"The twenty-sixth century. Once considered clandestine, the Spartan-II program has now gone public. Tales of armored super-soldiers fending off thousands of Covenant attacks have become the stuff of legend. While the Master Chief defends a besieged Earth, and the myriad factions of the Covenant continue their crusade to eliminate humanity, an ultra-secret cell of the Office of Naval Intelligence known as 'Section Three' devises a plan to buy the UNSC vital time"--Back cover.