Battle of Draetheus V

"The fighting started when a splinter sect of Covenant ignored the Ceasefire of 2552 and attacked UNSC forces. By the time the fighting was done... Well, it didn't end well for the UNSC and Covenant, either one."

- Roland

The Battle of Draetheus V was a military engagement fought between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant remnant on the UNSC research colony of Draetheus V and its moon X50, after the Human-Covenant War. The Covenant came to seize a dormant Forerunner artifact, igniting one of the first conflicts in a new war with the UNSC.

The Battle
The Covenant's main objective was the Forerunner structure, UNSC command feared Research Facility Alpha would be crushed. Sarah Palmer, with a Marine detachment, infiltrated the Covenant artillery positions and destroyed them. Edward Davis later noticed the Covenant's heavy reliance on drop ship insertion. Spartan Davis realized they would be vulnerable to focused anti-aircraft fire, so, using M9 Main Anti-Aircraft Tanks, he began establishing air defenses west of the facility at a location designated Glacial Perch.

While Spartan Davis was successful in slowing the enemy advance, the Covenant forces were too overwhelming. Sarah Palmer began fighting her way upstream through the invasion in an attempt to reach one of the northern outposts. Her plan was to destroy Covenant air support and give the UNSC Hornets a chance to land near the outposts. The ultimate goal was to get off X50 and warn Draetheus-V of the Covenant invasion. Within an hour of their arrival at X50, the Covenant owned the moon. Despite the ferocity of the assault on X50, the UNSC forces on Draetheus-V had no idea anything was going on because the planet's unique magnetic resonance frequently made off-world communication nearly impossible.

Spartan Davis fought to hold the line on X50, while Sarah Palmer executed a plan to depart for Draetheus-V and warn them of the incoming Covenant invasion of the colony. Palmer ordered the Marines in the area to fall back to the Hornet landing zones. Only 6 Marines made it there alive. They held out against an overwhelming Covenant force until Palmer managed to escape. Spartan Palmer was successful in warning Draetheus-V of the coming attack, the Covenant assault hit the colonies' defenses like a tidal wave. Draetheus-V's main outpost, Faraday Base, was located on the border of an expanse of dense vegetation to the north and an enormous rock plateau to the south.

When the Covenant invasion force eventually arrived, the first defense lines surrounding Faraday were quickly breached before the base's sentry turrets were fully operational. Palmer took to the field and almost singlehandedly held off the waves of Unggoy suicide units crashing down on the thick concrete wall behind the defense lines.

Draetheus V's western reactor field was one of the largest of the magnetic reactor stations and was of great interest to the Covenant. Luckily, the trench-like layout of the reactor field provided the Marines stationed there with a terrain advantage and Covenant infantry platoons had significant difficulty in seizing the station. After supporting the Marines at Faraday, Sarah Palmer moved to provide support in the western reactor field. Palmer's prime objectives were to protect several squads of M9 Wolverines and halt the Banshees providing air support to the Covenant infantry.

After Faraday Base's defense were stabilized Spartan Palmer began trying to establish the location of the Covenant officers leading the invasion. After taking significant losses, marines of the 21st Scout platoon had managed to uncover a set of promising coordinates. These commanders' locations were well hidden by Draetheus V's unique magnetic signatures. Without Palmer, the officers might have remained hidden for days. She found them within 30 minutes.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Spartan Assault