The Second Human-Covenant War

by Supreme Commander

Sixteen years have passed since the end of Halo 3. A new leader has arise while the Arbiter was absence looking for John-117 and while he was gone he formed a new Covenant Empire. The new leader decides to attack Earth and enslave humanity for a new Covenant Empire. The Master Chief and the Spartan survivors have to fight a 2nd war. Its all or nothing victory or death.

23. Chapter 23: Battle of New Orelands

A/N: Sorry for the delay and all of updating this story, been busy working on my own novels, but should be updating the story a little more often. thanks to all who have reviewed, favorite, and follow.

Battle of New Orelands

Five Days after the events of the Ambush of Copperhead Platoon

Colonel Thompson and Georgia company are enroute to staging area 25 miles from New Orland, Louisiana. The Covenant attacked 50 miles from New Oreland's finally revealing themselves to the UNSC even though the attack failed Lieutenant General Eisenhower has ordered an immediate response to defeat the disease before it has time to spread. However, General Eisenhower underestimated the enemy defense and are stopped 25 miles from the city by a large Covenant force. The battle ended in a draw with the Covenant retreating to the city. The Pelicans with Georgia Company onboard touchdown on a temporary airfield outside of the UNSC encampment. Major Paul Lord is there to greet them. Major Lord commands Louisiana Company one of Georgia Companies sister companies while Captain Smith commands Kentucky Company. Colonel Thompson and Major Lord shake hands. "William, tell your officers to follow us General Eisenhower has summon a briefing." Colonel Thompson gather his officers and they head towards the command post. He watched as two Pelicans land and soldiers exit from the dropships but not just any soldiers Spartans. Colonel William Thompson didn't recognize any of them, so he guesses there are all Spartan-IVs. He arrives at the general's tent with his platoon leaders and his XO. "Welcome gentleman our mission is to destroy the Covenant battlecruiser hovering above a section of the city. Major Maindeem, your company will be the ones to assault the battlecruiser expect heavy resistance even after we draw majority of their forces to us. You do not want to move until we neutralize the Tyrants. Colonel Thompson, you will take your company and take out this Tyrant." He says pointing to a Tyrant position on the hologram map. He turns to Major Lord, "You have the Tyrant to the right of them." Major Lord nods. "Captain Smith, you have the Tyrant next to Major Lord."

"Yes sir," Captain Smith replies.

"Once all the Tyrants are under our control I'll send reinforcements to strengthen your positions you must hold those positions at all cost. I will position the artillery not far from the city outskirts to help support and to rain death on the Covenant. Remember our attack is the diversion to allow Major Maindeem and his company to reach the battlecruiser."

"Yes sir," they reply.

"Let's get it done people we have ourselves a war to win."

"Sir yes sir," they chant back and leave by the order of rank.

"Colonel Thompson, I like a word with you," General Eisenhower says.

"You might want to get back on your armor, I know you haven't warned it since the end of the war."

"Yes sir, is there anything else?" Colonel Thompson asks.

"Your company will be the tip of the spear. I know what you're going to say you don't have enough men since your lead platoon under the command of Lieutenant Jack Price has suffered heavy casualties. Carnage Platoon made the Covenant show their hand when they assassinated the enemy general. I'll assign a company of men from the 14th Infantry Division and replacements to bring your company up to full strength." Colonel Thompson hates the idea but as for the plan it sounds good. They'll take the row of Tyrants and hold until either the battlecruiser is destroyed or ordered to withdraw. He goes to find Major Rebekah-099 and Lieutenant Jack Price. He finds them briefing Carnage Platoon. "Lieutenant Price, a word," he says.

"Yes sir," he answers.

"Jack, the general informed me Georgia Company will be the tip of the spear. We're assign to a group of Tyrants 5 miles inside of the city. Once we secure the location we're to hold at all cost while other companies and battalions secure there's once they're secure will control one side of the city to the other. The general sending us replacements to bring Georgia up to full strength as well as a company from the 14th Infantry Division. I wish we have some more Spartan support, but most are busy within London."

"How's that battle going?"

"Don't know but from what I hear over the radio the UNSC is kicking their ass, but the Covenant are hitting back just as hard too."

"I'm sure they'll win with Spartan support." Jack replies.

"Your right lieutenant, before I forget you've been promoted to captain. Congratulations Captain Jack Price."

"Thank you, sir," he replies. His rank changes on his HUD.

"My pleasure captain, make sure your men are ready to move out in the morning."

"Yes sir," he replies saluting and Colonel Thompson returns the salute. He heads back to his men while Colonel Thompson goes and checks on the other platoon leaders. As soon as he arrived. Rebekah notice his HUD first.

"Congratulations captain," she says to him. Sergeant Major Dimitri hears her.

"The Old Man-made you captain what the hell is he's thinking," Dimitri says.

"I don't know but I'm promoting you to lieutenant and Anders to sergeant major," Jack replies.

"But I don't want to be an officer," Dimitri says.

"I don't care what you want you've been giving me a tough time since I became an officer so guess what you're going to be an officer."

"I'll see you later Jack," Rebekah says to him and with that she leaves. As they're preparing for the mission tomorrow. Thirty-four soldiers showed up.

"Is this Carnage Platoon?" A Specialist asks.

"Yes, this is Carnage Platoon and I'm Captain Jack Price your commanding officer." They go right to attention. In union, they said sir. "Who are you?"

"We're your replacements sir," the same specialist answers.

"Where they dug you out of?" Dimitri asks.

"Alamo 1, we were transfer here." A lance corporal says.

"Any of you seen combat before?"

"Yes sir, all 24 of us we fought the Covenant when they attack Alamo 1 with the Master Chief and Colonel Heath-118. They were awesome." A female soldier says.

"I'm sure they were but don't expect the same level of support from Spartans you had there rely on your own skills." Jacks says. "We're leaving in the morning get square away and get to sleep that goes for all of you."

"Sir yes sir," they chant. They head for their cots while Jack and Dimitri heads to the company's officers tent.

Dawn

The encampment is full of activity when most of Georgia Company woke up to their NCOs ordering them out of bed. Colonel Thompson exits from his tent with his morning cup of coffee in his hands. He has his MA5D Assault rifle on his back. He watches as pilots' head to their birds which include Falcons, Phoenix's, Sparrowhawks, and Hornets. They're the only air-support they're going to get until the Covenant Anti-Aircraft guns are neutralized. Major Rebekah comes up to him. "Good morning sir," she says.

"Good morning major, is the company ready?"

"Yes sir, Captain Price is getting them into formation now." Captain Jack Price has his platoon and the rest of the company in formation. His eyes feel on one of the new replacements he's about 6'2 and he's very muscular but that wasn't it he's holding a M68 ALIM Gauss Cannon.

"Corporal, how in hell are you able to hold that weapon?"

"I left weighs," he says.

