Human-Covenant War: Difference between revisions

But while the Covenant were generally winning the war, there was growing tension between the [[San 'Shyuum]] and the [[Sangheili]] over the Human-Covenant war. At first, the Sangheili had followed the Prophets command to destroy the humans without question. But after more than twenty five years of war, humanity's continued resistance in the face of certain death had deeply impressed the martial Sangheili. There was a growing consensus among the Sangheili that the humans had earned the right to be offered membership in the Covenant, which the Prophets continued to reject. At the same time, the [[Jiralhanae]], the one race which could challenge the Sangheili's dominance of the Covenant military, were rapidly earning favor with the Prophets, as they were less inclined to question orders and just get on with whatever the Prophets told them to do.<ref>'''[[Conversations from the Universe]]'''</ref>  

The Covenant's first costly defeat was on and around [[Installation 04]]. Here, the human survivors from the [[Halcyon-class cruiser|''Halcyon''-class cruiser]], the ''Pillar of Autumn'', managed to form an effective and surprising resistance to the Covenant. Unwilling to risk damaging the [[Halo|sacred ring]], the Covenant was forced to fight the humans on Halo's surface rather than using its usual bombardment tactics. The Covenant found the humans uncannily adapted to Halo's environment and very adept at fighting on the surface, with human firearms and vehicles proving effective despite their technological inferiority. Having diffculty with countering the guerrilla tactics employed by the humans in conjuction with John-117's prowess, the Covenant was soundly defeated in numerous raids, including one instance when the humans boarded their grounded cruiser, the ''[[Truth and Reconciliation]]'', and successfully escaped with a group of captives, including the captain of the ''Pillar of Autumn'', Captain Jacob Keyes. The battle on Halo then suddenly took a turn for the worst for both sides when the Covenant accidentally released an ancient and deadly parasitic race called [[the Flood]]. The Flood, having been imprisoned within Halo for many thousands of years, instinctively spread quickly throughout the ring, killing or assimilating every unsuspecting human and Covenant in their path.   

Unfortunately for Regret, four human ships, the ''[[UNSC In Amber Clad|In Amber Clad]]'' among them, had followed them through their own slipspace rupture to [[Installation 05|Delta Halo]]. With the orders "Find out why he came to Earth; why he came here," the Master Chief was hard-dropped with a complement of [[Orbital Drop Shock Trooper|ODSTs]] to Delta Halo's surface. Led by the Chief, the humans forced their way through Regret's forces until they had reached the Prophet himself. At that moment, ''High Charity'', having learned of Delta Halo, arrived and launched multiple waves of [[Phantom]] dropships to aid Regret. However, they were withdrawn by the Prophet of Truth as part of the plan to remove the Sangheili from power in the Covenant. The Chief killed Regret. The Prophet of Truth then gave the order to glass the temple in which Regret was residing. It seemed as though Master Chief was eliminated. In fact the Chief narrowly avoided being glassed, only to be captured by the [[Gravemind]], who already had plans regarding the "covenant problem".

Meanwhile, the majority of the human forces on ''In Amber Clad'' had traveled to Delta Halo's [[Library]] to obtain the [[Index]], which is the key to firing Halo. Originally, the Covenant had been unaware of the Index's importance, but luckily for them, Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee had obtained [[343 Guilty Spark]], the monitor of [[Installation 04]], while destroying the Heretic base. The monitor, known to the Covenant as an Oracle, told the Prophets of the Index and the Arbiter was sent to retrieve the "Sacred Icon". The mission was complicated though by the unexpected release of the Flood. Despite this, the Arbiter successfully reached the Library and prevented the humans from claiming the Index. Just as [[Miranda Keyes]] claimed the index, the Arbiter stole it from her, kidnapping her and [[Sgt. Johnson]]. However, then Index was stolen from the Arbiter by the [[Jiralhanae Chieftain]] [[Tartarus]], who was under the Prophets' orders to retrieve the Index and kill the Arbiter, whom Tartarus knocked down an apparently bottomless shaft. With the Index secure, the Prophets then ordered the Jiralhanae to begin eradicating the Sangheili, thus starting the [[Great Schism]]. Ultimately this led to the death of Tartarus at the hands of 'Vadamee and Johnson and an alliance between the Sangheili Separatists and the human forces. Delta Halo was prevented from firing by Miranda Keyes and the Flood killed the [[Prophet of Mercy]], leaving the Prophet of Truth firmly in control over the Covenant Empire.

After much fighting, the human forces on Earth on the naval side had taken heavy casualties. However, the Covenant fleet was also vastly reduced and focused on securing an enormous unearthed Forerunner structure near the ruins of New Mombasa. With the arrival of John-117, the remaining UNSC forces launched an assault on the area, sweeping aside all Covenant resistance and finally launching an all-out attack on the Prophet of Truth's [[Forerunner Dreadnought]] which spectacularly failed, as Truth quickly activated a large [[The Artifact|portal]] and escaped. Events were further complicated by an unexpected attack by the Flood. Thanks to the timely arrival of the Sangheili, the Flood force was vanquished but not before Master Chief recovered a recording from Cortana, who had stayed behind on ''High Charity''. Cortana's message told of a means to stop the Flood on the other end of the portal. A small fleet of human and Sangheili forces was sent through the portal, leading them to the Ark, just outside the [[Milky Way Galaxy]]. The Covenant fleet above the Ark immediately attacked. Though the joint human-Sangheili fleet was outnumbered 3-1, the battle ended in defeat for the Covenant loyalist fleet. Simultaneous to the the space battle between Jiralhanae and Sangheili ships, UNSC forces were deployed to the surface of the Ark.

*Covenant forces begin to swarm into the [[Inner Colonies]]. For several years the war falls into a pattern: humans win isolated battles, typically during ground operations, but at a horrible cost and rarely without the Spartans' assistance. In space combat, the humans are losing at a precipitous rate, and one by one, the colonies fall.