Battle of Kamchatka

This article is based on canon information, but the article's title is conjectural and/or uses descriptions as the title, as there is currently no official name for the subject.

Previous:	Operation: ATHENA
Concurrent:	Cortana Event Battle for Sanghelios
Next:	Operation: BIRD IN HAND
Battle of Kamchatka
Conflict:	Post-Covenant War conflicts Created uprising
Date:	October 2558
Location:	Kamchatka, Caspar system
Outcome:	UNSC victory Dr. Catherine Halsey rescued Jul 'Mdama killed Remnants of Covenant fleet routed
Details Belligerents Unified Earth Government United Nations Space Command Jul 'Mdama's Covenant Created Commanders CAPT Thomas Lasky Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer Supreme Commander Jul 'Mdama† Kitun 'Arach Cortana Strength ESG-1 UNSC Infinity At least one D79H Pelican Fireteam Osiris At least 3 Lursu-pattern brigantines At least 2 Rwaru-pattern carracks At least 6 Hekar Taa-pattern blockade runners At least 3 R'sikosh-pattern man o' wars One Shuul'se-pattern Kraken Many Mikpramu-pattern Phantoms Several Nuro'k Xur-pattern Spirits Numerous D'nomlhe-pattern Banshees Several Kemu-pattern Wraiths Dozens of Karo'wark-pattern Ghosts Numerous Covenant Lances Sangheili Unggoy Kig-Yar Several Particle cannons Several Phaeton gunships Several Promethean Crawlers Several Promethean Knights Several Armiger Soldiers Casualties Jul 'Mdama Scores of Covenant infantry forces Many Covenant vehicles At least one blockade runner Multiple Promethean forces

The Battle of Kamchatka was a three-way engagement fought in mid-October of 2558 between the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), Jul 'Mdama's Covenant, and the Promethean forces of the Created. The battle was the culmination of a campaign fought throughout much of the previous two years which pitted the UNSC's Expeditionary Strike Group 1, led by the flagship UNSC Infinity, against 'Mdama as the two grappled for control of various Forerunner strategic artefacts.

The battle was notable due to the seismic shift it had in dislodging the power of the Covenant. Early in the battle the Prometheans originally placed under Jul 'Mdama's command by the Ur-Didact rebelled against him, having been taken over by the Created. This was followed with the assassination of Jul 'Mdama late in the engagement in a mission conducted by Fireteam Osiris, a team of SPARTAN-IVs deployed by UNSC Infinity. The death of 'Mdama ultimately sealed the fate of the Covenant, which was later finalised in their final and decisive defeat in the Battle for Sanghelios weeks later. The battle also saw the successful extraction of Doctor Catherine Halsey back into UNSC hands, following her brief defection to 'Mdama's court earlier in the year.

For the UNSC, the battle was divided into two military operations: Operation: ANCHORITE and Operation: DESINENCE, the former consisting of the Expeditionary Strike Group's attack on the Covenant fleet assembled at Kamchatka, and the latter consisting of Osiris' assassination of 'Mdama and extraction of Halsey.

Background

Ancient history

Before the Great Purification, Kamchatka was an astroengineered Forerunner world, created to serve as a link to the galaxy-spanning network the Domain.

Jul 'Mdama and his Covenant

Throughout 2558, Jul 'Mdama and his Covenant were engaged in two separate ongoing wars against two main opponents: the UNSC and the Swords of Sanghelios. Between February and July of that year, the Covenant engaged in three major battles against the UNSC, each inflicting a string of defeats against them. These included the loss of the shield world Requiem in the Requiem Campaign, a failed attempt to capture the Janus Key from the UNSC at Oban, the Battle of Aktis IV and the beginning of an internal schism led by Sali 'Nyon, and a defeat at the Absolute Record that saw the end goal of Jul's conquest plucked from his grasp alongside the defection of a large portion of his army to Sali 'Nyon. Throughout these battles, 'Nyon was able to sap away much of Jul's authority by positioning himself as the "True Prophet", claiming that Jul did not truly believe in the faith fuelling most of the Covenant and that he was a false leader.

Throughout these engagements, Jul came to heavily rely on his army of Prometheans for additional support, which had been gifted to him by the Ur-Didact a year prior during the Battle of Requiem, alongside Jul's titlage as the "Hand of the Didact". However as the year went on, Jul's authority over these Prometheans began to waver as the units themselves experienced glitches. After the durance of Promethean Knight TDS-009 was examined by Doctor Halsey in the wake of its unstable behaviour in the Battle of Aktis IV, she surmised that the Knights created from the human population of New Phoenix who had been forcibly assimilated the year prior were inherently unstable bases for such an automaton, and that it would only be a matter of time until they too rebelled against Jul's control. Writing in her journal on July 22, she concluded that she would have to find a way to end her alliance of convenience sooner than expected. Around this time, the Strategos leading Jul's Prometheans also began to detect the presence of a rogue ancilla within the Prometheans' network; unbeknownst to it or anyone else, these were the early echoes of Cortanas attempts to take control of the Domain, which would eventually allow her to wrest control of the Prometheans from Jul.

