Editing Battle of Oban

{{Status|Canon}}
{{Conjectural title}}
{{Battle infobox
|name=Battle of Oban
|prev=[[Operation: WHISTLE STOP]]
|next=[[Battle of Aktis IV]]
|image=[[File:HE13 Oban attacked.jpg|300px]]
|conflict=[[Post-Covenant War conflicts]]
|date=[[2558#July|July 16, 2558]]{{Ref/Comic|Id=HE13|HEsc|Issue=13}}
|place=[[Saviron]], [[Oban]]{{Ref/Reuse|HE13}}
|result='''UNSC victory'''
|side1=*{{Icon|UEG}} [[United Earth Government|UEG]]
**{{Icon|UNSC Post}} [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] 
|side2=*{{Icon|Didact}} [[Didact|Didact's]] [[Prometheans#Mechanical Prometheans|Prometheans]]
*{{Icon|Mdama}} [[Jul 'Mdama's Covenant]]
|commanders1=*{{Icon|Navy}} [[Captain (Navy)|CAPT]] [[Thomas Lasky]]
*{{Icon|Spartan Ops}} [[Spartan Commander|CDR]] [[Sarah Palmer]]<br>
|commanders2={{Icon|Mdama}} [[Supreme Commander|Supreme Commander]] [[Jul 'Mdama]]
|forces1=*{{Icon|Navy}} {{UNSCShip|Infinity}}
*{{Icon|Navy}} 1 [[GA-TL1 Longsword]]
*{{Icon|Marine Corps}} [[UNSC Marine Corps]]
*{{Icon|Spartan Ops}} Several [[SPARTAN-IV Program|SPARTAN-IV]]s
**{{Icon|Spartan Ops}} [[Gabriel Thorne]]
**{{Icon|Spartan Ops}} [[Joel Thomas]]
**{{Icon|Spartan Ops}} Sarah Palmer
**{{Icon|Spartan Ops}} [[Holly Tanaka]]
*1 [[M12 Chaingun Warthog]]
|forces2=
**{{Icon|Mdama}} [[Kig-Yar]]
**{{Icon|Mdama}} [[Unggoy]]
*{{Icon|Didact}} [[Third Dignitary Schema]]
**{{Icon|Didact}} [[Promethean Knight|Knights]]
***{{Icon|Didact}} [[Sandra Tillson|TDS-009]]
**{{Icon|Didact}} [[Promethean Crawler|Crawlers]]
*{{Icon|Mdama}} At least two Phantoms 
*{{Icon|Didact}} [[Twelfth-order escort]]{{Ref/Reuse|breaks}}
|casual1=Several soldiers{{Ref/Novel|Id=breaks|Halo: The Machine Breaks}}
|casual2=*At least two Phantoms
*Several Kig-Yar
*Several Unggoy 
*At least one Promethean Knight
*Several Promethean Crawlers 
}}
The '''Battle of Oban''' was an engagement fought on the planet [[Oban]] on [[2558|July 16, 2558]] between [[Jul 'Mdama's Covenant]], and their [[Promethean]] allies, and the [[United Nations Space Command]] (UNSC). The battle was a part of a larger struggle between the Covenant and the UNSC's [[Expeditionary Strike Group 1]], led by {{UNSCShip|Infinity}}, both seeking to secure the other's half of the [[Janus Key]]. To that end, the Covenant's Supreme Commander [[Jul 'Mdama]] staged an attack on Oban with the aim of drawing ''Infinity'' into a vulnerable position.{{Ref/Reuse|HE13}} While the raid was repelled by ''Infinity''{{'}}s responding forces at high costs to the Covenant,{{Ref/Reuse|HE13}} it succeeded in drawing the vessel into the trap that 'Mdama had devised.{{Ref/Novel|Id=TMB|Halo: The Machine Breaks}}

Presumably while ''Infinity'' was present at Oban,{{Ref/Generic|See [[Operation: WHITE VAN#Notes|here]] for more details.}} Spartan forces including [[Holly Tanaka]] partook in [[Operation: WHITE VAN]], an unrelated operation that involved a Spartan security and testing detachment for [[Misriah Armory]]'s classified [[Project SENIOR ICE]] prototype.{{Ref/Game|Id=H5GLtd|Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition|[[Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition dossiers#Holly Tanaka|Dossier files]] - Holly Tanaka}}

