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First Battle of Alamo 1

Part 3

The UNSC soldiers on the city walls were able to relax once the last Covenant assault had ended. They knew that the Covenant were not going to give up so easily and that they were probably preparing for round two. "What do you think their next move will be sir," Fred asked the colonel. Colonel Heath-118 didn't answer immediately as he was looking out onto the battlefield. "I don't know Fred, let's see to the wounded for now, but keep some soldiers watching just in case."

"Yes sir," Fred replied. He saluted and the colonel returned the salute. A UNSC Army private first class walked up to the colonel and saluted him, the colonel returned the salute.

"Sir, Lord Hood would like to see you and the chief," the PFC told the colonel.

"Thank you private," the colonel replied. "Fred, you're in command while we're gone."

"Yes sir," he said saluting and Heath returned the salute. The colonel and the Master Chief headed to the pyramid and they entered the pyramid a few minutes later. They descended into the bowels of the Earth were they were met by four MPs. They showed the colonel and the Master Chief to the control room. They entered the control room and saluted Lord Hood, Admiral Grayson, Lieutenant Colonel Murphy, and Commander Jenny. They returned the salute to the two Spartans.

"I hear you beat off the first two Covenant assaults colonel," Lord Hood asked them.

"Yes sir," Colonel Horton replied.

"Colonel, what do you think will happen next?" Commander Jenny Hood asked.

"I know the Covenant needs to take out our defensive weapons, especially the MAC Guns and our other air defenses so their Phantoms could land or a cruiser could hover over the city and send down troops to take the city," the colonel answered.

"The MAC Guns are spread out all over the place, how could the Covenant take them all offline?" Lieutenant Colonel Murphy asked.

"They did it on Reach, but there was no MAC Guns on the surface. I think the Covenant will eventually get through our defenses."

"Master Chief, what do you think?" Admiral Grayson asked.

"I agree with the colonel, sir" the Master Chief replied.

"Colonel, whatever you suggest to defend this city, base, and citizens; we'll do it," Lord Hood told him.

"Thank you sir, now if you would excuse me, I should return to the front lines," the colonel replied. The Master Chief and the colonel returned to the cities walls. "Any sign of the Covenant Fred?" Fred was watching no man's land as the UNSC marines were gathering weapons and bodies, if there was anything left of the UNSC bodies, from outside of the wall.

"No sir," Fred replied.

"Keep alert," Heath told him.

"Yes sir," Fred replied, giving him a fast salute. The colonel returned the salute in kind.

"Fred, get all the surviving Spartans together. Major Rhodes, gather Sergeant Buck and his team along with your team," Colonel Heath-118 told them.

"Yes sir," they replied. They gathered all the Spartans, Sergeant Buck's team, and Major Rhodes men. The Spartans and the ODSTs stood at attention.

"The Covenant wants those weapon emplacements taken out. Our objective is to make sure that doesn't happen," the colonel told them. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

"Sir, why don't we take the fight to the Covenant for a change," Major Rhodes suggested.

"That could work major, I'll take that under advisement," Colonel Heath replied. "Anyone else has any more ideas?"

"Sir, why don't we do what Major Rhodes suggested?" Fred asked.

"I plan on doing just that, but we need to guard the two generators that are near here, as well as the defensive armaments near the wall," Colonel Heath-118 told them.

"That'll take some work, there's a lot of defensive weapon emplacements," Fred said.

"Yes I know, some of them are along the walls, but we need to make sure the MAC guns stay safe and that any area that'll make good landing zones for Covenant aircraft are covered."

"Yes sir," they replied.

"When do we attack the Covenant encampment?" Master Chief asked.

"Tonight," the colonel answered. In the meantime Spartan-118 headed to one of the anti-aircraft batteries. Two UNSC Army soldiers stood up at attention as he arrived on the roof. The colonel looked around and saw several missile pods stationed around the two anti-aircraft batteries. The colonel knew that the missile pods might not be able to destroy a Seraph fighter, but they'll be able to take out the Banshees, Phantoms, and Vampires. The anti-aircraft batteries on the other hand, were a different story. The colonel and the other Spartans looked over the defenses of the city to make sure there weren't any breeches or any Covenant soldiers hiding and waiting to sabotage any of the defenses.

