Editing Battle of Earth (2559)

{{Status|Canon}}
{{Disambig header|the 2559 attack by the Banished|other battles on and around Earth|Battle of Earth (disambiguation)}}
{{Battle infobox
|prev=[[Battle of Venezia]]
|conc=[[Battle over Installation 07]]
|next=[[Battle of Boundary]]
|name=Battle of Earth (2559)
|image=
|conflict=[[Created uprising]]
|date=[[2559#December|December 12, 2559]]{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET19|ET|Chapter=19}}{{Ref/Site|Id=CFTomes|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/canon-fodder-tasty-tomes|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Tasty Tomes|D=24|M=03|Y=2025}}
|place=Orbit of [[Earth]], [[Sol system]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}}
|result='''Indecsive'''
*Deactivation of all [[Guardian Custode]]s following [[Cortana]]'s destruction
*Heavy casualties to both the UNSC and Banished
*Banished withdrawal in favor of the [[Lithos]]
|side1={{Icon|UNSC 2560}} [[United Nations Space Command]]
|side2={{Icon|Banished}} [[Banished]]
|side3={{Icon|Forerunner}} [[Created]]
|side4=
|commanders1=
*FADM Lord [[Terrence Hood]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}}
*ADM [[Serin Osman]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}}
*CAPT [[Abigail Cole]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}}
|commanders2=
*War Chief [[Severan]]{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET20|ET|Chapter=20}}
*[[The Eight]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**Chieftain [[Gathgor]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**Chieftain [[Ectorius]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**Chieftain [[V'leria]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**Chieftain [[Cassius]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**Chieftain [[Eru'thbok]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**Chieftain [[Kaladus]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**Kaidon [[Dreka 'Xulsam]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**War-Queen [[Cao'mar]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
|commanders3=
|commanders4=
|forces1=
*[[UNSC Home Fleet]]
**282 [[UNSC starship|starships]] and [[orbital defense platform]]s{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}}
|forces2=
*Over 200 [[clan]]s{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET12|ET|Chapter=12}}
**[[Beohk Norkala]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**[[Cruxguard of Phenthrop]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**[[Maakra Sunbreakers]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**[[Nwari Wastewalkers]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**[[Sclera of Chu'ot]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**[[Vanguard of Zaladon]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
**[[Warkeepers of Qabik]]{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}
*1328 spacecraft{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}}
|forces3=3 [[Guardian Custode]]s{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}}
|forces4=
|casual1=Heavy
|casual2=Heavy
|casual3=Total
|casual4=
|civilian1=
|civilian2=
|civilian3=
|civilian4=
}}
{{Quote|The artificial construct your species created—the one you call Cortana—has destroyed my people's homeworld. She washed away all that we had built, all that we had fought centuries for. I have been given orders to return this kindness.|War Chief [[Severan]], delivering his omen of destruction to {{UNSCShip|Victory of Samothrace}} during the [[battle of Venezia]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET15|ET|Chapter=15}}}}
The '''battle of Earth''' was a large-scale engagement fought between the [[United Nations Space Command]] and [[Banished]] over the [[human]] homeworld [[Earth]] on [[2559#December|December 12, 2559]]. The battle was declared in reprisal by the Banished as vengeance for the [[Razing of Oth Sonin]], and the destruction of the [[Jiralhanae]] homeworld [[Doisac]] the previous month by [[Cortana]]. The Banished blamed Cortana and her [[Created]] on humanity and thus sought to enact an equal trade. Although the Banished steadily outnumbered the defending [[UNSC Home Fleet]], the large-scale eruption of hostilities resulted in the activation of the [[Sol system]]'s attendant [[Guardian Custode]]s which sought to enforce peace by force. 

Midway through the engagement, however, the Guardians went inactive thanks to a [[Battle over Installation 07|simultaneous engagement]] being fought in space over [[Installation 07|Zeta Halo]], which brought Cortana and all of her constructs offline. As such, the Banished made an early retreat despite their initial successes, instead moving to secure the [[Human colonies|colony world]] of [[Boundary]] in an effort to be the first to lay claim to Cortana's [[Lithos|now-vacant throne]] in the [[Domain]].

