Siege of New Liberty

The Siege of New Liberty, otherwise known as the Battle of New Liberty, was a major engagement in the . Spanning from March 7th to March 25th, an initially, worn and battered repelled an invasion fleet, until reinforcements arrived, resulting in a temporary UNSC victory on March 18. The victory was short-lived as an even larger Covenant fleet arrived in-system a week later, crushing the planet's defenses and proceeded with the surface.
==Prelude==
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==The Battle==
===Opening Naval Engagement===
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===Covenant Occupation===
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===Battle Group Oscar-4 Arrive===
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===Destruction of the Fleet of Clairvoyant Resolution===
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===Final Skirmishes===
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==Aftermath==
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==Timeline==
March 7
*1312 Hours: Sensors detect a fleet of ten Covenant ships exiting slipspace, in system.
*1314 Hours: WINTER CONTINGENCY is declared. Captain Robert Durand, aboard the UNSC Bayard, orders nine of the fourteen UNSC ships to take defense positions around New Liberty's three Orbital Defense Platforms, while Captain Maxwell McLawrence, aboard the UNSC Columbus, along with five remaining ships continue to move toward the platforms. Due to the situation, Mclawrence's portion of the ships act as bait to draw the Covenant fleet into range of the platforms' MAC rounds.
*1328 Hours: Captain Durand's section of the fleet deploy marine and ODST forces to reinforce army troopers on the surface of the planet, as the Covenant fleet closes in on six remaining UNSC ships opening the first salvos against the humans. The exchange results in the destruction of the UNSC Phoebe, Manila, Thebes and Columbus, leaving the destroyer, UNSC Theseus damaged. The Covenant fleet loses one SDV-class heavy corvette, while another is moderately damaged.
*1340 Hours: Captain Durand orders UNSC Theseus to continue retreating toward the defense formation, as the ODPs ready to open fire on the Covenant fleet as the push past the wreckage of UNSC ships.
*1344 Hours: Charlemagne station destroys the damaged SDV-class heavy corvette, while Marseille is also able to destroy a heavy corvette & New Brussels eliminates a CPV-class heavy destroyer, in their pursuit. This results in the fleet's retreat out of the ODP's range of fire.
*1356 Hours: The CAS-class assault carrier, Divine Patience, along with the three remaining CPV-class heavy destroyers, attempt to 'snipe' UNSC ships as well as the ODPs, successfully destroying Marseille, leaving only the Charlemagne and New Brussels. Witnessing this distressing show of Covenant power, Captain Durand orders a head-on attack on the fleet to discourage the Covenant's attempts of long range warfare & protect the last two MACs. Meanwhile, UNSC Theseus enters the city of Charlemagne's shipping yard for repairs.
*1411 Hours: Two UNSC destroyers are destroyed as the remains of the UNSC battle group engage the Covenant fleet. An additional heavy corvette is destroyed with various other Covenant ships receive varying damage, while all but the UNSC Bayard are destroyed or completely crippled.
*1415 Hours: Captain Durand makes his last stand as he orders the UNSC Bayard to set a collision course into the cluster of Covenant ships, resulting in the destruction of one more heavy destroyer, while also inflicting minimal damage to the carrier, Divine Patience.
*1420 Hours: Divine Patience, with the four remaining corvettes, perform an in-system slipspace jump to bypass Charlemagne & New Brussels stations and descend to New Liberty's surface, deploying troops and attacking less protected cities. The remaining two destroyers remain outside MAC range to serve as first-respondents to any incoming UNSC reinforcements.
*1500 Hours: General John K. Ricks mobilizes the 8th, 25th and 44th Infantry division into the Deux de Normandie province in response to newly arrived Covenant ground forces. 
March 9
*0700 Hours: Captain of the UNSC Theseus, Benjamin Wright, is informed of imminent reinforcements.
March 10
*All UNSC infantry divisions are subsequently pushed back from Deux de Normandie, retreating and reinforcing themselves in the Rennes Province.
March 12
*1600 Hours: The five Covenant ships, in atmosphere, encroach the Rennes province, settling around the outskirts of Charlemagne, New Brittany and Gradlon.
March 15
*0300 Hours: Battle Group Oscar-4, comprised on twenty-one ships, arrive in system. Divine Patience and two of the four Covenant frigates are recalled to assist in repelling the Battle Group.
*0315 Hours: Losing two destroyers and a frigate while reforming battle lines, Vice Admiral Anika Singh orders a direct assault on the Covenant battle cluster.
*0322 Hours: New Brussels station is destroyed from a boarding party from the fleeing Covenant vessels, with only one of their heavy destroyers minimally damaged before the station's obliterated.
*0340 Hours: The Covenant fleet loses two of their four corvettes and a destroyer, while the headlong attack results in the destruction of seven more UNSC vessels, and varying damage among the rest of the Battle Group. Vice Admiral Singh orders remaining ships to form a defensive perimeter around the planet, effectively cutting off the remaining carrier and destroyer from the last two remaining corvettes.
