Chapter Text
2050- As space travel becomes as common as air travel and the moon becomes covered in settlements ,The five superpowers of the Earth, the, People's Republic of China, India, United States, EU and the Russian Federation, along with the smaller space faring Nations of United Africa, United Korea Peninsula, Iran, Japan, Australia, and United Latin America agree to form a single scientific body to explore and colonize the Solar system. All of the Nations space agencies are combined into one agency headed under the United Nations and is called the UNCA, United Nations Colonial Administration.
2051- With Earth's population reaching 12 billion and rising, the UNCA begins to terraform Mars, Saturn's Moons, and the Jovian moons, including Europa. The first orbital elevator is built and finished in five years by the UNCA in Hawaii allowing massive amounts of raw materials to be moved into space. Another Seven elevators begin construction, one in Cuba, one in Peru, Malaysia, Mombassa, Mumbai, Dubai and Shanxi.
2060:- Majority of diseases like Cancer and AIDS are wiped out due to stronger Immune System caused by advancements in Medicine.
2069- Mars is successfully terraformed into a lush green world with several large oceans and dozens of seas and lakes. The great colonization begins, with Millions of people colonizing the Martian surface and the first cities beginning to appear. Extensive mining of the Asteroid belt begins.
2085- With Earth's population still rising and the increased production of food and resources struggling to catch up, the Five Superpowers form into a single governing body, the UEG, Unified Earth Government. Artificial gravity is perfected and the technology soon revolutionizes space travel.
2095- Venus is Colonized allowing millions of colonists to settle. The most iconic features are the Domed and Floating Cloud Cities of Venus which become a great Tourist attraction.
The Population of Mars reaches 1 Billion and the total Human population throughout the Sol system reaches 30 billion. The UEG and UNCA realize that the Human race must expand outside the Home system. Research into Faster Than Light travel begins.
2115- Conflict erupts on Mars and the Jovian moons when a radical socialist movement, the Friedions, claim sovereignty over Mars and the Colonies on Europa. This leads to the first Inter-solar War and the Rainforest Wars.
2116- The UEG and UNCA creates the UNSC, the United Nations Space Command, the military arm of the UEG, to combat the separatists Friedions. The UNSC creates a massive armada of the first Space Navy to combat the Friedions Space forces. The Earth's orbit becomes militarized as defenses are built as well as the moon and Venus. Terrorist attacks supported by the Friedions all over the globe lead the rest of the nations of the world to join the UEG, uniting all of the Nations of the Earth.
2117- The first true Naval battle between fleets in space takes place above Mars as the UNSC engages the Friedions Space Fleet. Naval doctrine for the next several hundred years is established as the UNSC defeats the Friedions in several battles that last for a month with thousands of casualties on each side as the UNSC regains control over the orbit of Mars and its orbital facilities and space ports, as well as the planet's orbital elevators.
However the Friedions have several ground to space laser batteries that are heavily defended that keeps the UNSC from landing large amounts of troops. One Marine Lieutenant General suggests that teams of elite Marines be dropped from orbital warships behind enemy lines via Human Entry Vehicles, or HEV pods for Short.
The ODSTs are born.
2118- After a lull in the War the ODSTs are successfully deployed and the Friedions' lines crumble. Mars is soon liberated and the UNSC fleet, reinforced two fold, soon liberates the Jovian moons and the moons of Saturn, defeating the Friedions.
2132- Two brilliant Scientists named Shaw and Fujikawa create the Slipspace translight drive. The UEG soon tests the drive on a UNSC Missile Destroyer, the Columbia.
The Columbia makes a short jump across the Solar system, proving the drive works and that FTL has been achieved, but also that inter-system jumps are dangerous as the Columbia is nearly trapped in the Ort Cloud.
2133- The first ShawFujikawa drive equipped probes reach one of the nearest star systems to Earth with a known terrestrial planet, Epsilon Eridani. The probes upon return bring back images that shock Humanity, an Earth like planet.
2134- The first interstellar colonization ships leave Sol, led by a titanic colonization ship that is escorted by dozens of slipspace capable UNSC warships, the Santa Maria, and head for Epsilon Eridani with several hundred thousand colonists in tow. The trip takes three days but the fleet arrives and soon colonizes the planet, which is named Reach.
2140- Colonization of the Alpha Centauri system takes place where the binary systems of several rocky moons of a gas giant are terraformed allowing Colonists to settle , the system is named the Atlas moons with the largest of which is a planet called Pandora.
2150- All of the systems with planetary bodies within 100 light-years of Earth are colonized, creating the Inner colonies. Many systems like the Epsilon Eridani system have several colonies. The UNSC begins to have more control over the colonization efforts as more and more alien fossils are discovered on several planets, allowing many to agree that a large military is needed just in case the likely first contact goes wrong. Humanity soon controls over 100 planets and Reach becomes a military hub second only to Earth as the population of the planet exceeds nearly 4 Billion. The total Human population reaches 60 Billion.
As the size of Human territory increased, the UEG and UNSC threw massive amounts of resources into research to improve their Slipspace Capabilities. As even with the fastest Slipspace Drives, it still takes a month for any human ship to journey the length and breadth of Human Territory.
The research bears fruit as the new Mark VI ShawFujikawa Drive can now make a transit of 100 Light Years per day instead of the mere 2 Light Years Per day. This new Slipspace Drive was almost 50 times better than the previous Mark V Slipspace Drive. Allowing UNSC Ships to travel the furthest UEG Colonies within a single day, instead of a month. This led to the UEG and UNSC having more power than the CAA and CMA, who were previously in charge of governing distant Colonies because of Slow FTL Drives and Communication between Earth and the distant human Colonies.
2200- Reach becomes the official headquarters of the UNSC, (though Earth still can act as headquarters). The first MAC Coil Gun is created. Energy Weapons such as lasers become common and traditional firearms begin to use either Metal Storm tech or Gauss tech to revolutionize weaponry.
The Standard of Living for the average person also increased which caused an increase in average height. Average Human Height becomes 6'2 for Males and 6'0 for Females.
2208:- New Pioneering in technology led to 3D Printing becoming a huge part of Industry, especially in the Ship Building Industry. This new industrial Revolution will vastly increase the Ship building and the industrial capabilities of the UEG and UNSC.
2210:- The First Shipyard with 3D Printing Technology is constructed over Luna. This Shipyard could churn out dozens of Frigates everyday if it's running at full capacity.
Seeing the capabilities of this new Shipyard. The UNSC makes further plans of making similar Shipyards in orbit of Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Oort Cloud and Reach.
2212:- The 3D Printed Shipyards above Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Oort Cloud and Reach completes construction. However due to relative peace only the Mars Shiyards was activated. The rest of the Shiyards was put on Cold Standby as there is no need for excess of Warships.
The UNSC proposes UEG for a budget increase in Military. Their plan is to make 3D Printing Shipyards in every single Inner Colony. While the UEG Government didn't increase the UNSC budget, they did consider the idea of doing so in the future along with the proposal of the Shipyards.
2216:- After 4 Years of continuous pestering from UNSC HIGHCOM, UEG finally agreed to increase Military spending and agreed with the UNSC proposal of building 3D Printing Shipyards across the Inner Colonies.
However UEG demanded that even after the Shipyards are completed, the UNSC Shipbuilding should be severely limited. And this is a non-negotiable demand. The reason for this is to make sure the Military doesn't get too much power by expanding the Navy. The UNSC had no choice but to agree with this demand of UEG, knowing that without this they wouldn't get their budget increase.
