Carrow Conflict

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Carrow Conflict
Conflict:	Post-Covenant War conflicts Sangheili-Jiralhanae war Blooding Years
Date:	September 1–3 2558
Location:	Carrow
Outcome:	Pyrrhic UNSC/Surakans/Rojka 'Kasaan's faction victory Gray Team rescued Sharquoi hive destroyed Sharquoi on Carrow apparently completely wiped out All three fleets completely destroyed Near-total losses to Rojka 'Kasaan's faction Voice of Maardoth forces are destroyed Thars 'Sarov's faction wiped out Heavy human and Sangheili civilian losses Heavy damage to Suraka and Rak Kaidon Akato 'Dakaj becomes the new leader of Rak and expresses a desire for closer relations with the Surakans Lamar Edwards becomes the Governor of Suraka
Details Belligerents Surakan Militia Volunteers UNSC Rojka's loyalists Voice of Maardoth Thars' seditionists Commanders Governor Ellis Gass† Vice Governor/Governor Lamar Edwards Commander Greg van Eekhout† Petty Officer Jai-006 Fleetmaster Rojka 'Kasaan Jiralhanae Chieftain Hekabe† Thars 'Sarov† Strength Surakan Militia Volunteers Twelve merchant ships Gray Team One Varric-pattern heavy cruiser Unwavering Discipline Two Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers Two Wik-pattern light destroyers Two Covenant frigates Vengeful Deed Retribution's Promise At least two Type-26 Banshee One Phantoms One Spectre Two Ghosts Many Sangheili Two Varric-pattern heavy cruisers Foebane Two Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers Hammerstrike Fighter's Blood Several Qavardu Workshop Gravemakers Several Jiralhanae Several Unggoy Three Pnap-pattern Goblins Hundreds of Sharquoi One Varric-pattern heavy cruiser Four Wik-pattern light destroyers Two Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers Five Covenant frigates Several Phantoms Many Sangheili Casualties Eight merchant ships Heavy Surakan Militia Volunteers losses Governor Ellis Gass One Varric-pattern heavy cruiser Unwavering Discipline Two Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers Two Wik-pattern light destroyers Two Covenant frigates Vengeful Deed Retribution's Promise At least two Type-26 Banshee Near total Sangheili Total Two Varric-pattern heavy cruisers Foebane Two Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers Three Goblins All Jiralhanae Hekabe Several Unggoy All Sharquoi Total One Varric-pattern heavy cruiser Four Wik-pattern light destroyers Two Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers Several Covenant frigates All Sangheili Thars 'Sarov Civilian casualties Heavy None None

The Carrow Conflict was a conflict that erupted on the former Outer Colony of Carrow that was part-Sangheili civil war part-invasion by the Jiralhanae Chieftain Hekabe who was seeking the Sharquoi hive beneath the human city of Suraka.

Prelude

During the Battle of Installation 00 at the conclusion of the Human-Covenant War, Hekabe led his warriors of the Voice of Maardoth deep into the bowels of the Ark, recovering the vertex. He then spent six years decoding the Forerunner text on the device, eventually finding the coordinates of the Sharquoi hive on Carrow.

After the war, both Human and Sangheili colonists settled on the planet of Carrow as a part of the Joint Occupation Zone system between the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) and the Swords of Sanghelios. The humans were the former residents of the planet and settled in the abandoned city of Suraka, while the Sangheili were the refugees of the planet of Glyke and founded the city of Rak. Sometime after this, the Office of Naval Intelligence became aware of the Sharquoi hive underneath Suraka, so they built Gila Station in the Uldt Desert and stationed Commander Greg van Eekhout to monitor the situation. The Sangheili began clashing with human settlers in the Uldt Desert around various oases, making conflict seem inevitable. Around this time, a Sangheili sect that opposed the Kaidon Rojka 'Kasaan and the humans on the planet arose in Rak, led by Thars 'Sarov. In an attempt to stave off a war, a peace summit was arranged between the Kaidon of Rak, the Governor of Suraka, and a Unified Earth Government delegate. As such, Rojka received UEG envoy Melody Azikiwe and her team prior to the date of the summit.

Sometime prior to the onset of the Carrow Conflict, Rojka retrieved the Cryo chambers containing the members of Gray Team from the debris field of Glyke.

