Halo: Ghosts of Onyx

Ghosts of Onyx is the title of the fourth novel in the Halo series. The book is written by Eric Nylund and published by Tor Books. It was officially released on October 31st, 2006.

In addition, the announcement of the title also included a confirmation that Ghosts of Onyx was not the last planned Halo book. At least two more novels would follow, as part of a contract with Tor. The other two being Halo: Contact Harvest, and Halo: The Cole Protocol.

Brief Summary
Ghosts of Onyx clarifies major plot points, one being the Spartan-III Program, first hinted at in Halo: First Strike while filling the gap between Halo 2 and Halo 3. The story details the risks and failures that the SPARTAN-III project and the people around it had to endure. The book also reveals the events of the Second Battle of Earth in which the Covenant fleet arrives and begins to destroy the planet, only to be halted later by the discovery of the Portal. The book also ties up the fates of many of the characters mentioned throughout the novels.

DATE: May 1 2531 - November 3, 2552

Section 0: Beta Company's Victory at Pegasi Delta
The prologue begins with the 300 SPARTAN-IIIs of Beta Company being deployed to the Covenant Planet, Pegasi Delta in 2545. Out of the 300; 291 hit the ground and proceed towards their target, a Covenant refinery. The Spartans manage to destroy the facility, but due to unexpected heavy Covenant resistance, in the form of seven large Covenant cruisers, misidentified as part of the factory by the orbiting STARS Satellite, only two; SPARTANS Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091, survive. Tom and Lucy are revealed to be only twelve years old, and Lucy is severely traumatized and rendered mute, being diagnosed with post traumatic vocal disarticulation after the deaths of the other Spartans and several of her companions from Team Foxtrot Adam-B004 and Min-B174.

Section 1: Lieutenant Ambrose
The narrative then moves back to 2531 to a raid by SPARTAN-II Blue Team against insurrectionists on Planet Victoria to recover stolen FENRIS nuclear warheads. Though the team is almost captured, the timely intervention of Kurt-051 allows the team to complete their mission without any other serious problems. Five months later, Colonel James Ackerson of Section Three of the Office of Naval Intelligence, meets with the top brass of ONI. During the meeting, Ackerson moves forward a proposal for a new SPARTAN program which retains most of the effectiveness, of the Series II program without the high costs of the previous project. This becomes the SPARTAN-III program, a more streamlined, "disposable", as well as more numerable, company of SPARTANS that must be trained for high-risk operations.

Section 2: SPARTAN-III
Like the SPARTAN-II program, candidates are selected at a young age, and undergo radical biological augmentations at a certain age, they are also equipped with special SPI (Semi Powered Infiltration Armor). However the difference with the Series-III lies in selecting orphaned volunteers from ages 4 to 6, who are gathered from worlds destroyed by the Covenant. They are trained by the SPARTAN-IIs' original trainer, Senior Chief Petty Officer Mendez. Ackerson and the brass agree that in order to train Spartan's you need a Spartan, Ackerson selects Kurt-051 as he is viewed as the best SPARTAN-II for instructional duties. His death is then staged, and he awakens sometime after and meets Colonel Ackerson; who later promotes him to Lieutenant, Junior Grade and gives him the surname name Kurt Ambrose. Kurt is then told of the SPARTAN-III project and is given orders to take charge of the program. The operation is conducted on a classified UNSC controlled world called "Onyx", which was the site of a major archaeological survey of alien artifacts conducted by ONI.

The first SPARTAN-III company, Alpha Company, proves highly successful, but is wiped out when deployed to a major Covenant shipyard just outside of Human controlled space in a mission codenamed Operation PROMETHEUS. Devastated by the images of the battle and the loss of his soldiers, Kurt improves the training regimen for Beta Company, but most are killed in action. So in an effort to reduce casualties, Kurt then institutes an illegal medical procedure on Gamma Company, which will harden their minds and bodies against pain and shock to better allow them to survive the Covenant onslaught.

Section 3: Intruders
The narrative switches to October 31, 2552, the top three teams of the SPARTAN-III Gamma Company, Teams Saber, Katana, and Gladius, conduct a training exercise near a restricted area on the planet deemed Zone 67, only to find themselves and other U.N.S.C. personnel under attack by an unidentified class of alien drones. Very quickly, the few humans on the planet are either wiped out or struggling to survive against this new, unexpected threat.

Section 4: Dr. Catherine Halsey
Doctor Catherine Halsey and Kelly-087 arrive in the Zeta Doradus System, as they get closer to Onyx they are attacked by the drones and crash land. Once on the planet, they meet up with the human survivors of the attacks, including S-III Team Saber, Kurt, and Chief Mendez. Halsey identifies the drones as Sentinels from the Artificial Intelligence, Cortana's logs of the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. Halsey proceeds to call for reinforcements, piggybacking her transmission on, ironically, another transmission made by Cortana at the end of Halo 2. On the message she calls out for caution about the danger coming from the Dreadnought that includes SPARTAN-117. As well as the omniscient threat of the Flood, which was trying to escape from Delta Halo at the time.

