Battle of Netherop (2559)
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| Battle of Netherop | |||||
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 Crei 'Ayomuu, Olympia Vale and Thel 'Vadam on Netherop during the Created conflict. | |||||
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Banished victory
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The Battle of Netherop occurred after the discovery of an ancient weapon that destroyed a Guardian Custode. An operation on Netherop to claim it started a conflict between the UNSC and the Swords of Sanghelios, the Banished, and Defenders of the Sanctum which was made up of surviving rogue Covenant soldiers exiled on the planet in 2526.
Background[edit]
Netherop[edit]
During the Forerunner-Precursor war, Precursor fugitives known as "Nothing" took refuge on the planet Netherop with the Tier 6 civilization already inhabiting it. When a Guardian Custode attacked, the Precursors used their weapon, the Divine Hand, to destroy the Guardian.[14] However, the weapon also destroyed the local civilization and the planet, turning Netherop from a lush garden world into a barely-habitable wasteland.[15]
In 2526, Netherop was the site of two[16] battles between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant. In the second, a rogue faction of the Covenant led by Fleetmaster Nizat 'Kvarosee who sought to destroy the Office of Naval Intelligence after his humiliation in Operation: SILENT STORM, seeing them as the greatest threat to the Covenant. However, Nizat's rogue actions led to the Hierarchs sending a fleet to stop him, leading to the destruction or retreat of the flotilla. Nizat and his ground forces were marooned on Netherop's surface with an orbital mine shell placed in orbit of the planet in order to prevent anyone from coming back for him. In addition, Lieutenant Commander Amalea Petrov and some of her forces were left stranded on Netherop as well.[17] Over the next thirty-three years, the UNSC and Covenant survivors fought each other, resulting in the death of most of Nizat's forces, leaving only Nizat himself and six others while the humans' numbers continued to grow as the stranded survivors had children and families.[18][19]
The Created[edit]
- Main article: Created conflict
In October 2558, a force of artificial intelligences known as the Created, led by Cortana, rose up and began to subjugate the Milky Way galaxy. A year following this rise, the UNSC and their Sangheili allies were still trying to find a way to stop Cortana's rule. A xenoarchaologist, Keely Iyuska, was interested in learning and study the remnants of the ancient non-Forerunner civilization on the planet Netherop, recorded by the UNSC and the Covenant decades earlier. When the Created uprising began, she couldn't realise her plans.[20] On November 2559, however, Iyuska was contacted and founded by a benefactor to study Netherop and its technology. During her studies, Iyuska managed to find records indicated that a Guardian Custode was sent to subdue Netherop, and that the planet's civilization had managed to defeat the construct. Instead of informing her benefactor, Iyuska travelled to Sanghelios and inform Spartan Olympia Vale about her discovery.[20]
The Banished[edit]
During his time on Installation 00, Atriox was able to find records about an ancient weapon on Netherop that managed to destroy a Guardian Custode.[21] The record was discovered in the cockpit of a Phaeton fighter salvaged by the Banished and contained a holographic recording of the Divine Hand being used to destroy the Guardian in ancient times. After finding the record and becoming aware of such a powerful tool, Atriox immediately made plans to return back to the galaxy and recover it. Although concerned that the weapon could have been destroyed, or lost, in the many millennia since the recording, he was countered by his studymaster Eto 'Saljhoo, who noted that if there was not a reasonable chance of its existence, then the Created would not have assigned three Acolyte-class harriers to guard Netherop.[9]
Months later, during Operation: WOLFE, Atriox was able to return to the Milky Way via a portal complex under the Menachite Mountain on Reach, where he began his plans to claim the weapon on Netherop and then start his campaign to take Installation 07 from Cortana. On November 5, he held a war council meeting aboard his personal dreadnought Ghost of Helotry, in which he, Escharum, Hyperius, Tovarus, 'Saljhoo, and War Chief Severan of the Vanguard of Zaladon plotted their next moves. Severan had uncovered intelligence from a prisoner taken by his clan near Joyous Exultation that the UNSC were planning to strike at Zeta Halo within the month, news which alarmed Atriox and Escharum both. This forced Atriox to move his timeline up, as he felt that he could not risk the UNSC somehow defeating Cortana and gaining control of Zeta Halo: instead, the Banished would need to strike first, allowing them to defeat Cortana with the Divine Hand and then lie in wait for the inevitable UNSC fleet that followed. As such, Atriox split the Banished into a number of forces: a large fleet under Escharum's command which would prepare to strike at Zeta Halo, the rest of the Banished navy now under Severan's command, and a small contingent that would go with Atriox himself to Netherop to retrieve the Divine Hand before reuniting with Escharum.[21]
At this point, Atriox also ordered Eto 'Saljhoo to get in touch with his contact, a human xenoarchaeologist named Keely Iyuska - Atriox intended to begin the mission to Netherop imminently, and was willing to pay any price to ensure completion.[21] 'Saljoo, as an intermediary for Atriox, funded Keely Iyuska's investigation about the former civilization on Netherop, with the condition that any artifacts Iyuska would find, it would be delivered to him. When Iyuska didn't hold her promise, 'Saljhoo hired the Oath Warden Crei 'Ayomuu to track Iyuska.
