Battle of Sigma Octanus IV

"We've come to take Sigma Octanus IV back from the Covenant. To do that, we're going to kill every last one of them."

- John-117

The Battle of Sigma Octanus IV was fought between the UNSC Defense Force and the Covenant in mid-2552.

July 17, 2552

 * 0000 Hours: Ensign William Lovell, aboard the UNSC Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes, reports to Sigma Octanus IV concerning a large silhouette in Slipspace heading for the system. It is suspected to be a group of Covenant ships but it could also be an asteroid.
 * 0300 Hours: The arrives in system on patrol. The vessel's Commanding Officer, Commander Jacob Keyes, receives the sensor information and realizes it is a Covenant threat. He contacts FLEETCOM and informs them of the situation.
 * 0320 Hours: 4 Covenant ships consisting of 1 Covenant Carrier, 1 Covenant Destroyer and 2 Covenant Frigates arrive in the system. The UNSC Iroquois engages the enemy and requests reinforcements. The and  respond and begin heading for Sigma Octanus.
 * 0330 Hours: The Iroquois destroys all Covenant vessels save for the carrier using a maneuver later known as the Keyes Loop. The carrier launches landing craft toward Sigma Octanus IV, then retreats into slipspace.
 * 0345 Hours: Covenant ground forces invade the city of Côte d'Azur on the planet.
 * 0500 Hours: 47 additional UNSC vessels arrive in the system. Admiral Michael Stanforth, aboard the, takes command.
 * 0520 Hours: Reinforcements of 400 marines, led by General Kits, begin landing around Côte d'Azur
 * 0600 Hours: Covenant forces ambush and obliterate all marine forces on the ground. Only 14 enlisted men survive. Corporal Harland assumes tactical command.
 * 0625 Hours: Covenant vessels begin appearing on the edge of the system.
 * 0650 Hours: SPARTAN-IIs arrive on the surface to reinforce surviving marines.
 * 0900 Hours: Spartans assume tactical command on the ground.
 * 1800 Hours: Spartans and marines begin a counterattack on Côte d'Azur.
 * 2010 Hours: Spartans arm nuclear device below Côte d'Azur.
 * 2039 Hours: Nuclear warhead destroys all Covenant ground forces at Côte d'Azur.
 * 2120 Hours: General quarters is sounded aboard ships and the opposing Fleets close to engage.
 * 2130 Hours: Repair station Cradle moves to protect UNSC Fleet. First salvos are fired by Covenant vessels.
 * 0500 Hours:* All Covenant vessels either retreat or are destroyed. Battle concludes.

Space Battle
The battle in the space above Sigma Octanus IV can be viewed as having two stages. The first part of the battle consisted of Commander Keyes taking his lone destroyer, the Iroquois to intercept the Covenant. However, Keyes faced a numerically and technically superior force consisting of two Covenant Frigates, one Destroyer, and one Assault Carrier. Through brilliant maneuvers and some quick thinking, Keyes was able to destroy three of the four Covenant ships. For details involving this battle, see the Keyes Loop. Unfortunately, the Assault Carrier managed to escape. This is significant because this was the first battle in which a Covenant ship had fled during combat. The pride and honor of the Sangheili Ship Masters obligates them to stay in a battle until they or all of the enemy are all destroyed. Keyes was perplexed by this but his superiors shrugged off the revelation. This was one of the only space battles when the UNSC was able to win when outnumbered 4:1 ratio.

The second part of the space battle involved the UNSC fleet of 47 ships led by Admiral Stanforth against a smaller but technically stronger Covenant Fleet. This part of the space battle was unique in two ways. It is so because it was one of the few major victories that the UNSC had had in space (despite major losses) since Harvest was retaken. Also, in this battle, new tactics were used. One of the most prevalent was the usage of a refit station to provide cover for the UNSC fleet. This tactic was later reused at the Battle of Reach. Another is the staggered line tactic used by the UNSC fleet, allowing the first two salvos of MAC rounds launched by the first and second lines of ships to disable the enemy's shields while a third salvo launched from the first line's recharged cannons punches through the ships.

Discrepancies

 * *Note: There is an apparent time discrepancy in the continuity of the Halo: First Strike as pertaining to the the exact times of the chapters. Chapter 19 begins at 600 hours while Chapter 20 begins at 1800, and it seems as though there is no significant lapse of time between them. Chapter 22 Begins at 2010 Hours and then Chapter 23 begins at 0500 hours, yet they all claim to have happened on July 17. This may have been a typo, with Chapter 23 meant to be on July 18 or a flashback of sorts.
 * Page 156 of Halo: The Fall of Reach states that the Repair and Refit Station Cradle was over a square kilometer and that three Destroyers could be eclipsed by its shadow. Exactly how it could cover the entire UNSC fleet present is not made clear. The UNSC ships may have positioned themselves behind the Cradle in a line for protection.
 * When the book talks of the battle for Sigma Octanus IV it says that there were dozens of ships but after the Cradle took the plasma torpedoes to give the fleet a chance to fire again it says that it was a 21 gun salute three times over. This hints that there may have been 63 ships in the human fleet as apposed to the 20 Covenant ships. This would make sense because the humans only win when there is a 3/1 count in their favor. Also the fleet took out twelve Covenant ships before the Covenant could take out one of theirs. So it was 8 to 48 or 63 depending on how you interpret the data. This raises the question of UNSC casualties. According to Captain Keyes there were eight remaining human ships that turned to help the Iroquois when a Covenant Destroyer tried to attack it. So only nine human ships survived the battle, explaining why Keyes thought of the battle as an expensive victory.

As a result of the battle, there was much debris left in orbit and in space around Sigma Octanus IV. Keyes thought that that could be dangerous in the future because it would be hard to maneuver.

Ships

 * Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes
 * Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes
 * Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes
 * Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes
 * Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes
 * Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes
 * Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes
 * Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes

Characters

 * Commander/Captain Jacob Keyes
 * Admiral Michael Stanforth
 * General Kits
 * Lieutenant Dominique
 * Lieutenant Hall
 * Lieutenant Hikowa
 * Lieutenant Jaggers
 * Ensign William Lovell
 * Spartan-117
 * Spartan-104
 * Spartan-James
 * Spartan-087
 * Spartan-029
 * Spartan-058
 * Corporal Harland
 * Private Fincher
 * Private Walker
 * Private Cochran