Human-Covenant War: Difference between revisions

[[Humanity]] and the [[Covenant]] first came into direct contact in [[2525]], (twenty-seven years before the events of [[Halo: Combat Evolved]]), when the Covenant attacked the [[UNSC]] [[Outer Colony]] world [[Harvest]]. After several encounters (Including the Covenant's raiding of several UNSC supply ships and a minor skirmish between [[Staff Sergeant]]'s [[Nolan Byrne]] and [[Avery Johnson]] against [[Kig-Yar]] privateers), the [[UNSC]] and [[Covenant]] officially met on Harvest in a diplomatic meeting, although rather than peace, the Covenant was only interested in claiming the planet due to the number of supposed Forerunner artifacts within it, with or without the humans immediate surrender. The meeting was botched after [[Osmo]], a member of the [[Colonial Militia]], was attacked by a nervous Grunt, a member of a second Covenant force attempting to stage an ambush of their own, and a firefight erupted.

The [[Prophets]] declared [[humanity]] to be an affront to their gods (supposedly because humans inhabited and 'defiled' areas which were once [[Forerunner]]), and called for a crusade against the [[Human]] species. An extended, though one-sided, ground battle took place on Harvest, where the [[human]]s successfully halted the [[Covenant]] for some time, but the [[Covenant]] eventually used their capital ships' [[plasma]] weaponry to vaporize the surface of the planet, turning the crust into molten glass, a process which would become known as "[[glassing]]."

The campaign to exterminate all the humans was partly a religious issue and partly an attempt by the Prophets to keep their power.  The Prophets found out that the Forerunner objects that the Luminary was picking up on Harvest were actually humans (which the Prophets interpreted as meaning that the humans were descendants of the Forerunners, or possibly surviving Forerunners).  The Prophets realized that that meant that it was possible to be left behind on the Great Journey.  They agreed that if the rest of the Covenant found out, they wouldn't follow the [[Prophets]], but the [[humans]].  They then decided to wipe out the human race so that none of the Covenant would realize that it was possible to be left behind on the Great Journey.

From that point on, the [[Covenant]] continued to attack and destroy the humans wherever they were found, using their [[Luminary]]s to find  [[human]] worlds. Though the [[UNSC]] forces fought bravely, their inferior technology and numbers meant that even a close victory was far from guaranteed. The Covenant also had an advantage in that they didn't need to fight planet-side to destroy the enemy; their ships simply needed to destroy the [[human]]'s space-borne defenses and any other threats planet-side, and then reduce the planet's surface to glass with orbital plasma bombardments. The few victories achieved by the [[UNSC]] were due to special tactical maneuvers, as human missile, and magnetic acceleration weapons were unable to compete with Covenant energy shields and [[plasma]] torpedoes. Over twenty-seven years, the Covenant whittled down the [[UNSC]] planet by planet. On [[Sigma Octanus IV]], the Covenant were [[Battle of Sigma Octanus IV|defeated]] but placed a [[Spy Probe]] on the ''[[UNSC Iroquois]]'', which led the Covenant to the UNSC's stronghold and main headquarters, [[Reach]]. That is the most likely 'original goal'. The Covenant also got the religious artifacts that they wanted before they lost the battle in space. The battle that followed had staggering losses for both sides, but ended in a Pyrrhic Covenant victory. The ''[[Pillar of Autumn]]'' was among the surviving [[UNSC]] ships which fled the battle, and made a somewhat blind jump, as described by Cortana saying that she realized that the symbols on the retrieved artifact from Sigma Octanus IV were in fact very old star charts and were coordinates to the [[Forerunner]] ring world of [[Halo]], being chased by a dozen Covenant warships.

The Covenant's first known truly costly defeat was on and around Halo. Here, the [[human]] survivors from the [[Halcyon-class cruiser]], the ''[[Pillar of Autumn]]'', managed to form an effective resistance. Unwilling to risk damaging the [[sacred ring]], the [[Covenant]] was forced to fight the [[human]]s on Halo's surface rather than using its usual bombardment tactics. The Covenant found the humans uncannily adapted to [[Halo]]'s environment and very adept at fighting on the surface, with Human firearms and vehicles proving effective despite their technological inferiority. Unable to counter the guerrilla tactics employed by the humans and the unexpected emergence of the [[Flood]], the Covenant was soundly defeated in numerous raids, including one instance when the humans boarded their grounded cruiser, the ''[[Truth and Reconciliation]]'', and successfully escaped with a group of captives, including the captain of the ''[[Pillar of Autumn]]'', [[Captain Jacob Keyes]]. During the course of the battle, the [[Spartan]] known as the [[Master Chief]] discovered the true nature of [[Halo]] and proceeded to destroy the ring and escape, much to the Covenant's horrified dismay.

Shortly after the defeat at Halo, the Covenant had amassed a large fleet that appeared to be intended to assault Earth. It is explained in the audio drama, [[I Love Bees]], that the [[Covenant]] discovery of [[Earth]] was an accident after the [[Pious Flea]] had been intercepted by the [[UNSC]] stealth ship [[Apocalypso]]. After retrieving a Forerunner artifact, the Apocalypso made a [[Slipspace]] jump directly to Earth. When the ship tumbled into real space and crashed on the moon, the Pious Flea sent a message to the heart of the [[Covenant]] military, containing reconnaissance data, photos, star maps, and the coordinates of the [[Forerunner]] Artifact, which is now on Earth. The events of ''[[Halo 2]]'' apparently contradict the novel in explicitly stating that the Covenant had not identified [[Earth]] as the [[Human]] homeworld. However, the [[Unyielding Hierophant]]'s fleet was never expressly identified to be intending to assault [[Earth]]; this is merely a reasonable assumption made by the human forces upon discovery of the fleet's destination of [[Sol]]. This leaves the exact nature of the fleet's mission uncertain, as there is no definitive proof that the [[Covenant]] were intending to attack a [[human]] homeworld. The surviving [[human]]s, however, believed this fleet to be a direct threat to Earth, and, using a captured [[Covenant]] [[flagship]], lured the [[Fleet]] into a trap and destroyed it.

