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2552 was the ultimate year of the Human-Covenant War, during which the humans of the United Nations Space Command nearly saw utter defeat and extinction, though the tide turned, and with the help of the Sangheili, they managed to win the war. The Covenant were at the peak of their power and reach in 2552, with major assaults on the human Inner Colonies and an invasion followed by a prolonged engagement on their home planet, Earth.[1][2][3] During the battle at Installation 04, the galaxy found its first large outbreak of the Flood threat in over a hundred thousand years.[4][5] Over two months later, an even larger outbreak occurred at Installation 05.[6]

The war finally drew to a close at Installation 00, known more commonly as the Ark, with the humans and Sangheili attempting to assassinate the Prophet of Truth, before he could activate the remaining Halo installations.[7][8] The alliance was successful in their mission against the Covenant.

Events

Before June

January

January 8

February

April

April 22

Unknown Date

May

May 10

July

Unknown date

After July 5

  • Gabriel Thorne single-handedly saves his entire platoon in the Battle of Criterion.

July 17

July 18

July 23

  • The Covenant deploy the Fleet of Valiant Prudence to sever Reach's out-system communications and search for Forerunner artifacts. This is the first stage of the Covenant's invasion of the planet.
  • Noble Team finds and stops a pair of Insurrectionist SCI combatants attempting to hijack a supply transport.[10]
  • Fireteam 3 Charlie, along with other special warfare fireteams under command of Colonel Holland, are sent to investigate the areas around Longhorn Valley and Visegrád after contact with the comms relay in Visegrád is lost.

July 24

  • Two months after the death of Thom-A293, SPARTAN-B312 joins Noble Team as Noble Six.
  • Noble Team is sent by Colonel Holland on a mission to investigate the downed Visegrad Relay.[10]
  • Noble Team discovers the Covenant's presence on Reach for the first time at Visegrád Relay. Planetary directive WINTER CONTINGENCY is declared.

July 26

  • Sword Base, an ONI research facility on Reach, comes under attack by an SDV-class heavy corvette. The UNSC Army with the help of Noble Team successfully repel the attack and the corvette is destroyed by orbital support.

August

Unknown date

  • After discovering Reach, the Covenant move on to glass the other planets in the system, including Tribute, resulting in the prolonged Battle of Tribute.
  • During the Battle of Tribute, SPARTAN-II Team Black is sent to Verge to destroy a Covenant Beacon supplying helium-3 to the ships laying siege on Tribute. The team successfully destroys the beacon.[15]
  • After the mission on Verge, Vice Admiral Alexander Reaves assigns Fireteam Black to Operation: BLOWBACK, a covert mission in Covenant-occupied space. Their ship, as well as a Covenant carrier, crash-land on an unknown moon, igniting the Battle of Line Installation 1-4.
  • Margaret-053 is captured by Forerunner Gatherers. Team Black and the Covenant forces on the moon enter into a reluctant alliance to rescue the Spartan.
  • Fireteam Black encounters the Forerunner monitor 686 Ebullient Prism en route to rescuing Margaret-053. The monitor briefly causes rifts between the team to prevent them from rescuing their comrade. Margaret, however, escapes anyway, aided by Reff 'Talamee, and the rest of Team Black stop fighting amongst themselves.
  • Team Black manages to enter the control room of Line Installation 1-4, eventually destroying 686 Ebullient Prism with the installation's main gun; they also succeed in destroying the entire Covenant fleet.
  • Beta Gabriel is captured by a pack of Jiralhanae under the command of Chieftain Parabum. A majority of the sparse human population is either taken prisoner or killed, including ONI agent Connor Brien, who had been sent on a mission to study the Brutes. A recon force of ODSTs are sent in to neutralize the Brutes, and are successful in doing so.
  • The Battle of New Jerusalem takes place sometime this month or the previous.[16] The 26th Marine Expeditionary Force is nearly wiped out, leaving the Rookie as one of the few survivors.[17]
  • The Raid on Mount Haven takes place.[18] The UNSC Chares deploys ODSTs in a snatch-and-grab mission to secure the transport of a Forerunner artifact, but after a chain of events involving a group of rogue ODSTs attempting to steal gold from a bank vault, a wounded ODST manages to halt their operations with a Shiva nuclear warhead.[19] Eventually, the surviving civilians and UNSC forces fall back to Earth, having been informed Reach was just attacked.[20]

August 3

  • Dr. Halsey decides to split Cortana in two halves, with her IEP translation routines analyzing the Forerunner structure under SWORD Base and the other half continuing with John and Blue Team in preparation for Operation: RED FLAG.[21]

August 5

  • Cortana's split is a success.[21]

Early August (sometime from the 6th to the 12th)

