Halo: First Strike

***Halo: First Strike***is the third *Halo*book in the main series, and the sequel to *Halo: The Fall of Reach* and *Halo: The Flood*. It was written by Eric Nylund and published by Del Rey Books. The book is a sequel to the events of *Halo: Combat Evolved*, and a prequel to *Halo 2.*

The book was released on December 2, 2003, eight months after the release of *Halo: The Flood*. It immediately starts off following the ending of *Halo: Combat Evolved*, right up until John-117 returning to Earth. Like the book's namesake, the book features Operation: FIRST STRIKE.

The novel was reissued on December 21, 2010 by Tor Books, with many of the typos and mistakes present in the original being ironed out; the reissue was also given a new cover art.

## Story Synopsis

### Section 0: Reach

The prologue begins before the Fall of Reach flashing back to Chapter 34 in *Halo: The Fall of Reach* where Captain Keyes informed John-117 of the matter of the unsecured NAV database. Fred-104 is made the leader of Red Team and ordered to take the other 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, Fred-104 and 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 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.

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Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb contacts Fred-104 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-104 takes Kelly-087 and 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 nuke into a Covenant ship. During the assault, Joshua-029's Banshee is shot down and he is presumed dead. Fred-104 and Kelly-087 complete the mission without complications and destroy the cruiser.

Despite their efforts however, the Covenant manage to overrun the reactors on Reach and the Covenant begin to glass the planet. Fred-104, however, refusing to sit around and die comes up with a plan. He and Kelly-087 take their captured Banshees, and together they fly away from the scene.

### Section I: Threshold

The narrative returns to the present, picking up right after the events of *Halo: Combat Evolved* and *Halo: The Flood*. John-117 and Cortana, still in their Longsword, are traversing the debris field of Installation 04 after its destruction. Aboard the Longsword, John-117 and Cortana converse, with John-117 insisting that Cortana repeat her scans of the debris for any signs of life.

Cortana then detects a battlegroup of seven Covenant warships, accompanied by a flagship. She also finds three cryo-chambers that were jettisoned from the *Pillar of Autumn*prior to its crash landing on Alpha Halo. While she moves the Longsword towards the cryopods, she discovers a Pelican hiding nearby. As John-117 retrieves the cryopods and returns to the Longsword, the Pelican takes off and attacks the lead Covenant ship, 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, Warrant Officer Shiela Polaski and ONI Lieutenant Elias Haverson. John-117, 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 he must not have tasted good to the Flood. After confirming with Cortana that he isn't infected John-117 releases Johnson.

Together the group manages to board the Covenant flagship; a DDS-class carrier called the *Ascendant Justice*. They fight their way to the bridge and along the way 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 a Covenant dignitary's arrival at Alpha Halo, and their vessel has a massive escort. The group makes it to the bridge only to confront a SpecOps Elite wielding an Energy Sword, whom John-117 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 John-117 persuades them all to return to Reach; first, because the Cole Protocol forbids them from taking a Covenant vessel to Earth directly; second, because John-117 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 John-117 informing him that there is a Spartan in one of the cryotubes.

Meanwhile, back at Earth, UNSC HIGHCOM 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 not know that the UNSC *Pillar of Autumn* escaped destruction. Also revealed here is that Colonel James Ackerson, who was supposedly reassigned after the events of *Halo: 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 Spartans as "freaks", earning him 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.

