Halo: The Flood

Halo: The Flood takes place between September 19, 2552 and September 23, 2552. It is based on the game Halo: Combat Evolved. It begins as the UNSC cruiser UNSC Pillar of Autumn is exiting slipspace (randomized vector due to the Cole Protocole) after retreating from the fallen military base at Reach. Cortana's exit vector led the ship to a system found when she had decrypted Forerunner glyphs found by John-117 on Sigma Octanus IV. When the Pillar of Autumn drops out of slipspace, she encounters a massive ring-world in orbit around Thershold, a gas giant. This world is called Installation 04, also known as Alpha Halo.
In the system there is a host of Covenant Ships, who notice the lone ship. A Prophet forbids the fleet to fire on the Pillar of Autumn, for fear of damaging the ring. Instead, the Covenant are willing to sacrifice more lives in order to board and capture the ship rather than blasting the ship to pieces. As a result of this, the Pillar of Autumn and her crew are able to destroy four Covenant ships, but not without being further crippled from the Covenant onslaught. Meanwhile, technicians on the Autumn are preparing for battle and thawing out a single soldier from cryogenic sleep, presumably the last SPARTAN-II known as the John-117.
The Covenant proceed to take out the Autumn's defenses and board the ship. Deprived of defensive options, the Autumn's captain, Jacob Keyes, initiates the Cole Potocole and tells the crew to abandon the ship. The Master Chief is entrusted with the AI Cortana; given the wealth of tactical information the AI contains, (force deployment, weapons research, and the location of Earth) Keyes cannot allow Cortana to fall into Covenant hands. The Chief fights through the Covenant invaders, reaches the last remaining lifeboat, and heads to the surface of the ringworld known as Halo. At the same time, a special contingent of Orbital Drop Shok Troopers or ODSTs, leave the Autumn via Human entry vehicles. On the ground, the ODST Commander, Major Antonio Silva and his second-in-command, Melissa Mckey, prepare to establish a ground base from where the human forces will launch their guerrilla resistance against the Covenant. Silva is aided by a Class C Military AI named Wellsley, after the Duke of Wellington, who advises them to capture a high butte.
Meanwhile, a Covenant Grunt named Yapap leads his squad into the Pillar of Autumn. Extremely cautious and cowardly by nature, Yayap and his team decide to rescue a Covenant Special Operations Elite wounded by the Master Chief, rather than fight the humans. The five small aliens drag the black-armored Elite back to their craft and escape the deteriorating Autumn as it plunges towards the Ringworld's atmosphere.
An Ossonna by the name of Isna 'Nosolee manages to survive using active camouflague to board Keyes' lifeboat after tracking him down in an attempt to take him hostage. However, the Captain sees him and shoots him with a Corporal's M6D pistol. Isna's corpse later allows the Covenant to realize that they should capture Keyes. Keyes and his crew are forced to evade Covenant forces after they crash onto Halo. Finally, they are betrayed by Ensing Helen Dowsky. Consequently everyone, including the Ensign, is executed, save the Captain, who is captured for interrogation aboard the Truth and reconciliation.
The Master Chief lands on Halo and helps rescue Marines from their lifeboats, while the ODSTs secure Alpha Base after a clash with Covenant forces. Yayap is rewarded for his rescue of the Elite, Zuka zammame, with a terribly dangerous assignment as the Elite's assistant.
The Master Chief and a squad of Marines board the Truth and Reconciliation, rescuing the Captain. Keyes has learned that the ringworld they are on has vast significance to the Covenant (they believe that "Halo", as they call the ring, is a weapon of unimaginable power). Escaping from the Covenant cruiser, Keyes gives the Master Chief the mission of finding the Control Room of Halo before the Covenant does. Meanwhile, Zuka ’Zamamee and Yayap are given permission to hunt for the Master Chief, but fail in their attempts. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Mckay and her company assault the now Covenant-controlled UNSC Pillar of Autumn for supplies and vehicles.
Keyes, along with a squad of Marines and Sergeant Johnson, are dropped into a swamp in an effort to discover a weapons cache. The Marines took prisoner a disillusioned Elite named 'Qualomee, who claimed to be delivering a shipment of weapons to a force guarding the structure. Pushing deep into a mysterious structure, the squad finds something unlike anything they have seen before - dead Covenant freakishly ripped open and scattered about. In a locked room, the squad discovers the cause of the fatalities - the Flood. These bulbous aliens attempt to latch themselves onto the Marines, and despite being fragile, the sheer number of the creatures overwhelm all the soldiers, tapping into their nervous systems and taking over their bodies. One soldier, Private Wallace A. Jenkins, is left still semi-conscious and painfully aware of his predicament. He has a limited ability to control his movement or actions, because the infection form was weakened from the hibernation.