"You must lift a ton of weights?"

"Yes sir," he replies.

"Carry on," Jack says.

"Yes sir," the corporal replies saluting. Jack returns the salute.

"Mount up troopers the party isn't going to wait for us."

"Sir yes sir," they chant. They head towards the companies' vehicles. The 2 companies from the 14th Infantry Division are already in their vehicles. Nine men from the 14th are in the Mammoth. Colonel Thompson arrives and every soldier he passes salutes him he returns the salute. He gets onboard the Mammoth which will serve as his command post during the engagement. He noticed 3 spare Warthogs and 6 Mantis in the cargo bay. Captain Jack Price takes the driver seat of an M12 Warthog while Lieutenant Dimitri Vasilyev takes the gunner seat of the new M46 Vulcan Light Anti-Aircraft gun and a lance corporal takes the passenger seat with a bipod for an LMG or a M247H machine-gun. The vehicles Colonel Thompson has at his disposal are: 14 tanks, 3 Rhinos, 22 Warthogs, 5 Kodiak APCs, 4 Gungooses, 3 M400 Kodiak, and 5 Wolverines. He knows once they receive word to advance the camp will be virtually undefended except for the general, his staff, and a security detail. General Eisenhower gives the order to begin the assault. They mount up and begin their assault. As they begin to approach the city outskirts they spot Covenant heading right for them. The colonel hears a soldier say. "Not again they're using the same tactic as they used yesterday." Colonel Thompson also recognized the formation it's the same one they used on Reach. He gets on his company's frequency. "We're to push through and get to the city allow the other units to focus on the Covenant. I'll see you at Rally Point Alpha." Captain Jack Price watched as Warthogs, Scorpions, and other vehicles speed up and head straight for the Covenant. He hears over their coms. "Maintain current speed." The UNSC and Covenant engaged one another a Brute Chopper blows into a Warthog destroying it. A Grizzly MBT destroys the Chopper though and 2 Revenants. Banshees and Vampires are getting blown out of the sky. A Falcon is blown out of the sky and falls onto a Warthog which of course destroys the vehicle in the process and kills the passengers too. Colonel William Thompson company mange to push through the cluster fuck. They however run into more enemy vehicles as they get closer to the city. Several Wraiths fire on them. "Rhinos, tanks, you have their armor. Warthogs you have the Ghost and Choppers." Colonel Thompson says over the companies' coms. The Wolverines are responsible for the air. An Elite Ultra is leading the charge. The Ghost and Choppers first must get through Georgia Company's armor before even engaging the Warthogs and the Mammoth. The tanks fired their main gun obliterating the first row of enemy vehicles. The Machine-gunners open fire as well killing riders and destroying enemy vehicles. The Ghost and Choppers move pass the tanks and head straight at the Warthogs. As one the Warthogs fire obliterating the first two rows of enemy vehicles. The Elite Ultra is killed by Dimitri as he's attempting to get onto another Ghost. Several other Covenant soldiers who are off their vehicles were splattered by human vehicles. The Scorpions, Grizzlies, and Rhinos destroyed the Wraith tanks and the Covenant soldiers nearby. They lost one Scorpion and 2 Rhinos. The Warthogs arrived at the rally point, now they must wait for the rest of the company to arrive. A few minutes go by before the rest of the company arrived. Captain Lauren Whitfield comes up to the colonel.

"Sir, three Warthogs, 1 Scorpion, one of the M400 Kodiaks, and 2 Gungooses are unaccounted for. What should we do?"

"Captain Price, take Carnage Platoon along with a platoon from the 14th and clear us a beachhead at Rally Point Bravo." We wait here for 20 minutes to see if they show up." Colonel Thompson tells Captain Jack Price over the command coms. Captain Jack Price gives the order to advance. They didn't know but the Covenant have setup a new weapon like the UNSC Gauss Cannon along the route the captain and his platoon are taking. They even have 2 Wraiths and a dozen Ghost. As the two platoons approach Rally Point Bravo, a Jiralhanae Captain gives the order to fire. The new Covenant weapon fire destroying a Scorpion Main Battle Tank with one hit killing the crew. The Wraiths open fire from their nearly concealed positions. A Plasma Mortar causes a Warthog to roll over. The two reaming Scorpions and the only Grizzly tank assign to the platoon open fire. The Sangheili Major orders his Ghost to attack the platoons. The new Covenant weapon fired again but narrowly misses the Grizzly MBT. The Grizzly fired at the building with a canister shell. The gun crew are neutralized. A Wraith tank fires again but a Scorpion blows up the tank. The Warthogs deal with the Ghost. The Armor Personal Carriers pull up to the building Grunts, Jackals, and Elites hurry to meet them. the APC's top turret opens up on them cutting down many of them and forcing the others to seek cover. The back of the APC drops and a dozen armed UNSC Army soldiers exit and they eliminate the surviving Covenant soldiers. Dimitri sprays several buildings with gunfire as Jack's Warthog takes fire. Several Brutes run out of one of the buildings. The passenger in Jack's Warthog mows them down. A few minutes later the rest of the company showed up. Colonel Thompson looks around. "What happened captain?"

"The Covenant tried to ambush sir," Captain Price answered.

"How many did you lose?" Captain Whitfield asks.

"Eight," he replies. Colonel Thompson watched as 8 men in body bags are loaded onto the Mammoth with the other dead bodies. Once they open up the air corridor they can be sent to Fort Old Hickory for proper burial. Colonel Thompson takes a breath he hates losing men especially good men and women. "Lets' get the column into formation. I want no one in the vehicles except those driving and on the armaments. Once they're in formation they head towards their objective. An Elite who holds the same rank as a human colonel has been ordered to stop the humans at all cost. The Elite colonel forces are mostly infantry, but he has around 20 vehicles. He orders his underlings to setup 4 ambush points with orders to fallback once they can't hold their positions. The move a block before the lead Warthog is destroyed. the Scorpion turns towards the building and fires however, across the street the Scorpion tanks a hit from Plasma Launcher, but a ODST fires a grenade into the window. An Sangheilli Minor's body is blown out. Several Warthogs pulled up and fired on the building cutting down any Covenant still inside. After the Warthogs, tanks, and APCs stopped firing the colonel gives the order for fireteams to sweep the buildings. United Nations Space Command soldiers begin clearing the buildings of any hostiles. They mostly encountered Grunts, Jackals, and a few Elites. They throw a couple of grenades into a few rooms clearing them. Major Rebekah nails a Sangheilli Ultra trying to escape with a headshot. As the soldiers send out all clear messages Colonel Thompson orders them to move out. After two more ambushes Colonel Thompson decides to halt the column until the path ahead is clear of any hostiles. Captain Jack Price is ordered to move ahead with Carnage Platoon once again Major Rebekah volunteers to go along with them. Colonel Thompson sends a Grizzly MBT to back them up with 2 squads from the 14th as well.

