originally posted in:Halo Archive
Check out the [url=https://blogs.halowaypoint.com/en-us/blogs/headlines/posts/halo-escalation-8-available-now]Preview[/url], then buy Issue #8 digitally [url=https://digital.darkhorse.com/profile/4720.halo-escalation-8/]here[/url] or buy the physical copy [url=http://www.tfaw.com/Profile/Halo%3A-Escalation-8___452712]here.[/url]
Miss out on Issue #7? Read the summary and lore notes [url=http://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/65700662]here![/url]
[quote][b][u]Summary:[/u][/b]
At BRAVO-6, the Master Chief is being debriefed by the UNSC Security Council. General Strauss shows concern over how much protection Cortana had, and General Hogan wants to know if the Didact is still a threat. The Chief says he can't confirm the kill, but the Didact is not capable of such an attack again because the Compser was destroyed. Hogan then turns his attention to how they're going to tell the public what happened and claims they'll play it off as a Covenant attack that the Master Chief returned just in time to fend off.
After the debriefing, Hood gets Chief's attention and apologizes for the lack of professionalism. After noting he could be promoted to Admiral if he wants he brings him up to speed on events happening on Gamma Halo. A UNSC science team escorted by Black Team on Gamma Halo went missing an hour ago. Radio transmissions from the site indicate an attack by Prometheans.
Despite protest, Chief argues his way to advise the team being sent down. After linking up with Blue Team, they welcome the Master Chief back and begin their mission.
When they arrive at Gamma Halo no transmissions are being sent out so they land on the ring. After touching down, Linda discovers tracks that Chief confirms as Crawlers. Upon reaching the Science Team base, they discover the dead bodies of Spartan Black Team and the Science Team. Shortly after moving on to find the origin of the Crawler tracks, Blue Team is ambushed by Promethean Knights which they fight off. Soon, they find the origin of the Crawler tracks: the resting place of the Composer.
Blue Team makes there way down into the excavation site, and Kelly spots a doorway. As they make their way inside and down, Blue Team discovers the halls lined with the victims of New Phoenix, and where the slipspace fissure beneath the Composer lead to.
On the other side of the portal, a Monitor worridly rushes back to a holdout, concerned about how his commander will react with the news the portal was discovered so quickly.
To which from the shadows the Didact replies that he is interesting to welcoming Blue Team to his world. [/quote]
[b][u]Lore Notes:[/u][/b]
-Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John 117
-July 25th, 2557 Sydney, Australia
-Public told Chief is the hero that stopped the "Covenant attack"
-Science team on Installation 03
---Survived composition of Ivanoff
---Attacked by Prometheans; KIA
-Spartan Black Team
---Deployed to Gamma Halo
---Current Status: KIA
-Gamma Halo July 26th, 2557
-Blue Team deployed to investigate Gamma Halo
-Composer Abyss
---Lead to Installation 03
---Found 47 hours after attack on Earth
-Didact confirmed alive
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So Kelly is snippin' instead of Linda and they killed off Black Team... I bet that's how Halo Wars' Red Team will meet their end as well.
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I hope blue team dies so I can laugh at the shitstorm
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Black Team were the ones who had that Red AI with the Afro right?
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That decapitated spartan tho....
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Edited by JOSIAHSPARTAN: 8/3/2014 12:10:14 AMThis is a message to all the Promethean and Forerunner bastards responsible for the death of Black Team. You may vaporize our eggheads with impunity, or even compose millions of civilians and get away with it, but the second you murdered a team of Spartan II's you crossed the line.... and made me emotional. Consider yourselves judged and sentenced. Live in fear, you sons of bitches. I am Spartan Josiah-238... And I am coming for you.
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Bumpity bump
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Holy shit. Why are Cortana's boobs so big!? =O
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Question, how come Black Team's MK VI's looked like the old school Halo 3/2 MK VI when 343i changed the design of it? Aka Master Chief's MK VI.
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Bleh. Time to write the summary. I have a love-hate relationship with doing them.
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The monitor from Gamma Halo was captured and studied by the human scientists on Ivanoff Station. You can see it in a class cylinder where you confront the first pair of hunters in the Ivanoff level. Does this mean that they went up there to release him?
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http://i.imgur.com/xEHpbVH.png http://i.imgur.com/zXHoqLT.png http://i.imgur.com/W1V1n7r.png http://i.imgur.com/Ogiyh5E.png
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Finished the summary.
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dat nightmare fuel A comic is seriously the worst medium that Escalation could be told in. I wish 343 has the resources to do a proper second Spartan Ops season covering these events because this would look AMAZING in the game...
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Looking forward to Chief vs Didact round 3 1-1 so far :) I hope they won't pull a game of thrones and kill blue team off .
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Was thinking about some of the chats in here earlier. Mainly about why the Promethians killed Black Team instead of capturing them. And to me, it still doesn't make any sense in one regard. I know at this point, Didact no longer had the composer since it was blown up on his ship. But let's assume that he did have it. Would he have used it on Black Team? Spartans are all incredible fighters, not just Chief alone, and the composer is a lot like the Flood in a way. Memories can be peered at, taken apart, and preserved, as Didact states. Which would make a Spartan promethian incredibly dangerous because of their experiences with all manner of combat with both Humans and Aliens. And in that regard, I question something about the Promethians now. Since they're AI's when their forms are destroyed, are they lost entirely or do they find their way back to the Composer Abyss and reconstitute themselves? Because in one cutscene from the Halo 4 terminals, Knights are seen burrowing into Flood infested ships and exploding, but the Didact believes he needs more warriors. Which leads me to think that when a knight is destroyed, without assistance from a Watcher, they're gone. Because even if you had one knight that could come back over and over, you'd have a dangerous weapon. And we know Didact had more than one warrior servant at his side.
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I've never seen a Spartan with their head cut off before. If word got out to the public, that would be demoralizing.
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I thought issue 8 was supposed to be the one where chief is getting punched in a ridiculous manner by the didact
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Why did people assume the didact was dead ?
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Did people actually think le Didact was dead?
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so chief and blue team see black team massacred, and they are still pushing ahead? do they know didact is in that place? also, what do you guys think is going to happen next issue? because isn't the picture didact bitch slapping mc into irrelevancy? maybe didact fcks up blue team or something
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god damn. reading the lore notes here opens up so many questions for me -How did Didact end up on Gamma Halo? -Where has Blue Team been? -Is Chief back with Blue? -Any mention of Blue Team's reaction to seeing Chief again? -What the fck is the Composer Abyss -How are the researches on Ivanoff still alive? -Who are Black Team? I think I remember them as the team that fought the horde of Drones in Evolutions
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NOOOO 4 SPARTAN-IIs KIA
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Didact confirmed alive not surprised.
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Didact alive? ... Next thing we know, Cortana will be back.
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That was Black Team, as in the folks from the Halo Evolutions novel right? God dammit.
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Looking forward to the summary and scans.