Battle of Chiaras

The Battle of Chiaras was a conflict that took place between swarm, UNSC and
Allegiance forces within the mid-rim period of the Swarm War. The battle was
mainly fought within orbit over the human occupied world of Bliss, which had
been a monument-world of the Human-Covenant war for several decades and thus
rendered a strategically important UNSC position in terms of maintaining
military morale. 
A large Swarm fleet entered the system and arrived at the outer gas giant
Chiaras; and had been amassing their forces to invade and destroy Bliss and
it's colonized moons. The UNSC had not yet detected the Swarm fleet, but a
nearby Allegiance patrol assigned to mining operations on Chiaras's moons
discovered the hidden enemy fleet, which numbered in the thousands. As it was
the vast amount of ships far outnumbered the colonial guard fleet assigned to
protect Bliss, and the Allegiance only had a handful of ships in-system to
oversee their mining operations. The Allegiance ships immediately contacted
Bliss naval command, and the battle of Chiaras had begun.
== Operation: GOLIATH ==
Operation GOLIATH was planned for later operations in the reclamation of the
mid-galaxy colonies; involving powerful guerilla attacks aimed at crippling
high-profile swarm fleets. However, it had been repurposed by UNSC admiral
Michael Cole, grandson of the famous war hero of the Human-covenant war, Admiral
Preston Cole, who had planned to use it to attack the Swarm fleet and
defend Bliss from an inevitable incursion. Admiral Boyd immediately gathered over
seventy percent of his fleet 'Sins of the Prophets', only sixty four ships in total, to the
orbit of Chiaras, where the Swarm fleet lay in wait. The swarm were not
expecting an attack, and were caught off guard when sixty four UNSC ships jumped
through slipspace and began firing javelin missiles into their hulls.
The Allegiance quickly called for reinforcements, and mustered a fleet of
over two hundred ships to assist the UNSC in fighting off the Swarm. The Royal Navy,
lead by Lord Thakan Duras, would never have agreed to taking on a swarm fleet
numbering in the thousands unless Admiral Cole had a plan. The UNSC and
Allegiance fleets were heavily outnumbered, but put into practice a maneuvering
technique not seen in over half a century; the famous 'Keyes loop.' Using the
gas giant of Ciaras as a gravitational slingshot, the UNSC fleet managed to
outmaneuver the unknowing Swarm fleet, leading a large number of Swarm ships
into low orbit, trapping them into a high-density gravity well that caused them
to fall to the surface of the gas giant. The remaining swarm ships were shocked
when the Sins of the Prophets appeared on the other side of the world
unscathed, and were immediately flanked by the human fleet with the Royal Navy
sustaining significant casualties in holding the front lines. The Swarm lost
significant momentum as the ships tried to regain cohesion with their hive mind
after losing several hundred ships almost at once. The Hive fleet scattered,
leading the Allegiance to embark on powerful Wolfpack Meneuvers to
single out swarm ships and exterminate them.
Admiral Cole pondered his next move for a few moments, Lord Duras had called
him several times updating him on the status of the mission. Despite facing
superior numbers the united fleets had managed to push the Swarm into a corner,
forcing their cruisers and Hive ships to begin seeding the moons in a desperate
attempt to harvest organic life. Admiral Cole immediately launched a
multi-lunar counteroffensive, ordering the Colonial guard to fire all available
missiles and MAC rounds into high orbit not only to destroy swarm seeders, but
to weaken the heavy shield of the Swarm's Hive ships.
Almost two hours into the heavy fighting, the Swarm regained it's footing
despite constantly sustaining losses with an infuriated hive queen, who immediately
ordered all ships to muster and prepare to launch a planetary lance technique,
which involves all vessels and fighters surrounding the main hive ship and
plunging through the opposing fleet like a lance, using it's smaller ships as
protection. At this point the Allegiance fleet began to waver, and their
remaining one hundred, thirty two ships were being pushed back a great deal by the amassing hive.
