Telros
19-04-2007, 23:13
A Travelers Guide to the Terran Imperium: Second Edition
The History of the Imperium:
The history of the Imperium starts not with it's birth, but far before that, during a time of strife and war, a time when humanity was pushed to the brink of destruction. The time....of the Human-Covenant War. The reasons for this war are lost to history, as was much of that time. All that is known is that in 2525, contact with the Outer Colony Harvest was lost. CENTCOM sent the scout ship Argo to investigate. A single message detailing it's arrival in the system was the last the UNSC ever heard of that ship. Directly after, HIGHCOM sent a battle group, the destroyer Heracles, and two frigates, the Arabia and the Vostok, after the Argo. Upon entering the system, they found Harvest completely glassed, all it's inhabitants killed and the Argo following its fate. An unknown vessel was in orbit, the perpetrator of the tragedy. When it sensed the UNSC battle-group, it immediately attacked and with ease, annihilated the Vostok and the Arabia, while Heracles was severely damaged. It was this incident which started the Human-Covenant War which would bring humanity to the edge of extinction.....and bring about the fall of the UNSC, and the rise of the Imperium.
The Early Campaigns:
The Covenant struck the UNSC hard and fast. Vice-Admiral Cole initiated the largest naval action yet in the history of Earth. Gathering his fleet, he struck back at the Covenant at Harvest, ultimately yielding a victory which was broadcasted all over the Human Empire. The fact that he outnumbered them and lost most of his fleet was hidden from the public. Upon his return, he was promoted to Admiral, and then proceeded to battle the Covenant all across Outer Colonies. Despite their best efforts and the tactical brilliance of Cole and his officers, they were unable to stop the Covenant's relentless advance through the Colonies. By 2535, the Covenant have destroyed all of humanity's Outer Colonies. The hard-fought battles of Jericho VII, Eridanus II and Chin Ceti are fought during this period, but regretfully all are annihilated by Covenant forces. Within four short years of war, the UNSC was already on it's knees. At this time, the Cole Protocol becomes central military doctrine, to prevent technology and the location of Earth from ever being found. The carnage does not stop here, however. The Covenant kept pushing their way into UNSC territory, now battling humanity for their Inner Colonies.
The Inner Colonies:
The Covenant struck hard and fast at the Inner Colonies and it soon became apparent that the war was falling into a pattern. The UNSC would win scattered ground battles here and there, usually with higher casualties than their enemies, while every battle in space was lost to the alien's superior technology and numbers. The SPARTAN-II's and III's began to distinguish themselves in the campaigns during this part of the war, with Operation: PROMETHEUS, TORPEDO, and the battles for Jericho VII, and other planets, buying time for the UNSC, as well as garnering a resentful respect from their enemies. Soon enough, though, the UNSC ran out of time. And the apparent downfall of man entered it's final stage. It began with the battle of Sigma Octanus IV, in which Commander Keyes distinguished himself quite handsomely in.
While finishing up their last patrol of the system, Keyes, commanding the UNSC destroyer Iroquois received a log from the Sensor Station Archimedes, which detailed a large mass in Slipspace heading for the system. It speculated that it was a mere asteroid. However, Keyes overlaid the data with data from a report by one of the disabled Spartans that still served in ONI. They matched. Keyes instantly knew an enemy task force was closing in and contacted FLEETCOM, requesting reinforcements. Though they were on their way, Keyes knew the Covenant would be here far before the fleet would arrive. And he was proven true, when a Covenant battle group of 1 Carrier, 1 Destroyer and two Frigates appeared out of Slipspace. They proceeded on an attack vector towards the planet. Knowing full well the chances of his lone destroyer surviving a battle with four covenant ships, Keyes ventured forth to defend the planet. Using what would later be known as the Keyes Loop, the Iroquois took out the destroyer and the frigates, while sustaining heavy damage. The carrier unloaded hundreds of troops onto Sigma Octanus IV, then retreated. Thanks to Keyes' efforts and bravery, he saved Sigma Octanus.
An hour later, reinforcements arrived, in the form of a forty-seven ship fleet commanded by Admiral Stanforth. Along with the fleet came the repair station Cradle, which the Iroquois was immediately checked into while the Marines were sent down to take back the planet from the Covenant, who had by now secured Cote d'Azur, the biggest population center there. Fortunately, most of the population had been evacuated beforehand, though many were left behind, and were killed by the Covenant. The Marines established Firebase Bravo as their main camp and established a secondary camp while readying for an assault on the city. They were an advance force, sent to get a beachhead ready so they could deploy more forces in a secure location, so they only numbered around 400. At 0600 hours, the Covenant ambush Firebase Bravo and it's secondary base, wiping them out and slaughtering the Marine forces. The Marines were overwhelmed by the addition of Hunters, which had not been seen in the war yet and they had no idea how to fight them. Of the 400 sent down there, only 14 survived, in the wreckage of the secondary base. In coordination with the ambush, a Covenant fleet, sent to force the UNSC from the planet and reestablish control of the system was detected gathering at the edge of the system. While the fleet readied itself to combat the Covenant, a squad of Spartans were sent down to take command of the remaining Marine forces and take out the Covenant in Cote d'Azur with a HAVOK tactical nuke. Within half a day, the Spartans infiltrated the city, setting up and arming the nuke, and discovered two key things: a new Covenant race, which appeared to be used in an engineering role, taking apart and putting together Human technology, and the Covenant had taken over their museum. Upon further investigation, they discovered the Covenant had taken a crystal and were scanning it, sending information up to an unknown location. After a quick firefight, the Spartans took the rock and destroyed the device, quickly retreating and activating the nuke, which destroyed the entire Covenant force. Sigma Octanus IV had been retaken.
While the Spartans had been retaking the planet, the Covenant fleet had finished mobilized and they jumped in-system, twenty-four ships to the UNSC's forty-seven. A fierce battle ensued. The opening salvo from the Covenant fleet was blocked when the Cradle sacrificed itself to block the attack, allowing two unmolested UNSC salvos. The battle then degenerated into all-out combat, with ships engaging each other and exploding ships and ordinance covering space. Keyes could not take part since his ship was still massively damaged and he could not fire without risking hitting his fellow UNSC ships. Then something caught his attention, a Covenant stealth ship was in orbit of the planet, receiving a transmission. He sent the Iroquois to attack it, firing his missiles, but it had some sort of system which short-circuited the missiles. Keyes responded by resorting to an old age tactic: ramming. Upon impact, the ship crumpled and descended into the atmosphere, destined for a fiery death. They intercepted what they could of the transmission, and turned back to the battle, which was winding down. With what they had come for in Human hands and the battle slowly turning against them, the Covenant beat a hasty retreat. Although costly, the UNSC had won a much-needed victory over the Covenant. The crystal and transmission was handed over to ONI, which began to try and figure out what the Covenant wanted. And so ended this battle.
However, the Covenant managed to get the greatest victory of all. Unbeknownst to Keyes, a probe attached to his ship as he left for Reach, giving the Covenant the coordinates for the last great military bastion of Humanity, aside from Earth. They also, from what they managed to get from the crystal, learned the location of what would become a key part of the fates of both the Covenant and Humanity: Installation 04. The UNSC, meanwhile, gathers all of the Spartan-II's at Reach, and along with Captain Keyes, recently promoted by Admiral Stanforth for his efforts in the Sigma Octanus campaign. Whereupon they are informed of a top secret mission to send the Spartans on a specially-fitted ship to find the Covenant's home planet and capture one of their leaders, so they could force a peace. Not only that but they were given the latest in MJOLNIR technology: the Mark IV armor, able to hold A.I. and equipped with shields. Immediately after, the Covenant invaded with 314 ships. Admiral Roland Freemont, in command of this sector, gathered ships from the nearby Tantalus and Jericho systems at Reach, to prepare for the Covenant onslaught. They were outnumbered but they had a key advantage: the Super MAC stations. If they could hold off the Covenant from attacking the stations and protect the groundside generators, they could possibly win the battle. When the fleets engage one another, the UNSC manages to force a stalemate, destroying a third of the Covenant fleet with the first salvo. A new Covenant ship appears during this time, a “sniper ship”, able to shoot devastating beams of energy from long range, destroying several UNSC ships. Things seem to be at least looking up...until disaster hits. The Reach Dockmaster A.I. Informs HIGHCOM that an ONI prowler, Circumference, had not initiated the Cole Protocol, so the location of all of Earth's colonies, along with Earth itself, was exposed to capture by the Covenant. The Spartans are divided into two groups: a group of three to destroy the navigation data, the remainder to protect the groundside generators.
The Covenant break off and appear to retreat, only to find they had deployed thousands of dropships. The fleet and the Super MAC stations destroy hundreds but many more land and deploy, quickly overrunning HIGHCOM HQ and begin to threaten the groundside generators. The Covenant fleet than reenters the system and divides it fleet, now 150+ ships, into two, one to attack the fleet, the other to hit the stations. The UNSC, with only 50+ ships, tried to fight both fronts, but they were spread too thin and the sniper ship weakened their already small fleet. The Spartans on the ground are shot down and make a hard landing, losing 4, and head to the generators. The Spartans on the space mission succeed, although one is killed and the other is clinically dead. In space, twenty new Covenant cruisers emerge from Slipspace and overwhelm UNSC forces, and then proceed to glass the planet, starting at the poles. The last remaining Spartan on the space mission, Spartan-117, boards the ship the Spartans had originally been slated to go on, the refitted cruiser, the Pillar of Autumn. Captain Keyes takes his ship and flees, followed by dozens of Covenant ships, which head for Installation 04. Finally, the Covenant destroy the groundside Super MAC station generators, killing most of the Spartans on the planet and enabling them to annihilate the remaining stations. Reach is lost to the Covenant and all remaining vessels that can still move flee from the system.
