Halo: First Strike is written by Eric Nylund, as is his second in the Halo novel series. First Strike picks up where Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo: The Flood ended. Well... somewhat. 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 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 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.
The novel opens with the final moments of Reach. No, not the game, the events of The Fall of Reach. Fred, Kelly, William, and a few others not only fought, but survived to make it to a stronghold where Dr. Catherine Halsey is located. The Covenant glasses the planet and power is cut. Fast-forward to the end of The Flood, and the Master Chief, with Cortana, sit in the Longsword, scanning the debris field for survivors. The Covenant armada descends and Cortana identifies a low ping off a Pelican. They slingshot around Basis and Staff Sergeant A. J. Johnson comes aboard first. The Master Chief accuses Johnson of being a Flood victim and Johnson rebuffs this by saying the Flood passed him up. Cortana confirms this but John-117 wants to make sure, but is willing to wait until they get back to UNSC controlled space. The rest come aboard and the Chief tells them they're going to take the Covenant's flagship. They do so and plot a course for Reach, as it is no longer in UNSC hands. The ship is mostly full of Huragoks.
One of the Huragok repairs the MJOLNIR armor for the Master Chief and Lt. Elias Haverson kills it, believing that if given the choice, it'll turn on them and report back to the Covenant. They jump to slipspace and arrive at Reach to find what's left of the human fleet in debris fields with a couple of Covenant cruisers placed above the planet. John-117 overhears a rhythm being played on a com channel and makes preparations to land on the planet. In a meeting, it's almost revealed that Colonel Ackerson has a back up plan for the SPARTAN-IIs. What it is is any one's guess. Ackerson insults the Spartan-2s despite Lord Admiral Terrence Hood telling him to shut up and show them respect. Ackerson says sending a recon team to Reach is pointless as there can be no survivors. Back on Reach, Halsey finds a file labeled "King Under The Mountain" with contents such as CPOFM and S-III. The ONI base continues to collapse.
Five days later, The Master Chief lands on Reach and stumbles across Admiral Danforth Whitcomb with a couple of Spartans. The Chief tells them everything he knows and Johnson and the others fill in the rest. They find and extract Halsey, Fred, Kelly and the rest and high-tail it off Reach. They rendezvous with Insurrectionist Jacob Jiles and borrow his ships to fight off the Covenant. Halsey says the reason Johnson couldn't be infected by the Flood is because of Boren's Syndrome (which is a cover for his time in the ORION Project, the Spartan-I program). She panics, drugs Kelly and flees for Ackerson's S-III base. Hood saves the day and John-117, Fred-081, Linda-058, and William-043, with several copies of Cortana take the fight to the Covenant aboard the Unyielding Hierophant. They succeed in delaying the Covenant from attacking Earth and the Inner Colonies. The Prophet of Truth summons Tartarus to bring him the one who failed.
All in all, Eric Nylund wrote one hell of a novel and in 2003, it made the New York Times Bestseller list. Well crafted, great characters, good plot, and a fantastic read for any Halo fan.
The novel opens with the final moments of Reach. No, not the game, the events of The Fall of Reach. Fred, Kelly, William, and a few others not only fought, but survived to make it to a stronghold where Dr. Catherine Halsey is located. The Covenant glasses the planet and power is cut. Fast-forward to the end of The Flood, and the Master Chief, with Cortana, sit in the Longsword, scanning the debris field for survivors. The Covenant armada descends and Cortana identifies a low ping off a Pelican. They slingshot around Basis and Staff Sergeant A. J. Johnson comes aboard first. The Master Chief accuses Johnson of being a Flood victim and Johnson rebuffs this by saying the Flood passed him up. Cortana confirms this but John-117 wants to make sure, but is willing to wait until they get back to UNSC controlled space. The rest come aboard and the Chief tells them they're going to take the Covenant's flagship. They do so and plot a course for Reach, as it is no longer in UNSC hands. The ship is mostly full of Huragoks.
One of the Huragok repairs the MJOLNIR armor for the Master Chief and Lt. Elias Haverson kills it, believing that if given the choice, it'll turn on them and report back to the Covenant. They jump to slipspace and arrive at Reach to find what's left of the human fleet in debris fields with a couple of Covenant cruisers placed above the planet. John-117 overhears a rhythm being played on a com channel and makes preparations to land on the planet. In a meeting, it's almost revealed that Colonel Ackerson has a back up plan for the SPARTAN-IIs. What it is is any one's guess. Ackerson insults the Spartan-2s despite Lord Admiral Terrence Hood telling him to shut up and show them respect. Ackerson says sending a recon team to Reach is pointless as there can be no survivors. Back on Reach, Halsey finds a file labeled "King Under The Mountain" with contents such as CPOFM and S-III. The ONI base continues to collapse.
Five days later, The Master Chief lands on Reach and stumbles across Admiral Danforth Whitcomb with a couple of Spartans. The Chief tells them everything he knows and Johnson and the others fill in the rest. They find and extract Halsey, Fred, Kelly and the rest and high-tail it off Reach. They rendezvous with Insurrectionist Jacob Jiles and borrow his ships to fight off the Covenant. Halsey says the reason Johnson couldn't be infected by the Flood is because of Boren's Syndrome (which is a cover for his time in the ORION Project, the Spartan-I program). She panics, drugs Kelly and flees for Ackerson's S-III base. Hood saves the day and John-117, Fred-081, Linda-058, and William-043, with several copies of Cortana take the fight to the Covenant aboard the Unyielding Hierophant. They succeed in delaying the Covenant from attacking Earth and the Inner Colonies. The Prophet of Truth summons Tartarus to bring him the one who failed.
All in all, Eric Nylund wrote one hell of a novel and in 2003, it made the New York Times Bestseller list. Well crafted, great characters, good plot, and a fantastic read for any Halo fan.
