Editing Halo: First Strike

{{Era|FS|RW|}}
{{Ratings}}
{{Book Info
|name= ''Halo: First Strike''
|image=First Strike.jpg
|Author= [[Eric Nylund]]
|Publisher= [[Del Rey Books]]
|Date Released= December 2, 2003
|Length= 352 Pages
|US Price=$7.98
|Can Price=$10.99
|UK Price=£6.99
|ISBN= 0345467817
|ISBN-13= 978-0345467812 
|Amazon=http://www.amazon.com/First-Strike-Halo-Eric-Nylund/dp/0345467817/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/103-6869926-5685403?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173099068&sr=1-2
|Availability= Paperback
|Product Dimensions= 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches                
|Product Dimensions Metric=17.4 x 10.7 x 2.5 cm         
|Shipping Weight= 5.60 ounces 
|Shipping Mass= 1.00 Kg
}}

[[Eric Nylund]] returned to write the third novel, ''[[Halo: First Strike]]'', a sequel to ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' taking place before the events of ''[[Halo 2]]''. It was published in December 2003,<ref name=randomhouse>{{cite web | other books:halo:the flood.halo:the fall of reach.url=http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345467812 | title=''Halo: First Strike'' by Eric Nylund | accessdate=September 2 | accessyear=2006 }}</ref> after being written in a period of sixteen weeks.<ref name=xbox.com3>{{cite web | last=Greene | first=Marty|url=http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/h/halo2/spotlight2.htm | title=''First Strike'' Author Eric Nylund Q&A | accessdate=September 2 | accessyear=2006 }}</ref>

==Brief Summary==
''Halo: First Strike'' clarifies a few plot questions that might have been raised by [[Halo: Combat Evolved|''Halo'']] fans, including exactly what happened to the SPARTANs on [[Reach]] and also how [[Avery Junior Johnson]] survived the attack of the [[Flood]]. This book is written by [[Eric Nylund]], who also wrote ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'', and is part of the official ''Halo'' canon. This has led to certain inconsistencies in ''[[Halo 2]]''.

'''DATE:''' August 30, 2552-September 13, 2552 (Date revised due to an anomalous Slipspace bubble.)

==Detailed Summary==

===Section 0: [[Reach]]===
The prologue begins before the [[Battle of Reach]] flashing back to Chapter 34 in ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' where [[Captain Keyes]] informed the [[Master Chief]] of the matter of the unsecured NAV database. [[Frederic-104]] is made the leader of Red Team and ordered to take the other [[SPARTAN-II|SPARTAN-IIs]] down to [[Reach]] to protect the generators powering the orbital [[MAC]] guns. 

The narrative then follows [[Red Team]] as they ride a [[Pelican]] down to the surface, but are forced to make a supersonic hard landing to the ground after the pilot gets hit by plasma fire from [[Seraph]] Fighters. The impact kills four of the Spartans and leaves many more seriously injured. Most lose their weapons and ammunition, [[SPARTAN-104|Fred-104]] and [[Spartan-087|Kelly-087]] improvise using rocks until they are able to police Covenant weapons from a group of [[Jackals]] they kill. The Spartans then group up with the remaining four [[UNSC Marine Corps|Marines]] in [[Charlie Company]]. The [[Marines]] summarize how the battle has gone, saying that they were the only ones who survived the battle to that point.

Vice [[Admiral Whitcomb]] contacts Fred and orders him and the Spartans to extract him and his staff claiming that he was the current officer in charge of the defense of Reach. Fred takes Kelly and [[Spartan-029|Joshua-029]] on a mission to destroy a large [[Covenant]] camp in a valley near the bunker Charlie Company once occupied. Taking three [[Banshees]], they deliver a [[Fury Tactical Nuclear Weapon|Fury Tactical-Nuke]] into a Covenant ship. Joshua's Banshee slipped under enemy fire described as large needler rounds and is presumed dead. Fred and Kelly complete the mission without complications.

Despite their efforts, however, the Covenant manage to overrun the reactors on Reach. The Covenant Starships begin [[glassing]] Reach, even though they glassed only the poles. Fred however, refuses to sit around and die comes up with a plan. He and Kelly take their captured banshees, and together they fly away from the scene.

===Section 1: Threshold===
The narrative then moves to the debris field of [[Installation 04]], right after the events of ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''. Aboard the [[Longsword]] [[Cortana]] and the Master Chief used to escape the destruction, Cortana and the Chief converse, with the Chief insisting that Cortana repeat her scans of the debris for any signs of life.

