2526

2526 was a year in the 2520s in the 26th century.

January
January 17
 * At 0930 hours, Chris Preston, undergoing medical rehabilitation on board a refit station, records a message for David Dominguez's parents recounting his sacrifice in securing Kig-Yar point defense gauntlets during the evacuation of Harvest.

February
February 13 February 19
 * Between 0153 and 0314 hours; while surveying the outer colony planet Bliss, the encountered a Covenant ships before being destroyed, starting the Battle of Bliss, and the glassing of the planet.
 * Following it's recovery by the, the Accras voyage data recorder is accessed and the final event logs are made into a document called the "The Accra Incident".

February 24
 * Doctor Catherine Halsey makes an entry in her personal journal in which she ponders the nature of the Covenant and the relationships between its client species.

March
March 1 March 4 March 5 March 7 March 8 March 10 March 23
 * Preston Cole's Battle Group X-Ray reaches Harvest and the Second Battle of Harvest begins, achieving a Pyrrhic victory. However, the Covenant also claim victory and celebrate through fasting and prayer. The Prophet of Regret broadcasts the executions of "those who failed their duty" in the battle. The Covenant return to Harvest later in the year, leading to a five-year campaign for control of the planet.
 * The  covertly observes the frigate Radiant Arrow and its complement of Type-27 Banshees at the planet Netherop.
 * Twelve Spartan-IIs of Blue, Green, and Gold Teams infiltrate the Radiant Arrow in high equatorial orbit over Netherop. The frigate is intentionally scuttled by its shipmaster but all Spartans make it off in time.
 * Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson meets with Admirals Preston Cole and Michael Stanforth and Doctor Catherine Halsey aboard the and agrees to be recruited for Operation: SILENT STORM.
 * The particulars of Operation: SILENT STORM are formalized aboard the.
 * The WINTER CONTINGENCY protocol is enacted by the UNSC.
 * Insurrectionists bomb civilian spaceport in Troisi City, Lodestone.

April
April 2 April 6 April 26 April 28
 * UNSC forces working with ONI agents prevent an attack on New Harmony, Mars. Two Insurrectionists, Christina Rice and James McCann, were disguised as Army specialists and were stealing weapons for a possible attack.
 * At 9:15+0 MMT; Intersystem News reported on the Battle of Bliss.
 * The Battle of Circinius IV takes place: the Covenant launch an assault on Circinius IV, killing almost the entire human population of the planet. SPARTAN-II Blue Team is deployed to retrieve survivors from Corbulo Academy of Military Science; only four cadets from Hastati Squad remain alive after the initial assault, three of whom make it to the extraction point and evacuate as the planet is glassed.
 * Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth requested for the Office of Naval Intelligence to repurpose all assets to aid the war against the Covenant and to refocus all research on wartime strategy.

May
May 3 May 30
 * Dr. Catherine Halsey devises a new matrix strata with random-access couplers that could theoretically expand an AI's lifespan. Those protocols are authorized by Vice Admiral Michael Stanforth some time later.
 * The Battle of Mesra takes place as the Covenant invade the Outer colony of Mesra in the Qusdar system with the intent of capturing its vast mining infrastructure; Admiral Preston Cole launches a counteroffensive in a bid to wipe out the invaders, led by Spartan Blue Team.

June
June
 * By June, FLEETCOM is unable to consolidate battlefield intelligence before it became inactionable, and stops trying to coordinate core strategy, granting operational autonomy to each battle group.

October
October 21
 * The Battle of Alpha Aurigae takes place in the Alpha Aurigae system.

Unknown date

 * Biko is glassed by the Covenant.
 * The Committee of Minds for Security analyze the Covenant's glassing capabilities based on recorded data from prior engagements. They also discuss changing the primary focus of the UNSC Special Forces, with the protection of infrastructure, previously the main focus of the Spartan-IIs, being shifted to the ODST. Later in the year the Committee discuss the possibility of a hypothetical Covenant counterpart to the Assembly and the possibility of contacting it.
 * The Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle is first observed by the UNSC.