Editing Halo: First Strike

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{{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'']


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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Title|''Halo: First Strike''}}
+{{Era|FS}}
-{{Status|RealWorld}}
+{{Ratings}}
-{{Novel infobox
+{{Book Info
-|name=''Halo: First Strike''
+|name= ''Halo: First Strike''
-|variant=Original
+|image=First Strike.jpg
-|image=[[File:First Strike.jpg|300px]]
+|Author= [[Eric Nylund]]
-|author=[[Eric Nylund]]
+|Publisher= [[Del Rey Books]]
-|cover artist=*Lorraine McLees {{C|Original}}
+|Date Released= December 2, 2003
-*[[Nicolas Bouvier]] {{C|2010 edition onwards}}
+|Length= 352 Pages
-|illustrator=
+|US Price=$7.98
-|editor=
+|Can Price=$10.99
-|audio=Todd McLaren
+|UK Price=£6.99
-|publisher=[[Del Rey Books]]<br>[[Tor Books]] (2010 edition)
+|ISBN= 0345467817
-|publication=December 2, 2003 (original)<br>December 21, 2010 (2010 edition)<br>March 19, 2019 (2019 edition)
+|ISBN-13= 978-0345467812
-|media=Print (Paperback)
+|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
-|length=352 pages (original)<br>438 pages (2010 edition)<br>480 pages (2019 edition)
+|Availability= Paperback
-|ISBN=[[Special:BookSources/0345467817|0345467817]], [[Special:BookSources/978-0345467812|978-0345467812]], [[Special:BookSources/978-1982111656|978-1982111656]]
+|Product Dimensions= 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
-|series=[[The Original Series]]
+|Product Dimensions Metric=17.4 x 10.7 x 2.5 cm
-|preceded=''[[Halo: The Flood]]''
+|Shipping Weight= 5.60 ounces
-|followed=''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]''
+|Shipping Mass= 1.00 Kg
-|multiseries=
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 }}
-'''''Halo: First Strike''''' is a [[Halo novels|''Halo'' novel]] authored by [[Eric Nylund]]. It was published in December 2003,<ref name="randomhouse">[http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345467812 '''Random House''': ''Halo: First Strike by Eric Nylund'']</ref> after being written in a period of sixteen weeks.<ref name="xbox.com3">[http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/h/halo2/spotlight2.htm '''Xbox.com''': ''First Strike Author Eric Nylund Q&A'']</ref>
-''Halo: First Strike'' fills the gap between ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' and ''[[Halo 2]]'', in addition to continuing the story of the [[SPARTAN-II Program|Spartans]] and [[Catherine Halsey|Dr. Halsey]] on [[Reach]] where ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'' left off. The story is continued directly in ''Halo 2'' and the subsequent novel ''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]''. ''First Strike'' also ties up several unresolved plot threads, including how Sergeant [[Avery Junior Johnson|Johnson]] survived the attack of [[the Flood]].
+[[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>
-The novel, along with ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach|The Fall of Reach]]'' and ''[[Halo: The Flood|The Flood]]'', was reissued in [[2010]] by [[Tor Books]], with the new version including some content updates.<ref>[http://kotaku.com/5543023/halo-novel-trilogy-to-be-republished-with-updates-new-content '''Kotaku''': ''Halo Novel Trilogy to be Republished with Updates, New Content'']</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]]''.
-==Official summaries==
+'''DATE:''' August 30, 2552-September 13, 2552 (Date revised due to an anomalous Slipspace bubble.)
-===Original edition by Del Rey Books===
-{{Article quote|''The Human-Covenant war rages on as the alien juggernaut sweeps inexorably towards its final  goal: Destruction of all human life!''
-''Halo has been destroyed, and the threat it posed to sentient life, neutralized. But victory has come at a terrible cost for the UNSC. Thousands of valiant soldiers fell in the
+==Detailed Summary==
-battle to prevent the alien construct from falling into the enemy's clutches.''
-''Now, everything depends on the Spartan known as the "Master Chief." Yet even with the aid of the artificial  intelligence known as Cortana, the Master Chief will be hard-pressed
-to rescue survivors and evade the Covenant ships patrolling the remains of Halo in debris-strewn space.''
-''Ahead lies a dangerous voyage home, through a gauntlet of Covenant forces. For the sake of all, the Master Chief and
-his war-torn squad must not only survive, but take the fight to the enemy with a decisive first strike.
-''}}
-===Definitive edition by Tor===
+===Section 0: [[Reach]]===
-{{Article quote|Rounding out Tor’s series of reissues of the original three Halo novels, this newly edited and revised edition of First Strike is a must-have for all Halo fans. Featuring author Eric Nylund at the helm, this tale bridges the events that take place in the game Halo: Combat Evolved (as novelized in The Flood) and its blockbuster follow-up, Halo 2.
+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.
-After destroying the first Halo, Master Chief and Cortana attempt to voyage back home among a myriad of deadly Covenant attacks. With a battle weary squad, that includes the last of the Spartan-II survivors and the program’s creator, Dr. Catherine Halsey, First Strike delivers an action-packed space opera told against the backdrop of one of the richest and most complex Science Fiction franchises of our time.}}
+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.
-===2019 Gallery Books reprint===
+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.
-{{Article quote|'''The New York Times bestselling aftermath of Halo: Combat Evolved featuring the Master Chief—part of the expanded universe based on the award-winning video game series!