Battle[edit]
Banished battlefield preparations (November 5-18)[edit]
The forces mustered by Atriox to Netherop included six karves and a single drekar stealth ship, Hammer of Fate. To begin the operation, Atriox sent a reconnaissance yawl to the edge of the Ephyra system to gather intelligence on the system. The yawl identified a single superluminal communications beacon under Created control that periodically sent an OK signal to the Created once every five cycles (roughly 55 days). Once they detected a signal being sent, the task force emerged into the system, sending three of the karves on a gravitational slingshot around Netherop to draw off any Created defenders and leave an opening to begin operations. Two of the karves picked up trailing cloaked harriers and moved to the edge of the system, dropping communications beacons, planting space mines, and generally being a nuisance to keep the harriers' attention away from Netherop itself. Both ships were to remain communications-silent,[9] though had orders to immediately return to Netherop should the harriers stop following them.[12]
Hammer of Fate then slipped into Netherop orbital space and destroyed the Created communications beacon alongside a third harrier that had remained in close proximity to the world. The rest of the flotilla then entered orbit and began the arduous task of clearing the dozens of leftover satellites from the 2526 battle to ensure none contained any hidden AI that might give away the plan.[9]
Swords of Sanghelios/UNSC arrival (November 18-22)[edit]
After the Banished cleared Netherop of Created presence, the first Swords of Sanghelios ships arrived in the system, arriving around November 18. This first flotilla consisted of five corvettes (four light and one heavy) under the command of Kaidon Ghe 'Talot, of Feldokra.[7] In response to this, the Banished moved their flotilla onto the surface Netherop's first moon, hiding four karves and Hammer of Fate underneath a cloaking generator; this proved sufficient to protect the flotilla from being noticed by all-but the most attentive eyes.[9]
After 25 units (around a day) spent mapping Netherop's surface terrain, 'Talot's fleet was joined in orbit by a single medium destroyer, Raider's Creche, commanded by High Kaidon Olabisi Varo'dai. The two kaidons disagreed on how to proceed with dealing with Netherop's mine shell, with 'Talot wanting to identify the site of the Divine Hand from orbit before clearing sufficient space in the orbital minefield, whereas Varo'dai preferred to clear the mines and grant the fleet more operational freedom. As such, both kaidons elected to do what they saw fit for the next 75 units; 'Talot surveying the world from orbit and 'Varo'dai using her destroyer and its escort Seraphs to clear the mines.[9] The Arbiter himself arrived on November 22[1] aboard the A'uzr-pattern sword frigate Sword of Harmony, having spent nine Sanghelios days in transit since their departure from Sanghelios: the first five being tailed by (and attempting to evade) a Created harrier, and then a further four spent in transit from Wedob to Netherop. Once they arrived at Netherop, Thel 'Vadam called both kaidons aboard Sword of Harmony to discuss their next steps.[9] Both of the kaidons believed that the UNSC was not interested enough in finding the Divine Hand to deploy an expedition there, though 'Vadam overruled these concerns and ordered a surface deployment to the planet through the still partially-online orbital mine shell. His hand was forced when Sword of Harmony's sensor operators detected the tau surge of a UNSC Point Blank-class prowler, UNSC Hidden Point entering the system. With their hand forced, a hasty surface party was put together and deployed - the expedition chose the target site of a tel located in a basin of radar-absorbing imagery unlike any other region on the planet.[3]
Surface actions (November 22-23)[edit]
The Sangheili expedition to Netherop's surface began with the deployment of three Mikpramu-pattern Phantoms, one from each of the three Sangheili factions carrying their respective kaidons and a handful of infantry. Unbeknownst to the Swords of Sanghelios, their Phantoms were allowed to pass into Netherop's atmosphere by Worldmaster Nizat 'Kvarosee, who believed them to be friendly Covenant forces returning to Netherop. As such, once they landed at the rim of the larger basin, the Defenders of the Sanctum deployed a mountain runner to greet them. However, before the runner could arrive, 'Vadam and his troops were engaged by some of Petrov's UNSC resistance on the ground, believing the Swords of Sanghelios to be enemy Covenant. Some of the humans managed to sneak aboard the Phantoms while the Sangheili party were distracted and kill their pilots with energy swords, stealing two Ghost scout bikes and disabling the dropships' controls. Two more Sangheili guards posted in a cave a short ways behind the landing site were also killed, leading to seven total Sangheili deaths in the ambush. The Swords responded, with 'Vadam ordering them to be captured alive, correctly surmising that they were likely stranded in the original 2526 battle on Netherop and did not know of the UNSC-Sangheili postwar alliance. After a brief altercation, the human raiders were captured unharmed and 'Vadam began to speak with their leader Commander Petrov Amalea.[3]
