New Baltimore

New Baltimore was an human colony, located near the edge of UEG space. In late 2525, shortly after the beginning of the Human-Covenant War, a Covenant missionary ship stumbled upon the colony. Although the planet's defensive flotilla managed to destroy the ship, it managed to transmit a distress signal, alerting the Covenant to the colony's location. Soon after, a small battlegroup arrived and laid siege to the world, destroying its defense forces and landing troops on the surface. After a quick, but deadly campaign, the Covenant was routed from the system and thanks to the soon-to-be escalating pressures of the war, both sides soon forgot about the planet, and contact with it was lost in early 2538. In early 2553, after the end of the war, UEG President Ruth Charet instituted the UNSC Frontier Command, whose first major undertaking was Operation: HOMECOMING, where ships were dispatched to reestablish contact with many of Earth's surviving colonies, and on June 23, 2553, the UNSC James Madison arrived in orbit of the planet, bringing it back into the fold, where it provided invaluable materials to assist in the reconstruction of Humanity's empire.
==Founding==
===Forerunner Ecumene===
In 97,845 BCE, the world that would become New Baltimore, then known as JD-284-23c, was settled by Forerunner Lifeworkers, who sought an untouched world with which they would study how several species they had brought would adapt and evolve to the different environment. As such, there was very little construction on the planet, save for scientific facilities, living quarters, and a meager barracks for the Builder Security garrison. When the parasitic species known as the Flood returned in 97,745 BCE, this planet was ignored by both the Forerunners and the Flood, whose population remained unaware of the galactic conflict occurring. It was only when the war reached its climax in 97,445 BCE, when the IsoDidact activated the Halo Array, wiping out all sentient creatures in the galaxy, did the war finally reach it.
==Human-Covenant War==
In February, 2525, the colony of was attacked by the alien hegemony known as . By the end of the year, even though several colonies had been destroyed, most of humanity was still kept in the dark from this new enemy. On December 9, 2525, the Covenant finally found New Baltimore, as a lone missionary ship entered the system, where it was quickly overwhelmed by the planet's defense flotilla, but not before transmitting the planet's location to the Covenant, who dispatched a small task force to destroy the colony. Several days later, on December 11, 2525, the battlegroup arrived in-system and proceeded to land troops on the planet and engage the local Army and Militia forces.
As the Army and Militia forces engaged the Covenant, stalling for time, the planetary governor contacted UNSC Regional Command with a request for reinforcements. With the promise of reinforcements came the news that Covenant forces had broken through UNSC lines and had begun besieging the colony. After transferring command over to General Thomas Devard, Governor Kennedy Royston attempted to escape in his personal shuttle, but was killed when it was shot down.
Category:Demons of Hope