Battle over Etalan

The Battle over Etalan was an engagement in late March 2526 that took place over the former human colony of Etalan. During the battle, a small detachment of the UNSC Navy's Task Force Yama attacked and crippled a Covenant logistics fleet serving the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience, which was busy glassing the nearby world of Biko.

Background
During Task Force Yama's previous engagement with the Covenant at Seoba on March 19, 2526, Colonel Marmon Crowther of the 21st Space Assault Battalion had become suspicious of Lieutenant Commander Hector Nyeto. He had seemingly stalled in providing John-117 and his fellow Spartans with air support during the battle, leading to Crowther to believe that Nyeto had it out for the young supersoldiers. When the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience arrived at Biko on March 20, Nyeto deployed Crowther's Black Daggers aboard the prowlers of Task Force Yama. Meanwhile, back on the, the colonel had Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson inform the Spartans that he was deploying them to Etalan in the Igdras system where the Fleet of Inexorable's logistic fleet was stationed. The alien fleet had recently destroyed the former human colony and left the logistics fleet there where it would be secure until Biko was similarly cleansed. This mission would keep the Spartans away from Nyeto and might also help to slow the Covenant's advance in this part of human space.

That same day, the Spartans, Avery Johnson, and Dr. Catherine Halsey left the Kolaqoa system aboard the Vanishing Point with two prowlers serving as escort. Two days later, they dropped out of slipspace near Etalan and spent the next four days observing the logistics fleet's movements and trying to discern which vessels would be the best to target. By March 26, the Vanishing Point's analysts felt confident that four of the fleet's fifteen vessels were equipment freighters carrying spare parts and other materials that would be used to keep the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience operational in the field. By this point, the logistics fleet was seemingly ready to break from orbit over Etalan, evidenced by the fact that they had begun syncing their orbits and bringing their fusion reactors to full power.

Opening actions
With time running out, the Spartans enacted the plan that they had come up with over the previous few days. The Vanishing Point deployed a squadron of twenty S-14 Baselard fighters, with four Baselards at the center of the formation carrying the eight Spartans of Green and Gold Teams. Their goal was to punch through the logistics fleet's screen of Banshees and Seraphs to reach the equipment freighters. Once they got close enough to the target vessels, the Spartans would eject from their Baselards and board the freighters so that they could be destroyed from the inside with HAVOK tactical nuclear weapons. To conceal their approach, their fighters were fitted with pods of chain-linked debris that might also catch some pursuing Banshees if they were lucky. Meanwhile, three of the Vanishing Point's Baselards attracted the attention of another swarm of enemy fighters, intending to lead them past the bow of the stealth cruiser. As they passed, Blue Team and Staff Sergeant Johnson would launch from the Vanishing Point aboard the five Banshees that they had captured during their assault on the Radiant Arrow a few weeks earlier. The plan called for them to pilot the craft into the hangars of the munitions ships currently gathering gas from the atmosphere of Etalan to create plasma. They would abandon the Banshees with HAVOKs planted within the fighter crafts' cockpits, then go EV to be picked up by the nearby prowlers.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Silent Storm