Chapter Summaries

Noble Team and the other Spartan-II teams seized the northern entrance to Baghdad’s Underground Facility, only to find zombies emerging when the blast door opened. Andre ordered the Spartans to retreat as the company prepared to blockade the combat zone.

• Carter and Noble Team coordinated with nine other Spartan-II teams to target the rebels’ armored camp with Plasma Cannons.
• The Spartans destroyed the four Zakus and eliminated the rebel defenders with Gauss Rifles, securing the entrance.
• As the Spartans gathered at the blast door, it opened by itself, and Tina detected a sharp increase in an unknown virus.
• The Spartans identified the rotting figures emerging from the facility and the fallen rebels as zombies, then opened fire as the horde charged.
• Andre ordered the Spartans to retreat to designated coordinates, and they powered up their AT Shields and fought through the horde.

After an ancient virus turned much of the Middle East into an infection zone, William proposed using contained anomalous entities to stop the spread. He told Andre that Elizabeth Green and 049 were already on their way to help.

• The Rebels released an ancient bioweapon from the Underground Facility, causing widespread infection and leaving millions as asymptomatic carriers.
• The UNSC and Umbrella forces withdrew and established a blockade, but Tina's projections estimated a death toll of around three hundred million.
• Andre considered a saturation bombardment, then blamed himself for the failed operation and offered to retire.
• William explained that Elizabeth Green could locate asymptomatic carriers and help eliminate the infected, while 049 could advise on containing the virus.
• William assured Andre that Elizabeth Green and 049 would cooperate and were already on their way.

William reassured Andre that the humanoid Containment Objects could help Umbrella fight the outbreak, while UNSC and Umbrella forces struggled to contain the virus in Iraq. Trapped and nearly out of supplies in Hillah, Corporal Ryan Klozer heard a girl cry for her mother and rushed to help her.

• William told Andre that Halsey's adjustments had made Elizabeth Green and most other humanoid Containment Objects obedient, and said Umbrella would use them to help end the epidemic.
• Andre pledged that the UNSC and Umbrella forces would contain the infected area while awaiting assistance.
• The virus spread across Iraq, wiping out the remaining Rebels and infecting many UNSC soldiers, while chaotic communications left most squads trapped in the combat zone.
• Ryan Klozer, the lone survivor of his six-man squad, hid in an apartment with little ammunition and a failing Mechanical Skeleton.
• After hearing a girl cry for her mother, Ryan decided to leave his hiding place and rush to help her.

Ryan rescued a girl from her zombified parents and fled Hillah City with her, but a zombie horde nearly overwhelmed them. The Limit Team saved the pair and arranged for their disinfection and quarantine.

• Ryan entered an apartment and found a girl beside her parents, who had become zombies, then shot the parents after the mother transformed.
• Ryan escaped the fourth-floor apartment with the girl, but zombies followed them into the street.
• Ryan ran south with the girl, fighting off zombies until his M41A ran empty and his Mechanical Skeleton's battery began to fail.
• The Limit Team arrived and killed the zombie horde before it could reach Ryan and the girl.
• Robert B-042 identified the two as survivors and requested technical support from Tina for their disinfection and quarantine.

049 and Elizabeth Green arrived at Pilgrim City to help Umbrella study the zombie outbreak. After being escorted to the front-line laboratory, 049 eagerly began examining a fully mutated zombie.

• Three black Umbrella Pelicans landed at Pilgrim City carrying Omega Force, USS troops, 049, and Elizabeth Green.
• Colonel Ryan O'Dohlem received William's orders and confirmed that the escort troops would protect the two Containment Objects.
• Ryan welcomed 049 and Green and asked them to help humanity overcome the crisis.
• 049 entered a laboratory containing a fully mutated zombie, prepared a syringe, and approached it to collect a sample.

Ryan asked 049 to develop a vaccine for the outbreak, while Green used her controlled virus to identify asymptomatic patients. Green agreed to work with the company’s Artificial Intelligences and left to help deal with the infected.

