Orbital mine shell

"To prevent Nizat from being rescued by the return of a loyal captain, the Silent Shadow would have placed a shell of self-directing plasma torpedos in orbit around the planet. That was what Nizat himself would have done, and he had good reason to believe it was what they had done. Since the Fleet of Swift Justice's departure, he had seen five fireballs plunge from the sky."

— Nizat 'Kvarosee's inner musings.

An orbital mine shell is an orbital shell comprised of Covenant self-targeting Jaet-pattern plasma torpedos so thick that not even a drop pod could land. Its intention is to isolate a particular planet so as to prevent anyone from ever landing there again. The Covenant were known to use orbital mine shells while exiling rogue members of the Covenant.

History

In 2526, the Silent Shadow exiled former Fleetmaster Nizat 'Kvarosee and his surviving ground forces on Netherop for their rogue actions. In order to prevent Nizat from being rescued by the return of a loyal captain, the Silent Shadow had the Fleet of Swift Justice establish an orbital mine shell around Netherop which Nizat acknowledged is something that he himself would've done. Following the fleet's departure, Nizat witnessed the destruction of five vessels that were presumably trying to rescue him, ships that fell victim to the mine shell. The presence of the mine shell also kept the UNSC from being able to launch a rescue mission for Lieutenant Commander Amalea Petrov and her forces that had gotten stranded on the planet.

About a year after the Battle of Netherop, the UNSC sent a rescue mission. A Prowler sneaked into orbit and established contact with Petrov. However, the orbital mine shell destroyed both Pelicans that were sent to Netherop's surface. Not prepared to clear a full mine shell and unwilling twenty lives to save eight, the captain called off the mission, but he promised that a better-equipped mission would come back when it was feasible. True to the Prowler captain's word, the corvette UNSC Alpina came years later and worked to punch through the mine shell. On the third day, the Alpina made contact with the UNSC survivors and promised that a Pelican would collect them before the next evening, having apparently found a way through the mine shell. However, Nizat was able to use the Divine Hand to destroy the Alpina and the third rescue mission that came after it.

List of appearances

• Halo: Oblivion (First appearance)
• Halo: Outcasts