August 11

  • SPARTAN-B312 and Jun-A266 engage in a recon mission on Covenant forces in the colloquially named "Dark Zone", a Covenant-occupied region in the Viery Territory. The two Spartans discover a Covenant invasion force and a landing zone. Kat-B320 receives the visual and tells them to retreat so they will be prepared for the next day.[22]

August 12

August 13

  • 60% of the remainder of the UNSC fleet is recalled to Reach, destined to arrive within the next 48 hours.[24]

August 14

August 17

August 18

August 23

  • Noble Six arrives in New Alexandria and helps evacuate civilians from the city. He also manages to severely damage one of the corvettes laying siege to the city by use of an AA missile battery. Noble Six eventually meets up with the rest of Noble Team, and the Covenant begin glassing the city. As Noble Team is on their way to a fallout shelter under the Olympic Tower, Kat-B320 is killed by sniper fire.[26]

August 24

  • Dr. Halsey examines the rock recovered by Blue Team during Operation: OCEAN BREAKER on Sigma Octanus IV.[21]

August 25

August 26

  • The remainder of Noble Team is evacuated from the destroyed New Alexandria via a Pelican.[26]

August 27

August 29

  • John-117 receives a neural interface upgrade, the second generation of MJOLNIR Mark V armor, and is introduced to Cortana.
  • Noble Team is ordered to destroy Sword Base in a torch-and-burn op. During the operation, Noble Team makes their way inside Sword Base where they encounter Dr. Halsey, who asks them to protect her lab. Noble Team is then given direct orders to escort a fragment of Cortana holding crucial data from the Babd Catha Forerunner complex to the Pillar of Autumn. Halsey is then escorted back to CASTLE base by Jun-A266.

August 30

  • Cortana has ONI Colonel James Ackerson illicitly transferred to the front. This is her revenge for his attempts to eliminate both her and John-117.
  • First Lieutenant Jake Chapman, along with most of Charlie Company is killed during the Fall of Reach.
  • The Covenant, despite sustaining heavy losses, wins a crushing victory at the Fall of Reach. Many of the remaining SPARTAN-IIs are killed.
  • The surviving SPARTAN-IIs on Reach are separated into two groups. One recovers Vice Admiral Whitcomb and goes into hiding at Camp Independence. The others are admitted into CASTLE Base by Dr. Halsey and receive parts of the MJOLNIR Mark V upgrade and new weapons.
  • Dr. Halsey learns of Colonel Ackerson's mysterious plans that seem to involve "her" Spartans.
  • The three surviving members of Noble Team arrive at Aszod; Carter-A259's Pelican becomes too badly damaged to continue carrying them all, so Noble Six and Emile-A239 deploy to the ground.
  • Battle of Aszod: The Covenant forces throughout Aszod attempt to stop Noble Six and Emile from reaching the Pillar of Autumn, going so far as to deploy Scarabs against them. Carter sacrifices himself when he steers his damaged Pelican into a Scarab, destroying it. Emile and Six proceed to push towards the ship breaking yards and rendezvous with the scant UNSC forces still attempting to defend the facility. After clearing most of the facility, Six, Emile, and several Trooper squads meet up with Captain Jacob Keyes, successfully delivering the fragment of Cortana. However, Emile is killed by a Sangheili Zealot.
  • SPARTAN-B312 destroys a CCS-class battlecruiser with a mass driver to allow the Pillar of Autumn to escape Reach. The Spartan is killed by Sangheili soon after. The Autumn jumps away from the system, with Cortana using Forerunner navigation data from the Sigma Octanus IV artifact as well as the Babd Catha Forerunner complex.

September

Unknown date

  • The planet Coral is reported glassed by the Covenant.

September 4

September 5

September 14

September 18

  • Around 2200 hours ship time: Captain Keyes and other key crew wake up on the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, and check the status of the ship.[30]

September 19

  • Captain Keyes and crew make it to the bridge of the Pillar of Autumn and ask Cortana to shut down all systems before returning to normal space. The Pillar of Autumn then leaves slipspace, and glides around Basis into Threshold's orbit, at which point Cortana detects a radio echo in the shadow of Threshold.
  • 0103 hours ship time: The Pillar of Autumn cryo team prepare to wake John-117 under orders from Captain Keyes. Meanwhile, the Covenant Fleet of Particular Justice prepare to attack the Pillar of Autumn.[31]
  • The Battle of Installation 04 begins.
  • 0120 hours ship time: Keyes learns of the Covenant presence in the system and decides to wake the whole crew out of cryo.[32]
  • 0127 hours ship time: The Fleet of Particular Justice finally strike the Pillar of Autumn. John-117 is also woken from cryo sleep around this time and tasked with preventing Cortana's capture by the Covenant. John-117 and Cortana escape the Pillar of Autumn aboard a Bumblebee escape pod, which later crashes on the ring.[33]
  • The Pillar of Autumn is forced to crash land on the ring. A significant portion of its crew survives to continue the fight on the ground.
  • Captain Keyes and the others in his escape pod are captured by the Covenant. Only Keyes escapes summary execution, and is taken to the CCS-class Truth and Reconciliation for interrogation.
  • A large group of ODSTs and survivors, under the command of Major Antonio Silva, (who assumed command of Autumn 's surviving crew after Captain Keyes' capture by the Covenant) establish Alpha Base, which serves as the main tactical firebase for the survivors and as a staging point for any future Covenant attacks.
 
