Battle of the Quarantine Zone

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Battle of the Quarantine Zone
Conflict:	Human-Covenant War Battle of Installation 05
Date:	c.November 2552
Location:	Quarantine Zone, Installation 05
Outcome:	Strategic Covenant victory The Covenant successfully obtain the Index for Installation 05 Many non-infected humans captured, including Commander Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Johnson UNSC suffers total casualties, including the loss of the In Amber Clad Tactical Flood Victory Quarantine Zone fails Flood infest large areas of Installation 05 and successfully escape the ring.
Details Belligerents Covenant United Nations Space Command Forerunner constructs The Flood Commanders Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee Rtas 'Vadumee Tartarus CDR Miranda Keyes SgtMaj Avery J. Johnson GYSGT Marcus Stacker Gravemind Strength Special Operations Sangheili Special Operations Unggoy Kig-yar Jiralhanae UNSC Navy 1 light frigate UNSC In Amber Clad UNSC Marine Corps 105th Shock Troops Division 7th Shock Troops Battalion Aggressor Sentinels Sentinel Majors Enforcers Combat forms Infection forms Carrier forms Casualties Many Jiralhanae Many Sangheili Many Unggoy Many Kig-yar 40 ODSTs killed or infected 150(+) Marines killed or infected 250 Naval personnel killed or infected 8(+) Marines captured Most ground assets captured Many D77 Pelicans captured UNSC In Amber Clad captured Many Sentinels Many Enforcers 1(+) Sentinel constructor factory Many combat forms Large number of infection forms Many carrier forms

"At the center of this zone, is a Sacred Icon critical to the Great Journey. I must find it."

— Thel 'Vadamee to Rtas 'Vadumee

The Battle of the Quarantine Zone was a battle which took place on Installation 05 in 2552, as the Covenant and UNSC fought through the Quarantine Zone in search of the Activation Index, known to the Covenant as the Sacred Icon. The battle encompassed an extended conflict between Flood and Forerunner Sentinels that stretched back nearly 100,000 years.

Background

The establishment of the Quarantine Zone is rooted in ancient history - approximately 3,000 years after the activation of the Halo Array, the Flood under containment on Installation 05 were released. Under normal circumstances Sentinel guards would have been able to keep the parasite under control. Unfortunately, the Flood had access to hosts, and were able to hold off the constructs.

At some point, Installation 05's Monitor 2401 Penitent Tangent was warned by a Forerunner ancilla of a pending outbreak in one the installation's Flood containment facilities. The monitor continued to ignore this warning, and those that followed, for millennia. Within 99,779 years, the containment facility had been overrun by the Flood, with lockdown protocols in effect within the Halo's teleportation grid to prevent further infestation. Eventually, the full force of the installation's Sentinels and Enforcers was mobilized, and a Quarantine Zone was established, surrounded by an enormous wall projecting a powerful Containment Shield.

The establishment of the Quarantine Zone was too late to prevent the formation of a Gravemind. Over the centuries, the Gravemind's reach spread throughout the installation, eventually capturing the monitor of the installation, 2401 Penitent Tangent, giving him access to the teleportation grid and causing the structures on the Installation to fall into disrepair.

In 2551, a small Covenant team found a Luminary on Meridian after a battle on the moon.This Luminary was delivered to the Prophet of Regret, one of the three ruling Hierarchs of the Covenant. By late 2552, two Stewards assigned to decrypt the Luminary finally revealed its content to the Prophet of Regret: the locations of the Halo rings, including Installation 05. Hastily assembling a fleet of fifteen warships, the Prophet made his way toward the planet that housed the gateway portal to the Ark, unaware that the planet was in fact humanity's heavily defended homeworld. After a failed invasion of Earth, Regret fled to Installation 05 aboard his flagship Solemn Penance, pursued by the UNSC In Amber Clad.

The Battle

UNSC Incursion

"Proceed to the objective, we'll hold out as long as we can!"

— Gunnery Sergeant Marcus Stacker, as the released flood overwhelm UNSC forces inside the Sentinel Wall.

The UNSC In Amber Clad holds position near Delta Halo's library.

Shortly after arriving in the Coelest system in pursuit of the Solemn Penance, Commander Miranda Keyes of the UNSC In Amber Clad demanded the AI Cortana provide her with all information from the installation her father had discovered a month prior. Keyes was able to locate Installation 05's Library, and set out to reach it and secure it's Activation Index before the Covenant could do so. Marine forces lead by Sergeant Major Avery Johnson were ordered to extract from their positions on the ring's surface and rendezvous with the In Amber Clad at the Library while Spartan John-117 proceeded on his mission to