Halo: Escalation Issue 13

Halo: Escalation Issue 13 was released on December 24, 2014 and is the thirteenth comic in the Halo: Escalation series. It is the first part of the four-issue story arc "The Janus Key".

Plot synopsis
Issue #13 begins two months after the events of Issue #12, on July 15, 2558, with Dr. Catherine Halsey making a personal journal entry on her views on the Forerunners and their technology, her contribution to humanity's survival and subsequent condemnation by the UNSC, as well as her encounter with the Librarian on Requiem. Despite the UNSC turning against her, she remains determined to combine the halves of the Janus Key and take them to the Absolute Record to fulfill the Librarian's plan.

The next day, Oban is attacked by Prometheans and Covenant forces. Spartans Gabriel Thorne, Sarah Palmer and Joel Thomas are deployed to repel the attack. Palmer orders to all UNSC forces search and find Jul 'Mdama, and Thomas orders an airstrike to a couple of Type-44 Phantoms. Palmer orders Thorne to get to a M12 Warthog LRV but they are ambushed and pursued by Promethean Crawlers. They dispatch them and Palmer jumps direct above the Phantoms. The Warthog lands on the ground, injuring Thorne and the Phantoms are about to kill them but the airstrike, a GA-TL1 Longsword, appears and destroys both Phantoms.

On July 17, onboard the, Captain Lasky reprehends Palmer about her attitude on Oban. Palmer ask him why Jul would effort so much resources on attack a small colony, and Lasky answer her maybe it was to stop colonization efforts and maybe Jul was not the one responsible of the attack. Lasky then tells Palmer that she is frustrated by losing not Jul's track but Halsey's, knowing "one will lead to the other". Lasky reveals he wants Dr. Halsey back to the custody, but Palmer says when Halsey is on her sight, she will kill her. The next day, Palmer visits Dr. Glassman, examination one of the halves of the Janus Key. Palmer orders Glassman to give her the final head count of Galileo II Base and she has prepared a security escort for the team. When the Infinity jumps to slipspace, the ship suddenly reappears in an asteroid belt, causing damages inside the Infinity. The Infinity jumps to slipspace again, just to reappear a quarter of a kilometer of her last position. Roland tells Captain Lasky that it is not advisable to make another jump, then Lasky orders Palmer and Dr. Glassman to go to Infinity ' s Engine room. Dr. Glassman discovers the Infinity ' s slipspace drive is overriding any coordinate except the one of the location in which they are, sticking the ship in a "Slipspace Cul-de-sac". In that moment, Roland finds an unusual energy reading coming from the equator of an uncharted planet near their position. Glassman and Lasky suppose that the location is the source of the problem and Palmer orders to gather a team and send them with Dr. Glassman to the planet.

In a, Dr. Halsey and Jul 'Mdama are in front of a Forerunner artifact, recovered by 'Mdama before Requiem exploded. Halsey explains to 'Mdama that the artifact allowed Halsey to be able to contact the Infinity ' s Forerunner components, including her slipspace drive, and stuck them into the system. 'Mdama then tells Halsey his lieutenants called for her head after the failed attack to Oban, but Halsey tells him that the attack was only a bold move to attract the Infinity near the artifact and be able to connect the artifact and Infinity ' s drive. Halsey then tells him that now they will not need to invade the ship to retrieve the other half of the Janus Key, as it will be Infinity ' s crew itself who will give it to them.