John-117 leading Marines on Installation 04.
  • John-117 leads a Marine force to board the Truth and Reconciliation. They recover Keyes and escape aboard a Covenant dropship.

September 20

  • Keyes orders John-117 to find the "Silent Cartographer", a map room that will reveal the location of the Control Room. Keyes leaves to lead an assault on a Covenant weapons cache.
  • Having found the map room and the pertinent information, Cortana directs a Pelican to take them to the area where the ring's Control Room is. Upon reaching the Control Room, Cortana transfers to the Control Room's computer and directs John-117 to stop Keyes from accessing the 'weapons cache', in reality a Forerunner Flood containment facility.
  • John-117, without Cortana, enters the supposed weapons cache but is unable to locate Keyes. Instead, he discovers the Flood and is forced to retreat. He links up with marines and takes command of the surviving members of Keyes' team and together they fight their way to the extraction point. However, the Spartan is conscripted by 343 Guilty Spark and teleported away before he can be evacuated with the surviving members.
  • Major Silva and the others under his command abandon Alpha Base after discovering a large Flood infestation beneath the base. They then learn that the Truth and Reconciliation has been abandoned and lead a strike force to capture the ship.
  • The Flood succeed in capturing the Covenant dropship Brilliant Gift, and use it to crash-land onboard the Covenant ship Infinite Succor, in orbit above Installation 04, with the intent to spread itself to the rest of the Fleet of Particular Justice. This is avoided when Special Operations Commander Rtas 'Vadumee sets the Infinite Succor on a crash-course vector for the system's star, Soell. Rtas 'Vadumee is the only survivor.
  • The SPARTAN-IV program enters development under the oversight of Admiral Margaret Parangosky, CINCONI. The project's existence is kept secret from both Dr. Catherine Halsey and Colonel James Ackerson, the respective creators of the SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III programs.[34]

September 21

  • The Monitor takes John-117 to the ring's Library to retrieve the Activation Index, a device needed to activate the ring's primary weapon. Having retrieved the Index, the Monitor teleports the Spartan back to the Control Room where an irate Cortana confiscates the Index and prevents the ring from firing. John-117 and Cortana flee a now-hostile 343 Guilty Spark and Sentinels.
  • To forestall the ring from being activated manually, John-117 disables the ring's three phase pulse generators. This is to buy time to destroy the ring by activating the auto-destruct on the Pillar of Autumn. Only Keyes' command neural interface can activate the ship's self-destruct, and John-117 embarks once more to rescue the captain.

September 22

  • Cortana teleports John-117 to the now Flood-overrun Truth and Reconciliation where Jacob Keyes is being held. Alas, the pair arrives too late to save Keyes, who has been merged into a proto-Gravemind. John-117 retrieves the neural interface by punching in the former-captain's head. Cortana downloads the necessary codes, and the duo returns to the Pillar of Autumn on a captured Banshee.
  • Major Silva's forces arrive at the Truth and Reconciliation and take over the ship through a combined surprise assault on the vessel's hangar bay and gravity lift. They also manage to capture the cruiser's prophet, the Prophet of Stewardship. After capturing the cruiser, Major Silva intends to fly the ship back to Earth in order to be recognized as the hero of the Battle of Installation 04; this acts a both a huge violation of the Cole Protocol and risks spreading the Flood. First Lieutenant Melissa McKay realizes this, so, in a snap-decision, she severs the primary optical fiber cable that linked controls from the bridge to engineering with a fragmentation grenade, thereby causing the cruiser to lose control and crash onto the surface of Halo.
  • 343 Guilty Spark overrides the auto-destruct sequence, forcing John-117 to manually destabilize the ship's still-functioning fusion cores. John-117 and Cortana then escape the resulting explosion and the fragmentation of the ring aboard a Longsword.
  • Staff Sergeant Johnson, Lieutenant Haverson, Warrant Officer Polaski, and Corporal Locklear also escape the destruction of the ring aboard a Pelican.
  • In the course of the ring's destruction, a fragment of Installation 04 enters slipspace. This fragment later re-enters normal space in the vicinity of a red giant star.[35]
  • The Battle of Installation 04 ends. John-117 and Cortana rendezvous with Johnson's group in Installation 04's debris field. They also recover a set of cryo chambers, one which contains Linda-058.
  • Skirmish over Threshold: As the Longsword and Pelican are not jump capable, the UNSC survivors assault and capture the Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice. They then set course for Reach.
  • Jersey Morelli confronts his mother about having an affair.

