Halo: Ghosts of Onyx

Halo: Ghosts of Onyx is the title of the next Halo book by Eric Nylund. Published by Tor, it is due to be released on October 31st, 2006.

In addition, the announcement of the title also included a confirmation that Ghosts of Onyx is not the last planned Halo book. At least two more novels are planned to follow it, this is part of the contract with Tor.

=Plot= The official summary is:

'The Spartan-II program has gone public. Tales of super-soldiers fending off thousands of Covenant attacks has become the stuff of legend.'

But just how many Spartans are left?

''While the Master Chief defends a beseiged Earth, and the myriad factions of the Covenant continue their crusade to eliminate humanity, an ultrasecret cell of the Office of Naval Intelligence known as "Section Three" devises a plan to buy the UNSC vital time. They're going to need hundreds of willing soldiers, though... and one more Spartan to get the job done.''

The planet Onyx is virtually abandoned and fleets of the UNSC and the Covenant race to claim it to change the course of the Human-Covenant War.

But this reawakened and ancient force may have plans of its own...

This possibly involves Dr. Halsey and Kelly, as well as CPO Mendez, and the possible next generation of Spartans. If you look closely at the cover, you see troops wearing Spartan-like armor, but it is not the Mark V or Mark VI armor, thus adding credibility to the Spartan-III prediction.

Through the leak of the working title, "Halo: Ghosts of Coral", it was speculated to be about the planet Coral, which is the site of excavations that have uncovered Forerunner artifacts (see Conversations from the Universe, and briefly touched upon in the ilovebees viral campaign), though this speculation is most likely not valid since the announcement of the real name and summary.

"Ghosts of Onyx" will delve deeper into the politics and policies between Humans and their Spartan creations.

Characters

 * Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN John-117
 * Senior Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN Fred-104
 * Petty Officer Second Class SPARTAN Kelly-087
 * Petty Officer Second Class SPARTAN Linda-058
 * Lieutenant, junior grade SPARTAN Kurt-051 [Gains officer's rank upon joining the SPARTAN-III project]
 * SPARTAN-III Tom-B292
 * SPARTAN-III Lucy-B091
 * SPARTAN-III Adam-B004
 * SPARTAN-III Min-B174
 * General Howard Graves [Leader of the United Rebel Front]