Battle of Venezia
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| Battle of Venezia | |||
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On and around Venezia, Orso system | ||
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Banished victory | ||
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The battle of Venezia was a conflict fought on, and around, the colony world of Venezia between the Banished and an allied force consisting of the United Nations Space Command and Swords of Sanghelios. The battle took place on November 21, 2559, two weeks after the destruction of the Jiralhanae homeworld Doisac by the Created. The engagement initially began as an attempted capture of the San'Shyuum High Lord Dovo Nesto by the UNSC/Swords, though by chance his Banished allies were present on the planet and managed to evacuate him into space. As such, the fighting spilled out into a larger naval engagement in orbit, pitting the Banished fleet present at Venezia against the two allied capital ships.[3][4]
Prelude[edit]
Attention was first drawn to Venezia in early November, 2559. After the destruction of Doisac, War Chief Severan was entrusted with a new task by Escharum - to enact vengeance on humanity by sacking their homeworld in the same way the Created had done to the Jiralhanae homeworld. The Banished viewed the Created as smart AIs created by humanity, and this viewed humanity as responsible for the destruction of their world. Severan moved to comply with this order immediately and ordered a general exodus from Doisac, intending to gather all remaining Banished naval assets (not under the command of Atriox) to strike at Earth.[5] Unbeknownst to the Banished, Severan was secretly working for High Lord Dovo Nesto, of the Order of Restoration. Severan and Nesto had forged a close bond during the days of the Covenant empire, with Nesto serving as Severan's daskalo (a mentor, or father figure) in place of Severan's own father Tartarus, and even after the empire's collapse Severan still held a close loyalty to Nesto. Under Nesto's direction, Severan had brought his clan into the Banished and risen to become one of its principal commanders, under the promise that once Nesto resurrected the Covenant, Severan and his clan would become its right hand.[6]
While Severan ordered the Banished fleet to a rally point to prepare for an assault on Earth, he took his own flagship Heart of Malice and six Banished dreadnoughts to Venezia so that he could consult with Dovo Nesto, who resided there in the township of Staithe - having moved there after the fall of his citadel on Feldokra. Venezia was valued by the High Lord for its secrecy - it was the last place anyone would expect to find such an important San'Shyuum.[6] This was kept secret from the Banished at large - Severan justified this as a move to consult with his daskalo; the Covenant had failed to destroy Earth in 2552, so careful guidance would be needed for such a daring operation.[5]
Simultaneously to Severan and his clan moving to Venezia, the UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios had also become aware of Nesto's presence on Venezia. During a prior operation, a Swords of Sanghelios relay mite attached to a battlecruiser belonging to Sali 'Nyon's Covenant had intercepted transmissions from Dovo Nesto discussing the Lithos and Nesto's wider plan to restore the Covenant. Through this intel the Swords ascertained Nesto's location on Venezia and prepared to capture him. However, due to Venezia's status as a human colony world (even if generally-Insurrectionist-leaning), the Swords were unwilling to risk simply deploying military forces there and risk inflaming tensions with the UNSC. As such, they shared this intelligence with the UNSC and agreed to a joint-operation to capture Nesto.[7]
The battle[edit]
Ground engagement[edit]
Severan and his flotilla arrived at Venezia on November 21, 2559, and hid their ships behind Venezia's moon Tiro, with only a small party deploying to the ground directly in a Trespasser dropship. These included Severan himself alongside his Captains Kaevus, Othmald, while their pilot Suvitas and two packs of infantry stayed with the dropship. Thanks to Nesto's influential position in Staithe, the ship was provided docking codes and landing permission, allowing the party to land in the town and make their way to Nesto's base of operations (a landed and drydocked UNSC frigate) unimpeded.[6]
While Severan met with Nesto and sought his advice for the upcoming attack on Earth, a UNSC-Swords task force consisting of the Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser UNSC Victory of Samothrace and Kerel-pattern assault carrier Shadow of Intent also entered the Venezia AO, unaware of the Banished presence. They deployed three strike teams to the ground; the first consisting of SPARTAN-II Gray Team and Sangheili Scion Tul 'Juran, while the second and third paired a SPARTAN-IV fireteam with Fleet Rangers Vul 'Soran and Stolt, respectively. Due to Staithe's Cheru-pattern Tyrant anti-aerospace defences, the strike team had no air or orbital support save for the dropships which ferried them to the ground and could extract them. Tul 'Juran and Gray Team deployed into the town itself while the other two teams stayed closer to the perimeter, as to respond as necessary depending on how the first team fared.[1]
