History Literature / HaloGhostsOfOnyx

* CombiningMecha: Onyx Sentinels are capable of combining into a number of configurations, including ones powerful enough to one-shot Covenant capital ships.

* DodgeTheBullet: Kelly demonstrates that dodging bullets is for sissies, by dodging a ''[[UpToEleven laser]]'' blast. She then [[FlippingTheBird flips off]] the Sentinel that fired it. Really, ''all' the Spartans on Onyx have to constantly dodge lasers.

* NotSoDifferent:

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Whitcomb's planet-busting NOVA bomb, introduced in ''First Strike'', finally comes into use when it destroys a Covenant fortress world.]]

* LockAndLoadMontage: When shit starts going down on Onyx, we get a brief scene of Kurt and Lucy gathering all the gear (both UNSC and Covenant) from the armory in Kurt's residence. There's also a small subversive moment when [[spoiler:it looks like Kurt is about to put on his SPARTAN-II MJOLNIR armor for the first time in decades, but decides to don inferior SPARTAN-III SPI armor instead, since he doesn't want to set himself above his troops]].

* NotSoDifferent: When Kurt confronts Halsey about why she decided to desert the UNSC and lure as many Spartans to safety with her as possible, she points out that Kurt himself is more than willing to flout the law in order to ensure his own Spartans' survival.

* TheSpeechless: Lucy apparently loses her ability to speak as a result of being traumatized from the outcome of Operation: TORPEDO.

* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Tom refuses to leave [[spoiler:Kurt's side when the latter decides to stay behind and cover everyone else's retreat; Kurt has to be literally knock out Tom and have Lucy carry him away]].

* {{Determinator}}: Spartans, natch.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Mendez again.

* PocketDimension: Not only is the Shield World it encapsulated inside a tiny slipspace bubble, but [[spoiler:the members of Team Katana end up being sealed inside Forerunner pods that encase them within a compressed slipspace field]].

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler: Kurt and Will]].

* AntiGravity: General Grave's Innies use an obsolete anti-grav plate to trick Blue Team's MJOLNIR armor into increasing internal pressure and temporarily knocking their wearers unconscious.

* BookEnds: The story both begins and ends with [[spoiler:Kurt saving the lives of the rest of the Spartans in his team, and Kelly telling a fresh and unproven Spartan that [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming "they're going to make a great team."]]]]

* BulletDodge: Kelly demonstrates that dodging bullets is for sissies, when she dodges a ''laser blast.''

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Holly]] to save Kelly.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Kelly cuts an Elite in half.

* LockAndLoadMontage: When shit starts going down on Onyx, we get a brief scene of Kurt and Lucy gathering all the gear (both UNSC and Covenant) from the armory in Kurt's residence. There's also a slight subversive moment when [[spoiler:it looks like Kurt is about to put on his SPARTAN-II MJOLNIR armor for the first time in decades, but decides to don inferior SPARTAN-III SPI armor instead, since he doesn't want to set himself above his troops]].

** Subverted. When Admiral Patterson's fleet has their backs to a gravity well, with a Covenant fleet three times their size getting ready to fire upon them, their response is to charge ''into'' the Covenant fleet; Patterson loses half his ships, but the carge puts the Covenant into just enough disarray for the rest to escape to a safer position. However, the Prowler commander observing the battle notes that Patterson actually made the most sensible call; his ships wouldn't have been able to dodge plasma at that range, so it was better to close the distance before the Covenant could safely fire another volley.

* StealthHiBye: During one training exercise, Kurt and Mendez pulled this on Tom and Lucy.

* ChekovsGun: [[spoiler:Whitcomb's planet-busting NOVA bomb, introduced in ''First Strike'', finally comes into use when it destroys a Covenant fortress world.]]