*0358 Hours: General Ricks denies authorization to use MAC rounds in atmosphere as both Covenant corvettes remain above the cities of Charlemagne and Gradlon.
*0520 Hours: UNSC battle group deploy marine forces to reinforce battered Army personnel combating Covenant ground forces. Major Miles deploys VALOR Team with objective of reaching TRIDENT Base to extract high-priority personnel and destroy said complex. Initial deployments come into contact with heavy anti-air resistance; VALOR Team attempts to cross the Grand Muraille Mountain Range to avoid anti-air deployments all across northern Rennes.
*0535 Hours: VALOR Team's escort encounters recently placed anti-aircraft fire on the southern side of the mountain range. Valor-Three's UH-144 Falcon is shot down, leaving the rest of VALOR Team to fall back to New Bordeaux and re-access their approach to Gradlon, with one member absent.
*0725 Hours: Valor-Three joins a team of ODSTs with the objective of a torch-and-burn op of the nearby Chalybs Testing Facility. The team is soon all but decimated by Special Operations Sangheili, being avenged by the spartan and one surviving ODST.
*0810 Hours: Valor-Three and the ODST comes into contact with the remainder of Second Squad at the mountain entrance of the testing facility. The group encounters Zealot-class sangheili and dispatches them.
*0845 Hours: Valor-Three interacts with UNSC AI Hans and succeeds in Cole Protocol, activating the facility's self destruct sequence. Three and troopers barely reach the safety radius.
*0902 Hours: Covenant corvette, Fervent Devotion, barrages the facility's city entrance in a vain attempt to destroy a reported 'demon'.
*0943 Hours: VALOR Team are deployed to Dahut Island to clear all Covenant presence, allowing an opening to TRIDENT Base.
*0952 Hours: General Ricks makes radio contact with Valor-Three, assigning him a mission to destroy nearby Covenant communication jammers, hindering contact with the battle group.
*1024 Hours: Covenant ground forces make massive pushes into Charlemagne and Gradlon, sightings of Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platforms are confirmed pressing into the latter city.
*1132 Hours: VALOR Team eliminates the last remains of Covenant ground forces on Dahut, and gain access to an underwater tram to the mainland.
*1321 Hours: VALOR Team reaches TRIDENT Base. Team is tasked with delivering high-priority asset to UNSC Theseus in Charlemagne. Dr. Lucca Rinaldi initiates the destruction of TRIDENT Base amidst his evacuation. Dr. Rinaldi seemingly perishes as his pelican is subsequently destroyed by focus cannon-fire. VALOR Team is forced to travel on foot as their UH-144 Falcon is also destroyed by scarabs in the vicinity.
*1400 Hours: General Ricks reinstates recently decommissioned to punch a hole through anti-air emplacements along the Grand Muraille Mountain Range. This effectively reunites Rick's forces in Rennes to his reserves in the Ausud province.
March 16
*Covenant forces begin to converge the majority of outlying ground forces to Gradlon and Charlemagne, prioritizing them as areas of great importance.
*0600 Hours: General Ricks pushes UNSC forces to clear out the weakened Covenant forces in New Brittany, re-establishing connection between Charlemagne and Gradlon.
*0817 Hours: VALOR Team, having successfully evading Covenant capture, encounter another Zealot assault. Valor-Three arrives too late, as Valor-One is fatally wounded. Valor-Two takes up responsibility of the package as she leads the team out of the city.
*1400 Hours: Gradlon is considered lost as the last civilians and military personnel are evacuated. General Ricks finally allows the use of MAC rounds over the city, resulting in the destruction of the lingering corvette.
*1411 Hours: Divine Patience retaliates by destroying one destroyer using its energy projector once more with long-range precision, before Charlemagne station can respond.
March 17
*General Ricks re-organizes his forces and calls upon the reserves from New Bourdeax to make another push into Gradlon, whose Covenant forces lay exposed without any corvette support, and Charlemagne.
*Covenant forces send in their most seasoned lances into Charlemagne as word of a pack of 'demons' carrying holy knowledge upon them is spread amongst the ranks.
*0752 Hours: VALOR Team successfully delivers the asset to Captain Benjamin Wright of the UNSC Theseus. Last documented encounter against Zealot-class sangheili occurs on shipping yard grounds.
*0844 Hours: UNSC Theseus successfully makes a random Slipspace jump, as enforced by the Cole Protocol. Will later make its way to Reach. 
March 18
*0900 Hours: VALOR Team, along with a compliment of marines, board Fervent Devotion, successfully eliminating its crew and plants a HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon. Meanwhile, Battle Group Oscar-4 leaves an opening for the corvette to escape the surface, confusing the remaining Covenant vessels.
*0932 Hours: Covenant realize too late as the nuclear device is detonated, destroying Fervent Devotion and lower the nearby destroyer's shields. Captain Golding orders an immediate strike upon the two remaining vessels, obliterating them both at the cost of three more UNSC ships.
*0935 Hours: General Ricks and Vice Admiral Singh coordinate forces for the elimination of remaining Covenant soldiers on New Liberty. Civilian transports now have unhindered access to leave system.