2220-2400- The UNSC and UEG expand to over 1000 worlds. The total population exceeds 280 billion because of a huge Baby Boom. Scientists theorised that this is because of high standard of living and advancements of Medicine which led to such unprecedented Baby Boom. As every Parents at least have 3 to 4 Children on average, which became common because of easy food production and high standard of living.
UNSC's Project of every Inner Colonies having a 3D Printing Shiyard is completed. The older 3D Printing Shipyards in Sol System and Reach is upgraded to the standard of newer Shipyards, with the Shipyard around Saturn's Rings being the largest Shipyard in Human Space.
Of course only the Shipyards of Sol System and Reach were activated, because of the Ship Building limitations being put by the UEG.
2420:- ONI claims to have discovered the remains of an advanced alien spacecraft, which little do they know is in fact a Covenant explorer ship. Expansion halts as the UNSC and UEG realize that protecting the outer colonies is difficult. Defenses on all of the worlds are expanded and increased.
ONI after taking permission from UNSC lauches a secret Operation, codenamed Operation: Expanse. This operation calls for promoting Couples to have more babies.
When asked by the Politicians of UEG on this, ONI explained that a "Higher Population meant more bodies that could be thrown in a War with aliens should First Contact goes violent."
2430:- Human Life span jumps to 150 Years due to advancement in Medicine.
2440:- First Military Grade Gene-Mode Therapy is introduced by Scientists. This Gene-Mode allows minor augmentations, like every Single Soldier having Neural Links, Stronger Bones, Stronger Muscles, better stamina better eye sight and faster reaction Times.
This was done so that UNSC Soldiers could perform better than average Civilians. Strong Bones and Muscles meant that UNSC Soldiers could also fight in higher Gravity Worlds.
The Better Eye Sight and Reaction Time was also a massive boon especially towards UNSC Pilots.
2442:- ONI Proposes a Civilian Mode Gene Therapy which will cause normal UNSC Citizens to have stronger Bone structures so that they could Colonize Worlds with Higher gravity.
This Project was named Operation: Ascension. And it was approved by UEG but made the Gene Therapy strictly voluntary.
It will take 5 Years for the completion of Project Ascension. With more that 60℅ Humans volunteering to go through the Gene-Therapy, mostly from the Inner Colonies.
60℅ of Humans now have stronger bone structure and they are now physically more powerful. Which means they can now colonize Higher Gravity Worlds.
However unknown to all but ONI, Project Ascension also increased the Fertility rate of Humans.
2450- The Insurrection begins, leading to build up in the UNSC as it finds itself surrounded by worlds in revolt.
The Insurrection Ships are mostly nimble Freighters modified with Missile Pods and basic Auto Cannons. And in ranged Combat they are outgunned by UNSC MAC's
So the Insurrectionists tactic is to jump close range on UNSC Warship and unload all their Nuclear Ordinance at the same time to overwhelm the UNSC Point Defense and cause extensive damage.
This made the UNSC Navy realise the their Ships didn't boast Secondary Weapons that could fight in Close Range.
This led to the development of Secondary Railgun Batteries on UNSC Ships. The Railguns are oversized Onager Cannons used by UNSC Ground Forces. The Railguns are placed in batteries of four with each Ships having multiple Batteries. This proved devastating to the lightly armoured Insurrectionists Ships.
2452- Project ORION is created. ORION's goal is to create genetic and cybernetic enhancement (the already enhanced Humanity after Project Ascension) supersoldiers to combat the growing threat of the rebels. 10 test subjects are chosen and 8 survive the augmentation. These soldiers come to be known as SPARTANS.
After repeated pestering from the UNSC, UEG grudgingly allows the UNSC to activate the Shipyards around the Planet of Tribute but refused to activate any other Shipyards of any other Inner Colonies or the Outer Colonies.
This was done because the UEG feared that a gigantic buildup of the Navy may weaken their political hold as well as increase tensions and cause other peaceful Outer Colonies to join in the Insurrection.
2492- With the Insurrection still taking place on the Outer Colonies and UEG stopping the activation of Shipyards, the UNSC Navy is stretched thin with only 8000 Warships and 16000 Support Supply Freighters, Mobile Repair and Refit Docks and Troopships guarding nearly 2000 Worlds. So the Orion project is advanced instead and 100 children are "chosen" to receive extreme genetic augmentations. With most of Humanity already augmented during Project Ascension, the Orion Project was a success with all the chosen Children surviving.
The legendary Spartan IIs are born.
Humanity was already genetically and physically strong than their ancestors from 2 Centuries ago. Because of Project Ascension, all of Humanity is physically stronger, with stronger bones, better eyesight and of course better reaction Time.
But the Spartan IIs born from the Orion project still leave them all to dust when it comes to physical capabilities.
2500:- Operation Expanse was deemed a success with Human Population jumping from 280 Billion to nearly 800 Billion within less than a Hundred Years. This is because of the now increased life span and huge living space being provided by the ever expanding UEG, and also because of the increase of fertility rate caused by Project Ascension.
UEG now rules over 2000 Worlds, as the Higher gravity Worlds within UEG Space, which was once deemed too expensive to Colonize now could be colonized due to Humans now enhanced with stronger bones and muscles after Operation Ascension.
400 Worlds makes the Inner Colonies. Each World having the new 3D Printing Shipyards and other industries. The Population of Inner Colonies are 600 Billion.
While the remaining 1600 Worlds along with the remaining 200 Billion Population makes the outer Colonies. While not as Industrial Juggernaut as the Inner Colonies, there were still many Outer Colonies, upto 80 Worlds, which had 3D Printed Shipyards.
These also do not include all the Deep Space Battle Stations and other Installations that UNSC owns or the smaller Private Asteroid Colonies which had populations ranging from hundreds to few thousands.
2502:- UNSC asks UEG for an increase in Military Manpower, as current UNSC Manpower is only 3.2 Billion Personals, which is only 0.40℅ out of the Population of 800 Billion.
UNSC proposes that atleast 2℅ of the Population should serve in the Military which is around 16 Billion. This will greatly reduce the strain on UNSC.
2504:- UEG agrees on UNSC's proposal of 2℅ of the population serving in the Military. Recruitment skyrockets and UNSC finally gets some breathing space.
The CMA and CAA gives up most of their power as UNSC slowly takes charge of the Outer Colonies as they finally had the Manpower to project power without leaving the Inner Colonies defenseless.
2506:- Another destroyed Alien Craft is discovered by ONI Prowlers. UNSC, with UEG's Permission, launches Operation Turtle which calls for fortifications of Outer Colonies.
The First Super MAC Gun was also created during this time and Operation Turtle calls that every single UEG World should have at least 5 Super MAC's, either ground based or in the Orbit.
Operation Turtle also calls out that each Planet should have its own Planetary Defense Force (Or PDF for Short). The Planetary Defense Force will be the First Line of Defense of a Planet before Army and Marines could join, in case of delay.
Of course during times of war the Planetary Defense Forces could be conscripted into the Army Or Marine Corps.
2510:- The Apocalypse Class Nuclear Torpedo is created and becomes the most powerful Nuclear Weapon in UNSC arsenal, surpassing even the SHIVA Nukes. The payload of an Apocalypse Torpedo is one hundred and twelve sub-munitions, each one with a five giga-tonne warhead. And combined it has a payload of 600 Gigatonne, surpassing even the Super MAC's.
UEG however limited the production of this class of Torpedo as even a Prowler with a Dozen Apocalypse Torpedo could turn an entire World into charred desolate wasteland. And UEG didn't want this type of terrific weapon to fall in the hand of Insurrectionists something even the UNSC agreed and severely limited the production of Apocalypse Nukes and making sure that only Capital Ships could carry these Nukes.
---------------------------------------- ------------ ----------------------------
2525- On the outer colony world of Harvest first contact is made with an advanced space faring civilization known as the Covenant.