That night, five Spartans, three squads of UNSC Army soldiers, four squads of UNSC Marines, and two teams of ODST's were preparing for a mission on top of the wall. The two teams of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, aka ODST's, had six men in each team. The colonel looked at the five Spartans he selected for the mission, a majority of them were Spartan-IV's except for Jason. "Chief, stay alert; the Covenant may send in Zealots to try and take out the generators for the MAC guns on the wall and a few, if not all, of the anti-aircraft batteries," the colonel said to him.

"Sir, there's over a hundred anti-aircraft batteries all over this city, they couldn't possibly take them all out," Major Rhodes said.

"He's not talking about all the anti-aircraft batteries, just the ones that are protecting areas that will make good landing zones for Covenant drop ships," the chief replied. "Don't worry sir, you can count on us."

"I know I can chief, just make sure those generators are protected."

"Yes sir," the chief replied.

"We'll see you in a couple of hours Master Chief," Spartan-118 told him. They threw a ladder down and the colonel was the first one over the wall; he was waiting for the others to join him in No Man's Land as they all joined him at the bottom of the wall. They made their way across No Man's Land using destroyed Wraiths, Ghost, Prowlers, Locust, Choppers, and Revenants for cover as they made their way towards the Covenant encampment. They also saw plenty of dead Covenant soldiers, the wreaked hulls of enemy Banshees and Seraph fighters, along with several smoking hulls of enemy Phantoms and Sprits. "At least they don't have any Banshees in the air," an army soldier marked.

"They probably do at their encampment which is well beyond our anti-air umbrella," Colonel Horton (which is Spartan-118) replied. They made their way towards where the colonel saw the Elite general during the battle earlier. As they climbed the hill they saw a dozen Elites in blue armor and a single Elite in red armor who were not even watching where the UNSC forces were coming from. The Spartans and the other UNSC soldiers with them unsheathed their knives and prepared to assassinate the Elites. They approach the Elites from behind and assassinated all of them. They still had at least two miles to go to get to another hill before they had to crawl on their bellies to a position that overlooks where satellites had confirmed a large Covenant encampment. The colonel, Major Rhodes, and several others took out binoculars to recon the area from atop the first hill.

"Sir, is that a Spire?" A UNSC Marine corporal asked.

"Yup, that's a Spire alright, at least several miles away. They could be cloaking even more troops then we thought were out here. They don't just have one Spire; I count at least three, maybe four."

"What are you planning sir," an UNSC army trooper asked him.

"Tomorrow Lord Hood is planning to send an UNSC Frigate to make a dent into the Covenant invasion plans. What do you think would happen if we just destroy the Spires?"

"Sir, do you think they have anti-aircraft batteries sat up," Major Rhodes asked.

"Yes, so if we just take out the Spires and leave the anti-aircraft batteries sat up, then the frigate will be destroyed. So were going to take them all out tonight. Here's the plan, I'll lead a squad of Army soldiers along with a team of ODSTs, the other Spartans will lead the other teams to make sure our goals get accomplish. First the triple-A batteries must be neutralized and then the Spires."

"Yes sir," they replied. They start to head in different directions while the night was still young.

"Major Rhodes, your team will assist me," Colonel Heath-118 told him.