• 049 subdued a zombie and told Ryan the outbreak was less difficult than the Plague, promising to develop a vaccine in two days if supplied with enough experimental materials.
• 049 directed Ryan to have someone else handle identifying asymptomatic patients, and Ryan realized he meant Green.
• Ryan asked Green to find the asymptomatic patients, and she entered a cell holding infected patients and released controlled red mist over them.
• Green identified the ancient virus within the patients and told Ryan she needed help from the company’s Artificial Intelligences.
• Green said William still wanted her to help deal with the infected, then headed for the decontamination passage as Ryan and the soldiers followed.

Elizabeth Green joined the UNSC operation to purge infected near Rutba while Umbrella developed a vaccine. When the zombies charged, Green used Blood Mist to control most of them and make them attack one another.

• Elizabeth Green identified most asymptomatic patients with help from Tina and was assigned to deal with infected inside the quarantine zone.
• Major General Wotter briefed officers at Pilgrim City base on a purge operation and said the mission would begin in two hours.
• UNSC and Umbrella forces deployed to the outskirts of Rutba with ten teams of Spartan-IIs and Green.
• Green removed her helmet as zombies poured out of Rutba and charged the soldiers.
• Green spewed Blood Mist over the horde, controlling most of the zombies and turning them against one another.

Elizabeth Green helped Umbrella and UNSC forces destroy the zombie horde, while Umbrella developed and distributed a vaccine to contain the Ancestor virus. By November 4, the outbreak was under control, Umbrella had acquired several Middle Eastern countries as vassal states, and the UNSC Army was requesting an equipment upgrade.

• Elizabeth Green controlled most of the zombies and helped joint Umbrella and UNSC forces clear the infected from cities and towns.
• On October 10, 049 deciphered the Ancestor virus and developed a vaccine, and Umbrella began mass production across Earth and the Solar System.
• On October 14, Umbrella delivered twenty million vaccine doses to the Middle East, prioritizing the UNSC Army and civilians before its own soldiers.
• By October 30, Umbrella agents, the USS, and the UNSC's Black Unit had silenced anti-vaccine opposition as vaccination and reconstruction continued.
• On November 1, William Russell negotiated with senior UNSC officials to make Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and other countries Umbrella vassal states.
• On November 4, the outbreak was under basic control, and the UNSC Army asked Umbrella for a complete equipment upgrade while keeping costs low.

William approved better living quarters and experiments for 049 and Elizabeth Green after they helped contain the Baghdad epidemic, then proposed forming a new Task Force. Andre recognized that William intended to create a team made up of Containment Objects.

• William met 049 and Elizabeth Green in the aircraft carrier hangar, where they requested improved accommodations and an experimental environment.
• William approved their requests and ordered the Omegas to escort them to the original site of Containment Center One.
• 049 and Green left in a Pelican while William and Andre discussed how the Containment Objects had helped resolve the epidemic.
• William proposed forming an entirely new Task Force, and Andre correctly guessed that it would be made up of Containment Objects.

William asked Andre to help form a Containment Task Force and offered him the Life Fruit so he could live indefinitely and remain Umbrella’s general. William then left the carrier with Blue Team to check on Catherine and Athena, while joking with Mylon about damaging a Pelican.

• Andre agreed to support William’s Containment Task Force but advised him to include human members to monitor the murderers.
• William told Andre that the Life Fruit could cure disease, improve healing, and grant immortality, and asked him to try it and continue serving as Umbrella’s general.
• Andre accepted William’s offer and stayed behind to handle security matters in the Middle East.
• William boarded a Fleet Zero Pelican with Blue Team and headed to the outbreak’s origin site to check on Catherine and Athena and the team protecting them.
• During the flight, Carl revealed that Mylon had kicked a Pelican out of commission, and William said its repair costs would come out of Mylon’s pay and bonus.

William visited Umbrella’s excavation site at Göbeklitepe, where Halsey and Athena studied the ancient carvings. Halsey found no explanation for the Ancestor virus, and Athena said her long life had not made her an expert on the ruins.