September 23

  • The month's temporal anomaly is seemingly rectified by this date.

September 26

  • ONI agent Jameson Locke compiles a target profile report concerning Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee, detailing 'Vadamee's personal history from the start of the Human-Covenant War to the glassing of Reach.[36]

September's anomaly

After the recovery of a Forerunner device on Reach, the members of an organized resistance comprised of Spartans from Reach and survivors of the Battle of Installation 04 are in some sort of time anomaly, causing them not to be in the "correct timeline".[37] What is known is that the events take place with the possession of the device after September 7.

 
John-117 and Marine survivors fighting on the Ascendant Justice.

September 7

  • The time/date record anomaly of Sept 23, 2552 most likely rejoins the correct timeline.
  • Dr. Halsey and members of Red Team discover an enigmatic shard in a Forerunner installation below CASTLE Base. They are besieged by Covenant forces who seek to possess the shard.
  • Dr. Halsey initiates Operation: WHITE GLOVE, destroying CASTLE Base, thus preventing the Covenant forces above from capturing any UNSC or Forerunner technology. Halsey and members of Red Team are protected from the resulting detonation when they hide in the caves beneath the base.
  • The remaining Spartans, Admiral Whitcomb, Dr. Halsey, Sgt. Johnson, Lieutenant Haverson, Warrant Officer Polaski, and Corporal Locklear jump to Slipspace on board the Covenant/UNSC hybrid ship Template:UNSCship-Ascendant Justice, and discover that the shard seems to have the ability to bend both space and time.

September 12

  • The Gettysburg/Ascendant Justice arrives for refit and provisioning in the Eridanus system.
  • Vice Admiral Whitcomb secures a meeting with rebel leader Governor Jacob Jiles, attempting to reason with him that the Covenant would most likely arrive to claim the Forerunner crystal. When several Covenant warships emerge from slipspace, Jiles agrees to help the UNSC forces.
  • Dr. Halsey sedates Kelly-087, and absconds with her on Governor Jiles' personal ship, the Chiroptera-class Beatrice. Before she goes, she gives the Forerunner crystal to Corporal Locklear, with implicit instructions to destroy it.
  • A large Covenant fleet enters the Eridanus system, forcing the hand of Admiral Whitcomb; he pulls out and retreats, as does the Gettysburg/Ascendant Justice, leaving the rebels to their doom.
  • Governor Jiles is killed and the Eridanus rebels are destroyed during the Massacre at Eridanus Secundus. Eridanus Secundus itself is destroyed by the Covenant.

September 13

  • UNSC forces aboard the Gettysburg/Ascendant Justice win a crucial victory at the Battle of the Unyielding Hierophant. SPARTAN-093, Lieutenant Haverson of ONI and Vice Admiral Whitcomb are killed. The survivors, now aboard the singular UNSC Gettysburg and with a captured Covenant slipspace drive, depart for Earth to warn of the impending Covenant invasion.

October

Unknown date

October 8

October 9

October 10

October 17

October 19

  • Cortana details the Battle of Installation 04 to ONI.[40]