John-117 and Cortana discover the location of the Control Room. The Chief then inserts Cortana into Halo's computer network. However, Cortana realizes that the ring isn't a weapon as they understood at all. However, before the Chief can press her with questions, Cortana tells the Master Chief to find the Captain, unaware that they are too late. John-117 is dropped alone into the swamp where Keyes disappeared. Heading into the same structure, the Master Chief follows the subterranean passages down to the same room where Keyes and his men were attacked. He discovers their horrible fate through a recording from PFC Wallace A. Jenkins' helmet cam, and fights his way to the surface. There, he meets up with Marines and heads to a tower for evac. Suddenly, the Chief is teleported away from the swamp by Halo's resident AI, 343 Guilty Spark. The Master Chief is informed that the creatures he has encountered are called the Flood, a virulent parasite that infects its enemies to produce more of itself. Guilty Spark wishes to activate Halo's defenses to wipe out the Flood, but needs the Master Chief's help in recovering the "Index" to the installation, which allows the activation of the ring. Fighting more and more Flood, the Chief recovers the Index and is teleported back to Halo's control room.
Meanwhile, the UNSC forces of Alpha Base are forced to defend themselves from a surprise attack by Covenant forces who were attempting to kill the Master Chief, unaware that he was absent. After the failed attack, UNSC forces attempted to ambush a Covenant recovery team, but were interrupted by a Flood attack. Jenkins attempted to commit suicide by throwing himself into the line of fire, but was instead captured.
Back in the Control Room, Guilty Spark gives the Master Chief the Index to activate Halo, but is stopped by the furious Cortana. Cortana explains that Halo is a weapon, but it doesn't kill the Flood - it kills their food, meaning humans, Covenant, and any other sentient life in the galaxy. Realizing that they have to stop Guilty Spark from activating Halo, Cortana and the Master Chief decide to destroy Halo by detonating the crash-landed Pillar of Autumn's fusion reactors. In order to do this, they need Captain Keyes' neural implants to activate the countdown. In order to slow Guilty Spark's progress, the pair overload three generators that amplify Halo's weapon. In order to fire Halo, they would have to be repaired. Cortana discovers the Captain is still alive, held prisoner once again aboard the Truth and Reconciliation, now in the hands of the Flood who are trying to escape Halo with the ship. The Chief fights Covenant and Flood to the Captain, but finds out he is too late; the Captain, after successfully resisting an interrogation by the Flood, was being transformed into a proto-Gravemind. The Chief retrieves the implants and leaves the Truth and Reconciliation for the Pillar Of Autumn.

