Editing Danforth Whitcomb

{{Status|Canon}}
{{New content|[[Halo: Hungry Buzzards]]}}
{{Character infobox
|variant=Human
|name=Danforth Whitcomb
|image=[[File:Enc22 Whitcomb.png|300px]]
|homeworld=[[Earth]]{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc22|Enc22|Page=105}}
|birth=[[2489#July|July 3, 2489]]{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|death=[[2552#September|September 13, 2552]] {{c|revised slipspace date}}
|causeofdeath=
|parents=
|siblings=
|spouses=
|children=
|species=[[Human]]{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|gender=Male{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|height={{Convert|186|cm|ftin|sp=us}}{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|mass={{Convert|258|lb|kg|disp=flip|sp=us}}{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|hair=None{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS19|HFS|Chapter=19}}
|eyes=Brown{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|affiliation=[[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] [[UNSC Navy|Navy]]{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|rank=[[Vice Admiral]]{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|sn=11113-32871-DW{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}
|notable=
}}
{{Quote|I know all that, and you're three hundred percent correct, Lieutenant. But, I won't leave a single man or woman behind on this planet for the Covenant to tear apart for sport. No way. And that goes double for a Spartan. We're going in.|Whitcomb to [[Lieutenant|LT]] [[Elias Haverson]] on [[Reach]]{{Ref/Reuse|FS19}}}}

'''Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb''' was the [[Deputy Chief of Naval Operations]] for the [[United Nations Space Command]] [[UNSC Navy|Navy]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS3|HFS|Chapter=3}} In [[2552#August|August 2552]], he was one of the many UNSC leadership involved in the [[Fall of Reach]], though was extracted in the days following the battle by [[John-117]] and the [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-II]] survivors of the cataclysm. This led to Whitcomb's death during the subsequent [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]], which saw his self-sacrifice in order to secure the destruction of the [[Covenant]] battlestation ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]''.

Despite his death, Whitcomb's legacy lives on in the form of the [[NOVA bomb]], the most destructive [[nuclear weapon]] in the UNSC arsenal and one that would later be used to destroy two [[Covenant colonies|Covenant worlds]] - [[Saepon'kal]] and [[Glyke]], the former personally done by Whitcomb, who armed the bomb himself. These posthumous destructive attacks in combination with the destruction of ''Unyielding Hierophant'' and its fleet have secured Whitcomb as the single human with the highest number of Covenant kills that can be personally accredited to one person.{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}}

As Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Whitcomb was subordinate to [[Fleet Admiral]] Lord [[Terrence Hood]], the [[Chief of Naval Operations]]. In this role, he held a seat on the [[UNSC Security Council]].{{Ref/Novel|FS|Chapter=11}}

==Biography==
===Early life and military career===
Danforth Whitcomb was born on [[Earth]] on [[2489#July|July 3, 2489]].{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}} He would claim to have descended from [[Russia]]n [[Wikipedia:Cossacks|Cossacks]], though his accent suggested that he originated from the [[Texas]] area.{{Ref/Reuse|FS19}} During the [[Human-Covenant War]], Whitcomb fought in the [[Battle of New Constantinople]] and the [[Siege of the Atlas Moons]], and as such, every [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-II]] had studied his record.{{Ref/Reuse|FS19}} Throughout his career, Whitcomb was repeatedly criticised for his unorthodox tactics and strategies, though his insight had proven correct each time,{{Ref/Reuse|FS20}} eventually allowing him to rise to the rank of [[Vice Admiral]] and hold the seat of the [[Deputy Chief of Naval Operations]].

