Recaps

A second lieutenant piloted the Aerial Strike into a Covenant cruiser’s hangar and cleared it so Gabriel and the Blood Ravens could continue fighting safely. The Observer then deployed sixty Helljumpers into the hangar before its shields nearly failed, forcing Macha to order a retreat.

• The second lieutenant evaded friendly fire, then flew toward the marked hangar and destroyed Covenant aircraft with the Aerial Strike’s cannons and Beam Sabers.
• The second lieutenant entered the hangar and destroyed its threatening aircraft and Covenant ground crew while avoiding the energy storage tanks.
• The second lieutenant left the hangar when the communications officer warned that The Observer was approaching its deployment position.
• Macha’s Helljumpers ejected from sixty drop pods into the Covenant cruiser’s hangar as The Observer pushed through enemy fire with its shield nearly depleted.
• Macha ordered The Observer to accelerate and retreat rather than risk losing the ship and its forces.

The Helljumpers joined Gabriel and the Blood Ravens aboard the Covenant cruiser, and Macha ordered them to seize the ship and capture its command team. After resupplying and clearing the central section, the assault force encountered a heavily armored Covenant species near a warehouse.

• Sixty Helljumpers landed in the cruiser’s hangar, wiped out its defenders, and rendezvoused with Gabriel’s Blood Ravens.
• The lieutenant asked The Observer for their objective, and Macha ordered the troops to capture the cruiser and, if possible, its captain and command team.
• Gabriel told the lieutenant to let the Blood Ravens lead while the Helljumpers provided covering fire, and the Helljumpers resupplied the Blood Ravens with ammunition.
• The combined force cleared Covenant soldiers from the cruiser’s central section and reached a warehouse near the bow and belly.
• The Blood Ravens and Helljumpers encountered a huge armored Covenant enemy carrying a body-covering shield and a Fuel Cannon.

Gabriel and the Blood Ravens defeated six Hunters blocking the route to the bow, then continued with the Helljumpers through increasingly fierce Covenant resistance. They reached an area defended by elite Elites, and an ambush by camouflaged fighters cost them several casualties.

• Six Hunters fired Fuel Cannons at Gabriel and the Helljumpers, blasting several troopers unconscious before the survivors opened fire.
• Gabriel led the Blood Ravens into close combat, where they exploited the Hunters’ slow movement and unarmored areas to kill all six.
• The lieutenant’s men found that the troopers struck by the Fuel Cannons had suffered injuries no worse than concussions, and the group resumed its advance toward the bow.
• Gabriel and the lieutenant encountered increasingly numerous Covenant forces, including red- and yellow-armored Elites with stronger shields and combat skills.
• A group of optically camouflaged Elites ambushed the force, and the Blood Ravens and Helljumpers defeated them at the cost of one machine gunner’s right arm, one Blood Raven rendered combat-ineffective, and ten Helljumpers killed.

Gabriel and the surviving Blood Ravens and Helljumpers encountered a group of Elites led by the Golden Armored Elite aboard the CCS-class Cruiser. The Golden Armored Elite challenged Gabriel and six Blood Ravens to a formal duel, and both sides charged into combat.

• Gabriel assessed the wounded and ordered that soldiers remain behind to care for them and the fallen Helljumpers.
• The Golden Armored Elite and its Elites entered the chamber, but lowered their weapons after their leader stopped them.
• Gabriel ordered the humans to lower their weapons while staying ready, and the Golden Armored Elite singled him out for a duel.
• A Helljumper lieutenant explained that the Elites challenged strong opponents to one-on-one duels, so Gabriel accepted and chose six Blood Ravens.
• The Golden Armored Elite provided seven Energy Sword hilts, and Gabriel and the six Blood Ravens activated the blades.
• The Golden Armored Elite and six orange-yellow-armored Elites charged Gabriel and the Blood Ravens.

Gabriel defeated the Golden Armored Elite in a duel, then led the Blood Ravens in subduing the other elites and ordering them captured. The fight ended with every elite bound or incapacitated and no Blood Ravens dead, though the Astartes were badly injured.

• Gabriel overpowered the Golden Armored Elite with a knee strike that broke its shield and damaged its abdomen.
• Gabriel called for the elites to surrender, but the Golden Armored Elite ordered them to attack the Blood Ravens with Beam Sabers.
• Gabriel told the Blood Ravens to capture the elites if possible and ordered the Helljumpers to restrain any enemies they knocked down.
• The Blood Ravens and Helljumpers fought the elites, subdued them, and bound them with reinforced restraints.
• Gabriel and the Blood Ravens defeated the remaining elites without losing anyone, though they suffered serious injuries.
• The Helljumper lieutenant wondered whether injured Astartes fought more fiercely.