### Section II: Defense of Castle Base

The narrative once again flashes back to Reach where Kelly-087 and Fred-104, 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 Isaac-039, Vinh-030 and Will-043. They meet up with Dr. 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 labelled 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-104 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 crystal. The Spartans and Halsey find that if they walk straight towards it, it will bend the space around them and, if brought into 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 grav lifts, forcing the humans to retreat. Fred-104 orders Isaac-039 and Vinh-030 to stay behind to form a rearguard action, but they were 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 III: Rescue

Returning to the present, out in space, John-117 and Cortana, along with the last survivors of Installation 04 including Sergeant Johnson, find out that one of the cryotubes that John-117 found contains Linda-058. The others had contained marines, but they had died due to cryotube malfunction. While in the Longsword John-117 strips off some pieces from the craft, to reinforce a Covenant dropship they are going to use. As they walk into the hangar of the *Ascendant Justice*, John-117 and Sergeant Johnson witness Polaski practicing how to drive a Covenant dropship. As they enter the Epsilon Eridani system, 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: a six-note tune, "Oly Oly Oxen Free". Noone on the bridge recognizes it - except John-117. The section then flashes back 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-117 uses the "Oly Oly Oxen Free" signal to tell his teammates that all is clear.

Back in the present, the human crew on the *Ascendant Justice*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 comms and alerts the Covenant fleet to the ship's hijacking. Although Covenant is able to destroy the AI, her cover is blown, and she destroy a few of the enemy cruisers before she flees into slipspace. The humans find a canyon with some movement in it. John-117 wanders out alone to see if there is a trap. Haverson backs him up. At the bottom of the ramp John-117 senses a single signal. There was no friend-or-foe tag indicating who it belonged to, so John-117 proceeded with caution. John-117 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 John-117 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. John-117 and Anton-044, followed by Grace-093, enters the cavern. Inside, Admiral Whitcomb was standing at a foldout card table, which was the headquarters for Camp Independence.

Admiral Whitcomb asks why John-117 was there, instead of the mission with Captain Keyes deep in Covenant territory. John-117 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 Whitcomb tells Haverson that while everyone was evacuating, he stayed behind because the UNSC was working on a new type of 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 Red Team is still trapped underground in the tunnels beneath the mountain in the CASTLE facility. John-117'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 kilometer away from the Covenant forces. They manage to destroy the Covenant forces and three Spartans, Kelly-087, Fred-104 and Will-043, emerged from cover. Whitcomb asks if that everyone and Fred-104 replies that there was one more. That person turns out to be Dr. Halsey who are holding a 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 John-117 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 IV: 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. However, Kelly-087 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 *Gettysburg*, needing two reactors for her maneuver. She microjumps into slipspace, and jumps out in the middle of the Covenant fleet, at the rendezvous point. John-117's men get into 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 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-008 and Anton-044 are killed and Kelly-087 is severely wounded. Desperate to escape, Cortana attempts to revert 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 V: Massacre at Eridanus Secundus

Recovering on the *Gettysburg*, John-117 learns from Cortana that the Covenant have found Earth, and are preparing for a massive assault. Heading to the bridge, John-117 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, which have long since been destroyed by the Covenant, meaning there is no nearby UNSC base to repair their ship. Additionally, the crystal emits an unknown radiation in slipspace which will kill the crew in 72 hours. Learning that they are near the Eridanus system, John-117 informs Whitcomb that of a former Insurrectionist base that may still be active.

In the *Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice*, Halsey tells John-117 that Linda-058 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-117 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 kill Sergeant Johnson. She tells him to decide whether 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 her group had found the crystal, John-117 and his group were transported back in time. Halsey realizes that the crystal cannot be allowed to be controlled by either the Covenant or ONI Section Three, and erases Cortana's memory of the discussion with John-117 and the analysis of the crystal.

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 and finds them because of the radiation the crystal emits upon exiting from slipspace. Despite malfunctioning plasma turrets, the crew of the *Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice* decide to engage it. When Cortana informs them that the magnetic coils used to shape the plasma aren't working, John-117 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-087 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 no 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 VI: Operation: FIRST STRIKE

While the crew of the *Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice* 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 *Unyielding Hierophant.*John-117 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. John-117 grapples with a Brute, and barely makes it out alive. However, Grace-093 is killed in the skirmish. After the fight, John-117 activates the failsafe system in Grace-093's suit, 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-058's sniper rifle. John-117 then rescues Linda-058 from oncoming Covenant reinforcements.