"Yes sir," Major Rhodes answered. They headed for the Spire that might be the hardest to take out. They passed through the Covenant energy cloaking shield. On the other side they see thousands of parked enemy vehicles consisting of Ghost, both variants of Wraiths, Banshees, Vampires, Choppers, Prowlers, Locust, Shadows, several parked Phantoms, Sprits, Revenants and even six Scarabs. The colonel kept an eye on his motion tractor and caught a glimpse of an Elite minor patrolling the area. He unsheathed his knife and came up behind the Elite and assassinated him. The ODSTs following behind him split up and assassinated the other Covenant troops guarding the motor pool, and then they got to work on setting explosives in and on the vehicles. Colonel Heath-118 made sure he planted explosives in each of the Scarabs, plus he assassinated several more Elite minors that were returning from a patrol. He took them out one at a time and they didn't even know what was happening. The colonel gave the ODSTs about forty-five minutes to place explosives in the vehicles where they wouldn't be spotted and then he sat a rally point in their HUDs. Once the ODSTs were present, they continued on towards the Tyrant. The colonel knows that each triple-A battery is probably defended by a company of Covenant troops, mostly Grunts and Jackals; as well as several Elites mounted on Ghosts and several pairs of Hunters were guarding the Tyrant. He remembered that Dr. Halsey told him that all the new MJOLNIR Armor system had active camouflage, armor lock, and hologram mounted on them. He activated the active camouflage and proceeded on towards the first triple-A battery. None of the Covenant infantry saw him, not even the Elite general watching the area saw him. The colonel came up behind the Elite General and assassinated him before he planted an explosive charge inside of the Tyrant. He did the same thing to the next Tyrant and then to a third. He reached where the ODST's were waiting for him and together they headed for the Spire. Once at the Spire he received a signal from the others informing him that they have gotten to their Spire without alerting any of the Covenant to their presents, but now quiet time is over so it was time to bring the pain. The colonel looked up and saw five Banshees patrolling the area. He had five of the Army soldiers use their Jackhammers to blow the enemy fighters out of the air. The five Banshees were destroyed with a missile left in the tube, so they fired the remaining missiles at the shade turrets guarding the Spire. They then threw fragmentation grenades into a large group of Grunts and Jackals that were moving in the opposite direction. A massive firefight followed and by the time they reach the top of the Spire, four UNSC Army soldiers and two ODST's were killed. He heard a report that a Spartan-IV was killed trying to take out a Zealot that was assigned to guard one of the Spires. The surviving soldiers under the colonel's command prepared for a counter-attack and the colonel informed the others to do the same.

On board a Covenant Destroyer an elite monitoring the ships over and near the Sahara Desert saw that the scanners had detected a human ship heading straight for the encampment. The human ship would reach the area before they could and there was no way to warn the Supercarrier on the ground, it would be totally defensive when the human ship arrived, but the Covenant destroyer would be able to avenge its fallen brothers if they get there in time.

The colonel and the others at each of the four Spires had held off several counter attacks and the sun had just started to rise when he pressed the button to detonate the AA batteries and override the towers shields and the cloak. Lord Hood sent in three Pelicans supported by Falcons, Longswords, and Hornets to evac the colonel and his men. The Longswords cleared a path through the enemy aircraft while the Hornets, Falcons and Pelicans headed on to the Spires. Colonel Heath-118 looked up and saw the UNSC ship appear. The UNSC ship fired its MAC guns at the Covenant Supercarrier. The Spartans and the UNSC soldiers that came with them boarded the Falcons and Pelicans and headed back to base. The colonel was on the last aircraft and so he pressed the final detonator, destroying the Spires and killing a lot of Covenant foot soldiers on the ground below. Onboard the Covenant Supercarrier they are desperately trying to save there ship, but the MAC rounds kept tearing through Supercarriers skeletal structure since they didn't have time to raise their shields. Once the Covenant Supercarrier was destroyed the UNSC ship started to head back to the base, but it didn't get far before the Covenant Destroyer hit the UNSC ship with their plasma weaponry. However, before the UNSC ship was destroyed, it managed to launch the escape pods along with several transports. The Pelicans and Falcons headed to base. The Covenant Destroyer didn't plan to get within range of the bases Super MAC guns, but they did. A single round from one of the bases Super MAC guns hit the Covenant Destroyer but didn't destroy it. The Covenant Destroyer tried to head back towards space, but their navigation systems were offline and they came within range of another UNSC base in India, were it finally got shot down and ended up crashing into the jungle. Lord Hood would later send a team to check if anything could be salvaged from the destroyed ship later. The Covenant ground troops watched as escape pods from the UNSC ship start to head for different parts of the desert an Elite general ordered that they kill every human that escaped from the ship in revenge for the deaths of their brothers on board their own ships. Covenant troops began boarding Phantoms and Spirits as others boarded Ghosts and Revenants as they made their way to kill the human survivors. On board one of the Pelicans, Lord Hood contacted Spartan-118 and informed him that the Covenant were moving towards the escape pods. Colonel Heath-118 ordered the Pelicans to head towards the first escape pod. The pilot told him that they were closing in on the first escape pod. They opened the Pelicans back door as the Pelican touched down and the colonel, along with the rest of the passengers, exited the Pelican and once the last soldier was off it headed back into the sky to provide air support. The colonel, Major Rhodes, and sixteen UNSC soldiers, along with three other Spartans, headed towards the first escape pod.

