- Tupolev
- |
- Honorable Member
Even in the instances where The Flood contradicts Halo 1, that's not a plot hole in Halo 1 itself, it's an inconsistancy between book and game.
//=====
However, and more importantly, there's no issue here. Black sergeants in Halo 1 aren't specific canonical characters. They're just stock sarges that happen to share an in-game model and voice actor, just like the other marines. In Halo 1, the only mention of "Johnson" was that that name was how the voice actor was credited, and the only "canonical" appearances of his are those specifically mentioned by The Flood (and even then, the interactivity can create disconnects); the rest are nameless.
In the games, Johnson didn't become a named character until Halo 2. For that matter, the games even opted to preserve the "Dust and Echoes" line from the first game by using the conversation between Gunns and Johnson in Armory to playfully lampshade the disconnect.