Editing NOVA bombing of Joyous Exultation

{{Status|Canon}}
{{Battle infobox
|prev=[[Battle of Mombasa]]
|conc=*[[Battle for Earth]]
*[[Battle of Installation 05]]
|next=[[Defense of Mars]]
|name=NOVA bombing of Joyous Exultation
|image=
|conflict=[[Human-Covenant War]]
*[[Great Schism]]
|date=[[2552#November|November 3]], [[2552]]
|place=[[Joyous Exultation]], [[Salia system]]
|result='''UNSC victory''' 
*Decimation of both the [[Joyous Exultation Covenant]] and [[Joyous Exultation]]
*Death of [[Imperial Admiral]] [[Xytan 'Jar Wattinree]]
|side1=*{{Icon|UNSC HCW}} [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]]
|side2=*[[Covenant separatists]]
**[[Joyous Exultation Covenant]]
|commanders1=*[[Vice Admiral]] [[Danforth Whitcomb]]†
|commanders2=[[Imperial Admiral]] [[Xytan 'Jar Wattinree]]†
|forces1=[[NOVA bomb]]
|forces2=[[Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose]]
|casual1=*None
|casual2=*Over three-fifths of the [[Combined Fleet of Righteous Purpose]]
*[[Imperial Admiral]] [[Xytan 'Jar Wattinree]]
}}
{{Quote|This is the prototype [[NOVA bomb]], nine [[fusion]] warheads encased in [[lithium triteride]] armor. When detonated, it compresses its fissionable material to neutron-star density, boosting the thermonuclear yield a hundredfold. I am [[Vice Admiral]] [[Danforth Whitcomb]], temporarily in command of the [[UNSC]] military base [[Reach]]. To the Covenant uglies that might be listening, you have a few seconds to pray to your damned heathen gods. You all have a nice day in hell...|[[Vice Admiral]] [[Danforth Whitcomb]]'s recording on the NOVA bomb, right before it is activated in the space adjacent to the planet [[Joyous Exultation]].}}
The '''NOVA bombing of Joyous Exultation''' was the devastation of the planet [[Joyous Exultation]] by the UNSC [[NOVA bomb]] after it was inadvertently activated by members of the [[Joyous Exultation Covenant]].
==Background==
It was intended for the [[NOVA bomb]] to be used in space against the [[Covenant]] [[Covenant fleet|fleet]] during the [[Fall of Reach]]. The remaining NOVA bombs were left on [[Reach]] and "re-purposed" by [[Vice Admiral]] [[Danforth Whitcomb]]. His reasoning was that "''either the Covenant pack those bombs up and take them home for study, a possibility that I hope to God happens. A bomb like that could crack their homeworld in two. Or, the bombs stay here and they'll stop the Covenant on Reach...''"{{Ref/Novel|Id=FS19|FS|19}}

==Bombing==
The [[NOVA bomb]] occurred was accidentally detonated by a group of [[Huragok]] stationed on the [[Covenant supercarrier]] ''[[Sublime Transcendence]]''. Immediately after [[Kwassass]], a fellow crew member, deciphered Admiral Whitcomb's message, the Huragok, through their curiosity and frenzied obsession, fixed the circuitry of the bomb, detonating it despite Kwassass's attempts to stop them. The Huragok completed the detonation timer's circuit, which promptly resulted in its activation. The resulting explosion occurred between a Covenant outpost planet [[Joyous Exultation]] and its moon, [[Malhiem]], scorching half of the planet and shattering the moon. The resulting winds on Joyous Exultation flattened cities and spawned tidal waves. Radiation flooded the planet and killed everything living on it, penetrating the surface of the planet to its core. Every ship within the NOVA bomb's range, save for those on the opposite side of the planet, boiled and vaporized in an instant. The explosion was described as though "a star ignited between Joyous Exultation and its moon."{{Ref/Novel|Id=GOO27|GoO|Chapter=27}} [[Imperial Admiral]] [[Xytan 'Jar Wattinree]] was atomized in the blast, ultimately putting a premature end to his dreams of empire.{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc09|Enc09|Page=129}}{{Ref/Book|Id=Enc11|Enc11|Page=137}}

The NOVA bomb explosion completely destroyed three-fifths of the fleet that was there, totaling over 300 ships. Eighteen [[Covenant destroyer|destroyers]], two [[Covenant cruiser|cruisers]], one [[Covenant carrier|carrier]] and the flagship ''[[Incorruptible]]'' escaped the NOVA bomb explosion due to a [[Slipspace]] jump ''en masse'' just moments prior to the explosion.{{Ref/Reuse|GOO27}} Other ships arrived at [[Onyx]] to reinforce the ''Incorruptible'' from Joyous Exultation, suggesting that they escaped the bomb's detonation as a result of being positioned on the opposite side of the planet.{{Ref/Novel|GoO|Chapter=38}}

==Aftermath==
The [[Jiralhanae]], knowing that Joyous Exultation would serve as an anchor point for the Sangheili forces, intended to lay siege to the planet. By the time they arrived, however, both the planet and the fleet had been destroyed.{{Ref/Book|Enc09|Page=270}} In the aftermath of the explosion, [[Kaidon]] [[Olabisi Varo'dai]] convinced the master of a late-arriving flotilla to forsake his original mission and begin rescue operations. [[Arbiter]] [[Thel 'Vadam]] subsequently arranged for a charter of colonization on [[Om'a'Varo|an uninhabited world]] in the [[Emauzs system]] for the survivors. Thanks to Varo'dai's quick actions, tens of thousands of Sangheili survived the cataclysm.{{Ref/Novel|Id=Out4|Out|4}}

What little survived was frozen or suffocated in the cataclysmic aftermath,{{Ref/Reuse|Enc22}} rendering the entire planet uninhabitable.{{Ref/Reuse|Out4}}

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: Outcasts]]'' {{Mo}}
*''[[Halo: Empty Throne]]'' {{Mo}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources|2}}

{{Human-Covenant War}}
[[Category:Battles of the Human-Covenant War]]