Editing Battle of Meridian

{{Era|HCW}}

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|result=*[[Covenant]] victory

**Meridian is [[glassed]]

**Covenant unknowingly locate [[Earth]]{{Ref/Reuse|terminal}}

|commanders2=[[Prophet of Regret|High Prophet of Regret]] {{C|in 2551}}{{Ref/Reuse|terminal}}

|forces2=*At least three {{Class|CAS|assault carrier}}s {{C|in 2551}}{{Ref/Reuse|terminal}}

*At least one {{Class|SDV|heavy corvette}}<ref name="BB">'''[[Halo: Battle Born]]'''</ref>

*18 [[Type-27 Mantis]]{{Ref/Reuse|h4evg111}}

*At least six [[Type-30 Locust]]s<ref name="bb194">'''[[Halo: Battle Born]]''', ''page 194''</ref>

[[Meridian]] was a major [[human]] [[Outer Colony]] with a robust economy and a large [[United Nations Space Command]] presence, home to several major military contractors that provided the UNSC with equipment, including [[Chalybs Defense Solutions]]. Within the final years of the [[Human-Covenant War]], most of Meridian's population had believed they had somehow survived the [[Covenant]]'s onslaught throughout the Outer Colonies. However, the Covenant had discovered the world in [[2548]] and, realizing Meridian's value to the rest of the UNSC, sought to blockade Meridian.{{Ref/Reuse|universe}}

The first prototype for the [[Mark IX Mantis ADS|HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark IX "Mantis" ADS]] engaged in an action known as the "Cherbourg Run", in which it successfully engaged eighteen heavily guarded [[Type-27 Mantis|Type-27 Anti Aircraft Cannons]]. The success of the prototype in the "Cherbourg Run" is one of the theories of why the walker was eventually called "Mantis".{{Ref/Reuse|h4evg111}}

On the ground, the UNSC and Meridian's military mainly focused on defending major population centers, not informing the planet's population of the invasion as per procedure to avoid causing a panic. However, one of the places targeted by the Covenant was the remote town of [[Brume-sur-Mer]] which had a [[Forerunner]] artifact buried under the town that the Covenant was interested in. When the Covenant invaded, bringing a {{Class|SDV|heavy corvette}} that they anchored over the town, the residents were unprepared and around thirty percent of the population was killed. The rest fled into the town's old bomb shelter where they remained safe as the Covenant focused mainly on excavating the artifact and established a shield barrier around the area to keep the UNSC out. Having been outside of the shelter at the time the invasion began, local teens [[Saskia Nazari]], [[Victor Gallardo]], [[Dorian Nguyen]] and [[Evie Rousseau]] linked up with [[Spartan-III]] [[Owen-B096]] who had crashed on the moon while trying to defend it from Covenant forces. Owen trained the teens in combat and they worked on disrupting the Covenant operations and rescuing the townspeople. The five succeeded in rescuing the survivors from the bomb shelter and fled in [[Sundered Legion Prowler|an old]] [[Prowler]] belonging to the [[Sundered Legion]], damaging the corvette when it tried to stop them. The survivors linked up with the [[UNSC cruiser]] {{UNSCShip|Sparrow}} in orbit and were transported to safety. ONI, the [[Xeno-Materials Exploitation Group]] in particular, became interested in the Forerunner artifact the Covenant were after and sought to keep it out of the hands of the Covenant and potentially to use it themselves in the war effort. To this end, they enlisted the aid of the four teens that had helped Owen to get the artifact before the Covenant could.{{Ref/Reuse|BB}}