Battle of Miridem

"Sheila is dead. I personally witnessed her killed in the Battle of Miridem."

- Doctor Catherine Halsey

The Battle of Miridem was an engagement of the Human-Covenant War between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant, taking place on the human Inner Colony of Miridem in 2544. The battle lasted for over two weeks, resulting in heavy losses to both the UNSC and the Covenant. Ultimately, Miridem was glassed by the Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence.

The battle resulted in the capture of Doctor Catherine Halsey of the Office of Naval Intelligence, leading to Operation: WARM BLANKET.

The battle
"As you already know, yesterday the UNSC declared the colony of Miridem lost. The fight had gone on for over two weeks and we killed a mountain of those bastards, but apparently not enough."

- Vice Admiral Berlin Tursk to Captain Lucius Jiron

In 2544, Miridem became one of the human colonies that fell in the way of the Covenant's path of destruction throughout the Inner Colonies when Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee's Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence arrived over the world. A fleet of the UNSC Navy led by Vice Admiral Berlin M. Tursk defended Miridem, with several Spartan-IIs being deployed to the world to aid in the evacuation of civilians.

The ensuing battle lasted for over two weeks, with both sides suffering heavy losses. The Covenant besieged the world, destroying nearly every evacuation vessel that attempted to flee before they even reached Miridem's gravity well. During the civilian evacuation, Doctor Catherine Halsey—the chief scientist of the Office of Naval Intelligence who had been present on Miridem—was extracted to BL-9400493, personally protected by Sheila-065. However, the two were intercepted by Major Thel 'Lodamee and his battalion. In the resulting confrontation, Sheila was killed by 'Lodamee, though Halsey managed to escape aboard the evacuation craft.

Realizing that Halsey must be important to the United Nations Space Command given that Sheila sacrificed her life to defend the doctor, 'Lodamee abandoned his battalion without notice in pursuit of the evacuation craft, accompanied only by a small strike force. BL-9400493 managed to make it to the edge of Miridem's system before the craft was disabled by a Covenant interceptor. The craft was boarded and the entirety of the crew was killed, with the exception of Halsey. While 'Lodamee captured Halsey, his battalion suffered heavy losses in his absence and delayed the Covenant's inevitable victory. Regardless, the Covenant glassed the world, forcing the remaining UNSC forces to abandon Miridem.

Due to the ongoing conflict on Miridem, Dr. Halsey reasoned it to be unlikely that the UNSC would be able to invest resources in following-up research on Heian - following the discovery of ancient ruins on the planet in Operation: GREY VEIL.

Aftermath
"They will follow and we will be ready for them."

- Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee

The UNSC forces present in the system were quick to react to the capture of Halsey. With Blue Team deployed under orders from UNSC High Command, Tursk swiftly dispatched Captain Lucius Jiron's ONI stealth ship to pursue the Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence, which departed Miridem to rendezvous with the Fleets of Furious Retribution and Rigorous Prayer before returning to High Charity. However, due to a local magnetic irregularity preventing them from performing an immediate slipspace jump, the fleet was delayed at Ascon, allowing for Jiron's stealth ship to catch up to the Covenant fleet. Meanwhile, 'Taralumee reported the events of the battle to the Vice Cleric of Zeal at High Charity, informing the vice cleric of Halsey's capture and 'Lodamee's behavior. The UNSC soon launched Operation: WARM BLANKET, with Blue Team led by John-117 attacking the Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence to rescue Halsey. Blue Team was eventually successful in their mission, although two of the Spartans were killed in action.

Shortly after the operation to rescue Halsey, the UNSC enacted Operation: IRON FIST, in which John-117 ensured asset denial and the partial recovery of critical cyber-infrastructure assets on Miridem. Some of the surviving Miridem residents would seek refuge on Minister.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Adjunct
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo Legends
 * The Package
 * Halo: Reach