The Sangheilli Colonel forces have been thinned out he still has majority of his vehicles left and has learned the human column is more vulnerable. He knows if they destroy the convoy the human attack will stall. He orders his troops to prepare for one final attack. Captain Price has no clue of the attack heading towards the convoy. Anders, Rebekah, and 3 other soldiers from the 14th are sent to see if the area ahead of Carnage Platoon is clear or not. They moved out with a Guess Hog accompanied them. As they're moving down the street a Jackal Marksman spots them and fires his Beam Rifle striking the gunner on the Hog in the head. He tumbles off the Hog and the rest take cover. The passenger spots a shine from a window he fires his M29 Rocket Launcher into the window resulting explosion blows a huge hole into the wall and part of the building collapse but as it collapses it expose the Covenant soldiers hiding inside. Anders gets on the gun and opens fire annihilating everything inside that didn't take cover. "Take the gun," Anders says to the Hog's passenger.

"Yes, sergeant major," the corporal replies. Anders, Rebekah, and 3 others moved towards the building. As they approach the cluster of buildings they take incoming fire. The gunner on the Warthogs open fire but they all heard the whine of a plasma mortar, but it lands behind them. A Wraith tank appears the gunner opens fire he has no clue how he manages to destroy the Wraith before it destroyed the Hog. After the Wraith is destroyed he returns his focus on the buildings. Anders and Rebekah switch their rifles to x-ray mode to see inside the buildings. They open fire cutting down more Covenant soldiers after they empty their magazine they insert a new one. Anders manages to hit an Elite Major in the leg crippling him. After no more shots came from within the buildings they switch to their secondary weapons and moved into the building with 3 soldiers from the 14th. They eliminate the wounded Covenant soldiers except for 2 Elites. As they exit from the building with their two prisoners Captain Price and the rest of the platoon shows up. Rebekah begins to question the two prisoners.

"I didn't know she spoke Sangheilli?" Dimitri says to Jack. "Did you?" He shakes his head. They watch as one of the Sangheilli says something and Rebekah stabs the Elite in the shoulder with her combat knife. "Holy fuck!" The other Elite says something she removes the knife and sticks it in the Elite head breaking the knife off at the hilt the Elite topples over. The other Elite is freaking out. She pulls out her sidearm and points it directly at his head. Dimitri nor Jack knew what to do. They can tell the Elite begin talking a lot but in Sangheilli. All sudden they hear a shot. The two soldiers behind him are covered in blood and brain matter. She goes over to them. "Did you learn anything?" Dimitri asks.

"Actually, lieutenant I did after some persuasion on my part. I learned they're planning to attack the column," she answers. "Jack, do you have a map with you." Most officers carry a paper map or a holographic map to brief troops in the field when things change on the fly. Jack activates his holographic map. Rebekah shows them the path the enemy would take to attack the column. "We can ambush them before they even get close to the convoy."

"What's your plan major?" Jack asks.

"We place men on both sides of the city streets with Locust Anti-Tank mines in the middle set on manual detonation. Once the enemy tanks and other vehicles enter the ambush we detonate the explosives and any surviving vehicles will be sitting ducks for our vehicles."

"What about their infantry?" A sergeant asks.

"We fry them," Dimitri replies.

"This ambush will take out both infantry and vehicles if we do it right."

"Alright let's get to work. I'll inform the colonel," Lieutenant Dimitri says.

"I wouldn't do that lieutenant," Rebekah says.

"Why not?"

"The Covenant could be monitoring our transmissions," Jack says.

"We have encrypted communications," a staff sergeant says.

"The captains right we must assume the enemy have a way to listen to our communications besides it would put more lives at risk," Rebekah says.

"Do we know if they can listen to our coms?" A private asks.

"There is no way to know, but we'll play it safe all the same," Jacks says. "Let's saddle up," Jack says. They head towards the ambush site. They're the first to arrive which is what they wanted they didn't want the Covenant getting their first and turning it into an ambush for them. Captain Price, Lieutenant Dimitri, Sergeant Major George Anders, and Major Rebekah set Carnage Platoon and the 2 squads from the 14th to their task. Anders and Rebekah look over the area to find the best place to provide over watch. They choose a building across from each other, so they can watch all approaches and inform the others of enemy movements. The tanks and other vehicles are camouflage, so they wouldn't be spotted by enemy air-support. The mines are laid, and Dimitri and Jack assign the men to their positions during all this time they can hear fighting in the distance. Once everyone is at his or her position they begin playing the waiting game. During the time, they're waiting for the Covenant to show up. Colonel William Thompson contacts them. Jack hears a beep in his ear and he answers his radio. He tells the colonel all is clear and to move up. He hated lying to the colonel at the same time he hopes the Covenant don't chose a different location to launch their attack from. A few seconds' pass and six Ghost appeared. He was glad the Covenant didn't decide to go another way. He is on the roof with Rebekah she grabs his arm.

"Not yet they're scouts." He gives a nod. He wonders why she would have to tell him of course they were scouts but he would say something, but he realizes you don't want to piss her off our you'll end up with a headache. They passed over the mines, but one stops and realized they aren't taking fire they headed back the way they came.

"Why didn't we let them have it?" A sergeant from the 14th says on their coms. Jack wanted to shoot the man he may have ruin their entire plan.

"Radio silence no one talks just wait for my orders," he says over the coms. A few minutes' pass again and the Covenant return. They waited for the Covenant vehicles to pass over the mines. Once a substantial portion of the Covenant vehicles are in the kill zone the explosives are detonated. Body parts, debris, and blood fly everywhere. Rockets and Spartan Lasers also hit the enemy formation. Nearly half of the enemy are taken out. A few enemy vehicles survived but are destroyed by additional mines as they try to escape. Once the Covenant vehicles are destroyed the UNSC focus on the enemies' foot soldiers. Anders nails the Elite running the show he didn't hear Jack tell him excellent job since he fired again nailing another Elite officer. Rebekah has nailed 8 Sangheilli and Jiralhanae as they try to find cover. Captain Price leaves the roof and heads to another building where a Grunt squad lead by two Elite Minors are trying to sneak up behind them. He dodges enemy fire, but Rebekah and Anders had his back they nail any Covenant who tries to bring him down. Jack reaches the building and spots a Grunt he comes up behind the Grunt, but Anders puts a bullet into the Grunt's head narrow missing Jack's ear by inches. "You could've hit me." Jack says over Anders private coms.

