Battle of Kholo

The Battle of Kholo was an attack by the Covenant on the human colony world of Kholo.

Background
The location of Kholo was obtained by an unnamed Sangheili Shipmaster from the incomplete data banks of a captured human freighter. Upon returning with the information to the High Council, the Shipmaster was ordered to take command of the Fleet of Righteous Vigilance and destroy Kholo, under the watchful eye of the Prophet of Conviction.

The battle
The human orbital defenses maintained only a few small military vessels and a number of freighters in orbit. These were overwhelmed and destroyed by the fleet's scout vessels. When the main fleet arrived, ground forces were deployed to the surface, triggering a vicious ground battle where UNSC forces fought in vain to keep the Covenant at bay while they evacuated the civilian population to the world's various fallout shelters during the course of the battle. The battle raged with the Covenant pushing forward unabated before being withdrawn after two days to clear the way for the orbital bombardment to follow. The Shipmaster leading the fleet was ordered by the Prophet of Conviction to manually control his cruiser's energy projector and carve the Covenant glyph for "Faith" into the surface of the planet. Upon completion of the glyph, the rest of the fleet opened fire and completely glassed Kholo. The battle was an overwhelming Covenant victory with Kholo being glassed, killing a large number of civilians and UNSC personnel trapped on the planet.

Aftermath
Like all previous colonies lost to the Covenant, Kholo was rendered lifeless by the glassing and most of its population burned to death. The UNSC effectively abandoned the planet as it was consumed in flames, proving to be yet another decisive victory for the Covenant. However, small amounts of human forces remained to establish a foothold on the planet.

In 2559, after the Human-Covenant War had ended in part due to the Great Schism that saw the Covenant split apart, the Shipmaster who had glassed the planet returned to Kholo to seek atonement for his role in the planet's destruction. By this point, Kholo, despite its abandoned state, became a site of minor skirmishes between the UNSC and Kig-Yar, as the two sides fought over recovered Forerunner relics. As of 2559, the UNSC has not initiated any concerted effort to terraform or resettle Kholo.

The CAA Heavy Burden, a former mining vessel converted into an ordnance transport, was damaged during the battle. At some point the ship entered a slowly degrading orbit around a nearby gas giant, which it maintained as late as 2557. The vessel's automated systems continued to function despite the ship's impending destruction. The ship's interior was simulated aboard the 's training deck as a practice environment for the latter vessel's SPARTAN-IV complement.

Trivia
The Halo 4 multiplayer map Adrift takes place aboard a converted CAA mining vessel damaged during the Battle of Kholo.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * The Return
 * Halo 4