A battle group of seven [[Covenant]] starships enters the system, along with a [[Covenant]] flagship. [[Cortana]] finds three cryopods that were jettisoned from the [[UNSC Pillar of Autumn|''Pillar of Autumn'']] prior to its crash on Halo. While she moves the Longsword towards the cryopods, she finds a [[Pelican]] that landed on a nearby asteroid. As the Chief retrieves the cryopods and returns to the [[Longsword]], the [[Pelican]] takes off and attacks the lead Covenant starship, diverting attention away from the Longsword. The two small ships link up, and several survivors jump out of the Pelican, namely [[Sergeant Johnson]], [[ODST]] [[Corporal Locklear]], [[Polaski|Petty Officer Second Class Shelia Polaski]]<ref>[[Letter - Re:Polaski]]</ref>, and an [[ONI]] [[Lieutenant Haverson]]. The Master Chief having seen a video of [[Johnson]] getting infected, slams him into the bulkhead and aims Johnson's pistol squarely at [[Johnson]]'s head, waiting for an explanation on how he could have survived. Johnson through his own words says that they "passed him up because he didn't taste too good". After confirming with Cortana that he isn't infected he releases Johnson.

Together the group manages to board the flagship, called ''[[Ascendant Justice]]''. They fight their way to the bridge and along the way they plug Cortana into the vessel's computer and she effectively kills most of the combat crew by decompressing most of the decks of the vessel. The group makes it to the bridge only to confront a Spec Ops Elite wielding an [[Energy Sword]], whom the Master Chief defeats with the help of [[Johnson]] and [[Locklear]], sustaining a slight injury. The defeat of the Elite warrior allows the humans to gain complete control of the Covenant flagship. In the confusion between the other vessels, the ''Ascendant Justice'' enters [[Slipspace]], escaping Halo's remains. The group argues about where to go next, but ultimately the Chief persuades them all to return to Reach; first, because the [[Cole Protocol]] forbids them from taking a Covenant vessel to Earth directly; second, because the Chief secretly wants to see what became of his fellow [[Spartans]]. Haverson sends Johnson, Locklear, and Polaski to the Pelican to get the gear left there. When they are at the Pelican, Johnson contacts the Chief informing him that there is a Spartan in one of the cryotubes. 

Meanwhile, back at Earth, UNSC High Command Facility Bravo-6 in Sydney, the military learns of the destruction of Reach and concludes that they cannot try to retake the planet and must prepare for the final defense of Earth. All Spartans and vessels are assumed destroyed, though they do know that the ''[[Pillar of Autumn]]'' escaped destruction. Also revealed here is that [[Colonel James Ackerson]], who was supposedly reassigned after the events of ''[[The Fall of Reach]]'' due to the actions of Cortana, has escaped reassignment and is serving on the [[UNSC Security Council]].

===Section 2: Defense of Castle Base===
The narrative then returns to Reach where Kelly and Fred, after destroying the Covenant ship, crash-land their Banshees into a pair of Hunters, confusing one and disabling the other's gun. They then steal a pair of Wraith tanks, and blast their way into Castle Base under Menachite Mountain. There they meet up with the surviving Spartans of Delta Team, the injured Spartans, including [[Spartan-039|Isaac-039]] , [[Spartan-030|Vinh-030]] and [[Spartan-043|Will-043]]. They meet up with Doctor Halsey, who treats their injuries, and sends them to retrieve some new weapons - the [[BR55 Battle Rifle]] and the [[M6C]] magnum sidearm.

At the lab, Dr. Halsey discovers Colonel Ackerson's plans, which were extensive lists on "Her Spartans", a star chart reference, and a third file labeled "King Under the Mountain". Before she can access these, however, a UNSC AI named Araqiel appears and attempts to stop her by threatening to kill her or the Spartans. She destroys it using a bypass code she herself had programmed, but causes some concern with her personal AI. The Covenant then invaded the base, and the Spartans and Doctor Halsey escape to the old titanium mines beneath Castle Base, right before its destruction, which blocks their only exit. Having no other alternatives, the Spartans and Dr Halsey venture deep into the tunnels.