"Yes, but I didn't cap," he replies. Jack warns the soldiers inside of the approaching Covenant and with Jack's help they neutralized the Grunts and the Elites. However, Rebekah spots several Brutes moving along their flank she mange to nail 2 with headshots before they disappeared in a building where UNSC soldiers are firing from. She tries to warn the soldiers, but the warning came to late the 3 soldiers inside are killed by the Brutes. She tries to nail a Jackal trying to form a shield wall with other Jackals but the bullet pounces off the Jackal's shields. A Scorpion fires blowing a hole into the Jackal's shield wall formation. She nails an Elite Minor before getting up to go and cut off the Brutes from reaching Jack. She moves down the stairs. Several Grunts are blocking her path. She shoots from the hip if she was regular human the recoil would've knocked her on her ass. One bullet goes through one Grunt and kills the others behind him. She exits from the rear of the building. She moves to a partially destroy building and as soon as she enters three Brutes also appear. They both stare at one another, but she manages to get her sniper rifle up first and opens fire. The first Brute falls from a headshot the other two open fire with their Spikers, but they miss her only by inches one mange to craze her shields. A second Brute falls from a headshot. The Grunts and Jackals with the Brutes open fire with Plasma Pistols and Needlers. She hears the word duck she ducks down just as two rockets goes over her head and hits the enemy. There were no survivors and she get back onto her feet looking for the one who fired the rocket launcher. She sees Captain Jack Price lowering the M41 SSR MAV/AW from his shoulder. She's about to tell him thank you when her motion tracker picks up contacts, she pearly had enough time to push Jack out of the way as a Brute Chieftain swing his Gravity Hammer, she takes the full force of the blow knocking her away from Jack, the Brute, and through 2 walls. The Chieftain turns towards his bodyguards.

"Deal with him I have the Demon." The Chieftain says and walks away. Jacks ears are ringing, and he's dazed a little, the rocket launcher is only a few feet away from him. He gets up but not as fast as a Spartan can. A Brute bodyguard grabs him holding him by the neck the Brute removes his knife. The Brute grasp his strong and he's strangling him. A Spartan might be able to free himself but Jack couldn't.

"I've killed many humans with this knife I will rip out your intestines and place your head on a spike and the rest of you I will eat," the Brute bodyguard says boasting and laughing. Just as he's about to kill him he hears an echo of a rifle the Brute drops which in turn drops Jack to the floor. His vision is blurry but he watched as the 2 other Brutes also fall with wounds to their heads. He sees an armor hand reached down and he gasp it and is pulled to his feet. Rebekah is standing there in the Brute's place but she doesn't have on her helmet.

"What happened to the chieftain?" Jack asks her.

"I took care of him," she replies. "What happen to you?

"Brute got a nasty grip on him," he says. "Was that before he broke your helmet or after," he says with a little laugh. Before she could answer his comment four Grunts appeared. These Grunts have no clue what to do but Rebekah shoots them each in the head one at a time with her sniper rifle. She goes and picks up the rocket launcher and Jack's Battle Rifle. "Carnage report," he says over the platoon's coms. A few minutes' pass and Dimitri answers.

"All Covenant forces eliminated." Jack and Rebekah regroup with the others. They get back into their vehicles and head back to join with Lieutenant Colonel William Thompson. Once back with the convoy they replenish their ammo. Rebekah gets on a new helmet and they encounter no more Covenant. As they approach their assign location Colonel Thompson gives them orders to halt. He sends three recon teams out to gather intelligence of the Covenant strength around the Tyrants. Anders and another ODST are one team, Rebekah and Dimitri are a team, and PVT Allen and another ODST are a team they moved out. Each team finds advantage point where they can provide overwatch when the attack begins and gather all the intel the colonel needs. Rebekah looks through her scope while Dimitri takes out a notepad to write down everything Rebekah calls out. "They have six tanks, a dozen Ghost, 4 Prowlers, 10 Brute Choppers, and 3 Revenants. They have Banshees in the sky." They duck down just as two Banshees pass over their heads. "I estimate their ground troops around 250 most of them being Grunts and Jackals." Dimitri heads back once he finishes writing everything down Rebekah tells him. After Colonel Thompson gets all the intel from the other recon teams, he socializes with the companies A.I. Leonidas after much discussion he summons his platoon leaders to give them their assignments. Carnage Platoon mission is to neutralize the Tyrant on the left while Bloodshed Platoon has the one on the right and Massacre Platoon has the center Tyrant. The three platoons want hit them until snipers and rocketeers fire to soften up the opposition.

"Let's get to work people." Jack says. The platoon leaders exit from the Mammoth to take charge of their platoons. They get into positions they're assign trying not to alert any Covenant to their presence. Rebekah, Anders, and the other snipers waited to fire until all platoons are ready. Once all platoons reported ready Rebekah and the other snipers squeeze their triggers, they didn't wait to see the results of their first shot they acquire another target. After their 3rd shot the colonel orders the attack. UNSC tanks fired destroying Shade Turrets and Wraith tanks. rocketeers fired also inflecting casualties onto the enemy. It takes 21 minutes to neutralize the Covenant and to take out the Tyrants. Once reports come in that all the Covenant are dead Colonel Thompson begins to prepare for an enemy counter-attack. Most of the snipers stay on the rooftops except for Anders and Rebekah. Carnage Platoon takes up residence in a building facing a small park. On the other side of the park are ruin buildings. They plant mines out in the park, the street in front of the building and the park, and some in the ruins. Dimitri sends Anders to the roof of their building along with a soldier from the 14th carrying an LMG. Once on the roof Anders deploy his bipod to help steady his rifle. In the building, next to Carnage Platoon is 2 squads from the 14th. A Grizzly MBT is position between the two buildings. Everyone knows there are plenty gaps for the Covenant to attack them from so they place motion sensors which are link to the Mammoth to give them warning. They even plant claymores to slow them down and give them time to stop them.

A Jiralhanae Chieftain has been tasked with turning the humans back or if they don't to wipe them out. His Brutes are ready to kill humans they can taste human flesh. The Chieftain decides to send the bulk of his troops to attack the humans through the park. Prior to the chieftain attack a Sangheilli Major is going to lead a battalion of Ghost to keep the humans occupied. The Sangheilli Major hopes to catch them off-guard and still preparing for an attack but snipers spot them. colonel Thompson goes over to the barricade they erected on the main street the Elite plans to attack. He aims his MA5D AR and tells his men to fire as soon as they come into range. As the Ghost came within range Georgia Company and the men from the 14th open fire. The first wave of Ghost is decimated. Banshees are sent in but are blown out of the sky by the Wolverines.

As the battalion of Ghost with a few Wraith tanks assaulted the other human positions the Brute Chieftain is leading his troops through the ruins hoping to catch the enemy on the flank. They had no clue they would trigger motion sensors alerting Carnage Platoon to their presence. "Listen up people we have party quest on their way let's give them a warm reception." Jack tells his platoon and the men in the other building over the coms.

"Oh, great I didn't know it was my birthday." The others laugh at Dimitri comment.

