10,248 Days of War: A Chronology of the Human-Covenant War

From its beginning on February 11, 2525 to its end on March 3, 2553, a total of ten thousand, two hundred and forty-eight days, the Human-Covenant War raged across the Orion Arm of the Milky War Galaxy. With tens of billions of lives lost and millions missing on both sides, the twenty-eight year war shattered the Covenant Empire and nearly destroyed Humanity. 10,248 Days of War endeavors to present a simultaneous chronology of the war, ranging across every theater of conflict and encompassing related events both military and political.

2525
17 January Epsilon Indi system: Human and Covenant forces engage in a brief skirmish resulting in the destruction of the Covenant missionary vessel Minor Transgression. Two Covenant personnel escape the vessel's destruction, however. High Charity: Notification of the recent findings of the Minor Transgression are successfully transmitted to the Ministry of Tranquility. Vice Minister of Tranquility Lod Mron intercepts the report and, realizing its implications, dispatches the Covenant light cruiser Rapid Conversion to the Epsilon Indi system. Notably, the Rapid Conversion is the only cruiser in the Covenant Navy commanded and crewed by Jiralhanae.

18 January Vice Minister of Tranquility Lod Mron and Minister of Fortitude Ord Casto enter into a conspiracy to hide the discoveries of the Minor Transgression in a bid to unseat the current leadership of the Covenant. Harvest: Human sloop UNSC Walk of Shame is dispatched to Reach requesting immediate military deployment to Harvest, against the wishes of the colonial government.

3 February Epsilon Indi system: Covenant light cruiser Rapid Conversion enters the Epsilon Indi system and recovers survivors from the Minor Transgression. The Rapid Conversion is detected at extreme range by the human space station Tiara orbiting Harvest.

7-10 February Epsilon Indi system: Covenant light cruiser Rapid Conversion slowly approaches Harvest, arriving late on February 10. Harvest: Preparations are made on Harvest in anticipation of alien forces, both diplomatic and military in nature.

11 February Harvest: Covenant forces deploy from the light cruiser Rapid Conversion, meeting with human representatives in Harvest's sizable Botanical Gardens. Negotiations fail and result in immediate violence, initiated by the senior-most Covenant officer present. Both sides suffer minor casualties, and Covenant forces withdraw from the Gardens. The Human-Covenant War unofficially begins.
 * Participants of the failed Harvest Negotiations include: Planetary Governor Nils Thune, Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygni, Marine Captain Joseph Ponder (wounded), Planetary Attorney General Rol Pedersen (killed), and Covenant Jiralhanae Chieftain Maccabeus.

11-21 February Harvest orbit: Covenant forces move to high orbit and remain effectively inactive for ten days, awaiting further orders from High Charity.

15-21 February Harvest: Planet-wide broadcasts are made requesting the population of Harvest to relocate to the capital city of Utgard, due to the failure of negotiations following first contact. Most do not adhere to this request.

20 February Co-conspirators Lod Mron and Ord Casto visit the Forerunner Keyship at the heart of High Charity as a formality following their blackmail of the High Prophet of Restraint. While there, they inadvertently trigger a response from the Keyship's intelligence, which identifies Humanity as its makers. Philologist Hod Rumnt joins the conspiracy and the trio agrees to keep secret their discovery in order to preserve the Covenant. Lod Mron transmits orders to Rapid Conversion to exterminate the population of Harvest.

21 February Harvest: Covenant forces deploy to the Tiara, effectively severing Harvest's interstellar communications; light cruiser Rapid Conversion continues into Harvest's atmosphere and begins destroying outlying human structures near the settlement of Gladsheim.

22 February Harvest: Rapid Conversion destroys hundreds of remote human residences, killing approximately 3,000 people. Gladsheim is successfully evacuated, however, and intervening Covenant forces are repelled. The destruction of the (abandoned) city of Gladsheim and outlying residences, the people of Harvest quickly adhere to a renewed planet-wide evacuation request and gather at Utgard.

23 February Harvest: Human forces launch a tactical strike against Covenant forces on the Tiara space station and overwhelm them; simultaneously, Harvest's mass driver is utilized to effectively disable the Rapid Conversion. Despite militia casualties and the loss of more than 20,000 civilians, the evacuation of Harvest is accomplished, saving 227,000 human colonists.
 * Due to the loss of interstellar communications on February 21 and the relatively slow speed of the evacuation transports, the majority survival of the population of Harvest is not realized by the United Nations Space Command until December.
 * The senior Covenant officer of the Rapid Conversion, Maccabeus, is challenged and killed by his nephew Tartarus. While Tartarus assumes leadership of the immediate pack, the death of Maccabeus throws the Jiralhanae into political crisis, as none are universally accepted as his successor as "Chieftain of the Jiralhanae".

24 February Co-conspirators Ord Casto, Hod Rumnt, and Lod Mron are anointed as High Prophets, assuming the titles of Truth, Mercy, and Regret, respectively. The Ninth Age of Reclamation is declared begun. The declaration of a new age and the discovery of the existence of Forerunner structures known as "Halos" is broadcast throughout all Covenant space. Harvest: The Rapid Conversion sets about glassing Harvest and transmits its report to High Charity.

20 April Epsilon Indi system: The human scout vessel CMA Argo arrives in the Epsilon Indi system, near Harvest. It is quickly engaged and destroyed by the partially-repaired Covenant light cruiser Rapid Conversion. Argo is lost with all hands.

7 October Epsilon Indi system: Human Battle Group 4 arrives in the Epsilon Indi system; after briefly surveying the razed surface of the planet Harvest, the CMA battle group is engaged by the Covenant battleship Resplendent Commitment. The Covenant battleship destroys frigates CMA Arabia and CMA Vostok, and badly damages the destroyer CMA Heracles. Both Arabia and Vostok are lost with all hands, while Heracles escapes into Slipspace.

27 November Chi Ceti system: Covenant missionary ship Unrelenting engages the human frigate UNSC Commonwealth in the Chi Ceti system; after a brief engagement that severely damages both vessels, the Unrelenting withdrew away from the Commonwealth for minor repairs, fatally allowing the human warship to deliver the entire SPARTAN-II unit to Chi Ceti IV. When Unrelenting moved against Chi Ceti IV and the damaged Commonwealth, members of the SPARTAN-II Unit boarded the Covenant missionary ship and successfully destroyed it from within, suffering only one fatality in the process.