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Cover
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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
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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
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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 forHALO: The Fall of Reach
Copyright
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HALO
THE FALL OF REACH
Eric Nylund
A Del Rey(R)Book
THE BALLANTINE PUBLISHING GROUP * NEW YORK
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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.
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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, andLorraine 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.
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PROLOGUE
0500 Hours, February 12, 2535 (Military Calendar) / Lambda Serpentis System, Jericho VIITheaterof 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. Eyesdon’t.”
The four Spartans that composed Blue Team covered his back, standing absolutely silent and immobilein their MJOLNIR combat armor. Someone had once commented that they looked like Greek war godsin the armor . . . but his Spartans were far more effective and ruthless than Homer’s gods had ever been.