for help dealing with the threatening situation.

Approximately 15 minutes later, Spartan Jerome-092 of Red Team, who had arranged to be brought out of cryosleep in the event Anders was awoken, arises to find himself inside the Flood infested cryo-bay. Due to enacted protocols, Serina and Anders are unable to help Jerome get out of the quarantined bay.

Trivia

 * The story's name is a direct reference to the last line spoken in Halo Wars, by Serina: "Captain, wake up. Something has happened." The line plays after the end credits once the player has beaten the game on Legendary difficulty.

Mistakes

 * Jerome-092 arms himself with a BR85HB battle rifle to fight the Flood infestation. This particular weapon did not enter service until late in the Human-Covenant War (and even then, only in limited numbers). As such, it could not have been aboard the Spirit of Fire when it left UNSC-controlled space in 2531.