Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [0]
Local Disk HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
HALO: THE FALL OF REACH
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page Dedication Acknowledgments Prologue Section I Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Section II Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Section III Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-one Chapter Twenty-two Chapter Twenty-three Chapter Twenty-four Section IV Chapter Twenty-five Chapter Twenty-six Chapter Twenty-seven Chapter Twenty-eight Chapter Twenty-nine Section V Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-one Chapter Thirty-two Chapter Thirty-three Chapter Thirty-four Chapter Thirty-five Chapter Thirty-six Chapter Thirty-seven Section VI Epilogue Praise for HALO: The Fall of Reach Copyright
HALO THE FALL OF REACH Eric Nylund
A Del Rey®Book THE BALLANTINE PUBLISHING GROUP • NEW YORK
For Syne Mitchell. She watched my six, patched me up, and provided transportation to my DZ everyday —no soldier could ever ask for better support in the field . . . or a better wife.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Singled out for conspicuous merit and bravery under fire are the following personnel:
Eric S. Trautmann went far above and beyond the call of duty providing background material, editing, reality checks, and a constant supply of caffeine and encouragement.
Bungie for making a superb game, and in particular: Jason Jones, Alex Seropian, John Howard, and Lorraine McLees.
The brilliant tactical unit at Microsoft’s Franchise Development Group: Nancy Figatner, Brannon Boren, and Doug Zartman.
Microsoft’s User Experience fireteam: Keith Cirillo, Jo Tyo, and Matt Whiting.
The troopers at Ballantine/Del Rey: Caron Harris, David Stevenson, Steve Palmer, Crystal Velasquez— and special thanks to Steve Saffel.
PROLOGUE
0500 Hours, February 12, 2535 (Military Calendar) / Lambda Serpentis System, Jericho VII Theater of Operations
“Contact. All teams stand by: enemy contact, my position.”
The Chief knew there were probably more than a hundred of them—motion sensors were off the scale. He wanted to see them for himself, though; his training made that lesson clear: “Machines break. Eyes don’t.”
The four Spartans that composed Blue Team covered his back, standing absolutely silent and immobile in their MJOLNIR combat armor. Someone had once commented that they looked like Greek war gods in the armor . . . but his Spartans were far more effective and ruthless than Homer’s gods had ever been.
He snaked the fiber-optic probe up and over the three-meter-high stone ridge. When it was in place, the Chief linked it to his helmet’s heads-up display.
On the other side he saw a valley with eroded rock walls and a river meandering through it . . . and camped along the banks as far as he could see were Grunts.
The Covenant used these stocky aliens as cannon fodder. They stood a meter tall and wore armored environment suits that