View source for Battle of Nysa

{{Status|Canon}}
{{Battle infobox
|prev=[[Battle of Suban]]
|conc=[[Battle for Zeta Halo]]
|next=
|name=Battle of Nysa
|image=[[File:HINF-PlaylistBattleOfTheAcademy.jpg|300px]]
|conflict=[[Post-Covenant War conflicts]]
|date=[[2560#February|February 29]] - March 4, 2560{{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=[[Nysa]], [[Hyades system]]
|result='''Banished victory'''{{Ref/Novel|Id=BFTA2|Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 2}}
|side1=
*{{Icon|UNSC 2560}} [[UNSC]]
**{{Icon|Spartan Ops}} [[Spartan Operations]]
**{{Icon|Marine Corps}} [[UNSC Marine Corps]]
**{{Icon|Navy}} [[UNSC Navy]] {{c|late in battle}}
*{{Icon|SoS}} [[Swords of Sanghelios]] {{c|late in battle}}
|side2=*{{Icon|Banished}} [[Banished]]
**[[New Colonial Alliance]]
|side3=
|side4=
|commanders1=
*{{Icon|Spartan Ops}} [[Chief of Staff of Spartan Operations]] [[Jun-A266]] {{c|late in battle}}
*{{Icon|Spartan Ops}} Spartan Commander [[Laurette Agryna]]
*[[Chief Engineer]] [[Hannah Roberts]]†
*{{Icon|SoS}} [[Shipmaster|Shipmistress]] [[Vedu 'Ehtar]]{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}} {{c|late in battle}}
|commanders2=
*{{Icon|Banished}} [[Bloodstars|Bloodstar]] [[Ilsa Zane]]{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}
*{{Icon|Banished}} [[Jiralhanae Chieftain|Chieftain]] [[Atticus]]{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}
|commanders3=
|commanders4=
|forces1=*Johnson Academy garrison
**Over 50 Spartans{{Ref/Twitter|Id=XHaloAJAMS|Code=1920882039768617033|Tag=Halo|Name=Halo|Quote=Located on the hidden frontier world Nysa, the Avery J. Johnson Academy —named in honor of one of the UNSC's most legendary soldiers—is home to over fifty Spartan-IV recruits as they are trained to become a new generation of heroes. #FictionFriday|Year=2025|Month=05|Day=09}}
**Over 100 Marines and other personnel
*Eleven [[Pelican]]s
*Four [[Condor]]s
*One {{Class|Zheng He|courier}}
*Reinforcement
**One {{Class|Mulsanne|light frigate}}
***{{UNSCShip|Fearful Symmetry}}
**One {{Pattern|A'uzr|sword frigate}}
***''[[Sword of Conjunction]]''
**Three [[Riftborn]] teams
**[[Amity Wing]]
**[[Harmony Wing]]
**[[Sympathy Wing]]
**Two [[SPARTAN-III program|Spartan-IIIs]]
|forces2=
*[[Artificial intelligence|AI]] [[Iratus]]
*[[New Colonial Alliance]]
**One [[Banished dreadnought]]
***''[[Ghost of Kholo]]''{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}
*Several [[Eklon'Dal Workshop Phantom]]s
*Several [[Kaelum Workshop Banshee]]s
*Several [[Qavardu Workshop Gravemaker]]s
*Several [[Qavardu Workshop war-skiff]]s
*1 [[Spartan-IV]]
*Several [[Jiralhanae]]
*Several [[Humans]]
*Several [[Kig-Yar]]
*Several [[Unggoy]]
*Several [[Sangheili]]
*Several [[Mgalekgolo]]
|forces4=
|casual1=*Several Marines and other personnel
**Hannah Roberts
*Several Spartans
**[[Sinclair]]
*Four Condors
*One ''Zheng He''-class courier
*[[Ovi 'Taar|One]] Riftborn operative
|casual2=*Several Jiralhanae
*Several Kig-Yar
*Several Unggoy
|casual3=
|casual4=
|civilian1=
|civilian2=
|civilian3=
|civilian4=
}}