Installation 04: The Forerunners
The Pillar of Autumn emerges from Slipspace and finds itself near a gas giant, which is being orbited by a large, ring-like structure. It is being pursued by the Covenant ships from Reach and in the ensuing battle, the cruiser manages to destroy four Covenant ships, while being pounded by the rest of the alien fleet and being boarded by countless Covenant soldiers. The Captain orders an evacuation of the ship, and most of the crew leaves the ship in lifeboats. The ship crash lands on the ring and the command staff, including Keyes, are captured upon landing in their lifeboat. Spartan-117 lands and links up with several groups of human survivors, and regroups in Alpha Base. He then raids the Covenant cruiser, the Truth and Reconciliation, where Keyes is being held, and rescues him. It becomes known that this place is called Halo and is supposedly a weapon of great power, one which the Covenant wish to use against Humanity, so they seek Halo's control room. So, to find it, 117, with Marine backup, battles Covenant forces on his way to find the Silent Cartographer, a map which shows him where the control room is. In order to stop them, Keyes orders Spartan-117 to beat the Covenant to the control room, while he takes a force to a weapons cache, to prepare for a campaign of resistance against the Covenant. 117 heads into the underground tunnels and makes his way up to the surface, finding a Marine squad which wasn't wiped out and fought his way to the control room, where Cortana, the A.I. assigned to him on Reach, is inserted into the core. She quickly assimilates the information, noting this ring was made by the Forerunners, a race the Covenant worship as gods, and orders 117 to go find Keyes, that the weapon cache he was looking for is something else.
So, he is put down in a swamp, where he finds a downed Pelican repeating a garbled message, which warns of some strange enemy and that the Captain is missing. Moving into the swamp, the Master Chief also finds a destroyed Covenant dropship and has to battle some Covenant survivors to the structure Keyes had found. Making his way through the building, the Chief found disturbing scenes, rooms of massacred Covenant, ripped apart behind barricades, Covenant blood covering the walls of a hallway and an insane marine, who babbled about turning into “those things” and how all the other Marines were gone. The Chief entered a room that descended to a doorway, but found human blood and several bodies covering the place. Coming to the door, he saw a spoofer and prepared to press it when he heard a strange noise. Upon opening the door, a body fell on him, another of the Marines. Inside were patches of blood and weapons, but no sign of the rest of the squad. He spotted a helmet on the ground labeled “JENKINS” and took out the chip, which recorded everything the soldier saw. Entering it into his helmet, he witnessed their drop into the swamp, and their subsequent entry into the building. Then came a strange sequence, where the soldiers found a veteran Elite squad killed, their chests ripped open by something. Keyes appeared at this point, leading the squads. When they came to the door, they found it locked down by the Covenant, and proceeded to open it. Going inside, they all tensed, as they felt something was in the room. Which was confirmed when the squad left at the doorway reported in, speaking of an enemy that wasn't Covenant, before being cut off. Sergeant Johnson, who was second-in-command to Keyes on this mission, ordered a Marine to go up to the entrance when a strange sound began echoing. To their horror, it revealed itself to be the Flood, as the door to one of the rooms broke down under the mass of the Infection forms, one latching itself to a Marine. The group valiantly struggled to fight them off, but were soon overwhelmed, including the owner of the helmet. The Chief threw the chip to the ground and began to evacuate, as the Flood began to pour out from every direction. The Flood appeared to have been waiting as they began to appear everywhere in the structure, battling Covenant forces and Human survivors, overwhelming them with superior numbers. After several harrowing firefights with the Flood, who seemed to be able to use the weapons of the bodies they infested, he found the remainder of the Human survivors, who had been ambushed by the Flood. Taking command, the Spartan-117 lead them to a point where they could be picked up by Echo-419, the dropship which had transported the Chief around Halo. Making their way through the forest, the Human forces were ambushed again by the Flood, but they managed to hold them off with the Master Chief's aid. They came to another structure like the one they left, and strange machines appeared, firing beams of energy which held back the Flood. He was preparing to call for Echo-419 when the Chief suddenly appeared on the structure and was faced with a small ball-shaped machine. It identified itself as 343 Guilty Spark, the Monitor of Installation 04, the ringworld they were on. He said the Flood were spreading and he needed the Chief's help to contain them. After which, he teleported them both, causing Echo-419 to lose track of the Chief and dooming the survivors who were massacred by the Flood shortly thereafter.
The next thing he knew, he was in a dark, gloomy structure, which the Monitor gleefully reported as being the Library, which housed the Index, the key to Halo's defense systems which could wipe out the Flood. They quickly found the Flood, and he realized why the Monitor needed his help. As he battled his way through the Flood, the Monitor informed him that the Flood had gained control of his ship and were repairing it. The parasite had great intelligence and were not something to take lightly. During one part, he came upon a body of a Marine who was ripped apart, which the Monitor informed him was the corpse of the previous “Reclaimer” as he called them. The Chief took his dogtags, giving him his due respect for getting this far against the Flood. After what seemed to be endless battles, the Chief reached the core, where the Index was located and took it out, where the Monitor took it from him, and teleported them again. They ended back up in the control room, which the Chief realized still had Cortana. Moving up to the console, the Monitor gave him the Index and he inserted it. However, nothing happened, as Cortana appeared and sent a pulse which knocked away the Monitor. She chewed out the Chief for helping to “slit their throats”, which confused him, since the Monitor merely wanted to defeat the Flood. The Monitor came back, angry that an A.I. was in the core, and he and Cortana began to spar with each other back and forth, until the Master Chief intervened. He told Cortana they needed to activate Halo to defeat the Flood, but Cortana revealed that he had been misled. Halo did not kill Flood, but their food. It was designed to wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life, which was able to support the Flood. The Monitor confirmed this when asked by the Chief and summoned Sentinels to try and force the A.I. from him. The Monitor asked him to give up the construct, since Cortana had the Index, to do what “he had already done.” With his refusal, he vanished and the Chief battled the machines, destroying them. They had to prevent the Monitor from activating Halo and Cortana had just the way to do so. She and the Chief journeyed around the valley, avoiding the Covenant and Flood as best as they could when they came across them in the valleys, battling one another. The plan was to find three generators which supplied Halo with power and overload them, by using his shields as a kind of EMP. He destroyed all three generators and then used the teleportation system of Halo to get to the location where Keyes was, since Cortana had a way for destroying Halo, to prevent it from wiping out the galaxy. The Pillar of Autumn's fusion engines had enough power to destabilize the ring and destroy it. For that, however, she needed the Captain's CNI transponder.
When they arrived, they found themselves near a damaged Covenant cruiser, and Cortana found that the Flood overwhelmed this cruiser and were repairing it to leave, which terrified the Covenant, who sent in an elite strike team to kill the Flood and repair the ship. So, the Chief would have to face both in his mission to find Keyes. Battling his way through the valleys, he came into the ship and received a transmission from Keyes, telling him to leave him, sounding in pain. Continuing through the ship, he came across countless battles between the Covenant and the Flood, finding the Flood was slowly winning. In areas the parasite had gained control, they piled bodies, to use it for something. When he reached the bridge, they found the Captain, or what was left of him, as he had been absorbed by the Flood, in some strange new form they hadn't seen before. Smashing his hand through the head of his former Captain, he retrieved the transponder, mourning the loss of the brilliant navy Captain who had done all he could for the UNSC. After which he made an escape from the ship on a Banshee, flying it towards the downed Pillar of Autumn. After a couple hours of flying, they reached the ship and cautiously began to move through it, and found their caution warranted, with the Flood, Covenant and Sentinels fighting all across the ship. The Chief fought his way to the bridge, where he entered Cortana into the computer where she started the countdown. However, a new problem arose as the Monitor intervened, stopping the countdown and sending Sentinels to kill the Chief and retake Cortana. He also was scanning human history from the computers, speaking of “the record of all our lost time.” The Chief and Cortana realized they had one option left, blow open the reactors shields, causing to overload and destroy the ship manually. Battling his way through the ship again, he reached Engineering, where he used rockets and grenades to blow open the shields, causing a Wildcat meltdown of the reactor. Jumping aboard a Warthog, he proceeded to dash throughout the ship, counting against time to escape. Cortana contacted Echo-419 to pick them up, but when they reached an open spot, they saw the dropship heavily damaged by Banshees, going down. Cortana searched and found their last escape option: A single Longsword in the hangar. The Master Chief drove as fast and as skillfully as he could, reaching the hangar. He entered the fighter just ahead of the Flood, and escaped the ship and entered into space, just as it exploded, destroying the ring as it broke into pieces. This killed all the Covenant, Flood, and the remaining Humans on the ring, as well as damaging the Covenant fleet.
