Editing Halo universe (section)

===The Human-Covenant War begins===
{{Main|Halo: Contact Harvest|Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn|First Battle of Harvest}}
On [[2525#February|February 3, 2525]] the UNSC colony of [[Harvest]] detected an unknown object on its long-range radar. The object was constructed with materials unlike anything seen before. All contact with Harvest was lost soon after. Ships sent to the system revealed that it had been totally destroyed by a new alien group called the Covenant. A battle group was sent but was defeated by the technologically superior Covenant ships. Only one ship made it back, the {{CMAShip|Heracles}} returned with a message that was sent to them, pre-translated, saying, "Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument".{{Ref/Reuse|TFoR}}

The novel ''[[Halo: Contact Harvest]]'' further details the events that transpired at Harvest and the Covenant leadership's underhanded scheme surrounding the beginning of the war: humans were discovered to be [[Reclaimer|living heirs]] to the Covenant's gods, the Forerunners, forming a concrete threat to the Prophets' authority as well as the very foundation of the [[Covenant religion|their religion]]. Rather than reveal the truth to the Covenant at large, the new triumvirate of [[Hierarchs]] call for the complete destruction of humankind, under the pretense that humans had committed unforgivable offenses against their gods.

In response to the destruction of Harvest, [[Preston Cole|Vice Admiral Preston Cole]] mobilized the [[Battle Group X-Ray|largest space fleet]] in human history to retake Harvest. The fleet defeated the Covenant ships at Harvest in [[2531]] but at great cost with Cole losing two-thirds of his fleet. The highly advanced Covenant shielding and weapons systems simply outclassed anything they had and so began the slow destruction of the human race. One by one the UNSC colonies were lost until by [[2535]], virtually all of the [[Outer Colonies|Outer Colony]] worlds had been destroyed by the Covenant and the [[Inner Colonies]] were being invaded. [[United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 098831A-1|The Cole Protocol]] was established by military order: all human vessels must ensure that Covenant forces do not find Earth. To achieve this whenever they must jump out of a battle, they must do so to a randomized vector that points away from any human worlds.{{Ref/Reuse|TFoR}}

====Apex Site====
{{Main|Halo Wars: Genesis|Halo Wars|Harvest Campaign|Battle of Arcadia|Battle of Trove}}
[[File:HaloWarsWithTeen.jpg|thumb|150px|''Halo Wars'' is set twenty one years before the events of ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' and centers around the crew of the ''UNSC Spirit of Fire''.]]
On, [[2531|January 3, 2531,]] the UNSC {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}} is sent to Harvest to assist the crippled {{UNSCShip|Prophecy}}. When the ''Spirit of Fire'' arrives, the Cole Protocol is then enacted on the ''Prophecy'', in so ensuring its destruction. While scientist [[Ellen Anders]] and captain [[James Cutter]] discuss the northern regions of Harvest, they realize the Covenant might be after something that is specifically there. Cutter sends Sergeant [[John Forge]] to assemble a team and investigate. Forge and his team soon find the presence of a [[Relic (location)|Forerunner relic]], and that the Covenant are after it. After clearing a way through Covenant forces, the UNSC's forces enter the relic and find out where the Covenant have been pointed to— [[Arcadia]]. Following the Covenant fleet there, ''Spirit of Fire'' soon gets entangled in an evacuation process, but they do safely extract some civilians from the colony. After a few more battles, Anders gets taken by the [[Arbiter]], [[Ripa 'Moramee]]. The chase continues as the ''Spirit of Fire'' follows the Covenant fleet to [[Trove]].

The search for Ellen Anders starts while it is revealed to both factions that the Flood has taken over the exterior of the shield world. ''Spirit of Fire'' enters the shield world's inner shell, looking for Anders, who is now being forced to activate a once-hidden [[Sojourner-class dreadnought|Forerunner fleet]] for the purposes of being reverse-engineered into the Covenant naval force for easy extermination of the human species. Anders then escapes using a [[Slipspace translocation|translocation device]] and then conveniently links up with the UNSC again. This news reaches ''Spirit of Fire'', which then has her FTL drive extracted for the purpose of destroying the Shield World's sun, therefore denying the Covenant the fleet it wants, which would lead to the extinction of the human race. This plan works out, but at the cost of Forge's life, who heroically stays behind to detonate the FTL drive. Without an FTL drive, and the long expected journey home most likely going to take years or decades, the Spirit of Fire's crew enters into cryonic storage, now drifting in space until contact is made.