During the war, Whitcomb headed up the [[Project YGGDRASIL|YGGDRASIL program]], a research endeavour intended to run parallel to Dr. [[Catherine Halsey]]'s [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor|Project MJOLNIR]] in the creation of [[powered exoskeleton]]s and other related technologies. The [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] (ONI) created YGGDRASIL in order to take the offshoot technologies developed by Halsey for MJOLNIR and investigate how they may be further applied in other areas of military R&D, in conjunction with corporate partners. In 2535, YGGDRASIL was merged with the much older [[Project HRUNTING]] due to that project reaching its dead end, pairing scientists and technicians from both programs with funding by the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] and the [[Materials Group]], among other corporations. The results of the combined HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL project included the development of the [[Mark I ADS|Mark I Armor Defense System]], [[Mark I (H) exoskeleton]], [[Mark II (D) Geyrion|Mark II Geyrion]], [[Mark II (J) Colossus|Mark II Colossus]]. and [[Mark IX Mantis|Mark IX Mantis]].{{Ref/Site|URL=http://halo.xbox.com/en-US/Universe/detail/prototype/b053d1dc-912b-401b-bb9e-2909d1028c31|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Prototype|D=05|M=09|Y=2012|LocalArchive=Archive:Halo Waypoint/2009 to 2014/Universe/Technology#Prototype}}{{Ref/Book|Enc22|Page=76}}

In [[2551]], Whitcomb become involved in a dispute between [[UNSC Army]] Colonel [[James Ackerson]] and [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-II]] [[John-117]] over personnel assignments for the then-upcoming [[Operation: METEORITE]]. This escalated into an exercise that pitted the Spartan against several Mark I (H) exoskeletons in order to prove that the Spartans were right for the task at hand. The purpose of the mission was to capture data from the ''[[kelguid]]'' on the Covenant logistics vessel ''[[Triumph of Tolerance]]'' in the hopes of finding the location of the [[High Charity|Covenant homeworld]]. After John-117 demonstrated how flawed the exoskeletons were, Whitcomb agreed against using Ackerson's operators and placed the Spartan in charge of figuring out who his team should be as the other Spartan-IIs were currently unavailable. John-117 requested [[Sergeant Major]] [[Avery Johnson]] and the [[Dextro Xur-pattern Spirit|Spirit dropship]] that Ackerson's people had recently captured.{{Ref/Novel|Halo: Hungry Buzzards}}

The admiral was also involved in the research project for the then-prototype [[NOVA bomb]]s, a planet-killing weapon intended to help the UNSC even the playing field in [[space warfare]].{{Ref/Reuse|FS19}}

===Fall of Reach===
{{Main|Fall of Reach}}
Whitcomb was stationed on [[Reach]] in summer of [[2552]], when the Covenant, led by the [[Fleet of Valiant Prudence]], entered the system. Even despite initial [[Operation: UPPER CUT|UNSC successes]] against the invaders, Whitcomb felt that the planet's fall was inevitable. When evacuations began, Whitcomb stayed behind to secure the nascent NOVA bomb project and try to use them to fend off the inevitable, though was caught off-guard when the combined Covenant fleet arrived on August 30 to deliver the killing blow. As such, Whitcomb instead intended to repurpose the NOVA bombs, setting them on an automated timer and leaving them for the Covenant to find with the hopes that they would take them aboard one of their ships and return them to one of their worlds, or that they would detonate while still on Reach and take the Covenant armada assembled around the planet with it.{{Ref/Reuse|FS19}}

At around 0500 hours on August 30, Whitcomb became the commander of all UNSC forces involved in the defence of Reach operating in the [[Reach Defense Coordination Zone]]. This followed an attack on [[Reach High Command]] which left most of the senior officers dead alongside the [[Space engagements over Reach|simultaneous defeat]] of the UNSC fleet in orbit, including the death of Vice Admiral [[Michael Stanforth]] and presumed death of Admiral [[Roland Freemont]]. Whitcomb and his staff were able to escape the facility's destruction, ultimately hiking south-east and holing up in a gully located in the [[Highland Mountains]]. At around 0700, he personally radioed [[Charlie Company]], who were defending [[Orbital Defense Generator Facility A-331]], hoping to order Lieutenant [[Jake Chapman]] to extract Whitcomb and his staff to safety. However, by this time Chapman was dead, and so Whitcomb instead gave the order to [[Frederic-104]], leader of SPARTAN-II [[Red Team]] and acting leader for the remains of Charlie Company. Despite the Spartans' strict orders to keep the {{Class|Erőd|orbital weapon platform}}s online to assist in the space battle overhead, Whitcomb's status as the commander for ''all'' forces in the Reach AO gave him the authority to countermand them. Due to Whitcomb's inexperience as a ground commander, due to his naval background, Fred wondered if Whitcomb had been the one to authorise the [[C709 Longsword|Longsword]] [[Carpet bombing|airstrike]] near Facility A-331 that had gotten most of Charlie Company killed.{{Ref/Reuse|FS3}}