"Wolf, do what you do best," Jack says. He didn't expect a response from Sergeant Major George "Wolf" Anders. His answer came when he hears the crack of a sniper rifle. His first kill was a Brute Captain. He watched as blood and brain matter sprayed the wall behind the captain. He fires again nailing another Brute. The Brutes, Grunts, Jackals, and 12 pairs of Hunters charged towards them. Anders continues to provide sniper-fire. The Covenant are heading right for Carnage Platoon. Anders kills another Brute Captain with a headshot. Everyone is waiting for Jacks orders. They enter the first minefield. "Dimitri, fry those bastards." Dimitri detonates the mines. The explosives inflect heavy damage onto them including the death of four Hunters. "Remember save the heavy weapons for later they're testing our strength." The first wave is beaten back no human casualties. The Brute Chieftain reforms his troops and they hit them again. Once again, they're beaten back Captain Price lost 3 men in the 2nd assault. He listens to the reports coming in over the company frequency. The chieftain orders another attack before nighttime. A swarm of Drones and 2 squadrons of Banshees are also assisting with the attack. "Rocketeers take those Banshees out!" Captain Jack Price says just as a Banshee fires its Fuel Rod Cannon at a section of the building near him showering him with debris and class. "Troopers with HMGs let them rip." The heavy machine gunners opened including Dimitri. Despite the heavy casualties, the Covenant continue to push forward. Jackal snipers are busy terminating the human snipers on the rooftops, so Sergeant Major George Anders must move off the roof and goes down one floor down. The last of the mines are detonated which slowed them down a few minutes but then they got moving again. The Grizzly, rockets, and grenades are fire to slow them down. Suddenly Price's radio comes alive while he's shooting Brutes, Grunts, and Jackals with his Battle Rifle at first, he didn't hear it over the gunfire.

"Copperhead, this is Rouge 2," a voice says over his radio.

"This is Copperhead," Jack replies.

"Copperhead we have a present for the Covenant tell your men to duck down."

"Roger Rouge One," he says. He shouts orders over the platoon's coms telling everyone to get down. Six A-11s are heading straight for the city. They fly over the city and dropped bombs onto the Brutes heads. The Brutes and their underlings didn't last long the bombs vaporized them and with that the first day battle was over. Colonel Thompson comes and talks with Captain Price.

"Well done holding the Covenant captain?"

"Thank you, sir, how did the others do?"

"We've held them but they're probably preparing to assault us tonight."

"Don't worry sir we wont let them sneak up on us," Jack replies at least he hopes they don't sneak up on them. Lieutenant Colonel William Thompson moves on to check on another position. "Sir, have you seen Rebekah?"

"She's somewhere captain possibly in her Sniper Nest," he replies. He nods knowing that makes sense.

A Sangheilli General believes his forces can overwhelm the human's defenses and take back the city. Several other Sangheilli Generals are going to lead attacks against other UNSC soldiers. Wraith tanks are already moving into positions to bombard the UNSC into submission prior to the infantry attack. He also has air-support available once he begins his attack against Georgia Company. They move closer to Georgia Company positions he was about to give the order to fire when he sees lights coming from the air. Falcons and Phoenix's are heading for Georgia Company onboard are ODSTs from Foxhound Company. The Falcons and Phoenix's don't touch down the soldiers inside jump out all heavily armed. Colonel Thompson heads over to talk to their commander. All of sudden Plasma Mortars begin hitting Georgia Company positions. One Plasma Mortar from a Wraith tank hits one of the Falcons throwing the passengers free but also the Falcon crashed into the payment sending debris in every direction. One of the rodder-blades impaled an ODST to a buildings wall. The Wraith tanks keeps firing. Every soldier seeks cover Colonel Thompson and the men from Foxhound Company take cover in and around the Mammoth. Captain Ruth Meyer is Foxhound Company commanding officer. "Where do you need me William?" Captain Meyer asks.

"I need you to send a platoon to reinforce Carnage Platoon here." He says pointing on a map. "The rest of your men have them divide up to help keep our perimeter secure."

"Yes sir," Captain Ruth Meyer replies. Lieutenant Katie Ham takes her platoon to reinforce Carnage Platoon. They dodge the plasma bombardment. she lost 3 men before she reached Carnage Platoon location. She gives Carnage Platoon some much needed help. They toss a few grenades taking out Jackals and Grunts. The grenades even strip away Elite shields, so they can finish them off with headshots. Two flights of A-11s sweep in and drop bombs onto the Wraith tanks positions. The Sangheilli general orders the Banshees to attack. However, the A-11s are still on station and they blow the enemy fighters out of the sky. The Sangheilli General orders the attack. Grunts, Jackals, Elites, Hunters, and Brutes charged at Georgia Company, but Covenant forces are attacking all UNSC troops down the line. Captain Jack Price gives the order to fire. The Covenant slam into a wall of lead. Twenty-two minutes into the attack the Covenant retreated. However, the Covenant charged again not giving the UNSC time artillery and mortars helped drive the Covenant back. After the 3rd assault the Covenant retreated. Jack looks around bodies litter the city streets and even a few are inside his perimeter. He only has 17 men left out of his 40-man platoon. The lieutenant from Foxhound Company was killed by an Elite's plasma repeater. Falcons land to transport the wounded and dead back to Fort Old Hickory. Captain Jack Price decides to take the fight to them for a change, so he asks for volunteers. Lieutenant Dimitri, Sergeant Major Anders, 4 men from Carnage Platoon, and 4 from Foxhound Company. The rest would remain to defend the location from the Covenant. He decided not to bother Colonel Thompson which he knew the colonel would possibly say no to this. Captain Price tells each of them to place suppressors onto their guns before they even left Georgia Company perimeter. They move slowly not knowing if any of the enemy soldiers laying outside of their perimeter are alive and waiting to kill some humans. They move 2 blocks and encounter no Covenant well at least no living Covenant. As soon as they enter a building which turns out to be a hotel they come face-to-face with Major Rebekah-099. She's holding her sniper rifle like a newborn baby, but he couldn't see her expressions because of her helmet. "Rebekah, what are you doing out here?" Jack asks her.

"I've been out here this whole-time taking care of Covenant and calling in strategic strikes against them. Jack, I have other roles other than Georgia's XO. You shouldn't be out here the Covenant are preparing for another assault against our lines."

"How do you know that, oh don't tell me you interrogated another Elite." He follows her to a room and tied up is an Elite General. "This is the Sangheilli who's been leading the attacks on Georgia Company perimeter." He told me they're planning to attack again." Rebekah heads to another building across the street.

"You don't believe they'll try again do you capt?" a PFC asks.

"I'm not going to argue with a Spartan," Jack says. Anders heads to the roof. Jack gets onto the radio to inform the colonel of the situation as predicted he wasn't happy with his decision to leave his post but appreciated the update. Five minutes later a platoon of Grunts appeared around a corner with three Sangheilli and 2 Hunters. "Dimitri, Anders, you have the Hunters do not let them raise those shields. everyone else focus your fire on the Grunts and Elites." He says over their coms. Rebekah voice appears on their coms.