In the tunnels, the Spartans receive armor upgrades and Fred discovers several symbols which ultimately opens a huge tunnel that leads into an even larger room. In the center of the room, they find a [[Forerunner crystal|crystal]]. The Spartans and Halsey find that if they walk straight towards it, it will bend the space around them and, if brought to [[Slipspace]], would allow them to travel further using the same amount of energy used in the same vessel. They retrieve the crystal, but the Covenant finds them due to emission of radiation from the crystal. The Covenant land forces inside the giant room using reversed gravity lifts, forcing the humans to retreat. Fred orders Isaac and Vinh to stay behind to form a rearguard action, but they are overwhelmed and killed. The remaining Spartans and Dr. Halsey continue to flee through the tunnels, but as the Covenant follow them, they run into a dead end.

===Section 3: Rescue===
Meanwhile, out in space, [[Master Chief]] and [[Cortana]], along with the last survivors of [[Installation 04]] including [[Sergeant Johnson]], find out that one of the cryotubes that Master Chief found contains [[SPARTAN-058|Linda-058]]. The others had contain Marines, but they had died due to cryotube malfunction. While in the [[Longsword]] the Master Chief strips off some pieces from the craft, to reinforce a [[DX-class Spirit Dropship|Covenant dropship]] they are going to use. As they walk into the hanger of the [[Ascendant Justice]], Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson witness Polaski practicing how to drive a Covenant dropship. As they enter [[Epsilon Eridani]], they see what has happened to Reach after the Covenant glassed the planet. They move the flagship closer as they notice that, during the glassing of Reach the Covenant "missed" a spot. The small fleet - consisting of a dozen cruisers, two assault carriers, and three squadrons of [[seraph]]s - ask why a flagship is at Reach. While on the ship, the survivors hear a UNSC E-band transmission (the E-band transmission is&nbsp;6 notes "Oly Oly Oxen Free"). No one on the bridge recognizes it - except the Master Chief. The section then returns to July 14, 2523 as a memory reviews the time when the Spartans played capture the flag against [[Tango Company]]. The teenage Spartans win the "game" - despite Tango Company's usage of live-fire rounds - and capture the flag. While hiding from Tango Company Marines searching for the flag, John uses the "Oly Oly Oxen Free" signal to tell his teammates that all is clear.

Back on ''Ascendant Justice'', the human crew debate whether they should go down to Reach in the reinforced Covenant dropship. Cortana looks around to see a spot which can be a extraction site to pick up the people going down to [[Reach]].&nbsp;On the way down, cruisers start to surround them in their dropship. The humans find a canyon with some movement in it.&nbsp; The Chief wanders out alone to see if there is a trap. Haverson backs him up. At the bottom of the ramp Chief senses a single signal. The friend-or-foe tag indicating who it belonged to, so the Chief proceeded with caution. The Chief draws his pistol only to lower it discovering that it is [[Spartan-044|Anton-044]] who had disabled his FoF tag so the Covenant wouldn't discover his location.&nbsp;&nbsp;He leads the Master Chief to the entrance of a cavern, where two Spartans, [[Spartan-093|Grace-093]] and [[Spartan-008|Li-008]] were, both operating chainguns that were bolted to the sides of two boulders. Master Chief and Anton, followed by Grace, enters the cavern. Inside, [[Vice Admiral]] [[Danforth Whitcomb]] was standing at foldout card table, which was the headquarters for Camp Independence. 

[[Admiral Whitcomb]] asks why the Chief was there, instead of the mission with Captain Keyes deep in Covenant territory. The Chief told him about the events that happened on Halo, and while he was telling the story, Haverson and the others from the dropship arrived. Haverson asks Whitcomb how he is alive, and the Admiral tells Haverson that while everyone was evacuating, he had stay behind because the UNSC was working on a new bomb called the [[NOVA]]. Whitcomb armed the NOVAs with failsafe tampering detonators and a countdown timer. Whitcomb had a team of Marines, Charlie Company, to help arm the NOVAs, but they were wiped out, but he then saw Red Team on coded COM and "asked" to borrow a few Spartans, who armed the NOVAs and since had given the Covenant trouble with hit-and-run exercises. 

The rest of the Red Team is still trapped underground in the tunnels beneath the mountain in the CASTLE facility. The Chief's group uses the Covenant dropship to rescue the remaining Red Team. They enter a huge cavern filled with Covenant forces - a few Elites, Jackals, and mostly Grunts that are clearing a cave-in. They land the dropship a half a kilometer away from the Covenant forces. They manage to destroy the Covenant forces and three Spartans, Kelly, Fred, and Will, emerged from cover. Whitcomb asks if that was everyone and Fred replies that there was one more. That person turns out to be Dr. Halsey who was holding the fist-sized crystal. They are about to leave when they detected Covenant forces and are surrounded by ''thousands'' of Covenant forces on each of the twelve levels of the gallery, and crowding the balconies were Grunts, Jackals, Elites and several pairs of Hunters. They all prepare to open fire on them, when a Hunter pair roar with rage and fire their weapons at the Master Chief and his team; the rest of the Covenant forces open fire a split second later.