-'''
-. The theocratic military alliance known as the Covenant is showing no mercy as it continues to assault every human world it encounters, but in the way lies humanity’s greatest champion, the super-soldier Spartan John-117—the Master Chief. Together with his AI companion Cortana and the last remaining Spartans, the galaxy-spanning fight rages on two fronts following the destruction of the human military stronghold Reach by Covenant forces and the mysterious artificial ringworld known as “Halo” at the hands of the Master Chief.
-One faction—a squad of Spartans lead by Blue Team’s Fred-104 and Kelly-087—is trapped on the glassed surface of Reach, the only planet they’ve ever known as home. And beneath this ruined world, Dr. Catherine Halsey has discovered an ancient secret… one that could alter the course of the war. Meanwhile, the Master Chief and Cortana lead a second group toward a gathering of Covenant warships, as the United Nations Space Command’s worst nightmare has finally come true: the Covenant has discovered the location of Earth and is forming a massive fleet to utterly destroy it, as well as all who oppose the indomitable will of the Prophet…}}
+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.
-==Plot synopsis==
+===Section 1: Threshold===
-{{Spoiler/begin}}
+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.
-===Section 0: Reach===
-The prologue begins during the [[Fall of Reach]] and flashes back to Chapter 34 of ''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]'', where [[Jacob Keyes|Captain Jacob Keyes]] informs [[John-117|Master Chief Petty Officer John-117]] about the unsecured NAV database. John makes [[Frederic-104]] the leader of [[Red Team]] and orders him to take the other [[SPARTAN-II Program|Spartan-IIs]] down to [[Reach]] to protect the generators powering the [[Orbital defense platform|orbital MAC guns]].
+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.
-The narrative follows Red Team as they ride a [[Pelican]] down to the surface. After [[Seraph]] fighters hit [[Mitchell|their pilot]] with plasma fire, Red Team jumps from the disabled vehicle. Falling at terminal velocity, their impact with the ground kills four Spartans and leaves many more seriously injured. Most lose their weapons and ammunition; Fred and [[Kelly-087]] improvise using rocks until they are able to loot Covenant weapons from a group of [[Kig-yar|Jackals]] they kill. The Spartans group up with the remaining four [[UNSC Marine Corps|Marines]] of [[Charlie Company]]. The Marines summarize how the battle went, explaining that they were the only ones who survived.
+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]].
-[[Vice Admiral]] [[Danforth Whitcomb]] contacts Fred and orders the Spartans to extract him and his staff, claiming to be the current officer in charge of the defense of Reach. Fred subdivides Red Team to complete the mission: Beta Team is to defend the generators, Gamma Team is to extract the Admiral, and Delta Team is to secure a fallback point at [[CASTLE Base]]. Fred then takes Kelly and [[Joshua-029]] (comprising Alpha Team) on a mission to destroy a large [[Covenant Empire|Covenant]] encampment in the adjacent valley. Taking three [[Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft|Banshees]], they deliver a [[Fury Tactical Nuclear Weapon|Fury tactical nuke]] into [[Unidentified cruiser (Particular Justice)|a Covenant ship]]. During the assault, the Covenant shoots down Joshua's Banshee and he is presumed dead. Fred and Kelly complete the mission without further complications.
+===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.
-Despite the Spartans' efforts, the Covenant overruns the reactors on Reach and their fleet begins [[glassing]] the planet. Fred - refusing to sit around and die - comes up with a plan. He and Kelly take their captured Banshees, and together they fly away.
+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.
-===Section 1: Threshold===
+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.
-The narrative moves to the debris field of [[Installation 04]], right after the events of ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''. Aboard the [[GA-TL1 Longsword|Longsword]] that [[Cortana]] and the Master Chief used to escape the ring's destruction, the pair converses. The Chief insists that Cortana repeat her scans of the debris field for any signs of life.
+===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.
-Cortana eventually detects [[Fleet of Particular Justice|a battle group]] of seven Covenant starships and a flagship. She also finds three [[Cryo chamber|cryo-chambers]] that the [[UNSC Pillar of Autumn|''Pillar of Autumn'']] jettisoned before its crash on Halo. While she moves the Longsword toward the cryotubes, she discovers a Pelican hiding nearby. As the Chief retrieves the cryotubes 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 exit the Pelican: [[Avery Junior Johnson|Sergeant Johnson]], [[Orbital Drop Shock Trooper|ODST]] [[Locklear|Corporal Locklear]], [[Shiela Polaski|Warrant Officer Shiela Polaski]],<ref>'''[[Halo Legendary Crate]]''', ''[[Halo Legendary Crate/Data Drops|Data Drop #10]]''</ref> and an [[Office of Naval Intelligence|ONI]] [[Lieutenant]], [[Elias Haverson]]. The Master Chief - having seen a video of Johnson being infected - slams him into the bulkhead and aims Johnson's pistol squarely at his head, waiting for an explanation on how he survived. Johnson, through his own words, says that he must not have tasted good to [[Flood|the Flood]]. After confirming with Cortana that Johnson isn't infected, Master Chief releases him.
+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.
-Together, the group uses the Longsword to board the flagship, called ''[[Ascendant Justice]]''. They fight their way to the bridge, and along the way, plug Cortana into the vessel's computer. Cortana decompresses most of the vessel's decks, killing most of the crew. She then learns that they're running out of time, as this fleet is a prelude to [[Hierarchs|a Covenant dignitary]]'s arrival at Halo, along with [[High Charity|their vessel]] and a [[High Charity Defense Fleet|massive escort]]. The group makes it to the bridge, only to confront a Spec Ops [[Sangheili|Elite]] wielding an [[Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword|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.