While the Chief and Cortana head to the Autumn, Alpha Base is evacuated. Silva decides to retake the Truth and Reconciliation and pilot the ship away in order to avoid being on Halo when the Autumn blows. The ship is taken successfully, but McKay realizes that Silva is blinded by the thought of promotion and glory to the danger of the Flood; ignoring Wellsley's objections, he fails to realize that if even one Flood specimen escaped containment on Earth, the entire planet could fall. An engineer notifies McKay of a vital power line (should it be severed, the unregulated energy would destroy the ship). Jenkins, who is infected but still coherent, attempts to destroy the line, but falls short. Realizing that the destruction of the Flood is far more important then Silva's promotion, McKay cuts the cable by activating a frag grenade, sending the Truth and Reconciliation crashing into Halo, nose first, killing everything aboard.
At the wrecked Autumn the Master Chief is forced to destabilize the fusion reactors manually as 343 Guilty Spark and his robotic Sentinels try to stop them. On the way to the Engine Room, the Master Chief is nearly infected by the Flood, but Cortana saves him. Once the countdown until detonation has begun, Cortana radios for dropship evacuation, but the transport is shot down by Covenant aircraft. A disgruntled Zuka 'Zamamee attempts to ambush the Chief, but is killed by a hail of grenades. Cortana directs the Chief to a Longsword interceptor still docked in the Pillar of Autumn hangar. Gunning the engines, the Chief and Cortana escape the ring just as the Autumn explodes, ending the threat of the Flood. Cortana scans for survivors and realizes that they are seemingly the only two who have survived. Cortana tells the Master Chief that the fight is finished, to which the Chief replies, "No, the Covenant is still out there, and Earth is at risk. We're just getting started."

Halo: FIRST STRIKE

The narrative then moves to the debris field of installation 04, right after the events of halo combat envolved. 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 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 jhonson, ODST corporal locklear, warrant officer Shaila P and an ONI liultenant 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. However, she learns that they're running out of time, as the fleet is a prelude to s covenant dignatary's arrival at Halo. 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, lieutenant wagner briefs the unsc security council on 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 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 admiral hood. general 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.

The narrative then returns to Reach where Kelly and Fred, after destroying the Covenant camp, are flying their captured Banshees towards the fallback position at Castle Base. The Covenant fleet in orbit ceases their orbital plasma bombardment, which confuses Fred because it goes against the normal Covenant bombardment doctrine, which has Covenant vessels glass a captured world with continuous criss-crossing plasma fire. After suffering malfunctions in their Banshees, both Spartans crash-land into a pair of Hunters, killing one and disabling the other's fuel-rod cannon. Kelly and Fred happen upon the main Covenant ground camp, which is working to uncover Menachite Mountain and Castle Base. This further worries Fred, causing him to wonder why the Covenant would expend so much manpower to attack Delta Team, but then realizes that they are after something more. Fred and Kelly then steal a pair of Wraith tanks, and blast their way into Castle Base, destroying the digging equipment and much of the Covenant ground armor. There they meet up with the surviving Spartans of Delta Team, including isaac-039, vinh-030 and will-043, all injured. They meet up with Doctor Halsey, who had remained behind to be the fail-safe option to destroy Castle Base should the Covenant get inside. She treats their injuries, and sends them to retrieve some new weapons and MJOLNIR armor replacement upgrades from a secure locker, including the battle rifle and the magnum sidearm.
At the lab, Dr. Halsey discovers an anomaly in Kelly's medical records, which leads her to find Colonel Ackerson's personal AI, araquiel, who was stealing information from Halsey's SPARTAN-II program files. She destroys it using a bypass code she herself had programmed, and gains access to Colonel Ackerson's personal black-ops files, which includes extenisve profles on all her SPARTAN-II's. These were part of a larger file marked "S-III" and hinted towards another secret Spartan program run by Ackerson, which is later explored in halo ghost of onix. In an another file labeled king under the mountain, Halsey discovered that the old titanium mines under Castle may contain an ancient Forerunner artifact, one that the Covenant were currently searching for. 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, upon fred touching one with his bare, bleeding finger, ultimately opens a huge tunnel that leads into an even larger room. In the center of the room, they find a 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 were overwhelmed and presumed 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.