Operation: FIRST STRIKE
Master Chief did manage to find some human survivors onboard a Pelican, a pilot, an ODST, an ONI officer, and Sergeant Johnson, who miraculously survived the Flood. He also found the pod with Linda, the clinically dead Spartan from the space op at Reach. They were found by a Covenant flagship, and enacting a daring plan, boarded the ship and quickly took control. Taking the ship, they planned on going to Earth, however, an obscure rule of the Cole Protocol ordered them to make sure there was no tracking devices before bringing it to Earth, at a Human station. They went to Reach, where they planned on leaving it there and would return for it later, but they were found by the Covenant and a fierce battle ensued. Cortana, who had been inserted into the ship, dropped off her crew on the planet and jumped into Slipspace. On the ground, the Chief and his band soon encountered a merry sight, fellow Spartans who were under the command of Vice Admiral Whitcomb. He had been distracting the Covenant who was swarming around a structure that was the old Reach base. He had set up the Nova bomb, a nuclear planetbuster which he hoped would either annihilate the Covenant at Reach or would be taken to their homeworld and destroy it. Gathering their forces, they made their way into the base, destroying countless Covenant buildings, armor and buildings. Again, a happy sight greeted the Chief, more Spartans and Dr. Catherine Halsey, the creator of the Spartans. She had found an object, a Forerunner relic which the Covenant were after.
Battling their way out of the base, they managed to get into space, where they were picked up by Cortana, who had combined her ship with the Gettysburg, an UNSC ship which gave her the power she needed. When she jumped into Slipspace, something strange happened. The relic was able to bend space and time, causing the Slipspace to be twisted, as it enabled Cortana and the Covenant fleet to engage each other, causing heavy damage to the ship. Exiting Slipspace, they found rebels in an asteroid belt, which the Spartans remembered from a previous mission and blackmailed them into repairing their ship. The Covenant followed them and Whitcomb had no choice but to abandon the rebels to their fate. At this time, Halsey kidnapped Kelly, a Spartan, taking a prowler and vanishing on some unknown coordinate. She also gave the ODST the crystal, informing him that if they jumped again, it would alert the Covenant to their presence. So, he destroyed it, which killed him in the process. They returned to Reach, where they prepared to jump to Earth, as they found a Covenant fleet of over 500 ships was gathering to attack Earth, as they somehow got coordinates for their planet. The Chief and the rest of the Spartans volunteered for Operation: FIRST STRIKE, which called for an infiltration mission into the flagship, Unyielding Hierophant, and overload its reactor, blowing it up and taking the fleet with them, buying Earth time. They were sent in a dropship and boarded the ship. Linda, having been revived by Halsey, covered the Spartans with sniper fire as the Chief and the other Spartans fought their way through the ship. They eventually encountered Brutes in a temple, and the ensuing battling claimed the life of Grace, another Spartan. Cortana had discovered a way to copy herself, using a Covenant program, and she sent him copies to aid him in battle, while she was on the ship with Whitcomb. They kept multiplying to deal with tasks and hold off the Covenant A.I. The Chief, with the help of a copied Cortana, activated the overloading of the reactor and beat a hasty retreat, barely making it out with help from the copied Cortanas, which blocked up Covenant transmission with all of the Cortana's repeating error messages. Returning to the rendezvous point, they found the Gettysburg, but no Ascendant Justice. They came to find out that Whitcomb and Haverson had one more trick to pull. In order to maximize Covenant casualties, they took the Covenant ship and projected a message, showing a fake of the crystal they had found and telling them to come and get it, while crashing into the Unyielding Hierophant. The fleet closed in, and boarded the ship, cutting off the transmission. When the ship exploded, it destroyed 488 of the 500 ship fleet, severely damaging the remainder. They had done it, Earth was saved....for now. Taking the ship, they returned to Earth, to rest, and prepare for the next fight.
Battle for Earth/Installation 05:
The Chief came to Earth, and was refitted with the Mark VI suit, which enhanced his agility and everything physical, while also getting even stronger shields, ones which regenerated quicker than his old ones. While in the armory he was met by Sergeant Johnson, who was dressed in a white dress uniform and led the Master Chief to the bridge, where an awards ceremony took place. Johnson received the Colonial Cross and was promoted to the point where he and Chief were the same rank. Captain Miranda Keyes, the daughter of the late Jacob Keyes, was there as well, to receive her fathers medal. They were cut short when a fleet of fifteen Covenant capital ships appeared just outside of the kill zone of Earth's defense platforms, and the 75 ships under Fleet Admiral Harper's command. Harper moves forward to engage the Covenant but is ordered by Lord Hood to maintain a perimeter around the cluster. The Covenant fleet launches lots of boarding craft to take down the stations. They put bombs on the stations and then evacuate, blowing them up. The Chief who has been fighting the Covenant off the station, is sent after the bomb put on the Cairo. After the Athens and Malta station are destroyed, they feel they have opened a big enough hole to send the remainder of the fleet into the breach. The fleet sacrifices the rest of its ships to get two carriers through the defenses. Spartan-117 defeats the Elites guarding the bomb and defuses it with Cortana's help. Afterwards, he takes it off the station and goes into one of the carriers, activating the bomb. As he shoots away from the ship, an immense explosion engulfs the ship and he lands on the In Amber Clad, which goes to the surface. Sergeant Johnson and the Chief depart, accompanied by three dropships. They are to get aboard the carrier and capture the Prophet of Regret. They will have some difficulty since the Covenant have gained control of the city. A Scarab appears, and destroys one of the Pelicans, damaging the other two, causing them to crash land. One Pelican lands on the beach and the ODST squad within files out and quickly takes shelter in Hotel Zanzibar, taking out several Covenant units on the way. The Chief, with Johnson and the other ODST's, fight their way to a building and hold there, fighting off contingents of Elites, Grunts, Jackals and even a Hunter pair as they wait for pickup. The dropship was unable to enter the square, so they made their way to an open spot. There, Miranda ordered Johnson to go with her Pelicans so she can drop armor into the city to fight the Covenant, leaving the Chief to continue the mission. Fighting his way through the buildings, he linked up with the ODST's pinned down at the Hotel and proceeds to get into a Warthog and run a gauntlet of Covenant troops and vehicles, even fighting off a wave of Elites sent it by pods, with help from fellow Marines and a Warthog. Marine forces then enter the tunnel, destroying Covenant barricades and choke points, and come across a convoy of Shadows, Covenant transport vehicles. They quickly engage and take out the convoy, depriving the Covenant of reinforcements, and then make their way out of the tunnel. They find the remnants of the platoon that had control of the bridge and was annihilated by the Scarab. Sergeant Johnson then flies in with a Scorpion tank, and some pep talk, before leaving again. The Chief enters the tank and with some Marines, crosses the bridge, blowing up Ghosts, Banshees, and even a few Wraith tanks, and enters the tunnel to arrive at a point where no vehicles can bypass. Getting out, he links up with more Marines and fights his way through, battling more Covenant. He is found by a Marine in a Gauss Warthog, and takes the gun, destroying Covenant armor as he makes his way to aid the 405th out of Diego Garcia, who are pinned down by Wraiths. After they are destroyed, he goes up to see the Sergeant, and comes in time to see the vain attempts by the Marines to stop the Scarab. When it leaves, after destroying a Warthog and a Scorpion, the Chief tracks down the Scarab and enters, killing all the Covenant inside and disabling it. The Prophet of Regret retreats and Johnson extracts the Chief to the In Amber Clad, who follows after the carrier as it jumps inside the city. The subsequent explosion annihilates New Mombasa.
Upon coming out of Slipspace, the soldiers aboard In Amber Clad find themselves facing down another Halo. Quickly realizing the danger, Miranda sent the Chief with ODST support down to find out why the Prophet came here, with Johnson flying in troops and equipment. After a hard battle to secure an LZ and a long battle through the various structures of the Forerunner buildings, he finds a recording of the Prophet, which Cortana translates, finding that the Prophet planned on activating the ring. Johnson was recalled by Keyes, who was heading to the Library to get the Index before the Covenant did, while she ordered the Chief to kill the Prophet of Regret. And after fighting his way across a couple gondolas, he was about to enter the Prophet's headquarters when he saw a large Covenant fleet, larger than any ever seen, along with a strange city-ship appear. The Covenant were here to stay. He entered and with help from the Marines, killed the Prophet of Regret. The fleet bombarded the building, destroying it and sending the Chief into the water, where he was captured by the Gravemind.
Meanwhile Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Johnson fought their way through the Flood and Covenant, and barely managed to get to the Index first, but were ambushed by the Arbiter, an Elite sent by the Prophets to retrieve the Index. He knocked out Johnson and disarmed Miranda, then she was captured by Tartarus, and was knocked unconscious. Both she and Johnson are taken to High Charity. The Gravemind tried to inform the Arbiter of what Halo was intended to do but the Elite refused to believe, founded in faith as he was. So, the Gravemind sent them to two different locations to stop the Covenant from activating Halo. The Chief was sent to High Charity, which was now consumed by civil war, as the Brutes and Elites began a genocidal bloodbath, the fleet overhead destroying itself as they battled. Making his way through the carnage, he eventually encountered the Flood, who flew in using the In Amber Clad and various dropships, whereupon he realized that the Gravemind had used them as a distraction to get aboard High Charity. Following Truth, he made his way after him, just barely missing Truth giving the Index to Tartarus, and the death of the Prophet of Mercy. He managed to catch up to Truth as the Forerunner ship in the center of High Charity left and entered Slipspace, followed by thousands of Covenant ships. Back to Johnson and Keyes, Johnson and his men were slated for execution and were about to die when the Elites, led by the Arbiter appeared, distracting the Brutes and allowing Johnson to commandeer the Scarab. A short chat with the Arbiter and they agreed to work together to stop Tartarus. While the Arbiter guarded the Scarab from the air, Johnson made his way to the Control room, where he used the Scarabs main gun to blast open the door. He then left, retrieving a Beam Rifle and came upon a stalemate between Tartarus and the Arbiter, where Keyes was held prisoner by the Brute Chieftain, since she was the only one who could insert the Index. Johnson threatened Tartarus with the rifle but was distracted when he threw the Monitor at him, and forced Miranda to insert the Index. Miranda proceeded to go for the Index while Johnson helped the Arbiter kill Tartarus by shooting down his energy shield. After which they found out that the Halos were on standby, and could be activated by the Ark, which was on Earth. And after all this, Spartan-117 and the Forerunner ship appeared.