"Be advised colonel, a large force of Ghosts are heading right for the first escape pod," the pilot in one of the overhead Pelicans told him over the comms. Colonel Heath-118 turned to the others that were with him.

"Let's ambush those Ghosts." They all nodded their heads. Spartan-118 and the men with him got into position. A few minutes ticked by before Heath spotted the Ghosts. The colonel had a Jackhammer aimed right at the spot where he wanted to the ambush to take place. He waited for the first Ghost to reach the point and fired. He fired the second tube which struck the second Ghost, then a half dozen rounds from the other Jackhammer launchers smashed into the other Ghosts before they even knew what was happening and second volley followed the first, which destroyed even more Ghosts. The surviving Ghosts headed back towards their own lines. The colonel contacted several Hornets and Vultures in the sky and told them to finish off the Ghost, but warned them to watch out for enemy aircraft and AA batteries. Suddenly several UNSC soldiers were hit in the back by plasma fire. The Spartans and the other UNSC soldiers turned around and saw at least three dozen Covenant soldiers, most of them Grunts.

"How the hell did they sneak up on us like that," An Army soldier asked one of the Spartans.

"I don't know," the Spartan-IV, who the colonel thought was Spartan-A08 Brian, replied. The humans and the Covenant soldiers just stared at each other for a split second, just long enough for the colonel with his active camouflage engaged to come up behind the Elite officer and assassinate him. Still being invisible he shot the nearest Covenant troops before they could react. The other UNSC soldiers also opened up on the stunned Covenant soldiers. Only two more UNSC soldiers were killed by Elites plasma rifles before the last covenant fell. The skirmish with the Covenant foot soldiers only lasted about 58 seconds, maybe a minute, and afterwards they continued onto the first escape pod. They reached the first escape pod to find that the survivors in a firefight with Covenant foot soldiers. Jackals had their shields up in a wall formation with Elite minors and one Elite officer behind them. Colonel Heath-118 looked at the men he had with him and sees that two are armed with sniper rifles; they only have three Jackhammers left with two rockets for each launcher, and one Spartan Laser. The rest of the men, including the Spartans, are armed with other weapons including DMRs, Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles, Shotguns, SMGs and pistols. He told the snipers their job is to keep the Covenant heads pinned down once Spartan-A07 Lisa took out some of the Covenant with a charge shot from the Spartan Laser. Since they were up on a sandy ridge they have the advantage. Spartan-A07 charged up the Spartan Laser and fired it at the mass of Covenant soldiers firing upon the UNSC personal in the escape pod. The colonel watched with his helmets zoom as she got a multikill with the charge shot from the Spartan Laser. The Covenant were trying to figure out what happened but they were still clutching together so she fired again, resulting in more Covenant casualties. Several ODSTs under the command of Captain Rhodes have snuck behind the Covenant soldiers positions while Lisa kept them occupied with the Spartan Laser. They threw grenades into the Covenant ranks, and then they followed up with small arms fire. Every Covenant soldier was killed. Eight people came out of the escape pod, two of them were wounded. Four of the survivors were UNSC marines and the other four where navy personal. A Pelican arrived to take them back to Alamo 1 and the colonel and the others headed for the second escape pod.

