Template:Battle The Battle of Chi Ceti was an engagement on a small scale between a UNSC Frigate and a smaller Covenant ship.
Background
En route to the distant Damascus Testing Facility, the UNSC Commonwealth was attacked by a Covenant ship. The frigate successfully fended off the Covenant ship and outlying borders by blasting a hole in it with a MAC and then hitting it with a Shiva warhead while a squadron of Longsword fighters, distracting the enemy ship to keep it from retreating. At the cost of the Longsword squadron and heavy damage to the Commonwealth, the Covenant ship was forced to retreat to the edge of the system.
The SPARTAN-IIs on board then landed on Chi Ceti IV via by Pelican, where they donned their MJOLNIR armor for the first time, before evacuating the facility along with the small group of technicians and scientists who manned it.
At this point, the Covenant ship turned around and continued its attack on the system. Then, John-117 decided that he and his Spartans were going to sneak aboard the ship and blow it up from the inside.
The Spartans boarded a Pelican and took off into internal space. They strapped the Pelican's ANVIL-II ASM warheads to themselves and donned thruster packs to fly through space to get aboard the Covenant ship. Only three Spartans, John-117, Kelly-087 and Sam-034 successfully landed on the ship and entered through a exposed hole. They reached the ship's reactor, tossed their warheads inside, and escaped the blast radius.
Unfortunately, Sam got hit by plasma fire from a Jackal that breached his armor, making it impossible for him to follow his friends out from the ship since he would die from decompression. He was forced to stay behind. He held off the Covenant while John and Kelly escaped. The warheads went off and the Covenant ship was destroyed, taking Sam with it. He was the first Spartan to die in combat.