Descending to Gladsheim to begin their search, Maccabeus was severely injured in battle when he was hit by Staff Sergeant Johnson's Warthog and suffered from a broken thigh bone. Unable to reconcile the orders of the Prophets with his own faith in the Forerunner's Luminary, Maccabeus decided to continue his search for relics, something which the rest of the pack disagreed with. However, the response the Chieftain received said that there were no relics or Oracle, and that the aliens were to be destroyed. After confirming that there was an Oracle on the planet, Maccabeus sent a message to the Vice-Minister. The Unggoy split Osmo open across his belly. When Osmo caught a glimpse of his attacker, he attempted to open fire, but it was already too late. One Unggoy attacked a recruit named Osmo. However, the talks went sour when an overeager Unggoy, lead by Tartarus, broke rank and made an early attack on a group of militia recruits. Maccabeus was one of the first official representatives of the Covenant to meet with the humans. Recovering a pictogram message left by the humans, Maccabeus took four of his pack to the planet to meet with the humans. Maccabeus' assessment of the planet with the ships Luminary showed thousands of relics, but the devout Chieftain was soon shocked to learn that Dadab believed that there was an Oracle located on the planet. Recovering the Deacon Dadab and Huragok Lighter Than Some, Maccabeus was shocked by the Huragok's ability to fix things and eagerly made it chief Engineer, relieving the Yanme'e. In February 2525, at the command of the Vice-Minister of Tranquility, Maccabeus took Rapid Conversion to the planet Harvest, site of a supposed Forerunner reliquary. First contact on Harvest Main article: First Battle of Harvest Another reason why he preferred the ladders as it enabled more of his crew to travel up and down simultaneously, and also humbled him. Although he was allowed to have a mechanical lift system on his ship, Maccabeus decided to remove it and replace them with multiple, crude ladders as a deliberate affront to the Sangheili, as the digitigrade structure of their legs gave them great difficulty when climbing. He was not allowed to repair any weapon systems and he was not allowed to have a Huragok on board, instead having Yanme'e serve as maintenance. However, he upstaged the Sangheili by taking his rebuke in turn. He was given command of the Covenant vessel, Rapid Conversion, a ship that the Sangheili had "given" him, though the Sangheili did downgrade it severely, showing their distrust in the Jiralhanae. When the Covenant discovered Doisac, Maccabeus eagerly embraced the San'Shyuum's promise of the Great Journey. With the war hammer, Maccabeus crushed all opponents that attempted to challenge his command. He thus gained the right to use the Fist of Rukt, the ancestral weapon of his clan. In a mortal duel, Maccabeus's father submitted to his death, happy to die by the hands of a loved one. Maccabeus ascended to the leadership of his pack the way all Jiralhanae did: by challenging his Chieftain, at the time his own father.