Battle over Installation 07

"I wish I could tell you it was difficult... but it wasn't."

- Escharum to John-117.

A battle for Installation 07 was an engagement that took place in late 2559 between the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) and the Banished. The battle was a major engagement ultimately resulting in the scattering of both UNSC and Banished forces on Installation 07, leading to a protracted conflict on the ring.

Prelude
When the Created conflict began with the rogue AI Cortana subjugating major planets and governments across the galaxy with her Guardians, the UNSC Armed Forces were broken with the forced into hiding. Cortana ushered in a new era with her Created as rulers, enforcing martial law across their territory. The Infinity conducted operations against the Created in limited capacity.

Eventually, Dr. Halsey came up with a way to stop Cortana. By using a copy of her known as “The Weapon,” the UNSC could defeat Cortana. The copy would lock Cortana down, preventing her from controlling her vast Guardian and Promethean forces and isolating her in her current location, Installation 07. A plan was formed, with the initial intent to send Blue Team to the surface to retrieve Cortana, though this was later revised to be just John-117 and The Weapon while Frederic-104, Kelly-087, and Linda-058 were reassigned by Captain Thomas Lasky to another mission, much to Dr. Halsey’s chagrin.

Battle
A fleet of six Mulsanne-class frigates followed shortly by the went to Installation 07 and were ambushed by a group of mercenary raiders known as the Banished. The UNSC’s intent was to send John-117 down to the surface once Dr. Halsey gave the signal that Cortana was locked down by the Weapon. John-117 was on the bridge with Captain Lasky when their plan went awry. The Banished took advantage of Cortana’s compromised status to spring a trap, Atriox wanting revenge against Cortana for the loss of his homeworld.

The Infinity had been prepared for a ground assault and was caught by surprise. Four Banished dreadnoughts attacked the supercarrier and overwhelmed its defenses, with one ramming the dorsal hull, causing massive structural damage, prompting a general evacuation as Banished forces boarded the Infinity. John-117 left the bridge after the collision to repel the Banished boarding parties. Realizing the hopelessness of their situation, Captain Lasky informed the crew that the ship had been compromised and ordered all forces to retreat to the Ring’s surface before being escorted to a lifepod.

After ensuring Captain Lasky’s lifepod was away, Spartan Hudson Griffin and Fireteam Taurus organized the evacuation of the remaining Spartan-IVs, marines, and crew to the surface of Installation 07 under fire from Banished artillery. The leader of the Banished, Atriox, boarded the Infinity and defeated Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 in a melee in one of the hangar bays before tossing him into space as the hangar was engulfed in flames. The Infinity suffered heavy damage and eventually began to come apart, crash landing on the ring in the process.

Aftermath
"We lost. Lost everything. There's nothing left for us here. I don't even know where here is."

- Echo 216's pilot to John-117.

The conflict resulted in extensive damage to Installation 07, as well as leaving Echo 216 and its pilot adrift near the installation. Additionally, the battle resulted in heavy casualties among personnel assigned to the, with the ship crash-landing on the ring.

Despite the damage, the Banished would occupy the ring leaving UNSC forces to group up on one of the fragments. They would form a resistance which included three Spartans. A large group of survivors would create a base in the ruins of a crashed Mulsanne-class frigate Mortal Reverie discovered by Spartan Makovich, led by Spartan Hudson Griffin. They established it as the UNSC’s new HQ on the surface, taking advantage of the frigate’s still-active point defense system.

Griffin would determine that the only way to survive would be to take out Escharum, the Banished leader, and selected a 4-man Spartan team, led by him, to assassinate the Brute. He left Spartan Theodore Vettel in charge of Reverie while the team traveled on foot to Escharum’s citadel. However, Escharum anticipated Griffin’s actions and was waiting for them. He slaughtered his team, while sending the entirety of his forces to wipe out Reverie, which did not hold out against the assault, despite Griffin managing to send out a warning to Reverie. The Banished, led by Tremonius, would rename the base Outpost Tremonius. Griffin would later meet his end after being tortured by Chak 'Lok and freed by John-117 while Escharum himself would eventually meet his end at the hands of John-117.

The surviving UNSC personnel were forced to conduct guerilla tactics over the next few months, their numbers slowly whittled down as they were either captured or killed. It was not until John-117 was recovered that the UNSC survivors managed to turn the tide against the Banished.

List of appearances

 * Halo Infinite
 * Halo: The Rubicon Protocol