==Background==
During the [[Requiem Campaign]] in February 2558, Doctor [[Catherine Halsey]] was gifted a [[Forerunner]] artefact, the [[Janus Key]], by an [[essence]] of the [[Librarian]]. The Librarian intended for [[human]]ity to use the key to learn the location of the [[Absolute Record]], allowing them to attain the [[Mantle|Mantle of Responsibility]] and fulfill their role as [[reclaimer]]s of the Forerunners' legacy. Earlier in the campaign Halsey had defected from the UNSC to work for Jul's Covenant in order to gain access to [[Vale Citadel|the site]] of the Librarian. When [[Fireteam Majestic]] were dispatched to bring Halsey in, she attempted to pass the key onto Spartan [[Gabriel Thorne]]. In the ensuing fighting, Halsey was shot by Spartan Commander [[Sarah Palmer]] and the key was split in half, with each side obtaining one piece.{{Ref/SpOps|Key}}

For Halsey, the attempted (and unsanctioned) assassination by Palmer led her to believe that the UNSC were now dead-set on killing her,{{Ref/Reuse|HE13}} and fuelled her want for revenge.{{Ref/SpOps|Exodus}} The split key also set both sides on a new path; while [[Requiem]] was destroyed at the end of the campaign, both sides wished to attain the Absolute Record and gain control of the Forerunners' technology.{{Ref/Reuse|HE13}}

Five months after Requiem's loss, the Covenant set this new plan into motion. In it, the Covenant would stage a raid on Oban with the goal of drawing the attention of ''Infinity'', at which point they could lure the ship to an [[Aktis system|uncharted system]] and then sieze the other half of the Janus Key for themselves. In mid-July, the Covenant {{Pattern|Kerel|assault carrier}} ''[[Song of Retribution]]'' deployed Covenant and Promethean forces to Oban, beginning the battle.{{Ref/Reuse|HE13}}{{Ref/Reuse|TMB}}

==The battle==
[[File:Halo Escalation 13.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Commander Palmer fends off Promethean Crawlers with a machine gun.]]
The raid on Oban's primary goal was to draw the attention of ''Infinity'' into the Covenant's trap. As such, the attack itself did not have any particularly strategic targets, instead seeing Covenant forces deployed to various colonial and engineering outposts to inflict wanton destruction on the [[civilian]] populace.{{Ref/Reuse|HE13}} The battle opened on an unknown date with the deployment of the [[Third Dignitary Schema]], a corps of [[Promethean Knight]]s under Jul 'Mdama's control, to the planet. The Knights were air-dropped onto the planet from high-altitude [[Twelfth-order escort]] craft, landing at the colonial facilities and beginning a mass slaughter of any humans they could find there. This killing went against the Knights' basic instincts, with the ideal directive for the humans on Oban being to have them [[Composer|composed]] and turned into new Knights. The lack of such a device meant that this option was unavailable, something which the [[Knight Strategos|Strategos]] commanding the operation found wasteful.{{Ref/Reuse|TMB}}

The Knights deployed to Oban were the first observed by the UNSC to display evident [[Promethean Knight#Variants|design upgrades]] from the ones previously encountered on Requiem.{{Ref/Level|H5G|Osiris (level)|Osiris|Quote=New kind too. Like they reported on Oban.|Quotee=Holly Tanaka}}{{Ref/Site|Id=CFLockeLoad|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/canon-fodder-locke-load|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Locke & Load|D=23|M=12|Y=2019}}{{Ref/Game|H5G|List of REQ Cards|REQ Card|Detail=Boltshot|Quote=Burst-fire energy pistol. Bolts home-in on close range targets. This new functionality appears to be related to other adaptions the Prometheans have displayed since the disappearance of the Didact.}} During the engagement, one such Knight [[TDS-009]] was noted for its combat effectiveness and given a field-promotion to [[Knight Commander]], alongside a cadre of [[Promethean Crawler|Crawlers]] to direct. Together, these units charged a human structure, with the Crawlers managing to smash through the hastily-assembled barricades and dragging some of the guards outside, where they were killed. During the fighting, TSD-009 began to experience strange glitches representative of other phenomena manifesting throughout the Knights of Jul's army, seeing a vision of a human child in front of it - one apparently unobserved by any other Knight around it. The Strategos instead noted TDS-009's cessation of hostilities and directed other nearby forces to compensate, promoting a Crawler to [[Alpha Crawler|Alpha status]]. Ultimately, the Prometheans were ordered to leave the bodies of their victims where they lay, with the intention that they be found by the UNSC.{{Ref/Reuse|TMB}}