Onyx/End of the War:
Dr. Catherine Halsey appeared at Onyx, which was under siege by Forerunner constructs. She awoke Kelly and managed to land the ship despite being attacked by the Forerunner drones, which had the ability to combine, increasing offensive and defensive capabilities, speed, etc. They were found by Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose, a Spartan-II who was taken by Colonel Ackerson to train the Spartan-III's. Almost at the same time, Fred, Linda, and Will appeared onboard a battered Covenant ship, the Bloodied Path. They fell under attack by the drones as well, and managed to escape with a dropship. They gathered together and decided that their only chance of surviving the drones was to go into Zone 67, which held Forerunner ruins which ONI had deleted all records of so only a few would know. As they make their way to Zone 67, a Covenant fleet appears in orbit and battles the Forerunner drones. A UNSC battle fleet comes in, codenamed Battlefleet Stalingrad, led by Admiral Patterson, hoping to catch the Covenant off-guard. They quickly destroy the Covenant ships in orbit, with the exception of a destroyer, which they chase after. They fall into a trap as twenty Covenant ships pop into view, and the UNSC manages to take out some but are heavily hit by a plasma salvo. They rush forward to dodge another wave, but are repelled, with the four remaining ships fleeing to the other side of the planet. The Sentinels attack, severely weakening the Covenant fleet, and allowing the UNSC fleet to put Hornet mines on either side of the moon and lull them into a trap, which destroys all but four ships, with two wounded. The UNSC finishes off two of the ships and moves to destroy the last two, when a Covenant fleet of thirty-two ships jump in and annihilate his fleet.
As this is going on, the Spartans are battling the Covenant as they make their into the Forerunner city and find teleportation pads. They are then warned by an A.I. to destroy the Sentinel Production facility to save the Battlegroup, which they accomplish, bringing a halt to the production of the drones. They find the remaining Spartan-III's which are found in cryo chambers. They find that the Covenant are following them and prepare a defense. They fight hard and long, but are forced back and losses are heavy, as several Spartan-III's die and two Spartan-II's, the last being Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose, who after his friends are sealed in a Forerunner safe haven, detonated several FENRIS nuclear warheads, killing all the Covenant. And the Sentinels destroy the rest of the planet, as the planet was built on top of trillions of Sentinels, who fire and annihilate the Covenant fleet.
At this point, the UNSC is battling for it's life, struggling to survive under the massive assault which is hitting the Earth. The Forerunner ships is hit by UNSC fire and crashes in Africa. The Prophet manages to escape and the Chief links up with local Marine forces as they fight the Covenant for control of Africa. The Covenant have completely taken over Africa, with the crater that is New Mombasa being their stronghold. The Chief is sent on a series of mission to battle the Covenant, taking out key targets as they fought their way to the Ark, where the Prophet is. Help arrives in an unlikely form, the Elite faction of the Covenant, lead by the Arbiter, arrives with a massive fleet and begins to attack the Loyalist fleet under Truth. Sergeant Johnson and Miranda return to warn of the Ark and what it can do, as well as the threat of the Flood. The Chief, Johnson and Miranda fight their way to the Ark, only to see it activated by Truth, whose fanaticism has destroyed them all. They struggle to stop the Covenant and find a way to deactivate the Ark, when a new threat comes. The Gravemind, with a captive Cortana, had managed to capture a Covenant ship and lands on Earth, unleashing the Flood, which damage the Ark, preventing it from firing. It is here that it is found out that Humans are the Forerunner, the remnants of that race who fled to Earth where the Ark protected them from firing of Halo. They degenerated due to how few were left and then slowly began to rise again. The Prophets wanted to destroy them since if the rest of the Covenant found out, they would rebel and fall apart. Truth manages to prevent this from being known by the Covenant, as chaos erupts across the planet, as Covenant and Human forces face a Flood onslaught on a massive scale. Here, the Spartan-III's and II's, along with Halsey manage to return, having used a portal system found in Onyx to teleport to the Ark. All the Spartans, along with Johnson, are sent to go hunt down the Gravemind and rescue Cortana, as she is the only one who might have any clue on how to stop the Flood and find a way to win without killing all life in the galaxy.
They fight their way to the Ark once more, which the Gravemind has taken control of, while helped by Eternal Hope, the Forerunner A.I. for the Ark, who supplies an army of Sentinels to distract the Flood. Using a chemical agent the Forerunner made to kill Flood just before they died, they kill the Gravemind and send the Flood into disarray, allowing UNSC and Covenant forces to get the upper hand. Cortana and the Chief are reunited and she informs them of a way to stop the Flood and prevent the loss of life. If they can repair the Ark and recalibrate it using the chemical agent to kill only Flood, they could fire the Halos and kill the Flood instead. Eternal Hope agreed to help. However, the Brute faction, which was losing to the Elite faction at Earth, headed for the Ark, intending to take the Ark and initiate the Great Journey. The UNSC rushed what forces it could into the area and the Second Battle for Earth went into its final stage. Thousands of soldiers died as they gave their lives to hold back the Covenant advance, as well as the rampaging Flood. The Covenant managed to penetrate UNSC lines and fought their way all the way to the Control Room, where the Spartans, along with the remnants of ODST units and Sergeant Johnson made their last stand. They held them off long enough for the Ark to activate, and using the new calibrations, changed the Halos and fired them, sending a wave of energy throughout the galaxy, killing all Flood. The Flood threat to Earth was eliminated and the Brute force at Earth was crushed. Then, the Elite faction left UNSC space, to fight their civil war and were never seen again. By pure human determination, strength of will and fate, humanity had won the Human-Covenant War.
Aftermath: The Fall of the UNSC and the Rise of the Imperium:
The UNSC rejoiced as it had finally won the struggle which had brought it to the brink of extinction. However, it faced a new challenge: Rebuilding. The economy was shattered, due to the expense used to finance the military solutions at the end of the war to stop the Covenant and the Flood. Along with that, they needed to rebuild their fleet, their trade, and begin to retake what few planets they had. And an angry public who had been deceived about the war and were hard hit by the rampaging Flood and the Covenant. So it was that the UNSC, which had fought so hard and so long to protect Humanity, fell, and the remainder of the Human empire fell ito civil war. The rebels also struck during this time, as with the fall of the UNSC, they became the strongest faction and they intended to gain power and take over from the corrupt UNSC. The UNSC, or what remained of it, fought against the rebels, as well as the other factions. Six years passed and the bloody toll, already high because of the war with the Covenant, rose even higher and Humanity prepared to fall into chaos. The Spartans did what they could to hold the UNSC together but eventually they and the UNSC HIGHCOM realized that the UNSC could not last. And a prominent leader was arising in one of the factions. Naming itself the Terran Imperium, it was a key faction in the civil war, having attracted many talented people and admirals as well as having extreme access to Covenant and Forerunner technologies. They had been gaining a distinct advantage over the rebels and the UNSC recently and was led by a man named Zachary Elias. The UNSC came forward secretly and asked for help from him. Zachary said he would help, but only if they joined his faction and allow him to take full control. Weakened and in no position to argue they agreed, and the Imperium gained a significant power boost, and within three years, had defeated the rebels and brought all of humanity back together.
Zachary moved quickly and began to rebuild the shattered Human Empire. He announced to all the human colonies, that the UNSC had done it's job in protecting Humanity but could no longer govern. So, he was taking power as Emperor and establishing the Terran Imperium. He promised to rebuild their colonies and even take back and rebuild all the ones they had lost. Many believed this was foolish, as the planets were glassed. However, they did not know that he had access to Forerunner technology, and one of the technologies he had managed to get was a powerful terraforming one. It would take immense amounts of time but they would be able to do it. And so for two hundred years, Emperor Elias focused on rebuilding his empire, taking back colonies and focusing on returning them to their pre-war glory. Under his guidance, the economy revived and even boomed, the navy was rebuilt and the armed forces filled up with willing soldiers. Scientists researched the Covenant and Forerunner technologies, enabling them to make major inroads with technology, advancing it to the point where if the Covenant came back, they would be able to fight them on even ground.
And so it is right now, in the year 2761, the Imperium is flourishing like never before, thanks to the later Emperor Elias, who has been succeeded by his son, Nathan Avarei, as Emperor, who is determined to see Humanity rise up to its former glory....and beyond!
Uncertain times have come to plague the Emperor and test his determination and strength of will. An unknown alien force has begun invading the Imperium, with Sol under minor attack and Harvest battling for it's life against a large enemy force. It has also begun negotiations with the Starfederation, for the sake of some shadowy "Empire". No one is sure of what this Empire's intentions are, but if they are as powerful as rumored, no one knows what they will do the Imperium should they refuse their demands.
However, hope still remains. A burgeoning alliance has appeared in the galaxy, using the name of what the Human Empire once was, the UNSC. They are fighting to protect the weak, the defenseless, and uphold the notions of peace and justice in the galaxy. The Imperium, desperate for allies in it's time of uncertainty, and wanting to aid in an ideal which has been around since the Human-Covenant War, has joined the UNSC and is doing its best to help out in their cause.
What will happen in the future? Only time will tell....
Note: The bit about the Forerunner and the events after Onyx are my view of how things might go down and I am using them for this thread. It is not canon in anyway and I am sticking with that story.