====The Fall of Reach====
{{Main|Halo: The Fall of Reach|Halo: Reach|Fall of Reach}}
[[File:Halo Reach (Standard with ESRB).png|thumb|150px|''Halo: Reach'' is set during the fall of the UNSC fortress world Reach.]]
By [[2552]], many of humanity's Inner Colonies had been destroyed by the Covenant. The UNSC leadership assembled a Spartan-II strike team, at the human command base on the planet Reach. In a move of desperation, the UNSC planned to launch a targeted strike against the [[Hierarchs|Covenant leadership]]. This plan was abandoned when the Covenant launched a surprise attack on the world of Reach.{{Ref/Reuse|TFoR}}

During this battle, most of Reach is overrun and glassed, and the human fleet obliterated. One of the Spartans, [[John-117|Master Chief Petty Officer John-117]], is able to escape on the ship {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} along with her crew. In fleeing the Covenant fleet, the ''Autumn''{{'}}s onboard AI, [[Cortana]], uses a set of coordinates from a recently discovered Forerunner artifact that leads them straight to the Forerunners' [[Installation 04]].{{Ref/Reuse|TFoR}}

In the game ''[[Halo: Reach]]'', the Spartans of [[Noble Team]] defend Reach against the Covenant invasion, most of them sacrificing their lives in the process. At the finale, they are given the task of transporting a fragment of Cortana housing critical data to the ''Pillar of Autumn''. [[Noble Six]] holds off the Covenant long enough for the ''Autumn'' to escape, indirectly enabling humanity's survival in the war.

====Alpha Halo====
{{main|Halo: Combat Evolved|Halo: The Flood|Battle of Installation 04}}
[[File:Halo Combat Evolved cover.png|thumb|150px|left|The first game, ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', takes place around and on Alpha Halo.]]
Three weeks after escaping Reach, the ''Pillar of Autumn'' exits Slipspace to find a mysterious [[Installation 04|ring-shaped space station]] orbiting the gas giant [[Threshold]]. The ring, referred to by the Covenant as "[[Halo Array|Halo]]", is an artificial construct that is teeming with life. A [[Fleet of Particular Justice|Covenant fleet]], however, is also present, and a subsequent battle heavily damages the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}} and the ship crash lands onto Halo.

The first Halo game begins in earnest with the Master Chief's escape from the ''Autumn'', and continues upon landing. The first levels of the game deal with an attempt to reach Halo's control center to uncover its purpose. It is soon discovered that the Covenant have accidentally and unwittingly released the [[Flood]], a parasitic alien species. The Flood then sweep across Halo and devastate human and Covenant forces positioned on it. The release of the Flood prompts [[343 Guilty Spark]], an eccentric Forerunner AI, to try to activate Halo's defense system, a pulse weapon that, when fired, would wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy large enough to be hosts for the Flood. Technically, that installation only has a maximum effective radius of 25,000 light years, but the pulse would trigger other installations as well, effectively killing all intelligent life in the galaxy. This system is designed to stop the Flood from spreading through the universe if they escape confinement from Halo by the only way possible: starving the Flood of any life source that can sustain them.

Naturally, this would wipe out humanity as well, and so the final levels of the game revolve around the Master Chief's attempts to destroy Halo before it fires by self-destructing the ''Autumn''. Despite the abuse sustained during the space battle and the following crash the ''Pillar of Autumn'' remained intact, and was subsequently occupied by investigating Covenant forces and later by Flood.