Back in space, the ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'' emerges from Slipspace into a frozen Oort cloud to hide from the Covenant forces because they know that the ''Ascendant Justice'' wasn't one of theirs. Cortana eavesdrops on the data streams of the Covenant, using the dissected Covenant AI to help. Cortana discovers that the Covenant forces were heading to Earth.

===Section 4: Gambit===
As it turns out, the Covenant forces weren't shooting at the group, but rather the Hunters as they were under orders to take the crystal intact. The Covenant then advance toward the group. Whitcomb signals for Polaski to pick them up and they get whisked out in the nick of time. However, while going up the grav lift, the Covenant begin to use it to push them back down. When Li-008 opens the door to fire Jackhammer rockets up the shaft, Dr. Halsey's crystal changes shape and completely disables the Grav Lift. Once they exit the tunnel, the crystal returns to normal.

In the ''Ascendant Justice'', Cortana uses Engineers to combine the Covenant ship with another ship - the [[UNSC Gettysburg|UNSC ''Gettysburg'']], needing two reactors for her maneuver. She jumps into Slipspace, and jumps out right in the middle of the Covenant fleet, at the rendezvous point. The Chief's men get into the ''Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice'' (''G.A.J.''). However, when Cortana jumps back into Slipspace, they don't go into normal Slipspace, and they drag the Covenant fleet with them. The fleet opens fire, but the plasma behaves erratically - doing loops, curving, teleporting, etc. During the fight, Elites that had survived the purge of the ''Ascendant Justice'' blow a small hole in its hull. The Spartans and Polaski go out to repair it, but run into the Elites. They fight, but Polaski, Li, and Anton are killed and Kelly is severely wounded. Desperate to escape, Cortana attempts to jump back into normal space. She succeeds, leaving the Covenant stranded in Slipspace, destroyed by sudden decompression of the extended slipspace field created by the crystal.

===Section 5: Massacre at [[Eridanus Secundus]]===
In the ''G.A.J.'', Halsey tells the Chief that Linda will live. She then talks to him about Johnson and his survival against the Flood. She reveals that Johnson has [[Boren's Syndrome]], the only known defense against the Flood. Dr. Halsey gives John two data&nbsp;crystals containing information about the Flood, the first one is about&nbsp;Dr. Halsey's analysis and possible inoculation, and the second&nbsp; containing the source file of her conclusion, which would&nbsp;kill Sergeant Johnson. She tells him to decide whether he wants&nbsp;to give to Haverson.&nbsp;After he leaves, Halsey and Cortana discuss the crystal and find that it can warp space, gravity, and even time. When her group had found the crystal, the Chief and his group were transported back in time.

For repairs, the group head to the Eridanus Secundus asteroid belt, home of a rebel resistance. During not-too-friendly negotiations with Governor Jacob Jiles, a Covenant ship drops out of Slipspace that had finds them because of the radiation the crystal emits upon exiting from Slipspace. Despite malfunctioning plasma turrets, the crew of the ''G.A.J.'' decide to engage it. When Cortana informs them that the magnetic coils used to shape the plasma aren't working, the Chief comes up with the idea to use the magnetic coils of the ''Gettysburg'''s [[MAC gun]] to shape it. During the fight, Halsey sedates Kelly and takes her away to the location she had recorded from Ackerson's logs on Reach. Before she leaves she gives Locklear the crystal and orders him to do whatever is necessary to ensure the Covenant do not retrieve the crystal. Locklear, devastated by the loss of his love, Polaski, takes the crystal down to a small bay and sets it up with C-7. He blows the crystal up, accidentally killing himself in the process.

===Section 6: [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]]===

{{Quote|Don't look like any '[[Unyielding Hierophant|uneven elephant]]' to me - more like two squids kissing. Whatever it is, damned glad its going to blow up. Nice job - almost as good as if we sent in the marines.|Sergeant Johnson}}

While the crew of the ''G.A.J.'' are able to retrieve a few shards of the crystal, they have more important things on mind: the [[Covenant]] invasion of [[Earth]]. [[Cortana]] reveals that they are gathering at a battle station called the ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]''. The [[Master Chief|Chief]] comes up with a daring plan to blow up the station and put a sizable dent in the fleet: he and the&nbsp;[[Spartans]] will go to the station in a modified dropship, infiltrate the station, and blow up the reactors, with help from a copy of [[Cortana]]'s subroutines.

