Halo

"With the galaxy in the suffocating grip of a renegade artificial intelligence, another perilous threat has quietly emerged in the shadows: the Keepers of the One Freedom, a fanatical and merciless Covenant splinter group, has made its way beyond the borders of the galaxy to an ancient Forerunner installation known as the Ark. Led by an infamous Brute named Castor, the Keepers intend to achieve what the Covenant, in all its might, failed to: activate Halo and take the last steps on the path of the Great Journey into transcendence. But unknown to Castor and his new, unexpected ally on the Ark, there are traitors to the cause in their midst--namely the Ferrets, composed of Office of Naval Intelligence operative Veta Lopis and her young team of Spartan-IIIs, who have been infiltrating the Keepers to lay the groundwork for Castor's assassination. But with ONI's field operations now splintered and cut off by the Guardian threat, Veta's original mission has suddenly and dramatically escalated in scope. There's simply no choice or fallback plan--either the Ferrets somehow stop the Keepers or the galaxy faces an extinction-level event"--OCLC.

"2526. It has been more than a year since humanity first encountered the hostile military alliance of alien races known as the Covenant, and several weeks after the United Nations Space Command's devastating counterattack of Operation: Silent Storm was deemed an overwhelming success. The UNSC has put its faith in the hands of the Spartans, led by the legendary Master Chief, John-117: enhanced super-soldiers raised and trained from childhood via a clandestine black ops project to be living weapons. But the Covenant--enraged and fearful of their enemy's unexpected strategies and prowess--is not taking its recent defeat lightly, and is now fully determined to eradicate humanity from existence, brutally overrunning the ill-fated planets of the Outer Colonies faster than retreats can be ordered. If the UNSC has any chance of stemming the tide of the war, the Master Chief and Blue Team must drop onto an empty, hellish world in order to capture a disabled Covenant frigate filled with valuable technology"--Provided by publisher.

"Less than a year after the end of the Covenant War, a string of violent incidents continues to threaten the tenuous peace in human-held space, culminating in the assassination of UNSC fleet admiral Graselyn Tuwa and the abduction of her family. It is a provocation so outrageous that the Office of Naval Intelligence must retaliate swiftly and ferociously--but only after its operatives identify her killer and rescue the hostages"--Provided by publisher.

"October 2559. It has been a year since the renegade artificial intelligence Cortana issued a galaxy-wide ultimatum, subjecting many worlds to martial law under the indomitable grip of her Forerunner weapons. Outside her view, the members of Blue Team--John-117, the Master Chief; Fred-104; Kelly-087; and Linda-058--are assigned from the UNSC Infinity to make a covert insertion onto the ravaged planet Reach. Blue Team's mission is to penetrate the rubble-filled depths of CASTLE Base and recover top-secret assets locked away in Dr. Catherine Halsey's abandoned laboratory--assets which may prove to be humanity's last hope against Cortana. But Reach has been invaded by a powerful and ruthless alien faction, who have their own reasons for being there. Establishing themselves as a vicious occupying force on the devastated planet, this enemy will soon transform Blue Team's simple retrieval operation into a full-blown crisis. And with the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance, mission failure is not an option"--Provided by publisher.

In 2555 a startling scientific discovery is made ... and the riddle behind its Forerunner origins could very well seal the fate of the entire galaxy within a matter of weeks. In order to unravel these dangerous secrets, a heroic, hastily formed coalition of humans and Elites must attempt to overcome their differences as they embark on a covert mission back to the Ark -- where mortal danger awaits them all.

"Find. Claim. Profit. In a post-Covenant War galaxy littered with scrap, it's the salvager's motto. And with a fast ship and a lust for adventure, Rion Forge has certainly made her mark on the trade. But when the discovery of a wrecked United Nations Space Command cruiser brings Rion's past back to haunt her, stirring fresh hope into a decades-old wound, she's hell-bent on finding answers: What really happened to her father, John Forge, and his ship, the Spirit of Fire?"--Back cover.

In 2524, on the colony Harvest, young staff sergeant Avery Johnson and the United Nations Space Command encounter the alien Covenant for the first time.

"While Spartans get all the glory, no soldier--not even the legendary Master Chief--wins a war on their own. Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck and his team of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs) played a major role in saving the Earth from all-out invasion at the end of the Covenant War--acts of bravery and ingenuity that did not go unnoticed by the United Nations Space Command. Now, after many Spartans have been killed in battle and the Master Chief is listed as MIA, the UNSC decides to create a new generation of Spartans to defend humanity from threats both outside and within. When they come to Buck with an extraordinary proposition, he is forced to make a life-altering decision. With the Covenant War finally over, is it time for him to finally retire to the sidelines for a life he could only dream about, or is he prepared to step up and become part of the military's new blood?"--Back cover.

2535. It is the first, desperate days of the Human-Covenant War, and the United Nations Space Command has enacted "the Cole Protocol" to safeguard Earth and its inner colonies from discovery by its merciless alien foe. Many are called upon to rid the galaxy of lingering navigation data that could potentially reveal the location of Earth and ensure the destruction of humanity. Among those tasked with eliminating any trace of such dangerous information is Navy Lieutenant Jacob Keyes--now saddled with a top-secret mission by the Office of Naval Intelligence...one that will take him to a corner of the galaxy where nothing is as it seems. Out beyond the Outer 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, aided by a stronghold of human insurrectionists, are fleeing to the asteroids 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 Kig-Yar...yet somehow survived. News of this unlikely treaty has spread to the warring factions. Luckily for the UNSC, this uneasy alliance is in the path of the Spartan Gray Team, a three-person 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 very best--an ambitious and ruthless Elite whose quest for nobility and rank is matched only by his brutality...

A collection of sixteen short stories based on the video game series Halo.