The '''Battle of Nysa''' was a military conflict between the [[United Nations Space Command]] and the [[Banished]] for control of [[Nysa]]; a [[Human colonies|frontier world]] in the [[Hyades system]] used by the UNSC as a hidden fallback point during their [[Created uprising|war against]] the [[Created]]. The battle itself was predominantly centred on the [[Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science]] on the [[planet]]'s surface, thanks to a Banished [[smart AI]], [[Iratus]], managing to break containment and infect the facilities wider networks on [[2560#February|February 29, 2560]].{{Ref/Site|Id=CFFalcFic|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/canon-fodder-falcon-fiction-flight|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Falcon Fiction Flight|D=06|M=08|Y=2025}} Iratus was able to disable the academy's defences and alert the Banished to Nysa's location, resulting in a large invasion force of the Banished-aligned [[New Colonial Alliance]] beginning their attack on the world on [[2560#March|March 3]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=BFTA1|Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 1}}

During Iratus' initial outbreak in late February, Academy personnel were able to send out an SOS message of their own, which was picked up by UNSC-[[Swords of Sanghelios]] forces aboard [[Anvil Station]]. On March 4, a UNSC-Swords task force was able to enter the system and evacuate key staff from the Avery Johnson Academy, unable to match the tonnage of the Banished invasion in a conventional fight. As such, Nysa was left to fall to Banished occupation, with the NCA's leader, [[SPARTAN-IV program|Spartan]] [[Ilsa Zane]], able to retrieve Iratus for herself.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}

==Background==
[[File:HINF Institute Valley 2.png|thumb|250px|left|The Avery J. Johnson Academy's interstellar communications facilities.]]
The frontier world of [[Nysa]] was established in the early years of the [[Human-Covenant War]]{{Ref/Game|Id=SiteUnseen|HINF|Site Unseen}} by the United Nations Space Command as a secretive, hidden fallback point to use as a base for the military to operate from.{{Ref/Reuse|ET11}} The world was originally the site of several [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] [[ONI Section Three|Section Three]] research sites (such as [[Site Z]]), though some were eventually shuttered and used as a basis to form new military installations. One of the most prominent of these was the [[Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science]], built atop an older ONI facility in the [[Hesychius Mountains]] and used for the training of new [[SPARTAN-IV program|SPARTAN-IVs]];{{Ref/Reuse|SiteUnseen}} with the outbreak of [[Created uprising|hostilities]] with the AI cabal known as the [[Created]], the UNSC accelerated Spartan recruitment efforts. The world was used as a base from which the UNSC could strike at targets at their choosing, with a notable example including its use as a base for the [[Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser|super-heavy cruiser]] {{UNSCShip|Victory of Samothrace}} to operate from during its mission to [[Rossbach's World]] in early November 2559.{{Ref/Novel|Id=ET11|ET|Chapter=11}} Due to the world's secretive nature, it had relatively few defenses save for its ground teams (notably the Spartans of the academy), which were reduced even further in mid-December 2559 when [[Slipstream space|slipspace]]-capable [[UNSC starship|spacecraft]] were recalled to [[Earth]] to bolster the [[UNSC Home Fleet]] in advance of a [[Battle of Earth (2559)|massive attack]] on the planet by the Banished.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}

After [[Battle over Installation 07|the defeat]] of [[Cortana]] and the Created at [[Installation 07]] on December 12, 2559, Nysa continued to recruit and train new Spartan recruits, bringing a new cadre including Spartan "[[Rook]]" into the base on December 20.{{Ref/Reuse|CFTomes}}{{Ref/Level|HINF|Tutorial (Halo Infinite)|Tutorial}} At this time the base also began to deploy its Spartans in operations against the [[Banished]]; on [[2560#January|January 24, 2560]], the academy's [[commanding officer]] Spartan Commander [[Laurette Agryna]] deployed two Spartans, [[Sigrid Eklund]] and [[Hieu Dinh]], on a reconnaissance mission to the [[Chiltift Basin]] shipbreaking yards on [[Camber]].{{Ref/Reuse|CFFalcFic}} The ex-UNSC shipbreaking facility had become the site of a Banished salvaging operation, the target of the two Spartans' reconnaissance efforts.{{Ref/Site|Id=HIS2Intel|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/halo-infinite-lone-wolves-intel|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Halo Infinite - Lone Wolves Intel|D=3|M=11|Y=2022|LocalArchive=Halo Infinite Story & Intel}} While deployed on Camber, the two came across a unique [[smart AI]] developed from a [[Jiralhanae]] brain, [[Iratus]], which proceeded to infect Dinh's [[neural interface]] and render the Spartan comatose. Eklund proceeded to commandeer a Banished [[Eklon'Dal Workshop Phantom|Phantom dropship]] and use it to transport Dinh back to the academy on Nysa for medical aid,{{Ref/Game|HI|Season 02: Lone Wolves|Detail=[[Halo Infinite Season 02: Lone Wolves Intro Cinematic|Intro Cinematic]]}} arriving on February 15.{{Ref/Reuse|CFTomes}}{{Ref/Reuse|CFFalcFic}}