The History of the Imperium:
The history of the Imperium starts not with it's birth, but far before that, during a time of strife and war, a time when humanity was pushed to the brink of destruction. The time....of the Human-Covenant War. The reasons for this war are lost to history, as was much of that time. All that is known is that in 2525, contact with the Outer Colony Harvest was lost. CENTCOM sent the scout ship Argo to investigate. A single message detailing it's arrival in the system was the last the UNSC ever heard of that ship. Directly after, HIGHCOM sent a battle group, the destroyer Heracles, and two frigates, the Arabia and the Vostok, after the Argo. Upon entering the system, they found Harvest completely glassed, all it's inhabitants killed and the Argo following its fate. An unknown vessel was in orbit, the perpetrator of the tragedy. When it sensed the UNSC battle-group, it immediately attacked and with ease, annihilated the Vostok and the Arabia, while Heracles was severely damaged. It was this incident which started the Human-Covenant War which would bring humanity to the edge of extinction.....and bring about the fall of the UNSC, and the rise of the Imperium.
The Early Campaigns:
The Covenant struck the UNSC hard and fast. Vice-Admiral Cole initiated the largest naval action yet in the history of Earth. Gathering his fleet, he struck back at the Covenant at Harvest, ultimately yielding a victory which was broadcasted all over the Human Empire. The fact that he outnumbered them and lost most of his fleet was hidden from the public. Upon his return, he was promoted to Admiral, and then proceeded to battle the Covenant all across Outer Colonies. Despite their best efforts and the tactical brilliance of Cole and his officers, they were unable to stop the Covenant's relentless advance through the Colonies. By 2535, the Covenant have destroyed all of humanity's Outer Colonies. The hard-fought battles of Jericho VII, Eridanus II and Chin Ceti are fought during this period, but regretfully all are annihilated by Covenant forces. Within four short years of war, the UNSC was already on it's knees. At this time, the Cole Protocol becomes central military doctrine, to prevent technology and the location of Earth from ever being found. The carnage does not stop here, however. The Covenant kept pushing their way into UNSC territory, now battling humanity for their Inner Colonies.
The Inner Colonies:
The Covenant struck hard and fast at the Inner Colonies and it soon became apparent that the war was falling into a pattern. The UNSC would win scattered ground battles here and there, usually with higher casualties than their enemies, while every battle in space was lost to the alien's superior technology and numbers. The SPARTAN-II's and III's began to distinguish themselves in the campaigns during this part of the war, with Operation: PROMETHEUS, TORPEDO, and the battles for Jericho VII, and other planets, buying time for the UNSC, as well as garnering a resentful respect from their enemies. Soon enough, though, the UNSC ran out of time. And the apparent downfall of man entered it's final stage. It began with the battle of Sigma Octanus IV, in which Commander Keyes distinguished himself quite handsomely in.
While finishing up their last patrol of the system, Keyes, commanding the UNSC destroyer Iroquois received a log from the Sensor Station Archimedes, which detailed a large mass in Slipspace heading for the system. It speculated that it was a mere asteroid. However, Keyes overlaid the data with data from a report by one of the disabled Spartans that still served in ONI. They matched. Keyes instantly knew an enemy task force was closing in and contacted FLEETCOM, requesting reinforcements. Though they were on their way, Keyes knew the Covenant would be here far before the fleet would arrive. And he was proven true, when a Covenant battle group of 1 Carrier, 1 Destroyer and two Frigates appeared out of Slipspace. They proceeded on an attack vector towards the planet. Knowing full well the chances of his lone destroyer surviving a battle with four covenant ships, Keyes ventured forth to defend the planet. Using what would later be known as the Keyes Loop, the Iroquois took out the destroyer and the frigates, while sustaining heavy damage. The carrier unloaded hundreds of troops onto Sigma Octanus IV, then retreated. Thanks to Keyes' efforts and bravery, he saved Sigma Octanus.
An hour later, reinforcements arrived, in the form of a forty-seven ship fleet commanded by Admiral Stanforth. Along with the fleet came the repair station Cradle, which the Iroquois was immediately checked into while the Marines were sent down to take back the planet from the Covenant, who had by now secured Cote d'Azur, the biggest population center there. Fortunately, most of the population had been evacuated beforehand, though many were left behind, and were killed by the Covenant. The Marines established Firebase Bravo as their main camp and established a secondary camp while readying for an assault on the city. They were an advance force, sent to get a beachhead ready so they could deploy more forces in a secure location, so they only numbered around 400. At 0600 hours, the Covenant ambush Firebase Bravo and it's secondary base, wiping them out and slaughtering the Marine forces. The Marines were overwhelmed by the addition of Hunters, which had not been seen in the war yet and they had no idea how to fight them. Of the 400 sent down there, only 14 survived, in the wreckage of the secondary base. In coordination with the ambush, a Covenant fleet, sent to force the UNSC from the planet and reestablish control of the system was detected gathering at the edge of the system. While the fleet readied itself to combat the Covenant, a squad of Spartans were sent down to take command of the remaining Marine forces and take out the Covenant in Cote d'Azur with a HAVOK tactical nuke. Within half a day, the Spartans infiltrated the city, setting up and arming the nuke, and discovered two key things: a new Covenant race, which appeared to be used in an engineering role, taking apart and putting together Human technology, and the Covenant had taken over their museum. Upon further investigation, they discovered the Covenant had taken a crystal and were scanning it, sending information up to an unknown location. After a quick firefight, the Spartans took the rock and destroyed the device, quickly retreating and activating the nuke, which destroyed the entire Covenant force. Sigma Octanus IV had been retaken.
While the Spartans had been retaking the planet, the Covenant fleet had finished mobilized and they jumped in-system, twenty-four ships to the UNSC's forty-seven. A fierce battle ensued. The opening salvo from the Covenant fleet was blocked when the Cradle sacrificed itself to block the attack, allowing two unmolested UNSC salvos. The battle then degenerated into all-out combat, with ships engaging each other and exploding ships and ordinance covering space. Keyes could not take part since his ship was still massively damaged and he could not fire without risking hitting his fellow UNSC ships. Then something caught his attention, a Covenant stealth ship was in orbit of the planet, receiving a transmission. He sent the Iroquois to attack it, firing his missiles, but it had some sort of system which short-circuited the missiles. Keyes responded by resorting to an old age tactic: ramming. Upon impact, the ship crumpled and descended into the atmosphere, destined for a fiery death. They intercepted what they could of the transmission, and turned back to the battle, which was winding down. With what they had come for in Human hands and the battle slowly turning against them, the Covenant beat a hasty retreat. Although costly, the UNSC had won a much-needed victory over the Covenant. The crystal and transmission was handed over to ONI, which began to try and figure out what the Covenant wanted. And so ended this battle.
However, the Covenant managed to get the greatest victory of all. Unbeknownst to Keyes, a probe attached to his ship as he left for Reach, giving the Covenant the coordinates for the last great military bastion of Humanity, aside from Earth. They also, from what they managed to get from the crystal, learned the location of what would become a key part of the fates of both the Covenant and Humanity: Installation 04. The UNSC, meanwhile, gathers all of the Spartan-II's at Reach, and along with Captain Keyes, recently promoted by Admiral Stanforth for his efforts in the Sigma Octanus campaign. Whereupon they are informed of a top secret mission to send the Spartans on a specially-fitted ship to find the Covenant's home planet and capture one of their leaders, so they could force a peace. Not only that but they were given the latest in MJOLNIR technology: the Mark IV armor, able to hold A.I. and equipped with shields. Immediately after, the Covenant invaded with 314 ships. Admiral Roland Freemont, in command of this sector, gathered ships from the nearby Tantalus and Jericho systems at Reach, to prepare for the Covenant onslaught. They were outnumbered but they had a key advantage: the Super MAC stations. If they could hold off the Covenant from attacking the stations and protect the groundside generators, they could possibly win the battle. When the fleets engage one another, the UNSC manages to force a stalemate, destroying a third of the Covenant fleet with the first salvo. A new Covenant ship appears during this time, a “sniper ship”, able to shoot devastating beams of energy from long range, destroying several UNSC ships. Things seem to be at least looking up...until disaster hits. The Reach Dockmaster A.I. Informs HIGHCOM that an ONI prowler, Circumference, had not initiated the Cole Protocol, so the location of all of Earth's colonies, along with Earth itself, was exposed to capture by the Covenant. The Spartans are divided into two groups: a group of three to destroy the navigation data, the remainder to protect the groundside generators.
The Covenant break off and appear to retreat, only to find they had deployed thousands of dropships. The fleet and the Super MAC stations destroy hundreds but many more land and deploy, quickly overrunning HIGHCOM HQ and begin to threaten the groundside generators. The Covenant fleet than reenters the system and divides it fleet, now 150+ ships, into two, one to attack the fleet, the other to hit the stations. The UNSC, with only 50+ ships, tried to fight both fronts, but they were spread too thin and the sniper ship weakened their already small fleet. The Spartans on the ground are shot down and make a hard landing, losing 4, and head to the generators. The Spartans on the space mission succeed, although one is killed and the other is clinically dead. In space, twenty new Covenant cruisers emerge from Slipspace and overwhelm UNSC forces, and then proceed to glass the planet, starting at the poles. The last remaining Spartan on the space mission, Spartan-117, boards the ship the Spartans had originally been slated to go on, the refitted cruiser, the Pillar of Autumn. Captain Keyes takes his ship and flees, followed by dozens of Covenant ships, which head for Installation 04. Finally, the Covenant destroy the groundside Super MAC station generators, killing most of the Spartans on the planet and enabling them to annihilate the remaining stations. Reach is lost to the Covenant and all remaining vessels that can still move flee from the system.
