Maribeau Veredi

Captain Maribeau Veredi was a UNSC Naval officer during the beginning of the Human-Covenant War. He was the commanding officer of the and commander of Battlegroup 4. He had the dubious honor of making the first recorded contact with the Covenant.

Harvest
Captain Veredi led UNSC Battlegroup 4, the battlegroup that firstly encountered the Covenant. The battle group consisted of his own ship, the destroyer UNSC Heracles and two known frigates, and. Their deployment was aimed to discover the fate of the colony on the planet, Harvest.

They entered the Harvest System only to discover that everything on the planet had been completely incinerated and the surface melted down to glass. This was later dubbed "glassing".

First Contact
In orbit around the remains of the colony world was a single alien ship, which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying both Arabia and Vostok and badly damaging the Heracles. Before the ship attacked the Battlegroup, Veredi attempted to follow the UNSC's first contact protocol to no avail.

Intercepted communications identified the enemy as "The Covenant". The message stated, "Your destruction is the will of the Gods, and we are their instrument." It was translated into English for UNSC personnel.

Second Battle of Harvest
Captain Veredi later served during the Second Battle of Harvest where he again commanded the repaired UNSC Heracles and accompanied Vice Admiral Preston Cole into the system, successfully retaking it from the Covenant.

Trivia

 * Technically, the Harvest colonists and Colonial Militia actually made contact with the Covenant before Veredi and Battlegroup 4. However, when Veredi and the Heracles returned to UNSC space, the survivors had still not been found and were presumed dead, making Veredi the first to report contact with the Covenant.

Appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo Wars: Genesis