Meanwhile, in Slipspace, john-117 is assisting Seargant Johnson and Polaski in stipping the Pelican of useful gear. It is revealed that the Spartan in the cryo tube is linda-058, who was mortally wounded during the mission on Gamma Station. Although she is declared clinically dead, the Master Chief rushed her to a cryo-pod in the hopes that she could be revived. During the ride in Slipspace, Polaski had perfected piloting a Covenant dropship in ascendant justice's empty hanger bay. As they enter epsilon eridandi, 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 seraphs - ask why a flagship is at Reach. While on the ship, the survivors hear a UNSC E-band transmission the E-band transmission is 6 notes Oly Oly Oxen Free. No one on the bridge recognizes it - except the Master Chief. The story flashes back returns to July 14, 2523 as a memory reviews a training mission 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, the Spartans make their way to their extraction point. When a Pelican controlled by Tango Company Marines, John shows himself to draw their attention and lures them into a trap set by the other Spartans. John then 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 an extraction site to pick up the people going down to reach. On the way down, cruisers start to surround them in their dropship, but ultimately let them pass. While Cortana continues to explore the flagship's systems, the Covenant AI aboard the ship manages to temporarily gain control of the coms and alerts the Covenant Fleet to the ship's hijacking. Although Cortana is able to destroy the AI, her cover is blown, and she destroys a few of the enemy cruisers before she flees into slipspace. The humans find a canyon with some movement in it. 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. There was no 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 anton-044 who had disabled his FoF tag so the Covenant wouldn't discover his location.  He leads the Master Chief to the entrance of a cavern, where two Spartans, grace-093 and 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, Admiral 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 stayed behind because the UNSC was working on a new bomb called the nova-bomb, which possesses enough explosive force to destroy a planet. 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 through decoding the Coventant transmissions that the location of Earth was now known to the Covenant, and they were preparing a massive attack.

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. However, Kelly is incapacitated from taking two direct hits from the Hunters' plasma shots. 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 gettisburg, 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.

In the G.A.J.,The Master Chief wakes up after being unconscious since the Slipspace battle. Cortana updated him on the current situation, which includes informing him of the Covenant discovering Earth's location. After disscusing tactical options with both Admiral Whitcomb and Haverson, the Master Chief goes to speak with Dr. Halsey. She talks to him about Johnson and his survival against the Flood. She reveals that Johnson has boren syndrome, which affects the subjects nervous system, making it incompatible with the Flood, and therefore the only known defense against the Flood. Dr. Halsey gives John two data crystals containing information about the Flood, the first one is about Dr. Halsey's analysis and possible inoculation, and the second containing the source file of her conclusion, which would doom Sergeant Johnson as ONI would dissect him to attempt to replicate his condition. She tells him to decide whether he wants to give to Haverson. When the Chief asks why she wants him to make this choice, Dr Halsey says that she is trying to teach him one last lesson, in which to save every person he can, no matter the cost. 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. As they exit Slipspace, Dr. Halsey announces that Linda will survive and make a full recovery. During not-too-friendly negotiations with Governor Jacob Jiles, a Covenant ship drops out of Slipspace and 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. The ploy works, creating a super-charged plasma torpedo that obliterates the Covenant ship, but also further damages the G.A.J, destroying the super-charged plasma turret. Governor Jiles now agrees to help repair G.A.J before the imminent arrival of more Covenant ships. During the repairs, the remaining Spartans, Johnson, and Locklear disscuss an attempt to stall the Covenant's impending attack on Earth. Johnson points out that the mobile command-and-control battle station, the unyeilding hierophant could be destroyed and possibly stall the Covenant assault. At this time, 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. After Dr. Halsey leaves, a Covenant fleet arrives and both the survivoirs and the rebels are outnumbered. Repairs are sufficient enough for the G.A.J. to flee into Slipspace. Locklear, devastated by the loss of Polaski, takes the crystal down to a small bay and sets it up with C-7. He blows the crystal up, preventing the Covenant from tracking it through Slipspace, but inadvertantly killing himself in the process.

