Battle of Meridian (2558)
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The Battle of Meridian was an engagement fought on October 25, 2558 between humanity and the Promethean forces of the Created.[1] The fighting was a part of the Cortana Event; a series of conflicts and disasters linked to the growing influence of Cortana within the domain, and consequently her growing ability to control Forerunner constructs. The majority of the fighting on the human side was conducted by security and civilian militia forces of the Liang-Dortmund Corporation (LDC), a corporation present on the planet perfoming "de-glassing" operations to restore the world's habitability after its destruction by the Covenant in 2551. However, later in the engagement a token force from the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) were deployed to the planet, where they assisted in driving off Promethean constructs and escorting civilians to a safe evacuation while also conducting their primary, unrelated mission; the apprehending of Blue Team, who had been declared AWOL.
Background[edit]
Human-Covenant War[edit]
- Main article: Battle of Meridian
Around ten years earlier before the Created attack on the colony during the Human-Covenant War, Meridian was discovered by the Covenant and immediately attacked in 2548.[1] Although the UNSC was able to regain the control of Meridian after a three-year siege of the moon,[4][5] the Covenant returned to the moon shortly after and subsequently overwhelmed most of the defenses,[6][4] forcing the UNSC to retreat to the edge of the system. Eventually in the next five hours, Meridian has been glassed by the Covenant fleet led by the Prophet of Regret and a Luminary was retrieved by a team.[6][5][7] The Luminary allowed the Prophet of Regret to find a portal complex that led to the final home of the Forerunners, which is located on the planet "Erde-Tyrenne" thanks to his San'Shyuum Stewards in late 2552.[7] Unaware that the planet was the human homeworld and largest UNSC major stronghold, Earth, Regret and his fleet headed to the world to find the Forerunner artifact, initialing the Battle for Earth. While the glassing of Meridian resulted in the evaporation of oceans and the loss of most life of the colony, the atmosphere remained somewhat breathable.[7]
After the Human-Covenant War, Meridian was recolonized by the Liang-Dortmund Corporation, independent from the Unified Earth Government and the smart AI Sloan served as Liang-Dortmund's administrator and as the colony's governor.[2][8] Liang-Dortmund brought former Meridian residents as well as opportunists seeking profit to the world to make it completely habitable again and aid in "deglassing" Meridian's surface and restoring the world to its former state,[9] believing that it would take over twenty years to complete the deglassing of Meridian.[10] Meridian would see war again during the Operation: RETRIBUTION.[11]
Guardians emergences[edit]
In the fall of 2558, Cortana began to reawaken the Forerunner's fleet of peacekeeping Guardian Custode from across the galaxy and bring them to her location on the world of Genesis. The first five she activated within 72 hours of each other from human colony worlds, although she was unable to control which Guardians awoke and where.[12] However, with the aid of the Warden Eternal, Cortana managed to control the release of one Guardian; located on the glassed moon of Meridian.[1] She then used the Domain to instruct SPARTAN-117 to come to Meridian.[13]
Blue Team's decision to go AWOL in pursuit of Cortana attracted the attention of Fireteam Osiris, a group of SPARTAN-IV super soldiers who were then tasked with locating and returning them to the UNSC.[1]
Battle[edit]
First Promethean assault[edit]
- Holly Tanaka: "What the hell are Forerunners doing here?"
- Jameson Locke: "Maybe we're not the only ones here for the Master Chief."
- — Fireteam Osiris witnessing Promethean forces attack Meridian.[1]
On October 25, 2558, the first Prometheans appeared on the surface of Meridian and immediately began attacking the miners of the Liang-Dortmund Corporation. The LDC was largely unprepared and stood little chance against the sudden and overwhelmingly aggressive constructs. The meager air forces and anti-air batteries which the LDC could muster were swiftly destroyed by the Prometheans' Phaetons, and all evacuation attempts were discontinued when the moon's only space elevator, Pinnacle Station, was surrounded by Promethean infantry.[1]
At around 1100 hours,[14] Fireteam Osiris arrived above the moon and began a descent on the space elevator, not realizing that the mining colony was under attack. As the SPARTANs were approaching the surface, they were hailed by Governor Sloan, who demanded to know what the UNSC was doing at the old colony. Realizing that the Liang-Dortmund Corporation had made violent contact with Promethean forces, SPARTAN Locke pledged to aid the LDC in exchange for assistance in locating Blue Team. After making landfall, Fireteam Osiris broke the siege of Pinnacle Station and pushed towards Meridian Station, where the brunt of the Promethean attack was centered.[1]
With Pinnacle Station secured, Fireteam Osiris commandeered several vehicles from the station garage and began to remove the Promethean presence on the surface, rescuing several surrounded teams of LDC miners in the process. Although the LDC continued to deploy aircraft in an attempt to forestall Forerunner airstrikes, the superior technology of the Promethean Phaetons meant that Osiris and the LDC forces were forced to fight through increasingly thick resistance in order to reach Meridian Station. Utilizing the considerable arsenal that the anti-centralist Governor Sloan had amassed, the humans were eventually able to clear the approach to Meridian Station of all Promethean forces. Sloan begrudgingly thanked the SPARTANs for their assistance in protecting his people and instructed the miners still at Meridian Station to cooperate with Osiris.[1]
Hunting Blue Team[edit]
- John-117: "I have a job to do."
- Jameson Locke: "Cortana's our concern now, sir."
- John-117: "Like hell she is."
- — Fireteam Osiris confronting Blue Team.[15]
The SPARTANs eventually gleaned from the LDC personnel that a ONI prowler had been seen docking on the airpad at Apogee Station. Leveraging the modicum of Sloan's trust that they had earned, Osiris secured transport to Apogee Station on board one of the corporation's dropships,[16] supported by a team of miners detailed by the governor to "keep an eye" on the SPARTANs' activities.[15]
Once at Apogee Station, the SPARTANs and LDC miners found an incredibly thick concentration of Promethean forces had overrun the station. Fighting up the station's primary landing pad, the humans eventual reached a moored Winter-class pr