Battle of Chi Ceti

The Battle of Chi Ceti was fought between the UNSC and the Covenant early in the Human-Covenant War. Though it was a small scale engagement it marked the culmination of the SPARTAN-II Program with the supersoldiers being united with the MJOLNIR Mk. IV Powered Assault Armor, and the combat debut of the potent combination.

Background


The Covenant attack on Harvest, and the beginning of the Human-Covenant War, instigated a UNSC-wide mobilization. The need to deploy Project MJOLNIR took on greater urgency. The SPARTAN-IIs were sent to Damascus Testing Facility on Chi Ceti IV aboard the frigate to undergo final integration with the armor. Doctor Catherine Halsey accompanied the supersoldiers to oversee the process.

Interrupted Delivery
Commonwealth entered the system at 1750 hours, November 27, 2525. The frigate detected the Covenant light cruiser Unrelenting as an intermittent sensor ghost at 80 million kilometers. This was far beyond the frigate's weapons range and Captain Wallace saw no need for concern. However, Doctor Halsey warned of a possible enemy tactical Slipstream jump and the captain brought the ship to general quarters. John-117 ordered

Halsey's warning was prescient. Unrelenting suddenly appeared 3000 kilometers from Commonwealth and opened fire with pulse lasers. The frigate's communications dish was destroyed and its AI disabled. Commonwealth returned fire with 180 Archer Missiles; the light cruiser evaded half and the remainder failed to penetrate the shields. Unrelenting destroyed the frigate's navigation dish and caused further damage with lasers. In turn, a heavy MAC round penetrated the light cruiser's shields and struck its hull directly.

As Commonwealth prepared another heavy round, Unrelenting charged a Plasma Torpedo. Both fired nearly at once, and struck their targets. The frigate vented atmosphere to prevent the torpedo from causing catastrophic damage but the MAC gun was destroyed. The Covenant ship likewise survived the second MAC round.

Commonwealth's remaining option were three Shiva-class Nuclear Missiles, however the range was too short for those to be used safely. John-117 assessed the enemy's psychology and concluded the Covenant ship was likely to stop and engage any challenge. Wallace ordered Longsword Squadron Delta to occupy the light cruiser and launched a Shiva. In the meantime the frigate came about and executed a burn away toward Chi Ceti IV. The nuclear warhead destroyed the Longswords and further damaged Unrelenting. The light cruiser subsequently disengaged.

Commonwealth made a fly by of the planet. The Spartans and Dr. Halsey disembarked by Pelican and made for the Damascus Testing Facility. The frigate retreated to 20 million kilometers to effect repairs. Pursuant to his orders, Wallace was prepared to use his damaged ship to lure the enemy away from the facility.

Interlude
The SPARTAN-IIs landed on Chi Ceti via Pelican. They then boarded an elevator to the underground Damascus Testing Facility, where they donned their MJOLNIR MARK IV armor for the first time before evacuating the facility along with the small group of technicians and scientists who manned it.

At this point, the Covenant ship turned around and continued its attack on the system. Then, John-117 decided that he and his Spartans would covertly board the ship and detonate explosives from within it.

Boarding the Unrelenting
The Spartans boarded a Pelican and took off into space. They strapped the Pelican's ANVIL-II ASM warheads to themselves and donned thruster packs to maneuver through space in order to board the Unrelenting. Only three Spartans, John-117, Kelly-087 and Sam-034 successfully landed on the ship and entered through the hole that the MAC had torn in the ship's hull. They fought through a handful of Jackals, reached the ship's reactor, placed their warheads inside, and escaped the blast radius.

Unfortunately, Sam was hit by plasma fire from a Jackal, which breached his armor, making it impossible for him to escape from the ship with his comrades, as he would die from decompression. He was forced to stay behind, holding off the Covenant while John and Kelly escaped. The warheads detonated and the Unrelenting was destroyed, taking Sam with it. He was the first SPARTAN-II to die in combat.

Trivia

 * This is the first battle in which Spartans wore MJOLNIR armor.
 * In the game Halo Wars, sometimes when a Spartan kills an enemy, they can be heard saying, "For Samuel!", which is a direct reference to Sam dying aboard the Covenant ship in Halo: The Fall of Reach.