==Background==
{{Main|Razing of Oth Sonin}}
On [[2559#November|November 8, 2559]], a force of Guardian constructs destroyed the Jiralhanae homeworld Doisac under directive from Cortana, [[Archon]] of the Created. This act was done by Cortana due to the refusal of [[Atriox]] to bring his Banished, or his species, to heel under the thumb of the Created and their hold of the [[Milky Way|galaxy]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET8|ET|Chapter=8}} At this time, Atriox and his lieutenant [[Escharum]] were making preparations [[Battle of Netherop (2559)|to recover]] a [[Divine Hand|superweapon]] that Atriox believed would be key to breaking free from Cortana's grip on the galaxy. As such, they granted stewardship of all of the remaining Banished naval assets not involved in their plans to attack Zeta Halo to War Chief Severan, leader of the [[Vanguard of Zaladon]], under orders to prevent any enemies of the Banished from cementing their own foothold over the galaxy once Cortana was defeated.{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET4|ET|Chapter=4}}

Severan was on his clan's home of [[Warial]] (a moon of Doisac) at the time of Doisac's destruction, finalising preparations to rally his forces at a rallying point beyond the Created's reach when the Guardians came, and almost immediately after recieved a new directive from Escharum:{{Ref/Reuse|ET8}}
{{Article quote|Severan, by the time you recieve this, you will see what the AI has done. She intended to subjugate our people and Atriox refused. The destruction of our homeworld was her response. And we will respond in kind. Once we move on the Halo ring, there wiill be nothing left for humanity to capture when we are finished with her. Severan, we must hold what the Apparition has done to humanity's account. Rally the Banished fleets that survive and raze their homeworld Earth to ashes. Their world for ours. Do not leave anything alive. The blood of the Jiralhanae is on their hands. Make them pay, Severan.{{Ref/Reuse|ET8}}}}

While Severan had not expected to be ordered to lay siege to Earth, he saw its value as both an act of retribution and a strategic decision; by attacking Earth, the Banished would draw the eyes of both the UNSC and the Created away from Zeta Halo and give Atriox a better chance to succeed in bringing down Cortana there. Severan then ordered all of his forces (including [[the Eight]]) to rally at their predetermined rally point after evacuating Doisac's moons.{{Ref/Reuse|ET8}} However, while en route Severan himself made a detour to [[Venezia]] in order to seek advice from his ''[[daskalo]]'', or mentor, High Lord [[Dovo Nesto]]. Unbeknownst to the Banished, Severan was secretly working for Nesto and his [[Order of Restoration]], and thus sought the High Lord's advice over his conflicted feelings about the order. However, Nesto encouraged Severan to proceed with the attack despite his own surprise at the decision. Their meeting was interrupted by the arrival of a small UNSC-[[Swords of Sanghelios]] task force consisting of {{Class|Valiant|super-heavy cruiser}} {{UNSCShip|Victory of Samothrace}} and {{Pattern|Kerel|assault carrier}} ''[[Shadow of Intent]]'', themselves intent on assassinating Dovo Nesto.{{Ref/Reuse|ET12}} In the [[Battle of Venezia|ensuing battle]], Severan evacuated Nesto aboard his flagship ''[[Heart of Malice]]'' before engaging the allied duo. While the two cut down several Banished ships, towards the end of the battle, Severan made a transmission to ''Victory of Samothrace'' stating clear his intent to assault and burn Earth before both sides ultimately elected to mutually evacuate the battlefield.{{Ref/Reuse|ET15}}{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET16|ET|Chapter=16}}