To an external observer, Nesto's frigate-base appeared minimally defended, allowing Gray Team and Tul 'Juran to scale the side and enter into an access point located around 20 metres (66 ft) off the ground. However, after entering the ship, a large amount of armed guards assembled on the ground below the ship, consisting of Sangheili, Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar, and Unggoy, with 'Juran and Jai-006 surmising that this had been an intentional trap - closing off the team's escape route and forcing them deeper into the grounded ship.[1] After the alarm of the intruders was sounded, Severan ordered he would extract Nesto to safety, as to prevent his capture by the UNSC/Swords.[6] As such, the Banished Trespasser dropship that he had left on standby began to converge on the frigate-base, intending to dock with the commander's shuttle bay on the starboard side of the ship. Gray Team and 'Juran began to hurry to the docking bay to intercept, only being met by around a dozen guards once they began to close on the bay.[1]
Once the Banished Trespasser began to dock with the frigate, Stolt ordered his time to retreat back to their own dropship as a contingency in case Nesto was able to board the Trespasser, though were reminded that they could not destroy the Trespasser and kill Nesto as they required the intelligence he had. Gray Team and 'Juran reached the shuttle bay just as the Trespasser was landing and engaged around 20 of Nesto's guards and the two Banished captains Kaevus and Othmald. In the ensuing melee, Othmald was killed, though the fighting bought time for Severan and Nesto to board the dropship, leading to Kaevus' retreat under fire to also board the ship. By this time, Vul 'Soran and Stolt had boarded their teams in their Phantom and Pelican dropships respectively, and so began to try and intercept the Trespasser. Jai-006 recommended the intercepting craft attempt to disable the Trespasser's engines as to allow it to be intercepted by one of the orbiting starships, though 'Soran (who was secretly a traitor working for the Order of Restoration) countermanded, insisting that they could not risk killing Nesto - an assessment that Adriana-111 agreed. Instead, Gray Team and 'Juran agreed to pursue Nesto with the other dropships, moving their U81 Condor Zulu Seven Nine closer so they could board and escape Venezia. However, before doing so, they were able to pick up a heavily injured Sangheili prisoner who had been working for Nesto, with the hopes of interrogating him for intelligence.[1]
Battle in space[edit]
As the three allied dropships entered orbit in pursuit of Severan's Trespasser, Victory of Samothrace and Shadow of Intent became aware of the Banished fleet lurking behind Venezia's moon, consisting of six dreadnoughts and their flagship Heart of Malice. Thanks to the world's rebellious leanings, the UNSC had no native navigation satellites in the system, and thus restricted sensor coverage. At this point, Jai recommended shooting down the Trespasser to deny Dovo Nesto to both sides, though Vul 'Soran once again objected, citing that such a loss would only hinder the allied effort to find the Lithos. Captain Cole agreed with 'Soran's suggestion and recalled the dropships to dock with Victory as dozens of other craft launched from Staithe on the planet below to begin their own attacks. The Banished fleet opened the battle in space with a salvo of missiles launched from long range, while Victory and Shadow both began to coordinate fire on their assailants. Cole suggested targeting the closest dreadnought to Dovo Nesto's dropship first and provided Shadow her ship's firing solution. Victory opened fire with its twin MACs first, the first softening the dreadnought's shields and the second punching through, with follow-on strikes by Shadow of Intent's superheavy plasma lances providing the kill. Cole credited the rapid downing of the first dreadnought to Victory's unique upgraded SARISSA MAC configuration.[3]
At this point, the Banished began to launch their own strikecraft complements, resulting in a response in kind from the allied ships; Shadow of Intent launched its Banshees and Seraphs while Victory launched five squadrons of FSS-1000 Sabres and three squadrons of F-41 Broadswords. The Banished ships aimed to get in close, maximising the ability of their close-ranged weaponry (in particular their superheavy grav-impact drivers) and minimising the threat of Victory's most powerful armament, its keel-mounted MAC. Ideally, the Banished aimed to get in close and either ram or shear the allied ships, before coming around to fire upon them from behind, similar to an Ancient Greek diekplous. Two dreadnoughts manoeuvred to shield Nesto's Trespasser, putting them in range of Victory's 75 M58 Archer missile pods while the other three moved to engage Shadow of Intent.[3]
A dozen of Victory of Samothrace's missiles successfully hit one of the dreadnought's amidships, where the shielding was weaker, softening it enough that a follow-on strike by Victory's MACs was able to damage, but not disable, the dreadnought - which returned in kind with its own weapons. Only one of its plasma beam weapons hit Victory by virtue of Victory being able to edge just out of range, resulting in minimal damage to the UNSC cruiser. By this time, the three dropships were returning to Victory, allowing the cruiser to begin to engage in more evasive manoeuvres starting with a hard shift 30o starboard, exposing its port flank to the enemy. Another MAC strike destroyed the lead dreadnought and leaving only one left, allowing Victory to turn its focus to the Banished flagship Heart of Malice, which was now docking with the Trespasser dropship. Cole ordered that Malice be damaged but not killed to ensure that Nesto would not be accidentally killed in the carnage. Shadow of Intent, was able to bring down a third dreadnought before the other two peeled off to engage Victory of Samothrace and defend Nesto - exposing their aft to Shadow of Intent's fire.[3]
