Battle of New Jerusalem

"Cygnus? Didn't think there were any survivors."

— Taylor H. Miles, upon hearing about a survivor from the battle.^[1]

The Battle of New Jerusalem was an engagement in the Human-Covenant War. It was fought on the UNSC colony world of New Jerusalem in Cygnus system between the UNSC Defense Force and the Covenant in September 2552.^[2]^[3]

Battle

In September 2552, New Jerusalem was invaded by the Covenant; this invasion was resisted by the UNSC Army^[4] as well as the Marine Corps' 26th Expeditionary Force. A team of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, including Gage Yevgenny, Eric Santiago, and several other ODSTs under the command of Colonel Felicia Sanderson, were involved in an operation to infiltrate the city of Mount Haven, then under siege by the Covenant, who were looking for Forerunner artifacts. Simultaneously, several former CMA members were performing a clandestine operation to extract a massive supply of gold bullion from a bank. However, after infiltrating the bank, the ODST team discovered a class of school children and their teacher hiding in the underground vault, hoping to survive the planet's inevitable glassing. After loading two Pelicans full of gold, the ODSTs knew there was no room for the children. To deceive the civilians, the troopers claimed that the gold would be used in the UNSC's war effort. Gage, who had seen too many people killed by the Covenant, was in strong favor of postponing the theft to save the civilians. The other ODSTs, who claimed that the children were as good as dead, disagreed, causing an argument. Felicia stepped in, wanting to call in more Pelicans, but the other ODSTs had already raised their weapons at one another. In an instant, Gage was shot in the abdomen, three other squad members were dead, and Felicia was fatally wounded. Gage rushed to her side, but she died in his arms.

Gage, in shock, went outside to find Eric, who informed him that the UNSC were falling back. Gage knocked him out with his gun and called for more Pelicans, claiming they were under heavy fire. He then flew Eric's Pelican to the pickup point and collected the artifacts the Covenant were looking for, as well as a Shiva nuclear device, then flew away from the city. Gage believed that the Covenant forces would follow him in pursuit of the relics. As he was being pursued by Covenant Banshees, he was "accidentally" shot down by ODSTs who knew of his betrayal.

Gage crashed near the mountains outside the city, and was found mortally wounded by The Rookie, a trooper from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Force, who had arrived with Gage's reinforcements. Gage, who knew he was dying, told the Rookie his life story, right up until he crashed the Pelican. The Rookie, who had listened intently, promised to remember Gage and do whatever he could against the Covenant. Gage then told the Rookie that Covenant forces and the rogue ODSTs were on their way to the crash site, and warned the Rookie to get as far away as possible, as Gage was going to detonate the Shiva, killing them all. The Rookie ditched most of his gear and ran for his life until he reached the other side of the mountain, at which point Gage detonated the nuke, killing himself, his renegade teammates, and thousands of Covenant troops. The Rookie, being the only survivor, hailed a Pelican and was informed that Reach had been glassed, and that the survivors were retreating to Earth. They escaped as the planet was glassed, but the Rookie would not forget Gage Yevgenny, and his long and tragic life.^[3]^{[note 1]}

At some point during the battle, ODST Carlo Hoya was captured by the Covenant, but managed to escape, saving a dozen Naval officers' lives in the process. After the war, Hoya would go on to join the new SPARTAN-IV Program.^[5]

Participants

UNSC

Trivia

It has been implied that Kojo Agu saw action on the planet at some point during the war, possibly simultaneously with the Rookie.^[2]^[6]
The presence of the Marine Expeditionary Force engaging in a "Rapid Offensive Picket" on New Jerusalem may suggest that at some point, the planet was lost to the Covenant, and the UNSC made an attempt to re-take it.

List of appearances

ONI Candidate Assessment Program V5.02A Template:First mentioned
Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
- Dirt (First appearance)

Notes

^ It has been confirmed in a comment by Tobias Buckell here that the rookie in Dirt is the same character as The Rookie from Halo 3: ODST. Thus, the battle depicted in the story has to be the Battle of New Jerusalem, as it was the last battle in which The Rookie participated before the Battle of Earth.

Sources

^ ONI Candidate Assessment Program V5.02A/Dutch
^ ^a ^b Halo 3: ODST Field Guide: ("This Marine was recently transferred from the 26th MEF, part of a Rapid Offensive Picket that suffered near-annihilation at New Jerusalem, Cygnus.")
^ ^a ^b Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "Dirt"
^ Halo Waypoint, DMR
^ Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide
^ ONI Candidate Assessment Program V5.02A/Romeo

[5] It has been confirmed in a comment by Tobias Buckell here that the rookie in Dirt is the same character as The Rookie from Halo 3: ODST. Thus, the battle depicted in the story has to be the Battle of New Jerusalem, as it was the last battle in which The Rookie participated before the Battle of Earth.

[1] ONI Candidate Assessment Program V5.02A/Dutch

[Fieldguide-2] Halo 3: ODST Field Guide: ("This Marine was recently transferred from the 26th MEF, part of a Rapid Offensive Picket that suffered near-annihilation at New Jerusalem, Cygnus.")

[Dirt-3] Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "Dirt"

[4] Halo Waypoint, DMR

[VIS-6] Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide

[7] ONI Candidate Assessment Program V5.02A/Romeo

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