"April, how many escape pods are there?" The colonel asked over a private com to her.

"Thirty-six pods and two down Pelicans," April replied. The colonel decided to divide his team into three groups. He told one group that they would have 15 escape pods to recover, he told the other group they had 15 escape pods and that him and the rest would get the rest of the pods and one of the downed Pelicans, then they would get to the last Pelican together. They split off once again and Captain Rhodes is still accompanying Spartan-118. It took several hours to reach all the escape pods and fight the Covenant troops that tried to stop them, but with some Grizzlies, Warthogs, and some air support they managed to stop the Covenant. The escape pods that the colonel and his team went to afterwards they found all but two still with survivors, and no Covenant arrived to stop them. The first Pelican was a different story all together. The survivors were already in a firefight with Covenant foot soldiers. Mostly Grunts and Jackals were present, but there were supported by thirty Elites. The colonel had only two Grizzly tanks and three Warthogs. He ordered the Grizzly's to fire on the Covenant and keep their heads pinned down while the Warthogs go into the fray and shield the UNSC soldier in the Pelicans from further attack, but just as the tanks started to get into position a Scarab appeared. "Well fuck," the colonel said. He asked April for a detail image of the Scarab and if any Covenant were supporting it. April brought up the image onto his HUD. He saw six Locust, three dozen Ghost and maybe a dozen Revenants supporting the Scarab, along with several Shadows. He also saw Banshees flying around the Scarab.

"What are we going to do sir?" Major Rhodes asked him.

"We're going to take that Scarab out," Colonel Heath-118 replied.

"How are we going to do that," a UNSC Army soldier asked him.

"April, how far is the Scarab from the crash site?"

"Forty-six minutes out colonel," April responded.

"Can you send some Longswords to keep the Scarab busy for a few minutes to gives us some time to lay a trap for them?"

"Affirmative colonel, we'll give you whatever you need," Lord Hood told him.

"Thank you admiral," Colonel Heath-118 replied. The colonel watched as six Longswords and three Hornets headed to engage the enemy Scarab. Colonel Heath-118 talked the other officers with him. "Alright, we need another plan. Do any of you have any suggestions or a plan?"

"Sir, we thought you might have a plan." the others replied.

"As a matter a fact, I do," he answered. "I want the tanks to focus on the Scarab while the infantry focus on the Covenant vehicles and ground troops. I want a team to get the laser designator out and laser targets for a missile strike. Let's get to work." The tanks headed towards a vantage point from which they could fire upon the Scarab but couldn't be fired upon. UNSC marines equipped with the new M25 Rocket Launcher, which fires six rockets instead of two, head to their assigned position along with a Spartan-IV. On the colonel's signal, the fighters returned to base. Once the Scarab got within range, the colonel gave the order to fire. The tanks fired on the Scarab's legs as the Warthogs rode in to deal with the Covenant infantry. Each of the Covenant Vehicles was targeted by the sniper and rocket teams. Major Rhodes held the laser designator on the Scarab and missiles from base destroyed the Scarab. The destroyed Scarab landed on several Covenant vehicles that were trying to escape. The remaining tanks and Warthogs dealt with the surviving Covenant. After the last Covenant soldier was killed, Pelicans and Falcons arrived to transport the surviving soldiers and vehicles back to the base. The colonel and the rest were glad to get some chow and get a few hours of sleep before the Covenant launched another attack on the city/base.