Harvest was the newest Colony World that Humanity had setteled. It had a population of less that 2 Million. As it was a new Colony the Planet hadn't received it's ODP Grids yet despite Operation Turtle. Mostly because of corruption and carelessness of CMA and CAA.
Harvest also only have a Single Missile Silo which were equipped with Surface to Space Missiles. But it's only normal Missiles, not Nuclear Weapons.
Harvest's Planetary Defense Force (PDF) is only a Single Battalion, only 1000 lightly armoured Troops equipped with the outdated Python Class Light Tanks. They were under the Command of Lieutenant Colonel Asahi Nakagawa.
They were supplemented by a Single Marine Armoured Company under the Command of Captain Julian Ponder. They were quipped with Warthogs and Scorpion Class Light Tanks.
The Contact began when a Covenant Missionary/Privateer Ship, Minor Transgression, commanded by a Kig-Yar Shipmistress raids an Automated Cargo Freighter which was carrying several exotic fruits from Harvest.
The Kig Yar getting a taste of Human Fruits and delicacy decided to remain in the System instead of reporting the findings by the Ships Luminaries which denotes thousands of Forerunner Artifacts in Harvest's Surface.
In the following week, the Kig-Yar raided multiple Freighters. The loss of the Freighters alerted Harvest Council who thought that it was the Insurrectionists who were responsible. This wasn't an illogical conclusion, as the Insurrectionists had raided and Highjacked Freighters before.
So they decided to set up a Trap. A trap planned by Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygni of ONI, who came to Harvest from the Outer Colony of Arcadia to investigate the case of missing Freighters and find out any trail of possible Insurrection.
The strike Team under Jilan successfully deceived the crew of Minor Transgression into boarding a baited Freighter, where they are immediately attacked by a Platoon of Marines led by Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson and Staff Sergeant Nolan Byrne.
To their shock however they didn't discover any Human Rebels but 6ft tall Bird like Aliens. The Marines recovered from their shock and quickly attacked the raiding party killing every single one of them without taking a single casualties. The well trained Marines armed with their Gauss Rifles cut through the Lightly armoured Pirates.
After they cleared the Freighter, the Marines boarded the Minor Transgression. But before they could capture it, the Shipmistress onboard triggered the Self-Destruction Sequence of the Ship forcing the Marines to abandon the Alien ship and as well as the Freighter.
The Self Destruction destroyed the Covenant Missionary Ship as well as the Freighter which was in a close proximity with the Alien Vessel. However all the Marines managed to evacuate the Ships with a Pelican, their only casualty being Staff Sergeant Byrne who had taken a shoulder wound from a Kig-Yar Energy Cutlass. However he would soon recover from the attack as the wound is only minor and not life threatening.
For the Aliens, almost the entire raiding Party was killed with only an Unggoy Deacon named Dadab and a Huragok named Lighter Than Some managing to escape in an escape pod.
The Marines would return to Harvest where they will report the Findings to the Harvest Council. Lieutenant Colonel Nakagawa would immediately put Harvest under lockdown and take charge of the Situation as the Senior most Officer in the Planet with Officer Jilan being his Second in Command.
Nakagawa would immediately began fortifying the Planet's Defenses which he knew were inadequate due to lack of ODP's. He would order the limited Factories present in Harvest to churn out transportable Bunkers Pillboxes made of Titanium A Armour, the same Armour used on Starships.
He would also place his limited Self Propelled Artillery and Light Tanks on defensive positions, to be used as mobile Guns. While he will place all his Multiple-Launch-Rocket-Batteries around Utgard City, The Capitol City of Harvest, to use an Anti-Aircraft Systems.
Nakagawa would conserve the Marine Armoured Company and their Scorpion Tanks, to use them later as Shock Troopers.
While Nakagawa and his PDF were fortifying the Planet, Captain Julian Ponder, the third in Command on Harvest, and his Marines helped in the evacuation of Civilians from all the Villages scattered on Harvest so that they could be evacuated to the Capitol City so that they could be evacuated off Planet with Utgard's Orbital Elevator.
Captain Julian, also tried to recruit some Militias from the Populace but only succeed in recruiting a few hundred men and women. They are mostly retired Military Personals and those who don't have any Families in Harvest.
Jilan meanwhile with the help of Harvest's Engineer's and AI's fit HAVOK Tactical Nukes on the Surface-To-Space-Missiles. While these Missiles wouldn't hold a Candle to the vaunted SHIVA Class Nukes or the Apocalypse Class Nuclear Torpedoes, this is the most they could do.
She would also send an emergency distress Beacon towards Human Space requesting immediate help, as she knew in her gut that a storm is approaching.
A storm which came just a few days later in the form of a Covenant Light Cruiser, Rapid Conversion, a former decommissioned Warship under the Covenant Navy which was crewed by Jiralhanae under the Chieftain Maccabeus. The Rapid Conversion is a very old ship and had its Energy Shields and Weaponry disabled.
Maccabeus's Ship would resque the Huragok and Unggoy and from there he would learn about what happened. The Huragok would manage to repair and bring the Weaponry, a Single Plasma Torpedo Turrent, online much to Maccabeus's relief.
On Harvest, after seeing the Covenant Ship, Nakagawa, with the help of Harvest's managing AI, would send a Message of Peace in from of Morse Code and a Picture to help the Aliens understand.
However this contact will end in violence when an Unggoy named Yull kills a Harvest Militiaman by the name of Osmo. This eventually led to a firefight and the peace broke down.
The Covenant meanwhile began deploying it's forces from the Cruiser which outnumbered the Planetary defenses nearly three to one, but despite this Maccabeus's forces couldn't wrestle the control of the Planet.
While the Covenant Plasma Guns were more powerful in terms of Firepower, the Gauss Rifles of UNSC Forces had far better range which allowed them to pick of the Covenant Forces from a distance.
The Jiralhanae learnes it the hard way as their tactic is to mostly rush the defenders, they find it inadequate as the Gauss Machine guns proved more than adequate to cut the hulking Aliens in half.
Nakagawa's defensive Bunkers and Titanium-A Reinforced Pill Boxes with Tanks and Artillery Guns proved a Nightmare for Maccabeus's forces, by taking out lightly armoured Covenant Tanks from kilometers away before they can even come in range to fire their Plasma Cannons.
The UNSC Anti-Aircraft Missiles also prevented the Covenant from deploying their troops in close range of Human Forces so that they could better use their energy weapons.
Tartarus, nephew of Maccabeus, with the help of Huragok created a new type of Hover Vehicles named the Choppers. The Choppers are modified Tractors fitted with Spike Cannons and Anti-Gravity Engines. The Jiralhanae began using it as a light reconnaissance like the UNSC Warthogs.
Tartarus also suggested using the Plasma Torpedoes of Rapid Conversion to glass the heavily fortified Human Positions and even their Capital City, to bring the Planet under submission.
However the idea was overruled by Maccabeus who didn't want to accidentally destroy any of the Forerunner Artifacts. Much to the frustration of Tartarus, who had already lost his best Friends, Ritul and Vorenus, to the dreaded Human defenses.
Meanwhile Nakagawa knowing the threat that the Covenant Ship posed hatched a plan along with Jilan and Captain Julian. Their Plan is to lure the Ship near Harvest's only Planetary Mass Driver, an Onager Cannon, and destroy it.
The Plan was a go and the Planetary AI Mark sent fake Signals towards the Rapid Conversion, suggesting that a large number of Human Troops were gathering. Maccabeus decided that he will use the Plasma Torpedo only once and destroy the majority of the Human forces.
