Operation: WINDOW PANE

"The operation we'll study today began when we learned the Covenant found an artifact known as the Conduit. Back in 'fifty-two, we sent a team of ODSTs in to secure the artifact."

- Roland, referring to a simulation based on the mission

Operation: WINDOW PANE was a UNSC mission to obtain the Forerunner artifact known as the Conduit from the Covenant during the Battle of Mombasa.

Prelude
At some point, the Conduit was discovered by a team of Sangheili Zealots. After its discovery, the artifact was brought before the Hierarchs of the Covenant. During the Battle of Earth in October 2552, the Conduit was brought to the surface of Earth at New Mombasa. A Spirit dropship carrying a data pad with information pertaining to the Conduit was shot down by UNSC forces. When the data pad's relevance to the Conduit was realized by the UNSC, an ODST squad known as Alpha-Five was sent to recover it.

The mission
The squad dropped in to the city via SOEIV. Covenant forces awaiting extraction at the crashed Spirit were attacked by the squad and the Sangheili Field Master carrying the data pad was killed. With the data pad, the UNSC used the information gained to pinpoint the location of the Conduit in the city. The ODST squad was directed to a Sangheili task force carrying the Conduit. At 1557 hours, after a brief engagement, the ODSTs managed to procure the Conduit from the Covenant and the device was delivered to a nearby UNSC convoy.

The Covenant responded by assaulting the convoy with waves of infantry. Though the ODST squad and several Marines attempted to defend the convoy from attacking Covenant forces, a Sangheili Field Master dropped down from his Spirit into the Elephant carrying the Conduit, retrieved the device, and escaped the engagement aboard the dropship. The ODSTs gave chase and, eventually, the Spirit was shot down. The squad located the dropship's crash site and attacked its surviving occupants. When the Field Master and his Kig-Yar bodyguards were eventually eliminated, the Conduit was reclaimed by the UNSC. The ODSTs took the Conduit aboard a Warthog and were ordered to leave the city as the nearby Solemn Penance entered slipstream space over Mombasa minutes later.

Aftermath
When the resulting slipspace rupture destroyed the city, the ODSTs were presumed dead, later designated KIA at 1624 hours. The Conduit was believed to have been destroyed as well. However, the Conduit actually entered slipspace to save itself from destruction and arrived at Installation 03, only to be contested once again five years later in 2557.

The squad's mission in New Mombasa was later featured as a training simulation in the UNSC Tactical Simulator, albeit with a lone Spartan-IV in the place of the ODSTs.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Spartan Strike