Halo: Legacy of Onyx

Halo: Legacy of Onyx is a novel by Matt Forbeck released on November 14, 2017. Set mainly in the Forerunner shield world Onyx, Legacy of Onyx follows up on narrative threads established in Forbeck's Halo: Fractures short story Lessons Learned.

Plot synopsis
The story begins with Molly Patel recalling the day the Covenant attacked Paris IV in 2549, when she was seven years old. Molly and her parents, without her older sister Grace, who spend the night before the attack in a friend's house, try to searching her in the house, but Grace and her friend's family already left. The Patel family tries to reach Mímir's spaceport, but the Covenant starts to glass Paris IV. Trying to escape the glassing beam, the Patel attempted to seek refuge inside a tunnel located at Cochineal Pass. Although the Patel barely managed to escape the glassing beam, their vehicle collides with the back of a truck inside the tunnel, killing Gotam and Brigid in the crash. Molly is later found in the pass tunnel by UNSC troops led by Sergeant Avery Johnson.

On September 2558, Molly was living in Aranuka on Earth, along her "Newparents" Yong Lee and Asha Moyamba. One day, Yong and Asha came home early, informing Molly that they will leave Anaruka because they were hired by the Office of Naval Intelligence to study Forerunner technology on Sarcophagus, living alongside Sangheili and Unggoy from the Swords of Sanghelios. Molly roundly refuses to move with them because of her hate against those species and the Covenant as a whole, even if the Swords are allied with the humans, but when her Newparents mentions Spartans will be present to maintain the shield world secure from any threats, both internal and external, she reticently accepts the move, but plans to leave Sarcophagus when she turns 18. Inside Sarcophagus, a small battle starts near the Project: GOLIATH site, with Forerunner armigers appearing out of nowhere; Spartans Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091 are dispatched to handle the enemy forces. After the battle, they inform Franklin Mendez that the armigers were protecting the site, not attacking it. On Hesduros, Dural 'Mdama, "the Pale Blade" and leader of the Servants of Abiding Truth, led his forces to the planet and makes an alliance with the kaidon of the Panom keep to gain access to the same slipspace portal Dural's father, Jul 'Mdama, used to escape from Sarcophagus five years ago.

Days later, Molly, along her Newparents and other families, are transported to Sarcophagus onboard the, a repurposed as a civilian transport and refitted with some Forerunner technology recovered inside the shield world. On the ship, they are received by Doctor Hugo Barton, who fills them with the history of Onyx and some information about Sarcophagus. After settling on Paxopolis, Molly and her Newparents are visited by Mendez, Tom, and Lucy. After being dismissed, Molly hides to hear what the Spartans, Mendez, and her Newparents are talking about, hearing about the incidents happening on Project: GOLIATH's site and how it is repeating itself on several human colonies, and some internal problems between the humans and the Sangheili inside Sarcophagus. After hearing that, Molly interrupts the discussion to express her opinion on how hard it is to get over the ghosts of the war. During the discussion, Molly notes Kasha 'Hilot, headmaster of the Pax Institute, is outside her home. Although initially reluctant, Molly greets Kasha, with both talking about the Institute and its students. Kasha hopes Molly and her family became good allies with the rest of Paxopolis, but Molly is not very convinced of it.

On Hesduros, "Pale Blade" orders to some of his forces to bring Even Keel, a Huragok, to fix the slispace portal near Panom, and, as a sign of "gratitude" to Panom's kaidon, he leaves behind a complement of vehicles and weapons for Panom's warriors in case the Swords of Sanghelios show up again. After crossing the portal, "Pale Blade" and his forces arrive inside Sarcophagus, where he has a heated discussion with Buran 'Utaral, and recalls his mother's death, the disappearance of both his father Jul and his brother Asum, and his recruitment into the Servants by Avu Med 'Telcam. The Servants establish a base inside a Forerunner facility and take notice of a pair of Marines, who were exploring the surroundings; "Pale Blade" orders them both killed.

Trivia

 * The novel's cover is illustrated by artist Benjamin Carré, who also provided artwork for Halo Mythos, and illustrated Halo: Retribution ' s cover.
 * The novel first appeared on Simon & Schuster's website. However, the listing was taken down, then relisted on Amazon and again on Simon & Schuster several months later before its formal announcement.