[[File:HINF DinhInspectsMirage.png|thumb|right|250px|Dinh inspects [[MIRAGE-class Mjolnir]] beneath the facility moments before Iratus takes control.]]
In an effort to pull Iratus out of Dinh's neural interface, Agryna uploaded a [[Breaker|simulation]] of the Banished facility on Camber into the Academy's [[War Games|combat simulator]], and assigned Spartans to participate in the simulation to act as bait, and trap Iratus into an ONI server. The plan was a success, and Iratus was trapped, saving Dinh's life.{{Ref/Reuse|CFFalcFic}}{{Ref/Game|id=HIInter|HI|Interference}} Dinh awoke from his coma on February 20.{{Ref/Reuse|CFFalcFic}}{{Ref/Game|Id=EW|HI|Season 03: Echoes Within}} Over the ensuing week the academy's technicians began to notice strange glitches happening throughout their system, though at the time the full scope of the threat Iratus posed was simply dismissed as "''a caged creature rattling its bars''"; unbeknownst to the UNSC, the AI had managed to escape its confinement in the academy's servers and break into the ONI databases underneath the academy. On February 29,{{Ref/Reuse|CFFalcFic}} Spartans Dinh and Rook ventured into the ONI facilities underneath the academy to find that Iratus had successfully broken containment and was now in the process of downloading all of the classified intelligence kept there - particularly that concerning the [[Spartan]] programs.{{Ref/Reuse|SiteUnseen}} After being discovered, Iratus disabled the academy's short-ranged communications, beginning hostilities.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}

==Battle==
===Iratus' control===
[[File:HINF-AcademyIratus.png|thumb|left|250px|Iratus' avatar displayed in one of AJAMS' outlying facilities.]]
Iratus began his attack on the academy by disabling the base's short-ranged communications, which threw any initial effort to respond to the breach into disarray. For the AI, he knew that the base's large Spartan complement would make a Banished relief force hesitant to attack the facility; as such, he focused on downloading and processing large quantities of ONI classified information - reasoning that if he made himself more valuable, the Banished would be more willing to pay the price in casualties to conduct the attack. While Iratus' end goal was ultimately taking control of the base's [[Wavecom|communications equipment]] to broadcast a message to the Banished, the academy's technicians responded by flooding the network with zetabytes of randomly-generated junk data for the AI to sift through. However, this was only a temporary measure intended to slow the AI rather than stop him. While Spartan Dinh returned to the academy's AI lab to inform Commander Agryna of the threat, Spartan Rook assembled teams to head to the academy's outlying outposts to similarly-inform them. Due to the academy's construction atop an older and unmapped ONI facility, no one knew if the ONI tunnel network connected to the rest of the facilities on Nysa and, if so, also put them at risk of Iratus' control.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}

