Battle of Harvest

The Second Battle of Harvest was a massive UNSC operation to retake the glassed colony of Harvest from The Covenant.

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 * February 3rd: Harvest detects a contact on its long range radar, and soon afterward, all contact is lost with the planet. The UNSC Argo was sent to investigate the loss of communication.


 * April 20: The Argo arrives in-system and makes one confirmation transmission. No further reports are received.


 * October 7: A UNSC battle group consisting of one destroyer, the Heracles, under the command of Captain Veredi and two frigates the Arabia and the Vostok enters the Harvest system and discovers that everything on the planet has been completely incinerated and the surface melted down to glass. This is later dubbed "glassing". In orbit around the remains of the colony world is a single alien ship, which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying both Arabia and Vostok and badly damaging the Heracles. Intercepted communications identify the enemy as "The Covenant". The message "Your destruction is the will of the Gods...and we are their instrument" is broadcast in UNSC language.


 * November 1: Vice Admiral Preston Cole mobilizes the largest space fleet in human history to retake Harvest.

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Cole's fleet engages the alien warships gathered in orbit over the destroyed colony, scoring a victory (though the battle cost Cole two-thirds of his battle group). Only a last minute tactical inspiration turned the tide of battle. After returning to Earth, Cole-promoted to Admiral-learns that a number of outlying colonies have been destroyed, leaving behind no survivors.

Cole begins to move his fleet around, trying to intercept the invaders. Ground and ship-to-ship battles begin in earnest, raging throughout the Outer Colonies. During one ground engagement, Human forces capture one of the aliens. Before succumbing to his wounds, interrogators learn that the aliens refer to themselves as "the Covenant".

United Nations Space Command
Commander: Vice Admiral Preston Cole

Covenant
Commander: Unknown

7-10 Warships of various classes, plus numerous legions of the Covenant Army.

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 * Human-Covenant War