Gabriel and the Blood Ravens secured the bridge of a CCS-class Cruiser, while Captain Macha’s crew celebrated their victory over three enemy cruisers. With the wounded being evacuated and the remaining Blood Ravens recovered, Macha ordered a powerless enemy cruiser destroyed before its crew could restart it.

• Gabriel’s group entered the cruiser’s bridge, found a Huragok Engineer, and captured it without resistance.
• Gabriel told the second lieutenant to inform Captain Macha that they had secured the bridge and to request Marines and a Pelican for support and evacuation.
• The communications officer reported the victory to Macha, who praised the crew and ordered them to remain combat-ready.
• A monitoring officer reported that the Falcon had recovered the Blood Raven Squad and would return for anti-ship operations in six minutes.
• Macha ordered The Observer and Artillery Strike to bombard a powerless CCS-class Cruiser, and their cannons and missiles fired toward it.

After the battle, The Observer’s crew rescued the Blood Ravens and wounded paratroopers, captured dozens of enemy elites, and prepared to transfer the survivors for treatment. Macha then learned that three fleets were coming to support them, due to arrive in about twenty hours.

• The Observer and Artillery Strike destroyed one of the remaining CCS-class Cruisers, while Gabriel and the others seized the last surviving cruiser.
• Macha ordered the ground crew to remove the nine Blood Ravens from The Falcon, and the medical team stabilized them despite their severe injuries.
• Pelicans returned with wounded Blood Ravens and paratroopers, ten paratrooper bodies, and dozens of captured alien elites.
• A paratrooper sergeant major told Macha that the sergeant was clearing the enemy warship with the Combat Troops and asked to move the captured elites to detention.
• Macha agreed to detain the elites and hoped the enemy’s internal divisions could be exploited.
• The communicator announced that the Fifth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Fleets were coming to support The Observer and would arrive in approximately twenty hours.

After The Observer’s forces secured Bountiful Star, Carmen, William, and Halsey reviewed the battle footage aboard the Star Killer-class Flagship. William recognized the Engineer as a Forerunner life-form and feared that the Halo installations and the Flood might also exist in their universe.

• Macha told The Observer’s crew that the Fifth Fleet and fifty War Gods were coming, while Fleet Zero and twenty UNSC fleets were expected at Bountiful Star in four days.
• Gabriel and the reinforcements cleared the remaining Covenant from the CCS-class Cruiser, captured more than a dozen Elites, and sent the Engineer back to The Observer.
• The Observer towed the captured cruiser to Bountiful Star, while wounded Blood Ravens received hospital treatment and the Elites were imprisoned in Harvest City.
• Carmen, William, and Halsey watched Macha’s combat footage aboard the Star Killer-class Flagship as the fleet traveled through Warp Space.
• William recognized the Engineer as a Forerunner life-form and worried that the Flood might exist, though he believed John could help defeat them.

William and Halsey connected the Covenant’s writing to the ancient inscriptions at Göbeklitepe. Halsey translated the pillars’ account of humanity, the creators, and the Flood, leaving William with evidence that the Covenant’s history was tied to an ancient galactic catastrophe.

• Halsey praised Gabriel and the Blood Ravens for overcoming superior numbers, while William explained why she and the younger generation had joined the flagship.
• Halsey recognized the Covenant’s cuneiform script from research she and Rebecca had conducted after the battle of Baghdad.
• Halsey opened the restricted Göbeklitepe archive and showed William that its stone pillars bore writing similar to the Covenant inscriptions.
• Halsey translated the pillars’ account of the creators’ betrayal, humanity’s war with their creations, and humanity’s sacrifice against the Flood.
• Halsey said the Flood returned after humanity was exiled, forcing the remaining species to sacrifice themselves so the galaxy could be cleansed.

William explained to Halsey how the Precursors, Forerunners, Ancient Humans, the Flood, and the Covenant were connected. Halsey used the inscriptions and his account to propose that mythological gods and known God-class Anomalies were survivors or descendants of an advanced ancient human civilization.

• William recognized that the Göbeklitepe inscriptions described events resembling the Flood and Halo Array from Halo.
• Halsey considered whether the inscriptions recorded real events, and William asked her to keep their conversation secret.
• William told Halsey about the Precursors, Forerunners, Ancient Humans, the Flood, the Halo, and the Covenant.
• Halsey connected the inscriptions to humanity’s ancient civilization gap and suggested that legendary gods and God-class Anomalies were ancient humans or their descendants.
• Halsey concluded that these super-ancient humans disappeared after internal conflicts and dwindling numbers.