As such, Commander Agryna reasoned that the most likely step for Iratus to take was to call in a Banished armada to assault the planet - something the world was ill-equipped to deal with. Instead, an evacuation of key assets and personnel was the only realistic solution, using the base's four [[Condor]] dropships and lone {{Class|Zheng He|courier}} - the other ships on the world having largely redeployed during the battle of Earth the previous December. Spartan Eklund volunteered to organise the evacuation alongside Spartans [[Page]] and [[Ionescu]]. Meanwhile, Agryna moved to enact the [[Cole Protocol]] to deny as much to Iratus as possible, though with communications down and the facilities spread apart, it was an infeasible action to take, with the commander unwilling to repeat the destruction of [[Laconia Station]] some months prior. Instead, she and Dinh headed to the base's [[slipspace COM launcher]] - originally installed for secure communications that could not be intercepted by the Created - where they prepared an SOS message to be sent to [[Anvil Station]]. With Laconia destroyed and its sister-stations [[Naxos Station|Naxos]] and [[Virgo Station|Virgo]] potentially compromised, Anvil remained the only safe option, even despite the commander's reservations about working with [[Sangheili]].{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}
[[File:BattleForTheAcademy Rescue.jpg|thumb|250px|Marines survivors of the missile attack attempting to rescue the wounded.]]
While the UNSC call for help was successfully sent, Iratus was also able to take control of the base's interstellar communications equipment, making his location known to the Banished and inviting them to attack. He also took over control of the academy's five [[surface-to-air missile launcher]]s, using them to shoot down the evacuation courier as it lifted into orbit. Iratus then threatened to use the launchers to target the academy itself, presenting Agryna with a dilemma - she could let the base be destroyed and leave the [[anti-aircraft weapon]]s online, or she could order their destruction and leave the base defenceless when the main attack came. She ultimately chose the latter, and ordered the deployment of all available aircraft on-site to destroy the launchers while their automated systems reloaded. Ten [[D77 Pelican]]s were used for this air strike while the eleventh was used to conduct a search-and-rescue for survivors of the failed evacuation and ferry them back to the base, where they would stand their ground.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}

===Invasion===
At 1139 on March 3, 2560, Iratus' signal was answered by the Banished-aligned [[New Colonial Alliance]], who entered Nyssan orbit in their [[Banished dreadnought|dreadnought]] ''[[Ghost of Kholo]]''.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}} The NCA spent the first few hours in orbit scouting the world and mapping out its key facilities, assessing it for attack. During this time, Chieftain [[Atticus]] advised their leader [[Ilsa Zane]] on how to maximise the NCA's gain from the invasion in climbing the ranks within the Banished. Eventually, Ilsa Zane invited the UNSC commanders on the planet to a parley conducted at 1532 hours in the [[Hesychius Mountains]]; Zane offered Agryna the chance to surrender Iratus to the Banished without a fight, and in return she would leave with bloodshed. Upon seeing Spartan Dinh as part of Agryna's party, she further offered to keep her word on that deal, if Agryna allowed her to take Dinh with her so that she could settle her own unfinished business with him. Agryna refused the offer to Zane's delight, resulting in the Banished beginning their invasion of Nysa, deploying [[Gydrozka Workshop Breaching Pod|drop pod troops]] in advance of a wave of [[drop base]]s and [[Banished outpost|occupation infrastructure]] onto the planet.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}

Over the next few hours, Banished troops flooded the academy with numbers far too great for the defending forces to meaningfully hold off. As such, the academy's Spartans were slowly pushed further and further back into the base. By 1849 on March 3, Spartans Agryna and [[Eusebio]] were holed up in the main campus fighting off oncoming [[Jiralhanae]] and [[Kig-Yar]] supported by [[Kaelum Workshop Banshee]] flyers. Spartan Eklund fell back to a relay junction inside the base, prompting Agryna to order Spartans Dinh, [[O'Brien (Spartan)|O'Brien]], and [[Sinclair]] to go and relieve her while herself, Eusibo, and [[Denning]] held their ground. Once they reached Eklund, O'Brien was engaged and pinned to a wall by a [[Jiralhanae Berserker]], prompting Sinclair to jump on its back and stab it with a [[combat knife]]. The Brute responded by throwing Sinclair into a nearby wall and beating him to death, before being put down by Dinh's [[CQS48 Bulldog]] shotgun. At this point, the surviving three Spartans retreated inside the base and were ordered by Agryna to begin enacting the Cole Protocol across the academy's facilities. Agryna also attempted to institute a lockdown of the base to buy time, though the lockdown was almost immediately reversed, and all of the base's doors and gates opened, by Iratus.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}} One of the Spartan teams responsible for instituting the Cole Protocol at one of AJAMS' outlying facilities—[[The Artifice]]—was led by Spartan "Rook", who successfully [[Firefight: Battle of the Academy|fought through]] the Banished to achieve their goal.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}{{Ref/Game|Id=FF|HINF|Firefight: Battle of the Academy}}
[[File:HINF AJAMSColeProtocol.png|thumb|250px|Rook's personal AI deployed at [[The Artifice]] to implement the Cole Protocol.]]

