Battle of the Sharquoi Hive

Template:Battle The Battle of the Sharquoi Hive is the final battle between UNSC Gray Team, elements of the Surakan Militia Volunteers, Rojka 'Kasaan and the Jiralhanae Chieftain Hekabe, his clan and the Sharquoi.

Background

In 2552, the Jiralhanae Chieftain Hekabe seized an opportunity during the Battle of Installation 00 to steal the vertex from Installation 00, a device that would allow him to control the beasts known as the Sharquoi. However, it took Hekabe six years to pinpoint the planet Carrow, located in one of the Joint Occupation Zones, as the location where the Sharquoi could be found.

In 2558, Sangheili Thars 'Sarov disagreed with his cousin Rojka 'Kasaan's desire to make peace with the humans of the UEG and particularly on Carrow. Thars ultimately turned this into a full-scale civil war. To help win, Thars made a deal with Hekabe for his help, unaware that Hekabe's true intention was to unearth the Sharquoi hive, located near the human city of Suraka. With Hekabe's help, Thars decimated Rojka's fleet, but after he confronted Hekabe for going to the surface, Hekabe turned on him. The battle between the Jiralhanae and the Sangheili ships left all but Hekabe's flagship, the ORS-class heavy cruiser Foebane, which he was using to excavate the Sharquoi hive destroyed while most of Thars' ships were destroyed. The majority of the ones that weren't were forced to land on Carrow for repairs, leaving only three badly damaged Covenant frigates in orbit.

In an attempt to protect her planet and her people, Governor Ellis Gass began preparing a counterattack which eventually came to be known as Operation: BUZZHAWK. Though all of her slipspace-capable vessels were destroyed at the beginning of the conflict, Ellis still had a dozen merchant ships armed with point-defense guns which were capable of destroying Thars' remaining ships in their damaged state. Combined with her ground assets, Ellis convinced her generals to launch the strike in an effort to end the conflict. However, while the militia succeeded in destroying Foebane, they were too late to keep Hekabe from accessing the hive and taking control of the Sharquoi within.

Shortly after the victory over the cruiser, Hekabe and his forces attacked, but were temporarily driven back after Hekabe was wounded by Adriana-111. Hekabe's forces took over the surviving Surakan ships and assaulted Thars' ships, taking them over at the cost of the human vessels so that Hekabe would have slipspace-capable ships that could carry the Sharquoi off of Carrow. Working with Gray Team, Rojka brought down Thars and ultimately executed him, but Thars refused to listen and have his ships destroy their slipspace drives until it was too late.

Based off of the readings taken from Hekabe while he was using the vertex, Ellis and her engineering team realized that Hekabe's control of the vertex and by extension the Sharquoi could be disrupted by an EMP. Ellis and her team managed to construct a crude EMP cannon out of an M68 Gauss cannon and Suraka's HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon. With Vice Governor Lamar Edwards using all of the militia's resources to evacuate the civilians, Ellis sought out the help of the Spartans to launch a direct attack on Hekabe in the hive. Rojka and UEG envoy Melody Azikiwe also volunteered to help and Ellis managed to convince Lamar to spare an M121 Jackrabbit to carry the EMP cannon as well as a squad of eight soldiers led by Corporal Wyse to aid them. Gray Team secured the cannon in place of the Jackrabbit's usual heavy gun and rigged a parachute to it in order to ensure that the vehicle would land safely.

Battle

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Aftermath

After recovering from the battle, Rojka 'Kasaan was returned to Rak where he discovered that Kaidon Akato 'Dakaj had taken over the city in his and Thars 'Sarov's absence. With Thars' forces dead and having fought alongside Grey Team, Rojka no longer sought vengeance against them for the destruction of Glyke. With the lasting effects of the conflict showing the need for closer relations between the Sangheili and humans on Carrow, Rojka agreed to act as an envoy between the two sides to help bring the two sides closer together.

Gray Team rendezvoused with the UNSC frigate UNSC Welcome to the Snipehunt when it arrived in orbit where they accepted a deal to work with a specialized interspecies strike team under the authority of the Office of Naval Intelligence in exchange for a pardon for their war crimes and a list of other demands. When Rear Admiral Serin Osman revealed her presence onboard the vessel, Commander Ivrin Yarick reported that ONI's contacts in the Surakan science agencies and the Welcome to the Snipehunt's scans both indicated that the Sharquoi were all wiped out in the explosion from the HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon. While Yarick believed that they were clean, he promised that they would keep an eye on the desert for any Sharquoi that might've escaped.

List of appearances

• Halo: Envoy (First appearance)