+[[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.
-In the confusion between the other vessels, the ''Ascendant Justice'' enters [[Slipstream space|Slipspace]]. The group argues about where to go next, but ultimately, the Chief persuades them all to return to Reach; first, because the [[United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1|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 Longsword to retrieve its gear. When they reach the Longsword, Johnson contacts the Chief, informing him that one of the cryotubes contains a Spartan.
+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.
-Meanwhile, on Earth, at UNSC [[HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6]] in [[Sydney]], [[Wagner|Lieutenant Wagner]] briefs the [[UNSC Security Council]] on Reach's destruction and concludes that they cannot try to retake the planet, and instead, must prepare for the final defense of Earth. All Spartans and vessels are assumed destroyed, though they do know that the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} escaped Reach. [[Colonel]] [[James Ackerson]] - who was supposedly reassigned due to Cortana's actions - escaped reassignment and is serving on the Security Council. Ackerson appears almost gleeful that Reach has fallen, but crosses a line when he denounces the Spartans as "freaks", earning a firm rebuke from [[Fleet Admiral|Admiral]] [[Terrence Hood|Hood]]. [[Major General|General]] [[Nicolas Strauss|Strauss]] considers sending a recon unit to check for survivors, but Ackerson insists that any such mission would not only be suicidal, but pointless, as the Covenant would have left none.
+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 2: Defense of Castle Base===
+===Section 4: Gambit===
-The narrative 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 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 [[Isaac-039]], [[Vinh-030]], and [[William-043|Will-043]], as well as [[Catherine Halsey|Doctor Catherine Halsey]], who treats their injuries. Dr. Halsey sends them to retrieve some new weapons: the [[BR55 Battle Rifle]] and the [[M6C Personal Defense Weapon System|M6C]] magnum sidearm.
+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.
-At the lab, Halsey discovers Colonel Ackerson's plans, which contain 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 [[Smart AI|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 [[Kalmiya|her personal AI]]. The Covenant then invades the base, and the Spartans and 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 Halsey venture deep into the tunnels.
+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.
-Inside, the Spartans receive armor upgrades and Fred discovers several symbols, which ultimately open a large tunnel, leading into an even larger room. In the room's center, they find a [[Forerunner crystal]]. While walking toward it, the Spartans and Halsey discover that it bends the space around them, and if brought into slipspace, would allow them to travel longer distances with the same amount of energy. They retrieve the crystal, but because of the radiation it is emitting, the Covenant is able to find them. The Covenant land forces inside the room using reversed [[gravity lift]]s, forcing the humans to retreat. Fred orders Isaac and Vinh to stay behind to form a rearguard action, but the two are overwhelmed and killed. The remaining Spartans and Dr. Halsey continue to flee through the tunnels. As the Covenant follows them, they meet a dead end.
+===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.
-===Section 3: Rescue===
+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.
-Johnson, who discovered that one of the cryotubes contains [[Linda-058]], reports that the others contain Marines that have died due to cryotube malfunction. Master Chief heads to the Longsword, where he strips pieces from the craft to reinforce a [[Dextro Xur-pattern Spirit|Covenant dropship]] they are going to use. As they enter the flagship's hangar, Master Chief and Johnson witness Polaski piloting the Covenant dropship as practice. As they enter [[Epsilon Eridani system|Epsilon Eridani]], the crew sees what happened to Reach after the Covenant glassed the planet. Cortana moves the flagship closer as they notice that the Covenant "missed" a spot. The small Covenant fleet in the system - consisting of a dozen cruisers, two carriers, and three [[Seraph]] squadrons - asks why a flagship is at Reach. The survivors hear a UNSC [[COM#UNSC COM channels and systems|E-band]] transmission: a six-note tune, "[[Oly Oly Oxen Free]]". No one on the bridge recognizes it - except the Master Chief.
-The narrative then flashes back to [[2523|July 14, 2523]], when the young Spartans played capture the flag against [[Tango Company]]. Despite Tango Company's use of live-fire rounds, the teenage Spartans capture the flag and win the "game". While hiding from Tango Company Marines searching for the flag, John uses the "Oly Oly Oxen Free" signal to inform his teammates that all is clear.
+===Section 6: [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]]===
-Back on ''Ascendant Justice'', the human crew debates whether they should travel down to Reach in the reinforced Covenant dropship. Cortana searches for a spot that they can later use as an extraction site to pick up the crew. On the way down, cruisers surround the crew in their dropship, but ultimately let them pass. While Cortana continues to explore the flagship's systems, the Covenant AI aboard the ship temporarily gains control of the comms and alerts the local Covenant fleet to the ship's hijacking. Although Cortana is able to destroy the AI, her cover is blown, and she destroys a few enemy cruisers before fleeing into slipspace.
+{{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}}
-Meanwhile, the humans find a canyon with some movement in it. The Chief wanders out to see if there is a trap, and Haverson backs him up. At the bottom of the ramp, Chief receives a signal without a [[Identification friend or foe|friend-or-foe tag]] (or IFF) indicating whom it belongs to, so he proceeds with caution. The Chief draws his pistol; only discover that it is [[Anton-044]], who disabled his IFF tag so the Covenant wouldn't discover his location. Anton leads the Master Chief to the entrance of a cavern, where two Spartans - [[Grace-093]] and [[Li-008]] - operate chainguns bolted to the sides of boulders. Master Chief and Anton, followed by Grace, enter the cavern. Inside, Admiral Whitcomb stands at a foldout card table: [[Camp Independence]].