Installation 04: The Forerunners
The Pillar of Autumn emerges from Slipspace and finds itself near a gas giant, which is being orbited by a large, ring-like structure. It is being pursued by the Covenant ships from Reach and in the ensuing battle, the cruiser manages to destroy four Covenant ships, while being pounded by the rest of the alien fleet and being boarded by countless Covenant soldiers. The Captain orders an evacuation of the ship, and most of the crew leaves the ship in lifeboats. The ship crash lands on the ring and the command staff, including Keyes, are captured upon landing in their lifeboat. Spartan-117 lands and links up with several groups of human survivors, and regroups in Alpha Base. He then raids the Covenant cruiser, the Truth and Reconciliation, where Keyes is being held, and rescues him. It becomes known that this place is called Halo and is supposedly a weapon of great power, one which the Covenant wish to use against Humanity, so they seek Halo's control room. So, to find it, 117, with Marine backup, battles Covenant forces on his way to find the Silent Cartographer, a map which shows him where the control room is. In order to stop them, Keyes orders Spartan-117 to beat the Covenant to the control room, while he takes a force to a weapons cache, to prepare for a campaign of resistance against the Covenant. 117 heads into the underground tunnels and makes his way up to the surface, finding a Marine squad which wasn't wiped out and fought his way to the control room, where Cortana, the A.I. assigned to him on Reach, is inserted into the core. She quickly assimilates the information, noting this ring was made by the Forerunners, a race the Covenant worship as gods, and orders 117 to go find Keyes, that the weapon cache he was looking for is something else.
So, he is put down in a swamp, where he finds a downed Pelican repeating a garbled message, which warns of some strange enemy and that the Captain is missing. Moving into the swamp, the Master Chief also finds a destroyed Covenant dropship and has to battle some Covenant survivors to the structure Keyes had found. Making his way through the building, the Chief found disturbing scenes, rooms of massacred Covenant, ripped apart behind barricades, Covenant blood covering the walls of a hallway and an insane marine, who babbled about turning into “those things” and how all the other Marines were gone. The Chief entered a room that descended to a doorway, but found human blood and several bodies covering the place. Coming to the door, he saw a spoofer and prepared to press it when he heard a strange noise. Upon opening the door, a body fell on him, another of the Marines. Inside were patches of blood and weapons, but no sign of the rest of the squad. He spotted a helmet on the ground labeled “JENKINS” and took out the chip, which recorded everything the soldier saw. Entering it into his helmet, he witnessed their drop into the swamp, and their subsequent entry into the building. Then came a strange sequence, where the soldiers found a veteran Elite squad killed, their chests ripped open by something. Keyes appeared at this point, leading the squads. When they came to the door, they found it locked down by the Covenant, and proceeded to open it. Going inside, they all tensed, as they felt something was in the room. Which was confirmed when the squad left at the doorway reported in, speaking of an enemy that wasn't Covenant, before being cut off. Sergeant Johnson, who was second-in-command to Keyes on this mission, ordered a Marine to go up to the entrance when a strange sound began echoing. To their horror, it revealed itself to be the Flood, as the door to one of the rooms broke down under the mass of the Infection forms, one latching itself to a Marine. The group valiantly struggled to fight them off, but were soon overwhelmed, including the owner of the helmet. The Chief threw the chip to the ground and began to evacuate, as the Flood began to pour out from every direction. The Flood appeared to have been waiting as they began to appear everywhere in the structure, battling Covenant forces and Human survivors, overwhelming them with superior numbers. After several harrowing firefights with the Flood, who seemed to be able to use the weapons of the bodies they infested, he found the remainder of the Human survivors, who had been ambushed by the Flood. Taking command, the Spartan-117 lead them to a point where they could be picked up by Echo-419, the dropship which had transported the Chief around Halo. Making their way through the forest, the Human forces were ambushed again by the Flood, but they managed to hold them off with the Master Chief's aid. They came to another structure like the one they left, and strange machines appeared, firing beams of energy which held back the Flood. He was preparing to call for Echo-419 when the Chief suddenly appeared on the structure and was faced with a small ball-shaped machine. It identified itself as 343 Guilty Spark, the Monitor of Installation 04, the ringworld they were on. He said the Flood were spreading and he needed the Chief's help to contain them. After which, he teleported them both, causing Echo-419 to lose track of the Chief and dooming the survivors who were massacred by the Flood shortly thereafter.
The next thing he knew, he was in a dark, gloomy structure, which the Monitor gleefully reported as being the Library, which housed the Index, the key to Halo's defense systems which could wipe out the Flood. They quickly found the Flood, and he realized why the Monitor needed his help. As he battled his way through the Flood, the Monitor informed him that the Flood had gained control of his ship and were repairing it. The parasite had great intelligence and were not something to take lightly. During one part, he came upon a body of a Marine who was ripped apart, which the Monitor informed him was the corpse of the previous “Reclaimer” as he called them. The Chief took his dogtags, giving him his due respect for getting this far against the Flood. After what seemed to be endless battles, the Chief reached the core, where the Index was located and took it out, where the Monitor took it from him, and teleported them again. They ended back up in the control room, which the Chief realized still had Cortana. Moving up to the console, the Monitor gave him the Index and he inserted it. However, nothing happened, as Cortana appeared and sent a pulse which knocked away the Monitor. She chewed out the Chief for helping to “slit their throats”, which confused him, since the Monitor merely wanted to defeat the Flood. The Monitor came back, angry that an A.I. was in the core, and he and Cortana began to spar with each other back and forth, until the Master Chief intervened. He told Cortana they needed to activate Halo to defeat the Flood, but Cortana revealed that he had been misled. Halo did not kill Flood, but their food. It was designed to wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life, which was able to support the Flood. The Monitor confirmed this when asked by the Chief and summoned Sentinels to try and force the A.I. from him. The Monitor asked him to give up the construct, since Cortana had the Index, to do what “he had already done.” With his refusal, he vanished and the Chief battled the machines, destroying them. They had to prevent the Monitor from activating Halo and Cortana had just the way to do so. She and the Chief journeyed around the valley, avoiding the Covenant and Flood as best as they could when they came across them in the valleys, battling one another. The plan was to find three generators which supplied Halo with power and overload them, by using his shields as a kind of EMP. He destroyed all three generators and then used the teleportation system of Halo to get to the location where Keyes was, since Cortana had a way for destroying Halo, to prevent it from wiping out the galaxy. The Pillar of Autumn's fusion engines had enough power to destabilize the ring and destroy it. For that, however, she needed the Captain's CNI transponder.
When they arrived, they found themselves near a damaged Covenant cruiser, and Cortana found that the Flood overwhelmed this cruiser and were repairing it to leave, which terrified the Covenant, who sent in an elite strike team to kill the Flood and repair the ship. So, the Chief would have to face both in his mission to find Keyes. Battling his way through the valleys, he came into the ship and received a transmission from Keyes, telling him to leave him, sounding in pain. Continuing through the ship, he came across countless battles between the Covenant and the Flood, finding the Flood was slowly winning. In areas the parasite had gained control, they piled bodies, to use it for something. When he reached the bridge, they found the Captain, or what was left of him, as he had been absorbed by the Flood, in some strange new form they hadn't seen before. Smashing his hand through the head of his former Captain, he retrieved the transponder, mourning the loss of the brilliant navy Captain who had done all he could for the UNSC. After which he made an escape from the ship on a Banshee, flying it towards the downed Pillar of Autumn. After a couple hours of flying, they reached the ship and cautiously began to move through it, and found their caution warranted, with the Flood, Covenant and Sentinels fighting all across the ship. The Chief fought his way to the bridge, where he entered Cortana into the computer where she started the countdown. However, a new problem arose as the Monitor intervened, stopping the countdown and sending Sentinels to kill the Chief and retake Cortana. He also was scanning human history from the computers, speaking of “the record of all our lost time.” The Chief and Cortana realized they had one option left, blow open the reactors shields, causing to overload and destroy the ship manually. Battling his way through the ship again, he reached Engineering, where he used rockets and grenades to blow open the shields, causing a Wildcat meltdown of the reactor. Jumping aboard a Warthog, he proceeded to dash throughout the ship, counting against time to escape. Cortana contacted Echo-419 to pick them up, but when they reached an open spot, they saw the dropship heavily damaged by Banshees, going down. Cortana searched and found their last escape option: A single Longsword in the hangar. The Master Chief drove as fast and as skillfully as he could, reaching the hangar. He entered the fighter just ahead of the Flood, and escaped the ship and entered into space, just as it exploded, destroying the ring as it broke into pieces. This killed all the Covenant, Flood, and the remaining Humans on the ring, as well as damaging the Covenant fleet.