A day later, twenty-seven Pelicans arrived from Egypt to help reinforce the base/city. Lord Torrance Hood ordered every male from 18-56 to be armed and sent to defend the city/base. Many of the civilians of Alamo 1 were ready to do their part to stop the Covenant and were glad to be drafted into service. Colonel Heath-118 estimated that the UNSC forces in the city of Alamo 1 had numbers close to maybe a million men and women against millions of Covenant, plus enough firepower in space to turn the entire Earth into glass. Last night they stopped a group of Covenant Special OPS teams from taking out some of the bases defenses. He was thankful that no Spartans were killed, but they did have twenty-five casualties. Fifteen killed and the rest wounded. The Covenant launched their second assault on the city about 0800 hours. The Covenant hoped to launched a surprise attack on the base/city, but April and Cortana warned the base defenders and they had a big surprise waiting for the Covies. The naval guns pounded the advancing Covenant troops before the tanks, artillery, and other mounted weapons in the UNSC arsenal opened up. Several hundred Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers, Brutes, Hunters, and even Elites were killed, but they kept coming. Once again the Elite General sent in Banshees, Vampires, and Seraph fighters to support the attack, but once again they were being blown out of the sky by the base/city ant-air defenses. A Scorpion blew a Brute in half before killing four more brutes along with sixteen Grunts and Jackals before the tank was destroyed from multiple hits from a Wraith tanks plasma mortar. Covenant troops were still taking heavy losses, but they managed to get onto the wall before being cut down, even though they killed some of the defenders. Plenty of Revenants, Wraiths, Choppers, and Specters were destroyed by the combined firepower of all the defending tanks, artillery, naval guns, artillery pieces, Rhinos, Cobras, and anti-armor launchers. The Elite in charge of the attack on the base ordered his vehicles to retreat. The Elite General sent in fresh troops, he knew that if they could get enough troops underneath the wall then they would be able to push over the wall with sheer numbers. As the Covenant Infantry approached the wall, they experienced heavy causalities, some even hit mines. A Spartan-IV was wounded and was ordered back to the medical area. The Covenant began throwing ropes and using ladders along with the grav lifts to get atop the wall. Most of the Grunts, Elites and Brutes were killed as they scaled the walls, but the defenders had to expose themselves to the Covenant on the ground, so the Covenant were inflicting casualties on the humans too. Colonel Heath-118 ordered them to throw grenades down into the mass of Covenant forces below the walls. Another tank blew a Brute in half. Four Brute minors got into a shell crater, but were blown to pieces when a mortar shell landed in the shell crater. More Brutes were cut to shreds by tanks, artillery, mortars, and small arms fire from the defenders on the walls of the city until they got right up against the wall where the vehicles couldn't fire on them and the UNSC soldiers on the wall couldn't fire on them unless they exposed themselves to Covenant plasma fire, but the UNSC could still drop grenades on them, which they did, and they killed plenty of Covenant soldiers with them.

So far the Elite General had been hesitant on using vehicles again, but he finally decided to send in two hundred Wraiths to support the attack. Most of the Wraiths were destroyed before they could get into range. The Wraith tanks fired their plasma mortars at the city walls; some of the rounds landed outside of the walls resulting in more Covenant casualties, some landed behind the wall and some landed on the walls, killing UNSC soldiers and destroying some of the vehicles and artillery that were placed on the walls. The plasma rounds also killed some of the Covenant forces that managed to get onto the wall. The crews of the vehicles were pulled free and then helped to defender the city without their armor. Some of the plasma mortars landed behind the walls got lucky and hit the bunkers and artillery. Colonel Heath-118 killed many of the Covenant soldiers heading for the wall with his kills consisting of Elites, Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers, Drones, and Brutes with no power armor. An Elite came at him firing his plasma repeater, but the colonel fired his assault rifle at the attacking Elite. The Elites shields failed and then he was eliminated by a hell of lead; two more Elites came at the colonel, but they too met their fate at the hands of the colonel's assault rifle. He threw a fragmentation grenade at a bunch of Jackals that were heading towards one of the bunkers outside of the walls still maned by UNSC soldiers. He then picked up a Jackhammer and fired it at several Hunters coming towards the bunker. He then radioed the men in the bunker to retreat back into the city. They left the safety of the bunker through an underground entrance. Several Skirmishers with Needle Rifles jumped on top of the bunker's roof and began firing on the defenders, killing several UNSC soldier with headshots. The UNSC soldiers armed with DMRs and Battle Rifles began shooting the Skirmishers. The colonel shot one of the Skirmishers that tried to jump onto the battlements with his MA5D Assault Rifle. He then killed several more Skirmishers and they fall back over the wall and he also killed an Elite warrior that had just knocked several UNSC soldiers unconscious. Medics hurried to revive the unconscious soldiers. One medic was killed while he was helping a wounded UNSC Army soldier, but Colonel Heath-118 killed the Elite warrior. The Brute Chieftain looked at the Elite General in charge of the attack after he saw many of his pack brothers' were being killed by the defenders. . "You've killed a lot of my troops again, and just because of our betrayal in the last war."