===Relief and evacuation===
Agryna's SOS from February 29 was ultimately recieved by Anvil Station at around 2100 on March 3, 2560 - around nine hours after the start of the invasion of Nysa. As such, the station's commander [[Stationmaster]] [[Toda 'Murajai]] was unable to assemble more than a hasty task force to go and respond to the distress signal. The task force departed two hours later, and consisted of a single {{Pattern|A'uzr|sword frigate}} operated by the [[Swords of Sanghelios]]; ''[[Sword of Conjunction]]''. The frigate was staffed with multiple [[wing]]s of [[Space fighter|strikecraft]] alongside several teams of [[Riftborn]] special forces operatives: both joint UNSC-Swords units consisting of Spartan and Sangheili personnel designed to foster cooperation among the two allies.{{Ref/Reuse|Anvil}} ''Sword of Conjunction'' was joined by a UNSC {{Class|Mulsanne|light frigate}}, {{UNSCShip|Fearful Symmetry}} for the operation.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}

''Sword of Conjunction'' emerged from slipspace in the Hyades system at 0327 on March 4; by this time the fighting on Nysa's surface had been raging for around fifteen hours, and ''Fearful Symmetry'' was stationed at the outer edge of the system. The sword frigate began to assess the situation by deploying [[scout-eye]]s onto the planet below and, once satisfied, ''Conjunction'' signalled ''Fearful Symmetry'' that the two should head toward Nysa. While the two sub-[[capital ship]]s were outmatched by the NCA's dreadnought, they were able to distract it long enough to conduct an evacuation. ''Sword of Conjunction'' deployed its strikecraft wings [[Amity Wing|Amity]], [[Harmony Wing|Harmony]], and [[Sympathy Wing|Sympathy]], into the fray, with the [[Elsedda-pattern Banshee|Banshees]] intended to draw off enough attention to allow for a quick exfiltration. With intelligence provided by the scout-eyes, ''Conjunction'' then conducted a pass of the academy and at 0337 dropped six {{Pattern|Yado|Intrusion Carapace}} stealth [[drop pod]]s containing the frigate's Riftborn warriors into the base. The Riftborn were given a simple task: find Commander Agryna and, if possible, any other survivors to evacuate.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}

The Riftborn were deployed in pairs each consisting of a single Sangheili and Spartan, though it was ultimately [[Ovi 'Taar]] and [[Adrian Vesco]] who ended up finding the commander first. The two were drawn to the base's firing range and armoury by the ping of several friendly [[Identification friend or foe|IFF tags]] in that direction, though stumbled into the armoury to find a [[Jiralhanae Chieftain]] handing out scavenged Bulldog shotguns and [[SRS99-S7 AM sniper rifle]]s to his adjutant Jiralhanae and [[Kig-Yar]] troops. The two engaged the group and were largely successful in dealing with them, though Ovi 'Taar was ultimately killed by the chieftain and Vesco left heavily injured.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}
[[File:WC_AcademyJun.jpg|thumb|250px|Jun-A266 during the battle.]]
Agryna, Dinh, and Eklund ultimately stumbled upon Vesco and brought him to the AI lab at 0429 to hold out alongside several [[UNSC Marine Corps|Marines]] and base staff including Chief Engineer [[Hannah Roberts]]. By this time, the enactment of the Cole Protocol and [[RUINA]] subroutines across the base forced Iratus back into the AI lab's servers, effectively trapping him there - though he was quick to note that the Banished would break in in short order and retrieve him regardless. Commander Agryna initially insisted on staying; throughout the battle she had continuously pondered how much she could have done differently to prevent the current events, and ultimately decided that if the base was going to go down, it was only approrpriate that she go down with it. However, she was dissuaded of this notion after Vesco informed the group that he had an emergency beacon that could be used by ''Fearful Symmetry'' to lock onto their position and deploy an extraction [[dropship]]. With the option available, it was technician Roberts who ultimately persuaded Agryna and the Spartans to leave, believing that she could stay and delete as much critical data from the system as possible, and buy time for the Spartans to evacuate.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}} Other personnel, such as Spartan Rook and those with them, were also able to escape Nysa via Pelican at the base's landing pads.{{Ref/Reuse|FF}}
[[File:Part9 IratusChip-scaled.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Ilsa Zane recovers Iratus' chip.]]
After Vesco's beacon was activated, ''Fearful Symmetry'' deployed a [[D77 Pelican]], ''[[Bravo 198]]'', to deploy into the academy and extract the survivors, which came in for landing around 0441 hours. The Pelican carried two [[SPARTAN-III program|SPARTAN-IIIs]], [[Jun-A266]] (the [[Chief of Staff of Spartan Operations]]) and Warrant Officer [[Rosenda-A344]]. To get into Nyssan airspace safely, ''Fearful Symmetry'' coordinated with the Pelican to do a close flyby of the academy, distracting the NCA dreadnought on station above. The frigate closed on the dreadnought's starboard side and fired at it with its [[Brightlance reflex laser]], temporarily disabling the dreadnought while exfiltration was underway. After landing, Rosenda was able to damage a Banished Banshee with her [[Hydra]] missile launcher, securing a final killshot for Jun's sniper rifle. The two then proceeded to escort Agryna, Dinh, Eklund, and Vesco into the Pelican, which launched back into orbit to dock with ''Fearful Symmetry'' and retreat back to Anvil Station.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}