William and Halsey discussed preparing for a possible Flood outbreak and translating Covenant writing. They also considered the Covenant’s internal divisions, leaving Halsey to suspect the Prophets might use the Brutes to weaken the Elites.

• Halsey proposed sending Doctor (049), xenomorph researchers, and ancient virus samples from Pluto to Bountiful Star to prepare for the Flood, and William ordered Serena and Mike to arrange the transfer.
• William asked Halsey to translate Covenant writing, and she estimated that her program could achieve about seventy percent accuracy after a few days.
• Halsey realized William wanted to communicate with the Sangheili and turn them against the Covenant, and William explained the conflict between the Elites and Brutes.
• Halsey reasoned that the Prophets might exploit the Brute-Elite rivalry to suppress the Elites’ influence within the Covenant.

William arrived at Bountiful Star and explained his plan to undermine the Covenant by persuading captured Elites that their pilgrimage was suicide and that humanity descended from the Forerunners’ contemporaries. At Harvest City, he met the local commanders and asked Gabriel whether he would lead the Blood Ravens if they became a chapter.

• William told Halsey he wanted to convince the captured Elites that the Prophets’ pilgrimage was a suicide mission and that humanity had succeeded the Forerunners.
• Halsey inferred that converting the bronze-and-gold-armored Elite commander and sending him back could deepen the divide between the Elites and the Covenant.
• Fleet Zero and supporting forces assembled at Bountiful Star, where hundreds of warships and 121 god-bodies were expected to gather.
• William, Serena, Ivan, John, Carl, and Mylon arrived at the Harvest City Security Bureau to meet the commanders and captured Elites.
• Gabriel introduced himself as commander of the Blood Raven Squad, and William asked whether he would lead the Blood Ravens if they were promoted to chapter status.

William praised Macha and the Observer’s crew, then announced the creation of the Blood Raven Battle Group with Macha in command of its fleet. He arrived at the detention area to interrogate the captured elites, leaving the security to Master Chief.

• William explained that he planned to divide human territory into Star Sectors, each protected by a battle group of Astartes, ground troops, and a fleet.
• William designated Macha’s forces as the first battle group, named it the Blood Raven Battle Group, and promised it new ships and personnel.
• William promoted Macha to lieutenant colonel and assigned her command of the battle group’s fleet, while Angelos and the surviving Blood Ravens received promotions and rewards.
• Macha and Gabriel told William that the captured elites refused food and water when watched but consumed them when left alone.
• William ordered Macha and Angelos to return to their duties and prepared to interrogate the elites with Master Chief overseeing security.

William questioned captured Covenant commander Enzo Saum about the Covenant’s beliefs and its intention to exterminate humanity, then used an inheritance analogy to probe how Saum would react to a challenge to his honor. Saum said he would accept his father’s decision but challenge the stranger and honor the outcome of a fair fight.

• William visited the detained Elites with Serena, Ivan, and John and addressed their commander.
• Serena used Halsey’s translation program to speak the Covenant language, allowing William to converse with Enzo Saum.
• Saum identified himself as the reconnaissance fleet commander and said the Covenant planned to exterminate humanity because humans violated the gods’ will.
• William laughed at Saum’s explanation, then asked whether Sangheili passed honor and titles to their descendants.
• Saum said he would obey his father’s choice but challenge a newly acknowledged brother and accept defeat if the brother proved stronger.

William tried to shake General Saum’s faith by comparing the Prophet Clan to those who had betrayed their god, then showed him evidence linking humanity to the Forerunners. Saum became curious about William’s promised next demonstration and followed him and his group to Harvest City’s plaza, where Athena was waiting.

• William challenged Saum to consider whether the Prophets would uphold the honor the Sangheili valued, then claimed the Forerunner was their god, the Prophet Clan controlled the Covenant, and humans were the outsider.
• Saum and the other Elites reacted angrily, but William let them shout and explained to Ivan that the Confidentiality Agreement alone would not secure their cooperation.
• Serena showed the Elites footage and records from Göbeklitepe, including text carved into the Stone Pillars, leaving Saum astonished and less resistant.
• William had John open the cell doors and invited Saum and his subordinates to see another piece of evidence outside; Saum agreed to follow but complained about how the Helljumpers had restrained them.
• William, Ivan, Serena, John, Carl, Mylon, and the Elites went to the plaza in Harvest City, where Athena was waiting.