Fred selected [[Anton-044]], [[Grace-093]] and [[Li-008]] to extract Whitcomb, intending to bring the officers to the generator facility to hole up - though also noted that the admiral would have likely been better off staying where he was.{{Ref/Reuse|FS3}} The Spartans were ultimately able to save the admiral and were later joined by the rest of Red Team after their defence of the generator facility failed. The combined group of officers and Spartans moved to finish Whitcomb's plan to arm the NOVA bombs, arming them on around September 14 with a ten-day timer set, before then establishing a headquarters at [[Camp Independence]]. The group then spent the following days conducting hit-and-run attacks on Covenant occupation forces throughout the [[Highland Mountains]], culminating in the admiral's rescue by Spartan [[John-117]] on September 23. Despite the protests of Lieutenant [[Elias Haverson]], the admiral refused to evacuate from Reach and head to Earth despite acknowledging it as the most sensible decision - instead ordering the remaining Spartans to take him in their captured {{Pattern|Dextro Xur|Spirit}} dropship to the remains of [[CASTLE Base]] under [[Menachite Mountain]] so that they could rescue the stranded remnants of Red Team who had been deployed there.{{Ref/Reuse|FS19}}

Whitcomb took command of the mission to CASTLE Base, ordering Warrant Officer [[Shiela Polaski]] to drive their Spirit straight into the excavation site and let the Covenant's own [[gravity lift]] handle the job of decelerating them safely. Throughout the mission, the admiral showed a penchance for brazen missions and adept planning, and a seeming lack of fear. Once on the ground, Whitcomb joined the assault force inside the Covenant mine, successfully extracting Fred-104, [[Kelly-087]], and Dr. Halsey.{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS20|HFS|Chapter=20}} Despite being attacked by thousands of Covenant troops, the admiral was able to escape back onto the Spirit with the rest of the group unhurt, ultimately correctly guessing that the Covenant would not fire on the Spirit due to the [[Menachite Forerunner crystal|slipspace crystal]] that was now in Halsey's posession. The group were ultimately able to rendezvous with the captured {{Pattern|Ruma|light carrier}} ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'', now piloted by [[Cortana]] and docked with the frigate {{UNSCShip|Gettysburg}}, and escape from Reach.{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS22|HFS|Chapter=22}}

===Ascendant Justice/Gettysburg===
{{quote|My duty is clear: to protect the men and women of [[Earth]]—not a pack of privateers and outlaws.|Whitcomb before leaving Governor Jiles' people to face the Covenant alone.{{Ref/Reuse|FS30}}}}
Now in a more familiar context, Whitcomb took command of ''Ascendant Justice'' after it entered [[Slipstream space|slipspace]], quickly thrust into battle as a number of Covenant ships pursued the carrier from Reach. However, thanks to the slipspace crystal aboard, a unique interaction occurred which formed a [[slipspace bubble]] around ''Ascendant Justice'' and the pursuing fleet, allowing them to fire their [[plasma torpedo]]es at one another, though with almost no way to accurately aim due to the strange properties of slipspace's physics. Dropping back out of slipspace would mean facing off against thirteen {{Pattern|Ket|battlecruiser}}s alone, and staying in the bubble would mean increasingly succumbing to the random trajectories that the plasma projectiles were on. In his characteristically aggressive style, Whitcomb ordered ''Ascendant Justice'' to come about and charge back into the pursuing enemy fleet, charging its own weapons and preparing to engage at point-blank range. With so little space between the ships, ''Justice''{{'}}s weapons fire would be nearly guaranteed to hit their aggressors either way.{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS23|HFS|Chapter=23}} After several minutes spent waiting for the Spartans to conduct an [[Extra-vehicular activity|EVA]] critical hull repair, Cortana estimated that of the fourteen ships which had pursued the carrier, only 3-5 were left, leading Whitcomb to survey the identified targets and conclude that the still active [[Covenant carrier|carrier]] and a mostly-undamaged battlecruiser were the priority targets. He set in a collision course for ''Ascendant Justice'' which put it on a collision course with the battlecruiser, also arming the still-docked ''Gettysburg'' by filling up its lateral deployment bay with air. When the ''Ascendant Justice''-''Gettysburg'' came within point-blank range of the cruiser, its weapons fired, hitting the target with no time to go off course. At the same time, ''Gettysburg''{{'}}s bay was depressurised, shoving the carrier-frigate combination off course and narrowly missing the battlecruiser, which was promptly hit by the plasma weapons and destroyed. Whitcomb recognised that the same tactic would not work again due to the smart [[shipmaster]] commanding the carrier, and so instead ordered (with only seconds before ''Justice'' itself was due to break apart from stress) that ''Ascendant Justice'' ram debris from the Covenant cruiser and use it as a shield with which to get in close to the carrier. While ''Justice'' diverted at the last second, the cruiser's debris, in conjunction with a salvo from ''Ascendant Justice''{{'}}s weapons, finished off the carrier and allowed Cortana to drop the ship back into normal space.{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS25|HFS|Chapter=25}}

