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| As predicted, the Covenant [[First Battle of Arcadia|followed the information]] from the artifact to Arcadia. The Covenant wished that the planet would contain more Forerunner artifacts for them to claim, and while they only found a [[Arcadia Forerunner Ruins|complex of ruins]], information garnered from them led them to a [[Shield World (Halo Wars)|Shield World]]. The ''Spirit of Fire'' followed and removed the Covenant presence from the planet. However, 'Moramee's capture of an [[Ellen Anders|important civilian researcher]] forced Captain Cutter to pursue the Covenant to the newly discovered Shield World without reinforcements. | | As predicted, the Covenant [[First Battle of Arcadia|followed the information]] from the artifact to Arcadia. The Covenant wished that the planet would contain more Forerunner artifacts for them to claim, and while they only found a [[Arcadia Forerunner Ruins|complex of ruins]], information garnered from them led them to a [[Shield World (Halo Wars)|Shield World]]. The ''Spirit of Fire'' followed and removed the Covenant presence from the planet. However, 'Moramee's capture of an [[Ellen Anders|important civilian researcher]] forced Captain Cutter to pursue the Covenant to the newly discovered Shield World without reinforcements. |
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| On the Shield World, the Covenant and the UNSC sent out multiple recon teams to engage each other. After some light skirmishing, both sides discovered a terrible enemy: the Flood. The Covenant managed to evacuate to the shield world inside the planet itself while the UNSC desperately attempted to hold off the Flood. After two major battles with the Flood, the ''Spirit of Fire'' suddenly got caught in a portal to the shield world. UNSC personnel evacuated back into the ''Spirit of Fire'' as the ship headed into the portal. After the ''Spirit of Fire'' emerged into the shield world, a Covenant destroyer quickly plotted an intercepting path in order to stop the ''Spirit of Fire''. Captain Cutter hastily ordered the ship to scrape the Covenant destroyer to compromise its shields. After the ''Spirit of Fire'' crashed into the destroyer, both ships began to charge their weapons, firing them at each other. After the attack ended, the Covenant destroyer drew away from the ''Spirit of Fire''. Captain Cutter ordered crews on the hull to repair the ship's damaged reactor. After the core was repaired, the ''Spirit of Fire'' deployed Sergeant Forge to find Professor Ellen Anders, who had recently escaped from the Apex into the shield world. Sergeant Forge managed to find her and evacuated her to the ''Spirit of Fire''. UNSC forces then set up a base and began assaulting Covenant forces nearby. After a lengthy battle, the UNSC finally managed to secure the area. | | On the Shield World, the crew of the ''Spirit of Fire'' eventually discovered that the Covenant needed Professor Anders to activate [[the Apex]] and claim the huge fleet of [[Unnamed Forerunner Starship|Forerunner starships]] held there. A group of Marines, together with SPARTAN-II [[Red Team]], rescued the researcher and destroyed the Shield World by initiating the collapse of the interior star. The Arbiter was also killed by [[John Forge]] during the battle though the Prophet of Regret escaped. |
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| The crew of the ''Spirit of Fire'' eventually discovered that the Covenant needed Professor Anders to activate [[the Apex]] and claim the huge fleet of [[Unnamed Forerunner Starship|Forerunner starships]] held there. Captain Cutter and Professor Anders came up with a plan to destroy the shield world. UNSC forces would transport the ''Spirit of Fire's'' FTL drive into the sun inside the planet, which would cause an early supernova, destroying the planet from the inside. Unfortunately, the two Pelicans delivering the FTL drive were shot down by Covenant Banshees. UNSC ground forces set up a base and hooked up the drive to an Elephant. After securing the drive, ground forces led by Sergeant Forge and Spartan [[Red Team]] attacked nearby Covenant bases. After a fierce battle, the UNSC delivered the drive to the portal which would teleport it to the Apex. Sergeant Forge, a Marine, and Spartan Red team proceeded down into the Apex. The Marine activated the FTL drive, but was killed by the invisible Arbiter. Sergeant Forge quickly dumped the reactor into Arbiter while several cloaked Honor Guards revealed themselves. Spartan Red team prepared to counter. Sergeant Forge ran to the back of the reactor, but the Arbiter was already behind him. Sergeant Forge fired his Assault Rifle into the Elite, but the Arbiter managed to slice it in half with his Energy Sword. Sergeant Forge tackled the Elite and pulled out his pistol, shooting the Arbiter in his sword hand, forcing the Arbiter to release the weapon. The Spartans engaged the Honor Guards as the Arbiter throws off Sergeant Forge and punches him in the stomach, throwing him again while telling him that Professor Anders wasn't there to save him. Sergeant Forge pretended to be defeated and weak, asking the Arbiter to look him in the eye. The Arbiter picks up Forge and is about to kill him when Sergeant Forge grabs his combat knife, Lucy, and stabs the Arbiter in the neck. As the Elite staggers, Sergeant Forge grabs the Arbiter's dropped Energy Sword and drives it into his chest, killing him. The Spartans return from their fight unharmed. The leader however finds out that the reactor overheated during the battle and had to be activated manually. Sergeant Forge opted to stay behind. As the Spartans left the Apex, Forge took the reactor with him to the sun.
