Alpha Corvi II

Alpha Corvi II, also known as Alchiba, was formerly a human outer colony planet in the Alpha Corvi system.

Topography
Alpha Corvi II is an ocean world, dotted with tropical islands separated by large expanses of water.

Locations

 * Bondi Beach
 * Black Reef
 * Jamshid

Rise of humanity
Alpha Corvi II was colonized by humanity in 2460. By 2525, the planet hosted a large presence of Insurrectionist forces loyal to the United Rebel Front. Their commanding officer at the time of the Human-Covenant War's outbreak was Captain Whitaker.

Human-Covenant war
On December 3, 2525, Alpha Corvi II came under attack by the Covenant. UNSC ships in orbit mounted a defense but a number of dropships broke through to land ground forces on the surface, which proceeded to assault Jamshid, the planet's largest city. As the Covenant pushed their attack on both fronts, the SPARTAN Blue Team was deployed to disrupt the Covenant's activities on the surface and to identify an unknown artifact that they were searching for. During this engagement, the Spartans struck up an unsteady alliance with the URF rebels commanded by Whitaker, who understood the threat posed by the invaders.

While UNSC forces attacked Covenant positions in Jamshid, the combined Spartan-URF force attacked a large Covenant force excavating the caves of Black Reef, where a human mining outpost was stationed. The Spartans pursued the Sangheili leading the expedition into the cave system while Whitaker and his forces held their position on the surface, with both sides suffering massive casualties. The Covenant excavation force attempted to ambush the Spartans inside the caves, but underestimated the strength of their enemy and were forced to give chase as the four-man Spartan team led by John-117 held their ground and killed dozens of infantry as they pushed through the caverns. Meanwhile the URF rebels on the surface managed to down several s reinforcing the Covenant's foothold on Black Reef, but were soon forced to destroy the entrance to the mine when they were unable to hold their position. The blast killed many Covenant soldiers but also trapped Blue Team within the vast cave system. Whitaker and a contingent of surviving troops relocated to Bondi Beach to renew their defense against the Covenant.

Meanwhile, UNSC forces in Jamshid were besieged by the Covenant, with casualties exceeding thirty percent as they were unable to turn back the enemy advance. Despite many casualties, the Covenant fleet in space continued to press their attack, overwhelming the human fleet and destroying several warships as UNSC starfighters fought a losing battle against the enemy's superior numbers. With few options remaining, Commander Yao ordered the evacuation of all UNSC personnel from the planet, deploying several Pelican dropships to extract the survivors and later dedicating Pelican Tango 807 with the retrieval of Blue Team. Despite the Spartans' attempt to convince those in command to let them aboard the Pelicans, the Insurrectionist forces were denied exfiltration along with the UNSC forces, condemning them to die at the hands of the Covenant. Despite taking control of Alpha Corvi II, the Covenant seemingly did not glass the planet, and instead left once they had accomplished what they could of their objective.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Collateral Damage