Section 5: Blue Team
The narrative switches to Earth, two weeks after the destruction of New Mombasa, where the planet is under siege by Covenant forces. Fred-104, Will-043, and Linda-058 are pulled out of the line of fire by Fleet Admiral Hood, who responds to Halsey's call for reinforcements by dispatching the Spartans to Onyx. After hijacking a Covenant destroyer called Bloodied Spirit and killing all Covenant on board by suffocation, the Spartans head for Onyx, only to be caught in the middle of a battle between Brute and Elite ships on the way. The Spartans barely escape and arrive at Onyx only to be attacked by the Sentinels. They escape using a Covenant Dropship and link up with the survivors, and then make their way toward the restricted area of Onyx after shaking Sentinel pursuit.

Section 6: The Ghosts of Onyx
The narrative switches to Delta Halo, where the Covenant are in the midst of a civil war. The Elites intercept Halsey's message and learn of the existence of Onyx and its Forerunner artifacts and regroup at a Covenant world called Joyous Exultation. There the Sangheili leader Xytan 'Jar Wattinree rallies the Elites together and discuss the apparent treachery of the Brutes and Prophets, and how to go about handling the situation. Ship Master Voro 'Mantakree speaks to his fellow ship masters and suggests that they go to Onyx, as well as be vigilant of the Flood threat. He is promoted to the rank of Fleet Master and is given command of a fleet of eighteen destroyers, two cruisers and one carrier. They then prepare to go to Onyx, and retrieve the Forerunner technology. Meanwhile on the Covenant Super-carrier called Sublime Transcendence a Grunt named Kwassass stumbles upon the Huragok who are busy examining what is revealed to be Admiral Whitcomb's  NOVA bomb. The Huragok unknowingly arm it after Kwassass messes with the arming device for sometime. Shortly after the fleet departs for Onyx, the NOVA detonates, scorching the Covenant world with over 300 km per hour winds, shattering its nearby moon, Malhiem, into a billion fragments, and disintegrating the Covenant armada, as well as severely devastating the surface of Joyous Exultation.

Section 7: Reclaimers
The Covenant fleet and UNSC reinforcement fleet arrive at Onyx, where they encounter one another and the Sentinel defenders, which attack anything approaching the system. In the ensuing battle, the entire UNSC fleet is destroyed save for one prowler-class vessel, which stays hidden and observes events unfolding. The humans on Onyx discover an ancient Forerunner city, Dr. Halsey determines that the entire planet is actually a "Shield World" referred to by the Forerunners as The Sharpened Shield. The Sharpened Shield was constructed by the Forerunners to protect themselves from the firing of the Halo Array, which are designed to eradicate all sentient life should the Flood escape. Fighting off determined Covenant pursuers, they press on into the heart of the planet to find its secrets, but not before the ONI AI communicates to Dr. Halsey the importance of shutting down a Forerunner "factory located at the "tip" of the plant that manufactures a new Sentinel every six seconds, or 600 per hour. Disabling the factory, they press on to the planet's core, where they discover a Slipspace rift that shunts those that pass through it to a miniaturized Dyson Sphere that is separated from normal space-time by advanced Forerunner Slipspace technology. Will-043 and Holly-G003 fall fighting off the Covenant forces, Will-043 engaging several Mgalekgolo in hand to hand combat, before meeting his demise, earning him even the Sangheilli's respect. Halsey, Mendez, Tom, Lucy, and the other Spartans escape. Kurt remains behind in order to stop the Covenant from following the humans into the Dyson Sphere. He waits for the core doors to fully close and then he lists Kurt Ambrose as MIA under SPARTAN-051 along with the other Spartans, adhering to the tradition of never listing a fallen Spartan as KIA. He ends his life responding to the Elite Fleet Master, "Die? Didn't you know?... Spartans never die," he detonates the two FENRIS nuclear warheads that the team had taken with them.

From outside Onyx, the surviving UNSC prowler Dusk watches on as the planet's surface rips apart, to reveal that the entire world is constructed of literally trillions of Sentinels, all connected together to provide an impenetrable defense around the Dyson Sphere at the heart of the planet. Within this sphere, which features terrain similar to that of Earth. Dr Halsey reveals that five pods they recovered before destroying the sentinel factory are pods that suspends the user inside a Slipspace field, the user is extruded into an alternate set of spacial co-ordinates excluded from time and nothing can harm them, because technically they are not there. 5 of the remaining Spartans, known as Team Katana, are each trapped in a Slipspace Field Pod. Concluding the story, Fred-104 takes command of the remaining survivors who find themselves alone in the vast habitat. Fred orders Dr. Halsey and the others to find the Forerunner artifacts and search for method of escape. Kelly then welcomes the new Spartan III's to the Blue Team, ensuring that they were "going to make a great team."