After briefly unsuccessfully trying to explain the state of the galaxy to Petrov, Petrov attempted to attack the Sangheili again, though was ultimately incapacitated by a chemical agent deployed by Crei 'Ayomuu. In the tense standoff that followed, 'Vadam let the other humans go and promised to release Petrov once she had recovered and he had a chance to talk with her. The interrogation was interrupted by the deployment of forty UNSC Pelican dropships, and the subsequent turnaround of the mountain runner that was crossing the basin towards the landing site. As such, most of the landing party retreated into a nearby cave for cover as 'Kvarosee used the Divine Hand to destroy the UNSC insertion force.[3] The only survivor of the carnage was the D102 Owl stealth dropship carrying Olympia Vale and ODST Tango Team, which was able to escape 'Kvarosee's notice thanks to the dropship's stealth features.[2] After getting a chance to more thoroughly talk, Petrov agreed to help 'Vadam and the Sangheili and offered them a ride to the tel with her own mountain runners, with 'Vadam in return promising that he would hand her over to the UNSC and ensure her escape from the planet.[8]
The surviving Owl dropship landed on the Tel and deployed its payload; two Mongoose scout bikes, Vale, the two civilian contractors and Tango Team.[5] The dropship was then instructed to retreat into the mountains surrounding the site to hide.[22] The Mongooses were tasked with encircling the perimeter of the tel in the hopes of finding an entrance, though this was cut short when the vehicles became bogged down in the churning desert sands. Instead, Rosa Fuertes suggested looking for an entrance on the tel itself; the species that had inhabited Netherop built their cities underground, meaning that the tel was actually comprised of the waste material extracted from the underground digging and dumped on the surface. As such, she reasoned there had to be a haulage shaft somewhere. The humans began to dig into the tel spaced at three-metre intervals though were interrupted in an ambush attack by the Defenders of the Sanctum. The Defenders used their knowledge of the Precursor technology within to manipulate the internal structure, opening a section up to cause several members of the party to fall inside and become vulnerable to attack. Vale was one of the victims of this, falling alone into the pit that had been opened beneath her and coming into close combat with the Defenders. In the chaos, the Defenders were able to open sinkholes that killed several of the party, resulting in them capturing Fuertes and attempting to capture Iyuska.[5]
After the initial skirmish with the Defenders, Vale's group were joined by 'Vadam and Petrov. Petrov suggested that the Arbiter make the next attempt to enter the tel - this was for three purposes; as fellow Sangheili the Arbiter may have a better chance at talking the Defenders down, she promised to allow the Swords the first shot at retrieving the Divine Hand (in reality as she expected them to die first), and because she was still ultimately interested in assisting the UNSC over any aliens.[6] 'Vadam agreed to this and deployed into the pit that had been opened up alongside several Varo rangers. The group encountered the seven Defenders lying in an ambush, which 'Vadam attempted to talk down to little success. Despite his attempts, 'Kvarosee remained too ingrained in his zealotry to accept that an Arbiter may lead the Sangheili, nor his alliance with humanity and acceptance of female warriors and kaidons.[23] As such, the Defenders began to retreat and offered the Arbiter the chance to leave with his life, though 'Vadam ultimately chose to pursue, with Crei 'Ayomuu able to track the Defenders' location thanks to a tracking tetht he had placed on their captive, Fuertes. The group were then ambushed by the Defenders, who used their ability to manipulate the Sanctum's walls to great effect. In the chaos, the Defenders' unique armor proved highly resilient against the plasma weaponry of the Swords. However, it did prove susceptible to a chemical agent deployed by Crei 'Ayomuu which managed to kill several of the Defenders alongside Ghe 'Talot. Thel 'Vadam engaged blademaster Meduz 'Ra'ashai in single combat, only interrupted by the blasting of the UNSC's C-12 explosives elsewhere in the compound which made the visibility inside almost zero due to the dust in the air. As such, 'Ra'ashai offered to join 'Vadam's forces, citing his wish to see his homeworld again before he died. 'Kvarosee saw the C-12 explosion as a ruse in which the Arbiter had been sent to distract him and thus elected to leave the Sangheili in the tunnel to die to 'Ayomuu's poison gas while he saw to the UNSC infiltrating the site from behind.[24][11]