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 unyeilding hierophant. The chief comes up with a daring plan to blow up the station and put a sizable dent in the fleet: he and the 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 chief grapples with a brute, and barely makes it out alive. grace is killed by brute shoots. After the fight with the Brutes, the Chief activates Graces suit's failsafe system, 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 three banshees with the help of Linda's sniper fire. The Master Chief then rescues Linda from oncoming Covenant reinforcements. With the rest of the remaining Spartans, they exit the station and head towards 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 (which they fake with a hologram, as the crystal was destroyed earlier by Locklear) all they have to do is come and get them from the Ascendant Justice - which Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Haverson crash into the central section of the unyeilding hierophant. When the unyeilding hierophant explodes due to the reactor exploding, it destroys the Ascendant Justice along with some five hundred ships of the Covenant invasion force leaving about a dozen ships to attack Earth. The five human survivors of the operation, John-117, Frederic-104, Linda-058, William-043, Sergeant Avery J. Johnson, and cortana proceeded to a random location under Cole Protocol and then return to earth to warn them about the impending Covenant invasion.

In the epilogue, on hight charity, tartarus gives an orb containing shards of the Forerunner crystal to the hight prophet of truth. The Prophet gives Tartarus orders to reward the survivors, then execute them quietly, and punish the incompetent one who lost the Ascendant Justice; "make sure his fate matches the magnitude of his failure .

Covenant Ships

Agricultural Support Ships: were a type of support vessel used by the Covenant, and attached to their wandering Covenant fleets. These vessels are much smaller than a Covenant capital ship, and are not designed for combat. Rather, they are designed to provide fresh food for Covenant soldiers.

SDV-class heavy corvette:  is a light capital warship classification in the Covenant Navy.

CPV-class heavy destroyer: Is a Covenant Destroyer class in service with the Covenant Navy.In large fleets they are usually the first ships to engage.

 CCS-class battlecruiser: Is a heavy warship used by the Covenant Navy, one of several different designs of capital ships they employ. It serves as the backbone of the Covenant Navy and their most numerous Capital ship. They are also commonly tasked with glassing operations.

Covenant Battleship:  Is a heavy capital warship classification within the Covnant Navy. This warship is approximately two kilometers long, has five bulbous sections and bristles with a dozen Energy-progectors - enough weapons and firepower to decimate any UNSC Fleet from long range. It is larger than most Covenant warships, even surpassing the keel length of the CCS-class battlecruiser, but itself is dwarfed by the Covenant Assault Carrier.

CSO-class supercarrier: is an extremely powerful heavy warship classification and the largest class within the Covenant Navy. Multiple supercarriers of the Second fleet of homogenous defended the massive space station of High Charity and one such vessel served as the flagship of the Combined fleet of righteous purpose.

High Charity: was the Covenant's mobile planetoid station and the capital city, known as the Holy City of the Covenant or the Prophets' Holy City.

Covenant Vehicles

Heavy Orbital Insertion Pod: Is a larger variant of the standard single-occupant orbital insertion pod, which deploys troops in the pod from ships low orbit into the battle zone. It operates similarly to the standard Insertion Pod, but has the capacity to drop four Covenant warriors into battle simultaneously.

Type-25 Rapid Assault Vehicle: colloquially known as the Brute Chopper or Chopper by UNSC personnel, is a Covenant Loyalist ground assault vehicle used exclusively by the jiralhanae.

Type-29 Troop/Vehicle Transport: also known as the Shadow, is a covenant heavy ground transport vehicle.

Type-30 Light Excavation/Anti-Fortification Platform: more commonly identified as the Locust by the UNSC, is a Covenant-made quadrupedal walking combat vehicle it is typically used as a building killer.

Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle: more commonly identified as the Ghost by the UNSC, is the Covenant's standard reconnaissance and rapid attack vehicle.

Type-46 Infantry Support Vehicle: more commonly identified as the Spectre by the UNSC, is a Covenant ground assault/transportation vehicle that was first seen by UNSC forces in 2546 during the Battle of Sargasso.

Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platform: more commonly known as the Scarab, is a Covenant mobile mining platform adapted for use in combat.

Type-48 Light Assault Gun Carriage: more commonly known as the Revenant, is a Covnant Army craft.

Type-52 Anti-Aircraft Artillery: is a specialized anti-air variant of the wraith.

Type-52 Infantry Support Vehicle: is a Covenant loyalist ground vehicle used by the Jiralhanae,It is the Brute equivalent of the UNSC's Warthog and the Covenant Spectre.

Type-25 Troop Carrier: otherwise known as the Spirit or T25 TC, is a Covenant infantry and logistical transport craft.

Type-52 troop carrier: is a Covenant troop transport used primarily to deploy ground units and equipment swiftly and efficiently to the battlefield, while providing suppressive fire for Covenant forces.

Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage: more commonly identified as the Wraith by the UNSC, is the Covenant's main heavy assault craft for ground engagements.

UNSC

The United Nations Space Command serves as the military, exploratory, and scientific agency of the unified earth government. The UNSC was formed in the 22nd century, a time when remnants of old cultural ideologies clashed for supremacy in the sol system. The UNSC served mainly as an overseer of united nations military operations in space. After initiating massive militarization propaganda throughout its off-world colonies, through the UNSC, the U.N. defeated communist and fascist forces in a conflict generally known as the interplanetary war which consisted of several side-battles that took place on mars, the jovian moons and the south american rainforests. Although the Interplanetary War brought a great deal of suffering to both the colonial population and the residents of earth, it also united humanity's militia forces into a common armed force by the end of the 22nd century.

COVENANT

Is a Theocratic Hegemony made up of many alien species and alliances that maintain control over a large portion of the Orion Arm in the Milky way galaxy. The Covenant is a political, military, and religious affiliation. They waged a genocidal campaing against Humanity until they were formally defeated due to many factors - the most crucial of which was an internal conflict. While the Covenant's leadership was either lost during the flood infection of Hight charity or during the Battle of installation 00, the Covenant continues to exist even after the conclusion of the war.

Human Ships

The Heart of Midlothian
Was a UNSC Destroyer that served in the Human-Covenant War.

 Pillar of Autumn
Was a Halcyon-class light cruiser in the UNSC Navy. It was informally referred to as the Autumn.

 Marathon-class heavy cruiser
They are some of the largest and most powerful warships ever utilized by humanity, built as a replacement for their aging Halcyon-class light crusier. Their numbers are limited, and they are usually commanded by the highest ranking officers.  

UNSC Forward Unto Dawn
Was a UNSC Charon-class light frigate. 

 UNSC Savannah
Led by Captain Kristof JenThe Savannah participated in the Fall of Reach in fall 2552, where it was present for the defense of Anchor nine during Operation uppercut, later being escorted by a Pelican and multiple Sabre fighters to capture a Covenant corvtte.  

UNSC Spirit of Fire
Was a modified UNSC Phoenix-class colony ship The Spirit of Fire's commanding officer was Capitain James Gregory Cutter. 

UNSC Infinity
Was a vessel commissioned into the UNSC navy following the end of the Human-Covenant war in 2553The Infinity was a starship technology demonstrator, using recovered technology found during the war against the Covenant empire and from Forerrunner facilities and installations.  

 

Human Vehicles

Warthog
The M12 LRV is the UNSC's most prolific anti-infantry vehicle, designed to quickly and efficiently eliminate lightly armored infantry. is equipped with a mounted M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun.

 Scorpion
 TheMain Battle Tankis the most common armored fighting vehicle employed by the UNSC during the human-covenant war, where it is used in operations requiring heavy firepower or an anti-vehicular platform.

Hornet
Is aassault and reconnaissance aircraft. The Hornet is capable of fulfilling multiple roles from close air support to special forces insertion

Pelican
Is an extremely versatile aircraft used by the UNSC, mainly for the pickup and transportation of personnel, vehicles and equipment, although it can also be used as a powerful support gunship.

