Battle of Stepford's Ridge

The Battle of Stepford's Ridge was a battle fought during the siege of Proxima from November 7th to November 11th, 2552. The battle was initially fought between Jiralhanae ground forces and two companies of UNSC Marines that had been forced to retreat into the hill country five hundred kilometers to the northeast of the capitol.

The battle was complicated when a Schismatic force entered the Alpha Centauri system and engaged the Loyalist naval force. The light carrier Thunder of Ten Thousand Feet was mortally wounded and fell into Proxima's atmosphere. The crew and much of the troop complement took to the lifeboats and landed on either side of Stepford's Ridge, among both the Brutes and the Marines. The battle deteriorated into a three-way-brawl, and then skirmishes until word of the Arbiter's truce reached the Schismatics. They themselves made a hasty truce with the surviving Marines, and joined forces against the Brutes.