A Hekar Taa-pattern blockade runner providing close support to ground forces.

Parallel to the UNSC effort, the Swords of Sanghelios were also engaged in a large campaign against Jul 'Mdama's Covenant. Late in the year this culminated in a massive invasion of Hesduros, the Covenant's seat of power in the Aspero system. For the operation, the Swords' goal had been to decapitate the Covenant's leadership by killing 'Mdama. The warlord was ultimately able to escape the carnage, resulting in the Swords' destruction of Hesduros' infrastructure, forcing its abandonment. With 'Mdama now on the back foot, he began to relocate his remaining military assets to Kamchatka under the guidance of Doctor Halsey, who had detected the awakening of a long-dormant Lithos site on the world; a gateway to the Domain built by the Forerunners. Halsey was seemingly aware that the awakening of the communications hub was the work of Cortana "mapping" the Forerunner network with various signal pings, though she was unable to discern what Cortana expected to find on Kamchatka.

Jul hoped to use Kamchatka as a staging area for his Covenant and pillage the world for any valuable technology it may have, while Halsey hoped to use it as a ruse to draw UNSC Infinity in to extract her from Jul's camp. During the Covenant's brief occupation of the planet, Halsey was able to conduct some brief research of the Forerunner ruins present there, uncovering the symbol for a Guardian Custode buried beneath the ground, though was frequently interrupted by the Covenant's insistence on ceremony. Ultimately, the Covenant were able to find the Lithos site they sought, though also accidentally triggered a security mechanism in the site. While Halsey was able to disable the defence system, she could not do so in time, triggering the activation of Prometheans at the site and the beginning of the battle.

UNSC plans

Approximately three weeks before the battle, Dr. Halsey contacted the UNSC, warning of an incoming event caused by Cortana. However, the UNSC did not act upon that information immediately. By October 17, Guardian Custodes had awoken on two colony worlds; Ursa IV and Oban, causing mass death and destruction there. This led to heightened tensions within the UNSC and an eagerness among the rank-and-file to take the fight to the enemy. By the time Infinity's combat operations on Kamchatka would begin, another three worlds would be hit: Adelaide, Conrad's Point, and Queen Anne VI.

Analysts at the Office of Naval Intelligence deemed that a strike on these forces at Caspar could potentially do substantial damage against the Covenant faction, and give the UNSC an edge. By October 17, 2558, plans were put in place to attack Jul's forces in the system as part of Operation: ANCHORITE, and to retrieve Dr. Halsey as part of Operation: DESINENCE. While ANCHORITE was known widely across the UNSC Infinity with it being part of a briefing letter, DESINENCE was not, with little information being discussed about it. Part of the overall attack plans included a second wave of forces deployed from the Infinity. The Infinity would also bring a complement of Anlace-class light frigates as part of its assigned battle group, Expeditionary Strike Group 1.

Expeditionary Strike Group 1 departed the Sol system between October 17-18, with Lasky expecting them to arrive at Kamchatka within the week to engage in combat operations immediately upon exiting slipspace.

Battle

An aerial battle overhead of Fireteam Osiris.

"Fireteam Osiris, the light is green."

— Jameson Locke to Osiris, prior to jumping into battle.

After the Covenant triggered the Forerunner site's defensive mechanisms, the Prometheans in Jul 'Mdama's army turned on their former-masters, now serving Cortana and the Created. When UNSC Infinity and her battle group exited slipspace in the Caspar system some time between October 17-23, they found the Covenant and Prometheans already in the midst of a pitched battle. Infinity took advantage of the chaos by beginning the planned Operation: DESINENCE, deploying Fireteam Osiris, a Spartan-IV special operations squad, to retrieve Halsey and assassinate Jul 'Mdama if possible. They were dropped from low orbit via D79H Pelican and landed amidst an enormous naval and ground battle between the Covenant and Prometheans. Jul 'Mdama's Covenant made little headway, with the constructs managing to bring down a Hekar Taa-pattern blockade runner and force a Kraken walker to back off. The chaos from the Prometheans' rebellion provided Osiris cover from 'Mdama's Covenant, allowing them to sneak to the temple where 'Mdama and Halsey were stationed.

In the midst of the fighting, uncomfirmed reports indicate that Osiris formed a temporary truce with some of the local Covenant forces under the leadership of a Sangheili General, Kitun 'Arach. As-claimed by the reports, the two stormed a Promethean position, fighting side-by-side against their mutual and more dangerous foe.

After reaching the temple, Osiris attacked Jul's Zealot guards while Spartan Jameson Locke faced off against the Supreme Commander in melee combat. After a short fight, Locke was able to kill Jul with his combat knife, an act which effectively doomed the Covenant to an eventual defeat. Fireteam Osiris then took custody of Dr. Halsey and brought her back to the Infinity to aid in the search for the Guardians.