Having manually triggered a destabilization of the power cores the Master Chief and Cortana commandeer a [[GA-TL1 Longsword|Longsword]] from one of the ''Pillar of Autumn's'' docking bays and achieve a safe minimum distance before the ''Autumn's'' drives explode, causing the ring-world to fragment.{{Ref/Game|CE|campaign}}
{{Clear}}

====First Strike====
{{Main|Halo: First Strike|Operation: FIRST STRIKE}}
[[File:Firststrike2.jpg|thumb|150px|''Halo: First Strike'' takes place between ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' and ''Halo 2''.]]
Occurring between ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' and ''Halo 2'', ''Halo: First Strike'' starts off with Master Chief and a few other survivors in space above the destroyed Halo. They capture the Covenant flagship ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'' and make their way back to Reach. When they arrive they find the entire planet ravaged; however, on a small patch of the surface left unscathed, it is discovered that Dr. Halsey and several Spartans who survived the fall of Reach have found a [[Menachite portal complex|Forerunner structure]] under ONI's [[CASTLE Base]]. There they find a [[Forerunner crystal|special artifact]] that warps space-time, before being retrieved by the UNSC forces aboard the ''Ascendant Justice'' along with other survivors, including [[Danforth Whitcomb|Vice Admiral Whitcomb]].

Cortana, now in control of the Covenant ship, docks with the damaged UNSC frigate {{UNSCShip|Gettysburg}} and combines their power, also allowing them to return to Earth without violating the Cole Protocol by bringing a potentially "bugged" Covenant ship with them. Damaged in a battle with pursuing Covenant ships, the ''Ascendant Justice'' travels to a [[Eridanus Secundus|hidden rebel base]] in the [[Eridanus system]] for repairs. The rebels agree to a truce with the UNSC forces, but the Covenant soon discover their location. In the ensuing chaos, Dr. Halsey abducts [[Kelly-087]] and flees into slipspace aboard the [[Jacob Jiles|rebel governor]]'s [[Beatrice|ship]]. Admiral Whitcomb grimly decides to leave the rebels to fend for themselves while the ''Ascendant Justice'' escapes.

The Master Chief and other Spartans discover a massive plot to attack Earth. They covertly attack and destroy a massive Covenant [[Unyielding Hierophant|refit and repair station]] along with an attack force many times larger than the one that attacked Reach. In doing so they lose the Covenant flagship; however, they save the ''Gettysburg'' and escape back to Earth with it.
{{clear}}

====Delta Halo====
{{Main|Halo 2|Battle of Earth|Battle of Installation 05|Great Schism|Halo: Broken Circle}}
[[File:Halo2-Cover-Large.jpg|thumb|left|150px|''Halo 2'' takes place on Earth and around Installation 05 (Delta Halo).]]
''Halo 2'' starts with the beginning of a Covenant attack on Earth. John-117 begins on ''[[Cairo Station]]'', one of the three hundred [[Orbital defense platform|space defense platforms]] that orbit the planet. After repelling the Covenant [[Naval boarding|boarding parties]], the battle shifts to [[Battle of Mombasa|Earth's surface]]. During the battle, the [[Prophet of Regret]]'s carrier, ''[[Solemn Penance]]'', makes a Slipspace jump and the UNSC ship ''[[UNSC In Amber Clad|In Amber Clad]]'', with the Master Chief aboard gets swept up in the ship's wake in a desperate effort to follow it. The ''In Amber Clad'' is transported to the vicinity of another Halo ring - [[Installation 05|Delta Halo]] - on which they land. 

The game also follows an alternating story, viewed through the perspective of the [[Thel 'Vadam|Arbiter]], an Elite commander disgraced for his failure to prevent the first Halo's destruction. During a mission to quell [[Sesa 'Refumee's heretic faction|a movement]] regarded by the [[Hierarchs|Covenant leadership]] as heretical, the Covenant recover [[343 Guilty Spark]]. After their mobile capital, ''[[High Charity]]'', arrives at Delta Halo, the Covenant becomes embroiled in a power struggle discreetly engineered by the [[Prophet of Truth]], with [[Jiralhanae|Brutes]] usurping the role of the Elites, beginning an apocalyptic civil conflict known as the [[Great Schism]].