"Hold your fire captain they're scouts there's a larger group coming behind them." The men from Foxhound company open fire without Dimitri, Price, or Rebekah giving the order to fire. A rocket misses the Hunters and hit a building's wall behind them. Two Grunts fall from headshots. The Hunter turns towards the building where fire is coming from and fired their Fuel Rod obliterating the wall and the two ODSTs. Anders fired but missed the Hunter's vulnerable spot. An Elite with a carbine fires up at him causing him to duck down. Dimitri opens fire cutting down four Grunts and Elite running to their building. The 3rd soldier from Foxhound Company picks up the rocket launcher and fires at one of the Hunters. The rocket hits the Hunter blowing a huge hole into the creature's midsection just before he falls. Jack peeks and sees additional Covenant troops arriving along with 2 Wraith tanks and a new vehicle Jack has never seen before called the Blisterback. The Blisterback fires obliviating a building behind Carnage Company. "Fuck me," a soldier says. Colonel Thompson sends some extra soldiers to help Captain Price hold his position. The Blisterback fires again taking out a Scorpion MBT and 2 Warthogs lucky the troops in the Warthogs manage to get out before the missiles hit.

"How in the hell do you take that vehicle out?" Jack asks.

"Heavy weapons Price," Rebekah says. Jack gets onto his radio.

"Colonel Thompson, the Covenant have a new toy," he says.

"What kind of vehicle?" Colonel Thompson asks.

"Some kind of missile Wraith tank, I guess is how you would describe it sir," Jack answered. Jack continues to fire dropping Grunts and Jackals. Some Brute falls from headshots. One Brute is fixing to throw a spike grenade but is killed and it lands in front which in turn kills several Brutes nearby.

"Captain we're sending help," there was a pause. "Danger close son," Colonel Thompson says.

"What does he mean Danger Close," Dmitri asks. Suddenly a missile hit not far from them.

"Shockwave everyone gets down," Jack says, they duck down. "What kind of missile was that?"

"It wasn't a missile Jack it was a MAC round," Rebekah replies. Jack and the others were puzzled but the Blisterback was destroyed and the MAC round cause the Covenant to retreat. They all know the Covenant would return, but they receive some help from 2 squads from some ODSTs plus 2 Scorpion MBTs and a Rex Tank. A few minutes later the Covenant return. However, several Phantoms appeared and deploy infantry on nearby rooftops one Phantom is blown out of the sky by several A-11s who just arrived on station. The Covenant ship launches Banshees and Seraph fighters to keep the humans from gain control over the skies. This time the Covenant soldiers are determined to take the buildings from Captain Price and his men. Anders nails a Jiralhanae Captain issuing orders but had to duck down because Jackal, and Sangheilli snipers are on the roofs. Dmitri HMG runs dry and he's busy reloading when several Jiralhanae enters the building however they eliminated by two ODSTs. Dmitri gives them thumbs up and they return the gesture and he reloads his HMG. One ODST throws a fragmentation grenade which silence a Grunt squad moving towards the building before he's killed by multiple plasma bolts to his chest. A Brute throws a Spike Grenade which hits another Brute the UNC soldiers move to cover the grenade explodes and kills several Grunts coming up behind the Brute Minor. A Hunter is destroyed by the ODST from Foxhound Company which has survived the battle so far. Another Hunter fire blowing Dimitri onto his ass. Jack calls out to him a few seconds' pass and Dimitri starts to get up. He hears Dimitri say, "It'll take more than that to stop me." There building is under heavy Covenant attack. They have killed many Covenant soldiers. The 2 Scorpion MBT and the Rex tank have inflected heavy casualties onto the Covenant infantry and their vehicle support. However, on Scorpion is take out of the fight by the arrival of another Blisterback along with 2 Locust. The Rex tank fires and destroys both the Locust and the Blisterback. Several soldiers are removing a Gauss turret from the back of a Warthog under heavy fire. Jack and the others cover them. Rebekah nails several Brutes along with enemy snipers. One of the men removing the Gauss Turret is killed by a Jackal sniper before Anders could eliminate the sniper. The Covent troops once again retreated. They bolt the Gauss turret onto the roof where Wolf has his sniper nest, they even placed another turret on the balcony of the same building since they're inside of an old hotel. Jack gets on the radio and ordered his platoon to head to their location. The rest of his platoon joined them. They get setup and wait for the Covenant to attack again. It didn't take long for the Covenant to launch another assault against them. Captain Price is listing to the company frequency apparently, his troops are taking the blunt of the attack. Jack hears the crack of sniper rifles and knows Anders, Rebekah and perhaps other snipers are taking out enemy troops. Colonel Thompson has sent them help but he doesn't want to stretch the forces around the Tyrant to thinly but to make up for troops two Pelicans supported by A-11s arrived carrying Mantis along with several squads of ODSTs. The battle for New Oreland's is heating up. A Grizzly Main Battle Tanks moves up the street supported by several Warthogs they're part of the 13th Mechanized Battalion and they been sent in to help clear the city, but command has no clue that the Covenant have plenty of troops in the city. They move up the street firing on buildings after the enemy open fire. After they go around a corner Captain Price could only hear their gunfire and none of the snipers could see what was happing all they can hear are radio reports coming from them apparently, they entered a Hornet's Nest. A-11s and Broadswords attempt to help them, but the Covenant have turned New Oreland's into a no-fly zone finally. Jack goes and finds the soldiers who fired without his orders but finds them all dead except for one. Jack goes over to him. The ODST looked at Jack, Dimitri, Anders, and the Spartan.

"Sir, I didn't fire until after the others fired, I had no control over my teammates sir. They were my friends I wish there was something I could've done."

"There was nothing you could've done corporal, it happens even to the most experience soldier you panicked it can happen with the odds we were facing. Try not to do it again you almost got us killed," Dimitri says.

"Sorry sir," the ODST says.

"Nice shot with the rocket launcher," Jack says.

"Thank you, sir," he says.

'Anders, get back on the roof you're our lookout." Anders leaves and heads back to the roof. As Jack turns around to thank Rebekah for the artillery strike, she's gone. "Dimitri post guards let's see if we can't get any sleep before the Covenant decide to attack again." He gets 2 men posted so the others can sleep. He didn't need to worry about Anders snipers can stay awake for days waiting for their kill. Each soldier slept with their weapons close incase Anders or the sentries spot any Covenant. Even though it's not nighttime the soldiers are exhausted from heavy combat.

