Halo: First Strike
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| First Strike | |
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| Author | Eric Nylund |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Halo |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Del Rey |
| Publication date | December 2, 2003[1] |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 352 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-345-46781-7 |
| Preceded by | The Flood |
| Followed by | Ghosts of Onyx |
Halo: First Strike is a 2003 novel written by Eric Nylund. It is based on the video game series Halo and it depicts the events taking place between the end of Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequel Halo 2. It also acts as a follow-up to the ending events of Halo: The Fall of Reach with its first chapters, and acts as a sequel to Halo: The Flood, with prequel events to both books tied in between.
Halo: First Strike opens with the arrival of the Covenant armada at the human stronghold planet of Reach. The book follows both the unsuccessful attempt to defend Reach by the SPARTAN-II's who were detached on the planet's surface and the adventures of the rag-tag survivors of the battle at Alpha Halo. The book also reveals that humanity's worst fear is going to come true: the Covenant is on its way to Earth.
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[edit] Background
First Strike was Nylund's second Halo novel, his first being 2001's Halo: The Fall of Reach. Like The Fall of Reach, which served as a prequel to the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, First Strike bridges the gap between the first game and its sequel, Halo 2. Nylund said that he wrote the book within seven weeks.[2]
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Setting
[edit] Characters
[edit] Plot
The novel begins on Reach, as humanity fights against a Covenant invasion. The last line of defense for the human UNSC are a shield of coilguns in orbit that protect the planet from direct attack. The Spartan John-117, known as Master Chief, sends a team of Spartans, to the surface of Reach in order to protect the coilguns' planet-based fusion power generators. Ultimately, the Covenant are able to destroy the generators and begin glassing the planet, turning its surface into molten glass. The remaining Spartans flee underground to the hidden headquarters of the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence. There they meet Dr. Catherine Halsey, who has uncovered a strange crystalline shard in a cavern built by the ancient Forerunner. Pursued by the Covenant, the Spartans retrieve the shard and collapse the passage behind them.
The book then shifts to events occurring soon after Halo, as the Master Chief and Cortana fly through the ruins of Halo, seemingly the last human survivors. Cortana discovers a set of cryotubes adrift in space, and then discovers a human dropship hiding on an asteroid. After a skirmish with a newly arrived Covenant fleet, Master Chief and Cortana pick up the last survivors: Avery Johnson, who survived an attack by the Flood, Lieutenant Haverson of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Warrant Officer Polaski, and Corporal Locklear. The set of cryotubes the Chief finds hold the critically injured Spartan Linda-058. Laden with valuable intelligence information about the Covenant and the Flood, the survivors infiltrate the Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice and plan on returning to Earth with the stolen vessel. To prevent themselves from drawing the Covenant to Earth by a tracking device on the ship, the humans return to Reach to search for any Covenant homing beacons.
Upon arrival in Reach's star system, the Master Chief's team picks up a radio signal used by the Spartans in their training days. On the surface, the team finds several Spartans, Halsey, and Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for the UNSC Defense Forces Navy. The Vice Admiral arms a powerful Nova thermonuclear mine, a weapon that would obliterate Reach. The Forerunner shard appears to have bent time so that the Master Chief could rescue Halsey and the others. Meanwhile, Cortana finds out that the Covenant have learned the location of Earth and are preparing an invasion fleet.
Seeking the Forerunner shard, the Covenant attack and damage the Ascendant Justice. In order to make repairs, the UNSC forge a temporary alliance with seperatist rebels hidden in an asteroid field. Halsey abruptly abducts Spartan Kelly-087 and flees in a stolen ship; she leaves Corporal Locklear instructions to stop the crystal from falling into Covenant hands. Locklear decides to destroy the crystal, killing himself, but stopping the Covenant from tracking the crystal's radioactive emissions and by extension the Justice.
With the knowledge that the Covenant are en route to Earth, the Master Chief and his fellow Spartans decide to go to the enemy fleet's rendezvous point to disrupt its operations. The Spartans successfully infiltrate the Covenant command and control center, the Unyielding Hierophant, set the Covenant station to self-destruct, and escape in a Dropship. On board the Ascendant Justice, Whitcomb and Haverson trick the Covenant fleet into following the ship closer to the Heirophant; when the station explodes, the entire Covenant armada is destroyed or damaged with it. Master Chief and the surviving Spartans Fred-104, Linda-058, and Will-043 take a UNSC freighter back to Earth with Avery Johnson and Cortana to warn of the approaching invasion. Meanwhile, the Covenant leadership discuss the fate of the "incompetent one," an Elite who allowed Halo to be destroyed and the Justice to be captured; this sets the stage for Halo 2.
[edit] Reception
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[edit] References
- ^ Halo: First Strike - Written by Eric Nylund. Random House. Retrieved on 2008-03-21.
- ^ Green, Marty (2003). Halo: First Strike Author Eric Nylund. Xbox.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
[edit] External links
- Halo: First Strike article at Halopedia, a Halo wiki
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