Meanwhile, a battle rages on Delta Halo's surface. Both the UNSC and the Covenant seek to obtain the Halo's [[activation index]] whilst being caught in a [[Battle of the Quarantine Zone|battle]] raging between the Halo's [[sentinel]]s and the [[Flood]], which has escaped containment. Both the Master Chief and the Arbiter eventually end up in the clutches of an entity known as the [[Gravemind]], the controlling intelligence of the Flood. With its own agenda in mind, the creature tasks the Master Chief and the Arbiter with stopping the Covenant from activating the Halo. The Spartan is sent to ''High Charity'' to stop the Prophet of Truth, while the Arbiter is transported to the vicinity of the Halo's [[control room]], where he discovers that the Brutes have betrayed his kind.

Confronting [[Tartarus]], the Chieftain of the Brutes, in the control room, the Arbiter learns the truth about the Halos from 343 Guilty Spark: the rings were built to prevent the Flood from spreading throughout the galaxy, and the Forerunners who built it were wiped out when they fired it as a weapon of last resort in the distant past. In spite of this, Tartarus activates the ring in preparation to fire, to bring about the Great Journey. Tentatively allied with the UNSC forces present, the Arbiter manages to defeat Tartarus and the activation index is removed before the Halo can fire. 343 Guilty Spark reveals that although the Index was removed before Delta Halo had time to complete its firing sequence, it sent signals to other Halos in the galaxy, putting them on standby mode. Now, they can be activated remotely from the Ark, whose nature or location is not revealed at this point.

''High Charity'' has fallen into chaos as a result of the Great Schism and an invasion by the Flood. The Prophet of Truth, intent on reaching Earth and the Ark, speeds toward the [[Forerunner Dreadnought]] in the heart of the city. With Cortana staying behind to momentarily delay the Dreadnought's launch, the Master Chief boards the Forerunner ship as it launches from the Covenant holy city, headed for Earth.
{{clear}}

====SPARTAN-III program and Onyx====
{{Main|Halo: Ghosts of Onyx|SPARTAN-III program|Onyx Conflict}}
[[File:Onyx cover.jpg|thumb|150px|Set mainly on the mysterious world of [[Onyx]], ''Halo: Ghosts of Onyx'' establishes the SPARTAN-III program.]]
''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]'', which tells the story of the events that occurred on the planet [[Onyx]], begins in [[2545]], with the [[SPARTAN-III Beta Company|Beta Company]] of [[SPARTAN-III program|SPARTAN-IIIs]] [[Operation: TORPEDO|deploying]] to a Covenant fleet refueling depot on [[Pegasi Delta]]. They proceed to destroy the facility, but due to unexpectedly heavy Covenant resistance, all but two of the three-hundred-strong Spartan company is wiped out. The only survivors, [[Tom-B292]] and [[Lucy-B091]], are revealed to be only twelve years old, and Lucy is traumatized and [[post-traumatic vocal disarticulation|rendered mute]].

In [[2531]], SPARTAN-II [[Blue Team]] [[Operation: SMOKING ACES|raid]] a rebel base on planet [[Victoria]] to recover stolen nuclear warheads. The team is nearly captured by a rebel ambush, but is saved by the timely, intuitive intervention of [[Kurt-051]]. Some time afterward, [[Colonel]] [[James Ackerson]] presents the top leadership of ONI with his proposal for a new Spartan project. They agree that the SPARTAN-II program is prohibitively expensive and that a more streamlined, "disposable" breed of Spartans must be trained for high-risk operations. Kurt-051 and [[Franklin Mendez|SCPO Mendez]] are brought in to train the new generation of Spartans on the classified planet of [[Onyx]].

Over twenty years later, in [[2552]], [[Team Saber|Teams Saber]], [[Team Katana|Katana]], and [[Team Gladius|Gladius]] of [[SPARTAN-III Gamma Company|Gamma Company]], the third S-III generation, conduct a training exercise when they run into previously undiscovered [[Onyx Sentinel|Forerunner Sentinels]]. Through a series of events, a [[Joyous Exultation Covenant|group]] of Sangheili-led Covenant discover the existence of Onyx and the potential Forerunner treasures within, prompting the UNSC to dispatch reinforcements to the planet. Meanwhile, Dr. Halsey, having disappeared on a quest of her own during the events of ''First Strike'', arrives at Onyx and joins with the UNSC forces there.

