Battle of Meridian (2548)

For the post-war battle, see Battle of Meridian (2558).
The Battle of Meridian was a major conflict between the UNSCDF and the Covenant Empire that took place on and above the UNSC colony of Meridian from 2548 to 2551.
==Battle==
===Covenant Blockade===
Meridian escaped the attention of the Covenant war machine for decades after most other outer colonies had fallen. Many on the colony believed that their isolation would keep them from the Covenant's path, but in 2548, a substantial Covenant fleet arrived in system and laid siege to the moon to staunch the heavy flow of resources from Meridian to the inner colonies.
===Attack===
In an unknown date, the Covenant's forces find Meridian's location and breached the UNSC's fleet's defenses. Their first attack was was against the city of Annecy, which they razed. But after evacuating the surviving population, ONI silenced the news: for all the rest of Meridian's population, except some soldiers and military and civilian leaders, the Covenant wasn't there.Halo Battle Born: Meridian Divided - p.180
Three months later, a lone Covenant ship searching a Forerunner artifact landed in the coastal town of Brume-sur-mer, creating an energy shield around, but a group of teens (Dorian, Evie, Saskia, and Victor) were locked out of their village's air raid shelter, where the town's population was. Together, they and a lone SPARTAN-III, Owen-B096, managed to fought off some of the Covenant, broke the shield and evacuate safely the population.
Four months later, the four youngesters, the same Spartan and a group of militiamen and UNSC soldiers attacked the Covenant forces at Brume-Sur-Mer.Halo Battle Born: Meridian Divided - p.34 They caused the Covenant heavy casualties and retrieved the Forerunner's artifact they were searching for, but with heavy casualties.Halo Battle Born: Meridian Divided - p.128 After being relocated to Annecy, they found the second half of the Artifact buried there and were evacuated off planet.Halo Battle Born: Meridian Divided - p.253
As well, a prototype of the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark IX Armor Defense System went on a rampage and destroyed 18 T-27 "Mantis" AA guns in what has been dubbed "the Cherbourg Run."
===Hunt for the Luminary===
At some point prior to or during the siege of Meridian, it came to the Prophet of Regret's attention that Meridian housed a Forerunner Luminary capable of revealing the location of the Ark, from which the entire Halo Array could be activated simultaneously. The Prophet's personal fleet, the Fleet of Sacred Consecration, joined the siege of the colony and begun methodically glassing Meridian's surface in the hopes of unearthing the Forerunner structure which housed the Luminary. This search would take several years, during which time Meridian's prodigious orbital defense grid and an enormous garrison of the UNSC Air Force would wreak considerable damage upon Covenant forces.
===Final Glassing===
After three years of continuous searching and fighting, the Covenant finally located the subterranean Forerunner complex where the Luminary was hidden. A small archaeological team led by an unidentified Sangheili Commander delved into the ancient complex and retrieved the Luminary, immediately returning it to orbit where the Prophet of Regret waited. As soon as the Prophet determined that it was the Luminary they had been seeking all along, the Covenant evacuated all of its ground forces, and the Fleet of Sacred Consecration completely glassed the entire surface of Meridian.Halo 2: Anniversary - Terminal: Beholden
==Aftermath==
After the end of the Human-Covenant war in 2552, Liang Dortmund secured a contract from the UEG to strip the fused glass from the surface of Meridian in return for property rights to the former colony and the authority to facilitate recolonization efforts.
The battle also brought the end of Chalybs Defense Solutions. All of its defense contracts were liquidated to other contractors.
==Gallery==
Halo_2_Anniversary_Terminal_First_Battle_Of_Meridian_2.png|The Covenant archaeological team begins its search.
Halo_2_Anniversary_Terminal_First_Battle_Of_Meridian_3.png|The unidentified Sangheili commander during the glassing
==Sources==
Category:Covenant Victories in the Human-Covenant War