Halo: Contact Harvest

Halo: Contact Harvest is the title of a Halo book by Joseph Staten. Published by Tor, it was released on October 30th, 2007. It is the fifth official book in the Halo series, and the second of three that will be published by Tor.

The price of the novel in the US is $14.95. The novel is also available as an audio book CD. The price of the audio book CD in the US is $29.95.

As part of Bungie's contract with Tor, there will be at least one more Halo novel released after Contact Harvest.

Though not intended as an exclusive prequel for Halo Wars, the novel serves as a good explanation for the then-current nature of the conflict between the UNSC and the Covenant.

Summary
On the UNSC colony Harvest, there is only peace and prosperity. Watched by two A.I., Sif and Mack, the colony produces much of Humanity's food. This peace is interrupted when a Jackal controlled vessel, Minor Transgression discovers the planet. A Covenant Grunt, Deacon Dadab, is alarmed when the ship's Luminary seem to register thousands of Forerunner artifacts and an Oracle, the Covenant term for a Forerunner A.I. The opportunistic Jackals plan to take some artifacts for themselves before reporting the discovery to the Hierarchs, and begin surreptitiously raiding human freighters. Unfortunately for the Jackals, ONI had recently organized a strike team to counteract what they believed to be a growing Insurrectionist group, including one Staff Sergeant Avery J. Johnson. They successfully fooled Minor Transgression into boarding a freighter where they were immediately attacked by Johnson and Staff Sergeant Byrne. This raid marked the first meeting of the humans and Covenant forces, and makes the humans aware of a brand new threat they may be facing. The vessel is destroyed by Johnson, with only the Deacon Dadab and his Engineer friend Lighter Than Some escaping in a separate vessel. While the UNSC prepares the Colonial Militia for a possible alien invasion, two ambitious Prophets, The Minister of Fortitude and the Vice Minister of Tranquility learn of the large amount of "relics" found on Harvest and begin to plan a coup of the current Heirarchs using this as a fulcrum. To keep the Elites from using this discovery as a way to upset the balance of power, they utilize a Brute-controlled ship, Rapid Conversion, captained by Maccabeus, Brute Alpha Male, and crewed by his pack of Brutes (including a youthful Tartarus), the two began a secret attempt to seize the planet. This marks the beginning of the powerful alliance between the Brutes and the Prophets, and the key to their eventual betrayal of the Sangheili.

Rapid Conversion arrives in the system to find the escape pod of Dadab and Lighter Than Some, Much to the devout Maccabeus' delight. The Brutes use the Deacon as a way to motivate their own lackluster compliment of Grunts and the Engineer to repair their intentionally crippled ship. They all soon discover the planet's vast store of reclamations and a message of peace left by the planet's governor in the form of a crude pictogram displaying a desire for peace. The Brutes land two Spirit Dropships at a specified date, with only the desire to capture the entire planet at any cost. The attempt at peaceful contact falls apart after an errant Grunt attacks a wandering militiaman, and the one-sided Battle of Harvest begins.

Meanwhile, the ambitious Prophets begin their usurping by invoking the Prophet of Restraint in a conspiracy that will lead to his removal if revealed. They seek a blessing by the long silent Oracle present on the Forerunner Dreadnought. They visit an old, supposedly senile Philologist, for blessings and advice. When they input the discovery of Harvest and the Luminary's data, the Oracle, a Forerunner construct much like 343 Guilty Spark, suddenly awakens from eons of dormancy and reveals that they've been misinterpreting their findings. What the Jackals thought were artifacts were actually registering the presence of the Humans on Harvest, which it claims are Reclaimers, and refers to them as his makers' or living Forerunners. Realizing that the discovery of living Forerunners would tear the Covenant apart, the Prophets swear to secrecy, induct the Philologist into their conspiracy and accelerate their plans for takeover.

On Harvest, the humans begin to resist the assault by the Brute ship on select towns on the planet by shuttling as many civilians as possible to the town's capital. The Planet's AI, Mack, normally responsible for the agricultural JOTUNS, hands over his vast network to his previously concealed doppleganger, Loki, a ship AI now implemented as a defense mechanism. The Colonial Militia manages to ferry most of the surviving population to Utgard, the capital, and then begin their plan to send these people to safety aboard the Freighters on top of the seven Space elevators present on Harvest, the Tiara. The Brutes, having stationed their Grunt forces in the Tiara, unwittingly allow the Engineer Lighter Than Some to come into contact with Loki and the now nearly destroyed AI Sif. The Engineer, disgusted by the killing and wishing to end it, shows the AI how to duplicate the Forerunner symbol for Oracle and helps lure the Covenant ship in range of the colony's sole mass driver and cripple it. While Johnson leads a small force up the Space Elevator to clear the Grunts on board, Tartarus usurps control of his Pack and counterattacks. During the assault, a jealous group of drones kill Lighter Than Some. A devastated Dadab wounds Tartarus before being killed, allowing the humans to escape.

The Brutes glass Harvest and the refugees flee. The scheming Prophets usurp the Hierarchs and become the High Prophets of Truth, Regret and Mercy, and finally declare Holy War on the Humans, to prevent any of the Covenant from ever discovering their true place as the Forerunner's descendants. They recommission the Luminary as a means to locate human planets, and begin the Human-Covenant War.

United Nations Space Command

 * Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson
 * Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygni
 * Captain Ponder
 * Staff Sergeant Nolan Byrne
 * Governor Thune
 * Attorney General Rol Pedersen

Covenant

 * Jiralhanae Chieftain Maccabeus
 * Tartarus
 * Huragok Lighter Than Some
 * Unggoy Dadab
 * Prophet of Truth
 * Prophet of Regret
 * Prophet of Mercy

Other

 * Dr. Catherine Halsey

Trivia

 * In 2524, the BR-55 was a prototype ONI weapon. Many people were confused as to why a Battle Rifle was being fielded by Avery Johnson before the book was released. Joseph Staten in Bungie Podcast III hinted as to why the BR-55 was in Contact Harvest, and it was confirmed that it was a prototype weapon in 2524.


 * Johnson gets into a relationship with Lt. Commander Jilan al-Cygni. She was sent by ONI to use Johnson and Byrne in a covert operation to figure out who kept boarding freighters that would send out a distress signal. It wasn't until the second to last chapter of the book did anything of intimate nature occur.


 * In an excerpt found in OXM, it is revealed that the Hornet appears in Contact Harvest in the sense that they have been in service since 2524.


 * The Unggoy Dadab could refer to Tim Dadabo, the voice actor of 343 Guilty Spark


 * The Unggoy Bapap is presumably cousin to Yayap, the main Unggoy in Halo: The Flood


 * The Brutes were described wearing some type of energy shielded power armor, similar to what they wore in Halo 3


 * Catherine Halsey makes a very brief "appearance" in the post-epilogue conversation between Mack and Sif under the pseudonym "Charlie Hotel".


 * On page 189, Dadab describes how the prophets knew how Mendicant Bias betrayed the Forerunner for the Flood.


 * The oracle in the Dreadnought is most likely Mendicant Bias. Also on page 276, the oracle says "I will reject my bias and will make amends."


 * For all who own the book, if you look into the "Halo" on the cover page, you can see the "Reclamation/Reclaimer" symbol inside the letters.