Battle of Harvest

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"Five years... five long years. That's how long it took us to get Harvest back."

— Captain Cutter

The Second Battle of Harvest was a massive UNSC operation to retake the glassed colony of Harvest from The Covenant.

Background

Main article: First Battle of Harvest

On February 3, 2525, the Tiara space elevator above Harvest detected the Covenant Cruiser Rapid Conversion on long-range Radar. An attempt to facilitate a peaceful meeting between the UNSC and the Covenant resulted in bloodshed after a nervous Unggoy killed a militiaman and so the First Battle of Harvest was ignited, which resulted in the planet being glassed and over twenty thousand civilians killed as they tried to evacuate.

After the cessation of communications from Harvest, the Colonial Military Administration sent the UNSC Argo, a small scout ship, to investigate. On April 20th, 2525, the Argo arrived in the Epsilon Indi System. It sent a single confirmation message before ceasing communications. It was destroyed by the Covenant ship in orbit over Harvest. The Artificial Intelligence Mack tried to warn the Argo, to no avail.

The UNSC then sent a battlegroup of two UNSC Frigates (The UNSC Arabia and the UNSC Vostok) and one UNSC Destroyer (The UNSC Heracles). The battlegroup was led by Captain Veredi, the Captain of the Heracles.

The battlegroup arrived in the Epsilon Indi System on July 10th. Upon arriving in the system, the battlegroup encountered the same Covenant ship. Veredi followed UNSC first contact protocol perfectly. The Covenant ship sent a broadcast to the battlegroup, stating Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument before opening fire on the ships. The batlegroup retaliated as best as it could, and one of the UNSC ships fired Archer Missiles at the Covenant ship, which eliminated many of the missiles with Point Defense Lasers, and those missiles that managed to hit the ship were deflected by the ship's shields. The Arabia and Vostok were destroyed by the Covenant ship's advanced laser weaponry, while the Heracles was heavily damaged. The Heracles retreated to Reach, but due to the heavy damage it took, the Heracles took several weeks to get back to Reach.

The UNSC responded to this act of outright aggression by assembling a fleet of over one hundred warships, and gave Vice Admiral Preston Cole the task of retaking Harvest. Cole spent six years chasing and being chased by the Covenant around the Outer Colonies, engaging the Covenant at the Alpha Aurigae System, XI Boötis A, and Groombridge-1830. These battles resulted in much of his fleet being depleted before arriving at Harvest in 2531.

The Battle

Cole's depleted fleet of approximately thirty warships arrived at Harvest in February 2531. The orbital engagement that followed was the largest in human history until the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV over twenty years later. The battle was a close-matched one, and Cole only won due to the fact that he outnumbered the Covenant three-to-one, and even then only because of a last-minute tactical maneuver. Even so, he still lost two-thirds of his fleet.

With UNSC space superiority achieved, a land invasion followed. Captain James Gregory Cutter aboard the UNSC Spirit of Fire deployed ground forces, mainly around Harvest's arctic region, where the Covenant, under the command of an Arbiter, were excavating a Forerunner relic. The assault did not go well at first, with Alpha Base being overrun by Covenant forces. However, a force under the command of Sergeant John Forge retook Alpha Base and captured the Forerunner artifact, preventing the Covenant from destroying it in a scorched-earth action. However, Forge's force was pinned down in the relic by Covenant reinforcements, forcing Captain Cutter to send down Grizzlies to relieve the Marines.

Aftermath

The battle was a victory for the UNSC, but a costly one at that. ONI Section II overplayed Cole's achievement in propaganda broadcasts, resulting in a surge of human morale and a rapid increase in enlistment.

Timeline

2525

• February 3rd: Harvest detects a contact on its long range radar, and soon afterward, all contact is lost with the planet. The UNSC scout ship Argo was sent to investigate the loss of communication.
• April 20: The Argo arrives in-system and makes one confirmation transmission. No further reports are received.
• October 7: A UNSC battle group consisting of one destroyer, the Heracles, under the command of Captain Veredi and two frigates the Arabia and the Vostok enters the Harvest system and discovers that in some parts of the planet the surface has melted down to glass. This is later dubbed "glassing". In orbit around the remains of the colony world is a single alien ship, which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying both Arabia and Vostok and badly damaging the Heracles. Intercepted communications identify the enemy as "The Covenant". The message "Your destruction is the will of the Gods..and we are their instrument" is broadcast in perfect English.
• November 1: Vice Admiral Preston Cole mobilizes the-then largest space fleet in Human history to retake Harvest.

2531

• February 4 2531: The Covenant army was led by an unnamed Arbiter. Captain Cutter makes his way into Harvest system. Admiral Cole's fleet engages the alien warships gathered in orbit over the destroyed colony, scoring a victory (though the battle cost Cole two-thirds of his battle group). Only a last-minute tactical inspiration turned the tide of battle. Land battles begin on Harvest after the UNSC learns that the Covenant have discovered a Forerunner artifact in the polar region. After returning to Earth, Cole is promoted to Admiral and learns that a number of outlying colonies have been destroyed, leaving behind no survivors. Cole begins to move his fleet around, trying to intercept the invaders. Ground and ship-to-ship battles begin in earnest, raging throughout the Outer Colonies.

Military Forces

United Nations Space Command

Commander: Vice Admiral Preston Cole

20-30 warships, including:

• UNSC Heracles
• UNSC Prophecy
• UNSC Spirit of Fire

Numerous Marine units.

Covenant

Commander: Unknown Arbiter

7-10 Warships of various classes.

Numerous legions of the Covenant Army.

Gallery

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  Marine forces battling against a lance of Elites

• Glassingship.jpg

  A Covenant ship glassing Harvest

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  Pelican deploying troops on Harvest

Related Pages

• First Battle of Harvest
• Human-Covenant War