William tried to convince General Saum and the Covenant elites that Athena was an Ancient Human descendant by having her demonstrate her supernatural abilities. After they confirmed her giant transformation was real, William offered Saum a Plasma Gun to test her while warning him not to mistake the gesture for weakness.

• William brought Saum and the elites to the plaza and identified Athena as his evidence that humans descended from the Ancient Humans.
• Saum insulted Athena's appearance, but apologized after William explained that she was the Goddess of Victory and an Ancient Human descendant.
• Athena transformed into golden armor and grew to 150 meters, shocking the elites and prompting them to touch her and confirm she was real.
• William asked Athena to return to human size and gave Saum a Plasma Gun so he could fire at her and test her abilities.
• William warned Saum that he was at least as strong as Gabriel and had given him the weapon only to prove it had not been tampered with.

William used Athena's immunity to plasma fire to convince General Saum that she was a Goddess and that the Prophets had distorted the Covenant's history. Saum realized the Prophets were positioning the Brutes to replace the Sangheili and rallied his fellow Elites against their deception.

• Saum fired nearly thirty plasma bolts at Athena, but she remained unharmed, convincing the Elites of her divinity.
• William told Saum that the Forerunners had allied with the Ancient Humans and that the Prophets misrepresented Halo's purpose to preserve their rule.
• William explained that the Prophets had found the Brutes as a replacement for the powerful Sangheili, whose council privileges threatened Prophet control.
• Saum recalled how the Prophets had encouraged conflict between the Sangheili and Brutes and concluded that they had been deceiving his people.
• Saum roared to the assembled Elites that the Prophets had deceived them.

William secured Saum and forty-four Sangheili as allies by having them sign Confidentiality Agreements, then led them aboard the Star Killer-class Flagship. He left with them and his human companions for the Forerunner Ruins on Bountiful Star.

• Saum rallied the Elites against the Prophets and offered to ally with William if he helped them return to the Covenant.
• William warned Saum that his battered forces would be in danger if they returned, then asked the Elites to sign Confidentiality Agreements.
• Saum and forty-four Sangheili signed the agreements, which gave them 100 Loyalty toward William.
• William led the Sangheili aboard the Star Killer-class Flagship and prepared a transport formation for departure.
• William, Halsey, Serena, Ivan, Athena, John, and the Sangheili departed the flagship in DR-7 Transport Boats, escorted by six Aerial Strikes, bound for the Forerunner Ruins on Bountiful Star.

William brought Halsey and his team to the Forerunner Ruins beneath Bountiful Star’s North Pole and ordered Halsey and Serena to open its gate. Saum’s intelligence revealed that the Covenant had more than five thousand warships ready for its first offensive wave, including a fleet expected at Bountiful Star in two days.

• The Fifth Fleet’s Artificial Intelligence found the Forerunner Ruins beneath Bountiful Star’s northern glaciers, and William led Halsey, Ivan, and others to inspect them.
• Halsey examined the ancient alloy structure while Saum and the other elites knelt and howled before it.
• William told Halsey and Serena to open the sealed entrance as quickly as possible.
• Saum’s intelligence revealed that the Covenant had assembled more than five thousand warships and planned further waves of attacks.
• Saum disclosed that more than a thousand Covenant warships, led by two COS-class Super Carriers, would arrive at Bountiful Star in two days.
• Athena tried to reassure Ivan that she could lead them to victory, but Ivan responded skeptically.

Ivan worried that he could not lead Umbrella and the UNSC as effectively as his parents, but Athena encouraged him to find his own path and reminded him that she would support him. The group entered the Forerunner ruins, activated a Light Bridge across a chasm, and prepared to continue exploring.

• Ivan admitted to Athena that he doubted his ability to lead Umbrella and the UNSC without his parents’ help, and Athena reassured him that he should surpass his father rather than repeat his path.
• The ruins’ doors opened after Halsey used the terminal, and William told Serena to translate for the cheering Elites before leading everyone inside.
• William recognized the ruins’ design from Halo Wars as the group reached a platform overlooking a deep chasm.
• Halsey activated a Light Bridge with a spherical terminal, and Mylon cautiously tested it before confirming it could support people.
• William crossed the Light Bridge and called for the humans and Elites to follow him and explore the ruins.

Halsey and William learned that the Forerunner ruins on Bountiful Star pointed to Arcadia, a habitable planet in a binary star system that might contain a Shield World and a powerful weapon. Halsey urged William to prioritize defeating the Covenant fleet at Bountiful Star before pursuing the ruins on Arcadia.

