First Battle of Harvest

The First Battle of Harvest was the first recorded and logged battle of the Human-Covenant War that instigated and prompted the entire war, and was fought between the UNSC and the Covenant

Summary
On February 3, 2525, an orbital station near the UNSC colony of Harvest detected an unknown object on its long range radar. The object was constructed with materials unlike anything seen before. Several weeks later the Colonial Militia of Harvest, commanded by Captain Ponder, Staff Sergeant Nolan Byrne, and Staff Sergeant Avery Junior Johnson, conducted a peaceful meeting with the unknown alien conglomerate. Before the ship's appearance, Humans and the Covenant had actually met before, as a Kig-Yar privateer ship, Minor Transgression had raided freighters several times, and Byrne and Johnson had actually engaged four Kig-Yar (including Shipmistress Chur'R-Yar and her mate Zhar) and killed them in a quick skirmish. The plan went badly and the Attorney General of Harvest, Rol Pedersen, Captain Ponder, and one militiaman, Private Osmo were lost to the Jiralhanae (Brutes) and Unggoy (Grunts).

Governor Nils Thune of Harvest then broadcast a live bulletin to every com-pad on the colony, ordering all city-sparring civilians to evacuate to the capital of Utgard for the speedy evacuation of Harvest. Many civilians chose not to withdraw, and they paid for their stubbornness a week later in a razed death. At said time the aliens, later identified as the Covenant, descended to the surface of the colony, decimating the outer city of Gladsheim. After evacuating the population the colonial militia devised the evacuation plan with a Lieutenant Commander Al-Cygni's help.

Using captured intelligence, Captain Ponder, who was mortally wounded by the aliens, presented the aliens with what they called an Oracle, a holy artifact. Using the Oracle as a trap, the Humans attacked the enemy cruiser Rapid Conversion with the colony's Mass Driver, a primitive MAC cannon, disabling the enemy cruiser. In the following confusion and the absence of the enemy air superiority, a militia strike team was sent up and secured the orbital station Tiara above Harvest.

After doing so approximately 360 cargo freighters full of refugees ascended the orbital installation's seven strands, exiting Harvest's atmosphere and entering a Slipspace stream. Only 215 of those escaped into Slipspace, including the remaining militia which was cut down to about half strength.