Editing Operation: FIRST STRIKE

{{Status|Canon}}

In a desperate attempt to stop the massive Covenant armada from invading Earth, the five Spartans aboard the hybrid vessel [[UNSC Gettysburg|''Gettysburg'']]-''[[Ascendant Justice]]'' - John-117, [[Frederic-104]], [[Linda-058]], [[William-043]], and [[Grace-093]] - infiltrated the Covenant repair and refit station ''Unyielding Hierophant'' via a captured [[Dextro Xur-pattern Spirit|Spirit dropship]]. After landing in a vast hangar, the Spartans began to sneak through maintenance access and ventilation tunnels until they found the station's [[Pinch fusion reactor|reactor core]].{{Ref/Reuse|Alamo}}

As the Spartans approached a large temple-like atrium, they were ambushed by Jiralhanae guards. During this ambush, Grace was killed when the Covenant tracked her [[COM]] signals; after the immediate threat was eliminated, John activated Grace's [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark V|MJOLNIR suit's]] [[fail-safe detonation system]], killing the investigating Covenant soldiers.<ref name="Alamo">'''Halo: First Strike''', ''pages 328-333''</ref> The Spartans then fought their way to a reactor room and set the generators to overload. Once the reactors were set to overload, the Spartans returned to the atrium, opened the [[airlock]]s, and blew out a heavily enforced window that enclosed the atrium with hijacked [[Type-26 Banshee|Banshees]], sucking all Covenant forces inside the atrium into space.{{Ref/Reuse|Alamo}}

Around this time, Cortana's attempts to hack the [[proselytization network]] was discovered and she was forced to make hundreds of copies to protect herself. She successfully opened the airlocks and interfered with the Covenant's communications by repeating error messages on their COM systems endlessly. The Spartans then traveled to the far side of a nearby moon and unexpectedly met the {{UNSCShip|Gettysburg}}, now separated from ''Ascendant Justice'', which [[Vice Admiral]] [[Danforth Whitcomb]] and [[Lieutenant]] [[Elias Haverson]] had taken to the system's [[Oort cloud]] to gather intelligence from a distance. Having realized that destroying the station would not be enough to stop the threat to Earth, Whitcomb had ''Ascendant Justice's'' [[slipspace]] drive mounted on the ''Gettysburg'' while he and Lieutenant Haverson used the ''Ascendant Justice'' to lure the Covenant fleet into a trap.

Vice Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Haverson then took the ''Ascendant Justice'' and crashed straight into the ''Unyielding Hierophant''. Using a hologram, Whitcomb pretended to have the [[Forerunner]] [[Menachite Forerunner crystal|crystal]], which had been found beneath [[CASTLE Base]] on [[Reach]], aboard the ship and challenged all Covenant forces in the system to try and take it from him. The Covenant battleships all gathered around the ''Ascendant Justice'' and the overloading battle station, attempting to take the crystal from Whitcomb. The station then overloaded and exploded, killing Whitcomb and Haverson, destroying most of the Covenant fleet, and saving Earth from impending invasion.{{Ref/Reuse|Alamo}}

Meanwhile, on ''[[High Charity]]'', [[Tartarus]], the [[Chieftain of the Jiralhanae]], informed the Prophet of Truth of the armada's destruction. Truth was disturbed by the disaster but otherwise regarded it as a minor setback. He told Tartarus to have the surviving ships rendezvous at their designated coordinates.  These ships would later reinforce the [[Prophet of Regret]][[Fleet of Sacred Consecration|'s forces]] during the Covenant's [[Battle for Earth|initial attack]] on Earth [[Battle of Mombasa|at]] [[New Mombasa]].   

**''[[Halo 5: Guardians Limited Edition dossiers|Limited Edition dossiers]]'' {{Mo}}

[[Category:UNSC victories|First Strike]]