Battle of Farkeep (AAO)

==History==
The Battle of Farkeep was a massive battle on the large human colony of Farkeep in the year 2542, the battle lasted for over two months before the UNSC lines were broken by persistent Covenant attempts at their line. Thousands of Marines died over the course of the two months, but the most brazen loss of life was shortly after Covenant forces overran the Marine positions and began destroying the evacuation sites where nervous and anti-UNSC civilians had been slow to make it to the evacuation sites.
The chances of the majority of the civilians surviving, along with the Marines were nearly non existent. Colonel Reaver Delgado, whom had witnessed major human suffering on campaigns at Dermont and Tiptop and wished to avoid major civilian bloodshed. He set up his Marines in positions that would maximize the time the Covenant had to take to eliminate them, without telling his men he planned to use them as little but fodder to stall the Covenant forces for the evacuation.
Even when command told Reaver that evacuation for his men were impossible if they were to continue evacuating civilians, Reaver told his men that escape was guaranteed and they just had to buy time for the shuttles, knowing it was untrue. Towards the end of the battle, with Covenant forces breaching the city hall building where Reaver was making his last stand, Reaver boarded the last Pelican out with a few of his Marines and left a platoon level force behind to die.
==Repercussions==
Reaver received mixed reception when he returned home. Although several called him a hero for his saving of the civilian populace, thousands of families of dead Marines decried him as a monster once recordings of his orders and lies to his men were released. Reaver, formally a war hero, was almost stripped of all rank and imprisoned at a military tribunal but saved himself by volunteering for the desperately undermanned Orbital Dropped Shock Troopers. Reaver was demoted to captain, but would still serve until the battle of Arcadia, where he would die attempting to redeem himself in battle.
After Arcadia and the war, Farkeep was remembered as an example of a military officer trying to make the best of a bad situation. Reaver was once again remembered as a hero for Arcadia, and the UNSC would teach its officers on the 'Farkeep Situation' in military colleges for many years.