October 20

File:Battle of New Mombasa.jpg
The Battle of Earth at Mombasa.
  • John-117 is outfitted with the MJOLNIR Mk. VI aboard Cairo Station.
  • Thel 'Vadamee, the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice, is deemed a heretic by the Covenant High Council and is sentenced to death.
  • John-117 and Staff Sergeant (now promoted to Sergeant Major) Johnson are awarded the Colonial Cross at a ceremony aboard Cairo Station. Captain Keyes is awarded posthumously and the decoration is entrusted to his daughter Miranda Keyes.
  • The Battle of Earth begins.
  • The High Prophet of Regret's fleet arrives at Earth, not expecting any human presence. The vastly outnumbered Covenant force attacks without seeking support from other Covenant forces.
  • John-117 foils a Covenant attempt to demolish Cairo Station and commandeers the Covenant bomb to destroy an assault carrier.
  • The High Prophet of Regret's assault carrier, Solemn Penance, breaks through the orbital defenses and initiates a ground assault on New Mombasa and the surrounding area.
  • John-117 deploys to New Mombasa in an attempt to capture the High Prophet of Regret. Before this can happen, the assault carrier initiates a slipspace jump within the city, escaping Earth and severely damaging the city in the process. The UNSC In Amber Clad, with John-117 aboard, successfully pursues the carrier through slipspace.
  • Immediately after Regret's retreat, an additional Jiralhanae-led Covenant occupation force is inserted to New Mombasa, as a part of the Prophet of Truth's plan to eventually replace the Sangheili with the Brutes as the Covenant's primary warrior race. For the rest of the day, UNSC and Covenant forces battle for control of the city. Meanwhile, the Covenant fleet begins the process of uncovering the Ark portal.
  • A squad of ODSTs led by Captain Veronica Dare and Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck and consisting of Corporal Taylor "Dutch" Miles, Lance Corporal Kojo "Romeo" Agu, PFC Michael "Mickey" Crespo, and The Rookie, launch into New Mombasa from the UNSC Say My Name. However, the squad is scattered after the Prophet of Regret's carrier jumps to Slipspace.
  • Gunnery Sergeant Buck lands at Tayari Plaza and assists Marine forces in combating the Covenant. He attempts to link up with Captain Dare, but she has gone missing, though he does link up with Lance Corporal Agu.
  • Marine forces under the command of an unidentified colonel within New Mombasa start to regroup, managing to take back the Uplift Nature Reserve. However, the Mombasa Tether collapses, killing the Colonel and scattering the Marine forces into disarray.
  • The ONI Alpha Site in New Mombasa is destroyed by the combined forces of the UNSC and the New Mombasa Police Department, led by Corporal Miles and and PFC Crespo, in order to prevent the Covenant from accessing it. During the attack, Police Commissioner Kinsler activates the fire extinguishing systems in the underground data facility, flooding its sublevels with argon. The argon kills Dr. Endesha, who had been on Sublevel 9. The resulting explosion also inadvertently awakens a large Drone hive in the tunnels below the base.
  • The former Supreme Commander of Particular Justice is made the Arbiter by the High Prophets of Truth and Mercy.
  • Gunnery Sergeant Buck and his squad regroup. They manage to capture a Covenant dropship and find a way out of New Mombasa through Kikowani Station, but abruptly turn around when they receive a distress call from Captain Dare.
  • The Arbiter destroys a band of heretics led by Sesa 'Refumee and recovers 343 Guilty Spark during a raid on the Threshold gas mine.

October 21

  • Sadie Endesha and Mike Branley manage to escape New Mombasa.
  • The Battle of Mombasa ends with a Covenant victory.
  • In the dawn, Covenant reinforcements sent by the Prophet of Truth continue arriving at Earth to uncover the Portal.
  • Buck's ODST squad recovers a Huragok which has absorbed the Superintendent's Vergil subroutine, and escapes from the data facility beneath Alpha Site. Covenant forces attempt to capture Vergil from the squad as they make their way through the Waterfront Highway. The squad manages to hold out and eventually escapes New Mombasa as the city, along with its surroundings are glassed by the Covenant excavation fleet.

October 21 through November 17

October 20 through November 2

  • The Spartan-II Blue Team is deployed to defend Earth during the two weeks that follow the initial Covenant invasion. They participate in numerous combat missions on and around Earth, including Battle of Ross Island in the Antarctica and an underwater operation in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Late October

October 25

  • The Office of Naval Intelligence sends an exploration-and-neutralization team to Gamma Halo.[40]
  • Skirmish on Mona Lisa: The UNSC Red Horse is sent to Installation 04's debris field in the Soell system to scout the area for survivors. They detect the prison ship Mona Lisa and deploy Marines into the ship. Soon after, it is revealed that the ship is infested by the Flood and was used by the Office of Naval Intelligence as a laboratory to test the parasite on prisoners. The infestation is contained as the Red Horse unleashes a Shiva-class nuclear missile on the Mona Lisa, destroying it.[43][44]

October 31

November

The end of 2552 saw the bloodiest period of the Great War and the beginning of the end. The Prophet of Truth was killed in the later months along with a sizable Covenant armada, leaving the Covenant forces crippled and leaderless as well as the full destruction of the Gravemind and its Flood forces.

November 2

  • The Battle of Installation 05 begins.
  • The UNSC In Amber Clad arrives at Delta Halo, following the High Prophet of Regrets assault carrier. John-117, aided by ODSTs and marines, pursue the High Prophet to a Forerunner temple and assassinate him. However, orbital bombardment from the escorting fleets of the newly arrived High Charity destroys the temple. John-117 is thrown into a lake and captured by the Gravemind.
  • The Changing of the Guard within the Covenant occurs.

