Editing New Phoenix Incident

{{Era|Post}}

{{battle

|next=[[Skirmish on Installation 03]]

|date=[[2557#July|July 25, 2557]]<ref name="catalog">[https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_postsm2969311_Catalog-Interaction.aspx#post2969311 '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Catalog Interaction - page 14'']</ref> approx. 1240 UTC<ref name="time" group="note">Once Earth comes into view, it can be seen that the Eastern and Central Time Zones of the United States are in sunlight, while the Pacific is in darkness. The sunlight is just cresting at New Phoenix, indicating that it is sunrise in the Mountain Time Zone region. This would occur around 5:40 AM in late July, which corresponds to 12:40 PM UTC.</ref>

*Population of New Phoenix composed (seven million)

|side1=[[Unified Earth Government]]

*[[United Nations Space Command]]

|side2=[[Promethean]]s

|commanders1=[[Thomas Lasky|CAPT Thomas Lasky]]

**[[Battlegroup Dakota]]

*MCPO [[John-117]]

*AI [[Cortana]]†

*AI [[Cortana]] lost

*''Mantle's Approach'' and Composer destroyed

}}

The '''New Phoenix Incident''',<ref name="departure">'''Halo 4''', ''[[Spartan Ops]]'', ''[[Departure]]''</ref> or the '''Fall of New Phoenix''',<ref name="HE7">'''[[Halo: Escalation]]''' - ''Issue #7''</ref> was an engagement fought between the [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]] and the [[Ur-Didact]] and his [[Promethean]] forces in close proximity to [[Earth]] on [[2557|July 25, 2557]].<ref name="midnight">'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Midnight]]''</ref><ref name="HE7"/>

[[File:H4-Infinity-Mantle.jpg|thumb|250px|left|''Infinity'' engaging the ''Mantle's Approach''.]]

Having retrieved the [[Composer]] from [[Ivanoff Station]], the [[Ur-Didact|Didact]] set out to attack Earth in his ship, ''[[Mantle's Approach]]''. The Didact was unaware, however, that [[John-117]] and [[Cortana]], in a [[F-41 Broadsword|Broadsword]] fighter, had managed to breach the ship's shields and make the [[Slipstream space|slipspace]] journey along with it.<ref>'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Composer (level)|Composer]]</ref> As the ship emerged near Earth, the [[UNSC Home Fleet]] was mustered in Earth's defense; including the {{UNSCShip|Infinity}}, now under the command of [[Thomas Lasky]]. Despite this preparation, the fleet's efforts were rendered useless by the advanced technology of the Didact's ship. Earth's orbital defense grid went into Red Alert, but even the [[Orbital Defense Platform]]s proved ineffective. Hunting for the Composer aboard ''Mantle's Approach'', John-117 and Cortana proceeded to destroy the turrets defending the ship's main weapon, allowing the ''Infinity'' to fire upon the Didact's ship to open a hole for the Master Chief's Broadsword. However, the interior defenses made the passage too narrow for the fighter to pass through and caused it to crash, forcing the Chief and Cortana to carry their [[HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon|HAVOK]] payload to the Composer on foot.<ref name="midnight"/>

As John-117 and Cortana reached the Composer, the Didact activated the device, killing seven million people<ref name="HE7"/> in [[New Phoenix]], a major population center in North America. After fighting past significant opposition from the [[Prometheans]], the Master Chief was able to approach the center structure, only to be ambushed by the Didact. During the struggle, Cortana was able to manipulate the [[hard light]] bridge on which the Didact stood, trapping him. This bought the Master Chief enough time to activate a [[pulse grenade]] and attack the Didact with it. The resulting explosion pushed the Didact into the slipspace rupture below. As Master Chief activated the HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon, Cortana was able to [[Slipspace translocation|translocate]] the Spartan a safe distance away from the blast. The majority of Cortana's processes remained aboard ''Mantle's Approach'', and were presumably destroyed in the nuclear blast. She maintained herself long enough to bid farewell to the Spartan inside a box of hard light she had generated somewhere outside the immediate blast radius. Master Chief was found by [[Pelican 096|a Pelican]] floating among the debris and was returned to the ''Infinity''.<ref name="midnight"/>

Due to uncertainty over the finality of the Didact's defeat, the [[UNSC Security Council]] decided to hide the details of the attack from the public, concealing it as an attack by the [[Covenant remnants]] stopped by the return of humanity's greatest hero, the Master Chief.<ref name="esc8">'''Halo: Escalation''', ''[[Halo: Escalation Issue 8|Issue #8]]''</ref> Additionally, the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] quarantined [[New Phoenix]] for a year. Six months later, however, ONI public relations officer [[John Sullivan]] released a statement to the press confirming the Covenant were not responsible for the attack.<ref name="departure"/>

The UNSC leadership's doubts over the Didact's death were not unfounded; the Promethean survived his fall into the Composer's slipspace rupture. The portal took him to the vicinity of the [[Composer's Abyss]] on [[Installation 03]], where he slaughtered Spartan [[Black Team]]. Allying himself with [[monitor]] [[859 Static Carillon]], the Didact then traveled to the [[Composer's Forge]] through a portal in the Composer's Abyss, intending to acquire new instruments for his crusade against humankind. John-117 and [[Blue Team]] were [[Skirmish on Installation 03|deployed to Gamma Halo]] immediately after the massacre and confronted the Didact in the Composer's Forge.<ref>'''Halo: Escalation''', ''[[Halo: Escalation Issue 9|Issue #9]]''</ref>

During the [[Requiem Campaign]], the UNSC ''Infinity'' recovered a Forerunner [[Durance]] called the [[Didact's Gift]] from the Covenant. The device, said to contain the "soul" of a [[Promethean Knight]], revealed images of [[New Phoenix]] during the attack, indicating that the consciousnesses of the composed New Phoenix residents had been transferred back to Requiem and converted into new Prometheans. Adding to the mystery, the images also revealed that another [[Requiem slipspace artifacts|Forerunner artifact]] had been present in New Phoenix during the attack.<ref>'''Halo 4''', ''Spartan Ops'', ''[[Memento Mori]]''</ref>

On [[2558#March|March 24, 2558]], eight months after the battle, the city's quarantine was lifted. A "Rebirth" ceremony was held in the city, presided over by [[President of the Unified Earth Government|UEG President]] [[Ruth Charet]].<ref name="HE7"/>

File:H4-Infinity-Firing.jpg|''Infinity'' firing her fore weapons

File:Didact John comparison.png|John-117 and the Ur-Didact fighting aboard ''Mantle's Approach''

File:New Phoenix population composed.jpg|[[Gabriel Thorne]] having a nightmare of New Phoenix's population being composed

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