The Banished ships began to pummel Victory of Samothrace with their weapons, putting Cole in a tricky position. In response, she executed a Marien maneuver, pitching Victory above the battle plane and beginning to climb while spinning and trading fire below as to avoid the ramming attacks of the Banished. Heart of Malice followed against Cole's expectations, eager to secure the kill, though was beaten to the punch by word that the Banished Griever bombers had broken through Victory's fighter screen and were now attacking the cruiser in combination with the smaller craft launched from Venezia's surface. The cruiser then began to turn to port to meet with Shadow of Intent, passing over Heart of Malice with both ships trading heavy fire, Victory suffering the loss of multiple interior compartments on its port side.[3]
Amid the fighting, a number of sensor contacts appeared at the far edge of the battlefield, just inside Victory's sensor range. When initially pinged they registered as Covenant contacts, something which caused confusion for both sides, with Victory of Samothrace's bridge crew speculating them to be echoes of Shadow of Intent.[3] In reality, they were forces belonging to Sali 'Nyon, an ex-Covenant warlord who was allied with Dovo Nesto under the Order of Restoration. Due to Nesto's deliberate misleading of Severan, Severan and the Banished remained unaware that the Covenant fleet was on their side and thus reacted to their perceived threat accordingly.[4] By the time that Victory was directly engaging Heart of Malice above the battleplane, the Covenant ships had advanced to within sensor range and could be made out as consisting of 14 warships; two assault carriers, eight battlecruisers and four corvettes. Realising they were outnumbered, Shadow of Intent and Victory of Samothrace made preparations for an emergency departure from the system. Before this could be achieved, Severan made a transmission to Victory of Samothrace as the cruiser left the effective range of its weapons, taunting the ship over the imminent destruction that the Banished were planning to bring to Earth in recompense for the loss of their own homeworld. Victory of Samothrace accordingly then jumped into slipspace, followed by Shadow of Intent.[3]
When Sali 'Nyon's fleet first appeared over Venezia, Severan initially suspected the Covenant ships to be Swords of Sanghelios reinforcements aligned with Shadow of Intent, though soon ascertained this was not the case after observing his enemies' reactions to the new party. Suspecting the fleet to be under the command of 'Nyon or some other warlord come to retrieve Nosto, Severan had no desire to engage them in combat (despite them having made no hostile moves yet) and thus made his own preparations to leave the battlefield. An additional time presence persisted in that neither side was eager to draw the attention of a Created Guardian Custode, and every minute they lingered made the possibility ever-more likely. As such, Heart of Malice, along with the two surviving dreadnoughts Ghost of K'rryk and Ghost of Voranth entered slipspace to rendezvous with the Banished fleet amassing to attack Earth.[4]
Aftermath[edit]
At the battle's conclusion, both Victory of Samothrace and Shadow of Intent were damaged, with the former receiving heavy damage to its port side including the destruction/disablement of the port side weapons. Victory returned to Earth with haste, arriving back on December 11 to warn the UNSC Security Council and UNSC Home Fleet of the imminent attack.[8] On November 25, four days after the battle and during the transit back to Earth, Gray Team and Tul 'Juran interrogated the Sangheili prisoner they had taken on Venezia, who was able to reveal the location of the Lithos - the human colony of Boundary.[9] However, the threat to Earth meant that Victory of Samothrace could not divert there immediately, resulting in it later partaking in the brief fighting there on December 12. Throughout the three-week transit to Earth, Victory of Samothrace was repeatedly harassed by Created harriers and even a raptor, though it arrived at Earth unharmed.[8] During this time, Shadow of Intent retreated to an ex-Covenant shipyard a hundred light-years away, meaning it could not participate in the action at Earth.[9]
Of the surviving Banished ships, Ghost of K'rrk had suffered four of its weapons being disabled and Ghost of Voranth a minor hull breach, which was sealed before the group entered slipspace. Heart of Malice itself only took minor hull damage. As such, it was estimated that the ships would only require a few days to repair their damages alongside a few days of transit time to the rally point. During the transit to the rally point, Nesto revealed that Sali 'Nyon's fleet had been summoned by Nesto himself, and that Nyon was allied to the Order of Restoration - to Severan's disbelief.[4]
List of appearances[edit]
- Halo: Empty Throne (First appearance)
Notes[edit]
- ^ Jump up to: a b At this time, neither the Banished nor Sali 'Nyon's Covenant knew they were working on the same side as one another. As such, they treat one another as enemies, though did not come to blows during the battle.
Sources[edit]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 14
- ^ Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 20
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 15
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 16
- ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 8
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 12
- ^ Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 10
- ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 19
- ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 18
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