While ''Bravo 198'' conducted its extraction, a [[squad]] of Marines made a final stand against the Banished assault on the AI lab, which was led personally by Ilsa Zane and [[Captain (Covenant)|Captain]] [[Praedus]]. The Marines were unable to hold out long, and the Banished made their way into the lab. Zane ordered Roberts to hand over Iratus' [[data crystal chip]], who complied after some brief questioning. Despite her assistance, Zane ordered Roberts' execution and then took Iratus for herself, uploading him into her [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor]] and inviting him to make himself at home.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}} At this point, the academy (and presumably Nysa as a whole) were declared compromised, and totally lost.{{Ref/Reuse|CFFalcFic}}

==Aftermath==
Following her evacuation from the planet, Commander Agryna would file an after-action report to COSSPAR Jun-A266 on the events that led up to the battle and their timeline. In the report, Agryna expressed her own regret for the decisions she made that led up to the attack, and considered herself responsible for them and the losses inflicted by the Banished.{{Ref/Reuse|CFFalcFic}}

==Timeline==
;February 29
*'''1949 hours:''' Iratus is discovered to have escaped confinement underneath the academy, and shuts off academy communications.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}
*'''2001 hours:''' Commander Agryna orders an evacuation of the base, and decides to send out an SOS to Anvil Station.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}
*'''2008 hours:''' Iratus breaks through the academy firewalls, obtaining classified ONI intelligence and taking control of the base's systems in totality.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}
*'''2038 hours:''' Commander Agryna and Spartan Dinh send out an SOS to Anvil Station; Iratus uses the base's communications to signal the Banished to attack.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}
*'''2042 hours:''' Iratus uses the base's own missile defences to shoot down the evacuating ''Zheng He''-class courier ship.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}
*'''2049 hours:''' Agryna makes the choice to order the missile batteries' destruction, leaving the base defenceless.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}

;March 3
*'''1139 hours:''' The NCA's dreadnought ''Ghost of Kholo'' arrives in orbit over Nysa, beginning the Banished invasion.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA1}}
*'''1532 hours:''' The UNSC and NCA meet in the Hesychius Mountains to parley, though the UNSC refuse to surrender to the Banished. Ilsa Zane orders the invasion to commence.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}
*'''1849 hours:''' Banished troops pour into the Avery Johnson Academy as Iratus lifts the base's lockdown.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}
*'''2100 hours:''' Anvil Station recieves the distress call from Nysa and scrambles a response force.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Anvil|Halo: Anvil Accord}}
*'''2300 hours:''' ''Sword of Conjunction'' departs from Anvil Station to relieve Nysa.{{Ref/Reuse|Anvil}}