Onboard the Covenant Battlecruiser the shipmaster in charge of the Covenant troops in New Oreland's is looking at a hologram of the city and the troops station in the city. He even sees his own troops locations. The humans have proven very hard to push back but his request has been approved by the Supreme Commander of all troops on Earth who answers to the Imperial Commander who controls Sol Sector. A Sangheilli Field Marshall named Guide is waiting for the right moment to hit the humans outside of the city with the help of a heavy Corvette the Ardent Prayer. Once they cut off the UNSC troops from the outside it would only be a matter of time before the troops inside the city are crush. Especially with the failure of one of their elite troops not reaching the ship to planet one of their nukes onboard which is now in Covenant hands. As of right now it's being sent to a secure area of the city. He watches as human aircraft enter the city bringing in supplies. He contacts Guide and gives him the order to attack.

The Ardent Prayer appears out of the clouds and opens fire with their bombardment weapons onto UNSC positions outside of the city. Phantoms, Sprits, Litch, Banshees, and Seraphs fighters launch from the ship. UNSC Air Force and Navy Broadswords, A-11s, and Longswords move to intercept the fighters. Several Type Type-32 Apparition Heavy Dropships jumped in dropping several Scarabs onto the ground. The surprise attack by Covenant troops caught the UNSC off guard. They did manage force the Ardent Prayer to retreat and down one Apparition before their mobile Magnetic Accelerator Cannons are taken out but the troops defending them fought to the last man. A Kodiak takes out several Locust that are deployed. A Mammoth takes out one Scarab but the other 2 obliterate the Mammoth. UNSC troops are in full retreat leaving the troops in the city on their own. Some of the troops retreat into the city heading to Colonel Thompson's location. Several UNSC troops in the city attempt to escape but are cut down. Colonel Thompson gets on the radio and tells the troops in the city to make their way to his location. The Sangheilli Shipmaster allows the troops in the city to link up, but he does have some troops engage them on their route mostly to eliminate enemy officers. By the time the troops arrived at Colonel Thompson's location only LTs and NCOs oversee the companies, but they have reinforced Georgia Company. They begin preparing for the Covenant next attack against them. The Kodiak APC (think APC from Aliens) which is armed with a cannon and several machineguns. They even have 5 M400 Kodiak which is an eight-wheeled siege vehicle with a pivoting cannon but also has a machine-gun for use against infantry and lightly-armor vehicles like Choppers, Ghost, and Prowlers. They take off the Rocket Launchers off several of the Warthogs and mount them on the rooftops to help provide anti-air not to mention a few Falcon, and Hornets are safety in the city and transport several Anti-Air Shades onto the rooftops too. Captain Ruth Meyer and much of the soldiers under her command are in Captain Price's odd location. Several combat engineers came up with clever traps so if the Covenant attack down certain streets they'll get nasty surprises including sentry guns and more mines including Antlion anti-personnel mine which are motion censored or A.I control and Georgia Company Dumb A.I named Carter after Noble Team leader. Carter reports the Covenant are jamming all communications outside of the city. "Damn we need an uplink with command immediately to find out if we should try to break free."

"I'll keep trying sir," Carter replies. Colonel Thompson contacts Captain Price.

"Jack, we got a situation," Colonel Thompson says. Jack could tell his CO is worried about something.

"We heard explosions coming from outside the city and saw another Covenant ship appear what's going on sir," Jack asks.

"Well son theirs's no easier way to say this but we're cut off from everything and it's only a matter of time before the Covenant overrun us. I'm sending you some supplies, so your men can rearm but remember conserve ammo we don't have a lot of spare ammo. We've been reinforced by all the other companies in the city, so we should hold out longer then when it was just us. I recommend gathering Covenant weaponry we're going to need them I'm also sending some engineers to help strengthen your perimeter with bobby traps and whatever else they can come up with. Hold the line son." The colonel hangs up. Captain Price briefs the rest of his platoon and the soldiers who reinforce his perimeter. No one was happy with the news, but they all knew what to do. ODSTs and UNSC Army Special Forces have always been used to work independently from UNSC soldiers and operate behind the lines. The only 2 who don't see to be bother by this are Rebekah-099 and Captain Lauren Whitfield both Spartans. Jack arrives on the roof Rebekah is using as her sniper post of course she had to send him the locations of the traps she laid for any Covenant who may try to sneak up behind her. She's busy reloading her magazines when he arrived. Jack looks and notice she has a nice vantage point overlooking the city and he can see the top of his hotel. He knows this building is another hotel. He even sees several Covenant weaponries arranged in easy reach of her. She's aware 2 platoons from Kentucky Company have setup residence inside of the hotel along with a squad of ODSTs. Rebekah and Jack made small talk then he goes back down to check on the troopers' positions and make to see if they need anything. One of the men in the hotel name is Locust and he's a veteran of the Human-Covenant War and a badass soldier within his ODST squad his primary weapon is a sniper rifle and a DMR, but he gives Jack the creeps he follows any order without questions but unlike normal ODST Armor he's wearing an ODST Spartan Variant and apparently it had some cool tricks with it as well. Several corporals arrive with crates of ammo. One soldier is loading a belt into a Vulcan EBF-LMG several others are bolting down a M41 Vulcan Light Anti-Aircraft Gun. They have clear line of sights of the street below and on other rooftops. One soldier has a double-barrel shotgun on his back. "Corporal, what gun is that?" Jack asks him.

"It's called a Shattergun sir," the corporal answers, "I can load any kind of shells into it even grenade shells." Jack gives a whistle. "The only drawback is only 2 shells, so I save it for close encounters. Jack made sure everything is squared away before rejoining with his platoon and learning Dmitri made sure his platoon is squared away. Everyone's ammo has been restored. Now it's the waiting game for the Covenant to move in and crush them. A few Covenant Special Ops teams are sent in to locate human positions if the UNSC soldiers had a guardian angel during the night it was Rebekah. She spots the Special Ops teams long before they even reach one of the lookout points. The Covenant Special Ops take out the lookout position just before a round takes the commander's head off. Two more of their numbers are eliminated. However, it wasn't Rebekah firing the shots it's a remote sniper rifle. She's controlling but she plans to get the enemy special ops team into a trap and eliminate them one by one. The remote sniper rifle fired again hitting an Elite and spraying the soldiers behind him with blood. Some Grunts panic but the Elites use their energy swords to bring them back into formation. She forces the Covenant into a building of her choosing she does have a failsafe which are explosives planted to bring the building down onto their heads. She remotely fires the sniper rifle again nailing 3 Covenant soldiers with one bullet. Once the Covenant are inside the building it time to play cat and mouse. One by one she eliminates the Covenant soldiers with either her knife, some carefully laid traps, and her M6s. she returns to her sniper nest after laying some more traps. She reloads the remote sniper rifle she's sure it will play another role later in the battle. She also has a Striker Rocket Launcher which is in upgraded version of the M27 Rocket Launcher which holds 10 missiles/rockets plus she has an old fashion RPG with anti-armor warhead.