The remaining Spartans exit the station and head towards the backside of a moon where the *Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice*was supposed to be holding position, by only see the *Gettysburg.*The crew had taken the slipspace engine of the *Ascendant Justice*and installed it on the *Gettysburg*, while Whitcomb and Haverson have taken the Covenant ship, which they soon crash into the central station of *Unyielding Hierophant*. They broadcast a message to the Covenant fleet that if they want the crystal (which they fake a holograph, as the crystal was destroyed earlier by Locklear) all they have to do is come and get them from the *Ascendant Justice*. When the *Unyielding Hierophant'*s reactors detonate, the explosion destroys the *Ascendant Justice* along with some five hundred ships of the Covenant invasion force, leaving about a dozen ships. The five human survivors of the operation, John-117, Fred-104, Linda-058, Will-043, Sergeant Johnson and Cortana proceed to a random location under Cole Protocol and then return to Earth to warn them about the impending Covenant invasion.

### Section VII: Harbinger

In the epilogue, on *High Charity*, 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 quietly. He then orders him to punish the commander responsible for losing the *Ascendant Justice*.

## Features

### Characters

#### UNSC

* John-117
* Frederic-104
* Kelly-087
* Linda-058
* Will-043
* Li-008
* Vinh-030
* Isaac-039
* Anton-044
* Grace-093
* Joshua-029
* James-005
* Malcolm-059
* Catherine Halsey
* Mitchell
* Jake Chapman
* Buckman
* Wagner
* James Ackerson
* Nicolas Strauss
* Terrence Hood
* Danforth Whitcomb
* Elias Haverson
* Shiela Polaski
* Avery Johnson
* Locklear
* Araqiel
* Cortana
* Déjà (mentioned)
* Kalmiya
* Lysithea

#### Covenant

* Prophet of Truth
* Tartarus
* Thel 'Vadam (mentioned)
* Guardian of the Luminous Key
* Zawaz

### Species

* Human
* Flood (mentioned)
* Forerunner (mentioned)
* Huragok
* Kig-Yar
* Jiralhanae
* Mgalekgolo
* Sangheili
* San'Shyuum
* Unggoy

### Organizations

* Insurrectionists
	+ United Rebel Front
		- Eridanus Rebels
* Unified Earth Government
	+ United Nations Space Command
		- UNSC Security Council
			* UNSC Army
			* UNSC Marine Corps
				+ Charlie Company
				+ Tango Company
				+ Orbital Drop Shock Troopers
					- 105th Shock Troops Division
			* UNSC Navy
				+ UNSC Fleet
					- Epsilon Eridani Fleet (mentioned)
				+ Squadron
					- 23rd Naval Air Squadron
			* Naval Special Warfare Command
				+ ORION Project (mentioned)
				+ SPARTAN-II Program
					- Blue Team
					- Red Team
			* Office of Naval Intelligence
* Covenant Empire
	+ Covenant Armed Forces
		- Covenant Navy
			* Covenant Fleet
				+ Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity
				+ Fleet of Particular Justice
				+ High Charity Defense Fleet
				+ Truth's Fleet
			* Special Warfare Group
				+ Covenant Special Operations
				+ Fleet Security
		- Covenant Honor Guard

### Locations

* Unknown System
	+ Atlas (Mentioned)
		- Atlas Moons (Mentioned)
* Unknown System
	+ Emerald Cove (Mentioned)
* Epsilon Eridani System
	+ Reach
		- Highland Mountains
			* Camp Independence
			* Military Wilderness Training Preserve
				+ Longhorn Valley
			* Military Reservation 01478-B
			* Reach High Command
				+ HIGHCOM Armory Omega
			* Reach Naval Academy (Mentioned)
			* Orbital Defense Generator Facility A-331 (Mentioned)
			* Menachite Mountain
				+ CASTLE Base
	+ Oort Cloud
* Eridanus System
	+ Eridanus II
	+ Eridanus Secundus
* Hawking System (mentioned)
* Lambda Serpentis System (mentioned)
* Unknown System
	+ New Constantinople (mentioned)
* Paris System (mentioned)
	+ Paris IV (mentioned)
* Soell System
	+ Threshold
		- Installation 04
* Sol System
	+ Earth
		- Australia
			* Victoria
				+ Melbourne (mentioned)
			* New South Wales
				+ Sydney
					- HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6
	+ Mars (mentioned)
		- Chiron (mentioned)
	+ Jupiter
		- Europa (mentioned)
* Tau Ceti System
	+ Oort Cloud

