Daego Insertions

The Daego Insertions, sometimes referred to as The Second Battle of Daego, was a series of searches for the Forerunner object known as the Casket on the Covenant-occupied world of Daego. Commenced by Captain James Croft and supervised by Admiral Eric Baker, the insertions were a complete failure, leading to a large loss of life which was widely considered to be in vain.

Background
After their first encounter with the Casket on Crystal, the UNSC organized a search party, based in the frigate, Sword of Giants, in an attempt to find other existing artifacts of the same likeness. The Office of Naval Intelligence sent out multiple probes and located twenty-five possible locations in which another Casket may reside. The third location on this list, was the recently lost planet of Daego. The planet's atmosphere had collapsed due to constant Covenant bombardments, which had subsequently caused multiple reactor meltdowns across the globe. This location was chosen as the first zone the party should search due to its relatively short distance from their previous location, as well as the report that Steven Hartley, a relative of party-member Brian Hartley, may still be alive on the planet.

Prelude
Once arriving over the planet, twelve Task Forces were formed. Each was divided into teams of 2 or three and assigned an area to search. Twelve Pelicans were then dispersed on to the planet, one of which, carrying Task Force Lima, was shot down by anti-air turrets before it reached the atmosphere.

Alpha's Mission
Task Force Alpha was assigned to searching the remnants of Richter Base, which was now little more than a volcanic crater. Using mountain-climbing equipment, the team rappelled down into the massive hole. Although they did not find the Casket, they did encounter something of almost equal worth. A fuel rod bolt from a Banshee had failed to detonate and was recovered by the team. It was delivered to ONI two years later, where it was backwards engineered, eventually leading to advancements in the LAU-65D Missile Pod design.