Battle of Chiaras

The battle of Chiaras was a conflict that took place between swarm, UNSC and Allegiance forces within the early stages of the Swarm war. The battle was mainly fought within orbit over the human occupied world of Bliss, which had been a monument-world of the Human-Covenant war for several decades and thus rendered a strategically important UNSC position in terms of maintaining military morale.

A large Swarm fleet entered the system and arrived at the outer gas giant Chiaras; and had been amassing their forces to invade and destroy Bliss and it's colonized moons. The UNSC had not yet detected the Swarm fleet, but a nearby Allegiance patrol assigned to mining operations on Chiaras's moons discovered the hidden enemy fleet, which numbered in the thousands. As it was the vast amount of ships far outnumbered the colonial guard fleet assigned to protect Bliss, and the Allegiance only had a handful of ships in-system to oversee their mining operations. The Allegiance ships immediately contacted Bliss naval command, and the battle of Chiaras had begun.

Operation: Goliath

Operation Goliath was planned for later operations in the reclamation of the mid-galaxy colonies; involving powerful guerilla attacks aimed at crippling high-profile swarm fleets. However, it had been repurposed by UNSC admiral Michael Cole, grandson of the famous war hero of the Human-covenant war, '''Admiral Preston Cole''', who had planned to use it to attack the Swarm fleet and defend Bliss from an inevitable incursion. Admiral Boyd immediately gathered over 70% of his fleet ' Sins of the Prophets', only 64 ships in total, to the orbit of Chiaras, where the Swarm fleet lay in wait. The swarm were not expecting an attack, and were caught off guard when 64 UNSC ships jumped through slipspace and began firing javelin missiles into their hulls.

The Allegiance quickly called for reinforcements, and mustered a fleet of over 200 ships to assist the UNSC in fighting off the Swarm. The Royal Navy, lead by Lord Thakan Duras, would never have agreed to taking on a swarm fleet numbering in the thousands unless Admiral Cole had a plan. The UNSC and Allegiance fleets were heavily outnumbered, but put into practice a maneuvering technique not seen in over half a century; the famous 'Keyes loop.' Using the gas giant of Ciaras as a gravitational slingshot, the UNSC fleet managed to outmaneuver the unknowing Swarm fleet, leading a large number of Swarm ships into low orbit, trapping them into a high-density gravity well that caused them to fall to the surface of the gas giant. The remaining swarm ships were shocked when the Sins of the Prophets appeared on the other side of the world unscathed, and were immediately flanked by the human fleet with the Royal Navy sustaining significant casualties in holding the front lines. The Swarm lost significant momentum as the ships tried to regain cohesion with their hive mind after losing several hundred ships almost at once. The Hive fleet scattered, leading the Allegiance to embark on powerful Wolfpack Meneuvers to single out swarm ships and exterminate them.

Admiral Cole pondered his next move for a few moments, Lord Duras had called him several times updating him on the status of the mission. Despite facing superior numbers the united fleets had managed to push the Swarm into a corner, forcing their cruisers and Hive ships to begin seeding the moons in a desperate attempt to harvest organic life. Admiral Cole immediately launched a multi-lunar counteroffensive, ordering the Colonial guard to fire all available missiles and MAC rounds into high orbit not only to destroy swarm seeders, but to weaken the heavy shield of the Swarm's Hive ships.

Almost two hours into the heavy fighting, the Swarm regained it's footing despite constantly sustaining losses with an infuriated hive queen, who immediately ordered all ships to muster and prepare to launch a planetary lance technique, which involves all vessels and fighters surrounding the main hive ship and plunging through the opposing fleet like a lance, using it's smaller ships as protection. At this point the Allegiance fleet began to waver, and their remaining 132 ships were being pushed back a great deal by the amassing hive.

Admiral Cole launched the final stage of his plan for the protection of Bliss and the success of Operation Goliath. He would use the same technique his grandfather used at his final stand at the battle of Psi Serpentis. Cole immediately ordered his fleet to disembark, and the Allegiance quickly followed suit. They would use the Keyes loop one more time, but in a different fashion. The two fleets entered the gravity slingshot maneuver, however the Swarm did not follow this time, leaving Cole and his flagship  'Apollo's Triumph' Alone against a fleet of thousands. The Admiral himself loaded each HAVOC nuclear device, over 30 in all, into their missile silos. Appollo's Triumph then opened fire on the Swarm fleet with everything it had whilst falling back toward the orbit of Chiaras, sending this transmission to the Swarm.

"''I finally understand, I think, why my granddad did what he did at Psi Serpentis. And I must say, my beloved adversaries, that there must be no better way to die; than by way of facing impossible odds, and bringing the vengeance of billions of dead innocents down on the most vile of things... You believe that you are the mightiest? You think that you can just take our lives, our worlds, our homes and do away with them as you please? Fools! We are the inheritors of the Universe! We will take back every world and throw you to the wind! Now watch, behold what one single man can do!" ''

The Swarm fleet immediately followed Cole with incredible speed an zeal unseen since the Covenant's engagement against his grandfather. Lord Duras begged Cole to retreat and defend Bliss, but it had already been too late. Admiral Cole lead the swarm to orbit, and fired the warheads all at once into the gaseous layer of the planet. The detonation release a planetary explosion that scorched half of the solar system, turning Chiaras into a second sun for a few moments, due to the thermonuclear weapons causing fission within the neighboring hydrogen clouds that wrapped around the planet. The undoubtedly destroyed the Appollo's triumph, and the invading Swarm fleet with it; thus saving the colony world of Bliss and the majority of the allied fleet.

Aftermath.

Sins of the prophets, now under the command of rear admiral James Finn, retreated to Bliss along with the Royal Navy and notified HIGHCOM of the situation and Cole's success in defending the planet. Subsequent swarm reinforcements arrived only an hour after the battle. However it seemed they were only to act as a force to bolster the numbers of the fleet that had been destroyed as they only numbered 122 ships in total. The small fleet was surprised to see that only bits and pieces of the staging invasion fleet had remained, and instead of retreating decided to attack Bliss. They were met with a fortress of over 300 UNSC ships and the remaining 132 Allegiance vessels. They immediately engaged, and decimated the swarm fleet, liberating the system of all hive activity.

Michael's exploits at the battle of Chiaras labeled him one of the greatest heroes of the war, and became a serious morale boost the the UNSC and the UCG as a whole, believing that if more men like Cole arose, they may be able to win the war after all. Michael was given a plaque at the Office of Naval Intelligence headquarters next to his grandfather's creating the Cole legacy.

The battle of Chiaras was one of the singlemost greatest victories pulled off by UCG forces in the war, with the Swarm outnumbering the Royal navy and the UNSC more than 10-1, and suffering complete annihilation of their entire invasion force. If not for the efforts of Sins of the Prophets and the Royal Navy, Bliss, it's moons, and the system would have fallen in a matter of days.