Palace of Eden bombings Part of the Dominion-Sanctum tensions
Location:	Spire of the New Federation / Alpha Center / Alpha
Date:	11 June 2252 CE
Target(s):	Parliament of Alpha, Sata T'Loak, Spire of the New Federation
Intent:	Murder of most or the entirety of the Parliament of Alpha, as well as Sata T'Loak Disruption of the Spire's security and crisis response measures Destruction of parts of the Spire and maximizing casualties Sparking a war between the Dominion and the Sanctum
Outcome:	Limited success, strategically inconsequential Over a hundred killed, hundreds more injured or dying Parts of the Spire severely damaged Damage to Spire security minimal, crisis response team severely diminished Political failure, fails to spark a war as desired Covenant involvement in the bombings discovered One bomber killed during operation, four later captured and committing suicide, sixth bomber escapes but later commits suicide to avoid capture
Attack type:	Bombing
Fatalities:	Victims: 135 dead, 648 injured Terrorists: 1 (other 5 later commit suicide)
Perpetrator(s):	Sentries of Reverence
Number of participants:	6

The Palace of Eden bombings, also known as the Bombing of the NF Spire and the Spire terrorist attack, and to the SOR as Operation-JL, was a series of false flag terrorist attacks carried out by the Sentries of Reverence against the Galactic Sanctum on 11 June 2252 CE that consisted of eight bombings across the Spire of the New Federation with the goal of killing members of the Parliament of Alpha, including prime minister Sata T'Loak, and sparking a war between the Sanctum and the Galactic Dominion. Classified as "Operation-JL" by Covenant intelligence, the mission dictated the deployment of six assassins from the Sentries of Reverence, with the objective of placing eight high-explosive munitions placed across the Spire of the New Federation and to be detonated manually. Two bombs were placed in the Palace of Eden, another in the Commons Hall, one in the security control center, one in the crisis response center, two in the second and third levels of the basement, and the final one set to detonate in the emergency evacuation bay. The first two would kill as many parliamentarians (and Sata T'Loak) as possible, the third aimed to kill as many civilians as possible, the fourth would attempt to sow confusion in the security forces throughout the building and delay evacuation efforts, the fifth would further delay evacuation efforts and kill as many emergency responders as possible whilst also damaging the Spire's damage control systems, the sixth and seventh would aim to damage the foundations of the building and hopefully cause a partial collapse, while the eighth would only be detonated if security managed to organize an evacuation of any surviving parliamentarians (and Sata T'Loak if she survived the first two blasts), exploding as they arrived at the emergency evacuation bay. The operation was planned for the 11th of June 2252 CE when the Parliament of Alpha would be in session, with Sata T'Loak present. While additional intelligence pointed to a Dominion delegation seeking an audience with the parliament that day, the Sentries elected to go forward with the operation anyway, as their explosives had already been planted and if they delayed any longer security may find the bombs and evacuate the spire.

At 12am on 11 June 2252 CE, just as Rini'Ralin was in the middle of a speech before the Parliament, the first two bombs were detonated. 36 parliamentarians would be killed in these blasts, with a further 18 injured: Sata T'Loak suffered some minor injuries, but survived the blasts and was immediately taken by local security, with the surviving parliamentarians, to the emergency evacuation bay. 15 seconds later, the third bomb detonated, followed closely by the fourth and fifth, resulting in 48 civilian deaths and 617 injured in the third blast. The fourth blast proved ineffective, killing only 2 security guards while injuring 8 others, but not mortally, and they were able to raise the alarm, alerting the Alpha Peacekeepers. The fifth blast only damaged the spire's damage control system but killed all but 4 of the Spire's 52 emergency responders, caught in the middle of a birthday lunch for one of their section commanders. The sixth bomb would detonate, destroying much of the basement's first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth levels, but the seventh failed to detonate immediately, and wouldn't follow suit until eight minutes later. The Alpha Peacekeepers arrived two minutes later with a full battalion, with the Dominion delegation quickly evacuating via the front entrance while Sata and the surviving parliament were escorted to the evacuation bay: in a stroke of luck for the Sentries' victims, the eighth bomb failed to activate, one of the circuits having malfunctioned, leading to the bomb being rendered harmless, and allowing the quick escape of the parliament. During the attack, one of the Sentries, a batarian, seized an opportunity to finish off an injured Rini'Ralin, believing her bodyguards to be taken care of, but was killed by the Baltazar, Rini's chief bodyguard, who had survived the first two blasts.

By the end of the day, the damage assessment was still significant, with 135 dead and 648 injured. The immediate reaction to this attack from the general public was one of shock and anger, immediately blaming the Dominion. However, unlike what the Covenant had desired, cooler heads prevailed as Sata T'Loak, doubtful that the Dominion would be willing to commit such a brazen attack whilst also endangering their own delegation, had Rini'Ralin's communiques tapped by the Vaos, where she uncovered proof that she had not been aware of any such attack being planned, and further intelligence and communication with Dominion officials had corroborated they were not involved. Instead, Vaos was able to determine that the bombs were made using materials found only on Korlus, which was located deep in Covenant territory, and correctly determined their involvement: this was only further proven by the body of the batarian terrorist who, initially believed to be a member of the BAFL trying to stir up a war between the Dominion and Sanctum, was alternatively identified as a clandestine operative of the Circle of the Redeemed. A subsequent lockdown of Alpha and a joint Vaos-Peacekeeper manhunt operation to locate the remaining five bombers. While one managed to slip past the lockdown, the other four were trapped, hunted down and ultimately captured, and while all four would commit suicide before revealing any information, their species (one Tilthan and three batarians) proved their Covenant affiliation. The fifth who escaped the lockdown would ultimately be found by a Sanctum naval patrol attempting to cross the border, chasing him back into Sanctum space. While he would elude them, he realized his escape was impossible, and committed suicide: his body was found by the patrol the next day when they found his ship floating in space.

In the end, the operation, while it had ended in the deaths of over a hundred people and injured hundreds of others, also dealing significant damage to the Spire, had proven to be a strategic failure for the Covenant, as the heightened period of tensions between the Sanctum and the Dominion did not last more than two months, and was resolved with the successful capture of four of the six bombers, and the eventual deaths of all of them, with one killed during the operation, four more after capture, and the sixth committing suicide to avoid capture. Damage to the Spire was repaired within months, and while a quarter of the parliament had been killed, they had failed to eliminate Sata T'Loak herself, who would go on to galvanize public opinion further against the Covenant, and squashed any talks of war with the Dominion. Regardless however of the failure of the bombings to trigger the response the Covenant had desired, the effect it had on the Sanctum as a whole was profoundly felt for years to come, and ultimately became the only major terrorist attack conducted on Alpha in its entire history.