Battle of Biko

The Battle of Biko was a short engagement between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant in 2526 during the Human-Covenant War at the human Outer Colony of Biko.

The battle
When the Covenant first arrived at Biko in 2526, they engaged the UNSC forces defending the planet. Biko was one of the first human colonies to be attacked by the Covenant. Directly before their assault on Biko, the Covenant transmitted a message to the human colonists on its surface that stated "Your world will burn until its surface is but glass". After a short engagement, the UNSC forces had been quickly and comprehensively destroyed.

Aftermath
After the battle over the planet, the debris field of human vessels was pushed over Biko's northern pole by the Covenant to allow their fleet to proceed glassing the planet unobstructed. Following the Human-Covenant War, a fetcher, Oliver Birch visited the debris field over Biko, to retrieve a "saddle box" slipspace engine from the, one of the s that had participated in the engagement years prior.

After the battle, the AI collective known as the Assembly conducted an analysis of the Covenant's capability to glass a planet. While they concluded that the aliens could not possess firepower to literally melt the entirety of a planet's surface based on the firepower their warships demonstrated in space engagements, they believed that introducing the term "glassing" to common parlance would more effectively stress the severity of the Covenant threat.

Some of the future SPARTAN-IIIs of Alpha Company, including Carter-A259, were orphaned in the battle.

List of appearances

 * Halo: First Strike
 * Tug o' War
 * i love bees
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo: Reach
 * Data pads