Although the ending winded up having an upbeat tone, nonetheless, the problem remained of the Spartan-III's lack of proper medication to keep their mental and physical capabilities intact. In time, they would fall prey to their own bodies' needs.

Errors
On his blog, Eric Nylund has confirmed that there will be a reprint some time in the future, fixing many errors in the book. The time for this is not yet known.

List of Errors

 * Many words and names are misspelled
 * Boren's Syndrome—"Borren's Syndrome"
 * Côte d'Azur—"Côte d'Azure"
 * Oly Oly Oxen Free—"Olly Olly Oxen Free"


 * On page 19 it is said an Elite that got shot splattered bright blue blood when the Sangheili are known to have purple
 * On page 84 and date July 30, 2537, it is said that SPARTAN-III Alpha Company landed on K7-49 on July 27th. However, the book describes seven days of fighting, with only three days between the beginning of Operation PROMETHEUS and Kurt's briefing on their deaths. Also, on page 81, it is said that Kurt's sources went silent on the 24th and Deep Winter revealed their presence in Operation PROMETHEUS.
 * On pages 51 and 314, U.N.S.C. is misspelled as U.S.N.C.
 * On pages 56-57, the dates that they looked for Spartan 051-Kurt span 4 years. The year in the beginning of the chapter is November 7, 2531. In the after action report it says that they looked for Kurt and were joined on 1/13/2335 at 1105 hours, by the U.N.S.C. frigate Tannenberg.
 * On page 67 the date given is December 27, 2531. It states Kurt had been developing a training regime for the Spartan IIIs for 6 months. However, according to page 57, he had become involved on December 14, 2531, a mere 13 days prior. In later editions, Chapter 6 begins on December 27, 2532, a year later.
 * At the prologue, which takes place in 2545, Tom remembered "the Lieutenant Commander's" advice. But when Kurt went to see Gamma Company's enhancement in 2551, he was still a Lieutenant. It is almost impossible that Kurt was demoted, since he was a SPARTAN-II.
 * On page 79 the date is listed as July 30, 2537 and states it has been 15 years since the indoctrination of the Alpha Company of Spartan IIIs, when in fact that would only be 5 years later.
 * On page 87, (Chapter 8), and page 224 (chapter 25), plasma bolts is misspelled as plasma blots.
 * On page 92 Senior Chief Mendez says that Tom and Lucy are 10 years old, but in the Prologue, which takes place 4 years later, they are only 12 years old.
 * On page 125, the date of the report is listed as October 22, 2511. However, it mentions Beta Company Spartans, which were not online until some 25-30 years later.
 * On page 209 a Brute Shot is described as an RPG, or rocket-propelled grenade (see rocket-propelled grenade on Wikipedia). The Brute Shots are type-25 grenade launchers and do not use rockets and are simply grenade launchers.
 * On pages 260 (chapter 29) and 367 (chapter 39), MA5B is misspelled as MAB5.
 * On page 371 Kurt-051 is listed as Lieutenant Commandeer, not Lieutenant Commander
 * On page 281 Sangheili is misspelled as Sangeili
 * On page 287, Commander Lash mentions a watch given to him by his father upon graduation of OSC, but it is likely that he graduated from OCS, or Officer Candidate School.
 * On page 314 the A.I. Endless Summer says U.S.N.C. instead of U.N.S.C.
 * In the report that states that Kurt is missing, it labels his armor as a Mark V. However, this is impossible, since the Mark IV armor was still being used for another twenty-one years, until Reach is destroyed.
 * On page 320, after Holly says "Hurry", it misspells her name as "Holy".

Trivia

 * The cover features an MA5B and two new rifles resembling a cross between a BR55 and an MA5B, which are revealed in the book to be MA5K carbines.
 * Ghosts of Onyx is supposedly derived from the song Ghosts of Reach on the Halo 2 Soundtrack.
 * Before the confirmation of the book itself, the book's placeholder and showcase online name was "Ghosts of Coral". This raised much speculation about the I Love Bees involvement in the Halo series.
 * The cover of the book displays the three primary armor types worn by the Spartan-IIs and Spartan-IIIs. The figure in the left (Presumably Kelly-087, as she did not return to Earth to receive the upgraded armor as the other Spartans did) wears MJOLNIR Mark V armor. The Center figure (The book reveals this figure to be Fredric-104, Will-043, or Linda-058, though it is likely not Linda, as she would be armed with an SRS-99C Sniper Rifle) wears the newer MJOLNIR Mark VI Armor. The figure on the right (revealed to be either Kurt-051 or one of the Spartan-IIIs) wears SPI Mark II armor.
 * During the stage that it was still called Ghosts of Coral, two chapters were cut from the novel for 'pacing reasons' though Nylund has expressed a desire to release these.
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx was the first book in the series to not center around the Master Chief. However, he did appear in the prologue.
 * Fred, Will, and Linda kill the crew of "Bloodied Spirit" by venting the atmosphere, however any Grunts would still be alive due to their breathing systems.