''Victory of Samothrace'' ultimately returned to Earth with haste, narrowly avoiding the encroaching threat of Created naval assets, while ''Shadow of Intent'' retreated to an abandoned ex-[[Covenant]] shipyard to make its own repairs. ''Victory'' arrived at Earth on December 11 and the ship's captain Abigail Cole was able to warn Earth about the imminent threat, briefing the remnants of the [[UNSC Security Council]] and the heads of the Home Fleet on the situation. Some limited attempts were made to evacuate key assets, large-scale preparations could not be made without risking alerting Cortana's two Guardians in the system - meaning that few people on the planet knew that they were about to be attacked. The numerous attacks on Earth in the prior decade (including the [[Battle for Earth|2552 invasion]], [[Battle of Earth (2555)|2555 invasion]], [[New Phoenix Incident|multiple]] [[Skirmish in New Phoenix|attacks]] [[Battle of Mars (2557)|in 2557]] and the [[Subjugation of Earth|2558 Created subjugation]]) had resulted in a crippled orbital defence grid and Home Fleet being whittled down to their basics, leaving the world more vulnerable than ever.{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}} To help bolster the defending forces, slipspace-capable craft were recalled from other worlds. While this proved useful in the defence of Earth, this would have second-order effects on worlds such as [[Nysa]], leaving them vulnerable [[Battle of Nysa|to attack]] in the following months.{{Ref/Novel|Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 1}}

==The battle==
The battle began on December 12, 2559, around the time of nightfall in [[India]]. At the battle's opening, many of the UNSC's leadership were asembled aboard [[Bengaluru Station]] to oversee the final dispensation of the AI [[Black-Box]]. Almost immediately following BB's "death", the Bengaluru battlecluster's coordinating AI [[Tethys]] reported that 1,328 Banished warships had entered the Sol AO and were approaching Earth on the far side of the planet, scheduled to enter the effective range of the defending {{Class|Moncton|orbital weapon platform}} in one minute and twenty-nine seconds. The UNSC estimated that the Banished would attempt to punch a hole in the defensive grid and make landfall on Earth, before spreading their carnage across the planet. Accordingly, Captain Cole boarded ''Victory of Samothrace'' to take command while Admirals Hood and Osman were escorted to the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] facility near the [[Excession]] to oversee the planetary defence. ''Victory of Samothrace'' was given command of [[Battle Group Omega]], consisting of four {{Class|Paris|heavy frigate}}s commanded by Commander [[Ivan Jiron]]. Battle Group Omega were ordered to assist in Earth's defence, but also to leave and conduct an operation on [[Boundary]] as soon as word came in from ONI.{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}}

The orbital guns opened up the battle with a salvo of [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon|super MAC]] rounds fired at the advancing Banished fleet. Around thirty-six [[battle group]]s similar to Omega began to detach themselves from the orbital guns and engage the Banished head-on, the latter fleet consisting of [[Banished dreadnought|dreadnoughts]], [[skeid]]s, [[holk]]s and [[karve]]s. Both sides launched their respective [[space fighter|strikecraft]], with the UNSC contributing [[FSS-1000 Sabre]]s and [[F-41 Broadsword]]s to the Banished [[Dovotaa Workshop Griever|Grievers]], [[Seraph]]s, [[Banshee]]s and [[Ogoro Workshop Tronto|Trontos]]. In response to the opening of UNSC MAC barrages, the Banished fleet returned fire with their own [[plasma weaponry]] and ballistic rounds, with [[plasma lance]]s crossing the gap to find targets in the UNSC fleet. At this time, the two Guardians in the system began to advance toward the battle to get in range to use their [[attenuation pulse emitter]]s to disrupt the fighting; the two advanced from different planes.{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}}

UNSC ''Victory of Samothrace'' and Battle Group Omega advanced to within visual range of the enemy fleet, to the point that enemy [[capital ship]]s filled ''Victory''{{'}}s viewscreen, facing down two dreadnoughts, five skeids and a holk. ''Victory'' opened fire with its MAC, immediately downing a skeid, though took a grazing shot from a dreadnought's plasma lance. The threat posed by the lance forced Cole to bring her battlegroup in close with the enemy formation; ''Victory''{{'}}s port side weapons had been largely disabled in the fighting over [[Venezia]] and the ship had not had time to conduct repairs since. As such, ''Victory'' was forced to primarily fight with her starboard side to the enemy. However, the holk's heavy plasma lance was able to take out {{UNSCShip|Blank Check}} almost immediately, bringing Battle Group Omega down to three frigates. Omega responded by combining their firepower and loosing four MAC strikes onto the holk and obliterating it, with its debris in turn taking out a nearby skeid. The melee was interrupted by the arrival of a third Guardian from slipspace, which immediately began to charge its attentuation pulse. In response, both the UNSC and Banished fleets nearby the Guardian scattered in an effort to get out of range of the [[electromagnetic pulse]]. One of the original two Guardians fired its pulse first, knocking out clusters of both sides' ships to drift aimless in space without power.{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}}