### Events

* Texas Revolution
	+ Battle of the Alamo (mentioned)
* Greco-Persian Wars
	+ Battle of Thermopylae\
* Human-Covenant War
	+ Battle of New Constantinople (mentioned)
	+ Fall of Reach
	+ Massacre at Eridanus Secundus
	+ Operation: FIRST STRIKE
	+ Operation: RED FLAG (mentioned)
	+ Siege of the Atlas Moons (mentioned)
	+ Siege of Paris IV (mentioned)
	+ Skirmish over Threshold
* Insurrection
	+ Operation: TALON (mentioned)
	+ Operation: TREBUCHET (mentioned)
* SPARTAN-II Training (mentioned)
* SPARTAN-II Augmentation Procedures (mentioned)

### Weapons

#### Human

* 110mm Rotary Cannon
* 120mm Ventral Gun
* Anaconda Surface-to-Air Missile
* Antlion Antipersonnel Mine
* Archer Missile
* ASGM-10 Missile
* C-7 Foaming Explosive
* Fury Tactical Nuclear Weapon
* M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Medium Anti-Vehicle/Assault Weapon
	+ M19 102mm High-Explosive, Shaped-Charge Surface-to-Surface Missile
* M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun
* M6 Series
	+ M6D Personal Defense Weapon System
	+ M6C Personal Defense Weapon System
* M7/Caseless Submachine Gun
	+ M7S/Caseless Submachine Gun
* M9 High-Explosive Dual-Purpose Fragmentation Grenade
* M90 Close Assault Weapon System
* MA Series
	+ MA3A Individual Combat Weapon System
	+ MA5B Individual Combat Weapon System
* Magnetic Acellerator Cannon
* Narq-Dart Pistol
* NOVA Bomb
* Lotus Anti-Tank Mine
* Satchel Charge
* SRS Series
	+ SRS 99C-S2 Sniper Rifle
* BR Series
	+ BR55 Service Rifle
* Moray Space Mine

#### Covenant

* Assault Cannon
* Energy Projector
* Energy Stave
* Heavy Needle Cannon
* Heavy Plasma Cannon
* Heavy Plasma Mortar
* Plasma Turret
* Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenade
* Type-25 Grenade Launcher
* Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol
* Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle
* Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon
* Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher

### Vehicles

#### Human

* Clarion Spy Drone
* D77-TC Pelican
	+ *Bravo 001*
* GA-TL1 Longsword Interceptor
	+ *Knife 26*
* M12 Force Application Vehicle
	+ M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle
* Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle

#### Covenant

* Type-25 Troop Carrier
* Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft
* Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage
* Type-31 Exoatmospheric Multi-Role Fighter
* Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle
* Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platform (mentioned)
* Covenant Escape Pod

### Ships and Platforms

#### UNSC

* *Behemoth*-Class Tug
* Orbital Defense Platform (mentioned)
* UNSC Carrier
	+ *Punic*-Class Supercarrier
		- UNSC *Trafalgar* (mentioned)
* UNSC Cruiser
	+ *Halcyon*-Class Light Cruiser
		- UNSC *Pillar of Autumn* (mentioned)
	+ *Marathon*-Class Heavy Cruiser
		- UNSC *Hannibal*
* UNSC Destroyer
	+ UNSC *Tharsis*
* UNSC Frigate
	+ *Paris*-Class Heavy Frigate
		- UNSC *Gettysburg*
* UNSC Corvette
* UNSC *Euphrates*
* UNSC *Basra*
* Yacht