''Ascendant Justice'' emerged into realspace in the middle of deep space, far from any star system or planet. For Whitcomb, this presented a dilemma; recovered intelligence from Cortana's access in the [[Proselytization network|Covenant battlenet]] had uncovered that the Covenant had finally found the location of Earth, and were preparing to strike there with haste. However, the slipspace crystal retrieved by Halsey emitted high levels of radiation which would kill the crew in under 72 hours, making a slipspace transit to Earth impossible; even if that weren't an issue, the crystal acted as a "beacon" to Covenant fleets while in slipspace, surely attracting them to ''Ascendant Justice''{{'}}s position. Under John-117's suggestion, Whitcomb made the decision to transit to the relatively nearby [[Eridanus system]], one which had been evacuated during the early stages of the war with the Covenant. Unbeknownst to Whitcomb, John intended to try and seek harbour at [[Eridanus Secundus]], an [[insurrectionist]] hidden asteroid facility that had been the site of the Spartans' [[Operation: TALON|first mission]] in [[2525]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS26|HFS|Chapter=26}}

On the approach to the base at [[Eridanus Secundus]], Whitcomb improvised a feint to improve the UNSC's bargaining position: ''Ascendant Justice'' was only capable of firing one plasma turret, but could still charge most of them. As such, Whitcomb ordered all of them be charged in order to fool the rebels into believing the ship was more heavily-armed than it was. When station governor [[Jacob Jiles]] initially blew off Whitcomb's demands to dock at Eridanus, noting that ''Ascendant Justice'' was in such a poor state that even the rebels wouldn't need to use a [[nuclear weapon]] to destroy it, Whitcomb ordered the ship fire at one of the nearby asteroids and destroy it to demonstrate the ship's firepower. Jiles relented, and agreed to bring Whitcomb and his staff aboard to discuss their needs, ultimately allowing Whitcomb to explain in brief everything that had gone on since Reach's destruction. Whitcomb noted that the Covenant were almost certainly pursuing ''Ascendant Justice'' so that Jiles had essentially no choice ''but'' to help the UNSC, feigning that they had found the asteroid redoubt of their own volition rather than because of John's foreknowledge. In return for the rebels' help, Whitcomb promised that he would have all staff on the station evacuated to Earth ''and'' pardoned for any crimes against the [[Unified Earth Government]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS28|HFS|Chapter=28}}

During the meeting, a Covenant cruiser appeared over Eridanus Secundus, prompting the loose alliance into action. Whitcomb suggested that Jiles use one of the rebels' nukes to damage the cruiser for a follow-up strike by ''Ascendant Justice'' leading to Jiles revealing that his nukes had been a ruse; in return Whitcomb revealed that only the single cannon aboard ''Justice'' was operational, and that both leaders had overplayed their positions relative to one another. ''Justice'' attempted to fire its plasma cannon, though the shot misfired due to a damaged electromagnetic coil. Due to this, ''Ascendant Justice'' was forced to flee the battlefield, leaving the rebels to engage the cruiser alone while Cortana diagnosed the issue. Instead, the crew devised a plan to use ''Gettysburg''{{'}}s [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon]] (which was out of ammunition) to focus a magnetic field for ''Ascendant Justice''{{'}}s plasma turret, firing it at the Covenant cruiser and destroying it. Despite the victory, Whitcomb recognised its short-lived nature, and so ordered the Spartans to get at least six hours of sleep and repair their equipment while the rebels got to work on expediting repairs to the ''Ascendant Justice''-''Gettsyburg''.{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS29|HFS|Chapter=29}} For Whitcomb, his priority was getting away from Eridanus Secundus as soon as possible so that he could get back to the [[Sol system]] and warn UNSC High Command of the threat facing them, leading to his own outrage when Halsey was able to reactivate the [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine]] of Jiles' {{Class|Chiroptera|subprowler}} and escape into slipspace with Kelly-087 for reasons unknown. That the craft did not have a slipspace drive had been assured to the admiral by Lieutenant Haverson prior, leading to the admiral's conclusion that Halsey had somehow managed to reactivate it on her own.{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS30|HFS|Chapter=30}}

