Contact Harvest

Contact Harvest is a Halo book. It details the events surrounding Humanity's first contact with the Covenant, and the beginning of the Human-Covenant war.

As the United Nations Space Command sends Staff Sergeant Avery J. Johnson to help train the Harvest Colonial Militia to battle the Insurrection, a Covenant scout discovers Harvest, and scans indicate that the planet is full of Forerunner Artifacts. As the UNSC presence tries to deal with the possibility of an alien invasion, two Covenant Prophets plan to use the relics discovery to inaugurate a new Age of Reclamation with themselves as Hierarchs. But what they discover will end up radically changing the course of both societies.

Contact Harvest provides examples of:

 * Aggressive Negotiations: A Grunt named Yull does this on Osmo and starts the whole Human-Covenant War. Nice going.
 * Awesome Moment of Crowning: The Ascension of the Minster of Fortitude, the Vice Minister of Tranquility, and the Philologist as the High Prophets of Truth, Regret, and Mercy.
 * Ancestral Weapon: The Fist of Rukt.
 * Badass Preacher: Dadab, a simple Unggoy Deacon.
 * The Brute: While he is a Brute, Vorenus is huge among the rest of the Jiralhanae pack on Rapid Conversion.
 * Challenging the Chief: How Maccabeus originally got the position of Chieftain from his father.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Sif, the shipping control AI.
 * Doomed Hometown: Everyone on Harvest.
 * The Dragon: Tartarus, serving as the security chief to his Uncle Maccabeus.
 * Heroic BSOD: Lighter Than Some suffers one when
 * Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
 * Ironic Nickname: While it was initially established in Halo 2, the names of Prophets being ironic is taken to the extreme: the Prophetess of Obligation neglects some of her duties due to her pregnancy, the Vice Minister of Tranquility (the future Prophet of Regret) is extremely combative, and the Prophet of Restraint knocks up a lover when he's legally forbidden from breeding.
 * Madness Mantra:
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: Governor Thune. Also the Prophets.
 * The Reveal:
 * Smoking Is Cool: Played straight with Captain Ponder and Sergeant Johnson, who enjoy a few Sweet Williams cigars. Subverted with the Minister of Fortitude, who uses some tobacco designed to keep one awake during a long meeting, and suffers a terrible headache afterward.
 * Space Pirates: Kig-yar/Jackals live off this.
 * Tsundere: Sif is Type B, and finds it frustrating how Mack is able to so efficiently push her buttons. One example of such is when he mentions a William Shakespeare quote and jokes about her not knowing what it is, and she's so irritated by it that she replies with the complete works of Shakespeare in several different languages. He just finds this overreaction amusing.