Unknown to him, it was a trap as, as soon as the Ship came in range, the Mass Driver opened fire on the Ship. As Rapid Conversion was a former decommissioned Ship, it didn't have any energy shielding.
The result was the Ship getting punctured and disabled and it began to pummel on the Planet. However before the Ship fell on the ground, it fired its Pulse Lasers and destroyed the Mass Driver.
Rapid Conversion was severely damaged especially during the crash, but the Yanme'e, on board the Cruiser, tried to repair the Ship. However Nakagawa then let loose all his Surface to Space Missiles, which had been equipped with HAVOK's Nukes by Jilan.
The Pulse Lasers of Rapid Conversion managed to destroy most of the Missiles, but as the Ship was severely damaged it couldn't destroy all of them. The result was the grounded Ship getting vaporised by the Nuclear Enhanced Missiles.
However the Nukes also destroyed the small city of Gladsheim, where the Ship had crashed. However there were no Human Casualties as the inhabitants of the City had already been evacuated.
Maccabeus and Tartarus alongside a group of Jiralhanae would manage to escape the destruction. Tartarus would blame the destruction of the Ship on his Uncle's Incompetence and challenge Maccabeus for an duel, for the Title of High Chieftain of all Jiralhanae Tribes.
Maccabeus who was injured during the crashing of Rapid Conversion, would be killed by Tartarus who would take the mantle of Chieftain of all Jiralhanae alongside the Holy Fist of Rukt, the strongest Gravity Hammer.
While this was happening, the Population of Harvest being led by Avery Johnson and Jilan managed to evaquate from the Planet by using the Cargo Freighters.
Meanwhile a CMA Scout Ship Argo which had heard the distress Signal sent by Jilan, jumped into the Harvest System. They were contacted by Nakagawa, who explained what happened on the surface.
The Argo would send it's Marine Contingent it had on board, only a Platoon worth of men, to the Planet's surface to reinforce the battered defenses while sending a Comm Message to Arcadia, asking for help.
Two days later, a small CMA Battlegroup consisting of Two Charon Class Light Frigates Arabia and Vostok led by a Hillsborough-Class Heavy Destroyer, The Heracles would jump into the System to reinforce Harvest, before a Fleet could arrive.
However at the same time, a Covenant Capital Ship, a Rasus-Pattern Interdictor, named Heaven's Brilliant Bier, would jump into the System.
The Covenant Ship, nicknamed Covenant Battleship and Covenant Super Destroyer was nearly 2 Km Long and 1 km in Width. The Ship would immediately open fire from 100,000 Km away with its long-range Energy Projector, destroying the Scout Ship Argo in a single hit.
After which it would broadcast a Message in standard English:-
"Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument"
The Battle group 4, led by Captain Maribeau Veredi, would immediately open fire from Railguns, Missiles, Nukes and MAC Rounds. But to their horror it would all be tanked by the Energy Shields of the Covenant Ship, something which the Heaven's Brilliant Bier possessed unlike the Rapid Conversion.
The next ten seconds would be a destruction incarnate as the Covenant Ship fired its Energy Projectors and Plasma Torpedoes and destroyed Arabia and Vostok.
The Heracles seeing this retreated but not before emptying all its Nuclear Arsenal, including 6 Apocalypse Class Torpedoes, that it was secretly armed by the CMA against UNSC's orders of only Cruiser grade Capitol Ships should carry the Apocalypse.
The Point Defense Pulse Lasers would destroy all the SHIVA Missiles and four of the Apocalypse Missiles. However the remaining two Apocalypse would slammed into its energy Shields and detonate with 1.2 Teraton Or Energy.
The Ship's Shields, already battered from previous attacks would collapse and the radiation would severly damaged the Ship, including disabling its Energy Shielding System and most of it's Point Defense Lasers.
The Sangheili Shipmaster commanding the Ship was enraged at the attack as the Ship had a Forerunner Core and was considered Holy. So he would order the his crew to began glassing Harvest. He will also deploy all the ground troops that was on the Ship, nearly 10,000 strong, on the planet to scour it for the Forerunner Relics.
Nakagawa seeing Harvest being glassed would finally put his last ditch effort to stop it.
Harvest didn't have any dedicated Airforce because of the corruption of CMA, but it did have Civilian Grade Shuttles and 20 Trainer Aircrafts.
Nakagawa's Plan is to rig the Shuttles and Trainer Aircrafts with left over HAVOK Nukes and crash them onto the Covenant Ship, in form of the dreaded Kamikaze Attacks that was used by the Empire of Japan during the Second World War. This was his last ditch effort as all his Surface to Space Missiles had already been exhausted, used against the Covenant Cruiser, Rapid Conversion.
But there was a problem. The Civilian Shuttles and Trainer Aircrafts didn't have any AI Ports, which meant the Aircrafts would have to be piloted manually. Which meant that whoever will pilot the Ships would be going to their certain deaths, on a one way suicide mission.
Nakagawa thought that no one would accept this suicidal mission but to his shock almost 40 Pilots, most of them being Civilian Shuttle Pilots, volunteered to take the Mission.
Before going on the mission, Nakagawa toasted with the 40 Soldiers and shared a glass of Whiskey with them before sending them off.
It was said that after the Soldiers departed, Nakagawa had wept in sorrow and lamented "Oh mother Terra!! You lost some brave sons and daughters today". As all the Suicide Pilots were all young, with the oldest among them being 20 Years old and the youngest being only 16 years Old.
The Nuclear rigged Kamikaze Shuttles would take off the next day when the Covenant Ship was just 400 Miles South of Harvest's Capital City. Even with most of its Pulse Lasers destroyed due to the Apocalypse Nukes, the attack would not be easy as most of the Shuttles would be shot down by fast moving Covenant Banshees.
However out of 40 Shuttles, only 6 would manage to break through the Covenant Defense Lasers and Fighters, and slam on the Ship and detonate all the HAVOK Nukes.
With the Shields of the Ship being destroyed by the Heracles's Apocalypse Torpedoes, the Covenant Ship would be vaporised by the HAVOK Nukes, its remains falling on the surface of the Planet, just like the Rapid Conversion had before.
However the destruction of the Ship would not end the Battle for Harvest. As the Covenant had already deployed all the Ground Forces that were on the Ship, before its destruction.
Despite Nakagawa's best efforts the Human forces would slowly lose ground as they began to run out of their advanced munitions like Missiles as well as Medicines and Food Supply.
When the Covenant Troops reached the Planet's Capitol Utgard, Nakagawa ordered his own counterattack with his remaining forces and the Marine Armoured Company that he had put on reserve.
It was said that Nakagawa would personally lead the counterattack and while the counterattack would push the Covenant Forces out of the City, most of the Human forces too would perish in the fighting, with Nakagawa being wounded grievously.
With almost all their Medicines being used up, Nakagawa knew that he would die. So in order to relieve his pain, preserve his honour as well as the honour of those who died before him, especially the Suicide Pilots, Nakagawa would commit Seppuku, the Japanese Ritual Suicide.
Before committing the ritual suicide, Nakagawa will give his personal Katana Sword to Captain Julian Ponder and promote him to the Rank of Major, giving him the Command of the rest of the Human Forces in Harvest.
It is said while handing his Katana to Julian, Nakagawa had asked him "Promise me that all the sacrifices wouldn't be in vain"
The now Major Ponder would take the sword with tears running down his face and vow "We will win, no matter what it takes!!"
Hearing the newly promoted Major's vow, Nakagawa would smile despite his injuries and calmly remove his upper Armour. After which he would take his Bayonet.
"Tenno Heika Banzai!" Nakagawa would scream out "For Humanity! For our Motherland! For Earth and all her Colonies".