Admiral Cole launched the final stage of his plan for the protection of
Bliss and the success of Operation Goliath. He would use the same technique his
grandfather used at his final stand at the battle of Psi Serpentis. Cole
immediately ordered his fleet to disembark, and the Allegiance quickly followed
suit. They would use the Keyes loop one more time, but in a different fashion.
The two fleets entered the gravity slingshot maneuver, however the Swarm did
not follow this time, leaving Cole and his flagship 'Apollo's Triumph' Alone
against a fleet of thousands. The Admiral himself loaded each HAVOC nuclear
device, over 30 in all, into their missile silos. Appollo's Triumph then opened
fire on the Swarm fleet with everything it had whilst falling back toward the
orbit of Chiaras, sending this transmission to the Swarm.
"I finally understand, I think, why my granddad did what he did at
Psi Serpentis. And I must say, my beloved adversaries, that there must be no better way to die; than by way of facing impossible odds, and bringing the vengeance of billions of dead innocents down on the most vile of things... You believe that you are the mightiest? You think that you can just take our lives, our worlds, our homes and do away with them as you please? Fools! We are the inheritors of the Universe! We will take back every world and throw you to the
wind! Now watch, behold what one single man can do!" ''
The Swarm fleet immediately followed Cole with incredible speed an zeal
unseen since the Covenant's engagement against his grandfather. Lord Duras
begged Cole to retreat and defend Bliss, but it had already been too late.
Admiral Cole lead the swarm to orbit, and fired the warheads all at once into
the gaseous layer of the planet. The detonation release a planetary explosion
that scorched half of the solar system, turning Chiaras into a second sun for a
few moments, due to the thermonuclear weapons causing fission within the
neighboring hydrogen clouds that wrapped around the planet. The undoubtedly
destroyed the Appollo's triumph, and the invading Swarm fleet with it; thus
saving the colony world of Bliss and the majority of the allied fleet.
=== Aftermath ===
Sins of the prophets, now under the command of rear admiral James Finn, retreated to Bliss along with the Royal Navy and notified HIGHCOM of the
situation and Cole's success in defending the planet. Subsequent swarm reinforcements arrived only an hour after the battle. However it seemed they
were only to act as a force to bolster the numbers of the fleet that had been
destroyed as they only numbered one hundred twenty two ships in total. The small fleet was
surprised to see that only bits and pieces of the staging invasion fleet had
remained, and instead of retreating decided to attack Bliss. They were met with
a fortress of over three hundred UNSC ships and the remaining one hundred thirty two Allegiance vessels. They immediately engaged, and decimated the swarm fleet, liberating the system of all hive activity.
Michael's exploits at the battle of Chiaras labeled him of the greatest
heroes of the war, and became a serious morale boost the the UNSC and the UCG as a whole, believing that if more men like Cole arose, they may be able to win he war after all. Michael was given a plaque at the Office of Naval Intelligence headquarters next to his grandfather's creating the Cole legacy. 
The battle of Chiaras was one of the singlemost greatest victories pulled
off by UCG forces in the war, with the Swarm outnumbering the Royal navy and
the UNSC more than 10-1, and suffering complete annihilation of their entire
invasion force. If not for the efforts of Sins of the Prophets and the Royal
Navy, Bliss, it's moons, and the system would have fallen in a matter of days.
Unfortunately it was not long before the Swarm came back for revenge to the Chiaras system, and months later a Swarm fleet fifty times the size of the previous, invaded the quadrant. At that point the Bliss defense fleet was exponentially more powerful than the force that successfully defended Bliss months prior. This lead to the Battle of the Bliss, where UCG forces were defeated and Bliss was bombarded into a culled world devoid of life. Bliss was effectively one of the first mid-rim colonies to fall to the Swarm, and became one of the factors that began the Mid-rim period of the war.
Category:Swarm War
Category:The Swarm
Category:Battles