+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.
-Admiral Whitcomb questions why the Chief is here, instead of on [[Operation: RED FLAG|the mission]] with Captain Keyes deep inside Covenant territory. The Chief recounts a long story about [[Battle of Installation 04|the events]] that happened on Halo. Partway through, Haverson and the others arrive. Haverson asks Whitcomb how he is alive, and the Admiral tells Haverson that while everyone was evacuating, he stayed behind to help work on a new bomb called the [[NOVA Bomb|NOVA]], which possesses enough explosive force to destroy a planet. Whitcomb armed the NOVAs with fail-safe tampering detonators and a countdown timer. Whitcomb had a team of Marines - Charlie Company - help arm the NOVAs, but they were wiped out. He then "asked" on coded COM to borrow a few Spartans, who armed the NOVAs and had since given the Covenant trouble with hit-and-run attacks. The rest of Red Team remains trapped underground in the tunnels beneath the CASTLE facility.
+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.
-Using the Covenant dropship, the Chief's group goes to rescue the remaining Red Team members. They enter a huge cavern filled with Covenant forces: a few Elites, Jackals, and mostly [[Unggoy|Grunts]] clearing a cave-in. They land the dropship half a kilometer away from the Covenant forces. After managing to destroy the Covenant, three Spartans - Kelly, Fred, and Will - emerge from cover. Whitcomb asks if there are any more, and Fred replies that there is one: Dr. Halsey, holding a fist-sized crystal. As they are about to leave, they detect more forces and become surrounded by thousands of Covenant - Grunts, Jackals, Elites and several pairs of [[Mgalekgolo|Hunters]] - on each of the gallery's twelve levels. A single Hunter pair fires their weapons at the humans; the rest of the Covenant opens fire a split second later.
+===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."
-Back in space, the ''Ascendant Justice'' emerges from slipspace in the system's [[Oort cloud]] to hide. Using the dissected Covenant AI, Cortana eavesdrops on the Covenant data streams, discovering that the Covenant is heading to Earth.
+==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]]
-===Section 4: Gambit===
+====[[Covenant]]====
-It is revealed that the Covenant forces weren't shooting at the group, but rather the Hunters, as they were under orders to take the crystal intact. Kelly takes two direct hits from the Hunters' plasma shots and is incapacitated. The Covenant then advances toward the group. Whitcomb signals for Polaski to pick them up and they leave just in time. However, while going up the gravity lift, the Covenant reverses it, pushing them back down. When Li opens the door to fire [[M19 SSM Rocket Launcher|Jackhammer]] rockets up the shaft, the crystal changes shape and disables the gravity lift. Once they exit the cavern, the crystal returns to normal.
+*Grunts
+*[[Covenant AI]]
+*Elites
+*[[Prophet of Truth|High Prophet of Truth]]
+*Chieftain Tartarus
+*Brutes
+*Engineers
+*Hunters
+*Jackals
-On the ''Ascendant Justice'', Cortana uses [[Huragok|Engineers]] to combine the Covenant ship with another - the [[UNSC Gettysburg|UNSC ''Gettysburg'']] - to use its additional reactor power for maneuvering. She microjumps into slipspace and emerges at the rendezvous point, in the middle of the Covenant fleet. Chief and the survivors enter the ''Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice''. However, when Cortana jumps back into slipspace, the crystal causes them to enter an anomalous slipspace field with unusual properties, and the Covenant fleet follows. The fleet opens fire, but the plasma behaves erratically: doing loops, curving, and teleporting, etc. During the fight, Elites that survived the purge of the ''Ascendant Justice'' blow a small hole through its hull. The Spartans and Polaski go out to repair it, but encounter the Elites. As they fight, erratic plasma kills Polaski, Li, and Anton, and severely wounds Kelly. Desperate to escape, Cortana attempts to re-enter normal space. She succeeds, stranding the Covenant in slipspace and destroying them via sudden decompression of the anomalous slipspace field created by the crystal.
+==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.
-===Section 5: Massacre at Eridanus Secundus===
+*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>
-Recovering on the ''Gettysburg'', the Master Chief learns from Cortana that the Covenant has found Earth, and are preparing for a massive assault. Heading to the bridge, the Master Chief confers with Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Haverson about their options. Their brief trip through the alternate dimension has placed them in the former [[Outer Colonies]]: long since destroyed by the Covenant, and with no nearby UNSC base to repair their ship. Additionally, the crystal emits an unknown radiation that will kill the crew in 72 hours. Learning that they are near the [[Eridanus system]], John informs Whitcomb that a former [[Insurrectionist]] [[Eridanus Secundus|base]] may still be active.
-On the ''Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice'', Dr. Halsey tells the Chief that Linda will live. She then talks to him about Sergeant Johnson and his survival against the Flood. She reveals that Johnson has [[Boren's Syndrome]]: the only known defense against the Flood. Halsey gives John two data crystals containing information about the Flood: the first contains Dr. Halsey's analysis and a possible inoculation, and the second contains the source file of her conclusion, which would kill Johnson. She tells him to decide which one he wants to give to Haverson. After he leaves, Halsey and Cortana discuss the crystal and find that it can warp space, gravity, and even time. When Halsey and the Spartans found the crystal, it transported the Chief and the survivors back in time. Halsey realizes that neither the Covenant nor ONI [[ONI Section Three|Section Three]] may control the crystal. She erases Cortana's memory of her discussion with the Master Chief and analysis of the crystal.
+*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>.