November 3

 
Jiralhanae and Sangheili ships fighting over High Charity.
  • The Great Schism begins.
  • The Prophet of Conviction is killed by one of his shipmasters after learning that Conviction ordered the killings of the Sangheili councilors within the Fleet of Righteous Vigilance.
  • The Arbiter is sent to Delta Halo to retrieve that installation's Index. The Arbiter is successful, but is then betrayed by Tartarus, who casts the Arbiter into the depths of the ringworld. The Arbiter is subsequently captured by Gravemind.
  • Gravemind sends John-117 and the Arbiter to secure the Index and prevent the installation from being activated. John-117 is teleported to High Charity while the Arbiter is teleported close to the Control Room. Both are aided by the chaos of the Covenant civil war.
  • The Flood controlled In Amber Clad jumps inside High Charity and commences its infection. The Prophet of Mercy becomes infected by the Flood.
  • John-117 is unable to prevent the Index from leaving High Charity with Tartarus. Instead, on the advice of Cortana, the Spartan stows away aboard the Forerunner Dreadnought that is carrying the High Prophet of Truth to Earth. Cortana remains behind to ensure the destruction of Installation 05, should that become necessary.
  • Cortana sends a slipspace message to Earth informing them that John-117 is en route.
  • The Arbiter reaches Installation 05's Control Room but is unable to prevent Tartarus from activating the ring. With the help of humans and the Sangheili, the Arbiter kills Tartarus. This allows Commander Keyes to physically remove the Index from the Core, temporarily interrupting the firing sequence. Due to the interruption, Installation 05 automatically sends a signal to all other Forerunner installations in the galaxy, activating and placing them in standby mode.
  • The UNSC Dusk arrives at Delta Halo and witnesses the final stages of the Battle of Installation 05. She retreats to Earth via an anomalous slipspace wake caused by the Forerunner ship.
  • Dr. Halsey and Kelly-087 arrive at Onyx and are trapped along with the rest of the human survivors. Halsey sends a distress signal piggybacked on Cortana's October 28 signal.
  • The Battle of Havana is fought. William-043, Linda-058, and Fred-104 manage to stall the Covenant's forces in Havana, Cuba by destroying the Centennial Orbital Elevator. They receive new orders from Dr. Halsey to redeploy from Earth to Onyx, capture the Covenant destroyer Bloodied Spirit, and depart for Onyx.
  • Voro 'Mantakree is promoted to Fleet Master by Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree, and is given the mission to intercept the Spartans heading for Onyx and to retrieve the Forerunner technologies said to be there.
  • Danforth Whitcomb's NOVA bomb detonates onboard the Covenant supercarrier Sublime Transcendence, in orbit above the Sangheili outpost world Joyous Exultation, destroying every ship in the vicinity, and also scorching a quarter of Joyous Exultation and completely vaporizing the nearby moon Malhiem.
  • The Dusk arrives at Earth after mere hours. Upon arrival, she is re-assigned to Battle Group Omicron. The group jump to Onyx via the Bloodied Spirit' slipspace wake.
  • Blue Team arrives at Onyx aboard the captured Bloodied Spirit, and links up with Kurt-051, Kelly-087, Dr. Halsey, Chief Mendez, and the SPARTAN-III's. They proceed to push forward into Zone 67, retreating further underground when a newly arrived Covenant fleet begins landing troops.
  • Admiral Patterson's battle group arrives at Onyx to retrieve the survivors, but is unsuccessful due to the Covenant presence. The UNSC battlegroup is destroyed, with the exception of the Dusk, which avoids destruction by remaining stealthed.
  • After an emergency mission redirect by the ONI AI Endless Summer, Kurt-051 and his forces proceed to destroy the Sentinel factory in Onyx's polar region and retrieve Team Katana, enclosed within slipspace field pods.
  • Onyx is found to be an artificial structure built by the Forerunners to house a shield world. The human survivors hold off pursuing Covenant troops long enough to flee to the safety of the shield world.
  • Kurt promotes Fred-104 to Lieutenant, Junior Grade.
  • Kurt-051 dies after detonating 2 FENRIS warheads inside Onyx's core room antechamber.
  • The Onyx Conflict ends. Sentinels annihilate the remaining Covenant forces as Onyx's artificial landmass disintegrates.
  • Chol Von, a T'vaoan shipmistress, renamed her missionary ship Joyous Discovery as Paragon at some point of the Great Schism.[45] During the Schism, she captured a Phantom, killing two Sangheili in the process.[46]
  • In an effort to contain the Flood outbreak, Thel 'Vadam's Covenant faction begin glassing Installation 05's surface and proceed to destroy any ships leaving the ring.[47]