;March 4
*'''0327 hours:''' ''Sword of Conjunction'' arrives in the Hyades system and begins conducting observation of the ongoing invasion.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}
*'''0337 hours:''' ''Sword of Conjunction'' drops Riftborn teams onto Nysa in drop pods. Ovi 'Taar is killed by a Brute Chieftain, and Adrian Vesco is heavily injured.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}
*'''0429 hours:''' Spartans Agryna, Dinh, Eklund, and Vesco hole up in the academy's AI lab alongside several Marines and technicians. Spartan Rook is successful in enacting the Cole Protocol at the base's outlying sites, which forces Iratus back into the AI lab's secure servers. Agryna and the Spartans are persuaded to evacuate the base, while the remaining technicians work to destroy as much data as possible.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}
*'''0441 hours:''' Pelican ''Bravo 198'' lands at the Academy; Jun-A266 and Rosenda A-344 escort the evacuating Spartans to safety.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}
*'''0448 hours:''' Marine forces around the AI lab are killed in a last-stand.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}
*'''0500 hours:''' Ilsa Zane retrieves Iratus; the Avery Johnson academy is deemed lost.{{Ref/Reuse|BFTA2}}

==Participants==
{{Col-begin}}
{{Col-2}}
===UNSC===
====Starships====
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 75%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"
|-
! style="width: 20%" |Fleet 
! style="width: 32.5%" |Class
! style="width: 32.5%" |Name
! style="width: 15%" |Status<!--This refers to their status after the battle, not their overall status-->
|-
| rowspan="2" |Unknown
|{{Class|Mulsanne|light frigate}}
|{{UNSCShip|Fearful Symmetry}}
|Active
|}

====Military personnel====
{| class="wikitable sortable " style="width: 75%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"
|-
! style="width: 20%" |Branch
! style="width: 32.5%" |Rank
! style="width: 32.5%" |Name
! style="width: 15%" |Status<!--This refers to their status after the battle, not their overall status-->
|-
| rowspan="14" |[[Spartan Operations]]
|[[Chief of Staff of Spartan Operations]]
|[[Jun-A266]]
|Active
|-
|Spartan Commander
|[[Laurette Agryna]]
|Active
|-
| rowspan="9" | Spartan
|[[Hieu Dinh]]
|Active
|-
|[[Sigrid Eklund]]
|Active
|-
|"[[Rook]]"
|Unknown
|-
|[[Eusebio]]
|Unknown
|-
|[[Denning]]
|Unknown
|-
|[[O'Brien (Spartan)|O'Brien]]
|Unknown
|-
|[[Sinclair]]
|KIA
|-
|[[Ionescu]]
|Unknown
|-
|[[Page]]
|Unknown
|-
| rowspan="3" |Spartan/[[Riftborn]] operatives
|[[Adrian Vesco]]
|Active
|-
|[[Babych]]
|Unknown
|-
|[[Prentis]]
|Unknown
|-
| rowspan="2" |[[UNSC Marine Corps]]
|[[Corporal]]
|[[Agnes Neely]]
|KIA
|-
|[[Private]]
|[[Patton]]
|KIA
|-
|UNSC Cybersecurity & Network Infrastructure
|Chief Engineer
|[[Hannah Roberts]]
|KIA
|-
| rowspan="3" |[[UNSC Navy]]
|[[Lieutenant]]
|[[Mercer]]
|Active
|-
|[[Warrant Officer]]
|[[Rosenda-A344]]
|Active
|-
|[[Ensign]]
|[[Sethu]]
|Active
|}

====Vehicles====
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 75%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"
! style="width: 42.5%" |Class
! style="width: 42.5%" |Name
! style="width: 15%" |Status<!--This refers to their status after the battle, not their overall status-->
|-
|[[D77 Pelican]]
|''[[Bravo-198]]''
|Active
|}

===Swords of Sanghelios===
====Starships====
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 75%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"
|-
! style="width: 32.5%" |Class
! style="width: 32.5%" |Name
! style="width: 15%" |Status<!--This refers to their status after the battle, not their overall status-->
|-
|{{Pattern|A'uzr|sword frigate}}
|''[[Sword of Conjunction]]''
|Active
|}

====Military personnel====
{| class="wikitable sortable " style="width: 75%;" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"
|-
! Rank
! Name
! Status<!--This refers to their status after the battle, not their overall status-->
|-
|[[Shipmaster|Shipmistress]]
|[[Vedu 'Ehtar]]
|Active
|-
| rowspan="3" | [[Riftborn]] operatives
|[[Ovi 'Taar]]
|KIA
|-
|[['Ookol]]
|Unknown
|-
|[['Toizari]]
|Unknown
|}

