Halo Studios has published Halo: Foehammer's Last Flight, a new short story by author Kemi Ashing-Giwa that goes back to the final minutes of Halo: Combat Evolved. The story follows Carol Rawley, the Pelican pilot known by the callsign Foehammer, as the battle on Alpha Halo reaches its end. It went up on Halo Waypoint yesterday, a few hours after the official account marked Halo 2's birthday. Check out the official post down below:
The story is free to read on Halo Waypoint and is the second entry in Halo's anniversary month of weekly Waypoint Chronicles. The first was "Elegy" by Jeremy Patenaude, which sends a lone Sangheili to Feldokra, where he uncovers ancestral history that changes his life and his loyalties.
Where The Story Sits In Halo: Combat Evolved
A historian's note at the top dates the story to September 22, 2552. It opens just after the Master Chief and Cortana overload the engines of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn to destroy Alpha Halo, which is the setup for The Maw, the final mission of Combat Evolved.
In that mission, Cortana calls Foehammer in to pull the Chief out before the ship explodes. Her Pelican, Echo 419, is chased by 2 Covenant Banshees and shot down near the evacuation point, and the Chief and Cortana hear her last transmission over the radio. Ashing-Giwa's story starts in that exact moment, with Cortana warning Echo 419 about the Banshees on its six and Rawley calling a mayday as her rear port thrusters fail.
From there, the story moves back through Rawley's life and then returns to the crash site. Combat Evolved never showed what happened inside the Pelican after it went down.
Carol Rawley's Life Before Echo 419
Ashing-Giwa gives Rawley a full backstory. She grows up on a poor Outer Colony world at the far edge of human space in the Orion Arm, raised by her mother, Jan Rawley. As a child she struggles with compulsions, scrubbing her study station before and after class and checking the apartment locks at night, and her family has no money for treatment.
The Covenant later destroy her homeworld's sister planet. Rawley finds that the fear of combat quiets her mind, and the story puts it plainly: "In chaos, in battle, there was only blessed silence." She enlists in the UNSC and has trouble fitting in with her fellow pilots, who mostly come from the wealthier Inner Colonies.
She becomes friends with Frye, another Outer Colony recruit, who becomes her co-pilot. Her executive officer, Commander Samira Hashem, gives her a new D77 Pelican with the designation Echo 419. When the Pillar of Autumn goes down over the ring, Rawley and Frye lead the squadron's pilots out in their Pelicans while the rest of the crew escapes in lifeboats.
Her View Of The Master Chief
The story also shows how Rawley sees John-117 during the 3 days of fighting on the ring. Because she comes from the Outer Colonies, she has heard rumors that the Spartans were built to put down colonial rebellions, and the Chief unnerves her at first. Cortana's habit of talking like one of the Marines puts her at ease.
Rawley comes to respect the Chief after seeing him fight. What finally wins her over is that he fights to protect all of humanity, not only the core worlds. The ending stays inside the wrecked Pelican, where Rawley decides what to do with her last 90 seconds before the Autumn's engines detonate.
Foehammer In The Games
In Combat Evolved, Foehammer flies the Chief through most of the campaign. She drops him and Fireteam Charlie for the raid on the Truth and Reconciliation, delivers a Warthog to the beach in The Silent Cartographer, carries him to the Control Room, and takes him to the Flood containment facility. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates voiced her in the 2001 original, and that performance was reused in Halo: Campaign Evolved.
Campaign Evolved, Halo Studios' full remake of the Combat Evolved campaign, launched on July 28 for Xbox Series X|S, PC and PlayStation 5, and it was on Game Pass from day 1. Players have since found working split-screen code in the PC version, as covered in Halo: Campaign Evolved Players Discover There Is A Working Split-Screen Mode, It Is Just Hidden.
Tim Lebbon's novel Halo: Parasite's Wake, released last month, also takes place during the Installation 04 campaign. It was covered in Halo: Parasite's Wake Is Out Now, Throwing A Squad Of Brig Prisoners Into The Flood Outbreak From Halo CE.
Halo's Anniversary Month
The story arrived during a week of Halo anniversaries. Halo 4 turned 14 on November 6, and Halo 2 turned 22 yesterday. Halo: Combat Evolved hits its 25th anniversary on November 15. Halo is also running the Halo Fest Forge Contest in Halo Infinite, where the 10 finalist maps are playable in the Halo Fest Forge Showcase playlist ahead of the winner announcement at Halo Fest next month.
Ashing-Giwa is the author of The Splinter in the Sky, which won the Compton Crook Award and became a USA Today bestseller, as well as This World Is Not Yours and The King Must Die. She is working on a PhD in Stanford's Earth and Planetary Sciences department. Alexander Wakeford and Jeff Easterling edited the story.
Did Foehammer's Last Flight change how you see the final escape in The Maw, or do you want more Waypoint Chronicles built around Combat Evolved's supporting cast?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.