-For repairs, the group head to the system's asteroid belt, home of the rebel base [[Eridanus Secundus]]. During not-too-friendly negotiations with Governor [[Jacob Jiles]], a Covenant ship finds the group - due to the radiation the crystal emits upon exiting slipspace - and enters normal space. Despite malfunctioning plasma turrets, the crew of the ''Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice'' engages. When Cortana informs them that the magnetic coils used to shape the plasma aren't working, the Chief suggests using the ''Gettysburg'''s [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon|MAC gun]] coils to shape it instead. During the fight, Halsey sedates Kelly and gives Locklear the crystal, ordering him to do whatever is necessary to ensure the Covenant does not retrieve it. She then steals an Insurrectionist stealth vessel and flees to [[Onyx|the location]] she discovered from Ackerson's logs on Reach. Locklear, devastated by the loss of his love, Polaski, takes the crystal down to a small bay and plants [[C-7 foaming explosive|C-7]] to destroy it. He blows the crystal up, accidentally killing himself in the process.
+*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.
-===Section 6: Operation: FIRST STRIKE===
+*The [[Banshee|Banshees]] are also frequently said to have "seats" where the pilot really lies on a pad to operate the controls.
-{{main|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 it's going to blow up. Nice job—almost as good as if we sent in the Marines.|Sergeant Johnson}}
-While the crew of the ''Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice'' is able to retrieve a few shards of the crystal, they have things that are more important on mind: the Covenant invasion of Earth. Cortana reveals that they are gathering at a battle station called the ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]''. The Master Chief comes up with a plan: with help from a copy of Cortana's subroutines, he and the Spartans will go to the station in a modified dropship, infiltrate it, and blow up the reactors, delaying the launch of the fleet. Whitcomb agrees, but refuses to further risk ''Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice'', as they need to warn Earth about the Covenant fleet.
+*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.
-John, Fred, Linda, Grace, and Will enter the station without incident, but are forced to detour through a temple complex. There, they encounter [[Jiralhanae|Brutes]]. The Master Chief grapples with one, barely making it out alive, and Grace is killed in the skirmish. After the fight, the Chief activates the fail-safe system in Grace's suit, killing many Covenant in the process. The four remaining Spartans make it to the reactors and rig them to explode. With ten minutes to escape, the Spartans commandeer three Banshees with the help of Linda's sniper fire. The Master Chief then rescues Linda from oncoming Covenant reinforcements.
+*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.
-After escaping the station, the Spartans steal a {{Pattern|Dextro Xur|Spirit}} and are surprised to receive the "Oly Oly Oxen Free" signal. Responding to the signal, the Spartans raise Admiral Whitcomb, who directs them to the other side of a nearby moon, explaining that he had taken ''Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice'' into the Oort cloud to do reconnaissance on the Covenant fleet, but realized from the size of it that even taking out the station and warning Earth would not be enough.
+*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.
-On the other side of the moon, the Spartans find the ''Gettysburg'', but no sign of the ''Ascendant Justice''. On board, they learn that the crew removed the Covenant ship's slipspace engine and installed it in the ''Gettysburg''. Whitcomb and Haverson, who took the Covenant ship, crashed it into the central section of the ''Unyielding Hierophant''. Faking the crystal's appearance with a [[Holography|holograph]], they broadcast a message to the Covenant fleet in an attempt to lure them onto the ''Ascendant Justice''. When the ''Unyielding Hierophant'' reactors detonate, the explosion destroys the ''Ascendant Justice'' alongside almost five hundred ships of the Covenant invasion force, leaving a dozen left. The five human survivors - John-117, Fred-104, Linda-058, Will-043, and Sergeant Avery J. Johnson - and Cortana proceed to a random location under the Cole Protocol, and then return to Earth to warn them about the impending Covenant invasion.
+*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''.
-===Section 7: Harbinger===
+*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 ''[[High Charity]]'', [[Tartarus]] gives an orb containing shards of the Forerunner crystal to the [[Prophet of Truth|High Prophet of Truth]]. The Prophet orders Tartarus to reward the Covenant that recovered the shards and then execute them silently, and punish [[Thel 'Vadam|the commander]] for losing the ''Ascendant Justice''.
-{{Spoiler/end}}
-==Appearances==
+*On page 121, Vinh-030 is mistakenly listed as Vinh-029, which is actually the service tag for Joshua.
