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- "This is the prototype NOVA bomb, nine fusion warheads encased in lithium triteride armor. When detonated, it compresses its fissionable material to neutron-star density, boosting the thermonuclear yield a hundredfold. I am Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, temporarily in command of the UNSC military base Reach. To the Covenant uglies that might be listening, you have a few seconds to pray to your damned heathen gods. You all have a nice day in hell..."
- — Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb's recording on the NOVA bomb, right before it is activated in the space adjacent to the planet Joyous Exultation.
The NOVA bombing of Joyous Exultation was the devastation of the planet Joyous Exultation by the UNSC NOVA bomb after it was inadvertently activated by members of the Joyous Exultation Covenant.
BackgroundEdit
It was intended for the NOVA bomb to be used in space against the Covenant fleet during the Fall of Reach. The remaining NOVA bombs were left on Reach and "re-purposed" by Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb. His reasoning was that "either the Covenant pack those bombs up and take them home for study, a possibility that I hope to God happens. A bomb like that could crack their homeworld in two. Or, the bombs stay here and they'll stop the Covenant on Reach..."[1]
BombingEdit
The NOVA bomb occurred was accidentally detonated by a group of Huragok stationed on the Covenant supercarrier Sublime Transcendence. Immediately after Kwassass, a fellow crew member, deciphered Admiral Whitcomb's message, the Huragok, through their curiosity and frenzied obsession, fixed the circuitry of the bomb, detonating it despite Kwassass's attempts to stop them. The Huragok completed the detonation timer's circuit, which promptly resulted in its activation. The resulting explosion occurred between a Covenant outpost planet Joyous Exultation and its moon, Malhiem, scorching half of the planet and shattering the moon. The resulting winds on Joyous Exultation flattened cities and spawned tidal waves. Radiation flooded the planet and killed everything living on it, penetrating the surface of the planet to its core. Every ship within the NOVA bomb's range, save for those on the opposite side of the planet, boiled and vaporized in an instant. The explosion was described as though "a star ignited between Joyous Exultation and its moon."[2] Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree was atomized in the blast, ultimately putting a premature end to his dreams of empire.[3][4]
The NOVA bomb explosion completely destroyed three-fifths of the fleet that was there, totaling over 300 ships. Eighteen destroyers, two cruisers, one carrier and the flagship Incorruptible escaped the NOVA bomb explosion due to a Slipspace jump en masse just moments prior to the explosion.[2] Other ships arrived at Onyx to reinforce the Incorruptible from Joyous Exultation, suggesting that they escaped the bomb's detonation as a result of being positioned on the opposite side of the planet.[5]
AftermathEdit
The Jiralhanae, knowing that Joyous Exultation would serve as an anchor point for the Sangheili forces, intended to lay siege to the planet. By the time they arrived, however, both the planet and the fleet had been destroyed.[6] In the aftermath of the explosion, Kaidon Olabisi Varo'dai convinced the master of a late-arriving flotilla to forsake his original mission and begin rescue operations. Arbiter Thel 'Vadam subsequently arranged for a charter of colonization on an uninhabited world in the Emauzs system for the survivors. Thanks to Varo'dai's quick actions, tens of thousands of Sangheili survived the cataclysm.[7]
What little survived was frozen or suffocated in the cataclysmic aftermath,[8] rendering the entire planet uninhabitable.[7]
List of appearancesEdit
- Halo: Ghosts of Onyx (First appearance)
- Halo: Outcasts (Mentioned only)
- Halo: Empty Throne (Mentioned only)
SourcesEdit
- ^ Halo: First Strike, chapter 19
- ^ a b Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, chapter 27
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition), page 129
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2011 edition), page 137
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, chapter 38
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition), page 270
- ^ a b Halo: Outcasts, chapter 4
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 232