While dealing with Halsey's insubordination, a fleet of thirty Covenant ships [[Massacre at Eridanus Secundus|emerged at Eridanus Secundus]], leading Whitcomb to pull ''Ascendant Justice''-''Gettysburg'' out of dock to prepare to engage. Despite authorising Jiles to evacuate his people to UNSC ''Gettysburg'', Whitcomb ultimately could not find a way to survive the fight ahead and so instead made the decision to emergency jump to slipspace, rationalising that the hundreds of rebel lives he was abandoning were nothing compared to the billions on Earth that were at risk. When discussing his options with John-117, Whitcomb drew comparisons to the [[Wikipedia:Battle of the Alamo|Battle of the Alamo]], in which around 250 Texan soldiers were able to hold off a siege from over 600 [[Mexico|Mexican]] troops, trading inordinate enemy casualties for their own lives. Whitcomb regretfully drew an unfavourable comparison to Texan Colonel [[Wikipedia:William B. Travis|William Travis]], noting his desire to stay, stand his ground and go down fighting, but recognising that the fate of Earth was more important.{{Ref/Reuse|FS30}}

===Operation: FIRST STRIKE===
{{main|Operation: FIRST STRIKE}}
{{Quote|Come on, mighty Covenant warriors! We're here in the middle of your fleet with your "holy of holies", come and get it!|Whitcomb's transmission to the Covenant.{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS36|HFS|Chapter=36}}}}
While ''Ascendant Justice''-''Gettysburg'' had been undergoing repairs, the Spartans came up with a plan to try and delay the Covenant's imminent [[Battle for Earth|invasion of Earth]], something which John-117 intended to bring to Whitcomb for his approval, noting that Whitcomb had the authority to scrub the Spartans' [[Operation: RED FLAG|previous directive]].{{Ref/Reuse|FS29}} After the ship escaped into slipspace, John presented this plan - termed [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]] - to Whitcomb, who initially denied it, recognising returning to Earth as the top priority. John countered by noting that a Spirit dropship could be launched from ''Ascendant Justice'' while in slipspace, only requiring a small course adjustment for the carrier while still letting the vice admiral finish his objective. After Cortana noted that she could make a copy of herself to send back to Earth with all of the data from her time on [[Installation 04]] and aboard ''Ascendant Justice'' thanks to the [[Covenant AI copying program|Covenant program]] she had destroyed earlier, Whitcomb relented and approved the mission, though noted that the Spartans would be totally on their own. He reasoned that the weight of the potential Covenant losses may make the sacrifice of the Spartans worth it.{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS31|HFS|Chapter=31}}

