2553

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2553 was the first year that saw relative peace for humanity and the some of the disparate member species of the collapsed Covenant following twenty-eight years of interstellar war.

Events

January

• Unknown date:
  • Jun-A266 visits Sarah Palmer aboard Lockhart medical station to recruit her into the nascent SPARTAN-IV program.
  • A New Colonial Alliance strike force led by Ilsa Zane infiltrates the Template:UNSCship and briefly commandeers the new UNSC flagship before the attack is driven back by the newly-created SPARTAN-IVs aboard the vessel.
• January 7: The first class of the SPARTAN-IV program, consisting of 145 volunteers, is initiated.
• January 8: The Unified Earth Government formally regains its power back from the United Nations Space Command. The newly-elected president, Dr. Ruth Charet gives her inaugural address.
• January 26: The black operation cell, Kilo-Five, is formed by CINCONI Admiral Margaret Parangosky. Its members include Captain Serin Osman, Spartan-II Naomi-010, professor Evan Phillips, and three ODSTs. Because of Parangosky's distrust of the Sangheili, she tasks Kilo-Five with a mission to foment insurrection between the Swords of Sanghelios, led by Thel 'Vadam, and the Servants of the Abiding Truth.
• January 27: Kilo-Five departs for its first mission aboard the UNSC Port Stanley.
• January 27-31:
  • The UNSC Security Council takes actions to address the state of human colonies. Lord Terrence Hood plans to journey on a diplomatic mission to surviving worlds in order to discuss plans for reconstruction.
  • Kilo-Five supplies arms to the Servants of the Abiding Truth on New Llanelli in the Brunel system. The unit also retrieves an Office of Naval Intelligence spy, Mike Spenser, from a UNSC listening post on Reynes.
  • Commander Musa Ghanem holds a meeting with several admirals at HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6 to discuss the recent creation of the SPARTAN-IV program and the independent branch of the UNSC Armed Forces, Spartan Operations.
• January 31: Dr. William Arthur Iqbal sends a message to his colleagues concerning the ongoing study of Forerunner artifacts and the Excession in particular.

February

• February 1: Jul 'Mdama joins Avu Med 'Telcam and the Servants of the Abiding Truth in its opposition to the Arbiter.
• February 1-15:
  • Terrence Hood arrives at Sanghelios to meet with Thel 'Vadam and to formalize a treaty of peace between the UEG and the Swords of Sanghelios. Hood also invites Thel to attend a memorial ceremony on Earth dedicated to those who died during the war.
  • After Lucy-B091 discovers a population of Huragok within Shield World 006, the the human survivors within the shield world are able to establish communications with the ONI ships prowling the debris field of Onyx. The Huragok soon bring the shield world into normal space from the slipspace bubble it was residing in, allowing ONI to retrieve Dr. Catherine Halsey, SCPO Franklin Mendez, and the SPARTAN-IIs and SPARTAN-IIIs of Blue Team. Per an order from Admiral Parangosky, Dr. Halsey is arrested by Captain Serin Osman.
  • ONI dispatches science teams to recover Forerunner technologies from the shield world, designating the sphere as ONI Research Facility Trevelyan at Dr. Halsey's request.
  • Jul 'Mdama is captured by Kilo-Five and is transported to ONIRF Trevelyan.
• February 15: Jun-A266 meets with Edward Buck on Sundown, where the latter had travelled with Veronica Dare for a vacation while on shore leave. Jun offers Buck the opportunity to join the first class of the new SPARTAN-IV program. To Jun's surprise, Buck declines the offer, feeling that accepting would mean abandoning his team and Dare.
• February 28: Shadow of Intent remains stationed on Earth for a diplomatic mission.
• Unknown date: The Spartan-IIs of Gray Team destroy the Sangheili colony of Glyke with a NOVA bomb just days after the formalizing of the UNSC-Swords of Sanghelios treaty.

