Editing New Phoenix Incident

{{Era|Post}}

{{Rename|New Phoenix Incident}}

{{disambig header|the battle during the [[Reclamation conflict]]|the battle during the [[Human-Covenant War]]|Battle of Earth}}

|name=Battle of Earth

|next=[[Second Battle of Requiem]]

|conflict=[[Reclamation conflict]]

|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>

*Promethean threat almost completely obliterated from Sol system

*Population of New Phoenix wiped out (seven million)

|side1=[[Unified Earth Government]]

*[[United Nations Space Command]]

|side2=[[Prometheans]]

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

**[[Battlegroup Dakota]]

*[[Orbital Defense Platform]]s

*MCPO [[John-117]]

*AI [[Cortana]]†

*AI [[Cortana]] lost

*Entire population of [[New Phoenix]] composed (Seven million)  

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

}}

The '''Battle of Earth''' 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 24, 2557]].<ref>'''Halo 4''', campaign level ''[[Midnight]]''</ref><ref name="HE7"/> The details of the event were covered up by the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] and it was later referred to as 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> in the media.

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.

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''.

Following the battle, ONI quarantined [[New Phoenix]] and hid the details of the attack from the public, concealing it as an attack by the [[Covenant remnants]].<ref>'''Halo: Escalation''', ''Issue #3''</ref> Six months later, however, ONI public relations officer [[John Sullivan]] released a statement to the press confirming the Covenant were not responsible for what was now referred to as the "New Phoenix Incident".<ref name="departure"/>

During the [[Second Battle of Requiem]], 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-Mantle.jpg|The ''Infinity'' engaging the ''Mantle's Approach''.

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

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

File:H4Epilogue - NP Streets.jpg|The empty streets of New Phoenix in the aftermath of the Didact's attack.

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

*''[[Halo: Escalation]]'' {{Mo}}

<references group="note"/>

<references/>

{{Reclamation conflict}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Earth (2557)}}