November 7

  • A Catalog unit, having been dormant for 100,000 years after the firing of the Halo Array, resumes its duties after receiving and denying a control authorization supposedly sent by the Librarian.[48]

November 8

  • The Prophet of Truth arrives in the Sol system aboard the Forerunner Dreadnought, and proceeds on course towards Earth at near-relativistic speeds.[49] However, due to John-117's presence aboard the vessel the ship's crew becomes preoccupied with finding and eliminating the Spartan.[47]

November 8 through November 15[28]

November 8 through November 17

November 15

  • 1725 hours: Sergeant Major Johnson gets clearance from Lord Hood to question Vergil about the artifact the High Prophet of Truth is digging up near Voi.[28]

November 17[49]

 
John-117 and the Forerunner Dreadnought entering Earth's atmosphere.
  • Believing the Spartan to be dead, the Prophet of Truth orders the crew of the Forerunner Dreadnought to jump further in-system and enter Earth's atmosphere.[47] John-117 proceeds to eject from the ship, using a hatch as a heat shield upon re-entry. Meanwhile, Battle of Sector Six takes place at Pawa, Afghanistan. There, numerous Marines of the 2nd ODST Battalion track John-117's descent. John-117 eventually lands in the East African jungle near Mount Kilimanjaro, going unconscious for hours.
  • The Prophet of Truth's Dreadnought lands in the middle of the Portal near Voi, Kenya. During the last few weeks, Truth's fleet of twenty-odd battlecruisers and two assault carriers have almost entirely uncovered the Portal and occupied the entire region surrounding it.
  • UNSC forces recover John-117 from a jungle near Mount Kilimanjaro. In the underground facility of Crow's Nest, a plan is formulated to launch an aerial strike on Covenant anti-air defenses in the town of Voi in order to prevent the Prophet of Truth from activating the Forerunner artifact. After repelling a Covenant assault in Crow's Nest and destroying the base in the process, a UNSC strike force led by John-117 retakes the Covenant-held Tsavo Highway.
  • Battle of Voi: John-117 and a Marine strike force enter Voi and gradually push back the city's Covenant occupiers, destroying the Covenant anti-air defenses in the city. An aerial strike force consisting of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn and two other frigates as well as numerous Longsword fighters assaults the Forerunner Dreadnought resting over the Portal artifact, but are unsuccessful in damaging the ship. Truth activates the portal and retreats through it to Installation 00 along with his forces. At the same moment, a Flood-controlled ship slips in, crashing in Voi.
 
The Ark portal on Earth activates.
  • UNSC forces make their way toward the crashed ship in order to overload its reactors and contain the Flood outbreak, just as the Sangheili Fleet of Retribution arrives and drops in reinforcements. After recovering a message by Cortana from the Flood ship, John-117 and the remaining human and Sangheili forces retreat from Voi, as the Fleet of Retribution glasses the city and its surroundings in order to contain the Flood.
  • UNSC and Sangheili leaders gather aboard the Sangheili assault carrier Shadow of Intent to hear Cortana's message, which reveals there is a way to stop the Flood on the other side of the Portal. Despite Lord Hood's urging, Commander Keyes, along with the Master Chief and the Sangheili, enter the Portal with the Fleet of Retribution and the Dawn.

November 18

  • 1545 hours: High Charity arrives at Mars and makes a slipspace jump to the lesser Ark.[50]

December

File:H3 E3 Orbital Battle.jpg
A battle rages above Installation 00.

December 3

December 11[51][52]

  • The Battle of Installation 00: The joint Sangheili-human force arrives at Installation 00 and immediately engages Truth's forces while the Template:UNSCship deploys ground forces to locate Truth. Despite being outnumbered three to one in space, the separatist fleet makes short work of the Covenant space forces. After locating Truth, the separatist-UNSC alliance launches an assault on the Ark's Citadel where Truth intends to activate the Halo Array. At the same time the former Covenant city ship High Charity arrives from slipspace and crashes on the Ark. Debris spread from the city-ship helps spread a new Flood infestation on the Ark.
  • Miranda Keyes is killed when she attempts to rescue Johnson from Truth. With Truth moments away from activating the Halo array, John-117 and the Arbiter temporarily ally themselves with the Flood and storm the Citadel. They shut down the Halo array, and the Arbiter executes Truth, finally ending the Human-Covenant War.
  • The Human-Covenant War ends.
  • The Flood immediately turn against John-117 and 'Vadam, but the pair escape. Soon after, it is discovered that the Ark's foundry has created a replacement for the destroyed Installation 04. Realizing that the ring could be used to fire a tactical pulse which would eliminate the Flood infestation, John-117 decides to light it. In order to do so, he enters the ruins of High Charity and recovers Cortana, who still possesses the Activation Index from the original Installation 04. High Charity is destroyed in the process.
  • With the Index secure, John-117, Cortana, the Arbiter, and Sergeant Major Johnson travel to the replacement Installation 04, while the rest of the UNSC and Sangheili forces return to Earth on the Shadow of Intent. In the control room, Johnson is killed as 343 Guilty Spark attempts to prevent him from activating the ring prematurely, as doing so would destroy the ring. John-117 destroys the monitor and begins the firing sequence for the Halo ring. John-117 and the Arbiter then escape the control room by taking Johnson's Warthog to the Forward Unto Dawn, which is holding position nearby.
  • Due to the unstable, incomplete nature of the ring as it fires, the slipspace portal collapses as the Dawn enters it, causing it to be sheared in two. Cortana and John-117 are in the hangar area at the time of the separation, and are thus left in the aft section of the ship, which falls out of Slipstream space at an unknown location, eventually drifting towards a Forerunner shield world, Requiem.

