Recaps

After the Mimic invasion, William’s forces faced the Covenant at Bountiful Star, where Gabriel Angelos and the Blood Ravens boarded enemy cruisers. One cruiser was destroyed, and The Observer prepared to send reinforcements into another as the battle continued.

• William identified the alien creatures as Mimics, killed their Omega leader, and gained the ability to reset time before his death.
• Andre released combat footage that proved the Mimic attack was real, and the Star Killer-class Flagship arrived over Paris.
• On Bountiful Star, Gabriel Angelos and the Blood Ravens learned that three Covenant warships were approaching and refused to abandon the colonists.
• William recognized the Covenant ships and ordered Umbrella and the UNSC onto a wartime footing as reinforcements headed for Bountiful Star.
• The Observer’s defenders engaged the Covenant, while Gabriel’s Blood Ravens boarded two cruisers to attack their crews from within.
• The Blood Ravens fought through heavy resistance, gathered Covenant equipment, and lost several brothers as they pushed toward a cruiser’s hangar.
• The Blood Ravens triggered an explosion that destroyed one cruiser, and The Observer rescued nine survivors drifting near the blast.
• Macha weakened the remaining cruisers with hydrogen bombs and ordered The Observer to send Helljumpers and Marines into the cruiser Gabriel had boarded.

William captured a Covenant cruiser, persuaded Enzo Saum and his Sangheili to reject the Prophets, and uncovered Forerunner ruins beneath Bountiful Star. When a massive Covenant fleet attacked, human forces and their allies shattered its formation, leaving the Sangheili poised to stand down amid fighting with the Brutes.

• The second lieutenant and Macha’s Helljumpers helped Gabriel’s Blood Ravens seize a Covenant cruiser, capturing its bridge and several Elites despite heavy fighting and casualties.
• Macha’s forces destroyed another cruiser and towed the captured ship to Bountiful Star, where William organized the Blood Raven Battle Group and promoted Macha and Gabriel.
• William used Göbeklitepe records and Athena’s display of power to convince Enzo Saum that the Prophets had deceived the Sangheili, and Saum and forty-four Elites signed Confidentiality Agreements.
• William, Halsey, and Saum’s Elites explored the Forerunner ruins beneath Bountiful Star, where Halsey activated a terminal that revealed Arcadia and a possible Shield World.
• As a Covenant fleet of more than a thousand warships approached, William focused on defending Bountiful Star and prepared to fight alongside Ivan in their God Bodies.
• The human fleet destroyed a COS-class Super Carrier, while Ivan and Megan tore through Covenant aircraft and more than sixty cruisers with the Final God Body.
• Human forces, Hixia’s Skeleton Knights, and Athena disrupted the Covenant fleet, while the Sangheili prepared to stand down and the Brutes fought them, prompting the boss to send Astartes Terminators to assist the Sangheili.

William’s forces crippled the Covenant, captured the City of Brotherly Love, and killed its three Prophets. The campaign then shifted to Shield World 0459, where William tested Green’s resistance to the Flood and sent Astartes forces to secure the landing zone as the Gravemind adapted its attack.

• Kolax and the Raven Astartes helped the Elites seize Covenant ships, and William destroyed the Brute-held warships that tried to flee.
• William rejected the Kilhani alliance and prepared a raid on the City of Brotherly Love after learning the Prophets planned to replace Sangheili commanders and that APEX lay in the same system.
• William led Fleet Zero against the Invincible Fleet, using a Quantum Bomb and coordinated attacks to destroy it and expose the City of Brotherly Love.
• Xia shielded the United Fleet as its troops landed, and Saum’s Elites, Kolax’s Terminators, Keisha, and allied Covenant species fought their way through the city.
• Saum killed Prophet of Truth, William killed Prophet of Sorrow, and Saum killed Prophet of Mercy, while William ordered the city’s Brutes cleared.
• William sent Alien forces onto Shield World 0459 to fight the Flood, and Green’s clone survived an Infection Form without transforming.
• Halsey warned that the Gravemind might be trying to lure Green into its control, so William kept Green aboard and sent John’s forces to secure and sterilize the landing zone.
• The Gravemind adapted by directing Flood Combat Forms to target the Aliens’ heads, while John, four Primarchs, Mylon, and the Terminators attacked the Flood.

William’s forces destroyed the Flood-infested Shield World, brought the Dreadnought Fleet to Earth, and began integrating the Sangheili and other allied species into human society. Halsey’s excavation in Mombasa opened a portal to the Ark, where William and Halsey considered the dangers of advanced civilizations.

• Keisha purified the landing zone, while Carter ordered the Flood-infected clone incinerated after the barrier killed the Flood within her.
• William led the Amber through the Shield World’s entrance, activated the forty-four Dreadnought Warships, and brought the fleet back out.
• William refused the Gravemind’s offer, and four Quantum Bombs destroyed it and the Shield World before the fleet returned to the Solar System.
• Andre and Saum announced the Sangheili alliance, while William and Saum later negotiated council representation, military roles, and education for allied species.
• Ivan and Xiya began a relationship, and William declared that Ivan would marry Xiya and Nova on the same day.
• William directed Serena to integrate allied children into human schools and promote equal treatment, while Serena warned that public prejudice would persist for years.
• Halsey’s excavation uncovered a Forerunner portal beneath Mombasa, and William’s fleet traveled through it to the Ark.
• William ordered a research outpost on the Ark, while Halsey discussed the Drake Equation and the threat posed by powerful civilizations.