Battle of Chi Ceti

The Battle of Chi Ceti was an engagement on a small scale between a UNSC Frigate and the Covenant ship Unrelenting in the Chi Ceti System. It marked the first use of SPARTAN-IIs in the Human-Covenant War.

Space Battle
En route to the distant Damascus Testing Facility on Chi Ceti IV, the was attacked by a Covenant Navy ship, the Unrelenting. The frigate successfully fended off the Covenant ship by blasting a hole in it with a MAC and also hitting it with a Shiva-class Nuclear Missile, 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 Unrelenting 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 underground Damascus Testing Facility, where they donned their MJOLNIR MARK IV 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 Unrelenting
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 manoeuvre through space in order to board the Unrelenting. 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 fought through a handful of Jackals, 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 escape from the ship with his comrades, 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 Unrelenting was destroyed, taking Sam with it. He was the first SPARTAN-II to die in combat.

Trivia

 * This is the first battle in which Spartans wore MJOLNIR armor.
 * In the game Halo Wars, sometimes when a Spartan kills an enemy, they can be heard saying, "For Samuel!", which is a direct reference to Sam dying aboard the Covenant cruiser in one of the books of Halo.

Related Links

 * Human-Covenant War