A few weeks after this defeat, the [[Prophet of Regret]] led a small Fleet of fifteen ships to [[Earth]], supposedly in order to locate a [[Forerunner]] artifact known as the "[[Ark]]." Though hopelessly outgunned by the [[UNSC]]'s new orbital defense grid, the [[Prophet of Regret]]'s flagship managed to break through the human defenses to [[New Mombasa]]. The [[Covenant]] ground troops quickly spread through the city, destroying both military and civilian resistance, but a counterattack by the [[Marines]] and the [[Master Chief]] drove them back. With his fleet destroyed in orbit when he landed, Regret was forced to retreat. His carrier jumped into [[Slipspace]] from within the city, destroying it and clearing the area for a later [[Covenant]] excavation of the [[Ark]], though the latter consequence was probably unintentional.

Unfortunately for Regret, a single [[Human]] ship, the ''[[In Amber Clad]]'', had followed them through their own Slipspace rupture to [[Delta Halo]]. With the orders "Find out why he came to [[Earth]]; why he came here," the Master Chief was hard-dropped with a compliment of [[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]] to Delta Halo's surface. Led by the Chief, the humans forced their way through [[Regret]]'s forces until they had reached the [[Prophet]] himself. At that moment, High Charity, having learned of Delta Halo, arrived and launched multiple waves of [[Phantom]] dropships to aid Regret, but they were too late. The Chief assaulted and killed Regret, and the [[Covenant]] Fleet recalled the [[Phantom]]s in favor of bombarding the area. It would seem they succeeded in "killing" Master Chief by burning away the building, as he came inches away from getting incinerated by the massive plasma beam glassing the area, plummeting down into the lake below, only to be captured by the [[Gravemind]].

Meanwhile, the majority of the human forces on ''In Amber Clad'' had traveled to [[Delta Halo]]'s [[Library]] to obtain the [[Index]], which is the key to firing [[Halo]]. Originally, the [[Covenant]] had been unaware of the Index's importance, but luckily for them, the [[Arbiter]] had obtained [[343 Guilty Spark (Monitor)|343 Guilty Spark]], the monitor of [[Installation 04]] from the first Halo while destroying a [[heretic]]al sect. The monitor, known to the [[Covenant]] as an [[Oracle]], told the [[Prophets]] of the Index and the [[Arbiter]] was sent to retrieve it. The mission was complicated though by the unexpected release of the [[Flood]]. Despite this, the [[Arbiter]] successfully reached the [[Library]] and prevented the [[humans]] from claiming the Index. Just as [[Miranda Keyes]] claimed the [[index]], the [[Arbiter]] stole it from her, kidnapping her and [[Sgt. Johnson]]. However, then Index was stolen from the [[Arbiter]] by the [[Brute Chieftain]] [[Tartarus]], who under the [[Prophets]]' orders to retrieve the Index and attempt to kill the [[Arbiter]]. With the Index secure, the Prophets then ordered the [[Brutes]] to begin eradicating the [[Elites]], thus starting the [[Covenant Civil War]].

Following the [[Flood]] infestation of High Charity at the end of ''[[Halo 2]]'', the [[High Prophet of Truth]] led the remaining loyalist Fleet to [[Earth]] to complete what the previous mission to [[Earth]] had not. Little did he know that [[Spartan 117]], [[Master Chief]], had stowed away with him. By the time [[Truth]] arrived at [[Earth]], a full-scale war in space and on the ground was underway between [[UNSC]] and [[Covenant Fleet]]s. After much fighting, the human forces were almost decimated, with their fleet almost completely destroyed and the entire human population reduced to a mere 200 million. However, the Covenant fleet was also vastly reduced and focused on securing an enormous unearthed [[Forerunner]] structure near the ruins of [[New Mombasa]]. With the arrival of [[Master Chief]], the humans launched an assault on the area, sweeping aside all Covenant resistance and finally launching an all-out attack on the [[Prophet of Truth]]'s [[Forerunner ship]]. However, [[Truth]] quickly activated a large [[portal]] and escaped. Events were further complicated by an unexpected attack by the [[Flood]]. With help from the [[Elites]], the [[Flood]] force was vanquished, but not before [[Master Chief]] recovered a recording from Cortana, who had stayed behind on High Charity. [[Cortana]]'s message told of a means to stop the Flood on the other end of the portal. A small Fleet of human and Elite forces was sent through the portal, leading them to the [[Ark]], just outside the [[Milky Way Galaxy]]. The [[Covenant]] fleet above the Ark immediately attacked. Though the Human/Elite Fleet was outnumbered 3-1, the battle ended in defeat for the [[Covenant]]. During the space battle, [[human forces]] were deployed to the surface of the Ark. The final battle of the war was fought in November, 2552, as Truth attempted to activate the [[halo rings]]. Led by the Master Chief, the human forces smashed through the remaining [[Covenant]] resistance. The battle was complicated by the arrival of High Charity. As the Flood began to spread, the Chief and the Arbiter went on to thwart Truth, who died in mid-flood-infection at the [[Arbiter]]'s hand. With the Covenant forces completely shattered, Truth's death marked the effective end to the war. A year later, in 2553, a [[Hillside Memorial|monument was erected on a hillside]] near the [[Portal]] to the [[Ark]] to commemorate the billions of men and women killed during the war, and Spartan-117 was presumed dead by the UNSC.