"Yes, this will teach you to never betray us again," the Elite General replied before ordering all of his troop's forwards, except for the Ghosts. Wraith tanks were approaching the base, but several of the tanks are destroyed by the heavy weapon emplacements and the vehicles on the walls. One of the smaller MAC Guns destroyed a column of covenant troops starting with some Jackals who were in a shield wall formation, and then behind them a battalion size force of Grunts with their Sangheili leaders. Only a small number of them survived the salvo. Colonel Heath fired his MA5D assault rifle at a whole bunch of Grunts and Elite Minors heading for the wall. Several Elite Minors threw ropes onto the walls and began to climb, but Heath and other UNSC soldiers killed most of the Covenant soldiers as they began to climb the wall by cutting the ropes. A marine is killed by a plasma bolt to the head and he fell off the wall with a frag grenade in his hand. The grenade exploded, killing several Covenant foot soldiers and wounded several others. Three Elite Minors along with an Elite officer that had just arrived on the battlements rushed towards several marines that were wounded from a plasma mortars blast from a Wraith tank just before it was destroyed. The UNSC marines were all on the ground beside a destroyed Rhino. Spartan-H058 Adam, a Spartan-IV armed with the MA5B, rushed to defend the wounded marines. He fired his MA5B at the first Elite Minor, the Elite's shields crackling and failed and then the rounds tore through the Elite, killing him. Several Grunts came charging at him and he killed them too. He reloaded his assault rifle as the second Elite came right at him; He killed him as well. The third Elite fired his plasma rifle at Adam, but the plasma bolts only hit his shields, Adam fired the rest of the magazine in his assault rifle at the Elite Minor. The Elite Officer was the last to be dispatched, Adam using his pistol to finish him off. It took the entire magazine to finally kill the Elite Officer though. Once the Elites were taken care of, five UNSC marines helped the wounded marines off the battlements and onto an awaiting transport Warthog for the trip to the hospital. Once the wounded marines were on the Transport Warthog the marines return to the battlements. Several UNSC soldiers, a mix of army and Marine Corps, were blown off the battlements from the impact of a plasma mortar from one of the Wraith tanks that were still out there. Several of the smaller MAC guns destroyed several of the wraiths that strayed too close. The colonel just finished dispatching sixteen Drones when he heard April's voice in his helmet speakers.

