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　　ERIC  NYLUND
　　BALLANTINE  BOOKS  ?  NEW  YORK
　　Other  books  based  on  Xbox  games:
　　HALO:  THE  FLOOD  by  William  C.  Dietz
　　HALO:  THE  FALL  OF  REACH  by  Eric  Nylund
　　BRUTE  FORCE:  BETRAYALS  by  Dean  Wesley  Smith
　　CRIMSON  SKIES  by  Eric  Nylund,  Michael  B.  Lee,  Nancy
　　Berman,  and  Eric  S.  Trautmann
　　Books  published  by  The  Random  House  Publishing  Group  are  available  at  quantity  discounts  on  bulk  purchases  for  premium,  educational,  fund-raising,  and  special  sales  use.  For  details,  please  call  1-800-733-3000.
　　Sale  of  this  book  without  a  front  cover  may  be  unauthorized.  If  this  book  is  coverless,  it  may  have  been  reported  to  the  publisher  as  "unsold  or  destroyed"  and  neither  the  author  nor  the  publisher  may  have  re?ceived  payment  for  it.
　　Halo:  First  Strike  is  a  work  of  fiction.  Names,  places,  and  incidents  either  are  a  product  of  the  author's  imagination  or  are  used  fictitiously.
　　A  Del  Rey?  Book
　　Published  by  The  Random  House  Publishing  Group
　　Copyright  ?  2003  by  Microsoft  Corporation
　　All  rights  reserved  under  International  and  Pan-American  Copyright  Conventions.  Published  in  the  United  States  by  The  Random  House  Publishing  Group,  a  division  of  Random  House,  Inc.,  New  York,  and  si?multaneously  in  Canada  by  Random  House  of  Canada  Limited,  Toronto.
　　Bungie,  Halo,  Xbox,  the  Xbox  logo  and  the  Microsoft  Game  Studio  logo  are  either  registered  trademarks  or  trademarks  of  Microsoft  Corporation  in  the  United  States  and/or  other  countries.  Used  under  license.  ?  2003  Microsoft  Corporation.  All  Rights  Reserved.
　　Del  Rey  is  a  registered  trademark  and  the  Del  Rey  colophon  is  a  trade?mark  of  Random  House,  Inc.
　　delreydigital
　　ISBN  0-345-46781-7
　　Manufactured  in  the  United  States  of  America
　　First  Edition:  December  2003
　　OPM        10        9        8        7        6
　　ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
　　First  and  foremost,  I  would  like  to  thank  the  personnel  at  Central  Command:  Syne  Mitchell  and  the  newest  officer  on  our  team,  Kai  Nylund.
　　The  Intel  Officers  at  Microsoft's  Franchise  Development  Group:  Doug  Zartman,  Nancy  Figatner,  and  Edward  Ventura,  and  most  notably  Eric  S.  Trautmann  (Special  Ops  field  agent).
　　The  people  in  Section  Two,  a.k.a.  Microsoft's  User  Experience  Group:  Jo  Tyo,  Matt  Whiting,  Dana  Fos,  and  Jason  Groce.
　　Logistics  officers  at  Ballantine/Del  Rey:  Keith  Clayton,  Nancy  Delia,  Betsy  Mitchell,  and  Steve  Saffel.
　　And  the  Bungie  troopers  who  are  slugging  it  out  on  virtual  battlefields  across  the  universe  to  bring  you  the  best  game  ever:  Jason  Jones,  Peter  Parsons,  and,  of  course,  Joe  Staten,  Jaime  Griesemer,  and  Lorraine  McLees.
　　SECTION
　　REACH
　　CHAPTER  ONE
　　0622  hours,  August  30,2552  (Military  Calendar)\  UNSC  Vessel  Pillar  of  Autumn,  Epsilon  Eridani  system  near  Reach  Station  Gamma.
　　SPARTAN-104,  Frederic,  twirled  a  combat  knife,  his  fingers  nimble  despite  the  bulky  MJOLNIR  combat  armor  that  encased  his  body.  The  blade  traced  a  complicated  series  of  graceful  arcs  in  the  air.  The  few  remaining  Naval  personnel  on  the  deck  turned  pale  and  averted  their  eyes—a  Spartan  wielding  a  knife  was  gen?erally  accompanied  by  the  presence  of  several  dead  bodies.