Seoba

Seoba
Astrographical
System:	Kolaqoa system
Orbiting:	Biko
Orbital position:	III
Physical
Gravity:	Barely 0.125G
Atmosphere:	Very thin
Societal
Demonym:	Seoban

Seoba is the third moon of Biko. A small and largely uninhabited moon, an ice quarry on its surface was the site of a battle early in the Human-Covenant War.

History

Colonization

Prior to 2424, Seoba was colonized and played an instrumental role in the terraforming of Biko. The Bikon colonists established a large ice quarry on the surface of the moon, using a mass driver running up a mountain on the surface to launch payloads of steel-encapsulated ice towards Biko to increase the planet's humidity. By 2424, the planet was capable of supplying its own rain and the quarry facility was largely abandoned, with ice building up in the now-defunct mass driver facility.

Human-Covenant War

Main article: Battle of Seoba

In 2526, the old Seoban ice quarry became the site of a heated battle between forces of the UNSC's Task Force Yama and an insurrectionist coalition consisting of forces from the United Rebel Front, Biko Independence Army and Gao Liberation Force, among others. The insurrectionist coalition had set up a staging ground in the ice quarry in preparation for a coup on the Bikon Chancellor, intending to take control of Biko and offer assistance to the Covenant in return for ensuring the continued survival of the planet. An insurrectionist plot had alerted the Covenant to their presence on Seoba and invited them to meet there, with the insurgents fortifying the site with bunkers, M41 Vulcan rotary cannons, and a number of Civet AFVs.

As part of Operation: SILENT STORM, Task Force Yama had independently picked the ice quarry as a staging ground for their own operation, intending to hide their fleet of prowlers in the quarry to strike the Covenant Fleet of Inexorable Obedience while they were distracted. On March 18, the task force emerged from slipspace to discover the rebels occupying the quarry. Forced to act quickly, they prepared to assault the base, as it was critical to the success of SILENT STORM. The resulting battle saw the deaths of dozens of ODST personnel and the destruction of one of the prowlers, but the UNSC did succeed in capturing the quarry and the surviving rebels, including General Harper Garvin.

Shortly after, the Covenant Bloodstar Flotilla arrived at Seoba to meet with the insurrectionists, only to discover the UNSC task force evacuating the planet. The captured insurrectionists were loaded onto a transport to be sent to Biko for processing when the flotilla began to fire on Seoba. The plasma barrage managed to hit the UNSC Starry Night, the flagship of Task Force Yama. It crashed into the quarry, killing its captain and much of the crew. Spartan-II John-117 led a squad of eleven other Spartans into the quarry to check on the status of the Starry Night, encountering a Covenant intrusion corvette that was attempting to recover the prowler for study. Despite some setbacks, a team was able to board the prowler, rescue its crew, and arm its nuclear self-destruct system. The explosion destroyed the looming intrusion corvette as well, and Task Force Yama managed to shoot down two corvettes of their own, pushing back the two surviving vessels of the flotilla.

Topography

Seoba had a gravitational pull roughly one-eighth that of Earth's. The moon had a trace atmosphere, but it was too thin to carry sound or kinetic energy. The moon was largely composed of ice, and had a milky-white surface when viewed from orbit.

Locations

• Seoba Ice Quarry
  • Assembly Chamber 4L430
  • Subsurface Maintenance Grotto 6M430

List of appearances

• Halo: Silent Storm (First appearance)
• Halo: Oblivion (Mentioned only)