Something Has Happened

Something Has Happened is one of several stories in Halo: Tales from Slipspace. Written by Alex Irvine and drawn by Vasilis Lolos, it narrates the Flood infestation on the UNSC Spirit of Fire in January 2537.

Plot synopsis

On January 1, 2537, the UNSC Spirit of Fire, having sacrificed its Shaw-Fujikawa drive during the battle of the Etran Harborage six years earlier, travels slowly back toward human-controlled space. The ship's degrading AI, Serina, notes in a report that she is six days away from reaching the end of her seven year operational lifespan. In keeping with procedures, she awakens engineering specialist Violeta Maldini from cryosleep to perform routine maintenance examinations around the ship. As Maldini completes her inspection of Cryo-bay Foxtrot 7, she is attacked by a stowaway Pod infector and is overtaken by the parasite. After placing the sector under lockdown, Serina spends the following days examining the organism' actions for future interest to the UNSC, as well as to quench her own misplaced curiosity. On January 4, Serina witnesses the specimen reach the end of its life cycle and produce more infection forms. Having absorbed Maldini's knowledge of cryo chamber codes, the Flood then proceeds to open cryotubes and infect more crew members. Realizing her duties were being inhibited by rampancy, Serina awakens professor Ellen Anders to ask her for help dealing with the threatening situation.

Approximately 15 minutes later, Spartan Jerome-092 of Red Team, who had arranged to be brought out of cryosleep in the event Anders was awoken, arises to find himself inside the Flood infested cryo-bay. Due to enacted protocols, Serina and Anders are unable to help Jerome get out of the quarantined bay. Arming himself with a weapon and grenades, Jerome fends off the parasites and prevents them from overriding the lockdown when they gain important codes from one Lieutenant Kwan. While Jerome mows down Pod infectors and combat forms, Serina discusses her condition with Anders and requests that she, and not Captain James Cutter, terminate her before she commits further fatal errors. As Jerome finishes eradicating the Flood infestation in cryo-bay Foxtrot 7, Serina informs him that one infected individual has managed to escape and is preparing to infect the crewmen in another bay. Chasing after the creature, Jerome is surprised to find it carrying more Pod infectors on its back. Serina, realizing that the Flood has learned to hide its numbers by staying grouped together, quickly opens an exterior hatch and ejects the remaining Flood into the vacuum of space, just narrowly avoiding flushing out Jerome as well.

With the crisis having been averted, Jerome soon prepares to re-enter cryostasis. He asks Anders if they are sure there are no more Flood forms onboard the ship, seeing as how Serina had failed to notice once before. Anders assures him that her own scans showed no presence of other life-forms and says that he shouldn't bring up Serina's shortcomings as she will soon no longer be with them. Jerome exchanges parting words and pleasantries with Anders and Serina as he enters his cryo-chamber. Anders remains with Serina for a while to set up preparations for her dispensation. Before Anders heads back into cryostasis, Serina thanks her for having helped her. Serina proceeds to record contingency briefings for the crew of the Spirit of Fire covering different scenarios under which they may be awakened. After completing an incident report about the Flood outbreak for Captain Cutter, Serina initiates her own final dispensation.

Appearances

Characters Ellen Anders James Cutter (Mentioned only) Jerome-092 Kwan (First appearance) Serina Violeta Maldini (First appearance) Species Flood Pod infector Flood combat form Flood carrier form Forerunner (Mentioned only) Human Organizations Unified Earth Government United Nations Space Command UNSC Naval Command UNSC Navy Naval Special Warfare Command SPARTAN-II Program Red Team Locations Korinth Prior system Etran Harborage (Mentioned only)

Events Human-Covenant War Battle of the Etran Harborage (Mentioned only) Outbreak on the UNSC Spirit of Fire (First appearance) Weapons BR85HB battle rifle Vehicles Phoenix-class colony ship UNSC Spirit of Fire Technology and equipment Artificial intelligence Smart AI Cryo chamber MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor MJOLNIR [GEN1] Mark IV Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine (Mentioned only) Shield world (Mentioned only)

Trivia

• The story's name is a direct reference to the last line spoken in Halo Wars (and the first one in Halo Wars 2), by Serina: "Captain, wake up. Something has happened." The line plays after the end credits once the player has beaten the game on Legendary difficulty.

Mistakes

• Jerome-092 arms himself with a BR85HB battle rifle to fight the Flood infestation. This particular weapon did not enter service until late in the Human-Covenant War (and even then, only in limited numbers). As such, it could not have been aboard the Spirit of Fire when it left UNSC-controlled space in 2531.
• After unleashing the infection forms generated within her, the Flood appeared to use Violeta Maldini's body to open the cryo chambers. However, the release of infection forms from a carrier form completely destroys the host body.