-{{Featurelist|secondcolumn=title-5|title-1=Characters|
-;Human
-*[[Anton-044]] {{1st}}
-*[[Avery Johnson]]
-*[[Buckman]] {{1st}}
-*[[Catherine Halsey]]
-*[[Danforth Whitcomb]] {{1st}}
-*[[Elias Haverson]] {{1st}}
-*[[Frederic-104]]
-*[[Grace-093]] {{1st}}
-*[[Isaac-039]] {{1st}}
-*[[Jacob Jiles]] {{1st}}
-*[[Jake Chapman]] {{1st}}
-*[[James-005]]
-*[[James Ackerson]]
-*[[John-117]]
-*[[Joshua-029]]
-*[[Kelly-087]]
-*[[Li-008]] {{1st}}
-*[[Linda-058]]
-*[[Locklear]] {{1st}}
-*[[Malcolm-059]] {{1st}}
-*[[Mitchell]] {{1st}}
-*[[Nicolas Strauss]] {{1st}}
-*[[Shiela Polaski]] {{1st}}
-*[[Terrence Hood]] {{1st}}
-*[[Vinh-030]] {{1st}}
-*[[Wagner]] {{1st}}
-*[[William-043]] {{1st}}
-;AI
-*[[343 Guilty Spark]] {{Mo}}
-*[[Araqiel]] {{1st}}
-*[[Ascendant Justice's AI]] {{1st}}
-*[[Cortana]]
-*[[Déjà]] {{Mo}}
-*[[Kalmiya]] {{1st}}
-*[[Lysithea]] {{1st}}
-;Covenant
-*[[Prophet of Truth]] {{1st}}
-*[[Tartarus]] {{1st}}
-*[[Thel 'Vadam]] {{Fm}}
-*[[Guardian of the Luminous Key]] {{Fm}}
-*[[Zawaz]] {{1st}}
-|title-2=Species|
-*[[Flood]]
-*[[Forerunner]] {{Mo}}
-*[[Human]]
-*[[Huragok]]
-*[[Kig-Yar]]
-*[[Lavender]]
-*[[Jiralhanae]] {{1st}}
-*[[Mgalekgolo]]
-*[[Sangheili]]
-*[[San'Shyuum]]
-*[[Unggoy]]
-|title-3=Organizations|
-*[[Covenant]]
-**[[Covenant fleet]]
-***[[Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity]] {{1st}}
-***[[Fleet of Particular Justice]]
-***[[High Charity defense fleet|''High Charity'' defense fleet]] {{1st}}
-**[[Covenant Honor Guard]] {{1st}}
-**[[Covenant military]]
-**[[Special Warfare Group]]
-***[[Covenant Special Operations]]
-***[[Fleet Security]]
-*[[Rh'tol]]
-*[[Unified Earth Government]]
-**[[United Nations Space Command]]
-***[[UNSC Security Council]] {{1st}}
-****[[UNSC Army]]
-****[[UNSC Marine Corps]]
-*****[[Charlie Company]] {{1st}}
-*****[[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]]
-******[[105th Shock Troops Division]]
-*****[[Tango Company]] {{1st}}
-****[[UNSC Navy]]
-*****[[Epsilon Eridani Fleet]]
-*****[[Naval Special Warfare]]
-******[[ORION Project]]
-******[[SPARTAN-II program]]
-*******[[Blue Team]]
-*******[[Red Team]]
-*****[[Office of Naval Intelligence]]
-****[[23rd Naval Air Squadron]] {{1st}}
-*[[United Rebel Front]]
-|title-4=Locations|
-*[[Atlas]] {{Fm}}
-**[[Atlas Moons]] {{Fm}}
-*[[Emerald Cove]] {{Fm}}
-*[[Epsilon Eridani system]]
-**[[Reach]]
-***[[CASTLE Base]]
-****[[Highland Mountains]]
-*****[[Camp Independence]] {{1st}}
-*****[[Longhorn Valley]]
-*****[[Menachite Mountain]] {{1st}}
-*****[[Military Reservation 01478-B]]
-*****[[Military Wilderness Training Preserve]]
-*****[[Reach High Command]] {{1st}}
-******[[HIGHCOM Armory Omega]] {{1st}}
-*****[[Reach Naval Academy]] {{Mo}}
-****[[Orbital Defense Generator Facility A-331]] {{1st}}
-**[[Oort cloud]] {{1st}}
-*[[Eridanus system]]
-**[[Eridanus II]]
-**[[Asteroid|Asteroid belt]]
-***[[Eridanus Secundus]]
-*[[Hawking system]] {{1st}}
-*[[Lambda Serpentis system]] {{Mo}}
-*[[New Constantinople]] {{Fm}}
-*[[Paris system]] {{Fm}}
-**[[Paris IV]] {{Fm}}
-*[[Soell]] system
-**[[Threshold]]
-***[[Installation 04]]
-***[[Basis]]
-*[[Sol system]] {{1st}}
-**[[Earth]] {{1st}}
-***[[Australia]] {{1st}}
-****[[Melbourne]] {{Fm}}
-****[[Sydney]] {{1st}}
-*****[[HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6]] {{1st}}
-***[[Matterhorn]] {{Fm}}
-**[[Mars]] {{Mo}}
-***[[Chiron]] {{Mo}}
-**[[Europa]] {{Fm}}
-*[[Tau Ceti system]] {{1st}}
-**[[Oort cloud]]
-|title-5=Events|
-*[[Wikipedia:Battle of Thermopylae|Battle of Thermopylae]] {{Mo}}
-*[[Human-Covenant War]]
-**[[Battle of New Constantinople]] {{Fm}}
-**[[Siege of Paris IV]] {{Fm}}
-**[[Siege of the Atlas Moons]] {{Fm}}
-**[[Operation: RED FLAG]] {{Mo}}
-**[[Fall of Reach]]
-**[[Battle of Installation 04]] {{Mo}}
-**[[Skirmish over Threshold]] {{1st}}
-**[[Massacre at Eridanus Secundus]] {{1st}}
-**[[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]] {{1st}}
-*[[Insurrection]]
-**[[Operation: TREBUCHET]] {{Mo}}
-**[[Operation: TALON]] {{Mo}}
-*[[SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures]] {{Mo}}
-*[[SPARTAN-II training]] {{Mo}}
-|title-6=Vehicles|
-*{{Class|Chiroptera|subprowler}} {{1st}}
-**''[[Beatrice]]'' {{1st}}
