There was a skirmish, some battles, but we were completely unprepared for the scale of what the Covenant brought. Harvest was retaken in time. [ A slight shake of his head. ] Or what was left of it, at least.

[ As for the term glassing, well. ]

When they were done with a planet, the terrain would be unrecognizable. Every inch of it, literally melted and fused into silica glass.