The Spartans make it to the station without incident, but are forced to take a detour through a temple complex. There, they encounter [[Brutes]] for the first time. The [[Master Chief|Chief]] grapples with a [[Brute]], and barely makes it out alive. [[Grace]] is killed by [[Brute shots]] and her suit's failsafe system is activated, killing many Covenant in the process. They still manage to make it to the reactors, which they successfully rig to explode. The Spartans only have ten minutes to escape, so they commandeer 3 banshees&nbsp;with the help of Linda's sniper fire.&nbsp;The Master Chief then rescues Linda from oncoming Covenant reinforcements. With&nbsp;the rest of the&nbsp;remaining Spartans, they&nbsp;exit the station and head torwards the backside of an unknown moon, but only see the ''Gettysburg'' when they made it back to the ''G.A.J.''. The crew had taken the ''Ascendant Justice'''s Slipspace engine and installed it on the ''Gettysburg'', while Whitcomb and Haverson have taken the [[Covenant]] ship. They broadcast a message to the Covenant fleet that if they want the crystal's shards (which they use for proof), all they have to do is come and get them from the ''Ascendant Justice'' - which&nbsp;Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Haverson&nbsp;impale into the central section of the ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]''. When the ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]'' explodes due to the reactor exploding, it destroys some five hundred ships of the Covenant invasion force leaving about a dozen ships to attack Earth. The five human survivors of the operation, [[Master Chief|John-117]], [[Frederic-104]], [[Linda-058]], [[William-043]], Sergent [[Avery J. Johnson]], and [[Cortana]] proceeded to a random location under Cole Protocol and then return to [[Earth]]&nbsp;to warn them about the impending Covenant invasion.

===Section 7: Harbinger===
In the epilogue, [[Tartarus]] gives an orb containing shards of the Forerunner crystal to the [[High Prophet of Truth]]. The Prophet gives Tartarus orders to reward the survivors, then execute them, and punish the incompetent who lost ''Unyielding Hierophant''; "make sure his fate matches the magnitude of his failure."

==Characters==
====[[UNSC]]====
*[[John-117|Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-II John-117 ]]
*[[Senior Chief Petty Officer]] SPARTAN-II [[Fred]]-104
*[[Petty Officer Second Class]] SPARTAN-II [[Kelly]]-087
*[[Petty Officer Second Class]] SPARTAN-II [[Linda]]-058
*[[Petty Officer Second Class]] SPARTAN-II [[Will]]-043
*[[Petty Officer Second Class]] SPARTAN-II [[Li-008]]
*[[Petty Officer Second Class]] SPARTAN-II [[Vinh-030]]
*[[Petty Officer Second Class]] SPARTAN-II [[Isaac-039]]
*[[Petty Officer Second Class]] SPARTAN-II [[Anton-044]]
*[[Petty Officer Second Class]] SPARTAN-II [[Grace-093]]
*[[Petty Officer Second Class]] SPARTAN-II [[Joshua-029]]
*[[Petty Officer Second Class]] SPARTAN-II [[James]]
*[[Petty Officer Second Class]] SPARTAN-II [[Malcolm-059]]
*[[Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey]]
*Flight Officer [[Mitchell]]
*[[Cortana]]
*[[Lieutenant]] [[Jake Chapman]]
*[[Lieutenant]] [[Buckman]]
*[[Governor]] [[Jacob Jiles]]
*[[Lieutenant]] [[Wagner]]
*[[Colonel]] [[James Ackerson]]
*[[General]] [[Nicolas Strauss]]
*[[Vice Admiral]] [[Danforth Whitcomb]]
*[[Lieutenant]] [[Elias Haverson]]
*[[Petty Officer Second Class ]][[Shiela Polaski]]
*[[Staff Sergeant]] [[Avery J. Johnson]]
*[[Corporal]] [[Locklear]]

====[[Covenant]]====
*Grunts
*[[Covenant AI]]
*Elites
*[[Prophet of Truth|High Prophet of Truth]]
*Chieftain Tartarus
*Brutes
*Engineers
*Hunters
*Jackals

==Trivia==
*The original cover of the book had a graphic error on the [[Master Chief]]'s head. The top part of his head was a little to the right of the bottom part, causing a split in his head. This was corrected in later versions.