-*[[Clarion spy drone]] {{1st}}
-*{{Pattern|Rasus|interdictor}} {{1st}}
-*[[Covenant destroyer]]
-*[[Covenant escape pod]] {{1st}}
-*[[Covenant tug]] {{1st}}
-*[[Covenant cruiser]]
-**[[Covenant cruiser at Longhorn Valley]] {{1st}}
-**{{Pattern|Ket|battlecruiser}}
-***''[[Truth and Reconciliation]]'' {{Mo}}
-*[[Covenant supercarrier]] {{1st}}
-*[[D77-TC Pelican]]
-**''[[Bravo 001]]'' {{1st}}
-*{{Pattern|Ruma|light carrier}}
-**''[[Ascendant Justice]]'' {{1st}}
-*[[GA-TL1 Longsword]]
-*''[[Knife 26]]'' {{1st}}
-*{{Class|Halcyon|light cruiser}}
-**{{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}}
-*''[[High Charity]]'' {{1st}}
-**[[Sanctum of the Hierarchs]] {{1st}}
-*{{Class|Laden|freighter}} {{1st}}
-*[[M12 Chaingun Warthog]]
-*{{Class|Marathon|heavy cruiser}}
-**{{UNSCShip|Hannibal}} {{1st}}
-*[[M1011 Moray space mine]] {{1st}}
-*[[Orbital defense platform]] {{Mo}}
-*[[Prowler]]
-*[[Scarab]] {{1st}}
-*[[Drop pod]]
-**[[Human Entry Vehicle]] {{Mo}}
-*{{Pattern|Dextro Xur|Spirit}}
-*[[Type-26 Banshee]]
-*{{Pattern|Zurdo|Wraith}}
-*[[Seraph]]
-*{{Pattern|Karo'etba|Ghost}}
-*{{UNSCShip|Basra}} {{1st}}
-*[[UNSC corvette]]
-*[[UNSC destroyer]]
-**[[UNSC Tharsis (Reach)|UNSC ''Tharsis'']] {{1st}}
-*{{UNSCShip|Euphrates}} {{1st}}
-*{{Class|Paris|heavy frigate}}
-**{{UNSCShip|Gettysburg}}
-*{{Class|Punic|supercarrier}}
-**{{UNSCShip|Trafalgar}}
-*''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]''
-*[[Yacht]]
-|title-7=Weapons|
-*[[110mm rotary cannon]] {{1st}}
-*[[120mm ventral gun]] {{1st}}
-*[[Anaconda surface-to-air missile]] {{1st}}
-*[[Antilon anti-personnel mine]] {{1st}}
-*[[Archer missile]]
-*[[ASGM-10 missile]] {{1st}}
-*[[Assault cannon]]
-*[[C-7 foaming explosive]]
-*[[Energy projector]]
-*[[Energy stave]] {{1st}}
-*[[Fury tactical nuclear weapon]] {{1st}}
-*[[Needle cannon]] {{1st}}
-*[[Heavy plasma cannon]]
-*[[M19 surface-to-surface missile]]
-*[[M41 rocket launcher]]
-*[[M41 Vulcan]]
-*[[M6D magnum]]
-*[[M7 SMG]] {{1st}}
-**[[M7S SMG]] {{1st}}
-*[[M9 fragmentation grenade]]
-*[[M90 shotgun]]
-*[[MA3A assault rifle]] {{1st}}
-*[[MA5B assault rifle]]
-*[[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]]
-*[[Narq-dart pistol]]
-*[[NOVA bomb]] {{Fm}}
-*[[Lotus anti-tank mine]]
-*[[Plasma mortar]]
-*[[Plasma turret]]
-*[[Satchel charge]] {{1st}}
-*[[SRS99C-S2 AM sniper rifle]]
-*{{Pattern|Anskum|plasma grenade}}
-*[[Type-25 Brute Shot]] {{1st}}
-*[[Type-25 plasma pistol]]
-*{{Pattern|Okarda'phaa|plasma rifle}}
-*{{Pattern|Pez'tk|fuel rod gun}}
-*[[Type-33 needler]]
-|title-8=Equipment and Technology|
-*[[Active camouflage]]
-*[[Artificial intelligence]]
-**[[Avatar]]
-**[[Rampancy]] {{Mo}}
-**[[Smart AI]]
-*[[Antigravity pack]]
-*[[Biofoam]]
-*[[Boosted gravity propulsion drive]]
-*[[Covenant rope]] {{1st}}
-*[[Cryo chamber]]
-*[[Data crystal chip]]
-*[[Data pad]]
-*[[EB Green]]
-*[[Electromagnetic pulse]]
-*[[Emergency lighting]]
-*[[Emergency thruster]]
-*[[Energy barrier]]
-*[[Energy shielding]]
-**[[Kig-Yar point defense gauntlet]]
-**[[Sangheili personal energy shield]]
-*[[Fail-safe detonation system]] {{1st}}
-*[[Fiber-optic probe]]
-*[[Forerunner crystal]] {{1st}}
-*[[Fusion reactor]]
-*[[Gravity lift]]
-*[[Gravity throne]] {{1st}}
-*[[Guidance lock]]
-*[[Halo Array]]
-*[[Holotank]]
-*[[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor]]
-*[[Motion scanner]]
-*[[NAV marker transmitter]]
-*[[Navigation point]]
-*[[Panic button]]
-*[[Pinch fusion reactor]]
-*[[Retinal scanner]]
-*[[Riemann matrix]]
-*[[Robotic rover]]
-*[[Rucksack]]
-*[[Combat harness|Sangheili combat harness]]
-*[[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine]]
-*[[Spartan neural interface]]
-*[[Sterile field generator]] {{1st}}
-*[[Unggoy combat harness]]
-*[[UNSC tactical eyepiece]]
-*[[VTOL]]
-*[[Weapon attachment]]
-**[[Laser aiming module]] {{1st}}
-**[[Muzzle brake]]
-**[[Suppressor]]
-**[[Telescopic sight]]
-|title-9=Miscellaneous|
-*[[Arc welding]]
-*[[Boron]] {{1st}}
-*[[Line command]] {{1st}}
-*[[Magnetic resonance imaging]] {{1st}}
-*[[Molybdenum]] {{1st}}
-*[[UNSC Code Three-Nine-Two]] {{1st}}
-}}
-==2010 bonus content==
+*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]].
