Operation: ATHENA

Operation: ATHENA was an engagement fought at the Forerunner installation known as the Absolute Record in 2558.

Prelude
After the events on the shield world of Requiem, Jul 'Mdama and Dr. Catherine Halsey allied themselves to recover both halves of the Janus Key and discover the location of the Absolute Record. On Aktis IV, they planned to steal the UNSC's half of the Janus Key, but a rebellion led by the Sangheili Sali 'Nyon threatened their plans. Halsey was able to recover the second half of the Janus Key thanks to a Minor who betrayed 'Nyon. Even when Commander Sarah Palmer captured the doctor, the Covenant was able to rescue the doctor and recover the Janus Key, emerging victorious. Days later, Jul and Halsey discovered the location of the Absolute Record using the combined Janus Key. Unknown to them, Ayit 'Sevi, a Sangheili working with the Office of Naval Intelligence, was able to infiltrate inside Jul's faction and provided ONI with information about their plans. The UNSC then formed a specialist team of Spartans Sarah Palmer, Gabriel Thorne and Holly Tanaka, Dr. Henry Glassman and 'Sevi.

The human members of the team would infiltrate the Breath of Annihilation in a Covenant box with a cloaked interior compartment, transported to the ship aboard a Type-44 Phantom piloted by 'Sevi. Once at the Absolute Record they would separate from the fleet and find a place to land. Because they lacked real-time superluminal communications options, they planned to use a state-of-the-art model of telemetry probe that would transmit their location back to the UNSC.

The battle
On September 17, 2558, Ayit 'Sevi's Phantom entered Breath of Annihilation, just before the fleet made the slipspace jump toward the Absolute Record. Upon their exit from slipspace three hours later, 'Mdama's fleet entered the upper atmosphere of an unusually hot gas giant with a metallic hydrogen core, noted by Dr. Halsey as being likely artificial. The Janus Key began to react, leading Halsey to conclude that they were close to their destination — a slipspace portal to the Absolute Record. As the portal began to form, however, slipspace ruptures materialized into several ships of the fleet, tearing them apart. Breath of Annihilation was damaged as well and the Spartans and Glassman were thrown about uncontrollably in their crate. 'Sevi blew the box open and told the others that they must move out as the entire ship was breaking apart. The telemetry probe was destroyed in the chaos as well, meaning the team had no way to contact the UNSC.

List of Appearances

 * Halo: Escalation