Operation: SILENT STORM

Operation: SILENT STORM was a UNSC Operation against the Galactic Empire early in the Great War aimed at buying humanity time to develop effective countermeasures against Imperial technology. It was comprised of a series of engagements featuring mainly the SPARTAN-IIs and 21st Space Assault Battalion.
== Background ==
=== Attack on Harvest ===
In 2525, the Galactic Empire declared war on the UNSC for reasons unknown. The first engagements took place on the colony world Harvest, with Sergeant Avery Johnson leading Colonial Militia forces against the Imperial Stormtooper Corps' 14th Legion. During the engagement, Sergeant Johnson led a boarding action of the Imperial vessel Coruscant's Glory. The resulting skirmish led to the Marines boarding and almost capturing the vessel prior to its self-destruct.
Following this first attack on Harvest, Vice Admiral Preston Cole led a massive attack aimed at recapturing the world from the Empire. Using the largest-ever assembled fleet in human history, the Admiral won victorious over the invaders, but at extremely heavy losses. This battle was soon followed by more Imperial attacks at other colony worlds including Chi Ceti IV and Alpha Corvi II, and the start of the five-year Harvest campaign.
=== UNSC Planning ===
With the initial reconquest of Harvest successful at a high price, it became clear to UNSC command that the war was unlikely to be one through sheer naval superiority due to the Empire's vastly superior technology. Realising the UNSC needed time to fully mobilise for war and to develop technology sufficient of fighting the new threat, Vice Admiral Cole convened a meeting to devise Operation: SILENT STORM. Inspired by Sergeant Johnson's successful boarding of Coruscant's Glory and the successful boardings of Liberator and Radiance by SPARTAN-IIs the year prior, Cole intended to use the SPARTANs supplemented by an ODST space assault battalion to infiltrate and plant nuclear weapons on Imperial vessels and staging points behind enemy lines - disrupting the enemy supply lines and invasion while the UNSC could prepare.
The plan called for three teams of SPARTAN-IIs - Blue, Gold and Green - to lead the ODSTs of the 21st Space Assault Battalion in boarding as many Imperial vessels as possible. The operation would be enabled by a task force of Prowlers - Task Force Yama. Using the stealth craft, the operation was given free reign to approach its goals however it saw fit, operating within enemy territory without support or communications. To assist the SPARTANs in working alongside UNSC personnel and to provide advice and assistance, Sergeant Johnson was additionally brought onto the operation in an advisory role.
Following the predicted enemy attack patterns, the UNSC estimated that the next colony world in the Imperial conquest would be Biko. Task Force Yama would covertly infiltrate Bikon airspace and land in a deserted ice quarry on the moon of Seoba and wait until the Empire had engaged regular defensive forces in orbit before infiltrating unnoticed amidst the chaos. Depending on the outcome, the distracted Imperial fleet would then be beset upon by Cole's Battle Group X-Ray or destroyed by the SPARTAN infiltration.