-The Tor Books edition of ''First Strike'' features a new "Adjunct" section at the end, which includes several pieces of short fiction:
-*A message from [[Charles VanKeerk]] to [[Amy]], where he offers his condolences regarding [[Sam (rebel)|Sam]]'s death, also reminding her of their still-ongoing [[Insurrection|fight]] against the UNSC.
-*''[[Tug o' War]]'', a short story about [[Oliver Birch]], a [[Fetching|fetcher]] after the [[Human-Covenant War]].
-*A transcript of a psychological debriefing of [[Frederic-104]] by Dr. [[Veronica Clayton]] during the [[Battle for Earth]].
-*''[[Petra]]'', a short story about the reporter [[Petra Janecek]], where she speculates on the events surrounding the final days of the Human-Covenant War.
-==Trivia==
+*Although the book states that John-117 carried two M7 submachine guns with silencers, he never used them.
-*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, it is stated that twenty-seven Spartans were carried to the surface of Reach aboard ''Bravo 001''; however in ''Halo: The Fall of Reach'' it is stated that "two dozen Spartans" were present at Reach, in addition to the Master Chief, with three other Spartans (later revealed to be Gray Team) "engaged on fields of combat too distant to be easily recalled". Therefore, the Pelican that Fred-104 takes to the surface should only have twenty-two Spartans, (including Fred) since John-117 takes two Spartans with him in a separate Pelican for the mission to ''Gamma Station''. Several recent sources have definitively stated that twenty-two Spartans were assigned to Red Team, with the three-member Blue Team dispatched to ''Gamma Station'' and Gray Team behind enemy lines and thus out of contact.<ref>'''[[Data Drop]]'''</ref><ref>'''Halo Wars''' timeline</ref><ref>'''Halo: First Strike''' (2010) Adjunct)</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/user/HaloWaypoint#p/a/DF8EE7CCE045CAA0/0/jh7Q3fjIIwc '''Halo Waypoint''' - ''Defiant to the End'']</ref><ref>'''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]]''', [[Library (feature)|Library]] - Pelican</ref>
-*In the original printing, the Longsword that John and the other survivors of the Battle of Installation 04 used to board ''Ascendant Justice'' is consistently referred to as a Pelican. This is corrected in the revised edition.
-*One of the Spartans on the cover of the 2010 edition seems to be wearing [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV|Mark IV]] armor, though no Spartans in Operation: FIRST STRIKE were equipped with Mark IV armor anymore. It is possible that this Spartan is simply wearing elements of the Mark IV with their Mark V armor.
-*In the 2010 version, Brutes are no longer described as a never-before-seen Covenant species.
-*In the 2010 adjunct section, Fred-104 is incorrectly referred to as a lieutenant during his psychological evaluation, which takes place during the early stages of the [[Battle for Earth]]. He actually held the rank of senior chief petty officer at this time and was not promoted to lieutenant, junior grade until the [[Onyx Conflict]].
-*Prior to colliding in the launch bay of ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'', the Longsword is going at a speed of 300&nbsp;m/s. This is equivalent to 1080&nbsp;km/h (671&nbsp;mph) and a sudden stop at that speed would kill the occupants immediately because of whiplash. A more reasonable speed would be 30&nbsp;m/s, equivalent to 108&nbsp;km/h (67&nbsp;mph) which, while still violent, would be survivable.{{Ref/Novel|FS|Chapter=8}}
-==Gallery==
+*''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.
-===Cover art artwork===
-<gallery>
-File:HFS Coverart stylised.jpg|Stylised version of the original cover-art.
-File:HFS Original Cover Art Illustration.jpg|Another stylized version of the cover art.
-File:FS_cover_full.jpg|2010 cover art of the novel.
-</gallery>
-===Edition covers===
+*''Halo: The First Strike'', ''Halo: The Fall of Reach'', and ''Halo: The Flood'' are also the only novels not available in a larger format.
-<gallery>
-File:First Strike.jpg|2003 edition.
-File:Firststrike2.jpg|2010 edition.
-File:Halo First Strike 2019 cover.jpg|2019 edition.
-</gallery>
-===Other===
+*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.
-<gallery>
+*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.
-File:FS_2010_jacket.jpg|Full jacket of the 2010 edition.
-</gallery>
 ==Sources==
-{{Ref/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}}
-==Related links==
-===Internal===
-*[[List of rectified inconsistencies in the Halo series#Halo: First Strike|List of changes in Halo novel reprints]]
-===External===
-*[http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0345467817/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-6002849-0256936#reader-link '''Amazon.com''': ''Read the First Chapter of Halo: First Strike'']
-{{Navbox/Media/Novels}}
+[[ja:Halo: First Strike]]
-[[Category:Novels|First Strike]]
+[[Category:Books|First Strike]]
 [[Category:Canon|First Strike]]