While the Arbiter distracted the Defenders, the UNSC forces under Petrov's guidance moved to an old ventilation shaft that her guerillas had discovered while combating the Defenders some years prior. After digging into the outer layer of the shaft (which had been sealed with the self-repairing nanotechnology of the Inner Sanctum), the UNSC rappelled into the shaft with Spartan Vale taking the lead. Tango Team's First Squad joined Vale alongside Commander Petrov and Keely Iyuska, while Second Squad and the rest of Petrov's soldiers remained on the surface. First Squad arrived at the bottom of the shaft to find a back entrance into the Defenders' Inner Sanctum, which they could use to infiltrate from behind.[22] They emerged into the Sanctum's hydroponics garden which was full of various fruits being grown by the Defenders.[15] While exploring the complex, they encountered the remains of the Guardian that had been downed on Netherop millennia prior, though were interrupted by 'Kvarosee's remaining troops who used the active camouflage granted by their nanotech armor to launch ambushes on the UNSC. Ultimately, three Sangheili attackers were killed at the cost of five ODSTs. Iyuska used the opportunity granted by the fighting to run away from the group to find the Divine Hand herself.[25]
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Space engagement (November 23)[edit]
Throughout the engagement on the ground, the Sangheili flotilla and UNSC stealth cruiser largely avoided one another's presence. After deploying its Pelican air wing, UNSC Hidden Point retreated to the first moon of Netherop to mask its presence. However, once the Divine Hand was fired by Nizat 'Kvarosee on the ground, the Sangheili flotilla also moved into a higher orbit; both sides remained unaware of the Banished task force on the second moon. At the time of the Divine Hand's firing, the second moon housing Atriox's flotilla was on the side of the planet facing away from the Divine Hand meaning that the Banished remained uncertain what had happened, only knowing that the Pelican flight had been destroyed in a large flash of light beyond Netherop's horizon. However, Atriox was able to discern that it was likely the Divine Hand and that it had likely been fired by some kind of Covenant survivors on the world - noting that they had allowed the Phantom dropships onto the world but not the human Pelicans. However, with the knowledge that 7 Sangheili vessels and a human stealth cruiser were active around Netherop, he could not risk his inferior task force in engaging them to begin deploying Banished troops onto the ground.[12]
Unfortunately for all parties, the two decoy karves which had been tasked with keeping the Created harrier vessels distracted in the outer reaches of the Ephyra system were situated in the arc of sky that allowed them to see the flash of light from the Divine Hand's firing, with the first karve situated around 2.5 light-hours from Netherop and the second situated three light-hours. With both vessels instructed to remain comms-silent, Atriox's flotilla had no knowledge of their current status. This meant that when the Banished sensors detected two unknown signatures on an inbound trajectory to intercept the Sangheili flotilla, Atriox surmised that the harriers had seen the Divine Hand's firing and destroyed the two karves before turning back towards Netherop. Had either of the karves noticed the harriers were no longer tailing them, they would have jumped back to Netherop immediately. Atriox instead altered his plan: if the two harriers engaged the allied Sangheili-UNSC flotilla around Netherop, they would provide a perfect distraction to allow him to slip past the battle and take the Divine Hand for himself. However, the second harrier began to alter its trajectory, instead pivoting to observe the battle as to then leave the system and report back to the Created once the battle's outcome was clear. The Banished estimated it would only take four hours for the Created to respond to the battle once the harrier left the system: one hour for the harrier to reach Created command, two for the Created to marshal a fleet, and another hour for that fleet to arrive at Netherop. With no time to spare, Atriox put his plan into effect, sacrificing Hammer of Fate to let the forces in control of the Divine Hand believe they had destroyed his ship. Secretly though, this destruction was intended to mask the deployment of hundreds of drop pods in the debris field which would be able to make landfall on Netherop and overpower everyone left alive on the ground.[12]
