- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
2535 In the course of four short years, Cole's forces are hammered, despite his excellent leadership and tactical brilliance. It is simply a matter of being outgunned; Covenant kill ratios tend to top four to one in ship-to-ship combat. By 2535, virtually all of the Outer Colony worlds have been destroyed by the Covenant. The "Cole Protocol" is established by military order: all human vessels must ensure that Covenant forces do not find Earth. Human ships must-when forced to withdraw-not move on to an Earth bound vector, even if that means jumping without proper navigational calculations. If blind jumps are not possible, the ship's captain must order self-destruction if capture is imminent. In addition, it is also imperative that the powerful ship A.I. data cores not fall into Covenant hands, so part of this protocol involves either the removal or destruction of the ship's A.I. in extreme situations.
2535 (February 12th) Jericho VII in the Lambda Serpentis system falls. Master Chief, on board the UNSC Destroyer Resolute under Captain de Blanc, is allowed to view as the Covenant fleet glasses the planet.
2536 Covenant forces begin to swarm into the Inner Colonies. For several years the war falls into a pattern: humans win isolated battles, typically during ground operations, but at a horrible cost. In space combat, the humans are losing at a precipitous rate, and one by one, the colonies fall.
2550 The Pillar of Autumn is refit to serve near Zeta Doradus.
2552 (July 17th) A Covenant fleet is discovered by Ensign William Lovell on UNSC Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes, entering the Sigma Octanus system. Commander Keyes, on board the UNSC Destroyer Iroquois, takes on 4 medium-tonnage Covenant craft (two frigates, one destroyer, one carrier), and destroys 3 of them in what becomes known as the 'Keyes Loop'. The Carrier heads to Sigma Octanus IV and drops Covenant troops, invading the city of Cote D'Azur. Keyes is promoted to Captain by Admiral Stanforth.
2552 (July 18th) The Spartans and the Marines engage Covenant forces on the ground, eventually nuking Cote D'Azur and most of the Covenant invasion force (but very few humans), while 4 dozen UNSC ships engage 20 Covenant craft. Seven human craft survive. The Iroquois destroys a stealth ship receiving an encrypted transmission from the surface. Once this ship is destroyed, the 7 surviving Covenant ships break off and flee. The Iroquois heads back to Reach for debriefing. A Covenant tracker attaches itself, unseen, to the Iroquois' hull.
2552 (August 12th) The Master Chief is debriefed by ONI at Camp Hathcock, Reach, on the events of Cote D'Azur.
2552 (August 25th) The Pillar of Autumn is chosen by Dr. Halsey and Cortana (with Keyes as Captain) to handle a secret mission that Dr. Halsey is planning.
2552 (August 27th) John rejoins the remaining Spartans (except for three that are otherwise engaged) in the FLEETCOM Military Complex on Reach, where they learn of their next mission: To acquire a Covenant vessel, navigate to the Covenant home world, and return with captured Covenant leadership.
2552 (August 29th) The Master Chief gets a neural interface upgrade and new armor with built-in Covenant shield technology. He is also introduced to Cortana, an A.I. created from Dr. Halsey's own neural patterns.
2552 (August 30th) Cortana gets revenge on Colonel Ackerson, part of ONI's Special Warfare branch, for attempting to eliminate Cortana and Master Chief - she gets him transferred to the front. Bypassing several other colonies, the Covenant arrive at Reach and begin what has become all too familiar to the embattled Human forces: the destruction of the planet.
The Spartans are divided into two teams: Red and Blue. John and the rest of Blue team (Linda and James), while on an orbital mission to ensure that a NAV database stays out of Covenant hands, end up onboard the Pillar of Autumn when she jumps away from the Reach system to evade Covenant forces. James is lost and Linda is mortally wounded, and the subsequent mission on Halo is left to the Master Chief to complete.
The Covenant take the surface of Reach, and Red team splits, one group to retrieve Admiral Whitcomb, while the rest hole up in ONI's Castle Base underground facility with Dr. Halsey. The Spartans receive parts of a MJOLNIR Mark V upgrade and new weapons, while Dr. Halsey learns of Colonel Ackerson's mysterious plans, plans that seem to involve "her" Spartans.
2552 (September 4th) Lieutenant Wagner returns to Earth and reports on the evident destruction of Reach to Colonel Ackerson, Admiral Hood, and General Strauss at an ONI facility in Sydney, Australia.
2552 (September 7th) The Time/Date Record Anomaly of Sep 23, 2552 most likely rejoins the timeline here. Dr. Halsey and members of Red team discover an enigmatic shard in an ancient installation below the ONI facility. Blue team joins with team Gamma to retrieve Admiral Whitcomb, and rejoin the rest of Red team who have been besieged by the Covenant, who apparently revere the artifact that the humans have found.
UNKNOWN The remaining Spartans, Admiral Whitcomb, Dr. Halsey, Sgt. Johnson, Lieutenant Haverson, Warrant Officer Polaski, and Corporal Locklear jump to Slipspace on board the Covenant/Human hybrid ship Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice, and discover that the shard seems to have the ability to bend both space and time.
2552 (September 12th) The Gettysburg/Ascendant Justice arrives for refit and provisioning in Eridanus system and meets with the rebels under Governor Jiles. Dr. Halsey sedates Spartan 087, Kelly, and absconds with her on Governor Jiles ship, a Chiroptera-class vessel, the smallest UNSC classification that contains an SFTE. Before she goes, she gives the alien artifact to Corporal Locklear, with implicit instructions to destroy it.
2552 (September 15th) Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Haverson destroy the majority of the surrounding Covenant fleet by detonating the Unyielding Hierophant. John, Linda, Will, and Fred, the last known remaining Spartans, along with Sgt. Johnson, and, of course, Cortana, depart for Earth to warn of the impending Covenant invasion.
2552 (September 19th) The Pillar Of Autumn arrives at Halo.
2552 (September 22nd) The Master Chief and Cortana, onboard a Longsword in the debris field of the destroyed Halo, find one remaining Pelican containing Sgt. Johnson, Lieutenant Haverson, Warrant Officer Polaski, Corporal Locklear, and a set of cryotubes containing Spartan 058, Linda.
2552 (September 23rd) The Master Chief, Cortana, Linda, Polaski, Sgt. Johnson, Haverson, and Locklear depart for Reach via Slipspace aboard the Covenant Flagship Ascendant Justice, captured near the Halo debris field. A Time/Date Record Anomaly continues from this point in the narrative, resolved above on Sep 7, 2552.
2552 (November 9th) Covenant attack Earth and the last inner colonies.
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