 Longsword
 Is the main single ship of the UNSCDF, and is a mainstay starfighter, filling a variety of roles simultaneously. The starfigher has been in service as early as 2517.

 Shortsword
 Is a UNSC atmospheric bomber used primarily for short-range, heavy payload bombing runs against enemy ground targets, especially Covenant forces. The bombers were in use by the UNSC by at least 2531.

 Sparrowhawk
 Is a UNSC VTOL aerial support aerodyne.

Vulture
Is a heavy gunship used by the UNSC during the early years of the Human Covenant-war. The premier aerial combat vehicle for extended air-to-ground battles.

Sabre
Is a space superiority starfighter used by the UNSC Defence Force during the Human-Covenant War.

Falcon
Is a troop transport aircraft of the UNSC.

Mongoose
Is a UNSC light ground reconnaissance vehicle designed by AMG Transports Dynamic. The Mongoose lacks weapons, but can carry a driver and a passenger. The passenger can fire their weapon, but they will not be able to zoom in.

The Cole Protocol

In the first, desperate days of the human-covenant war, the UNSC has enacted the Cole Protocol to safeguard Earth and its Inner Colonies from discovery by a merciless alien foe. Many are called upon to rid the universe of lingering navigation data that would reveal the location of Earth. Among them is Navy Lieutenant Jacob Keyes. Thrust back into action after being sidelined, Keyes is saddled with a top secret mission by ONI. One that will take him deep behind enemy lines, to a corner of the universe where nothing is as it seems.
 
Out beyond the Outr Colonies lies the planet Hesiod, a gas giant surrounded by a vast asteroid belt. As the Covenant continues to glass the human occupied planets near Hesiod, many of the survivors, helped by a stronghold of human Insurrectionists, are fleeing to the asteroid belt for refuge. 

They have transformed the tumbling satellites into a tenuous, yet ingenious, settlement known as The Rubble - and have come face-to-face with a Covenant settlement of King-yar...yet somehow survived.
News of this unlikely treaty has spread to the warring sides. Luckily for the UNSC, this uneasy alliance is in the path of the SPARTAN Gray-Team, a three man renegade squad whose simple task is to wreak havoc from behind enemy lines in any way they see fit. But the Prophets have also sent their best, most ambitious and ruthless Elite, whose quest for nobility and rank is matched only by his brutality...and who will do anything to secure his Ascendancy and walk the Path.

 