March

• Andrew Del Rio is chosen as the commanding officer of the experimental vessel UNSC Infinity.
• March 3: In a ceremony presided over by Lord Hood, a monument is erected in the Kenyan savannah near Mount Kilimanjaro to officially mark the end of the Human-Covenant War, and in remembrance of those who gave their lives in the war, including John-117, who is labeled MIA and is (presumably) posthumously promoted to Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. A full military detail, led by Gunnery Sergeant Stacker and including PFC Chips Dubbo, deliver a three volley salute to the fallen. All the remaining SPARTAN-II super-soldiers are present for the ceremony. After the ceremony, Thel 'Vadam and his comrades depart Earth for their homeworld, Sanghelios. On this date also, Admiral I. Zhou submits a full report of the URNA Southwest Campaign, labeled Sequence Log 03-0997.
• Dr. Catherine Halsey is interrogated by Admiral Margaret Parangosky at Ivanoff Station.
• Dr. Halsey's personal journal is locked up after being analyzed by ONI.
• March 16: Evan Phillips is assigned on an intelligence-gathering mission on Sanghelios.
• Kilo-Five travel to the Insurrectionist-controlled colony Venezia and meet with the local ONI contact, Mike Spenser.
• Insurgent attacks, carried out by Jiralhanae servants, result in the death of dozens of Sangheili in Ontom on Sanghelios. During the attack, Evan Phillips and a fragment of Black-Box make their way into the Temple of the Abiding Truth. Eventually, Phillips activates a translocation portal within the structure and is transported to Acroli.
• Kilo-Five arrive at Sanghelios to retrieve Phillips. Upon failing to find Phillips in Ontom, they track him down to Acroli, specifically the Nes'alun Keep, under attack by forces from the nearby Lacalu Keep. Phillips is rescued while the Sangheili in the keep are killed by the invaders.
• UNSC Infinity is installed further Forerunner upgrades, most notably the ship's slipspace drive, by Dr. Catherine Halsey and a number of Huragok recovered from ONIRF Trevelyan.
• Forces loyal to the Servants of the Abiding Truth launch an assault on Vadam, starting the Blooding Years. This attack is eventually repelled by the arrival of UNSC Infinity. During the orbital battle between 'Vadam's forces and the Sangheili insurgents, Jul 'Mdama's wife, Raia 'Mdama, is killed.

• Admiral Parangosky approves the deployment of an automated probe delivery craft to Installation 00 using advanced slipspace technology.

April

April 1

• Jul 'Mdama escapes captivity on Trevelyan via a slipspace portal. He is transported to Hesduros, where he is welcomed by the local Sangheili as a messenger of the gods. Jul plans to use the locals' religious devotion to his own advantage, banding them together to form a new splinter group of Covenant.

April 5

• Kilo-Five return to Venezia in order to continue their mission of tracking down the Kig-Yar pirate Sav Fel and the terrorist Staffan Sentzke.
• Serin Osman is promoted to Rear Admiral and a small party is held aboard Port Stanley in her honor by Kilo-Five.

April 14

• Sav Fel sells the Covenant battlecruiser Pious Inquisitor to Staffan Sentzke, who intends to use the ship to force UEG authorities to provide answers about the disappearance of his daughter.
  • In a demonstration of the ship's capabilities, Fel uses the Inquisitor's energy projector to glass Forerunner ruins on Shaps III. This causes Line Installation 444-447 to send an automated distress signal to Covert Support Base 4276, located on planet Gao in the nearby Cordoba system. The distress call awakens the support base's archeon-class ancilla, Intrepid Eye, from stasis. After her requests for a status report, Intrepid Eye attempts to launch a reconnaissance drone, triggering a cave-in which cripples Support Base 4276 almost entirely.

April 14-

• Vasily Beloi and Malcolm Geffen infiltrate the Venezian militia in order to gather information about Sentzke and Pious Inquisitor. Following a series of suspicious incidents, Sentzke begins to doubt the ODSTs' cover story of deserters and has them captured and tortured. However, Naomi-010 and Lian Devereaux eventually arrive and successfully extract Mal and Vaz. During the rescue, Sentzke is also taken captive aboard Port Stanley.
• A Kig-Yar crew led by Shipmistress Chol Von track down and board Pious Inquisitor with the intent of seizing the ship for themselves.
• Kilo-Five board Pious Inquisitor and a skirmish occurs between them and the Kig-Yar. Chol Von eventually has her crew destroy the ship. Staffan Sentzke is presumed dead in the ensuing explosion, but he actually manages to escape without ONI's knowledge.
• Several tourists exploring Gao's Montero Cave System find themselves having been miraculously cured of various illnesses and the caves quickly see an influx of sick people hoping for similar miracle cures. The cures are actually the work of the Lifeworker Huragok Roams Alone, attached to Gao's Support Base 4276.
• Commander Murtag Nelson, a field analyst at an ONI listening post, takes note of strange transmissions emanating from the Montero Cave System on Gao. Nelson correctly hypothesizes that a Forerunner ancilla is responding to the bombardment on Shaps III. Admiral Parangosky subsequently gives Nelson command of the 717th Xeno-Materials Exploitation Battalion and tasks them with retrieving the Forerunner AI.

