New chapter. This one is longer as the Elite forces begin their defensive battle to hold the ground of Fondor. Thanks to all reviewers and to all readers.

Heavy laser blasts crashed into the bulwarks of the choke point. For the Covenant, the beginnings of Operation: SNAKEHEAD had begun. Huge numbers of the GA military hurled themselves into the attack on the fortified positions, their blasterfire and tank support immediately causing problems. The Elites had taken the opportunity afforded by their delaying tactics to dig in into this new area which consisted of a large building that had formerly been one of the largest communications suites on the planet. It had already been a somewhat fortified stronghold, with large thick walls and few entrances, but the Elites had brought in shield generators and Shades along with multiple fixed plasma cannons. Grunts armed with Fuel Rod cannons lined the roof and snipers kept a clear watch out of the windows. Unfortunately the shields, while effective, were not very big. At most they could shield sections of the second story. What made things worse was that they could be overwhelmed if enough fire was directed on them. But they did have other defences as well.

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Cannon fire impacted on the hastily improvised barriers that had been set up.

"Return fire!" the Zealot in charge of the defence screamed at his subordinates.

From a thousand niches all over the structure came plasma streams, superheated matter charges, crystalline needles and best yet the bars of energy that were lethal to armour. Impacts shot up from the ground as the first set of cannon fire and plasma streams crashed into the attackers. With cries of orders the GA troops dived for cover, or foolishly tried to return fire against their enemies. Those who hid lived, those who didn't were mown down where they stood by the heavy plasma cannons of the Shade defence turrets. The Shades then turned their attention to the halted armour column. As soon as the order had come through, the Grunts with the Fuel Rod Cannons had immediately targeted the lead heavy tanks. The T-5b class tanks had been crippled in seconds and deadly sniper fire had dealt with any who had tried to escape the barrage. It was a choke point and it lived up to the tactical title. Behind it stretched a column of men and armour, backed up for the moment while their forward units were hit with lethal fire.

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In his headquarters the Field Master allowed a small grin to cross his face as he regarded the reports sent to him from his forward officers. On the screen before him he had accurately managed to display a tactical readout of the battle. It would be a while, exact times were hard to gauge, before the GA managed to get out from the stoppered column and reorganize for bypassing the chokepoint, by which time his secondary choke points would have come into play. It was always the problem, trying to move large numbers of troops into a battle zone. From what the Supreme Commander had read from their histories, he knew that in the wars here, taking an entire planet was never manageable by any army. Most anyone ever did was to capture strategic points and then after the planets surrender spread control. He was not expecting a dangerous assault on any other part of the planet, the majority of the major centres were on this side of the planet, but he had not discounted a second attack on these stations from the rear. Plus he had not forgotten the Supreme Commanders warning of covert units attempting to infiltrate his position. He spared a glance for the four Hunters that had been assigned to protect his command centre and smiled tightly at that.

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The GA reacted quickly enough. They rallied first of all and began to use their cover better for their advance. Ducking and dodging forward they kept moving towards the locations of the Covenant defenders. Equally so they seemed to have gotten a better cohesion between the various forces at their disposal, for within moments of them being pinned down they had summoned several attack air speeders and were coming in over the tops of the surrounding buildings. However, the Field Master had seen to that and AA fire began to pump up into the sky from the collection of AA Wraiths that were dotted around the area. The extra defence immediately caused the air speeders to break off the attack and go into evasive manoeuvres. It was a successful defence then as Banshees arrived in a swarm. With an aerial battle going on overhead with at least a hundred vehicles the Elites kept up their defensive combat.

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The first squads of the 105th Assault Battalion broke cover and crossed the divide from the overturned speeder they were cowering behind to the alleys on the side of the street. Once inside they began flanking manoeuvres towards the side streets , hoping to get past where the Elites should have been concentrating on the road behind them. As they walked slowly down the deserted street, blaster rifles at the ready, they never noticed the figure crouched on one of the roofs further down the road. With a short, sharp movement, the Sangheili had locked one of the leading Rodians in his sights and put a single beam rifle shot through his left eye. Out of the surrounding buildings came a steady stream of lethal plasma fire. Back in their favoured situation the medium ranged plasma rifles again took precedent.

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A few streets back the GA were advancing one of their heavy Mobile Artillery Platforms-Torpedo into position for the shelling of the defensive point. However just as they manoeuvred it into the final position the sewer covering underneath the undercarriage popped open, if even slightly. A Grunt head slid up. A quick glance around told the Grunt Sergeant what he needed to know. Without anyone realising, a pair of small, stubby arms came up out of the hatch and latched a package onto the bottom of the giant machine. As the Grunt scurried, squealing with glee, back down the sewer line a terrific flash lit up the sky as the artillery piece blew up. Back at the base the Zealot lowered the zoom on his lenses and muttered, "Thank the gods that the Grunts can go into those tiny holes."

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But the snake that was the GA advance was not yet without a sting. As soon as word reached an officer who could order such a move, the GA broke its advance line an moved out. Spreading out from the main street they moved into the side streets and passed down the other large streets. As soon as the Field Master heard it was happening, he gave the order for the second stage to commence.

Next chapter should feature some more space battle as well as the return of the Supreme Commander to the fore.