RESUME

In the distant past, an intellectual race called the Forerruners fought an alien parasite known as the Flood. The Flood, which spread through infestation of sentient life, overran much of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Forerunners conceived a weapon of last resort to combat the Flood. Using an installation known as the Ark, they built large ring-shaped megastructures known as Halos. The Halo Array, when activated, would destroy all sentient life in the galaxy—depriving the Flood of their food. Delaying as long as they could, the Forerunners activated the rings and disappeared.
Tens of thousands of years later, in the 26th century, humanity—under the auspices of the Unites Nations Space Command, or UNSC—colonize many worlds thanks to the development of faster-than-light "slipspace" travel. Tensions escalate between the older and more stable "Inner Colonies" and the remote "Outer Colonies", leading to civil war. The UNSC creates an elite group of enhanced supersoldiers, known as Spartans, to suppress the rebellion covertly. In the year 2525, the human colony of Harvest falls under attack by a theocratic alliance of alien races known as the Covenant. The Covenant leadership declares humanity heretics and an affront to their gods—the Forerunners—and begins a holy war of genocide. The Covenant's superior technology and numbers prove decisive advantages; though effective, the Spartans are too few in number to turn the tide of battle in humanity's favor.
In 2552, the Covenant arrive at Reach, the UNSC's last major stronghold beyond Earth, and launch an invasion of the planet. The last Spartans and UNSC military are unable to stop the Covenant from bombarding the surface with plasma. Following directives to avoid leading the Covenant to Earth, Cortana, the AI aboard the fleeing UNSC ship Pillar of Autumn, selects random coordinates that lead the ship to a Halo installation. The Covenant follow, damaging the Autumn and leading its crew to take the fight to the ring's surface. The Covenant accidentally release Flood imprisoned on the ring; in order to nullify the threat, the ring's AI caretaker, 343 Guilty Spark, enlists the help of the Spartan, John-117, or Master Chief. However, before the pair can activate Halo's defenses, Cortana reveals that Halo's activation would mean their own destruction. Master Chief and Cortana instead detonate the Autumn's engines, destroying Halo and preventing the escape of the Flood. They return to Earth with a few other human survivors, warning of an impending Covenant attack.
The Covenant, unaware of the destructive nature of the rings, attempt to fire another ring, Installation 05, in order to fulfill their religious prophecy, and to do so launch an attack on Earth. Helping the Chief to defend the Earth are Sergeant Avery Johnson and Commander Miranda Keyes. One race in the Covenant, the Elites, learn the truth about the rings, and join forces with humanity in order to stop the firing of the ring. Though they are successful, the unexpected shutdown of the installation triggers a fail-safe protocol, priming all the rings for firing from one location, referred to as the Ark. Still oblivious to the true nature of the rings, the Covenant high prophet of truth and the remaining loyalist Covenant proceed to head to Earth, where they believe the Ark is buried. A battle rages on Earth between human forces, the Covenant and a Flood-infected army. Eventually, the Covenant is repulsed and flees through a slipspace portal, and the Flood is purged from Earth, resulting in the devastation of Africa.
Following a message Cortana left aboard the Flood ship, the Chief, Arbiter, Elites, Johnson, Keyes and their troops follow Truth through the portal. Joining them is 343 Guilty Spark, who aids the Chief as he has no function to fulfill after the destruction of his ringworld. Traveling through the portal, the humans and Elites discover an immense artificial structure known as the Ark, far beyond the edges of the Milky Way galaxy. The Flood arrive en masse aboard High Charity, the Covenant's 'holy city', and begin infesting the installation, Johnson is captured by Truth. Gravemind, a being representing the group-mind of the Flood, actually aids Arbiter and the Chief in finding Truth, since the activation of the Ark would doom its species. They find Keyes, who had tried to mount a solo rescue, dead and Johnson being used by Truth to activate the Ark. The Chief and Arbiter stop the activation, and Arbiter kills Truth before he can be consumed by the Flood. The group then discover that the Ark is constructing a new Halo ring to replace the one the Chief destroyed. The Chief decides to activate this Halo; the ringworld would eliminate the Flood infestation on the Ark while sparing the galaxy at large from destruction. To activate the ring, the Chief rescues Cortana, who has the Activation Index of the destroyed Halo, from High Charity.
The Chief, Arbiter, and Johnson travel to Halo's control room to activate the ring. Guilty Spark explains that because the ring is not yet complete, a premature activation will destroy it and the Ark. When Johnson ignores his warning, Guilty Spark kills him to protect "his" ring. The Chief and Arbiter destroy Guilty Spark, activate the ring, and escape the ring's self-destruction on the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn. However, the force of Halo's blast causes the slipspace portal to collapse, resulting in only the front half of Forward Unto Dawn, carrying the Arbiter, making it back to Earth. Believing the Chief to have perished, a memorial service is held on Earth for the fallen heroes of the Human-Covenant war. After the memorial service, the Arbiter and his Elite brethren departs for their home planet. But it is shown that the rear half of Forward Unto Down is floating in space, with the Chief and Cortana on board. Cortana activates a distress beacon and the Chief goes into hibernation.
The story is continued in halo4, with the Master Chief and Cortana waking four years after the destruction of the Ark, arriving on the artificial Forerunner planet of Requiem, where a human colonizing ship has apparently crashed and a splinter group of Covenant are searching for a hibernating Forerunner.