Battle of Chi Ceti

The Battle of Chi Ceti was an engagement on a small scale between a UNSC Frigate and a smaller Covenant ship.

Space Battle
En route to the distant Damascus Testing Facility, the was attacked by a Covenant ship. The frigate successfully fended off the Covenant ship and borders by blasting a hole in it with a MAC and also hitting it with a Shiva warhead, while a squadron of Longsword fighters harassed the enemy ship to keep it from retreating. At the cost of the Longsword squadron and heavy damage to the Commonwealth, the Covenant ship was forced to retreat to the edge of the system.

Interlude
The SPARTAN-IIs landed on Chi Ceti via Pelican. They then boarded an elevator to the Damascus Testing Facility (which was far underground), where they donned their MJOLNIR armor for the first time before evacuating the facility along with the small group of technicians and scientists who manned it.

At this point, the Covenant ship turned around and continued its attack on the system. Then, John-117 decided that he and his Spartans would covertly board the ship and detonate explosives from within it.

Boarding the Covenant Ship
The Spartans boarded a Pelican and took off into space. They strapped the Pelican's ANVIL-II ASM warheads to themselves and donned thruster packs to maneuver through space in order to board the Covenant ship. Only three Spartans, John-117, Kelly-087 and Sam-034 successfully landed on the ship and entered through the hole that the MAC had torn in the ship's hull. They reached the ship's reactor, placed their warheads inside, and escaped the blast radius.

Unfortunately, Sam was hit by plasma fire from a Jackal breaching his armor, making it impossible for him to follow his comrades escape from the ship, as he would die from decompression. He was forced to stay behind, holding off the Covenant while John and Kelly escaped. The warheads detonated and the Covenant ship was destroyed, taking Sam with it. He was the first Spartan to die in combat.

Trivia

 * The spartans used EVA armor during this operation. It is unknown if this is the same variant as the one in Halo 3.
 * This is the first battle that Spartans wear Mjolnir

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 * Human-Covenant War