• William and John arrived with Mylon and Carl at Umbrella’s operational base beside Göbeklitepe.
• William learned that the excavation remained incomplete because the team was carefully protecting the ruins, whose upper layers contained larger and more intricate stone pillars than the lower ones.
• William and the others traveled down into the excavation and met Halsey, Athena, and Noble Team, whose leader Carter reported to him.
• Halsey told William that the carvings depicted ancient gods and described the sealed jars as weapons but did not explain the Ancestor virus.
• Athena told William that she had lived mostly in Greece and had hidden among humanity only after the Common Era began.

William left the excavation site after agreeing to keep anomalous phenomena secret from the public while inviting historians to study the discoveries. At Resolution Island, he brought Noble Team to meet several Containment Objects and assigned them to a new mobile Task Force called Damocles.

• Halsey argued that the Stone Pillar and the artifacts were historically significant, and William agreed that historians could study the site while anomalous phenomena stayed secret from ordinary society.
• William left Halsey and Cortana to oversee the excavation, then took Noble Team and Blue Team to Resolution Island.
• An Omega major escorted William and the teams to a conference room where 049, Elizabeth Green, and the Nine-Tailed White Fox were waiting.
• William told Carter that Noble Team would form a new mobile Task Force with the three Containment Objects, naming it Damocles.

William formed the Damocles Task Force by recruiting cooperating Containment Objects and appointing Noble Team to command it. He returned to Baghdad to oversee the campaign against terrorist groups, and the chapter ended as Limit Team prepared to raid a stronghold near Van.

• 049 agreed to join the Task Force after William offered it research work and experimental materials, while the Nine-Tailed White Fox also accepted.
• William assigned Major Omega to escort 049 and Leng to their rooms, then told Carter that Noble Team would command the mixed unit and regulate its Containment Objects.
• William returned to Baghdad with Blue Team to oversee reconstruction and eliminate terrorist forces threatening the region.
• Umbrella and the UNSC joint forces used intelligence gathered with the aid of AIs such as Tina to plan simultaneous raids on terrorist strongholds for November 18, 2018.
• Major B-042 Robert led Limit Team toward a terrorist stronghold in the mountains east of Van.

The Limit Team, led by Robert, wiped out a terrorist cell in Turkey as UNSC forces purged terrorist organizations across Earth. Back aboard the Containment Fleet, William discussed the difficulties of Spartan III modifications with Halsey and asked whether existing Spartans could help transform adolescents in large numbers.

• Robert and the Limit Team silently eliminated the terrorists guarding a village and then stormed the cave, killing the remaining fighters.
• Other Spartan teams and UNSC Special Operations Command purged terrorist groups while seven Artificial Intelligences searched the Solar System for survivors.
• On the Containment Fleet, William and Halsey shared an intimate morning before discussing Catherine's Spartan III modification research.
• Halsey told William that Spartan combat potential required at least four years of T-Virus and T-Vaccine injections, while T-Serum could only offer support.
• William asked Halsey whether existing Spartans could be used to mass-modify adolescents who were still developing.

William proposed using elite first- and second-generation Spartans as genetic templates to mass-produce a new generation of super-soldiers, and Halsey began work on the plan. Umbrella renamed the Spartan III project the Astarte plan, though its development remained incomplete.

• William suggested using elite Spartans such as Mylon, Carl, and John as genetic primarchs for modifying strong adolescents.
• Halsey approved the idea and began directing researchers in the Containment Carrier's biological laboratory.
• Robert and Sparta Blue Team arrived, and John introduced himself to Robert before Halsey collected blood samples from all four Spartans.
• William explained that Umbrella would use their genes and data to develop Spartan III soldiers, prompting Mylon and Carl to worry that the new Spartans would count as their children.
• Umbrella's project record stated that William and Halsey had replaced the original process with the Genetic Primarch plan and renamed the project Astarte.

