Battle of Journey

The Battle of Journey was an albeit small but meaningful conflict in the Human-Covenant War shortly after the Fall of Reach in 2552 on the Forerunner shield world Journey. Foreunner sentinels would join in soon after. Though the battle did not have a meaningful impact on the war itself, it saw the recovery of Forerunner shield technology by the UNSC that would later be reverse-engineered for use on the Infinity-class supercarrier UNSC Eternity.
== Prelude ==
On July 25th, 2552, the Covenant began to launch a massive invasion of the human colony world of Reach, and by late August, the battle had seen the loss of over 100 UNSC Navy vessels in orbit. With the situation becoming a living hell for naval forces, the remaining UNSC vessels attempted to flee. Among these vessels was the Halcyon-class light cruiser UNSC Toulouse, which fled the battle and jumped to random coordinates. However, noticing the fleeing ship, four Covenant Ket-pattern battlecruisers chased the vessel through slipspace.
== The battle ==
=== Space battle ===
Emerging from slipspace near the Forerunner shield world of Journey, the Toulouse's crew was afforded a single precious day to recover from the Fall of Reach, repairing damaged sections of the ship and tending to wounds. However, on September 1st, the Covenant ships caught up to them and the space battle began.
Noticing the shield world, the Covenant warships exercised caution around Journey, but still commenced an attack on the Toulouse. Hoping to capture the vessel and learn the location of Earth, the ships deployed Ru'swum-pattern Phantoms to board the vessel and take control of the bridge, but they were fought off by the onboard security compliment. 
The victory internally was short-lived, as the Covenant ships had quickly crippled the Toulouse's arsenal and damaged its engines, and the cruiser, now caught in Journey's atmosphere, began a violent descent to Journey's surface. With some control over the ship's descent still maintained, the Toulouse maneuvered into a service conduit in the planet's surface, descending to the interior of the shield world, but pursued by the Covenant vessels closely.
=== Discovery ===
The nature of the shield world was a mystery to the Toulouse's crew, seeming like an impossible structure of incomprehensible complexity and scale. The ships were met by the planet's mechanical inhabitants, the Forerunner Aggressor Sentinels, but they reacted neutrally to their presence, as well as that of the Covenant's. The Covenant attack on the Toulouse was halted as they marveled at the shield world.
Utilizing the distraction, the Toulouse retreated to a series of floating towers, hoping they would act as cover against their pursuers. The ship soon deployed ground teams to investigate a detected facility among the towers. The teams quickly discovered a data archive of Forerunner technology, along with Forerunner shielding technology. Believing the shield technology would be useful for protecting against the Covenant's advanced weaponry, if it could be equipped on the Toulouse.
=== Escape from Journey ===
Realizing the UNSC forces were attempting to steal the Forerunner shielding technology, the previously neutral Aggressor Sentinels quickly became hostile, swarming over and attacking the ground teams in an attempt to stop the theft. Despite this, the teams still successfully returned to the Toulouse and installation of the shielding quickly began as the Covenant ships closed in on the ship's location.
The shielding technology was hastily retrofitted onto the Toulouse, activating just as the Covenant ships closed into firing range of the vessel and barraged it with plasma fire. The attacks were instantly nullified by the shields, preventing the energy blasts from piercing the Toulouse's hull.
Realizing their attacks were ineffective, the Covenant vessels split up, attempting to box in the human ship and once again deployed boarding craft to eliminate the vessel from the inside. Two of the cruisers fired a barrage of plasma torpedoes at the Toulouse, but the attacks were again ineffective. Many torpedoes missed their target and careened into the Forerunner structures dotting the battlefield. Now recognizing the Covenant ships as hostiles, the Aggressor Sentinels became hostile towards them, swarming over their ships in droves.
Taking advantage of the chaos, the Toulouse blew past the Covenant vessels and fled the interior of the shield world through the same service conduit they entered from. After breaking through the planet's atmosphere, it made the jump to slipspace and returned to Earth with the Forerunner shield technology.
== Aftermath ==
Upon returning to Earth, the crew of the vessel was debriefed by personnel from the Office of Naval Intelligence. The technology for the Forerunners was confiscated, but the shields already present on the Toulouse were not removed. This was beneficial and the primary reason the vessel survived the Battle of Earth a few months later, as the shielding once again prevented the vessel's destruction at the hands of Covenant vessels.
Shortly after the Human-Covenant War's ultimate conclusion at the Battle of Installation 00, the UNSC finished construction of the prototype Infinity-class supercarrier, UNSC Infinity, and saw it become the largest human vessel ever constructed. Afterwards, work began on constructing the second ship of the Infinity line, the UNSC Eternity, using further developed technology gained from reverse-engineered Covenant technology and Forerunner technology. Among the technology outfitted on the Eternity was the Forerunner shielding recovered by the UNSC Toulouse during the Battle of Journey. However, the colossal vessel is still incomplete as of 2559, and will likely remain so for some time due to the occupation of Earth by the rebelling artificial intelligence faction known as the Created.
Category:Gamestrider1
Category:Battles
Category:Battles of the Human-Covenant War