By 2552, the war between the Covenant and United Nations Space Command had reached its
final stages.
Many of the UNSC’s most powerful fleets had been destroyed over the previous decades,
while the loss of major colonies like Miridem, Actium, and Tribute had sharply weakend humanity’s
economic and industrial capacity.
The fall of Reach, the site of some of the most critical military facilities and the
second most populous colony within the UNSC, further crippled its military-industrial complex
and most importantly, removed the last major obstacle on the Covenant’s drive towards
Earth.
No longer capable of supporting the type of large-scale counter-offensives necessary to
prolong the war, some estimates put the total capitulation of the UNSC within a matter of
weeks.
With the location of Earth believed to have been compromised and a Covenant attack imminent,
heavy industry and command centers were hastily relocated out of the Solar System.
Orbital defenses were self-deployed or towed towards rally points and every remaining warship
within the newly established Earth Defense Coordination Zone was consolidated under the
UNSC Home Fleet and immediately placed at maximum readiness levels.
On October 20th, 2552, Covenant ships entered the Solar System and both sides prepared for
what would almost certainly be the final campaign of the war, the Battle for Earth.
Even after months of preparation, the UNSC Home Fleet remained understrength.
Despite its status as the Solar System’s primary means of defense, the fleet had been
only sporadically reinforced, mainly from the survivors of Reach or other scattered
battlegroups.
The loss of irreplaceable UNSC supercarriers such as the Basra, Trafalgar and Musashi had
resulted in a severe shortage of capital ships and the Home Fleet was instead made up mostly
of smaller cruisers and frigates.
What ships it did possess were also intermittently recalled elsewhere for repair and rearmament
or deployed on temporary assignments, resulting in a patchwork of various formations, task
forces and battlegroups.
At the time of the Covenant’s arrival within the Solar System, the core of the Home Fleet
was made up of 8 Marathon Class heavy cruisers and 67 Stalwart-class light frigates.
These were supplemented by various other capital ships, escorts and squadrons rapidly mobilized
in ad-hoc formations.
Orbital defenses included 300 platforms deployed in geosynchronous orbit over strategic centers
in clusters of two to five.
Such stations, and their magnetic accelerator cannons, were the most effective weapons against
otherwise impenetrable Covenant capital ships and formed the core of UNSC strategy.
Covenant forces were limited to a single battlegroup, known as the Fleet of Sacred Consecration.
The formation consisted of two CAS class assault carriers, the Solemn Penance and Day of Jubilation,
escorted by 13 CCS class battlecruisers.
While formidable by UNSC standards, this task force was only a fraction of the size of Covenant
fleets deployed to take Reach and other major colonies.
It was theorized that the Fleet of Sacred Consecration was either a divisionary element,
the first wave in a far larger attack, or perhaps had been deployed to the Solar System
without realizing the full extent of Earth’s defenses or importance.
Nevertheless, the Fleet of Sacred Consecration, personally commanded by the Prophet of Regret,
deployed just outside of the effective range of Earth’s orbital defense platforms.
Hoping to achieve a breakthrough in a select area of the planet’s greater defense network,
the Covenant concentrated their forces on a single UNSC battle cluster, consisting of
the Athens, Cairo and Malta Orbital Stations.
Initial attacks were conducted mainly by Covenant fighters and boarding craft, too small and
maneuverable to be directly targeted by UNSC platforms.
These were countered by the UNSC Home Fleet, and the larger Covenant warships were forced
to enter the battle cluster’s effective range to cover the approach of their squadrons
against UNSC fire.
Both forces sustained huge losses in these opening moments, but the Home Fleet, with
its numerical superiority, was better suited to absorb its casualties.
As the engagement progressed however, Covenant boarding craft were able to slip through UNSC
defenses and deploy troops aboard each station within the battle cluster, intending to demolish
them from the inside with a single antimatter charge.
While the Athens and Malta were destroyed, a single Spartan II supersoldier known as
John 117 was able to prevent the destruction of Cairo Station.
In a maneuver bordering on the miraculous, this Spartan II was instead able to redeploy
and detonate the Covenant’s own antimatter charge aboard the Day of Jubilation, destroying
the assault carrier as it prepared to descend into Earth’s atmosphere.
But even as the battle progressed in the UNSC’s favor, the Covenant’s second assault carrier,
the Solemn Penance, was able to sweep through Earth’s orbital defenses and position itself
over the city of New Mombasa in the East African Protectorate.
Home to an orbital elevator known as the Mombasa Tether, the city was one of Earth’s major
industrial centers and seemingly the focus of the Covenant’s attack.
Brutal fighting erupted across the city’s streets with elements of the UNSC Army and
UNSC Marine Corp engaging Covenant forces deployed by dropship.
In a surprise maneuver however, the Assault Carrier retreated from New Mombasa through
a subspace jump, devastating the city, but allowing the UNSC to mop up the remaining
Covenant forces both on the ground and in orbit.
The reprieve was short lived.
Moments after the Prophet of Regret escaped, a second far larger force sent at the direction
of the Prophet of Truth arrived within the Solar System.
Reinforced with an additional three CAS class assault carriers and a multitude of escorts,
the Covenant expanded the scope of the attack across the entirety of Earth.
Hardest hit were the planet’s Tether Cities, sites that, like New Mombasa, were home to
orbital elevators and heavy industry.
These included Havana, Quito, and the Aranuka Atoll.
The capital of the United Earth Government, Sydney, Australia, was likewise heavily attacked
by Covenant reinforcements.
As other UNSC positions across the Solar System were lost, including garrisons on Mars and
Luna, the pressure on Earth’s surviving defenses intensified.
When the Prophet of Truth personally arrived in the system with the final contingent of
his forces, little remained of the Orbital Defense Network or the UNSC Home Fleet.
In command of a highly advanced and ancient Forerunner Dreadnought, there was little the
UNSC could do against the Prophet of Truth’s reserves.
The Battle for Earth was all but over.
But greater events elsewhere in the galaxy would see the Covenant’s victory turn to
ash.
The true nature of Ancient Forerunner artifacts uncovered on Earth and elsewhere had shattered
the Covenant’s once indivisible faith, while the arrival of the alien parasite known as
the Flood had killed much of its leadership.
As civil war spread through the Covenant, their remaining forces on Earth were scattered
and destroyed.
Through the sacrifice of countless men and women, the UNSC was able to endure and in
the years of peace that followed, Earth and its colonies were slowly restored.
But it was the actions a single soldier, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 that ensured
the Battle for Earth had not been in vain.
Humanity owes its survival to him, above all.
We hope you enjoyed our new Spinoff series High Command where the Templin Institute investigates
the greatest battles, conflicts, and wars from across Alternate Worlds.
To celebrate this new show, we'll be hosting a special bonus live stream of our Stellaris
Invicta series one hour after this episode goes live.
A link to our twitch can be found in the description.