Broken Ridge

"We've got an objective to tackle. Donut told us to fix our past; and I know where to start. The Battle of Broken Ridge."

- Sarge

"Oh. Are you sure you want to reopen old wounds like that?"

- Simmons in Lost Time

Broken Ridge is a location on a rocky planet orbiting very near a large blue star, and the site of a disastrous battle for the UNSC during the Great War. It appears as a minor location in The Shisno Paradox.

Role in Plot
At some point during the Great War, Sarge, then a lieutenant, was part of a squad of UNSC Marines entrenched at Broken Ridge, attacking a heavily-fortified alien outpost. After the group's sergeant was shot, Sarge took command and ordered his men to go on the offensive, but after some confusion as to which direction they were to attack the hill from, they were all slaughtered. Sarge himself was apparently the only human survivor; the blunder may have contributed to his demotion to staff sergeant and reassignment to Project Freelancer as a Simulation Trooper.

Many years later, after receiving a Time-Portal Gun from Donut during The Shisno Paradox, Sarge takes Simmons back in time to the Battle of Broken Ridge in an attempt to fix it. However, his interference and his orders to the soldiers conflicting with those given by his past self turn out to be the cause of the massacre in the first place, and the battle is once again a disaster. Sarge resolves to recruit a new elite team and to try once again to fix his mistake, but eventually becomes sidetracked with another mission, abandoning his attempt.

As Broken Ridge is only visited in the past, its status in the present after the end of the Great War is unknown.