Operation: FIRST STRIKE
Master Chief did manage to find some human survivors onboard a Pelican, a pilot, an ODST, an ONI officer, and Sergeant Johnson, who miraculously survived the Flood. He also found the pod with Linda, the clinically dead Spartan from the space op at Reach. They were found by a Covenant flagship, and enacting a daring plan, boarded the ship and quickly took control. Taking the ship, they planned on going to Earth, however, an obscure rule of the Cole Protocol ordered them to make sure there was no tracking devices before bringing it to Earth, at a Human station. They went to Reach, where they planned on leaving it there and would return for it later, but they were found by the Covenant and a fierce battle ensued. Cortana, who had been inserted into the ship, dropped off her crew on the planet and jumped into Slipspace. On the ground, the Chief and his band soon encountered a merry sight, fellow Spartans who were under the command of Vice Admiral Whitcomb. He had been distracting the Covenant who was swarming around a structure that was the old Reach base. He had set up the Nova bomb, a nuclear planetbuster which he hoped would either annihilate the Covenant at Reach or would be taken to their homeworld and destroy it. Gathering their forces, they made their way into the base, destroying countless Covenant buildings, armor and buildings. Again, a happy sight greeted the Chief, more Spartans and Dr. Catherine Halsey, the creator of the Spartans. She had found an object, a Forerunner relic which the Covenant were after.
Battling their way out of the base, they managed to get into space, where they were picked up by Cortana, who had combined her ship with the Gettysburg, an UNSC ship which gave her the power she needed. When she jumped into Slipspace, something strange happened. The relic was able to bend space and time, causing the Slipspace to be twisted, as it enabled Cortana and the Covenant fleet to engage each other, causing heavy damage to the ship. Exiting Slipspace, they found rebels in an asteroid belt, which the Spartans remembered from a previous mission and blackmailed them into repairing their ship. The Covenant followed them and Whitcomb had no choice but to abandon the rebels to their fate. At this time, Halsey kidnapped Kelly, a Spartan, taking a prowler and vanishing on some unknown coordinate. She also gave the ODST the crystal, informing him that if they jumped again, it would alert the Covenant to their presence. So, he destroyed it, which killed him in the process. They returned to Reach, where they prepared to jump to Earth, as they found a Covenant fleet of over 500 ships was gathering to attack Earth, as they somehow got coordinates for their planet. The Chief and the rest of the Spartans volunteered for Operation: FIRST STRIKE, which called for an infiltration mission into the flagship, Unyielding Hierophant, and overload its reactor, blowing it up and taking the fleet with them, buying Earth time. They were sent in a dropship and boarded the ship. Linda, having been revived by Halsey, covered the Spartans with sniper fire as the Chief and the other Spartans fought their way through the ship. They eventually encountered Brutes in a temple, and the ensuing battling claimed the life of Grace, another Spartan. Cortana had discovered a way to copy herself, using a Covenant program, and she sent him copies to aid him in battle, while she was on the ship with Whitcomb. They kept multiplying to deal with tasks and hold off the Covenant A.I. The Chief, with the help of a copied Cortana, activated the overloading of the reactor and beat a hasty retreat, barely making it out with help from the copied Cortanas, which blocked up Covenant transmission with all of the Cortana's repeating error messages. Returning to the rendezvous point, they found the Gettysburg, but no Ascendant Justice. They came to find out that Whitcomb and Haverson had one more trick to pull. In order to maximize Covenant casualties, they took the Covenant ship and projected a message, showing a fake of the crystal they had found and telling them to come and get it, while crashing into the Unyielding Hierophant. The fleet closed in, and boarded the ship, cutting off the transmission. When the ship exploded, it destroyed 488 of the 500 ship fleet, severely damaging the remainder. They had done it, Earth was saved....for now. Taking the ship, they returned to Earth, to rest, and prepare for the next fight.
Battle for Earth/Installation 05:
The Chief came to Earth, and was refitted with the Mark VI suit, which enhanced his agility and everything physical, while also getting even stronger shields, ones which regenerated quicker than his old ones. While in the armory he was met by Sergeant Johnson, who was dressed in a white dress uniform and led the Master Chief to the bridge, where an awards ceremony took place. Johnson received the Colonial Cross and was promoted to the point where he and Chief were the same rank. Captain Miranda Keyes, the daughter of the late Jacob Keyes, was there as well, to receive her fathers medal. They were cut short when a fleet of fifteen Covenant capital ships appeared just outside of the kill zone of Earth's defense platforms, and the 75 ships under Fleet Admiral Harper's command. Harper moves forward to engage the Covenant but is ordered by Lord Hood to maintain a perimeter around the cluster. The Covenant fleet launches lots of boarding craft to take down the stations. They put bombs on the stations and then evacuate, blowing them up. The Chief who has been fighting the Covenant off the station, is sent after the bomb put on the Cairo. After the Athens and Malta station are destroyed, they feel they have opened a big enough hole to send the remainder of the fleet into the breach. The fleet sacrifices the rest of its ships to get two carriers through the defenses. Spartan-117 defeats the Elites guarding the bomb and defuses it with Cortana's help. Afterwards, he takes it off the station and goes into one of the carriers, activating the bomb. As he shoots away from the ship, an immense explosion engulfs the ship and he lands on the In Amber Clad, which goes to the surface. Sergeant Johnson and the Chief depart, accompanied by three dropships. They are to get aboard the carrier and capture the Prophet of Regret. They will have some difficulty since the Covenant have gained control of the city. A Scarab appears, and destroys one of the Pelicans, damaging the other two, causing them to crash land. One Pelican lands on the beach and the ODST squad within files out and quickly takes shelter in Hotel Zanzibar, taking out several Covenant units on the way. The Chief, with Johnson and the other ODST's, fight their way to a building and hold there, fighting off contingents of Elites, Grunts, Jackals and even a Hunter pair as they wait for pickup. The dropship was unable to enter the square, so they made their way to an open spot. There, Miranda ordered Johnson to go with her Pelicans so she can drop armor into the city to fight the Covenant, leaving the Chief to continue the mission. Fighting his way through the buildings, he linked up with the ODST's pinned down at the Hotel and proceeds to get into a Warthog and run a gauntlet of Covenant troops and vehicles, even fighting off a wave of Elites sent it by pods, with help from fellow Marines and a Warthog. Marine forces then enter the tunnel, destroying Covenant barricades and choke points, and come across a convoy of Shadows, Covenant transport vehicles. They quickly engage and take out the convoy, depriving the Covenant of reinforcements, and then make their way out of the tunnel. They find the remnants of the platoon that had control of the bridge and was annihilated by the Scarab. Sergeant Johnson then flies in with a Scorpion tank, and some pep talk, before leaving again. The Chief enters the tank and with some Marines, crosses the bridge, blowing up Ghosts, Banshees, and even a few Wraith tanks, and enters the tunnel to arrive at a point where no vehicles can bypass. Getting out, he links up with more Marines and fights his way through, battling more Covenant. He is found by a Marine in a Gauss Warthog, and takes the gun, destroying Covenant armor as he makes his way to aid the 405th out of Diego Garcia, who are pinned down by Wraiths. After they are destroyed, he goes up to see the Sergeant, and comes in time to see the vain attempts by the Marines to stop the Scarab. When it leaves, after destroying a Warthog and a Scorpion, the Chief tracks down the Scarab and enters, killing all the Covenant inside and disabling it. The Prophet of Regret retreats and Johnson extracts the Chief to the In Amber Clad, who follows after the carrier as it jumps inside the city. The subsequent explosion annihilates New Mombasa.
Upon coming out of Slipspace, the soldiers aboard In Amber Clad find themselves facing down another Halo. Quickly realizing the danger, Miranda sent the Chief with ODST support down to find out why the Prophet came here, with Johnson flying in troops and equipment. After a hard battle to secure an LZ and a long battle through the various structures of the Forerunner buildings, he finds a recording of the Prophet, which Cortana translates, finding that the Prophet planned on activating the ring. Johnson was recalled by Keyes, who was heading to the Library to get the Index before the Covenant did, while she ordered the Chief to kill the Prophet of Regret. And after fighting his way across a couple gondolas, he was about to enter the Prophet's headquarters when he saw a large Covenant fleet, larger than any ever seen, along with a strange city-ship appear. The Covenant were here to stay. He entered and with help from the Marines, killed the Prophet of Regret. The fleet bombarded the building, destroying it and sending the Chief into the water, where he was captured by the Gravemind.
Meanwhile Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Johnson fought their way through the Flood and Covenant, and barely managed to get to the Index first, but were ambushed by the Arbiter, an Elite sent by the Prophets to retrieve the Index. He knocked out Johnson and disarmed Miranda, then she was captured by Tartarus, and was knocked unconscious. Both she and Johnson are taken to High Charity. The Gravemind tried to inform the Arbiter of what Halo was intended to do but the Elite refused to believe, founded in faith as he was. So, the Gravemind sent them to two different locations to stop the Covenant from activating Halo. The Chief was sent to High Charity, which was now consumed by civil war, as the Brutes and Elites began a genocidal bloodbath, the fleet overhead destroying itself as they battled. Making his way through the carnage, he eventually encountered the Flood, who flew in using the In Amber Clad and various dropships, whereupon he realized that the Gravemind had used them as a distraction to get aboard High Charity. Following Truth, he made his way after him, just barely missing Truth giving the Index to Tartarus, and the death of the Prophet of Mercy. He managed to catch up to Truth as the Forerunner ship in the center of High Charity left and entered Slipspace, followed by thousands of Covenant ships. Back to Johnson and Keyes, Johnson and his men were slated for execution and were about to die when the Elites, led by the Arbiter appeared, distracting the Brutes and allowing Johnson to commandeer the Scarab. A short chat with the Arbiter and they agreed to work together to stop Tartarus. While the Arbiter guarded the Scarab from the air, Johnson made his way to the Control room, where he used the Scarabs main gun to blast open the door. He then left, retrieving a Beam Rifle and came upon a stalemate between Tartarus and the Arbiter, where Keyes was held prisoner by the Brute Chieftain, since she was the only one who could insert the Index. Johnson threatened Tartarus with the rifle but was distracted when he threw the Monitor at him, and forced Miranda to insert the Index. Miranda proceeded to go for the Index while Johnson helped the Arbiter kill Tartarus by shooting down his energy shield. After which they found out that the Halos were on standby, and could be activated by the Ark, which was on Earth. And after all this, Spartan-117 and the Forerunner ship appeared.
