Battle of Kholo

The Battle of Kholo was an attack by the Covenant Empire on the UNSC colony world of Kholo.

Background
The location of Kholo was obtained by an unnamed Sangheili Shipmaster from the incomplete data banks of a captured human freighter. Upon returning with the information to the High Council, the Shipmaster was ordered to take command of the Fleet of Righteous Vigilance and destroy Kholo, under the watchful eye of the Prophet of Conviction.

The Battle
The human orbital defenses maintained only a few small military vessels and a number of freighters in orbit. These were overwhelmed and destroyed by the fleet's scout vessels. When the main fleet arrived, ground forces were deployed to the surface, before being withdrawn after two days to clear the way for the orbital bombardment to follow. The Shipmaster leading the fleet was ordered by the Prophet of Conviction to manually control his cruiser's energy projector and carve the Covenant glyph for "Faith" into the surface of the planet. Upon completion of the glyph, the rest of the fleet opened fire and completely glassed Kholo. The battle was an overwhelming Covenant victory with Kholo being glassed, killing a large amount of civilians and UNSC personnel trapped on the planet.

Aftermath
Like all previous colonies lost to the Covenant, Kholo was rendered lifeless by the glassing and most of its population burned to death. The UNSC abandoned the planet as it was consumed in flames, proving to be yet another decisive victory for the Covenant.

In 2559, after the Human-Covenant War had ended in part due to the Great Schism that saw the Covenant split apart, the Shipmaster who had glassed the planet returned to Kholo to seek atonement for his role in the planet's destruction. By this point, Kholo, despite its state became a site of minor skirmishes between the UNSC and the Covenant Loyalists, as the two sides fought over recovered Forerunner relics. As of 2559, the UNSC has not initiated any concerted effort to terraform or resettle Kholo.