''Victory of Samothrace''{{'}}s evasive maneouvre brought it side-by-side with a dreadnought, almost causing the two vessels' port sides to collide. The crew pulled a hard starboard in conjunction with Omega through the holk's debris field to come face to face with ''Heart of Malice'', Severan's flagship that had already dealt so much damage to ''Victory'' in the prior battle. Rather than escape the Guardian, Severan chose to concentrate ''Malice''{{'}}s firepower entirely on ''Victory'' to bring down the superheavy cruiser. Cole responded in turn, channeling what she believed [[Preston Cole|her father]] would have done in the same situation - ordering her crew to unleash everything they had into ''Heart of Malice'' to ensure there would be nothing left for the Guardian to disable.{{Ref/Reuse|ET19}} In response, Severan finally relented in preference of simply escaping the imminent Guardian EMP, sacrificing an opportunity to unleash his ship's weapons into ''Victory''{{'}}s undefended port side and instead ordering his own turn starboard to get out of range. However, just as the Guardian was about to follow the first EMP with a second, it went offline - disabled thanks to the destruction of Cortana in a [[Battle over Installation 07|simultaneous battle]] occurring at [[Installation 07]]. By this point in the battle, both battle lines were thoroughly scattered and intermeshed.{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}

At this moment, Severan made the decision to retreat from Earth and head to Boundary to secure the [[Lithos]], a gateway to the [[Domain]] that would theoretically allow whoever controlled it the same power that Cortana had held only moments ago. Ostensibly, Severan wished this to ensure none of the Banished's foes could control it though secretly in practice, he was intent on securing it for Dovo Nesto's ascension to godhood. Facing questions from his crew, Severan ordered all of the ships under his command to return to the rally point they had assembled at previously then enter [[Slipstream space|slipspace]]. When questioned by [[the Eight]] (the council of prominent clan leaders directly under Severan's control), they demanded to know why they were expected to give up victory when victory was so assured. Severan countered that the victory would be meaningless should another get control of the Domain, with [[Ectorius|Ectorius the White]] vowing that once the Banished were done on Boundary, they would return to finish what they had started on Earth.{{Ref/Reuse|ET20}}

==Aftermath==
With the sudden Banished retreat, Battle Group Omega pursued, following ''Victory of Samothrace''{{'}}s lead. They emerged from slipspace over Boundary two days later on December 14, a few hours after the Banished had themselves made landfall on the world. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Omega engaged the Banished in a [[Battle of Boundary|prolonged engagement]] over Boundary, using cat-and-mouse tactics to pick off individual targets from the larger thousand-strong fleet as a whole.{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET23|ET|Chapter=23}} Later in the battle, ''Victory''{{'}}s calls for reinforcements resulted in the arrival of the UNSC's largest [[UNSC Navy#Expeditionary fleet|expeditionary fleets]]; the [[Fourth Fleet|Fourth]], [[Sixth Fleet|Sixth]], [[Ninth Fleet|Ninth]], and [[Thirteenth Fleet|Thirteenth Fleets]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET27|ET|Chapter=27}}

Although the UNSC had been heavily outnumbered and outgunned, the chance retreat of the Banished due to Severan's order meant that Earth itself was largely unscarred by the attack. However, by c.[[2560#May|May the following year]], the Banished were able to make inroads on Earth with allied mercenary groups operating out of the reconstruction zone of [[New Mombasa]].{{Ref/Site|Id=CFEndings|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/canon-fodder-legendary-endings|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Legendary Endings|D=13|M=12|Y=2021}}

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: Empty Throne]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: Battle for the Academy – Part 1]]'' {{Mo}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}
{{Post-Covenant War conflicts}}
[[Category:Earth]]