May

• ONI's Materials Group forms the Damascus Ordinance Commission, headed by the major defense companies and sponsored by ONI. The commission several conditions on the use of MJOLNIR GEN2 variants.

May 6

• ONI learns the Banished had raided an air base formerly belonging to the Covenant, and that their leader, Atriox, had been captured and taken aboard the assault carrier Enduring Conviction. Twelve hours later, the Enduring Conviction broke formation and contact with the rest of its fleet. The Conviction was hailed, warned, and then fired upon when it ignored orders. The Conviction performed evasive maneuvers, returned fire and escaped. Shortly after this, the ship and its crew, led by Let 'Volir, swore fealty to the Banished.

May 7

• The research and development vessel Argent Moon is commissioned by ONI.

May 14 (approx.)

• A UNSC task force enters the Cordoba system and requests permission to conduct research in Gao's Montero Cave System. While Gao's planetary government initially denies the requests, President Aponte eventually allows a small research team to land. The UNSC subsequently deploys the 717th Xeno-Materials Exploitation Battalion, along with the attached Blue Team, to the Montero region and declares the caverns off-limits to anyone else.
• After the UNSC battalion's arrival, several people are found brutally murdered in the Montero Cave System. The murders are the work of the Forerunner ancilla Intrepid Eye, who seeks to generate conflict among the humans in order to force the UNSC to withdraw in their efforts to capture her.

June

• A man named W. B. Eton becomes the handler of Halsey's personal journal and later sends it to someone who was involved in Operation: WHITE GLOVE.

July

July 2

• The Gao Ministry of Protection's Special Inspector Veta Lopis and her team arrive in the Montero Cave System to investigate the recent murders.

July 3

July 4

July 5

July 6

• Blue Team destroys Covert Support Base 4276 with a HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon, having successfully captured the Forerunner ancilla Intrepid Eye. With the UNSC forces withdrawing and the majority of the Keepers of the One Freedom task force killed, the situation on Gao is stabilized; however, the colony is left under a staunchly anti-UEG administration headed by President Arlo Casille.
• Spartans Ash-G099, Olivia-G291, and Mark-G313 are reassigned to an ONI Ferret unit led by Veta Lopis, Admiral Parangosky having deemed public knowledge of Gamma Company's brain mutations too dangerous.

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August

• Spartans Lucy-B091 and Tom-B292 are assigned to the Spartan branch.

September

• The official status of Ash-G099, Olivia-G291, and Mark-G313 is changed to killed in action during Operation: JOVIAN WHISTLE as part of the ONI cover-up of Gamma Company.

October

October 14

• 1420 hours-: Veta Lopis and her Ferret Team are stationed at UNSC Recreational Facility 6055-NA-A on Neos Atlantis to participate in a training exercise that turns into a fight for their lives as they fall under attack by Dark Moon Enterprises. However, with Spencer Hume and Ota Gallo dead, ONI is able to avert a crippling public relations crisis.

November

• A pioneer group arrives at Reach to prepare for the planet's eventual reterraforming, an undertaking that would be well underway by 2589.
• The ONI probe delivery drone dispatched in March arrives at Installation 00 and deploys its probes. After initial transmissions confirming the Ark's survival, all of the probes go offline.
• November 28: Luther Mann, while exploring Trevelyan, discovers the location of Zeta Halo.

December

• The UNSC commissions the UNSC Rubicon, a ship equipped with state-of-the-art Forerunner slipspace drive technology, remote contact teams and survey drones, for a manned mission to the Ark.

Unknown date

• Gabriel Thorne's grandfather dies.
• Big M Studio, a company that deals with collectible items and replicas, is established.
• Holly Tanaka and two other survivors from Minab's glassing are rescued by the UNSC.