The Halo Effect

The hunams are losing. In a sprawling industrial site, a mix of open, dust-swept killing fields, claustrophobic hallways and obstacle-laden vehicle bays, 8-foot-tall mandibled aliens are cutting down team after team of Homo sapiens soldiers. Those aliens, called Elites, are not only larger than their opponents, they also possess force fields and advanced beam weapons that emit crackling blue and red plasma bolts. The Elites are among the toughest of the Covenant, a confederacy of alien species united under the banner of religious fanaticism and galaxy-spanning war.