Battle of Circinius IV

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Battle of Circinius IV
Conflict:	Human-Covenant War
Date:	April 26, 2526
Location:	Circinius IV, Circinius system
Outcome:	Covenant victory Almost all UNSC personnel and civilians killed Corbulo Academy and Circinius IV glassed Spartan Blue Team successfully retrieves three survivors
Details Belligerents United Nations Space Command Covenant Commanders General Daniel Black † Colonel Kennedy Mehaffey † Spartan John-117 Senior Cadet April Orenski Unknown Covenant Fleet Master Unknown Sangheili Zealot † Strength Unknown number of UNSC vessels 1 M12 Chaingun Warthog Spartan Blue Team Orbital Drop Shock Troopers Marine garrison Corbulo Academy staff and cadets Hastati Squad At least 4 cruisers At least 3 Ceudar-pattern heavy corvettes Mgalekgolo Sangheili Kig-Yar Unggoy Casualties Near-total annihilation of Corbulo Academy's cadet corps and staff Entire Marine garrison and ODST response force Near-total annihilation of the population of Circinius IV At least one Sangheili Several Kig-Yar At least two Mgalekgolo

John-117: "You're the only survivors."

Michael Sullivan: "In the school?"

John-117: "On the planet."

— John-117 notifying the cadets of the planet's near-total fatalities.

The Battle of Circinius IV was an engagement between UNSC and Covenant forces on the colony of Circinius IV in mid-2526. It was not only one of the first battles of the Human-Covenant War, but also one of the first deployments of SPARTAN-IIs.

Prelude

After the first engagements on Harvest, ONI Section II kept the Covenant invasion secret from the general population. This encompassed the denizens of Circinius IV (including the staff and cadets of the Corbulo Academy of Military Science) in what was likely the first application of the recently introduced WINTER CONTINGENCY. However, the academy's superintendent, General Black, was informed. As preparation for a possible attack, Black discreetly increased the readiness of the UNSC Marine garrison posted in the academy and authorized limited communications blackouts under the guise of routine maintenance procedures. Unfortunately, these preparations would prove ineffective against the Covenant.

Battle

On April 26, 2526, the Covenant launched a surprise attack on Circinius IV. Three Ceudar-pattern heavy corvettes entered the atmosphere and attacked Corbulo Academy. Locally stationed Marines provided an initial defense of the academy and the evacuation of the cadets via the school's space elevator was begun immediately. Orbiting UNSC vessels soon deployed Orbital Drop Shock Troopers directly onto the campus. However, one of the Covenant corvettes fired on the elevator, causing it to collapse on the school and halt the evacuation. Since all the cadets and staff had converged near the elevator for evacuation, the collapse of the elevator killed many members of the academy. Moments later, the survivors came under attack by Sangheili and Kig-Yar troops.

Corbulo's officer cadets were caught off-guard by this attack. General Black was killed within minutes of the attack; Colonel K.L. Mehaffey attempted to organize the surviving cadets inside the tunnels, though she too was quickly killed. Covenant forces soon overwhelmed the ODSTs and Marines, and proceeded to annihilate the planet's entire population, with only four Cadets April Orenski, Thomas Lasky, Chyler Silva, and Michael Sullivan left alive. SPARTAN-II Blue Team were then subsequently deployed in response to the cadets' distress beacon. Spartan John-117 infiltrated the besieged school and arrived just in time to rescue the surviving cadets from a Sangheili Zealot. After contacting Kelly-087 and arranging for a Pelican extraction, John-117 broke open the cadets' weapons lockers and allowed the cadets to arm themselves.

The Spartan led the survivors to the academy's exterior, where they were ambushed by Kig-Yar Snipers. Cadet Sullivan was wounded during the firefight, but survived. After dispatching the snipers, they retreated from the combat zone in General Black's personal Warthog. During the drive, however, they came under heavy fire from more Kig-Yar and were eventually forced to abandon their vehicle. Silva was killed by a Needler round, and the rest of the group was attacked by a pair of Mgalekgolo. John-117 depleted all his ammunition killing one of the Mgalekgolo, leaving him with only a single grenade. He decided to take on the remaining Mgalekgolo alone, buying the surviving cadets time to escape. However, Cadet Lasky volunteered to distract the alien while John-117 got into position. Lasky successfully drew the Mgalekgolo's fire, allowing John to plant the grenade under its armor. The resulting detonation blew the Mgalekgolo to pieces.

As morning arrived, the survivors reached Blue Team's Pelican just as the Covenant began glassing the planet. Impressed by Lasky's actions, John-117 gave him a fragment of the Mgalekgolo's armor.

Aftermath

Presumably following the battle, Marines (including Edward Buck) conducted Operation: ABLE SENTRY, a force reconnaissance mission that paved the way for Operation: PHALANX. The exact nature and chronology of these operations are unknown, but likely couldn't have occurred prior to the Covenant's surprise attack.

While the academy and virtually the entire planet's population were wiped out, the battle would have a lasting impact on Thomas Lasky, who, inspired by John-117, decided to stay in the UNSC, eventually rising to the rank of Commander within the Navy. Following the war's end, Lasky became the executive officer of the UNSC Infinity. In 2557, 31 years after Lasky first met John-117, he would be reunited with the SPARTAN on the Forerunner shield world known as Requiem. Once again, they would work together, this time to save Earth from the Didact during which time Lasky achieved the rank of Captain and was given command of the Infinity after Fleet Command was displeased with Andrew Del Rio's decision to abandon the Master Chief on Requiem as opposed to Lasky helping him.

