Halo

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For Sam, who always talks good Texan common sense when I need it

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My grateful thanks go to Frank O’Connor, franchise development director for Halo, and KevinGrace, franchise manager for Halo, of 343 Industries; Jeremy Patenaude, franchise writer of Halo, 343 Industries, for being a walking Halo encyclopedia; Jim Gilmer, for moral support; and “Aryss SkaHara” (you know who you are) and the wonderful Russian Halo fans on Twitter for Russian language support. Bless you all. 343 Industries would like to thank Scott Dell’Osso, James Frenkel, Stacy Hill,Bryan Koski, Matt McCloskey, Whitney Ross, Bonnie Ross-Ziegler, Rob Semsey, Matt Skelton, Phil Spencer, Karen Traviss, Carla Woo, and Jennifer Yi. None of this would have been possible without the amazing efforts of the Microsoft staffers, including: Ben Cammarano, Christine Finch, Kevin Grace, Tyler Jeffers, Carlos Naranjo, Tiffany O’Brien, Frank O’Connor, Jeremy Patenaude, Brian Reed, CorrinneRobinson, Eddie Smith, and Kiki Wolfkill.

CONTENTS

Title Page Copyright Notice Dedication Acknowledgments Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Epilogue Books in the New York Times Bestselling Halo® Series About the Author Copyright

PROLOGUE
OFFICE OFNAVAL INTELLIGENCE, BRAVO-6, SYDNEY, EARTH: MARCH 2553
This job is about trouble. Seeing trouble coming, neutralizing trouble … and causing trouble for others before they cause it for you. On a day when there’s no trouble, something’s wrong. There’s always trouble. You simply haven’t noticed it yet, so you have to seek it out before it comes looking for you. But today’s a normal day and I don’thave to hunt. Captain Serin Osman has just reported in from Venezia. She’s calling off the mission for the time being and breaking orbit to return to Sanghelios, because we have trouble. And where’s my damn coffee? Osman’s lost contact with her Sangheili language expert, Phillips. One minute he’s spying happily under the noses of his Sangheili hosts, and the next there’s an explosion. Now we’rescrambling to find out what’s happened. The Arbiter’s no fool. He invited Phillips to visit. He has a reason, and if he’s sane, he has to be suspicious of us. Yes, perhaps it’s all part of genuinely wanting to build bridges with Earth, but I can’t afford to assume the best. My job is about planning for the worst, and making sure that it happens—to Earth’s enemies, anyway. My job isn’t about okay. Thewhole point of this mission, the whole raison d’être of the Kilo-Five mission, is to make things as un-okay for the Sangheili as we can, to keep them feuding and fighting while we re-arm and neutralize them once and for all. But we have an operative stranded there with an AI, a civilian academic, not an experienced ONI agent like Osman. So she has to extract him. I’d do the same if I were her.Venezia can wait, after all: it’s been a terrorist haven since before the Covenant War, and it’s not going anywhere. Besides, Mike Spenser is there. A safe pair of hands, our Mike. In this job, you handpick your people. You need the best. You need the most loyal. You need the most ruthless. And ruthlessness and loyalty in a single human being is a rare combination to find. So … where’s my coffee?...