"Colonel, I'm going to power down the MAC guns for a while, we're having some trouble with them," April told Colonel Heath-118 over his private comms as the MAC guns go offline. The Covenant Cruiser that was well outside of all the MAC guns effective ranges launched a hundred Phantoms and Sprits. The naval guns were still pounding away at the Covenant infantry and armor within range. Most of the Covenant armor begin to retreat, but were still taking heavy losses. Some of the enemy vehicles are disabled by a new EMP shell, so they were sitting ducks for HE (high explosive) and AP (armor piercing) shells. Banshees and Seraph fighters had been trying to take them out, but they keep getting shot out of the sky by the base/city anti-air defenses. The Phantoms unloaded the Covenant troops and armor they were carrying at the Covenant encampment. The Master Chief came up behind an Elite in Gold Armor and assassinated him, and then kill at least twenty Grunts and two Jackals with head shots from his BR55 Battle Rifle. He also killed several Elite Officers and two Elite Minors. The chief and an ODST dispatched a dozen of Covenant troops outside of the cities/base walls with headshots. United Nations Space Command soldiers are fighting hard against the Covenant infantry on the battlements and the Covenant approaching the city/base walls and they had been inflecting heavy casualties on the Covenant. However, the Covenant had managed to kill many of the UNSC soldiers, but the UNSC still had several things working for them. They had the city walls, which are hard to scale, the Spartans and all kinds of weaponry. Colonel Heath-118 shot an Elite Minor as he was flying through the air of a grav lift. The Elite fell on the other side of the battlements, dead. The colonel then dropped a grenade onto the grav lift, killing several Grunts and Jackals that were waiting for the signal to use it. Heath didn't see the Elite with an ignited energy sword coming up behind him since he was busy shooting Covenant troops. The chief saw the Elite fixing the strike the colonel and came up behind the Covenant soldier and snapped his neck. "Thanks chief," the colonel told him. The chief gave him a thumbs up. The Elite general ordered a retreat of his forces for the third time since they had begun their attack. This time the UNSC forces held their fire to conserve their ammunition. A majority of the Covenant on the battlements are Grunts and Jackals, with the exception of about six dozen Elites and thirty two Brutes. The UNSC soldiers finished off any Covenant soldier left on the battlements. Several of the Covenant troops still managed to jump off the battlements, but they broke their legs due to the long fall, and some even killed themselves. Heath looked around and saw plenty of dead Covenant soldiers, both inside and outside of the UNSC base. Most of the Triple-A batteries were still functional, along with the naval and MAC guns. Only four of the one hundred-ninety towers holding both the naval guns and automated anti-personal turrets were destroyed. Only twenty AA batteries that protect both the MAC Guns and the towers were destroyed. Three Scorpions, six Rhinos, five Cobras, 4 Wolverines, and 2 Grizzlies were destroyed by a combination of Covenant armor and air support. He saw that one of the smaller MAC Guns had been destroyed by some Seraphs and Banshees committing suicide. A private then came up to him. "Sir, Lord Hood would like an update."

"Thank you private," Heath responds. "Chief, let's go have a word with the admiral." They head back, leaving Major Rhodes in charge. They gave their report to Lord Hood and the base commander then they returned to the city walls where Major Rhodes told them that it's been quiet so far. Colonel Heath ordered that ammo be given out to all soldiers and to make sure that all the anti-air, anti-vehicle, and anti-personal defenses were refilled with ammunition because he believed that the next attack would be the biggest one they've seen. At the Covenant camp, Covenant infantry had been arriving in mass over the last several hours. They had brought more vehicles with them, including twenty Scarabs and sixty Locusts. The Elite General hoped that the forces would be enough to break through the city/base walls and take the city. He had nearly thirty thousand Covenant soldiers consisting of Elites, Brutes, Jackals, Skirmishers, Grunts, Hunters, and Drones to support his vehicles. The Elite general decided that he was not going to use his air power since their defenses were too great, therefore he's going to send in every vehicle he has to destroy several sections in the wall so his troops can enter the city/base and take out their air defenses from the ground since a majority of the city/base air defenses can only fire on air units and not infantry. As soon as the air defenses are down Phantoms and Sprit dropships can land reinforcements inside of the base and Seraph and Banshee fighters can provide air cover for his infantry. His forces are still arriving, but with his forces current strength they wouldn't be able to breech the UNSC defenses, so he chose to delay the attack for another two hours. Master Chief John-117 and Colonel Heath-118 were making their rounds, making sure that all the UNSC soldiers on the walls are ready for the next attack and ammo is passed out to the soldiers that need it. Many UNSC soldiers were wounded, but were still able to fight, and they'll keep fighting until death takes them.

Author Note: I like to thank those who have taken the time to read this story. I also like to think my beta-reader for his help fixing the story to make it even better.