After which he would stab himself with his Bayonet and disembowel his own stomach, with a teary eyed and reluctant Julian would sever Nakagawa's Head to relieve him of his pain and complete the Seppuku Ceremony.
After that Julian would bury Nakagawa's body and take charge of what remained of the Forces and retreat towards Harvest's Space Elevator, Tiara Station, for a last stand there.
A Covenant Stealth Corvette, which had followed Heaven's Brilliant Bier, will be shocked as they observe the destruction of the Holy Ship by Human Suicidal Pilots.
The Stealth Corvette will jump out of the System but not before picking up the escape Spirit Dropship which had Tartarus and his remaining Jiralhanae Pack. Their destination is the Covenant Capital of High Charity where they will report of what happened here.
Meanwhile the damaged CMA Heracles under Captain Veredi limped into Epsilon Eridani System and inform the UNSC Headquarters there about their findings.
Many amongst the UNSC HIGHCOM would be shocked, except the Higher Ranking Officers who already knew that Aliens exist and why Operation Expanse and Operation Turtle was enacted.
Nevertheless they will immediately act. While the UNSC amassed an expeditionary Force, ONI will quietly pull the retired Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole, who had retired because of his scandalous affair with a secret Insurrectionist Leader.
The reason Cole was chosen by ONI is simple. Cole was a disgraced Admiral who would do almost anything to regain his image. He is also expandable at that time. And if Cole fails in retaking Harvest, he could be easily scapegoated so that UNSC's image didn't fall in public's eyes.
And Cole perfectly knew why he was chosen. But as he had nothing left to lose, he took his position.
So the UNSC amassed nearly 120 Warships of various sizes. From Frigates to Destroyers, to Carriers to Cruiser and being led by Admiral Cole's Flagship, The Everest.
Cole's Fleet was also equipped with Apocalypse Class Nuclear Torpedoes. But because of the low numbers of those Torpedoes, they could only equip the Capital Ships like Cruisers and Carriers with this weapon.
Cole's Taskforce also received another additional 40 Ships. These are not Warships, but Troop Transports, Mobile Repair and Refit Stations and supply Ships.
This Expeditionary Fleet of nearly 160 Ships is named Battle Group X-Ray.
Back on Harvest, for 8 harrowing days, the remnants of Human forces will hold in Tiara Station. However on the seventh day they will ran out of food and most of their heavy ammunition.
And when all hope seemed lost, salvation finally arrived in the form of Admiral Cole's Battle Group X-Ray.
The Battlegroup had expected to fight an Alien Ship, however they arrived to find an empty star system and a Planet under siege.
Admiral Cole, seeing the defenders in dire need of help, immediately deployed the ODST's from Orbit. The UNSC Shock Troopers, veterans of multiple Campaigns against the Insurrection, will slaughter the Covenant Troops with overwhelming firepower and with series of Airstrikes from their Drones.
After that, Cole contacted the battered defenders who were left on Harvest, only less than 50, made up of rag tag groups of Militias, PDF Personal and Marines led by Julian Ponder.
Julian would immediately give the Battle report of what happened starting from the raids on Freighters, to the arrival of Rapid Conversion and failure of peace talks, and then the arrival of Covenant Super Destroyer and the massacre of Scout Ship Argo and Battle Group 4.
Julian would also report the desperate defenses made by Nakagawa, as well the Kamikaze attacks which destroyed the Covenant Battleship, and Nakagawa's final desperate counterattack and death.
Meanwhile back in the Covenant Empire, the news of the destruction of the Rasus-Pattern Interdictor, Heaven's Brilliant Bier will cause mourning throughout High Charity, as the Ship was considered Holy because of the Forerunner Power Core.
Though some of the Covenant Ministries would also be shaken because of the Suicidal Attacks made by Human Pilots while the Sangheili would be impressed by the bravery of the Humans who fearlessly jumped to their deaths, just to destroy a Single Ship.
Most of Sangheili Kaidons and Councillors voted in favor of integrating Humanity into Covenant Empire as they would be great Soldiers. The most vocal amongst them was the Sangheili Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree, who was especially eager for Humanity to join the Covenant and "Replace the cowardly Unggoys and opportunistic Jiralhanaes" in his Words.
However to their shock, the leaders of the Covenant, the newly crowned Hierarchs, High Prophet of Truth (Former Minister of Fortitude named Ord Casto), Prophet of Regret (Former Vice Minister of Tranquility named Lod Mron) and Prophet of Mercy (Former Philologist named Hod Rumnt) declared a Holy War, a war of Genocide, on Humanity declaring them affront to the Gods and that they have desecrated Holy Sites.
Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree actually questioned the decision of a Genocidal War. He said that instead of genocide the Humans should be conquered as a Client Species fot the Empire. He also pointed out the Lekgolo unintentionally destroyed many Forerunner Installations and yet they were given a position in the Covenant instead of Genocide. Same for the Kig-Yar who didn't even believe in the Great Journey and were in the Covenant only for money.
Because of the radical questions made by Xytan, the High Prophets believed that he could be a threat to their plans. But they also know they couldn't directly dispose Xytan, as he is a very powerful and influential individual in the Empire.
So instead they posted Xytan and the Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose in exile at the borders of Covenant space so that he couldn't interfere in their plans.
This move was another blow to the Sangheili, as Xytan was their most Capable Commander. Many thought that dismissing one of their best during times of war is foolishness. However the Prophets reassured that "The war with the Humans would be easy and Quick".
Confident that the War with Humanity would be easy, The High Prophets appointed three minor Covenant Ministries to fight against Humanity. They are:-The Ministry of Resolution, The Ministry of Fervent Intercession, and The Ministry of Tranquility.
This was another move which become very controversial amongst the Sangheili. As the Ministry of Resolution is a minor Anti-Piracy Force, while the Ministries of Fervent Intercession and Tranquility are minor Scout organizations who are more responsible for finding Forerunner Artifacts than actual fighting.
Not to mention both the Ministries of Fervent Intercession and Tranquility were very ambitious and always try to sabotage one another which seriously hamper their effectiveness.
All this made the Sangheili question why the Prophets are holding back their strength in the Fight instead of using Covenant's enormous Industry and Fleets to win the war against Humanity within a few short years.
Back on Harvest, Admiral Cole would study the limited Data he had on Covenant Ship, especially its long ranged weaponry and Energy Shields.
Cole would also reinforce Harvest with nearly 12 ODP's which he had towed from Reach with the help of his Orion Class Assault Carriers.
For ground Forces, Cole had brought nearly 10 Marine Divisions and 50 Army Divisions to reinforce Harvest. Which is nearly 1,200,000 Soldiers.
The late Lieutenant Colonel Asahi Nakagawa was awarded the Colonial Cross, the highest Military Award in the UNSC, for his Bravery in Battle of Harvest. He was also posthumously promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.
He wasn't the only one who was awarded though. Every Single Soldier who fought in Harvest, during the First Contant, be it UNSC Personal Or Civilian Militias, was Given the UNSC Medal of Honour, with the Kamikaze Suicide Pilots were posthumously awarded with Colonial Cross despite most of them being civilians.
Julian Ponder too was awarded with Colonial Cross and he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He along with his men were reassigned from Harvest to the Colony of Arcadia, as almost his entire Marine Company was wiped out during the Battle, even after being reinforced from Argo.
Two weeks after Admiral Cole's arrival, a huge Covenant Fleet, named the Fleet of Glorious Purpose would jump into the Epsilon Indi System. The Fleet numbering around 60 Ships, is led by Fleet Master Xula Niromee, one of the most devoute Sangheili, who was ordered by the High Prophets to destroy the Colony and take any Forerunner Artifacts it had.
