Halo: Blood Line Issue 1

Halo: Blood Line Issue One is the first issue of the Halo: Blood Line limited comic book series. It was released on December 23, 2009.

Plot synopsis
The story begins with a priority transmission sent by Admiral Roland Freemont, commander of FLEETCOM Sector One, to Vice Admiral Alexander Reaves. The message is to reassign SPARTAN-II Team Black with a mission to perform sabotage to Covenant vessels encountered in Sub-Sector 35, along with gathering intelligence.

The team is deployed to their mission in cryo-chambers onboard the Long Time Coming, a civilian prospecting ship commissioned by the ONI. As they prepare to jump into Slipspace, the ship intercepts a burst transmission of unknown origin, displaying a pi-constant baseline and a repeated binary message. The shipboard AI Iona does not recognize the signal to be of human or Covenant origin, and asks Captain Moreland for more time to analyze the contents.

Meanwhile, the Covenant assault carrier Clarity of Faith, on a mission to regroup with a supply convoy, receives the same signal. The ship's second-in-command, Major Reff 'Talamee is curious about the transmission, thinking it could be Forerunner in origin, while his brother, Shipmaster Thon does not show any particular interest in it.

Back on Long Time Coming, the Captain and the co-pilot infer that the message is likely to be a radio echo of some sort, and Moreland tells Iona to ignore it and initiate the jump. Simultaneously, Thon orders the Clarity of Faith to jump into Slipspace despite Reff's suggestions to investigate the signal. As the Long Time Coming makes the jump, Iona realizes that the transmission was a warning of navigational hazards in the area, and before they can react, the ship is bombarded by bursts of energy. The same happens to the Clarity of Faith, and both ships drop out of slipspace, and subsequently crash on a moon.

The crew of the Long Time Coming is killed in the crash, and Iona opens Team Black's cryo pods. The Spartans assess the situation, and soon realize that the planetoid they are on does not have a breathable atmosphere. According to Iona's surface scans, a sprawling underground complex is located nearby. Black-One, the team's leader, orders Black-Two to stay on the ship and raise an emergency beacon to Fleet Command, while she and the rest of the team take a Warthog and head to the underground structure, with Black-Four taking Iona with him. Outside, they discover the moon's surface to be filled with shipwrecks.

Meanwhile, the crew of the Clarity of Faith recover from the crash and proceed to take any serviceable vehicles from the cargo bay and move out from the wreckage. Some time later, the Spartans drive amongst the wreckage and investigate one of the crashed ships closer. Black-Four notes that the ships were destroyed from within before being shot down. Just before they can to move out, a Wraith opens fire on them. The Spartans take cover, and return fire. The story ends just as the Spartans notice a large, tentacled machine appearing behind them.