Battle of Galileo Base

"Robert Dalton"

- Jared Miller

The Second Attack on Galileo Base was a battle during the Requiem Campaign. During the engagement, Jul 'Mdama's Covenant and the Prometheans' attacked the UNSC's Galileo Base for a second time, following a failed attempt earlier in the campaign.

Prelude
In February 2558, as Doctor Catherine Halsey studied one of the Requiem slipspace artifacts aboard the, she was contacted by Covenant Supreme Leader Jul 'Mdama in secret. 'Mdama suggested that they could help each other and questioned what Halsey knew of the Prometheans. After a failed attempt to get useful information out of Spartan Gabriel Thorne, 'Mdama promised to provide her with proof of the true nature of the Prometheans which Halsey had been kept unaware of.

During these events, following a successful tap into the Forerunner communication network utilized by Covenant forces, Fireteam Crimson was sent to chase 'Mdama through Requiem portal system. After Crimson chased him to "the Cauldron," 'Mdama purposefully dropped "the Didact's Gift," a Durance containing the "soul" of a Promethean Knight: a human digitized by the Composer during the New Phoenix Incident six months before. 'Mdama's intention was for Halsey to receive the Gift as the proof while making it appear that he had dropped it by accident while fleeing Crimson's pursuit. As planned, Crimson recovered "the Didact's Gift" and were ordered to transport it to Galileo Base for study before it would be transported to the Infinity.

First Covenant attack
As scientists at Galileo Base studied "the Didact's Gift" to make sure it was safe for transport to the, Spartans Robert Dalton and Jared Miller detected Covenant forces on their way, including several dozen Phantoms. The Phantoms began dropping off massive numbers of Covenant troops into the base, including several Ghosts. However, Fireteam Crimson managed to fend off the repeated waves as Miller and Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer realized that the base's defenses were offline and couldn't be activated remotely either.

As the battle continued, Palmer contacted Doctor Shannon Owen who realized that Doctor Cameron Alexander had gone against her orders not to divert power away from the base's defenses in order to power a mini-reactor. As a Hunter pair was dropped into the base, Miller was able to determine where the turret power had been routed to and directed Crimson to the location. Fighting through the heavy Covenant forces, Crimson managed to reactivate the turret defenses which shot down the attacking Covenant Phantoms. With the Phantoms destroyed, Crimson was able to clear out the remaining Covenant forces.

With the Covenant forces eliminated, Miller reported that the Forerunner communications net utilized by the Covenant that Crimson had previously tapped into was paying off as he was able to detect that the entire Covenant net was talking about retrieving the Promethean soul. Dalton reported that Fireteam Majestic was closest to transport "the Didact's Gift" to the and Palmer ordered them deployed to Galileo Base to retrieve the package while Crimson stayed to protect the base.

Promethean attack
As the UNSC forces made preparations to extract "the Didact's Gift," they were interrupted by Doctor Cameron Alexander who demanded to know if someone had turned off his mini-reactor. Though Palmer defended their actions as necessary to defend the base, Doctor Alexander warned that if the reactor wasn't turned back on, its shielding would fail and the explosion would destroy Galileo Base. With no other choice, Fireteam Crimson was dispatched to reactivate the mini-reactor. However, as they reached the reactor, several Promethean Crawlers and Promethean Knights translocated in to attack. Fighting off the Prometheans, Crimson reactivated the mini-reactor and averted disaster.

After the reactor was reactivated, numerous Promethean Crawlers supported by several Promethean Knights and Promethean Watchers assaulted the base. With Fireteam Majestic inbound, Crimson fought off the waves of Prometheans, eventually succeeding in repelling the Promethean attack before Majestic arrived in a Pelican to extract "the Didact's Gift."

Final Covenant attack
As Fireteam Majestic extracted the package back to their Pelican, they came under attack by a Phantom and two Banshees while Galileo Base's anti-air defenses were down. Recognizing that an attempt to flee by air would be fatal, Spartan Gabriel Thorne hijacked one of the Banshees and used it to shoot down the Phantom.

Watching the battle from a nearby cliff, Jul 'Mdama ordered the attack called off despite the protests of Gek 'Lhar, satisfied that they had made enough of a display trying to retake "the Didact's Gift." The remaining Covenant forces retreated, ending the battle.

Aftermath
With Galileo Base secured, Fireteam Majestic transported "the Didact's Gift" to Doctor Catherine Halsey onboard the. Examining the Durance, Halsey discovered that it had a similar interior appearance to a human A.I. Matrix and contained the memories of a human digitized by the Composer during the New Phoenix Incident. Palmer and Captain Thomas Lasky were forced to reveal that the Prometheans were once humans while Halsey was satisfied with the proof Jul 'Mdama had provided her as he had promised. However, as 'Mdama questioned Halsey about her knowledge of the Librarian, her secret communications with the Covenant leader was discovered.

List of appearances

 * Halo 4
 * Spartan Ops