December 23

December 30

  • The Shadow of Intent is repaired and refitted at a mobile shipyard.[53]

December 31

Unknown date

Battles

Human-Covenant War

The Great Schism

Quarantine of the Flood

Trivia

  • All five Halo games produced by Bungie take place in the latter half of this year.
  • The numerical value of the year is one of Bungie's many references to the number seven. Specifically, adding the numerals results in 14, which has twice the value of 7. Adding the two halves of the year separately (2+5 and 5+2) results in a pair of sevens.

Sources

  1. ^ Halo 2, campaign level Cairo Station
  2. ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
  3. ^ Halo 3, campaign level The Storm
  4. ^ Halo: Combat Evolved, campaign level 343 Guilty Spark
  5. ^ Halo: Combat Evolved, campaign level The Library
  6. ^ Halo 2, campaign level Sacred Icon
  7. ^ Halo 3, campaign level The Ark
  8. ^ Halo 3, level The Covenant
  9. ^ Halo: Helljumper Issue 1 page 3 "UNSC Operation 2552-JA-8 Codename: Fireside"
  10. ^ a b c Halo: Reach, campaign level Noble Actual
  11. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 139
  12. ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "Dirt", page 153
  13. ^ Bungie.net: Halo 3: ODST Field Guide
  14. ^ Halo.xbox.com: Data Drop Two
  15. ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe - Blunt Instruments
  16. ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "Dirt", page 153
  17. ^ Bungie.net: Halo 3: ODST Field Guide
  18. ^ Halo Waypoint, Rookie
  19. ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe - Dirt
  20. ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "Dirt", page 153
  21. ^ a b c d e Halo: Reach, Dr. Halsey's personal journal
  22. ^ Halo: Reach, campaign level Nightfall
  23. ^ Halo: Reach, campaign level Tip of the Spear
  24. ^ a b Halo: Reach, campaign level Long Night of Solace
  25. ^ Halo Waypoint: Black-Box
  26. ^ a b Halo: Reach, campaign level New Alexandria
  27. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach (2010) - Adjunct
  28. ^ a b c d e f g h Halo Legendary Crate, Data Drop #2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "loot2" defined multiple times with different content
  29. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 104
  30. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach Epilogue, page 377(Definitive Edition)
  31. ^ Halo: The Flood, Prologue
  32. ^ Halo: Combat Evolved, campaign level The Pillar of Autumn opening cutscene
  33. ^ Halo: The Flood, Chapter 1
  34. ^ Halo Waypoint - Spartans
  35. ^ Halo Waypoint - Universe: Alpha Shard
  36. ^ Halo 2: Anniversary, Terminals
  37. ^ Halo: First Strike
  38. ^ Halo Wars: Halo Timeline
  39. ^ Halo: Initiation, Issue 1
  40. ^ a b c Eleventh Hour reports
  41. ^ Halo: New Blood, Chapter 9
  42. ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 139
  43. ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe - "The Mona Lisa"
  44. ^ Halo Waypoint: Catalog Interaction (post 2976443)
  45. ^ Halo: Mortal Dictata, page 141
  46. ^ Halo: Mortal Dictata, page 73
  47. ^ a b c YouTube: Halo 101: Long Road Home
  48. ^ Halo Waypoint: Catalog Interaction
  49. ^ a b Bungie.net: Bungie Weekly Update: 01/23/09
  50. ^ Halo Waypoint - Query: Catalog
  51. ^ Halo Waypoint, Hero-Fortitude
  52. ^ a b Waypoint: Glasslands complaints... forum thread
  53. ^ Halo Waypoint: Catalog Interaction - Page 14
  54. ^ Halo: Evolutions - The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole, pages 413-487
  55. ^ Halo: Envoy, Chapter 4