Pursued by the Sentinels and the Covenant, the human force discover an ancient Forerunner city, where they learn that the entire planet is an artificial construct. Fighting off determined Covenant pursuers, they press on into the heart of the planet. Entering a slipspace rift in Onyx's core, they find themselves alone in a vast [[Dyson sphere]] habitat. Kurt-051 stays behind to activate a pack of [[FENRIS nuclear warhead|nuclear warheads]], sacrificing himself to halt the Covenant pursuers. Subsequently, Onyx itself disintegrates, and is revealed to be composed of billions of Sentinels.
{{clear}}

====Battle for Earth====
{{Main|Halo 3: ODST|Battle of Mombasa}}
[[File:Halo 3 ODST Cover.png|thumb|left|150px|''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'' takes place in New Mombasa, Earth.]]
''Halo 3: ODST'' tells the story of what happened after the Covenant slipspace jump in the port city of New Mombasa in ''Halo 2'', as seen from the eyes of the [[Rookie]], an [[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers|ODST]], and his squadmates.

Prior to the slipspace rupture in ''Halo 2'', a large number of ODSTs are destined to drop into the [[Solemn Penance|Covenant carrier]] that evaded Earth's orbital defenses. The drop is initiated, but the [[Unidentified Shock Trooper squad|ODST squad]] of [[Gunnery Sergeant]] [[Edward Buck]] is commandeered by his superior, and former love interest, [[Captain (Navy)|Captain]] [[Veronica Dare]] of the Office of Naval Intelligence to drop into the city of New Mombasa, as opposed to the Covenant carrier. The slipspace rupture causes the squad to scatter and land in different parts of the city.

The Rookie wakes about six hours later and must find his squad. He roams the night-time city, fighting off Covenant patrols and discovering, with the aid of the city's [[Superintendent]] AI, clues that allow him to discover the fate of his fellow squad mates (with each discovery putting the player into that squad member's place for a level). He then picks up on Captain Dare's distress signal. The Rookie fights his way into and through an [[New Mombasa Data Center|underground facility]] where they meet up, and continue to fight their way through a massive [[Drone]] hive (awakened by the earlier detonation of an [[ONI Alpha Site (location)|ONI building]] at the top of the shaft at the hands of [[Michael Crespo|Mickey]] and [[Taylor H. Miles|Dutch]]). They both fight their way to the Superintendent data core, and discover a Covenant [[Huragok|Engineer]], one of many biological supercomputers and unwilling assistants to the Covenant, whom has taken apart the Superintendent's memory core and possesses vital information on the Covenant which could turn the tide of the war. 

They, along with Buck, fight their way down the city's [[New Mombasa Waterfront Highway|Waterfront Highway]], where they witness the Covenant begin to glass parts of the city. They hold off against waves of Covenant until Mickey, Dutch and [[Kojo Agu|Romeo]] arrive to pick them up. They arrive just before the Covenant prepare to glass their previous position, actually discovered to be an excavation project. They manage to escape just in time, only to realize that the Covenant has found what they were looking for.
{{Clear}}

====End of the war====
{{Main|Halo 3|Battle of Kenya|Battle of Installation 00}}
[[File:Halo3coverart.JPG|thumb|150px|''[[Halo 3]]'' takes place on Earth and the Ark.]]
''Halo 3'' takes place two weeks after the end of ''Halo 2''. The Covenant have all but obliterated human resistance on Earth, and have committed most of their forces in East Africa, near the ruins of Mombasa. Marines and the Arbiter [[Recovery of John-117|recover]] Master Chief John-117 after he jumps from the [[Forerunner Dreadnought]] as it entered Earth's atmosphere, and they all make their way back to the local UNSC base, [[Crow's Nest (location)|Crow's Nest]]. The Master Chief [[Attack on Crow's Nest|defends the base]], ultimately destroying it with a [[Improvised UNSC bomb|bomb]]. He regroups with a small group of Marines and they rally scattered UNSC forces before [[Assault on the Tsavo Highway|assaulting]] the Covenant-held [[Tsavo highway (location)|Tsavo Highway]], clearing a path into [[Voi]].