Onyx/End of the War:
Dr. Catherine Halsey appeared at Onyx, which was under siege by Forerunner constructs. She awoke Kelly and managed to land the ship despite being attacked by the Forerunner drones, which had the ability to combine, increasing offensive and defensive capabilities, speed, etc. They were found by Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose, a Spartan-II who was taken by Colonel Ackerson to train the Spartan-III's. Almost at the same time, Fred, Linda, and Will appeared onboard a battered Covenant ship, the Bloodied Path. They fell under attack by the drones as well, and managed to escape with a dropship. They gathered together and decided that their only chance of surviving the drones was to go into Zone 67, which held Forerunner ruins which ONI had deleted all records of so only a few would know. As they make their way to Zone 67, a Covenant fleet appears in orbit and battles the Forerunner drones. A UNSC battle fleet comes in, codenamed Battlefleet Stalingrad, led by Admiral Patterson, hoping to catch the Covenant off-guard. They quickly destroy the Covenant ships in orbit, with the exception of a destroyer, which they chase after. They fall into a trap as twenty Covenant ships pop into view, and the UNSC manages to take out some but are heavily hit by a plasma salvo. They rush forward to dodge another wave, but are repelled, with the four remaining ships fleeing to the other side of the planet. The Sentinels attack, severely weakening the Covenant fleet, and allowing the UNSC fleet to put Hornet mines on either side of the moon and lull them into a trap, which destroys all but four ships, with two wounded. The UNSC finishes off two of the ships and moves to destroy the last two, when a Covenant fleet of thirty-two ships jump in and annihilate his fleet.
As this is going on, the Spartans are battling the Covenant as they make their into the Forerunner city and find teleportation pads. They are then warned by an A.I. to destroy the Sentinel Production facility to save the Battlegroup, which they accomplish, bringing a halt to the production of the drones. They find the remaining Spartan-III's which are found in cryo chambers. They find that the Covenant are following them and prepare a defense. They fight hard and long, but are forced back and losses are heavy, as several Spartan-III's die and two Spartan-II's, the last being Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose, who after his friends are sealed in a Forerunner safe haven, detonated several FENRIS nuclear warheads, killing all the Covenant. And the Sentinels destroy the rest of the planet, as the planet was built on top of trillions of Sentinels, who fire and annihilate the Covenant fleet.
At this point, the UNSC is battling for it's life, struggling to survive under the massive assault which is hitting the Earth. The Forerunner ships is hit by UNSC fire and crashes in Africa. The Prophet manages to escape and the Chief links up with local Marine forces as they fight the Covenant for control of Africa. The Covenant have completely taken over Africa, with the crater that is New Mombasa being their stronghold. The Chief is sent on a series of mission to battle the Covenant, taking out key targets as they fought their way to the Ark, where the Prophet is. Help arrives in an unlikely form, the Elite faction of the Covenant, lead by the Arbiter, arrives with a massive fleet and begins to attack the Loyalist fleet under Truth. Sergeant Johnson and Miranda return to warn of the Ark and what it can do, as well as the threat of the Flood. The Chief, Johnson and Miranda fight their way to the Ark, only to see it activated by Truth, whose fanaticism has destroyed them all. They struggle to stop the Covenant and find a way to deactivate the Ark, when a new threat comes. The Gravemind, with a captive Cortana, had managed to capture a Covenant ship and lands on Earth, unleashing the Flood, which damage the Ark, preventing it from firing. It is here that it is found out that Humans are the Forerunner, the remnants of that race who fled to Earth where the Ark protected them from firing of Halo. They degenerated due to how few were left and then slowly began to rise again. The Prophets wanted to destroy them since if the rest of the Covenant found out, they would rebel and fall apart. Truth manages to prevent this from being known by the Covenant, as chaos erupts across the planet, as Covenant and Human forces face a Flood onslaught on a massive scale. Here, the Spartan-III's and II's, along with Halsey manage to return, having used a portal system found in Onyx to teleport to the Ark. All the Spartans, along with Johnson, are sent to go hunt down the Gravemind and rescue Cortana, as she is the only one who might have any clue on how to stop the Flood and find a way to win without killing all life in the galaxy.
They fight their way to the Ark once more, which the Gravemind has taken control of, while helped by Eternal Hope, the Forerunner A.I. for the Ark, who supplies an army of Sentinels to distract the Flood. Using a chemical agent the Forerunner made to kill Flood just before they died, they kill the Gravemind and send the Flood into disarray, allowing UNSC and Covenant forces to get the upper hand. Cortana and the Chief are reunited and she informs them of a way to stop the Flood and prevent the loss of life. If they can repair the Ark and recalibrate it using the chemical agent to kill only Flood, they could fire the Halos and kill the Flood instead. Eternal Hope agreed to help. However, the Brute faction, which was losing to the Elite faction at Earth, headed for the Ark, intending to take the Ark and initiate the Great Journey. The UNSC rushed what forces it could into the area and the Second Battle for Earth went into its final stage. Thousands of soldiers died as they gave their lives to hold back the Covenant advance, as well as the rampaging Flood. The Covenant managed to penetrate UNSC lines and fought their way all the way to the Control Room, where the Spartans, along with the remnants of ODST units and Sergeant Johnson made their last stand. They held them off long enough for the Ark to activate, and using the new calibrations, changed the Halos and fired them, sending a wave of energy throughout the galaxy, killing all Flood. The Flood threat to Earth was eliminated and the Brute force at Earth was crushed. Then, the Elite faction left UNSC space, to fight their civil war and were never seen again. By pure human determination, strength of will and fate, humanity had won the Human-Covenant War.
Aftermath: The Fall of the UNSC and the Rise of the Imperium:
The UNSC rejoiced as it had finally won the struggle which had brought it to the brink of extinction. However, it faced a new challenge: Rebuilding. The economy was shattered, due to the expense used to finance the military solutions at the end of the war to stop the Covenant and the Flood. Along with that, they needed to rebuild their fleet, their trade, and begin to retake what few planets they had. And an angry public who had been deceived about the war and were hard hit by the rampaging Flood and the Covenant. So it was that the UNSC, which had fought so hard and so long to protect Humanity, fell, and the remainder of the Human empire fell ito civil war. The rebels also struck during this time, as with the fall of the UNSC, they became the strongest faction and they intended to gain power and take over from the corrupt UNSC. The UNSC, or what remained of it, fought against the rebels, as well as the other factions. Six years passed and the bloody toll, already high because of the war with the Covenant, rose even higher and Humanity prepared to fall into chaos. The Spartans did what they could to hold the UNSC together but eventually they and the UNSC HIGHCOM realized that the UNSC could not last. And a prominent leader was arising in one of the factions. Naming itself the Terran Imperium, it was a key faction in the civil war, having attracted many talented people and admirals as well as having extreme access to Covenant and Forerunner technologies. They had been gaining a distinct advantage over the rebels and the UNSC recently and was led by a man named Zachary Elias. The UNSC came forward secretly and asked for help from him. Zachary said he would help, but only if they joined his faction and allow him to take full control. Weakened and in no position to argue they agreed, and the Imperium gained a significant power boost, and within three years, had defeated the rebels and brought all of humanity back together.
Zachary moved quickly and began to rebuild the shattered Human Empire. He announced to all the human colonies, that the UNSC had done it's job in protecting Humanity but could no longer govern. So, he was taking power as Emperor and establishing the Terran Imperium. He promised to rebuild their colonies and even take back and rebuild all the ones they had lost. Many believed this was foolish, as the planets were glassed. However, they did not know that he had access to Forerunner technology, and one of the technologies he had managed to get was a powerful terraforming one. It would take immense amounts of time but they would be able to do it. And so for two hundred years, Emperor Elias focused on rebuilding his empire, taking back colonies and focusing on returning them to their pre-war glory. Under his guidance, the economy revived and even boomed, the navy was rebuilt and the armed forces filled up with willing soldiers. Scientists researched the Covenant and Forerunner technologies, enabling them to make major inroads with technology, advancing it to the point where if the Covenant came back, they would be able to fight them on even ground.
And so it is right now, in the year 2761, the Imperium is flourishing like never before, thanks to the later Emperor Elias, who has been succeeded by his son, Nathan Avarei, as Emperor, who is determined to see Humanity rise up to its former glory....and beyond!
Uncertain times have come to plague the Emperor and test his determination and strength of will. An unknown alien force has begun invading the Imperium, with Sol under minor attack and Harvest battling for it's life against a large enemy force. It has also begun negotiations with the Starfederation, for the sake of some shadowy "Empire". No one is sure of what this Empire's intentions are, but if they are as powerful as rumored, no one knows what they will do the Imperium should they refuse their demands.
However, hope still remains. A burgeoning alliance has appeared in the galaxy, using the name of what the Human Empire once was, the UNSC. They are fighting to protect the weak, the defenseless, and uphold the notions of peace and justice in the galaxy. The Imperium, desperate for allies in it's time of uncertainty, and wanting to aid in an ideal which has been around since the Human-Covenant War, has joined the UNSC and is doing its best to help out in their cause.
What will happen in the future? Only time will tell....
Note: The bit about the Forerunner and the events after Onyx are my view of how things might go down and I am using them for this thread. It is not canon in anyway and I am sticking with that story.