The bestselling adaptation of the iconic video game Halo: Combat Evolved featuring the Master Chief—part of the expanded universe based on the award-winning video game series! 2552. Having barely escaped the final battle for Reach against the vast alien alliance known as the Covenant, the crew of the Pillar of Autumn, including Spartan John-117—the Master Chief—and his AI companion Cortana, is forced to make a desperate escape into slipspace. But their destination brings them to an ancient mystery and an even greater struggle. In this far-flung corner of the universe floats a magnificently massive, artificial ringworld. The crew’s only hope of survival is to crash-land on its surface and take the battle opposing the Covenant to the ground. But they soon discover that this enigmatic ringworld is much more than it seems. Built one hundred thousand years ago by a long-lost civilization known as the Forerunners, this “Halo” is worshipped by the Covenant—a sacred artifact they hope will complete their religious quest for supposed transcendence, and they will stop at nothing to control it. Engaging in fierce combat, Master Chief and Cortana will go deep into the Halo construct and uncover its dark secret and true purpose—even as a monstrous and far more vicious enemy than the Covenant emerges to threaten all sentient life on Halo and the galaxy beyond…

Very Good,No Highlights or Markup,all pages are intact.

An original full-length novel set in the Halo universe and based on the New York Times bestselling video game series! Just hours following their climactic battle on the Forerunner planet Genesis, the Spartans of Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris find themselves running for their lives from the malevolent machinations of the now-renegade artificial intelligence Cortana. But even as they attempt to stay one step ahead, trouble seems to find Spartan Edward Buck no matter where he turns. A secret mission enacted by the Office of Naval Intelligence could possibly help turn the tide, and has Buck reluctantly agreeing to reform his old team, Alpha-Nine. Because if the band is really getting back together for this one, that means everybody—including the Spartan who Buck never wants to see again, the one who committed the ultimate betrayal of trust…

An important, open research topic today is to understand the relevance that dark matter halo substructure may have for dark matter searches. In the standard cosmological model, halo substructure or subhalos are predicted to be largely abundant inside larger halos, for example, galaxies such as ours, and are thought to form first and later merge to form larger structures. Dwarf satellite galaxies—the most massive exponents of halo substructure in our own galaxy—are already known to be excellent targets for dark matter searches, and indeed, they are constantly scrutinized by current gamma-ray experiments in the search for dark matter signals. Lighter subhalos not massive enough to have a visible counterpart of stars and gas may be good targets as well, given their typical abundances and distances. In addition, the clumpy distribution of subhalos residing in larger halos may boost the dark matter signals considerably. In an era in which gamma-ray experiments possess, for the first time, the exciting potential to put to test the preferred dark matter particle theories, a profound knowledge of dark matter astrophysical targets and scenarios is mandatory should we aim for accurate predictions of dark matter-induced fluxes for investing significant telescope observing time on selected targets and for deriving robust conclusions from our dark matter search efforts. In this regard, a precise characterization of the statistical and structural properties of subhalos becomes critical. In this Special Issue, we aim to summarize where we stand today on our knowledge of the different aspects of the dark matter halo substructure; to identify what are the remaining big questions, and how we could address these; and, by doing so, to find new avenues for research.

Angel-in-training Ella and her friends try to save sports day in this fourth magical book of the whimsical Angel Wings series! It’s nearly the end of the semester and Ella and her angelic classmates are desperate to get their sapphire halos. Ella is so close, but when she’s naughty and has halo points deducted from her card, it feels as though she’ll never get her glistening halo. At least she has sports day to look forward to! But then the school’s water supply is jammed, and it looks like sports day is going to be cancelled. Can Ella find a way to save sports day, get the water supply back, and earn her sapphire halo?

Lilly Marchantel entertains her client-a vampire-for a night of paid passion and dies. Or does she? Her madam, the famous Lulu White of Mahogany Hall, throws a lavish funeral for the girl and buries her in St. Louis 1 cemetery. During the chaos in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Enforcer angel Sullivan is sent to the cemetery to verify reports of two rogue vampires. What could happen if Sullivan loses his powers? How much trouble can an angel get into in New Orleans? "Lilly's Angel" tells the story of Lilly's discovery of a whole new world with her friends Baron the Cat and the skull she talks to as the pissed off and horny Sullivan struggles against the changes he is experiencing.

The Covenant has collapsed after a long, brutal war that saw billions slaughtered on Earth and her colonies. For the first time in decades, however, peace finally seems possible. But though the fighting's stopped, the war is far from over: it's just gone underground. The UNSC's feared and secretive Office of Naval Intelligence recruits Kilo-Five, a team of ODSTs, a Spartan, and a diabolical AI to accelerate the Sangheili insurrection. Meanwhile, the Arbiter, the defector turned leader of a broken Covenant, struggles to stave off civil war among his divided people. Across the galaxy, a woman thought to have died on Reach is actually very much alive. Chief scientist Dr. Catherine Halsey broke every law in the book to create the Spartans, and now she's broken some more to save them. Marooned with Chief Mendez and a Spartan team in a Forerunner slipspace bubble hidden in the destroyed planet Onyx, she finds that the shield world has been guarding an ancient secret – a treasure trove of Forerunner technology that will change everything for the UNSC and mankind. As Kilo-Five joins the hunt for Halsey, humanity’s violent past begins to catch up with all of them as disgruntled colony Venezia has been biding its time to strike at Earth, and its most dangerous terrorist has an old, painful link with both Halsey and Kilo-Five that will test everyone’s loyalty to the limit.