It is revealed that a large Forerunner artifact has been dug up under the African desert by the Covenant, and the Prophet of Truth is planning to activate it. Presumably this is the Ark, so therefore this would activate the Halos, and so a [[Battle of Voi|hasty attack]] is set in motion by Lord Hood to destroy the Forerunner Dreadnought with a surprise aerial assault. Master Chief clears Voi of all Covenant anti-air units to clear the path for Lord Hood's frigates for an assault on the dreadnought. However, the assault on the dreadnought has absolutely no effect, and Truth activates the artifact all the same. A large portal is created above the artifact, into which the Covenant forces disappear. Soon after, a [[unidentified Flood-captured battlecruiser|derelict Covenant cruiser]] appears out of Slipspace, and crashes nearby, infested with Flood.

The Master Chief and the Arbiter make their way toward the ship, and as they near its location, an [[Fleet of Retribution|Elite-controlled fleet]] appears, striking up an alliance with the humans and helping rid the city of Flood. Master Chief enters the ship and retrieves a message from Cortana, warning that High Charity is heading to Earth, full of Flood. It is decided that only the frigate {{UNSCShip|Forward Unto Dawn}}, the ship of [[Miranda Keyes]], along with the Elites, will go through the portal after Truth, and stop him from activating the rings, as well as finding the "solution" to the Flood that Cortana's message spoke of.

The human/Elite force arrives at [[Installation 00|the Ark]], and engage Truth's Brute fleet. Master Chief makes landfall and finds the [[Cartographer]] of the Ark, which leads him to the location of the remaining [[Covenant]] forces at the [[Installation 00 Citadel|Citadel]]. This leads to a trident strike at three [[barrier tower|shield generators]] guarding the Citadel at the heart of the Ark. Once all three generators have been deactivated, The Master Chief and the Arbiter breach the Citadel after Truth kills Miranda Keyes and forces [[Avery Johnson|Sergeant Major Avery Johnson]] to activate the rings. The Arbiter kills Truth, ending the Covenant, while the Master Chief deactivates the rings. The Gravemind then turns on them and sends a horde of Flood their way.

After the Master Chief and the Arbiter escape the Flood, they discover that a [[Installation 08|new Halo]] is being built to replace [[Installation 04]] which is nearly complete. The Master Chief decides that the only way to destroy the Flood was to activate the newly built Halo, which was out of range of the other installations, with Cortana. The Arbiter leaves to gather the surviving forces and get them ready to leave, and the Master Chief heads to the crashed ''High Charity'' to recover Cortana. After wading through tantamount to infinity of Flood, he recovers her and escapes to the new Halo with the Arbiter.

After fighting their way up to the top of the control room, the Master Chief and the Arbiter enter the control center, and attempt to activate the ring. However, 343 Guilty Spark attempts to stop the Chief and Johnson from activating the ring, saying that the charging sequence of the incomplete Halo will prove too much for the structure, and cause it to tear itself apart. In the fight, 343 Guilty Spark mortally injures Johnson, but fails at killing Master Chief, who destroys him with a [[M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle|Spartan Laser]]. They succeed in activating the ring, however as expected, the installation begins to fall apart, and once more does Master Chief makes an attempt to escape Installation 04 in a Warthog. The two board the ''Dawn'', which then proceeds toward the portal. The ''Dawn'' heads into the portal just as Halo fires, which closes as it gets halfway through shearing the ''Dawn'' in half. 

Half of the ''Dawn'', as well as the Arbiter, crashes back on Earth, and [[Voi Memorial|a memorial service]] is held for those who perished in the Human-Covenant War, ending on the note of the Master Chief's death. However, unknown to the rest of humanity, the Master Chief survived and put himself into cryosleep, as Cortana activates a [[Emergency locator beacon|distress beacon]]. Adrift in space for years, the rear half of the ''Forward Unto Dawn'' eventually hurtles toward a mysterious Forerunner planet, later to be known as [[Requiem]].