Earth: Difference between revisions

All this was suddenly and violently rendered a moot point when [[Rapid Conversion|a single alien ship]] made an [[First Battle of Harvest|unprovoked attack]] on the colony of [[Harvest]]; humanity's first encounter with an alien civilization - the [[Covenant]]. Over the next [[Human-Covenant War|twenty-seven years]], humanity would wage a brutal war for survival, losing hundreds of colonies, including virtually all of the Outer Colonies in 2536; and on August 31, 2552, the UNSC's largest military installation, the planet Reach, was discovered and [[Fall of Reach|invaded by the Covenant]]. During the entire course of the conflict, the UNSC followed the [[Cole Protocol]], which declared that no UNSC vessel targeted by the Covenant was to retreat to Earth, as a means of ensuring the secrecy and security of the planet's location. In nearly twenty-seven years of galactic warfare, the Covenant never succeeded in determining the location of Earth through the measures taken under the Cole Protocol. However, by September, 2552, Earth was humanity's last major stronghold in its war against the Covenant.  

Despite the effectiveness of this law, on October 20, 2552, the Covenant launched their first attack upon Earth, rendering the Cole Protocol moot and initiating the final confrontation between UNSC forces and the Covenant.<ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', ''page ??''</ref><ref name="BoE1">'''[[Halo 2]]''', campaign level ''[[Cairo Station (level)|Cairo Station]]</ref>

Prior to the Covenant invasion of Earth, there had been a suppressed influx of information by ONI, resulting in people going about their normal lives even up until the attack. The forces stationed at Earth were heavy, with the [[Second Fleet]], [[Seventh Fleet]], the [[Sixteenth Fleet]] and the 6th Battle Group along with large amounts of Marines, Army Troopers, and [[Orbital Drop Shock Trooper|ODSTs]] present, five [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-IIs]], [[Terrence Hood|Admiral Hood]] and Earth's most prominent means of defense, three hundred [[Orbital defense platform|Orbital Defense Platforms]], each sporting a Mk. V "Super" [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon|MAC]]. Also, there were numerous human colonies on various moons, a large naval shipyard and factories at Mars, and a [[Io Station|listening post]] at [[Io]]. On September 5, 2552, after UNSC Gettysburg arrived on Earth to warn them of the imminent invasion, the UNSC recalled all surviving fleets, including the [[Third Fleet]] and [[Epsilon Eridani Fleet]], back into Earth and consolidated them into the [[UNSC Home Fleet]].