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• February 3: Bliss is glassed by the Covenant.
• March 1: Preston Cole's fleet reaches Harvest and the Second Battle of Harvest begins. It is a human victory, but at an enormous cost. However, the Covenant also claim victory and celebrate through fasting and prayer. The Prophet of Regret televises the executions of "those who failed their duty" at the battle. The Covenant would return to Harvest later in the year, and the UNSC would respond. This led to a five-year long series of engagements on the planet, known by the UNSC as the Harvest Campaign.
• March 10: The WINTER CONTINGENCY protocol is enacted by the UNSC.
• March 23: Insurrectionists bomb civilian spaceport in Troisi City, Lodestone.
• April 2: 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.
• October 21: The Battle of Alpha Aurigae takes place in the Alpha Aurigae system.
• The Committee of Minds for Security analyzes 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 ODSTs. Later in the year, the Committee discusses the possibility of a hypothetical Covenant counterpart to the Assembly and the possibility of contacting it.
• The Battle of Circinius IV takes place; the Covenant launch an assault on Circinius IV, decimating almost the entire human population of the planet. Only four survivors from Hastati Squad at Corbulo Academy of Military Science remain alive after the initial assault; SPARTAN-II Blue Team is deployed to retrieve them.