Battle

The day before the peace summit was to commence, Thars launched an attack on Suraka using his forces in orbit. They immediately destroyed any human ship with a slipspace drive and their long-range communication, cutting Suraka off from the rest of human space. In response to this rebellion, Rojka took his fleet into orbit and engaged Thars's ships. The battle was going well Kaidon's forces until the arrival of the Voice of Maardoth, who Thars had established an alliance with. These two fleets began whittling down Rojka's forces until only one ship remained, the flagship Unwavering Discipline. As Thars's fleet closed in on Rojka, Hekabe's forces disengaged and began heading towards Suraka.

The Voice of Maardoth touched down in Suraka and began launching a vicious attack on the city. Their aim was to gain access to the Sharquoi hive that was buried under the surface, and as such their goal was to secure the area above the entrance and excavate the area. As such, they landed in the residential district of the city, barricading the area off and destroying all the buildings in the immediate sector. At this point, the Surakans began launching an organized defense. A majority of their forces had evacuated to a system of bunkers located underneath the city and under the leadership of Governor Ellis Gass, Vice-governor Lamar Edwards, and Generals Grace, Kapoor, and Aru they began pushing back. The Surakan Militia Volunteers (SMV) began probing the Jiralhanae defenses, though they took high casualties while doing this.They also had several warships still in orbit, which they opted to wait to use.

Back in orbit, Rojka was preparing to make a final stand as Thars's forces closed in on his flagship. However, this was disrupted by the actions of Melody Azikiwe on the ship. Seeing the battle was going poorly, she ordered her diplomatic team to take a ship and try to make it to the surface. She then armed herself and went to release Gray Team from their cryo chambers. Rojka personally tried to stop her and was even able to wound her, but ultimately the Spartans were released. They were able to fight their way off of the ship and flee to the surface in the same Bumblebee lifeboat that they were retrieved in. Rojka was unwilling to let the Spartans escape, as he knew that they were responsible for the destruction of Glyke. Rojka took the Unwavering Discipline, which had been severely damaged by this point, and pursued the Spartans towards the surface, as Thars's forces gave chase. Hekabe saw this and, hoping to keep Thars from learning about his plan, ordered all but one ship in his fleet to attack Thars's fleet. This remaining ship, the Varric-pattern heavy cruiser Foebane, remained over the occupied area of Suraka and used its Excavation beam to start digging towards the Sharquoi hive. The resulting skirmish led to the destruction of the Jiralhanae fleet and leaving only three semi-functional Sangheili frigates left in orbit. Thars's remaining ships, along with the Unwavering Discipline and the Spartan's craft, all crash landed in the Uldt Desert.

Back in Suraka, Hekabe had uncovered the entrance of the Sharquoi hive and used the vertex to gain access to the facility. He then led a contingent of his forces into the hive and eventually reached the center of the facility. There he found and released an army of Sharquoi warriors, which were organic Forerunner weapons that were connected to the Vertex via a hive mind. Hekabe was therefore able to connect into this hive mind and take control of the hive mind. Meanwhile on the surface, the Surakans had scored an apparent victory. Fueled by the death of her son, who was killed in a SMV probing attack, Ellis ordered an aggressive attack that was aimed at using controlled asteroids to disable the Foebane. Dubbed Operation: BUZZHAWK, this mission was a success, with the cruiser crashing into the desert just outside of the city. Surakan forces quickly overran the remaining Jiralhanae positions and secured the crater around the entrance of the Sharquoi Hive.

As these events unfolded, a chase unfolded in the Uldt Desert involving the parties that were stranded there. Gray Team and Melody made their way across the desert in order to reach Gila Station to get some help and supplies. Rojka pursued the humans with a small contingent of surviving warriors while Thars's forces attempted to track down and kill his rival. Eventually the humans reached Gila Station, where they treated Melody's injuries and were briefed about the situation in Suraka by Commander Van Eekhout. Rojka and Thars's parties both reach Gila Station and strike a deal: Rojka would infiltrate the base and kill the Spartans, then Thars would come in and kill Rojka . As Rojka's troops breached the base, Van Eekhout sent the Spartans towards Suraka in a Warthog to fight the Sharquoi while he and Melody remained behind to try to stall the Sangheili. However, Rojka decided not to hold up his end of the deal, instead having his forces remain cloaked with Active camouflage as Thars's warriors entered the base. Finding the humans still alive, he questioned them about where Rojka was, severely beating Van Eekhout before killing him. Melody explained the danger of the Sharquoi to Thars, which Rojka overheard. Viewing this as a serious matter, the Kaidon and his forces unconcealed themselves and engaged Thars's troops. They were able to escape on board a Phantom dropship and proceeded towards Suraka. At this point, with Van Eekhout's biosignature being absent for an extended period, Gila Station's self destruction sequence was enacted and the facility exploded. Thars was able to flee the scene before this happened.