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| Back on the surface, the ''Spirit of Fire'' was facing a big problem. The portal from the outside part of the Shield World had closed and Covenant forces and Flood where nearby. UNSC forces needed to activate the portal again. The problem was that to unlock it, there had to be no alien contact nearby, or the lock would be inoperable. Spartan Red team and UNSC forces managed to defeat nearby Covenant and Flood enemies and activate the portal. As the ''Spirit of Fire'' was left, AI Serina pointed out that the sun's gravitational pull was stronger, meaning that the UNSC couldn't escape. Captain Cutter however managed to use gravity to his advantage, slingshotting around the sun and out of the Shield World. As the ''Spirit of Fire'' zoomed away from the planet, the sun inside entered supernova stage, destroying the Shield World and killing thousands of Covenant and erasing the Flood.
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| Although the battle was in the UNSC's favor, the ''Spirit of Fire'' had used its Slipspace engine to blow the sun, meaning that the ship couldn't get back to UNSC-controlled space for years. The Covenant also suffered a lot. The Arbiter was dead, as was thousands of Covenant forces still inside when the sun blew up. However, fortunately for the Covenant, the Prophet of Regret managed to escape earlier.
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| ===SPARTAN-III (2531)=== | | ===SPARTAN-III (2531)=== |
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| ===Continuing war (2536-2551)=== | | ===Continuing war (2536-2551)=== |
| [[File:Origins ii Human-CovenantWar.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Humanity, heavily out-gunned, lost much ground to the Covenant.]] | | [[File:Origins ii Human-CovenantWar.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Humanity, heavily out-gunned, lost much ground to the Covenant.]] |
| For fifteen years, the war continued in much the same way as before; costly victories on the ground for UNSC forces, but total Covenant space superiority. The UNSC managed to deal a heavy blow to the Covenant in 2537 with the destruction of the Covenant manufacturing plant [[K7-49]] in [[Operation: PROMETHEUS]], and again during the [[Siege of the Atlas Moons]] in the same year. However, these victories were offset by the loss of [[New Constantinople]], the loss of its colonies at [[Leonis Minoris]], and the total destruction of the force of SPARTAN-IIIs sent to destroy the Covenant manufacturing plant. | | For fifteen years, the war continued in much the same way as before; costly victories on the ground for UNSC forces, but total Covenant space superiority. The UNSC managed to deal a heavy blow to the Covenant in 2537 with the destruction of the Covenant manufacturing plant [[K7-49]] in [[Operation: PROMETHEUS]], and again during the [[Siege of the Atlas Moons]] in the same year. However, these victories were offset by the loss of [[New Constantinople]], the loss of its colonies at [[Leonis Minoris]], and the total destruction of the force of SPARTAN-IIIs sent to destroy the Covenant base. |
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| Throughout the 2540s, the UNSC was dealt ever greater blows with the death of the SPARTAN-II [[Sheila]] during the [[Battle of Miridem]] in 2544, defeat during the [[Second Battle of Arcadia]] and the [[Siege of Paris IV|loss of Paris IV]] in 2549. One of the UNSC's success was [[Operation: TORPEDO]] in 2545, and even then it was a Pyrrhic victory at best. | | Throughout the 2540s, the UNSC was dealt ever greater blows with the death of the SPARTAN-II [[Sheila]] during the [[Battle of Miridem]] in 2544, defeat during the [[Second Battle of Arcadia]] and the [[Siege of Paris IV|loss of Paris IV]] in 2549. One of the UNSC's success was [[Operation: TORPEDO]] in 2545, and even then it was a Pyrrhic victory at best. |