Aftermath

Kelly-087: "There's chatter about Jul 'Mdama on Covenant comms. The new arrivals say he's dead."

Fred-104: "Somebody cut the head off the Covenant. Bravo."

— Kelly-087 and Frederic-104 of Blue Team during Operation: BIRD IN HAND.

The Battle of Kamchatka ultimately ended with a steadfast defeat for the Covenant; their leader was now dead, their fleet smashed by the UNSC, their salvage goals on the world lay unfulfilled, and the Prometheans had turned against them. What remained of the late-'Mdama's Covenant forces on rallied under a General who survived the battle, Kitun Arach. Kitun, now free to lead the Covenant as he saw fit, saw the war against humanity as a folly and was instead more interested in securing Sanghelios - an ongoing struggle that the Covenant and its locally-aligned forces were already engaged in. As such, 'Arach rallied the Covenant to reinforce the assault on Sanghelios, with ships leaving the battle to spread the word of 'Mdama's death and the new directive to other, more distant outposts. Some of these ships arrived at a Covenant salvaging operation aboard the UNSC research station Argent Moon on October 23, though significant portions of these troops were killed in an asset-denial operation which saw Blue Team self-destruct the station to keep it out of Covenant hands. What remained of the Covenant fleet then proceeded to Sanghelios, where they were ultimately defeated at the Battle of Sunaion.

The Guardian awakenings continued on a number of worlds across the Milky Way throughout the rest of October, culminating in the Created uprising on October 28.

Participants

UEG Military Personnel Branch Rank Name Status UNSC Navy Captain Thomas Lasky Survived Spartan Operations Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer Survived Spartan Jameson Locke Survived Olympia Vale Survived Edward Buck Survived Holly Tanaka Survived

Jul 'Mdama's Covenant Military Personnel Rank Name Status Supreme Commander Jul 'Mdama KIA General Kitun 'Arach Survived Unknown Kibkib Yany KIA

Production notes

No specific date has ever been established for the Battle at Kamchatka, with the Prometheans turning on Jul some time prior to the events depicted in the first level of Halo 5: Guardians. A date for Infinity's arrival and the start of the game can be estimated based on several contextual clues. On page 11 of Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual, a letter from Captain Lasky to the crew of Infinity dated October 17 notes that the ship and its battlegroup are preparing to strike at Kamchatka within the week. On the level Blue Team which is officially dated to October 23, Covenant forces arrive to relay news of the death of Jul 'Mdama to those aboard Argent Moon. The presentation of this scene would seem to indicate that the Covenant ships in question had fled the battle fairly soon after 'Mdama's death and proceeded straight to Argent Moon, thus likely placing the engagement on Kamchatka some time around October 22-23. Had much more time passed, it becomes questionable how the Covenant forces aboard Argent Moon had not already been informed of 'Mdama's death, alongside what the Covenant forces had been doing in the interim.

However, one major issue with this idea is found within Halo 5's opening cutscene, in which Captain Lasky states that within the previous 72 hours, five colonies had been attacked by the Guardians. The colonies listed on Lasky's readout include Ursa IV, Oban, Queen Anne VI, Adelaide, and Conrad's Point. However, Ursa IV and Oban were also included in Lasky's initial October 17 letter, meaning that by a strict reading of his words, the engagement on Kamchatka must have taken place between October 17 and October 20. However, it is equally possible to dismiss this as a semi-casual statement.

Trivia

• Halo Waypoint's Canon Fodder article Fifty Caliber states that "unconfirmed reports" about the Battle of Kamchatka claim there might have been a temporary alliance between Fireteam Osiris and the Sangheili Kitun 'Arach of Jul's forces. This is a reference to the Enemy of my Enemy achievement, in which the player(s) can choose to save a Sangheili Warrior assaulting a hill against Armiger Soldiers, turning him from an enemy to an ally. This was more formally canonised in the 2022 High-Value Histories Canon Fodder article, which further elucidated on 'Arach's background.
• The bodies and wreckages of Swords of Sanghelios soldiers and Banshees are scattered throughout the level Osiris. This is presumably a non-canon instance of asset reuse, with the models intended to represent dead and destroyed Covenant troops.

Gallery

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  Concept art of the battle for Halo 5: Guardians.

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  Concept art of the battle.

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  Concept art of the battle.

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  Concept art of the battle.

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  Concept art of the battle.

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  Concept art of the battle.

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  Concept art of the battle.

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  Fireteam Osiris descends onto Kamchatka.

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  Holly Tanaka smashing through a boulder.

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  Olympia Vale attacking a Phantom.

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  Jameson Locke attacking Ghost pilots.

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  Fireteam Osiris avoids a crashing Sangheili blockade runner.

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  Locke prepares to stab Jul 'Mdama.

List of appearances

• Halo 5: Guardians (First appearance)
• Halo: Legacy of Onyx (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Bad Blood (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Battle Born
  • Glassed (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Empty Throne (Indirect mention)