Battle of Trove

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Battle of Trove
Conflict:	Human-Covenant War
Date:	February 23–25, 2531
Location:	Trove, Korinth Prior system
Outcome:	Strategic UNSC victory Trove and all Forerunner constructs destroyed Local Covenant forces destroyed Flood containment on Trove successful UNSC Spirit of Fire unable to jump to Slipspace and return to UNSC-controlled space
Details Belligerents United Nations Space Command Covenant Flood Forerunner constructs Commanders Captain James Gregory Cutter Sergeant John Forge† Jerome-092 Prophet of Regret Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee† Proto-Gravemind† Unidentified Forerunner AI† Little Bit Strength UNSC Spirit of Fire AC-220 Vultures B-65 Shortswords D77 Pelicans AV-22 Sparrowhawks AV-14 Hornets M312 Elephants M850 Grizzlies M808B Scorpions SP42 Cobras M9 Wolverines XRP12 Gremlins M12 Warthogs HRUNTING Mark III (B) Exoskeletons SPARTAN-II Red Team UNSC Marine Corps Recon Team Echo and India Alpha Platoon Bravo Platoon Charlie Platoon Orbital Drop Shock Troopers Fleet of Glorious Interdiction Proclamation's Tithe Taaku Xur-pattern Spirits Bkowe'nei-pattern Vampires Type-26 Banshees Deutoros-pattern Scarabs Shua'ee-pattern Locusts Zurdo-pattern Wraiths Barukaza Workshop Choppers Karo'etba-pattern Ghosts Mgalekgolo Jiralhanae Sangheili Huragok Kig-Yar Unggoy Flood bomber forms Flood swarms Flood thrasher forms Flood carrier forms Flood combat forms Pod infectors Super Sentinels Aggressor Sentinels Protector Sentinels Casualties Assumed less than half (5,500) personnel. All infantry in Recon Teams Echo and India Large numbers of ground and air vehicles. Heavy infantry losses Sergeant John Forge Unidentified lieutenant Total destruction of all forces, except the Prophet of Regret and his escort All Flood Trove All constructs

The Battle of Trove was an engagement fought between the crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire, the Covenant, the Flood, and Forerunner forces on the Forerunner shield world known as the Trove during the Human-Covenant War from February 23 to 25, 2531.

Background

The Trove or "Trove" had been discovered by the Covenant some time prior to the battle, but despite their reverse-engineering attempts, they had not been able to activate the shield world's most prized artifact: the Apex Site, an installation which contained numerous Forerunner Sojourner-class dreadnoughts. With the Human-Covenant War ongoing, the Covenant started their search for a key to activate the Forerunner ships in order to bring a swifter end to the human race. After seeing Ellen Anders activate a Forerunner structure on Harvest, the Covenant discovered that they could use a human to activate the Apex installation.

Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee captured Professor Anders after the Battle of Arcadia, planning to use her to activate the Forerunner dreadnoughts' systems. The UNSC Spirit of Fire pursued the Covenant to the shield world without reinforcements to rescue Anders. Upon entering the system they followed Anders' transponder signal the best that they could. Captain Cutter launched several Marine teams, as well as Sergeant John Forge to begin surface operations to locate Professor Anders.

The battle

Initial actions

Recon Teams Echo and India deployed on the shield world's surface, along with a small force led by Forge. Using Elephants and Marine infantry, together with air support from Shortsword bombers and help from SPARTAN Red Team, Forge's force cleared an area of Jiralhanae around a beacon, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements and the Recon Teams.

First encounter

Shortly after this, however, the force received an ominous message from Echo Team, stating that they were under attack from "things," before dropping out of contact. India Team sent a similar message before dropping out of contact.

Forge's team and the Spartans moved to investigate, encountering the Flood for the first time, including dozens of infection forms that resulted in a large number of Marines being lost. However, they successfully recovered both teams' Elephants and retreated back to the Firebase being constructed at the beacon site. UNSC forces began to have problems with air transport, as the exterior surface's atmosphere was thick with dust, which caused the engines on Pelican dropships to fail within three flights.

Red Team discovered that a proto-Gravemind was coordinating the Flood forces and was also jamming Anders' transponder signal. However, before they could destroy the Gravemind, their