Maribeau Veredi

Captain Maribeau Veredi was a CMA officer during the beginning of the Human-Covenant War. He was the commanding officer of the CMA Heracles and commander of Battlegroup 4. He had the dubious honor of making the first recorded contact with the Covenant.

Harvest
Captain Veredi led CMA Battlegroup 4, the battlegroup that firstly encountered the Covenant. The battle group consisted of his own ship, the destroyer UNSC Heracles and two frigates, the CMA Arabia and CMA Vostok. Their deployment was aimed to discover the fate of the colony on the planet Harvest.

They entered the Epsilon Indi system only to discover that the planet had been rendered a wasteland, with what left that wasn't incinerated or refined into molten glass undergoing a nuclear winter. This high-temperature bombardment would later be known as "glassing".

First contact
In orbit around the remains of the colony world was a single alien ship, which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying both Arabia and Vostok and badly damaging the Heracles. Before the ship attacked the Battlegroup, Veredi attempted to follow the UNSC's first contact protocol to no avail.

Intercepted communications identified the enemy as "The Covenant". The message stated, "Your destruction is the will of the Gods, and we are their instrument." It was translated into English for UNSC personnel.

Second Battle of Harvest
Captain Veredi later served during the Second Battle of Harvest where he again commanded the repaired UNSC Heracles and accompanied Vice Admiral Preston Cole into the system, successfully retaking it from the Covenant.

Trivia

 * Technically, the Harvest colonists and Colonial Militia actually made contact with the Covenant before Veredi and Battlegroup 4. However, when Veredi and the Heracles returned to UNSC space, the survivors had still not been found and were presumed dead, making Veredi the first to report contact with the Covenant.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo Wars: Genesis