Cover

Title Page

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Dedication

To my son, Erik—my Vergil throughout these three books

Acknowledgments

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

With special thanks to the creators of Halo and the magnificent 343 team—and congratulations on a world well-made!

—Greg

343 Industries would like to thank Greg Bear, Scott Dell'Osso, James Frenkel, Stacy Hill, Josh Holmes, Bryan Koski, Matt McCloskey, Whitney Ross, Bonnie Ross-Ziegler, Christopher Schlerf, Rob Semsey, Matt Skelton, Phil Spencer, Carla Woo and Jennifer Yi.

None of this would have been possible without the amazing efforts of the 343 staffers, including: Nicolas “Sparth” Bouvier, Christine Finch, Gabriel “Robogabo” Garza, Kevin Grace, Glenn Israel, Tyler Jeffers, Carlos Naranjo, Tiffany O'Brien, Frank O'Connor, Jeremy Patenaude, Brian Reed, Corrinne Robinson, Kenneth Scott, and Kiki Wolfkill.

Onirf Trevelyan—Top Secret

ONIRF TREVELYAN

Top Secret

This document is a translation of thirty-nine strings of Forerunner data, converted to text/audio. They have been abstracted from two sources: the shell or carapace of Forerunner remains #879 (“Catalog”) and a damaged monitor associated with a single fossilized “Juridical,” a hitherto unknown Forerunner type, presumably a legal functionary.

The “Catalog” carapace enclosed a highly specialized Forerunner that apparently served as an amplified collector of data. The misshapen body within has almost entirely rotted away.

No attempt has been made to restore or reactivate either the monitor or the carapace.

CONTEXT: At the very end of the Forerunner empire, as the Flood made major inroads and both Builders and the revived class of Warrior-Servants prepared their last defenses, the Juridicals were given free access to all citizens and personnel throughout the ecumene.

Their mandate: to investigate the circumstances alluded to in the “Bornstellar Relation” (“Destruction of Orion Complex Capital World,” ONI File CR-537-21), but also to investigate the delicate question of human and Forerunner origins, and the fate of the Precursors, who allegedly created both species.

When the ship that collected, repaired, and debriefed Forerunner monitor 343 Guilty Spark is recovered, more of these issues will doubtless be illuminated. For the time being, some matters must remain obscure.

The fragments are arranged in a temporary logical order. Chronology of some fragments cannot be established, but all were recorded in the last decade of the Forerunner empire, before the apocalyptic discharge of the energies of the Halo rings.