The harriers began to attack the Sangheili flotilla, with weapon-ships engaging the light corvettes on the outer screen of the flotilla. The weapon-ships did not attempt to manoeuvre, instead using their sheer numbers to overwhelm the point-defences of the Sangheili ships and their mass to ram them - the light corvettes were quickly overwhelmed and destroyed. Sword of Harmony did deploy a wing of Banshee fighters to fend off the attack and faired okay, though the medium destroyer and heavy corvette were also rapidly overrun. UNSC Hidden Point was also engaged and similarly overwhelmed. The engagement was interrupted by Thel 'Vadam on the ground, who used the Divine Hand in an attempt to save his ships. While Thel initially only wanted to target the harrier ships that were overpowering his own, the Divine Hand also revealed to him the presence of the Banished drekar that was now on an intercept course with Netherop. When 'Vadam attempted to fire the Divine Hand, he was interrupted by Tam 'Lakosee, who saw the Forerunner harriers in a reverant light and refused to allow them to be harmed. The result was that the Divine Hand reacted to both individuals' wishes and targeted all ships in the immediate orbit of Netherop - destroying UNSC, Sangheili, Banished, and Forerunner alike. The only ships unaffected were the karves, which had yet to engage or reveal themselves to the battle.[26]
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Final standoff[edit]
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Production notes[edit]
While no specific date for the events of Halo: Outcasts are provided in the text, context clues in combination with the dates provided in Halo: Empty Throne can be used to discern the date of the battle. In chapters 1-3 of Outcasts, the Sangheili council meeting on Sanghelios is noted to occur three days after the destruction of Doisac by the Created, on November 8. The Arbiter's journey from Sanghelios to Netherop is then noted in chapter 4 as taking 9 days in total, or a total of 12 days after the destruction of Doisac. However, these days are Sanghelios days, which are 29.5 hours long - or 1.23 times the length of a standard Earth day. 12 Sanghelios days are approximately 354 hours, or around 14.75 Earth days. As such, this puts the battle of Netherop as beginning somewhere around November 22 on the Military Calendar. A later Canon Fodder confirmed the battle as taking place on November 22-23.[1]
List of appearances[edit]
- Halo: Outcasts (First appearance)
- Halo: Battle for the Blood-Moon (Mentioned only)
- Halo: Empty Throne (Indirect mention)
Sources[edit]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Tasty Tomes (Retrieved on Mar 24, 2025) [archive]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Halo: Outcasts, chapter 8
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Halo: Outcasts, chapter 7
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Halo: Outcasts, chapter 21
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Halo: Outcasts, chapter 10
- ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Outcasts, chapter 11
- ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Outcasts, chapter 4
- ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Outcasts, chapter 9
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Halo: Outcasts, chapter 6
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Halo: Outcasts, chapter 24
- ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Outcasts, chapter 18
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Halo: Outcasts, chapter 15
- ^ Halo: Outcasts, chapter 25
- ^ Halo: Outcasts, Epilogue
- ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Outcasts, chapter 17
- ^ Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 1
- ^ Halo: Oblivion
- ^ Halo: Outcasts, chapter 7
- ^ Halo: Outcasts, chapter 9
- ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Outcasts, chapter 2
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 4
- ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Outcasts, chapter 13
- ^ Halo: Outcasts, chapter 12
- ^ Halo: Outcasts, chapter 14
- ^ Halo: Outcasts, chapter 19
- ^ Halo: Outcasts, chapter 20
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