William Russell and Dr. Catherine Russell oversaw experiments to create Astartes from five D-Class test subjects using Primarch data. The trial showed the modification process could produce elite super-soldiers, and the company prepared to form a 2,000-member Astartes Unit.

• William Russell and Dr. Catherine Russell returned to Hafa, where Catherine began Astartes research with Dr. Rebecca Chambers as her assistant.
• The doctors selected five eighteen-year-old D-Class test subjects, enhanced them with T-Virus and T-Vaccine, and performed Primarch-based modification surgeries.
• The five modified subjects fought eighty armed D-Class personnel in a simulated neighborhood, killing all eighty in fifteen minutes while suffering one death and several injuries.
• UBCS, led by the Sparta Blue Team, terminated three surviving test subjects to prevent a containment breach.
• The company deemed Primarch-based Astartes production feasible and planned to screen candidates for a 2,000-member unit while developing specialized armor and weapons.

William and Halsey reviewed the failed test of four experimental subjects before Halsey showed him an affordable new Power Armor design for the Astartes. The armor resembled Mark VIII Ceramite Armor, and Halsey revealed that the accompanying weapons were Bolter Weapons.

• Blue Team and the UBCS defeated the four experimental subjects, and Halsey judged that the untrained subjects could barely control their god-bodies.
• William told Halsey that the Astartes needed mass-produced armor with PIA Armor-level performance at a lower cost.
• Halsey led William to the high-tech weapons research room to inspect the new armor and weapons she had developed.
• Halsey showed William a rugged Ceramite Armor suit modified from Heavy Soldier CMC Power Armor, equipped with an AT Energy Shield and Pulse Scan.
• William praised the armor, then asked what Halsey meant by new weapons, and she answered, "Bolter Weapons."

William approved Halsey’s Bolter Weapons and ordered Serena to recruit two thousand Astartes candidates and arrange memory modifications in Europe and Africa. The chapter ended with William resting beside Halsey after months of crises and work.

• Halsey explained that she had developed Bolter Weapons by combining Pulse Weapon technology with rocket-propelled ammunition.
• William told Serena to recruit two thousand sixteen-year-old youths with compatible genes and have Kent and Hunk prepare training and dormitories on Minos Island.
• William ordered Serena and the USS to reduce the influence of zombies and Anomalous Creatures on people in Europe and Africa through memory modification.
• Umbrella’s Astartes plan set out ten months of Spartan-style training, T-Virus and T Vaccine injections, and B-042 Robert as the unit’s Primarch and commander.
• On June 1, 2019, William lay awake beside Halsey at Russell Manor and reflected on his exhausting recent work and their rare peaceful days.

William and Halsey prepared to join Yelena and Ivan for a school gathering at Midtown Mall on Children's Day, after Yelena interrupted their private moment. William said the Spartan Program was running smoothly and that he wanted to spend time with his children, while Halsey reminded him he was coming with her to The Hive the next day.

• Yelena burst into William and Halsey's bedroom to ask them to attend her school's gathering, interrupting their intimate moment.
• William and Halsey got ready for the Children's Day outing, and Halsey told William to accompany her to The Hive the following day.
• Ivan waited in the living room while Yelena complained about his habit of watching the news and changed the channel.
• William came downstairs, hugged Yelena, and answered Ivan's question by saying the Spartan Program was on track and he had time to relax with his children.

William took Halsey, Yelena, and Ivan to Chinatown for breakfast, where Ivan ordered Korean noodles and fried cake at a restaurant he often visited. The family settled in to eat as the restaurant owner prepared their order.

• Yelena told William that her school planned a gathering for students and parents, and William promised to spend more time accompanying her.
• Halsey came downstairs dressed in a red cheongsam, and the family decided to go out for Chinese breakfast.
• Ivan led the family out of Russell Manor with Blue Team and USS personnel providing protection.
• John and Cortana coordinated security checks as the convoy traveled to Chinatown in Halifax City.
• Ivan brought his family to Tangshan Home and ordered Korean noodles and fried cake, and William ordered the same.