New Phoenix Incident

"Earth...is all we have left."

- Terrence Hood

The Second Battle of Earth was one of the largest battles of the Human-Covenant War. It was fought on and around Earth from November 8, 2552 to early 2553. A vast Fleet of Covenant Loyalists, led by the Prophet of Truth, assaulted a heavily defended Earth in order to finally reach the Ark and begin the "Great Journey". UNSC and Covenant forces were heavily engaged around the planet, but exact numbers and details are impossible to determine. The battle set the stage for the events on the Ark, where the fate of the galaxy was decided.

The battle was the follow up to the High Prophet of Regret's first attack on Earth on October 20, 2552, when he invaded Mombasa, Kenya, as well as the deployment of the Prophet of Truth's initial Jiralhanae force. The Prophet of Truth's intention was to activate The Ark, fire the Halo rings, and begin what he thought would be the "Great Journey".

The immediate results of the battle were mixed. Although the Covenant Loyalists had broken through Earth's space defenses, there were still a large number of military equipment and personnel available to the humans in its immediate aftermath. However, when combined with the engagements directly succeeding the Second Battle of Earth on the Ark and taking into account the significant losses the Covenant Loyalists had suffered in the battle, it was apparent Covenant Loyalists had suffered a crippling defeat.

Background
SPARTAN-104, SPARTAN-058, and SPARTAN-043 defended Earth during the span of two weeks shortly after In Amber Clad disappeared pursuing the Prophet of Regret. The SPARTANs conducted surgical strikes against Covenant Forces in the Antarctic, Mexico, and Cuba.

On November 3, 2552, shortly after completing an operation in Havana, Cuba, Blue Team was re-directed to aid Dr. Halsey on Onyx. Blue Team captured the Bloodied Spirit and headed straight for Onyx.

Meanwhile, the Prophet of Truth, along with the other High Prophets, faced trouble at home on High Charity. The Elites were unimpressed by their decision to replace Elites with Brutes in positions traditionally held by the former. This escalated in to a full-scale conflict within the Covenant, between the Covenant Loyalists and Covenant Separatists, and resulted in the Covenant's loss of High Charity, and the death of the Prophet of Mercy. The Prophet of Truth appeared unconcerned, boarded a Forerunner Dreadnought, and led the Loyalist fleet towards Earth. The Prophet of Truth's intention was to activate The Ark, fire the Halo rings, and begin what he thought would be the "Great Journey".

Orbital Combat
On November 8, the High Prophet of Truth, leading a large Covenant Loyalist Fleet to Earth, arrived at Sol System and engaged the massive UNSC Navy fleet and hundreds of Orbital Defense Platforms surrounding the human homeworld. The exact details of this opening stage of the battle are unknown. However, it was apparent late in this stage that the Orbital Defense Platform Cairo Station was still intact and Fleet Admiral Hood was still in command of all UNSC forces.

The Covenant Loyalist fleet did eventually gain an advantage, and swept past Earth's orbital defenses, bombarding Earth in East Africa. Human casualties were reported as "extreme".

On November 17, the Forerunner Dreadnought landed on Earth. SPARTAN-117 - the Master Chief, having been aboard the Dreadnought and briefly held captive by the Covenant, escaped by jumping from the ship and entered Earth's atmosphere, crashing into an East-African jungle.

Invasion of Earth
The Covenant invaded primarily on the east coast of Africa. It was in this area that the Covenant began digging in the area of what was formerly the city of Mombasa. The Covenant's excavation revealed and disclosed what was then thought to be the Ark, but eventually turned out to be only a portal to the Ark. As the Covenant ships excavated the artifact, Truth deployed Covenant forces throughout East Africa. Earth's UNSC defenses suffered significant casualties in the ongoing days.

During these happenings, the Master Chief was retrieved by Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, along with the Arbiter and a group of marines. The company then fought their way through the Covenant captured territory and were extracted and taken to the Crow's Nest - one of the last UNSC strongholds and bastions in Africa. Here, Commander Miranda Keyes and Lord Hood planned a last-ditch and last-resort effort to cease Truth's activation plan. Shortly after the Chief's arrival, however, the outpost was discovered and quickly attacked by Covenant forces. After the base was taken over, the Marines, with the help of Master Chief destroyed it using a bomb, killing all the Covenant in the base. The Master Chief activated the bomb and was barely able to escape the explosion. Scattered, the UNSC forces then fled the base along the Tsavo Highway and were given orders by Commander Keyes to head to the city of Voi.

Counterattack
Upon reaching Voi, the Humans, with almost all organization collapsing, launched one last desperate plan. With the help of the Master Chief, the human forces destroyed a small section of the defenses around Truth and the artifact, allowing Lord Hood to lead the last reserves of ships in an attempt to destroy it.

Nothing came out of this however, because the human ships did seemingly no damage to Truth's ship, who activated the artifact, creating a large slipspace portal into which most, if not all of the Covenant Loyalist ships on Earth retreated.

At this exact moment, a Flood-controlled ship arrived at Earth and infested the area around the Portal, spreading throughout the city of Voi. Covenant Separatists arrived from their quarantine of Delta Halo to relieve the battered humans and glassed the city of Voi and surrounding countryside, destroying the Flood threat.

Aftermath
After the battle, Covenant Loyalist forces reached the Ark. The Human-Covenant Separatist alliance followed in hot pursuit, stopping the Flood from inhabiting the galaxy and the Covenant from activating the remaining Halo Array, therefore saving all sentient life in the galaxy.