*At the beginning of the novel there is a line that says in Fred-104's Pelican "twenty-seven Spartans braced themselves", however in ''Halo: The Fall of Reach'' it is stated on page 240 that there were at Reach "two dozen Spartans" and Master Chief, with three other Spartans "engaged on fields of combat too distant to be easily recalled" therefore the pelican that Fred-104 takes to the surface should only have 22 Spartans since John-117 takes two Spartans with him in a separate Pelican for the space op. [[Eric Trautmann]] has implied that the discrepancy is being considered part of continuity and a potential future story hook.<ref name="spartanroster">http://halostory.bungie.org/spartanroster.html</ref>

*In ''Halo: The Flood'' it is stated that 15 marines per Pelican is "pushing the limit". However, in the novel, it is carrying twenty seven Spartans with apparent ease. This is most likely due to the troop carrying pod, with which the pelican may carry 50 people<ref name="spartanroster">http://halostory.bungie.org/spartanroster.html</ref>.

*In the novel, an ODST wears a normal Marine uniform instead of their regular space suit, this however could be the standard for ODSTs when not performing orbital insertions, since it would be easier to fight in. It is also mentioned in ''[[Halo: The Flood]]'', that ODSTs accompany the Master Chief on his mission to the ''Truth and Reconciliation'', yet there are no Marines in space suits, so they must be wearing Marine uniforms. Possibly, some ODSTs did not have a chance to suit up before the ''Pillar of Autumn'' was boarded, or some ODST suits were lost when the ''Autumn'' was hit by plasma fire during the Battle of Reach, or the space fight above Halo.

*The [[Banshee|Banshees]] are also frequently said to have "seats" where the pilot really lies on a pad to operate the controls.

*Except for the first and the seventh section, all the sections are numbered using Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.); the seventh section is numbered using Roman numerals: VII. This is probably just another reference to 7 like the ones throughout the Halo universe.

*After the ''Unyielding Hierophant'' exploded, there were only a dozen [[Covenant]] ships left, give or take. These ships might have been the ones led by Regret that attacked [[Earth]] in the [[Battle of Earth]], or the ones the [[Prophet of Truth]] sent to Earth to after Regret's failed attack.

*The [[Elite]] that [[SPARTAN-117]] fought in ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'' was initially presumed to be the Arbiter, until it was realized that it was a [[Special Operations Elite]], and not a [[Supreme Commander]]. Add to that the fact that the Arbiter's own ship was called the ''[[Seeker of Truth]]'', not ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'', and it becomes very unlikely that the two are the same character.

*The [[Battle Rifle]] was first used canonically in ''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]'' as a prototype, and is first introduced to the Spartans during ''Halo: First Strike'' in the tunnels beneath [[Reach]], but it was introduced to gamers in ''Halo 2''.

*On page 56 it says, "... the Longsword spun 180 degrees." Later on it refers to it as a [[Pelican drop ship]] that was previously destroyed when they sent it ahead of them as a diversion to attack the ''[[Ascendant Justice]]''.

*On page 121, Vinh-030 is mistakenly listed as Vinh-029, which is actually the service tag for Joshua.

*After the successful capture of the ''Ascendant Justice'', it is stated that no one has ever captured a Covenant ship before. However, this is odd, since Major Silva commandeered the ''Truth and Reconciliation''. This can easily be corrected by saying that they were not aware of that fact and that shortly afterward, the ship was destroyed by [[Melissa McKay]].

*Although the book states that John-117 carried two M7 submachine guns with silencers, he never used them.

*''Halo: The First Strike'', along with ''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', and ''Halo: The Flood'' can be purchased as part of a three book boxset.

*''Halo: The First Strike'', ''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', and ''Halo: The Flood'' are also the only novels not available in a larger format.

*While aboard the ''Unyielding Heirophant'', when cornered by Brutes, John-117 used a [[Lotus Anti-Tank Mine]] on a timer as a high powered grenade, which he set the timer for [[7]] seconds, another seven reference.
*On page 62 there is a typo for the word rifle and is misspelled 'rife'.&nbsp; This when Sgt. Johnson takes out the door controls to the pathway leading into the hanger they crashed in when fighting a group of elites.

==Sources==
<references/>

==External Links==
*[http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0345467817/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-6002849-0256936#reader-link Read the First Chapter of ''Halo: First Strike'']


{{Books}}
{{Ratings}}









[[ja:Halo: First Strike]]
[[Category:Books|First Strike]]
[[Category:Canon|First Strike]]