====Units====
*[[Amity Wing]]
*[[Harmony Wing]]
*[[Sympathy Wing]]
{{Col-2}}

===Banished===
====Starships====
{| class="wikitable sortable " style="width: 75%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"
! style="width: 32.5%" |Class
! style="width: 32.5%" |Name
! style="width: 15%" |Status<!--This refers to their status after the battle, not their overall status-->
|-
|[[Banished dreadnought]]
|''[[Ghost of Kholo]]''
|Active
|}

====Military personnel====
{| class="wikitable sortable " style="width: 75%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="0"
|-
! style="width: 32.5%" |Rank
! style="width: 32.5%" |Name
! style="width: 15%" |Status<!--This refers to their status after the battle, not their overall status-->
|-
|[[Bloodstars]]
|[[Ilsa Zane]]
|Active
|-
|[[Jiralhanae Chieftain|Chieftain]]
|[[Atticus]]
|Active
|-
|[[Captain (Covenant)|Captain]]
|[[Praedus]]
|Active
|-
|[[Artificial intelligence]]
|[[Iratus]]
|Active
|}
{{Col-end}}

==Production notes==
[[File:HINF - Event - Last Stand Key Art.png|thumb|250px|The battle for the academy reflected in Commander Agryna's visor, in the Last Stand keyart.]]
The Battle of Nysa, and the fall of the Avery Johnson Academy, were the subject of ''[[Halo Infinite]]''{{'}}s [[Last Stand (Operation)|Operation Last Stand]] multiplayer event in mid-[[2025]]. The update included a [[Firefight (Halo Infinite)|Firefight]] playlist themed around the battle, [[Firefight: Battle of the Academy]], which depicts [[Rook|the player's multiplayer Spartan]] fighting off Banished forces throughout the base. The update, and the playlist, are also the subject of the simultaneously-released [[Halo Waypoint Chronicle]]s ''[[Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 1]]'' and ''[[Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 2|Part 2]]'', which tell the story as a continuation of ''Halo Infinite''s multiplayer narrative established between [[2021]] and [[2023]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:HINF - Iratus Unbound.png|Iratus assuming control of [[MIRAGE-class Mjolnir]] beneath AJAMS.
File:BFTA FullSpread.jpg|A dual-spread of both ''Battle for the Academy'' covers, depicting stylised takes on both the UNSC and Banished combatants in the attack.
File:HINF AJAMSIratusPhantom1.png|A Phantom under Iratus' influence during the battle.
File:HINF IratusPhantom2.png|Another Phantom under Iratus' influence.
File:HINF DeadSpartan3.png|One of the Spartan-IVs who perished during the battle.
File:HINF DeadSpartan2.png|Another Spartan-IV who perished during the battle.
File:HINF DeadSpartan1.png|Another Spartan-IV who perished during the battle.
File:HINF DeadSpartan6.png|Another Spartan-IV who perished during the battle.
File:HINF DeadSpartan4.png|A Spartan-IV who perished defending [[The Artifice]].
File:HINF DeadSpartan5.png|Another Spartan-IV who perished during the battle.
File:HINF AcademyArdentHunters.png|A pair of [[Ardent Mgalekgolo]] drop into battle.
File:HINF AcademyExtraction.png|A Pelican waiting to extract "Rook" and other Spartan-IVs after implementing the Cole Protocol.
File:HINF AJAMSDefense.png|Marines fighting the Banished at one of AJAMS' outlying facilities.
File:HINF-AcademyMarines.png|Marines under fire from a Banished Wraith.
File:HINF AJAMSRubble.png|One of AJAMS' outlying facilities with heavy damage from the battle.
File:HINF AJAMSHangar.png|A destroyed Pelican in one of AJAMS' outlying facility hangars.
File:HINF OutWithABangExtraction.png|A Pelican moves to extract "Rook" and other Spartan-IVs after completing their mission.
</gallery>

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: Anvil Accord]]'' {{Im}}
*''[[Halo Infinite]]''
**''[[Last Stand (Operation)|Last Stand]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 1]]''
*''[[Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 2]]''

==Sources==
{{Ref/List}}
{{Post-Covenant War conflicts}}

[[Category:Banished victories]]