Xula's Fleet was mainly composed of Sinaris-Pattern Heavy Destroyers (1.6 Km long) and the Wik-Pattern Light Destroyers (1.5 km long). His Fleet also has 10 Ket-Pattern Battlecruisers, each one of this Capital Ships are nearly 1.8 Km Long.
And of course the cream of his Fleet was his 3 Syfon-Pattern Assault Carriers each of them being nearly 5.2 Km Long.
The Fleet would face Cole's Fleet of nearly 120 Ships, which outnumbered Xula's Fleet by 2:1. Though Xula's Fleet had more tonnage.
Cole would place his Fleet in defensive Position amongst the newly deployed Harvest's ODP's. His goal is to use the Super MAC's and destroy the Capital Ships of the enemy, while his Fleet would pick out the lightly armed ships.
Xula, confident in his Victory, would first do a inner system Slipspace Jump to get in range so that he could deploy his Energy Projetor.
However Cole was prepared as he read Captain Veredi's reports of the range of Covenant's Energy Projetors. So as soon as Xula's Fleet exits Slipspace, they run into the Secret Nuclear Mine Fields which Cole's stealth Prowlers had placed in just a distance of 100,000 Km from the ODP's.
The Nuclear Mine Field while not destroying any Covenant Ships would strip many off their Shields.
Then Cole would give the order which would echo in inphamy.
"All Ships Open Fire!!"
All the Ships along with the ODP's would open Fire on the enemy Fleet. With Cole's Frigate and Destroyer will coordiate targets to maximize the effectiveness of theor Light MAC's.
While the Cruisers and Battleships alongside the ODP's would fire on the Capital Ships.
The result would be 20 Covenant Ships, nearly 1/3 of the Fleet, getting destroyed. Xula would lose 15 of his Destroyers, 4 Battlecruiser and 1 of his Assault Carrier, with the Assault Carrier having taken nearly 4 Super MAC Rounds, two having disabled it's Shield with the Third crippling it, and the Fourth destroying it.
With the Covenant Fleet still reeling, Cole would then order all his Capital Ships to fire their Apocalypse Nukes mixed with a barrage of SHIVA Nukes and a another Volley from Super MAC rounds.
This second Volley would further take out 10 Ships, 6 Destroyers and 4 Battlecruisers.
Xula enraged at the destruction of half his Fleet would then order his own Fleet to Fire. Plasma Torpedoes and Energy Projectors taking nearly 14 UNSC Ships, their Titanium A hulls boiling away due to the sheer heat from the Plasma.
Though this attack would be immediately followed by third Barrage from the Super MACs. Which would take another 10 Covenant Ships.
Cole would order the ODP's to "Focus Fire on the 5 Km Long Ships". As the Shields of Assault Carrier can take atleast 2 Rounds before falling and further 2 Rounds to destroy the Ship.
Xula would realize the threat that the ODP's posed and would order his Ships to take them out. However by that time it was already too late as the rest of the UNSC Fleet would open Fire once again taking another number of Xula's Ships, even an Assault Carrier which had taken focused Fire from the ODP's and half the UNSC Fleet.
The Battle would last another two hours. Xula's Fleet would be destroyed with Xula himself killed as he refused to retreat from the Battle. His ship would be destroyed after it's Shields were disabled by two ODP's and then taking an Apocalypse Nuke.
With this the Space Battle around Harvest would end with Humanity's first true victory in the War. However it wouldn't come without a cost. As Cole, despite outnumbering the Covenant Fleet, would lose nearly 30 Ships, most of them being his Frigates and Destroyers.
He would also lose his 4 out of 12 ODP's around Harvest and he would request FLEETCOM to send replacements for the losses immediately.
Cole would also make a detailed report on the Battle and mention how the only reason he won is because he outnumbered the enemy and the enemy was caught off guard. He would also mention that the enemy commander was too overconfident on their Victory and would charge headlong into their defenses instead of being strategic, which cost them the battle.
But despite that the Covenant Fleet managed to destroy 30 of his Ships nearly, 1/4 of his Fleet. Proving how behind humanity is in Technology against the Covenant.
Meanwhile back on Earth, UNSC would inform the UEG Government and Senate about the hostile first Contant in Harvest and the Covenant's declaration of war. After which UEG will grudgingly hand over emergency powers to the UNSC.
The UNSC now having absolute powers would immediately scrap the CMA and CAA because of their corruption and negligence of not providing Harvest with ODP's and other defenses as well as illegally equipping Captain Veredi's Ship with Apocalypse Nukes. After which UNSC will absorb all the assets and manpower of CMA and CAA.
The UNSC would immediately activate every single 3D Printing Shipyards both in Inner and Outer Colonies which had laid dormant till now because of the UEG. The UNSC would also bring the Drafting bill for Military Conscription and would announce the Legal Age for signing will be 15 Years Old.
Back on High Charity. The Leadership would be shocked by the defeat of Xula's Fleet. They had thought the Human World would fall easily due to their technological disadvantage. But Cole's Fleet had triumphed.
While the Ministries are shaken by the defeat, the High Prophets dismissed this loss as a "Minor insignificant loss which will be recovered within an Unit". They would also amass a bigger Fleet to bring war on not just Harvest but on other Human Worlds.
The Human-Covenant War had officially begun.
2526-2531:- The Bloody Harvest Campaign would begin and last for 5 Years. The main opposing Leaders of this Campaign would be Preston Cole of UNSC and Arbiter Ripa Moramee for the Covenant Empire.
The Campaign would have nearly 20 Major Space Battles and at least 28 Major Ground Battles. And hundreds of minor engagements in both Space and Ground.
UNSC will also tactically use many HAVOK Nukes in ground engagement and try to destroy any major concentration of Covenant Ground Forces without trying to engage them with their own forces which could cause heavy casualties.
In 2530 the Covenant Forces will capture a Forerunner Outpost in the Northern Polar Region of Harvest. The UNSC would allow the huge concentration of Covenant Troops to capture the Fortress with minimal resistance.
However what the Covenant didn't know was that the Forerunner Outpost was rigged with HAVOK Nukes, which was detonated when the Covenant Forces were inside the Fortress, causing the entire structure to collapse, killing tens of thousands of Covenant Forces. The loss of the Forerunner Outpost will be a severe morale blow to the Covenant as they wanted to capture and study it.
The last major Space Battle of the Harvest Campaign would occur in the Blue Gas Giant of the Epsilon Indi System, between a Fleet of 300 Covenant Ships, named the Fleet of Glorious Interdiction, Commanded by Ripa and 320 UNSC Ships of Battlefleet X-Ray led by Cole.
The Magnetic interference of the Gas Giant would severely limit the Covenant Forces, especially their long ranged Magnetically guided Energy Projectors and Plasma Torpedoes forcing the Covenant Fleet to engage the Humans in close quarters. And the results of the Battle would be 200 destroyed Covenant Ships and equal amounts of destroyed UNSC Ships.
Ripa would then take his remaining 100 Ships and leave the System after he received a message of retreat from High Charity forcing him to abandon the battle as well as the Covenant Ground Forces still fighting on Harvest.
While the Battle was happening, a Young Sangheili Shipmaster by the name of R'tas Vadum, commanding a Varric-Pattern Heavy Cruiser and a Fleet of 7 Ket-Pattern Battlecruiser would jump towards Harvest, not to attack the Planet but to evacuate as many of Covenant ground troops as possible.
R'tas bravery and tactical genius will manage to resque nearly 2 million Covenant Soldiers fighting on Harvest's surface before he was forced to jump out of the System by the approaching UNSC Fleet.