After the Spartans launched from ''Ascendant Justice'' and boarded [[Unyielding Hierophant]], only Whitcomb and Haverson were left aboard ''Ascendant Justice''. In this time, Haverson convinced Whitcomb to exit slipspace on the edge of the [[Tau Ceti system]] where the armada was massing, hiding in the [[Oort cloud]] to gather intel. Instead, Whitcomb came to the conclusion that even if ''Unyielding Hierophant'' were destroyed, there would still be hundreds of ships heading to Earth, and that there was little his warning could practically achieve.{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS35|HFS|Chapter=35}} He moved the ''Ascendant Justice''-''Gettysburg'' to behind a nearby moon and had ''Ascendant Justice''{{'}}s slipspace matrix moved to ''Gettysburg'' so that ship could jump, then detached the two ships, slingshoting ''Ascendant Justice'' around the moon towards ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]'' in an attempt to maximize Covenant losses by drawing in as many ships as possible towards the impending explosion. He set ''Ascendant Justice'' on a collision course with ''Unyielding Hierophant'' and broadcast a message that he had the Forerunner crystal that the Covenant wanted and told them to come and get it. The Covenant launched a [[Naval boarding|boarding action]] of ''Ascendant Justice'' in order to reclaim the crystal, but Whitcomb and Haverson held the bridge with [[M7 SMG]]s. By the time ''Unyielding Hierophant'' exploded, nearly five hundred vessels were clustered around it, many of them drawn in thanks to their pursuit of ''Ascendant Justice''.{{Ref/Reuse|FS36}}

Vice Admiral Whitcomb's sacrifice ultimately allowed for the destruction of almost all of the fleet gathered around ''Unyielding Hierophant'', as well as providing an avenue in which the remaining SPARTAN-IIs could return to Earth to report their massive amount of intelligence to the UNSC. In his last words, Whitcomb reminded John-117 of the Alamo which they had spoken of earlier, noting that while the battle was a tactical defeat, it was ultimately a strategic victory that allowed the defeated force to win the wider war.{{Ref/Reuse|FS36}}

After the deaths of Whitcomb and Haverson, the Master Chief added both men to his team roster along with Corporal [[Locklear]] and Petty Officer Polaski and listed them as [[killed in action]].{{Ref/Reuse|FS36}} Whitcomb's name was later listed on the [[ONI memorial]] held within their [[ONI Alpha Site (location)|Apha Site]] facility in [[New Mombasa]], which had been constructed by October 20, 2552.{{Ref/FFMap|H3ODST|Alpha Site}}

===Whitcomb's legacy: the NOVA bomb===
{{Main|NOVA bombing of Joyous Exultation}}
{{Quote|This is the prototype NOVA bomb, nine fusion warheads encased in lithium triteride armor. When detonated, it compresses its fissionable material to neutron-star density, boosting the thermonuclear yield a hundredfold. I am Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, temporarily in command of the UNSC military base Reach. To the Covenant uglies that might be listening, you have a few seconds to pray to your damned heathen gods. You all have a nice day in hell...|Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb's recording on the NOVA bomb, right before it is activated in the space adjacent to the planet Joyous Exultation.{{Ref/Novel|Id=GOO27|GoO|Chapter=27}}}}
While Whitcomb was himself killed in FIRST STRIKE on September 13, 2552,{{Ref/Note|Dates between September 13 and 29 are muddied due to the effects of the slipspace crystal. See [[2552#September's anomaly|here]] for more details.}} his final act of retribution did not come to pass until November 3 of that year. The [[NOVA bomb]]s which Whitcomb had left on an automatic timer were ultimately recovered by the Covenant and presumably deactivated, left in storage aboard the [[Covenant carrier#Supercarriers|supercarrier]] ''[[Sublime Transcendence]]''. It is likely that the ship's [[Huragok]] engineers which tended to the bomb were responsible for this. After the outbreak of the [[Great Schism]] days prior, ''Sublime Transcendance'' had gathered at the Covenant world [[Saepon'kal]] under [[Imperial Admiral]] [[Xytan 'Jar Wattinree]] as part of the larger [[Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose]], a faction of [[Sangheili]] who were collecting power there with the intent to eventually strike back at the [[Prophet of Truth]] and his [[Jiralhanae]] loyalists. Unfortunately for the fleet, the bomb was accidentally tripped by [[Kwassass]], an [[Unggoy]] who had stumbled upon the bomb in ''Sublime Transcendance''{{'}}s holds. As such, the NOVA bomb [[NOVA bombing of Joyous Exultation|detonated]] with the seconds that were left on its countdown timer, finally realising Whitcomb's plan from the Fall of Reach and taking with it every single warship gathered over Saepon'kal that was within visible range of the explosion, alongside shattering the planet's moon and dealing extraordinary damage to the planet itself.{{Ref/Reuse|GOO27}} This action, in combination with his sacrifice at ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]'', garnered Whitcomb the single-highest Covenant kill count that can