• Halsey activated the Forerunner terminal, which marked an Earth-like planet in a binary star system, and asked Serena to copy the ruins’ data and locate the system.
• Serena copied the data, and William returned with the others to the flagship after Saum’s Elites witnessed humanity opening the Forerunner ruins.
• William ordered the guardsmen to rest and had Serena and the other Artificial Intelligences teach Saum’s group the human language.
• Halsey told William that the planet was named Arcadia and that its Forerunner ruins might lead to a Shield World containing a dangerous weapon.
• William explained what he knew about Shield Worlds, and Halsey recommended that they first cripple the Covenant fleet attacking Bountiful Star.

William and Halsey agreed to prioritize defeating the Covenant fleet before resuming the search for Shield World. As the two fleets faced one another near el3, Serena told William that the Covenant commander was trying to contact him with a prewar declaration.

• Halsey proposed postponing the search for Shield World and focusing on defeating the Covenant fleet, and William agreed.
• William said he and Ivan would pilot God Bodies in the coming battle, and Halsey approved of them fighting together.
• The First Fleet arrived at Bountiful Star to guard it while 049's team cultivated an alien army.
• A human fleet of nearly nine hundred warships and around eighteen thousand carrier-based aircraft assembled near el3.
• The Covenant fleet, led by two COS-class Super Aircraft Carriers, emerged from Vortex Tunnels and held position opposite the human fleet.
• William waited in his God Body at the Star Killer-class hangar as Serena reported that the Covenant commander was requesting contact.

William ordered Umbrella to sever the Covenant Fleet’s communications and attack its ships, aiming to capture the Elites. After the Star Killer’s cannon devastated the fleet, Ivan accelerated ahead of the human forces to face the Covenant counterattack.

• William had Serena infiltrate the Covenant’s communications, show the Forerunner Ruins video, and have Saum try to persuade the Elites to defect.
• William ordered the Star Killer to destroy a marked COS-class Super Aircraft Carrier and directed the fleet to advance while prioritizing disabling enemy ships.
• The Star Killer’s electromagnetic cannon pierced the carrier and destroyed or disabled nearly a hundred Covenant warships in a single shot.
• The human forces advanced, and Ivan’s dark red Final God Body broke formation as Megan reported that the Covenant was counterattacking with more than sixty thousand aircraft.
• Ivan prepared his floating cannons and Ship Slicers, then asked Megan to lock onto the nearest target.

Ivan and Megan linked their minds to destroy Covenant aircraft before Ivan led the Final God Body into the enemy fleet and used its Ship Slicer to cut apart dozens of warships. After his two-minute Super Speed assault left the Covenant fleet near collapse, Megan took over piloting while Ivan recovered.

• Ivan and Megan established a neural link, and Ivan destroyed nearly a hundred Covenant carrier-based aircraft with the Final God Body’s floating cannons.
• A Mag Electromagnetic Cannon strike destroyed the last COS-class Super Carrier, and Megan told Ivan that William had approved his request to attack the enemy fleet.
• Ivan and Megan entered Super Speed and drove the Final God Body through the Covenant formation while Ivan charged and combined its Ship Slicers into a blade nearly four hundred meters long.
• Ivan used the Ship Slicer to cut through the shields and hulls of Covenant cruisers, destroying more than sixty CCS- and CRS-class warships in two minutes.
• Ivan ended Super Speed exhausted, and Megan took control of the Final God Body while he recovered.

Ivan watched humanity's forces overwhelm the Covenant Fleet as Megan took control of the God Body and Hixia summoned hundreds of Skeleton Knights. Athena joined the battle and demanded the Covenant surrender, while Serena reported that the fleet had fractured into fighting Sangheili and Brutes.

• Megan controlled Ivan's God Body as human forces led by William and the Star Killer-class Flagship destroyed Covenant warships and aircraft.
• Humanity's Electromagnetic Cannons broke through Covenant Energy Shields, turning the battle decisively in humanity's favor.
• Hixia summoned hundreds of giant Skeleton Knights through a Scarlet six-pointed star formation and disrupted Covenant warships.
• Athena underwent Colossal Transformation, pierced a CCS-class Cruiser, and demanded the Covenant surrender, especially the Sangheili.
• Serena reported that the Covenant fleet was in chaos, with Sangheili preparing to stand down and Brutes fighting them, so the boss sent three Astartes Legion Terminator units to help the Sangheili.