The remaining Covenant Ground Forces wouldn't be so lucky as they were systematically slaughtered by the UNSC Forces, which now held orbital superiority as the Covenant Fleet had left the System.
After five years The Battle of Harvest would end with a Pyrrhic Victory for Humanity as Covenant finally gave up trying to capture this World from UNSC. Though some minor Fleet skirmishes will continue for the remainder of the Human-Covenant War as the Covenant Navy would continue to do minor probing attacks in Epsilon Indi System, despite giving up on Harvest after the destruction of the Forerunner Artifacts.
Harvest was a farming colony known for its Sweet and exotic Fruits. The Colony could produce enough food to feed atleast 20 other Human Colonies.
But the five years of bloody war, especially Orbital Plasma Bombardments and use of Nuclear Armaments in its soil, had taken it's toll on it.
Harvest would instead be turned into a Military Fortress World and will be used as a staging area for any further UNSC Operation in the Outer Colonies.
Casualties for the Harvest Campaign:-
UNSC:- Nearly 20 Million Forces, both in ground and space, killed in action in the Five Years of Battle. With another 8 Million wounded.
In Space, UNSC would loss nearly 1000 Ships.
Covenant:- Atleast 5 times the Casualties suffered by UNSC. Nearly 100 Million dead in both ground and space. UNSC only took less than 40 Prisoners, mostly Unggoy's , which will be given to ONI for questioning and research.
In Space the Covenant Navy suffered nearly 1200 Ships destroyed mostly because of their overconfidence and bad tactics as well as because of the ODP's .
However just because Harvest was saved doesn't mean the war was going well for Humanity. Because while Ripa Moramee and his Fleet of Glorious Interdiction was fighting Cole's Battlefleet X-Ray, in Harvest, another Covenant Commander by the name of Supreme Commander Luro Taralumee, who was appointed by the Vice Cleric of Zeal, led his own Fleet, named The Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence, against the UNSC Forces in other Outer Colonies bordering the Covenant Empire.
It is reported that in 5 Years, Luro glassed nearly 20 UEG Outer Colonies and destroyed dozens of UNSC Military Outposts and remote Space Stations as well as numerous Civilian owned Asteroid Colonies, though taking heavy Casualties because of the ODP's and the UNSC Defense Fleets present there.
In late 2531, two months after the end of the Harvest Campaign, Admiral Cole, seeing the destruction of the Outer Colonies, will draft the Cole Protocol during this time. The Protocol calls that any and all UNSC Ships and Installations should purge their databanks and self destruct if capture by enemy forces is imminent. So that Covenant couldn't find the UNSC Colonies, or even Earth, easily and buy Humanity as much time they will need to fortify the Inner Colonies.
2532:- On the Colony World of Netherop, a Small Covenant Frigate, by the name of Radiat Arrow, would be captured by a Team of Spartans who would board the vessel. The Ship would then be searched for any Tracking device before it was transported to a deep Space Research Facility of ONI, whose goal is to reverse engineer the technology, especially the Magnetically guided Plasma Weaponry and the Energy Shielding Technology, as well as the Covenant Repulsor Engines which made them so agile despite their enormous size and mass.
ONI AI's would also hack the Databases of the Covenant Ship from which they would learn the location of nearly 16 Covenant Worlds which is located near the Fringe of Covenant Empire.
These Worlds are used as Supply and Repair Stations for the Covenant, and their destruction could greatly buy time for UNSC, time which they would need to reverse engineer Covenant Technology and build up their forces.
So the UNSC would launch Operation: Firebomb. Nearly 160 ONI Prowlers, each of them equipped with Dozens of Apocalypse Nukes would go to the Systems and bomb the Covenant Worlds with their deadly Nuclear Payloads.
The Apocalypse Nukes would bathe the Covenant Worlds with Nuclear Fire, vaporizing the oceans and boiling away their atmosphere, turning the Worlds into charred dead rocks floating in space. ONI estimated that nearly 12 Billion Covenant will perish in this Bombings, most of them being the Yanme'e and Sangheili, as Covenant Worlds are often highly populated.
These Bombings would be recorded and shown to the UEG populace where a bloodthirsty Humanity would cheer as the Covenant got a taste of their own Medicine in form of Genocide and Glassed Worlds.
However this jubilation would not last, as Covenant responded to this attack just a week later. An Armada of nearly 1200 Ships would attack multiple Colonies at the same time. This huge Armada was a Combination of 3 Covenant Fleets, each Fleet being 400 Ships Strong.
The Three Covenant Fleets making up this huge Armada were:-
The Fleet of Glorious Interdiction, Commanded by Arbiter Ripa Moramee.
The Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence led by Supreme Commander Luro Taralumee.
And of course The Fleet of Inexorable Obedience led by Fleet Master Nizat 'Kvarosee.
The massive Armada led by these three Covenant Commanders would blitz dozens of Star Systems under the UEG. The UNSC outnumbered and outgunned, losses many battles and nearly 40 Colonies were turned to glass in just a span of a month with nearly a Billion Casualties. Making this the most horrific loss ever suffered by the UNSC in such a short span of time.
As of 2532, the Human death toll reaches nearly 8 Billion. With 200 Million Military Casualties and rest being Civilian Casualties. The UNSC upped the conscription and went into Total War mode. Hundreds of newer 3D Printing Shipyards were made in the Inner Colonies to churn out more Ships and replace the horrendous losses they have suffered.
Covenant death toll is currently 12.8 Billion. But despite this, Covenant War machine isn't even dented. However the High Prophets realised the war with Humanity wouldn't be an easy one, and appointed another Three Ministries to the war effort. But other than that the Covenant still didn't commit to Total War, still confident in their victory.
Mid 2532:- Battle over Etalan takes place over the Colony World of Etalan when Nizat 'Kvarosee's Fleet of Inexorable Obedience jumped into the System. However a UNSC Prowler Fleet of 40 Prowlers, led by Captain Halima Ascot destroyed Nizat's supply Fleet of nearly 16 Ships, mostly the Bladder Ships and Mjern-pattern agricultural support ships. This Forced Nizat to abandon the Battle and retreat from the Star System.
However a few days later, the Covenant would glass Etalan. However it wasn't a Covenant Fleet which would glass Etalan. No, it was a Ship. A Single Covenant Ship which would destroy the world of Etalan.
It was a Covenant Sh'wada-Pattern Supercarrier, also known as the CSO Class Super Carrier by the UNSC. It was a massive 28 Km Long Ship.
The name of the Ship was, The Blight Of Heaven. It was one of the 8 Supercarriers under the service of the Ministry of Resolution.
The Covenant Supercarrier would tank dozens of ODP Super MAC Rounds and everything the UNSC Defense Fleet over Etalan, nearly 80 Ships, could throw at it. The Supercarrier's Energy Shields would even tank dozens of Apocalypse Nukes without it's Shielding Collapsing. After which the Supercarrier would use it's Energy Projectors and Plasma Torpedoes to destroy every single UNSC Ships as well as ODP's over Etalan, before glassing the Planet.
The glassing of Etalan and the Size and power of the Supercarrier would shake the UNSC and morale would go down.
Seeing the losing morale, Admiral Cole, the unofficial Leader of all the UNSC Forces in the Outer Colonies, would give a single order. An order which would echo throughout the Human controlled space.
"Hunt the Ship Down!!"
For an entire month, hundreds of ONI stealth Prowlers would hunt The Blight of Heaven. Without any lead.
However it would turn out that UNSC wouldn't need to hunt the Supercarrier, because the Ship itself would appear over the Human outer Colony of New Boston.
The Colony of New Boston had a Population of 100 Million and falling to stop the Ship would spell doom for the Civilians there.
