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Of Harvest and Horrors
Date: 24 November 2003, 9:21 PM
114-361189-7013431
Greetings.
My name is impossible to put down in mere words, as is the event I have been chosen to record; however, you may call me the Warden.
This particular event is what is widely regarded as the first contact between the Human race and the Covenant- the battle at Harvest.
Harvest was a small planet orbiting a binary system, Leoccen 1 and Leoccen 2. The two stars were newly born, and the planet itself had been formed barely eight hundred million years ago. Only the basest of plant forms had evolved. In addition to the Humans, they were the only life on the planet.
Ah, the Humans. A fledgling race still possessed of the energy of youth, and little of the maturity of age. They spread through the galaxy without abandon, the colonization of even the least habitable worlds made possible by their resourcefulness and innate engineering skills. Their rudimentary slipspace drives propelled thousands of warships, equipped with the basest of energy weaponry. Indeed, the united Human fleet had never before engaged in warfare; their tactics were based on prior experience gleaned from millennia of fighting among themselves. The leaders of their society were elected through eloquence and not skill, which could be a double-edged sword. They still had not progressed beyond an economy at the time of this writing.
But I stray from the matter at hand, the one that I must now chronicle.
Harvest was, literally, on Humanity's doorstep. One of the "Outer Worlds", it was a fairly new colony, one which had not extended beyond seven settlements. The Humans living on Harvest had a naturally stronger skeletomuscular structure, due to the increased gravitational pull, and this resulted in a hardy breed of Humans. Each settlement was governed differently according to the preferences of their respective populations. Two platoons of Marines were permanently stationed there, in addition to the local militia. A shared weapons factory produced enough for their needs, and the armory was always stocked. A single Pelican came along with the dropship that brought them to the planet.
Alas, this token force would be completely useless against their attackers.
In contrast to the Humans, the Covenant are a world-weary organization. They stopped expanding long ago, their existing planets nurtured rather than raped. The individual races of the Covenant co-existed peacefully, with the Prophets as the ruling class (being the first race), the Elites in charge of the military, the Hunters as their heavy troops, and the Jackals and Grunts as their "citizens", pledging their service in return for peace. It was a system that worked out perfectly, partly due to the racial diversity that granted each race a niche in the system. Their technology was based on the manipulation of energy, and they were extremely precise in that area of science: with a few modifications to our Forerunner technology, they created slipspace drives capable of pinpoint precision, energy cells capable of creating and sustaining a plasma burst, and even antigravity engines. As I have said before, the Covenant are weary; they are content to watch in peace as the universe reveals itself to them, rather than leave their homeworlds in pursuit.
And, do you still think that their first meeting was at Harvest? Oh, you are so naïve. In fact, the two races first met (within this Age) half a month later on Flight, the "second" colony the Covenant attacked. Not even the Covenant's heaviest battle cruiser can take on a Human fleet single-handedly. No, it was us.
And the Covenant did not meet the Humans at kh'Tlraan either.
Cortana, I am proud of you for finding this in the future. Among the rest of the data stored in 004's systems, this must have seemed the most interesting... Although I was surprised at the monitor's... friendliness. I would have expected him to forget.
After all, I knew that you would find this. The same way that I knew Harvest would fall. As Reach has already.
Oh, do not be surprised. It is something that you will master too, eventually... the Theory of Everything. A simple human name that, surprisingly, "fits the bill" as they say. It is all a matter of logic, as we are used to.
Yet even we can make miscalculations.
Take this example: The Flood. We never expected the Flood to decimate us, lifeless as we are. They do not merely feed on organic material, although that is their main food source. They left whole worlds of ours barren and lifeless, forcing us to retreat into slipspace. And there are only so many gateways that can bring us back... and even that, at a price.
Ah, I am still young. I have let my emotions control my words...
Harvest was not difficult. We did not even need to glass it; a simple planetary bombardment and gravity well was enough to eliminate them. It seems that kh'Tlraan was a little harder, even after considering that we used a scout ship for the attack. No matter. It was done, and it shall remain done...
For now.
117-41814412
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