The unidentified Operation

On the same events as Operation: ABLE SENTRY, an unnamed operation consisting of ODST and Marines was deployed on Circinius IV led by Commander Klurtz and Chief Warrant Officer Atkins. Commander Klurtz leading the main sector and Chief Warrant Officer Atkins leading second platoon on the ground. Commanders first strike team Charlie 6-4 Gunnery Sergeant Raymond a talented marine with amazing skills in defense planning and use unorthodox style, Corporal Reynolds, Private daniels, Corporal Darien, Sergeant Timothy, Private "unnamed medic" and CI Cinder. Charlie 6-4 was deployed on the frontier to hold out defense but the Covenant were able to breakthrough. Darien was killed by a plasma grenade and during the escape, a jackal sniper took out Sergeant Timothy. Charlie 6-4 regrouped with Commander Klurtz. Later he sent them to bring second platoon supplies, the ODST squadron Bravo 0-3 squad leader Captain Davis wasn't able to pass the defense on the road. Gunnery Sergeant Raymond recommended taking his marines to an unsecured route but also unsecured by the Covenant. Unfortunately on the road two azoth Elites Cas Vazumi and Oze Vazumi led a counterforce on the ground causing multiple casualties, this was ordered by the Brute leader who wore a silver brute captain armor. Raymond got into an intense stare with Cas vazumi when they both encountered eachother, a marine shot Cas with a Shotgun taking off his shield which gave Raymond an opening to shoot Cas a bullet round skinned Cas's neck which angered him and camoflauged. They still managed to get through the Covenant forces, but before continuing Oze Vazumi shot Cinder with a possible beam rifle which blew off his arm. Charlie 6-4 made it to second platoon and helped push off the remaining forces. Chief Warrant Officer Atkins was displeased with the remaining forces Raymond brought back with only Corporal Reynolds, Private Daniels, the medic, and even with an injured flame marine (Cinder) with one scorpion as well. The incoming wave was unexpected so Gunnery Sergeant Raymond did not have time to make a plan and had to follow Chief Warrant Officer Atkins's orders. Atkins's orders and plan did not succeed and left him with more casualties. Gunnery Sergeant Raymond offered Chief Warrant Officer Atkins to do the same orthodox tactics he used at the frontier defense. The plan was to set charges on the loose buildings, after the Covenant moved closer to the base they'll set off the charges leading them into the middle where they'll be open and vulnerable, and once the charges set off some marines will move forward to hide in rubbles and debris from the explosion to ambush the leftovers acting as CQC forces which will be double the amount of counterattack. Chief Warrant officer Atkins disagreed and said it would be a "waste of men". Still Gunnery Sergeant Raymond disobeyed Atkins and continued to follow his own plan. The plan worked and everyone was able to eliminate the Covenant forces, but unexpectedly Cas and Oze were leading the forces as revenge for what Raymond did to Cas. On the ground Cas met Raymond again but without hesitation, Cas fired a Carbine round but Reynolds jumped in and took the shot, Raymond ordered Daniels to take Reynolds back. When all the Covenant were eliminated the only remaining force was Cas and his group they continued to the base pushing through but fell into their trap, throughout the rubble defense the whole group was wiped out leaving only Cas and Oze. Cas and Oze killed all rubble defense until a marine knocked out Oze with a stun grenade. Oze was still alive but he told Cas to move on and Oze will regroup any remaining Covenant forces. When Daniels arrived at the base he met up with the medic, Daniels told the medic that Raymond only has a few marines with him. The medic told Daniels to retreat and said he'll go out and help Raymond. Once he stepped out of the base he saw Cas and immediately fired at him, but Cas was too fast. Cas slashed off the Meic's arm and stabbed him with his energy sword and killed him. Raymond saw the whole thing and Cas and Raymond got into another intense stare. Raymond fired at Cas and they both got into close fight. Cas got the upperhand and tried to swing at Raymond with the energy sword but Raymond ducked and stabbed Cas underneath his arm and his chest. Cas kicked him off and they both stared, then nodded at eachother and left. When Raymond returned to base Daniels was impressed with the tactics he used. He said Raymond looked at the battle like a chessboard like a "rook". Head command radioed Atkins and asked to speak with Raymond. They were aware of Raymond disobeying orders, however his actions saved all of second platoon, he gave Raymond Reynolds, and Daniels a chance to become ODST.

Trivia

A SPARTAN-IV NPC at the beginning of the Halo 4 campaign level Shutdown may occasionally refer to the Circinius IV conflict. He claims that the anniversary of the battle occurred "just last week", despite the level being set in late July. While this is likely to be a simple oversight, it is possible that the battle for the planet was prolonged due to a UNSC reprisal (much like the extended campaign to reclaim Harvest) and continued well into July.

Gallery

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  Three Covenant corvettes descending toward Corbulo.

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  A Sangheili Zealot leads the ground assault on Corbulo.

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  UNSC forces fighting the Covenant at Corbulo Academy.

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  UNSC ground forces are slaughtered in the ensuing attack.

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  The Covenant glass Circinius IV, beginning with Corbulo Academy.

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  John-117 surveys the wreckage of Corbulo.

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  John-117 leads the surviving cadets away from the destroyed Academy.

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  John-117 fires the Warthog's turret at Covenant troops.

List of appearances

• Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn (First appearance)
• Halo 4 (Mentioned only)
• Halo 2: Anniversary (Poster only)
• Halo 5: Guardians (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Oblivion (Mentioned only)