So the UNSC would launch Operation: Burning Sun. Led by a Young Commodore named Gregory White and his Fleet defending Boston and Captain Halima Ascot's Prowler Fleet, which would arrive in the System just a few minutes later, as her Fleet of Prowlers had been trailing the Supercarrier for an entire month.
Commodore Gregory would open communications with the Covenant Ship and would taunt them. This caused the Supercarrier to ignore the Colony and chase Gregory's Fleet towards the Asteroid belt, where Captain Halima's Prowlers were laying in wait for ambush.
The Battle would be a massacre, as the Covenant Supercarrier would tank thousands of Nuclear Mines, laid by Captain Halima's Prowlers, and hundreds of Apocalypse Nukes before it's Shields would fall. Then the unshielded ship would tank another dozen Apocalypse Nukes before it was destroyed.
However it was not without cost, as Gregory and Halima would lose almost 3/4 of their Fleet, nearly 100 Ships each, to down just one single Covenant Supercarrier.
And the destruction of the Supercarrier would not save the Colony of New Boston, as Covenant Fleet Master Nizat 'Kvarosee's Fleet of Inexorable Obedience would arrive just a few days later and Glass New Boston, who's defenses had already been pounded by the Supercarrier's attack.
Thankfully all 100 Million inhabitants of the Colony had already been evacuated by Gregory's Fleet before Nizat's Fleet glassed the Planet.
Commodore Gregory, for his actions on saving nearly 100 Million Souls and destroying the Supercarrier, would be promoted to the Rank of Rear-Admiral. While Captain Halima Ascot would be promoted to the rank of Commodore.
Back in the UNSC Headquarters of Reach, the prowess of the Covenant Supercarrier would make Humanity realize the need of Bigger Ships with better Firepower. Blueprint designs for newer and bigger ships would be placed. Especially Bigger Carriers and Hulking Battleships.
Late 3532:- ONI Prowlers found the Covenant Colony of Zhoist. The Planet of Zhoist and its Ten Mega Ring Cities, named Ring of Mighty Abundance, is one of the biggest Supply Bases for the Covenant, especially for the Covenant Fleet of Inexorable Obedience.
However that's not all. ONI Prowler discovered another Covenant Supercarrier, named The Hammer of Faith, was under construction. The construction of The Hammer of Faith was ordered by The Ministry of Resolution as a replacement for the destroyed Supercarrier, The Blight Of Heaven which was destroyed in the Battle of New Boston.
The Speed of construction and might of Covenant industry was another horrific realization for ONI and UNSC. Nevertheless they couldn't let the Covenant finish the construction of the Supercarrier.
So ONI and UNSC would launch Operation: Silent Storm. The goal of the Operation was Four objectives:-
1) Destroy the Planet of Zhoist and all its Industrial Sectors, especially the Ring Of Mighty Abundance.
2) Destroy the under-construction Supercarrier, The Hammer of Faith.
3) Destroy The Covenant Fleet of Inexorable Obedience which was stationed on Zhoist. And if possible kill Fleet Master Nizat 'Kvarosee's, who had become a major thorn for the UNSC as he is pragmatic unlike other rigid Covenant Commander.
4) Capture a fully working and undamaged Covenant Ship. So that it could be studied.
The Battle of Biko and Battle of Zhoist occurred as part of Operation Silent Storm. The Operation destroyed all the Insurrectionists Cells that were operating on Biko, especially on its Icy Moon Seoba.
A Team of Spartans, led by John-117 would land on Zhoist and capture a fully undamaged Covenant Ester-Pattern Armourrd Frigate.
While this was happening a Fleet of ONI Prowlers, nearly 200 Ships, led by the recently promoted Commodore Halima Ascot, would release Thousands of Apocalypse Nuclear Torpedoes and Bomb Zhoist's Shipyards, Ring World and the Construction sight.
The Hammer Of Faith would be destroyed and all Ten Floating Cities of The Ring Of Mighty Abundance would also be destroyed alongside The Covenant Fleet of Inexorable Obedience, which was currently resuppling and was vulnerable and couldn't fight back.
Covenant Fleet Master Nizat 'Kvarosee would also perish in the attack without getting a chance to Fight back, as the Fleetmaster was visiting one of Zhoist's Floating Cities for his Pilgrimage. All 4 Billions of Zhoist's inhabitants would also perish in this attack.
Early 2533:- The New Year would bring new revolution in the UNSC in form of Technology.
The R&D would create a new type of MAC Round, named the Nuclear MAC Round. Just as the name suggests, the Nuclear MAC is Nuclear Shell fired from a MAC, combining the destructive Power of Nuclear Bomb along with the sheer kinetic power of MAC Rounds.
There were two main variants of the Nuclear MAC's:-
The First was the Normal Variants where the Rounds would explode upon impact and cause damage with both Nuclear and Kinetic Energy.
While the Second Variant would be the Armour Piercing Variant with a delayed Nuclear Fuse. This will cause the Round to pierce the armour, without exploding or shattering upon impact, and bore deep inside the enemy Ship, before detonating from inside.
The Nuclear MAC would be revolutionary as with this Weapon a Human Frigate could go toe to toe with a Covenant Ship of similar size and tonnage and come out victorious. As Nuclear MAC's could bring down Energy Shields far faster.
The Railgun Variations of Nuclear MAC Rounds was also developed so that even UNSC Ship's Secondary Armaments too could fire the same Nuclear Rounds.
Meanwhile ONI's research on the two Covenant Ships captured on Netherop and Zhoist would bare fruit. As ONI would successfully reverse engineer Covenant's Repulsor Engines which allowed them such agility.
And not only that. ONI also developed the new Slipspace Jammers. This Slipspace Jammers can force Ships to come out of Slipspace.
The Slipspace Jammers would be revolutionary and a major tactical advantage for the UNSC Navy, as Covenant Ships loved to do Inner System Jumps to prevent the Nuclear Minefields and other defenses.
However with the Slipspace Jammers, this will force the Covenant to fight conventionally and fight through every Human defenses in the System.
The UNSC immediately began to refit all it's Ships with the newer Repulsor Engines as well as started Mass Production of the Slipspace Jammers.
The also started increasing the funding for ONI's research on the captured Covenant Ships, so that they could make a breakthrough on Energy Shielding Technology.
Mid 2533:- With the War reaching its 8th Year. The UNSC created the Orian Arm Expeditionary Group. These Expeditionary Group will be charged with Protection and evacuation of the Outer Colonies as well as incursions into Covenant Worlds that were being discovered by the ONI stealth Prowlers.
Currently Orian Arm Expeditionary Group had nearly 40 Billion Military Personal and was under the Command of Admiral Preston Cole, who was now officially made in charge of all UNSC Military Assets in the Outer Colonies.
Meanwhile UNSC Military had grown 220 Billion Military Personal, most of them being concentrated in the Inner Colony. It is nearly 28℅ of the Total Human Population of 800 Billion.
Despite this huge number, ONI still speculates that UNSC is still outnumbered nearly 20 to 1. And the UNSC plans to up the conscription from 28℅ to 40℅ of the Population.
The UNSC also encourages its citizens to have more babies so that they have a supply of manpower in the Future.
ONI at this time will also learn of the Covenant Capital which is a Massive Moon Size Floating Space Station by the name of "High Charity". However ONI would be unable to find the coordinates for the Holy City as High Charity is not a stationary target.
The news would be leaked to the public and Military. And soon "To High Charity" became a common phrase for many UNSC Personals as a way of propaganda and motivation.
Current Death Toll:-
Humanity:- Nearly 12 Billion.
Covenant:- Nearly 20 Billion.
Late 2533:- The UNSC Colony of New Glasgow, in the 48 Tauri System, come under attack.
