Sangheili-Jiralhanae war

The Sangheili-Jiralhanae war was a series of irregular conflicts between the Sangheili and the Jiralhanae after the events of the Human-Covenant war and a continuation of the Great Schism.

Background
Tensions and rivalry already existed between the Sangheili and Jiralhanae, long before the Human-Covenant war. However, it was the Changing of the Guard that eventually lead to actual battles between the two species. This event helped split the Covenant Empire, by ejecting the entire Sangheili species, and ultimately end the Great war.

Fighting Continues
Fighting continued directly after the end of the Great Schism. Initially the Jiralhanae were winning due to the remaining Prophets providing organization and resources, but the tables turned when they went into hiding. The Jiralhanae started fighting against each other giving the Sangheili the advantage.

The Covenant had settled the Jiralhanae on resource-rich worlds. However, since the Jiralhanae are "decades behind the other Covenant races technologically," they had to steal supplies from the Sangheili because they did not have the ability to mine and use the resources they already possessed. Since the Jiralhanae had little communication within their kind, these attacks were highly disorganised.

Massacres Against the Jiralhanae
At the start of the war, some fanatical Sangheili embarked upon a genocidal campaign hunting down and killing all Jiralhanae they came across. One radical group of Sangheili were the Silent Shadow squad under the command of Resa 'Azavayl, fueled by vengeance they sought to slaughter any Jiralhanae they encountered. They had wiped out Jiralhanae forces and their subordinates on an armory near Victors' Truth, the Corvette Adherent, the northern highlands of Thalia, and a substation orbiting Sansar. 'Azavayl's Silent Shadow squad even eradicated the former Chieftain of the Jiralhanae Tartarus' crew aboard the CCS-Cruiser Rapid Conversion. The Silent Shadow squad went to attack the SDV-class heavy corvette Elegy's Lament, but they were unaware that it was lead by Atriox and the Banished. After killing several Jiralhanae forces, the Silent Shadow squad encountered Atriox who tried to talk to them into a peaceful resolution. Atriox offered to hire the Sangheili and claimed he had no affiliation to the Jiralhanae responsible for massacring the Sangheili during the Great Schism. As a result, the Silent Shadow Squad began to view Atriox as "other". Despite this, 'Azavayl was not forgiving of Atriox and tried to kill him. Before he could attack Atriox, 'Azavayl's own Silent Shadow squad betrayed him and stabbed him with their energy swords. The remaining members of the Silent Shadow squad remarked that old hatreds were holding them back from a better future, and were then recruited into the Banished as mercenaries.

Massacres Against the Sangheili
In 2553, two hiding San'Shyuum had many Jiralhanae forces working for them. The two San'Shyuum: Boru'a'Neem and Prelate Tem'Bhetek, sought revenge against the Sangheili species for the destruction of High Charity and the Covenant Empire. 'Bhetek's family was killed in the Flood invasion of High Charity, and he held Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum and the Fleet of Retribution responsible for it. 'Bhetek and his Jiralhanae forces attacked Rahnelo killing many Sangheili civilians in hopes to draw out attention from 'Vadum's CAS-class assault carrier Shadow of Intent. 'Vadum with the help of his crew and a Rahnelo Scion Sangheili female named Tul 'Juran, pursued 'Bhetek when they were ambushed at Duraan. Another battle ensued between 'Vadum's Sangheili forces and 'Bhetek's Jiralhanae forces. 'Bhetek was captured but escaped and regrouped with 'a'Neem only to be betrayed by him. 'a'Neem ordered Yanme'e forces to open fire and mortally wound 'Bhetek. Bleeding and slowly dying, 'Bhetek listened as 'a'Neem revealed his plan to use a miniature prototype Halo ring to genocide the Sangheili homeworld. These plans were foiled as 'Vadum and 'Juran invaded the miniature Halo ring and killed 'a'Neem. Devastated by his betrayal, 'Bhetek forgave 'Vadum and sacrificed himself by blowing up the miniature Halo as the Sangheili escaped.

Following the conflict, 'Vadum had grown tired of war. He was debriefed by his comrade, friend, and now superior: Arbiter Thel 'Vadam. 'Vadum told 'Vadam that he will seek out more hiding San'Shyuum, but this time he would determine which ones are innocent and which ones are guilty to prevent more needless suffering.

Attempted Peace Negotiations
"Guardians of the righteous! Silence the blasphemers!"

- Vata 'Gajat's Mercenary soldier

In 2558, both sides wanted to reach some sort of agreement. Since the Jiralhanae forces were distrustful of the Sangheili, they agreed on Thel 'Vadam's proposition to have humans mediate their discussion. The UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios realised that pacifying the Jiralhanae forces were in the best interest of everyone, so it was humanity's job to make that clear to the Jiralhanae. In order to try and establish an agreement, the Swords of Sanghelios requested several high-ranking humans of the UNSC to sit in their discussions and mediate negotiations on the neutral planet of Ealen IV. On part of the humans, Admiral Terrence Hood and Captain Thomas Lasky were chosen as negotiators, the Sangheili were represented by Kaidon Thel 'Vadam and the Jiralhanae by the Elder Chieftain Lydus. They agreed also that each faction should have a strong military force, Spartans, Sangheili Commanders and Jiralhanae Captains alike.

The negotiations were soon attacked by Banshees from Vata Gajat's Mercenary Group, killing multiple Sangheili Commandos. The Jiralhanae Lydus assumed Thel 'Vadam was behind the attack, but Thel denied this accusation and started fighting the Remnant forces as well. Despite surviving the attack, no peace agreement between the Sangheili and Jiralhanae was reached.

Enemy of an enemy
There was some overlap between the internal Sangheili conflicts and the internal Jiralhanae conflicts. During his rebellion against his cousin Rojka 'Kasaan on Carrow, Thars 'Sarov made a deal with the Jiralhanae Chieftain Hekabe for his help in the Battle of Carrow. However, this proved to be a grave mistake as Hekabe's real plan was to gain access to the Sharquoi hive beneath the city of Suraka and use the hundreds of thousands of creatures held there to destroy his enemies. During the beginning of the Great Schism, Hekabe had used the power the Jiralhanae had been granted by the High Prophets to find the vertex on Installation 00 during the battle there, the vertex being the device that would allow him to control the Sharquoi. During the battle, Hekabe's fleet was destroyed by the Surakan Militia Volunteers, including his flagship the Foebane, but Hekabe was undaunted. With the help of SPARTAN-II Gray Team, Thars was killed by Rojka while Hekabe's plot was defeated. Hekabe was killed by Sharquoi under the control of human governor Ellis Gass who then destroyed the Sharquoi hive and all of the Sharquoi on Carrow with a HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon.

Ongoing battles
In 2559, some Sangheili had resumed hostility, and were winning in their genocidal campaign against the Jiralhanae as the latter had splintered and begun to fight among each other. While the lack of Jiralhanae solidarity gave the upper hand to their Sangheili opponents, ironically the Sangheili had already been fighting amongst each other for several years as well.

Appearances

 * The Return
 * Halo: Escalation
 * Halo: Shadow of Intent
 * Halo: Tales From Slipspace - Hunting Party