#### Insurrection

* *Chiroptera*-Class Stealth Vessel
	+ URF *Beatrice*
* *Laden*-Class Freighter

#### Covenant

* Covenant Cruiser
	+ CCS-Class Battlecruiser
		- *Truth and Reconciliation* (mentioned)
	+ CRS-Class Light Cruiser
	+ Unidentified Cruiser at Longhorn Valley
* Covenant Battleship
* Covenant Destroyer
	+ RPV-Class Light Destroyer
* Covenant Tug
* Covenant Carrier
	+ DDS-Class Carrier
		- *Ascendant Justice*
* *High Charity*
* *Unyielding Hierophant*

## 2010 Bonus Content

The Tor Books edition of *Halo: First Strike* features a new "Adjunct" section at the end, which features several pieces of short fiction:

* A message from Charles VanKeerk to Amy, where he offers his condolences regarding Sam's death, also reminding her of their still-going fight against the UNSC.
* *Tug o' War*, a short story about Oliver Birch, a fetcher after the Human-Covenant War.
* A transcript of a psychological debriefing of Frederic-104 by Dr. Veronica Clayton during the First Battle of Earth.
* *Petra*, a short story about the reporter Petra Janecek, where she speculates on events surrounding the final days of the Human-Covenant War.

## Reception

Upon release, *First Strike* was a critical and commercial success, being the first *Halo* novel to make *The New York Times* bestsellers list. IGN stated that the writing was "terse and exciting" and that players waiting for the release of *Halo 2* could pick up interesting hints about what was to come in the game and in the ilovebees viral marketing campaign. About.com's Eric Qualls stated that *First Strike* and the other *Halo* novels "make you appreciate *Halo* and *Halo 2* a hundred times more", and strongly recommended that fans of the game pick up the novel.Shawn of Digital Monkey Box criticized the way the Nylund sidelines characters who were developed early in the book as the Master Chief takes precedence but overall praised the book highly.Nylund's character development and the ethical challenges presented to the Master Chief were praised however and reviewer Josh Carter considered it superior to either of the previous books. When Phil Jones reviewed the book for Science Fiction Crowsnest he found that "the combat does get somewhat tiresome" but concluded that the book was a good, easy read and "as spin-offs go, it's not bad." The *First Strike* audiobook was also well received, reviewer Cliff Bakehorn commenting that "Todd McLaren did a good job narrating", as well as finding it to be "an exciting story throughout."

