Harvest Skirmish

The Skirmish over Harvest was the disastrous first contact between the Covenant and Humanity. It took place on a freighter, over Harvest.

Opening
Over a short amount of time, the Covenant had boarded several unmanned Human freighters in the Harvest system. At the same time, Insurrectionists bombed National Holiday over Reach, resulting in over a thousand deaths, and the UNSC decided they would not allow the Insurrectionists any more victories. After the disappearance of the manned freighter This End Up, the Office of Naval Intelligence authorized an investigation into the matters, expecting that Insurrectionists were the boarders.

The Skirmish
Jilan al-Cygni, an ONI agent, set up a trap for the boarders: lure them to an unmanned freighter over Harvest, and ambush them. The UNSC ambushes would be Staff Sergeants Avery Junior Johnson and Nolan Byrne. Al-Cygni had an arsenal of weapons onboard her ship, the, including some that had not been used in combat before, and the Walk of Shame itself was armed with one Archer Missile.

Johnson and Byrne, armed with Prototype BR-55s, moved into position but quickly saw that the boarders were not Insurrectionists: they were four Kig-Yar. Johnson asked for further orders, and Al-Cygni ordered that they continue to engage them, but they should try to capture one, and under no circumstances should any be allowed to escape. The two Marines engaged the Aliens: Byrne wounded one, but was wounded by another Kig-Yar armed with a blade. Johnson shot another. He killed it with its own blade (which detonated) and Johnson tended to Byrne's wounds and finished off the wounded Kig-Yar. The last remaining Kig-Yar (Chur'R-Yar, the captain of the Minor Transgression) retreat onto the Minor Transgression, and Johnson followed it and killed it. He then left the Minor Transgression, which was destroyed by Walk of Shame's Archer Missile. Only two crew members survived the blast: Deacon Dadab and Huragok Lighter Than Some, who fled the ship in an escape pod.

Aftermath
After the battle, the UNSC tried to make peace with the Covenant through pictures. However, this failed when the Covenant learned that Humanity were Forerunner (or replaced them), and decided that they must be exterminated.