By July 18, a joint UNSC [[Spartan Operations|Spartan]]-[[UNSC Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] operation was dispatched to north-east [[Saviron]] on Oban to respond to the attack. The Spartan complement of the response included [[Fireteam Majestic]] alongside Commander Palmer and Spartan [[Joel Thomas]]. Palmer viewed the operation as critically important, having come to believe that Supreme Commander 'Mdama or Doctor Halsey must be on the ground on the planet, despite no prior intelligence indicating as such, largely stemming from her own personal frustratrations with Halsey and the failed assassination on Requiem back in February. Throughout the battle, she continuously reinforced that Jul 'Mdama was the Spartans' primary high-value target.{{Ref/Reuse|HE13}}

During the fighting, Spartan Thorne was ambushed by a Promethean Knight, but he was saved by Commander Palmer. With the Prometheans' presence, Palmer ordered all UNSC forces to search for and find Jul 'Mdama. Meanwhile, Spartan [[Joel Thomas]] used a [[H-295 target designator]] to order an air strike on two {{Pattern|Ru'swum|Phantom}}s near Palmer's position. Palmer ordered Thorne to get to an [[M12 Chaingun Warthog]] and pursue the Phantoms, but they were ambushed and pursued by Crawlers. They dispatched several of the Crawlers and Palmer jumped off of a cliff, directly above the Phantoms. The Warthog landed on the ground, injuring Thorne, and the Phantoms prepared to fire their [[heavy plasma cannon]]s at them. However, the [[C712 Longsword]] from Thomas' air support appeared, destroying both Phantoms, and saving Palmer's and Thorne's lives.{{Ref/Reuse|HE13}}

At the conclusion of the raid, Promethean forces would be recalled to ''Song of Retribution'' via their escort ships.{{Ref/Reuse|breaks}}

==Aftermath==
In total, Jul's forces suffered heavy losses in the battle, while inflicting only minor damage to a new power station and briefly pausing the planet's colonization efforts.{{Ref/Reuse|HE13}} Despite this tactical defeat, the raid was considered by the Covenant's leadership to be a success in furthering their broader strategic plan, as ''Infinity'' was now in position to try and pursue them.{{Ref/Reuse|TMB}} In turn, Commander Palmer viewed the mission and the lack of a captured Jul or Halsey as a defeat despite the success in inflicting extreme losses on the Covenant. ''Infinity''{{'}}S Captain [[Thomas Lasky]] chided the Commander for acting hastily despite there being no proof Jul 'Mdama was ever present on the planet. The following day, when the ''Infinity'' jumped into slipspace, its slipspace drive experienced an anomaly which trapped them in an [[Aktis system|uncharted system]]. Unbeknownst to them, Dr. Halsey and 'Mdama possessed an [[Requiem communication artifact|artifact]] capable of contacting the ''Infinity''{{'}}s Forerunner components, including her [[slipspace drive]], allowing them to confine the flagship within the system.{{Ref/Reuse|HE13}} This ultimately set the stage for the [[Battle of Aktis IV]] between July 19-20, which would see ''Infinity''{{'}}s half of the Janus Key fall into Covenant hands, and bring the two [[Operation: ATHENA|to blows]] at the Absolute Record in September.

More pressingly for the Covenant, TDS-009's unusual behaviour during the engagement at Oban proved the first sign of the inherent instability within the Promethean army under Jul's command. Writing in [[Dr. Halsey's personal journal|her journal]] on July 22, two days after the engagement on [[Aktis IV]], Halsey theorised that the unwilling nature of the citizens [[New Phoenix Incident|forcibly subsumed]] into the Prometheans the previous year was manifesting as glitches and aberrations that would eventually grow into a much larger problem for the Supreme Commander. This caused Halsey to rethink her alliance of convenience with the Covenant, and begin looking for a way out.{{Ref/Reuse|TMB}} By the time of the [[Battle of Kamchatka]] in October 2558, Halsey's prediction was proven correct when the Prometheans were placed under the charge of a [[Created|new master]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:HE13 Thorne Palmer Save.jpg|Palmer saves Thorne from a Promethean knight.
File:HE13 Crawlers.jpg|Promethean crawlers attack Thorne and Palmer.
File:HE13 Warthog Combat.jpg|The Spartans use a Warthog to retreat.
File:HE13 Hog Hop.jpg|Palmer runs a warthog on top of a Phantom.
File:HE13 Hog Drop.jpg|The Warthog falls from the Phantom.
File:HE13 Phantom Charge.jpg|The Phantom prepares to attack the Spartan.
File:HE13 Longsword Combat.jpg|A Longsword destroys two Phantoms.
File:HE13 Thorne Down.jpg|Palmer tends to Thorne.
</gallery>

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: Escalation]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo 5: Guardians]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: The Machine Breaks]]''

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}

{{Post-Covenant War conflicts}}