Jay Williams

One hundred thousand years ago, the galaxy was populated by a great variety of beings. But one species - eons beyond all others in both technology and knowledge - achieved dominance. They ruled in peace but met opposition with quick and brutal effectiveness. They were the Forerunners - the keepers of the Mantle of Responsibility, the next stage of life in the Universe’s Living Time. And then they vanished. This is their story.

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.

While the Master Chief defends a besieged Earth, and the myriad factions of the Covenant continue their crusade to eliminate humanity, an ultra-secret cell of the Office of Naval Intelligence, known as Section Three, devises a plan to buy the UNSC vital time. They're going to need hundreds of willing soldiers, though...and one more Spartan to get the job done.

With the Covenant War over, the Office of Naval Intelligence faces old grievances rising again to threaten Earth. The angry, bitter colonies, still with scores to settle from the insurrection put on hold for thirty years, now want justice and so does a man whose life was torn apart by ONI when his daughter was abducted for the SPARTANII program. Black ops squad KiloFive find their loyalties tested beyond breaking point when the father of their Spartan comrade, still searching for the truth about her disappearance, prepares to glass Earth's cities to get an answer.