Back in Suraka, the situation was deteriorating rapidly as Hekabe unleashed the Sharquoi on the city. Tearing through any opposition they faced, the creatures inflicted almost complete casualties on the forces that opposed them, although Ellis, who came down to the crater to personally oversee the attack on the hive, was able to escape the scene on a Pelican. At this point, the Spartan-IIs of Gray Team and Rojka 'Kasaan's remaining forces arrived in Suraka. After briefly meeting with Ellis, they carried an assassination attempt on Hekabe, which ultimately failed and led to the deaths of the remainder of Rojka's forces. At this point, Ellis relinquished control of the situation to Lamar Edwards, who ordered the evacuation of the city. He began this by detonating a series of thermobaric mines that were planted around the edge of the crater, slowing down the stream of Sharquoi that were entering the city and forcing Hekabe to retreat back into the Sharquoi Hive. Lamar then redeployed most of the remaining Surakan military forces to assist with the evacuation, focusing on getting people away from the city and to various oases and settlements in the Uldt Desert.

After learning that Thars's fleet was almost repaired, Rojka, Melody, and the Spartans were worried that Hekabe would be able to capture the ships and use these slipspace-capable ships to wage war on the wider UNSC and Sangheili space. To try to prevent this, they came up with a plan to draw Thars out and force him to disable his ships. Rojka challenged him to a final duel and offered the Spartans as collateral. Thars accepted, and the forces met in the Uldt for the confrontation. The Spartans and Rojka then ambushed Thars and his forces with the help of Rojka's last surviving warriors. However, the Spirit dropship that they intended to capture and take to the rival Sangheili's fleet was destroyed in the battle, leaving them powerless to stop the Sharquoi from taking over Thar's fleet.

Gray Team, Rojka, and Melody were then met by Ellis, who laid out a plan for defeating Hekabe and his forces. She had rigged a M68 Gauss cannon with a HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon as a power source, creating a device that fired a concentrated electromagnetic pulse. This blast would neutralize the vertex, leaving Hekabe unable to command the Sharquoi. Gray Team then refined the plan, suggesting that they enter the Forerunner facility via aerial insertion and mount the device on a M121 Jackrabbit as opposed to a Warthog. The team was deployed into the structure alongside a militia squad led by Corporal Wyse. They were able to reach the base of the structure and the team advanced across a bridge towards Hekabe's position, engaging the Sharquoi along the way. After the Jackrabbit was immobilized by a falling Sharquoi, Jai ripped the device from its mount and carried it towards Hekabe's position while Adrianna and Mike provided covering fire. After Ellis fired the device and took control of the vertex for herself, she killed Hekabe. Gray Team and Rojka were then immobilized by Sharquoi who were under her control. Ellis then informed the team that she planned to detonate the nuke and they all had ten minutes to evacuate the facility. The team fled up the stairs as Ellis began tying up the loose ends. She called all Sharquoi in Suraka and surrounding it back to her position and had them attack the remaining Voice of Maardoth forces in Suraka and in the commandeered Sangheili ships. These actions would destroy the last of the Jiralhanae forces. She then detonated the HAVOK device, which destroyed herself, the Sharquoi hive, and the remaining Sharquoi on Carrow. Gray Team, Rojka, and Melody were able to escape, as they were picked up by a Pelican that was hailed for them by Ellis. That Pelican was caught in the shockwave of the nuclear blast and crashed with no casualties.

Aftermath

In the aftermath of the Carrow Conflict, the Surakan and Sangheili presence on Carrow was weakened due to the conflict. Kaidon Akato 'Dakaj wrested control over Rak from his opponents. He then received Rojka back in the city and delegated him as the Sangheili's representative to Suraka. Lamar Edwards also became the Governor of Suraka after the death of Ellis Gass. Together, these two cities sought to work together in order to survive and thrive on Carrow.

Gray Team and Melody Azikiwe were retrieved by the UNSC and taken aboard the UNSC Welcome to the Snipehunt to a hero's welcome. They then had a meeting with ONI Commander Ivrin Yarick, who informed Melody that her time working with ONI had come to an end. He then recruited Gray Team as a part of an interspecies strike team that would operate out of an ONI Winter-class prowler.

List of appearances

• Halo: Envoy (First appearance)