## Trivia

* The original cover of the book had a graphic error on John-117'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 issue was corrected in later versions, and absent in the reissue cover art.
* 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* is stated on page 240 that there were "two dozen Spartans" and John-117, with three other Spartans "engaged on fields of combat too distant to be recalled" therefore the Pelican that Fred-104 takes to the surface should only have 21 Spartans since John-117 takes two Spartans with him in a seperate Pelican for the space op. Eric Trautmann has implied discrepancy is being considered part of continuity and a potential future story hook.
* 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 Spartans "fixing the Pelican". They removed the normal seats and Pelican drop equipment.
* 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 John-117 on his mission to the *Truth and Reconciliation*, yet there are no marines in space suits, so they must be wearing marine uniforms. ODST suits are most likely circumstantial, as known ODSTs like Marcus Stacker and Reynolds are often seen in standard armor in *Halo 2* and *Halo 3*.
* After the *Unyielding Hierophant* exploded, there were only a dozen Covenant ships left, give or take. According to the *Halo Encyclopedia*,
* the twelve ships that survived the station's explosion are the ships the Prophet of Regret later used to attack Earth. However, a history entry in *Halo Waypoint* establishes these ships to be part of a fleet secretly summoned to the station by the Prophet of Truth and later used to reinforce the remnants of Regret's forces during a second attack wave on Earth.
* The Sangheili that John-117 fought in *Ascendant Justice* was initially presumed to be Thel 'Vadam, until it was realized that it was a SpecOps Elite, and not a Supreme Commander. It should also be noted that the Vadamee's own flagship was called the *Seeker of Truth*, not the *Ascendant Justice*, and thus it is impossible for the two to be the same character.
* The Longsword that John-117 and the other Halo survivors used to board *Ascendant Justice* is after that point regularly, and erroneously, referred to as a Pelican. This error was later corrected in the 2010 reissue.
* The 2010 reissue cover art shows two Spartans, one incorrectly wearing Mark IV armor. No Spartans in *Halo: First Strike* were equipped with Mark IV anymore. This may be an unfinished piece similiar to the first cover of *Halo: The Cole Protocol*. It is likely to be an arbitrary, aesthetic image that has no effect on the actual story, just like the re-issued cover of *Halo: The Flood* does not match its story and the game it documents. Though it may also be a variation of the Mark V armor as stated by Frank O'Connor stated that the *Halo Wars* Mark IV is a variation of the basic model. The variation was then carried over to the Mark V, similiar to how several variations of the Mark V made it to the Mark VI.
* The 2010 reissue cover also shows a Spartan wielding a plasma repeater, which was never used in the original story nor appeared. This is simply part of the reissued cover's aesthetic design, which is focused on portraying thematic elements and a nod towards *Halo Reach*, rather than portraying actual events, items and characters in a specific, canon instance.
* On Page 323, the book incorrectly states that Ghosts can fly. This could be a mistake or a misunderstanding by the reader of its levitation.
* When John-117 activates Grace-093's failsafe systems, it resembles the nuclear bomb used by Predators in the *Predator* and *AVP* franchises when they have failed or a clan member is killed in action.
* On the original cover, it shows 2 Caucasian marines in BDU, and a Spartan, but in the book there are 2 marines, Corporal Locklear and Sergeant Johnson, but Johnson is an African-American so there are no more than 1 marine that are Caucasian in the book.
* After discovering an anomaly in Kelly-087's medical records that leads her to Colonel Ackerson, Dr. Halsey begins to review Ackerson's files and singles out two files 'S-III' and 'KING OF THE MOUNTAIN.' The file 'S-III' hinting at Ackerson's SPARTAN-III Program it is safe to assume that Dr. Halsey had no recognition of the Spartan-III's, although in *Halo Reach* she clearly comes into contact with Spartan-IIIs when she gives the package to Noble Six.
* There are a few errors in the novel:
	+ There is an error on page 287 of "The Definitive Edition". The sentence goes "...the Covenant military orders were disseminated with startling ***efficiently***..." when it should be ***efficiency***.
	+ There is an error on page 405 of "The Definitive Edition". Sanctum of the Hierarchs is misspelled "Sanctum of the Heirarchs."
* This book, along with *Halo: The Fall of Reach* and *Halo: The Flood*, were collected in the *Halo* Box Set, while their reprint editions were included in the *Halo* Box Set II.
* In the 2010 reissue, Brutes are no longer referred to as a never-before-seen species.
* In the 2010 reissue adjunct, Fred-104 is incorrectly referred to as a lieutenant during his psychological evaluation, which takes place during the early stages of the First Battle of Earth. He actually held the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer at this time was not promoted to Lieutenant, Junior Grade until the Battle of Onyx.

## Gallery

The original 2003 cover artFull cover art for the 2010 reissueReissued 2010 back cover

## Links

### External Links

1. ↑ **Random House**: *Halo: First Strike by Eric Nylund*
2. ↑ **Xbox.com**: *First Strike Author Eric Nylund Q&A*
3. ↑ **Kotaku**: *Halo Novel Trilogy to be Republished with Updates, New Content*
4. ↑ **Halo.Bungie.org**: *Spartan Roster*