Loss of Hope

The Loss of Hope (also known as the Battle of Hope) was a major engagement having taken place within the later-half of the First Great War. Unlike most other battles in the war, the Loss of Hope was the first to involve over three factions, including Insurrectionist and the neutral Forerunner AI. It was also among the first military conflicts to display general cooperation between United Nations Space Command and rebel forces. This demonstration of humanity uniting in great times of hardship is still remember today as the only true bond connecting the UNSC and the rebels.

The Covenant Invasion
On August 31, 2552, as soon as the Fall of Reach has officially ended, the Covenant's Fleet of Consecrated Contribution, a large yet vastly underestimated armada who's sole purpose during the battle was to barricade the outskirts of the Epsilon Eridanus System, is assigned a new task. Having been granted specific coordinates to yet another Inner Colony world, the fleet is left in charge of it's own planetary invasion.

Captain Christopher Costello of the UNSC Eternal Peacekeeper, a starship attempting to leave the vicinity of the system, takes note of the fleet's warp positions, calculates the data, and reports his findings to ONI. Section Zero briskly responds, ordering that the ship immediately follow them. The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine utilized by the Peacekeeper, however, being far less advanced than that of the Covenant, results in late arrival. The invasion has already begun, while limited to the continent of Icaria, and the local military force stationed on Hope is forced to engage the Covenant alone for the first few days of the invasion. Unfortunately, the stationed force is only enough to temporarily halt the assault.

In order to provide greater defenses, the Peacekeeper embarks on a suicide mission to enter the barricaded planet's atmosphere deploy it's entire crew of military personnel, and request backup. Although the addition of a few more platoons of marines and ODSTs would normally be deemed useless in such a situation, humanity had been in luck. The Eternal Peacekeeper was a fairly new vessel and had contained multiple Spartans, enough to delay the invasion even further until the arrival of a UNSC defense fleet. The marines and Spartans were deployed from the underside of the Peacekeeper.

The Loss of Hope had officially began on the morning of September 2, 2552 on the colonized planet Hope.

Battle of the Super-Spire
Soon after the initial deployment, an arrangement of Covenant Spires as well as a single Super-Spire were discovered in a formation, stretching over 6 miles. It was later figured that the arrangement supplied enough energy to cloak the entire Covenant fleet over the continent of Icaria, or the just the fleet's flagship, the Valiant Seraphim. That would explain why the Covenant's first strike was limited to the isolated continent of Icaria.

Soon after initial deployment, a large strike team lead by Riley-G311 and Eirikur Quinn invaded the Super-Spire, in an attempt to reach the structures teleportation hub at the peak and destroy the cloaked Covenant Suppercarrier, the fleet's apparent flagship, with a thermonuclear weapon. The team successfully achieved their goal, with the loss of a few minor soldiers and Kerbo, a recruited Unggoy.

While in the belly of the Suppercarrier, the team rendezvoused with another team composed of Matthew-123, Ryder-K231, and Turok 'Moramee, a recruited Sangheili. After the activation of the time bomb, the deactivation of the teleporter had seemed to trap them. The group managed to steal a couple of Phantom dropships to make their getaway. The debris of the explosion eventually destroyed the Super-Spire.