2525

Deaths

 * Sam-034 dies aged 14, detonating ANVIL-II ASM warheads whose blast went on to destroy a Covenant ship. He was the first Spartan II to die in combat.

Major Events

 * The Ninth Age of Reclamation begins for the Covenant.
 * The first class of Spartan II soldiers 'graduate' from their training.
 * First contact with the Covenant.
 * Beginning of Human-Covenant War.

03/02/2525
Contact with Harvest, an outer colony world is lost shortly after the colony itself had made contact with an unknown object. The Colonial Military Administration sends the scout ship Argo to investigate. Note: the above may have been retconned by the novel Halo: Contact Harvest.

11/02/2525

 * The first formal contact between the Covenant (Brutes and Grunts) and humans on Harvest. The humans attempt to conduct peaceful relations, but the Covenant had set up an ambush and things go awry. This is the start of the Human-Covenant War.
 * Jilan al-Cygni's ONI sloop, Walk of Shame deploys a RQ-XII drone at 0211 hours. It will later be retrieved by the UNSC destroyer UNSC Heracles.

23/02/2525

 * The evacuation of Harvest commences via the Tiara. In all, eleven pairs of cargo pods are lost when Tiara strand number 7 collapses, killing 22,000-23,000 civilians.
 * Loki destroys the Tiara via the planets ground-based MAC gun. The strands catch on the Bifrost and go west over the Plains of Ida.

06/03/2525
The planet Onyx is declared classified by ONI.

09/03/2525
The Spartans undergo a radical series of biological, neurological, and physiological augmentations aboard an ONI Medical Facility in orbit around Reach. 30 die, 12 are permanently disabled, 33 successfully adapt to the alterations.

10/03/2525
Harvest experiences its very first snowfall in Gladsheim, presumably due to the glassing of the planet by the Covenant.

30/03/2525
Onboard the UNSC Atlas, the newly augmented Spartans have a ceremony for the 30 who did not make it through the augmentation process.

20/04/2525
The Argo arrives at in Harvest's system and makes one confirmation transmission. No further reports are received.

21/04/2525
A badly damaged Mack in a JOTUN S5, hears a UNSC vessel, presumably the Argo, in orbit. He also witnessed its destruction by the Covenant who "...stopped burning long enough to kill it". He attempted to warn the Argo off, but his radio was "...too damn slow".

22/04/2525
While onboard the Atlas, Spartan-117 fought and killed at least two members of the 105th ODSTC Division.

01/07/2525
A badly damaged Mack begins burying the maglev strands of the Tiara "...so deep their fires can't reach them and glass them like the rest".

10/07/2525

 * A UNSC battle group consisting of one Destroyer (Heracles, Captain Veredi) and two Frigates (Arabia and Vostok) enter the Harvest system and discover that everything on the planet has been completely incinerated, and the surface melted down to glass. In orbit around the remains of the colony, is a single alien ship, which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying both Arabia and Vostok and badly damaging the Heracles. Intercepted communications identify the enemy as The Covenant. The message "Your destruction is the will of the Gods... and we are their instrument" is broadcast in UNSC language.
 * UNSC Heracles recovers RQ-XII drone left by Jilan al-Cygni eight months earlier.

11/09/2525
At Reach, Mendez shows the Spartans take on a squad of soldiers wearing Mark I MJOLNIR armor in a Capture the Flag Scenario to Dr. Halsey. They’re successful, like many other occasions. Their augmentations have made them stronger than anticipated. Halsey determines that it’s time for their first real mission.

12/09/2525
The Spartan-IIs are given their first mission, tasked with the capturing of Colonel Robert Watts from the asteroids of the Eridanus Secundus System.

Spartan-117 is promoted to Petty Officer Third Class.

14/09/2525
The Spartan-II task force sent to Eridanus Secundus boards the Laden to capture Colonel Robert Watts.

15/09/2525
The Parabola-class Freighter Laden docks with the asteroid of the Eridanus Pirates. Colonel Robert Watts is captured by a group of Spartan-IIs. During the mission, Spartan-117 received a bullet wound to his chest, which will earn him the Purple Heart.

11/10/2525
Dr. Catherine Halsey accesses logs from after the Battle of Harvest, containing dialogue from Harvest AIs Sif and Mack while searching "AO.AI", "MACK", "RAMPANCY" and "LIFESPAN LIMITS".

01/11/2525
The UNSC is ordered to full alert following the Covenant attack of Harvest Vice Admiral Preston Cole mobilizes the largest fleet in human history to retake Harvest.

02/11/2525

 * The Spartans learn of the attack of the Covenant at Harvest and Project MJOLNIR commences.
 * CPO Mendez leaves to train the next group of Spartans.

27/11/2525

 * Project MJOLNIR, a comprehensive package of scientifically enhanced armor, custom-tailored to the biologically augmented Spartans is completed and introduced to John and his squad at the UNSC Damascus Materials Testing Facility, on the planet Chi Ceti IV.
 * The Battle of Chi Ceti is fought, ends with a UNSC victory.
 * The team of Spartans destroy a Covenant ship by carrying an Anvil-II air-to-surface missile, and detonating one of them inside the Covenant ships engine room. The explosion from that the energy being held in by the shields and was sufficient to destroy the ship. Sam-034 was unable to escape the ship, due to critical damage sustained in combat to his MJOLNIR Mark IV Armor and he volunteered to stay behind and detonate the warheads.