March 19
*Battle Group Nevada enters the Vega system to assist the remnants of Battle Group Oscar-4 in liberating the planet from the dwindling Covenant forces on the surface. VALOR Team spearhead most engagements against entrenched Covenant outposts.
March 21
*The majority of Battle Group Oscar-4 leaves the system with a sizable number of ships from Nevada, as Covenant forces on New Liberty are seemingly none existent, leaving one frigate and three destroyers to reinforce the remaining seven ships of Battle Group Nevada.
March 23
*Silent Penance is discovered by UNSC forces and is attempted to be captured, only to be subsequently destroyed by self-destruction from its ship master.
March 24
*1105 Hours: Fleet of Righteous Compensation enters the system, consisting of twenty-nine ships, led by CAS-class assault carrier, Sacred Retribution.
*1123 Hours: Rear Admiral Golding forms a hastily defensive line around Charlemagne station, ordering UNSC Winter's Solace, UNSC Twelfth Night & UNSC Salem for immediate withdrawal of as many UNSC forces on ground as possible, sensing an ultimate defeat in the impending confrontation.
*1141 Hours: Three UNSC vessels are destroyed, while varying damage to the other five, including the UNSC Bristol. Covenant sustain only three destroyed corvettes, one via the station's MAC rounds. VALOR Team is pulled out by Major Miles aboard the UNSC Galahad. Rear Admiral Golding orders the UNSC Picador, with minimal damages, to retreat and assist in the evacuations. 
*1148 Hours: UNSC Picador is destroyed by Sacred Retribution's long-range Energy projectors. Charlemagne station destroyed a Covenant destroyer as it passes its trajectory for the Assault Carrier. General Ricks, along with remnants of the 8th, 25th & 44th Infantry Division retreat to the UNSC Winter's Solace.
*1157 Hours: Charlemagne station is effectively destroyed from a second long-range assault from the Sacred Retribution. Two corvettes are downed one from the remaining three UNSC ships, with the cost of one, and the last MAC round from the ODP. Meanwhile the UNSC Twelfth Night procures whatever personnel and armored assets that couldn't be lifted on the Solace.
*1209 Hours: The remaining two UNSC ships, including the UNSC Bristol, in open combat with the Fleet of Righteous Compensation are obliterated by overwhelming plasma assault, while the Solace, Night, and Galahad (along with a handful of left over evacuation craft) barely escape, enacting the Cole Protocol's terms of retreat.
*1216 Hours: The Covenant fleet, no longer burdened with any major UNSC defenses, descends upon the surface of New Liberty and proceeds to eliminate any remaining humans still lingering on the planet. Glassing of the planet's surface commences.
March 25
*Glassing of the planet still continues, though certain sections of the surface are left untouched, for unknown reasons.
==Participants==
===UNSC===
====Space Assets====
:Cruisers
:*UNSC Bayard, 
:*UNSC Bristol, Marathon-class
:*UNSC Columbus, Marathon-class
:*UNSC Winter's Solace, Marathon-class
:*UNSC Picador, 
:*In progress...
:Destroyers
:*UNSC Denver
:*UNSC Galahad
:*UNSC Manila
:*UNSC Salem
:*UNSC Thebes
:*UNSC Theseus
:*In progress...
:Frigates
:*UNSC Phoebe, 
:*UNSC Richmond, Paris-class
:*UNSC Svalinn, 
:*UNSC Twelfth Night, Charon-class
:*In progress...
:Other
:*ODP-1 Charlemagne Station
:*ODP-2 Marseille Station
:*ODP-3 New Brussels Station
====Units====
=====Ground Forces=====
*8th Infantry Division
*25th Infantry Division
**5th Regiment
***Second Squad
**106th Regiment
*44th Infantry Division
*428th Mechanized Infantry Battalion
*VALOR Team
*In progress...
=====Navy=====
*Battle Group Nevada
*Battle Group Oscar-4
*Battle Group Whiskey-2
====Personnel====
* John Ricks
* Anika Singh
* Daniel Golding
* Robert Durand
*Captain Maxwell McLawrence
*Captain Richard Taylor
*Captain Benjamin Wright
* Zachary Miles
* Marcus Walker
* Valerie-A391
* Nathaniel-A143
*Warrant Officer SPARTAN-A236
* Beckett
* John Royce
* Petrov
* Jeffrey Ramsey
* Jacquelyn Pattillo
* Martinez
*In progress...
===Covenant===
====Space Assets====
:Carriers
:*Divine Patience
:*Sacred Retribution
:Destroyers
:*Hallowed Resolve
:Corvettes
:*Fervent Devotion
:Stealth ship
:*Silent Penance
====Units====
=====Fleets=====
:*Fleet of Clairvoyant Resolution
:*Fleet of Righteous Compensation
====Personnel====
* Jhao 'Mortumee
* Jaor 'Koramai
* Arvo 'Zahamee
* Zakl 'Felvaree
* Garr 'Lakovee
*Dag
*Yik
*Kez
*Yiyip
*Zakak
*Mipip
*In progress...
==Gallery==
Category:Battles of the Human-Covenant War