Battle of Metisette

The Battle of Metisette was a conflict that took place between the UNSC, the Covenant Sangheili under orders from the High Prophet of Regret and the Covenant Unggoy and Kig-Yar under orders from the High Prophet of Truth. It took place in 2535 during the Human-Covenant War.

Prelude

After the Battle of the Rubble, the UNSC and the Rubble Security Council were ready to work together against what they considered the common enemy: the Kig-Yar and the Unggoy on Metisette, a natural satellite of the local gas giant, Hesiod. However, time was running out for the combined human forces. Kig-Yar forces were ready to roll out and attack the Rubble with their fleet and Unggoy ground forces.

To make matters worse, Reth and the Kig-Yar were expecting high leaders in the Covenant hierarchy, and a probable Covenant fleet escort, to arrive imminently in the undetermined future. With the clock ticking to assault the Redoubt, the AI Juliana decided to commence the emergency evacuation of the citizens of the Rubble on the Exodus, an asteroid six miles long and capable of holding all the Rubble citizens as well as transition into slipspace. Meanwhile, Ignatio Delgado and the UNSC forces piled on the UNSC Midsummer Night to fly to Metisette while the Rubble Defense Force would organize a fleet to protect the Rubble while it was evacuated.

The battle

The battle began with the Infinite Spoils, a Kig-Yar raider commanded by four Sangheili zealots, attacking the Rubble. Thel 'Vadamee hoped to destroy the Rubble in order to complete his mission and regain the honor he lost when he was captured by the Kig-Yar. He had the ship attack the local mass drivers, recognizing them as important weapons. While the Infinite Spoils attacked, the first ships of the Kig-Yar fleet arrived and began attacking the Rubble themselves. As Kig-Yar ships closed in on the mass drivers, Rubble ships flew in and fired missiles to prevent the destruction of the mass drivers. Meanwhile, more and more asteroids emptied as the thousands of citizens of the Rubble evacuated. Although the AI Juliana lost some asteroids to both the Sangheili and Kig-Yar, she managed to move several more asteroids to meet with the UNSC forces moving in on Metisette.

As it closed down on the moon, the UNSC Midsummer Night performed a high-speed SOEIV deployment, down to the Redoubt on the surface of Metisette. The Midsummer Night came under fire from Kig-Yar anti-aircraft guns, and slowed down, to allow the pods to drop, before speeding off out the atmosphere again. The pods landed in the Redoubt's plaza, where Unggoy were waiting in buildings. There were two main forces of ODSTs that landed; one with Jai-006, and one with Adriana-111.

Unfortunately, Adriana landed among a large group of Unggoy. She fought them off with her battle rifle and a M41 rocket launcher, until she ran out of ammo. Then she used a Mongoose to physically beat the Unggoy to death. Eventually, she regrouped with her squad of ODSTs, only to discover that only six of the original sixteen had survived; the others killed by the Kig-Yar. They were however successful in destroying the anti-aircraft guns. Jai's men landed with the Shiva-class nuclear missile, and planted it in the sensor hub and set a 2-hour timer.

The Midsummer Night then launched five Pelican dropships to pick up the survivors. They returned to Midsummer Night, and watched as the Shiva detonated, badly damaging the Redoubt and knocking out the Redoubt's sensors. Reth was poisoned by the radiation, and tried to escape in a shuttle. However, the Rubble had been fractured by Juliana and the habitat's asteroids were moved into a position to collide with Metisette. The Redoubt was then obliterated by the improvised orbital bombardment. Reth's shuttle took a direct hit from one of the asteroids, finally killing him. Thel 'Vadamee then launched the remaining Kig-Yar ships against the Exodus asteroid.

Aftermath

With the Redoubt destroyed, Reth killed, and hundreds of thousands of Unggoy dead, the Midsummer Night joined with the Exodus habitat and escorted it as it flew away. Although chased by a few Kig-Yar fighter ships, the habitat remained safe as all the Unggoy that managed to infiltrate the habitat were dealt with by the Rubble Defense Force inside. Meanwhile, Mike-120 brought a chip containing navigation data and downloaded the data on the habitat's computers.

Unfortunately, the Rubble Security Council and the engineers on the habitat encountered a problem: the Exodus could not make the planned trip out to uncontrolled space where they would remain safe and alone. Several slipspace drives remained inactive, which prevented the habitat from traveling long distances in one shot. The alternative was to make small, little jumps, which would literally take centuries.

Lieutenant Keyes decided to convince the Council to travel to an Inner Colony, which was still possible at the time. After a short speech to the Council members reminding them of their duty to protect all the Rubble's citizens and the duty to fight back against the Covenant who took their homes, the Council decided to travel to Falaknuma, an Inner Colony in the 18 Scorpii system. Using navigation data that Mike-120 brought to them as well, the Midsummer Night escorted the Exodus habitat to Falaknuma.

At Falaknuma, the UNSC forces were shocked by the asteroid's entrance, but quickly worked to rescue the people aboard. Although all the citizens were evacuated and brought down to the planet, the asteroid broke up due to resonances in slipspace, causing large chunks of the habitat to orbit around the planet. Although bigger chunks could be dealt with MAC rounds, the resulting debris would impede travel for decades to come.

Lieutenant Keyes was brought down and debriefed by ONI Commander Hadley and Admiral Preston Cole himself. After the session, Cole congratulated Keyes for his commendable bravery and work and promoted him to Commander. Meanwhile, Delgado decided to enlist in the Navy. The recruiting session though went terribly and he was about to be drafted into the Marines before Commander Hadley intervened and put Delgado into the Navy as a pilot. After this, Commander Hadley and Admiral Cole met up with Gray Team, giving them a new mission, this time deeper in enemy territory.

Back on the Infinite Sacrifice, the Prophets of Truth and Regret met with Thel 'Vadamee personally. After some discussion on the very lives of the crew under Thel's control, Zhar entered the room, armed with his inactivated energy sword. Zhar charged at the Prophets but 'Vadamee killed his old friend with his own energy sword. For this action, 'Vadamee was allowed to live and given his own ship in the Fleet of Particular Justice. Although Regret was displeased that it did not produce anything except human-sympathizing Kig-Yar and Unggoy, the Prophet of Truth seemed rather satisfied by the discovery of two new human worlds to attack. The Prophet of Regret resolved to follow Truth's plans for the time being.

List of appearances

• Halo: The Cole Protocol (First appearance)