Battle of Seoba

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Battle of Seoba
Conflict:	Insurrection Human-Covenant War
Date:	March 18–19, 2526
Location:	Ice quarry, Seoba, Biko planetary system, Kolaqoa system
Details Belligerents UNSC Insurrectionists Biko Independence Army Freedom League Gao Liberation Force People's Occupation United Rebel Front Venezian Militia Covenant Commanders CAPT. Halima Ascot† Col. Marmon Crowther LTCDR Hector Nyeto PO1 John-117 Gen. Harper Garvin First Blade Tel 'Szatulai Shipmaster Hulon 'Budyasee Strength Task Force Yama Point Blank-class prowler Razor-class prowlers 21st Space Assault Battalion SPARTAN-IIs (12) Blue Team Gold Team Green Team Civet (14+) Hundreds of infantry Bloodstar Flotilla Five intrusion corvettes Sacred Whisper Worthy Silence Several Karo'etba-pattern Ghosts Bloodstars Jiralhanae Kig-Yar Sangheili Silent Shadow Casualties Initial assault 52 ODSTs from Alpha Company CPT Zelos Cuvier Six percent of the rest of the battalion UNSC Ghost Song Covenant attack UNSC Starry Night CAPT Halima Ascot 53 naval personnel and ODSTs All Civets Dozens or hundreds of infantry Three intrusion corvettes Worthy Silence Several Kig-yar, Sangheili, and Jiralhanae Several Type-32 Ghosts

The Battle of Seoba was an engagement early in the Human-Covenant War between forces of the United Nations Space Command and several Insurrectionist factions, and later the Covenant. It took place on the moon of Seoba, the third moon of Biko.

Background

Operation: SILENT STORM

Main article: Operation: SILENT STORM

Early in the war with the Covenant, UNSC leadership realized that they would not be able to match the Covenant one-for-one in space combat. Following successful SPARTAN-II boardings of the Unrelenting and Radiant Arrow, Vice Admirals Preston Cole and Michael Stanforth decided that the Spartans would next be employed to take on a larger operation - boarding and destroying a Covenant fleet of warships, while Battle Group X-Ray provided a distraction.

To assist the operation, Task Force Yama was assembled consisting of several Razor-class prowlers and the Point Blank-class prowler UNSC Vanishing Point. Twelve SPARTAN-II supersoldiers and the ODST 21st Space Assault Battalion were assigned to the fleet, with Captain Halima Ascot in charge of the Prowler fleet and Colonel Marmon Crowther given operational command of ground forces. The planet Biko, home to three resource-rich moons and a series of shipyards, was in the path of the Covenant conquest and thus selected as a staging ground for the operation. If the Covenant skipped attacking the planet, then the UNSC had a forward operations base in what would now be Covenant space; if the Covenant did attack the planet, Yama would be able to attack the Covenant while they were distracted.

Insurrectionist presence

By 2526, the war with the Covenant was still largely unknown to the general public, with the large fleet movements to the Outer Colonies something of a mystery to the civilian populace, including the Insurrectionists. On March 12, many rebel organisations had been summoned to the frigate Bellicose for a meeting; there, General Harper Garvin of the URF and Lyrenne Castilla, captain of the Bellicose, informed many rebel faction leaders of the stark reality of the Covenant and their war against the UNSC. Petora Zoyas, representative for the Gao Liberation Force, informed the congregation of the SPARTAN-II program and Operation: SILENT STORM, citing a source within Task Force Yama for the information. With the news that the Covenant would be attacking Biko in short order, Erland Booth vocalized his concern for the planet and the Biko Independence Army. The meeting devised a plan to help the Insurrection take advantage of the situation; many rebel groups would supply troops to assist the BIA in executing a coup on the Bikon chancellor, taking over the planet and offering it to the Covenant in the hopes of being able to ally with the aliens against the UNSC.

The insurrectionists established their base in an old abandoned ice quarry on Seboa, the planet's third moon. The insurrectionists planned to use the quarry as a staging ground, before attacking and controlling Biko's orbital facilities. The combined Insurrectionist force fortified the quarry with at least six camouflaged bunkers sporting M41 Vulcan rotary cannons, a convoy of Civet armored fighting vehicles and hundreds of infantry.

Operation: ICE DANCE

"All personnel: Operation: ICE DANCE is no longer a drill. Repeat, no drill."

— Marmon Crowther.

Independently to the Insurrectionists, Task Force Yama also selected the same quarry as a perfect place to hide their prowlers until such a time as the UNSC and Covenant began the Battle of Biko. Operation: ICE DANCE was formed as an opportunity to let the SPARTANs and ODSTs of the 21/SAB rehearse a deployment under fire. With a full platoon, a SPARTAN-II in Mark IV MJOLNIR and an ONI special advisor - Avery Johnson - in the drop bay of UNSC Ghost Song - the troops would practice the deployment on landing in the quarry. Upon exiting slipspace however, the mission changed; the Prowlers had detected the insurrectionist plans to overthrow the chancellor, and the mission was now one of clearing the quarry so the Task Force could hide there.

To this end, the Task Force intended to keep operational secrecy, and would thus use the cover of being Battalion Five of the Chancellor's Guards, intending to let the rebels believe that their operation had been discovered by the Bikon planetary security forces as opposed to UNSC. To prevent word from getting out, the Vanishing Point was on station to work on jamming Insurrectionist communications, while the prowlers would work to make sure no reinforcements could reach the ground. The Task Force's Ghost Flight would drop the 21st's Alpha Company, led by Captain Zelos Cuvier, at the docks, at the base of a mass driver once used for launching ice from the quarry to Biko for terraforming. At the top of the mass driver lay an insurrectionist communications outpost. The outpost was hit by an air strike from the prowlers, rendering it temporarily inoperable.

At 14:33 hours, the attack had begun, with the Ghost Song dismounting First Platoon, including John-117. The first