Sangheili-Jiralhanae war

The Sangheili-Jiralhanae war was a conflict between the Sangheili and the Jiralhanae after the events of the Great Schism and Human-Covenant war. After the dissolution of the Covenant Empire, the Sangheili settled the Jiralhanae on resource-rich worlds to keep everyone else from getting greedy. However, since the Jiralhanae are "decades behind the other Covenant races technologically," they had to steal supplies because they did not have the ability to mine and use the resources they already possessed.

Seeds of Conflict
After the end of the Human-Covenant war, the Sangheili, under the command of then-Arbiter Thel 'Vadam, led the remaining Covenant to their home worlds in order to dissolve the Covenant Empire as it was before. Since the Jiralhanae had little communication within their kind, the attacks were highly disorganised. In order to try and establish an agreement, the Sangheili requested several high-ranking humans of the UNSC to sit in their discussions and mediate negotiations on the neutral planet of Ealen IV. On part of the humans, Admiral Terrence Hood and Captain Thomas Lasky were chosen as negotiators, the Sangheili were represented by Kaidon Thel 'Vadam and the Jiralhanae by the Elder Chieftain Lydus. They agreed also that each faction should have a strong military force, SPARTANs, Sangheili Commanders and Jiralhanae Captains alike.

Human Mediation
Since the Jiralhanae forces were distrustful of the Sangheili, they agreed on Thel 'Vadam's proposition to have humans mediate their discussion. The humans and Sangheili realised that pacifying the Jiralhanae forces were in the best interest of everyone, so it was humanity's job to make that clear to the Jiralhanae.

Covenant Remnant attack
During the first negotiations between the factions, the SPARTAN-IV Sarah Palmer unwittingly aggravated the Jiralhanae entourage by referring to them as 'Brutes', which is considered an insult within the Jiralhanae. After this comment, SPARTAN Palmer was contacted by the ; however due to magnetic interference by Ealen IV's atmosphere, this connection was scrambled and incoherent. During her attempts to regain contact, she came across a Sangheili corpse, covered in blood. SPARTAN DeMarco immediately contacted Palmer and reported multiple fast-moving contacts.

"Guardians of the righteous! Silence the blasphemers!"

- Covenant Remnant soldier

When Palmer arrived back at the negotiation table, most of the opposite wall was blown off by incoming Banshee fire by the Covenant Remnant, killing multiple Sangheili Commandos. The Jiralhanae Lydus assumed Thel 'Vadam was behind the attack, but Thel denied this accusation and started killing Remnant forces with his Energy Sword. During the SPARTAN-IVs attempt to stop the Remnant invasion, it became apparent that the Covenant Remnant was in much higher numbers. They decided to fight their way to their shuttle which would bring them to the Infinity when it was blown up by multiple Banshee shots. SPARTAN Palmer had to tackle Thel 'Vadam to keep him out of harms way. After this attack, they decided to shelter in a nearby 'parts depot'.

Appearances

 * The Return
 * Halo: Escalation