Dawn Captain Jack Price and Lieutenant Dimitri are watching one of the city streets watching for any enemy movement. Everything has been quiet for now. Captain Jack Price, Lieutenant Dimitri, Sergeant Major George "Wolf" Anders, and 6 other men are in an outpost which is located 2 blocks from their original position. They hear the crack of a sniper rifle and knew Anders just nailed another Covenant SOB trying to move through the streets. Jack and Dimitri were just having some coffee. A Jackal sniper is using the debris to move closer, so he can terminate some human officers. However, Anders spots the Jackal and nails the creature with a headshot. Jack heads to the roof to see what the Covenant are planning for them today. His BR85 Heavy-barrel Service Rifle (Battle Rifle) is on his back with his M7 SMG strap to a holster on his right leg and his magnum strap to a holster on his left leg. He even has two knives one in his boot and the other in a scabbard on his belt. He arrives on the roof where Anders has his sniper's nest. Two other soldiers are on the roof one manning a Gauss Turret. He looks out into the city with his binoculars. He sees a platoon size force moving towards their position but there still outside of small-arms range but not snipers. They're not even in mortar range which is the only artillery they have unless you want to count tanks. Anders looks through his scope and sees the approaching Covenant he takes aim on the Sangheilli Ultra leading them and fires Jack watches as the projectile blows the Elite's head back and spraying the Covenant behind him with blood and brain matter. Anders fires again dropping another Sangheilli. Sangheilli officers try to maintain disciplined but more Sangheilli continue to fall not just from Anders and Rebekah skill but other snipers as well. After one more Sangheilli Officer is killed the Covenant then begin their charge. Anders calls in the enemy coordinates and the Wolverines unleash a volley of missiles mainly the M9 Main Anti-Aircraft tank is mostly use on aircraft, but these are the M9A which can be used on anything. The Covenant platoon is wiped out in a matter of seconds only a few survivors most of them are wounded. The Covenant shipmaster looks at his hologram map and gives his troops orders to attack them and don't let up until they make a hole into their lines. Covenant troops began gearing up and with the blockade of Covenant troops from the Ardent Prayer and a few from a Covenant staging area should keep the humans from getting any reinforcements or supplies. The Covenant begin their assault using Wraith and Blisterback to bombard the human positions but the UNSC answer with Wolverines and thinks to the Forward Observers on several roofs the UNSC takes out many Covenant artillery even though the Covenant plan are not to use vehicles but infantry except for Specters, Shadows, Revenants, a few Scarabs, and Type-52 Infantry Support vehicle commonly called Prowlers. Kentucky Company as well as other soldiers who arrived to reinforce the area when the Covenant launched their surprise attack are the first to come under Covenant attack. Their Scorpions blast away at the inbound vehicles but most of the fighting is in the alleys where vehicles where useless there the Covenant sent wave after wave against the UNSC positions there are some casualties but none compared to the enemy they even attempt to send in Banshees for strafing runs but with the anti-air defense Colonel Thompson setup that tactic prove costly not to mention the building which provided excellent cover but still the Banshees manage to destroy several vehicles and strafe some areas. The Covenant attack the entire perimeter but the UNSC continue to fight. Captain Jack Price and his platoon are hit the hardest with Rebekah and the ODSTs they're able to beat back assault after assault some parts of the perimeter fell so Colonel Thompson had to send in troops to retake them and then hold. In the end, he decides to give those areas to the enemy since sending troops to retake them keeps costing troops and he has everyone make their final stand at their original positions however, he orders Captain Price and Captain Meyer to hold their position. Sparrowhawks, Hornets, and Falcons take off to help clear the skies. Banshees are launched to engage them, but they also help cover the retreating UNSC troops. The M9A Wolverines also launch missiles at the coordinates the Forwards Observers called out. One of the Scarabs is taken out by the combine firepower of the M9A Wolverines and several Sparrowhawks and Hornets. The other Scarab is destroyed by ODST who boarded the Scarab using jetpacks, but they died in the attempt. Fighting continued throughout the night but by morning UNSC troops still control the area around the Tyrant, but the Covenant retreated for now all the airpower Colonel Thompson has in the city is gone except for one Pelican Gunship and a few A-13HU Apaches. Captain Jack Price and his platoon returned to their original position along with Rebekah during the night and left some nasty surprises for the Covenant including Sentry-guns which will lure the Covenant into the buildings where they will detonate the explosives causing the buildings to collapse. Colonel Thompson orders the last of the ammo to be passed out most of Kentucky Company has been wiped out only 8 men are left. Louisiana Company is down to 2 platoons and 12 men. They're all preparing for another assault, but some troops can get some sleep.

Meanwhile at Alamo 1 Doctor Catherin Halsey entered the operations room. "Torrance, I might be able to resupply the troops in New Oreland's," she tells him.

"How?" He asks.

"There's an ODP station fixing to be in orbit I can have it launch supply pods to them plus I can arm the missiles so they can call in orbital strike now I can also get the CIWS systems online, but MAC gun is no go," She tells him.

"Get it done doctor and find a way past their jamming," he tells her. She brings out a pad and gets to work.

Back at the city sunrise, Colonel Thompson exits from the Mammoth and heads to a nearby observation post. Since 3am there hasn't been any more Covenant attacks. They don't have much ammo left most of their tanks are down to a handful of shells and only a few rockets left for their rocket launchers. The Mammoth extra supplies have been passed out already and they still have rounds for the MAC gun. He has ordered the men and women under his command to use Covenant weaponry once they run low on ammo. Major Rebekah arrives. She looks out into the city. "Beautiful sunrise sir," She says.

"That it is major might be the last one we see for a while."

"Sir message coming through from HighCom via Morse Code," a communication officer says. Colonel Thompson goes over to the console.

"Those clever sons of bitches those Covenant can't jam this," he says. "Pass the word we got supply pods inbound and we'll get some orbital help we'll just have to laser designate the targets."

"Yes sir," his communication officer replies. "How are we getting them?"

"Someone at Alamo 1 has found a way to get into one of the ODP stations and send down some supplies and orbital ordnance too bad the MAC guns aren't tied into that though." Supply pods are launched towards the UNSC perimeter some will probably land outside then UNSC troops will have to risk going out there to retrieve those supplies. The supplies will include medical, food, water, and very important ammo and some additional mines. The Covenant launched another assault but thinking the humans are almost out of ammo and plus they attacked where what's left of Kentucky Company is located along with soldiers from several other divisions the Covenant soldiers are slaughtered even the vehicles that were sent in were destroyed. A Sangheilli Field Marshall orders another attack this time against Carnage and Foxhound Company. As they came in range the sentry-guns open fire cutting down many Grunts, Jackals, Elites, and Grammarians. They enter the building while more troops push up the streets with Blisterback, Prowlers, Wraiths, and Locust for support. On Captain Price signal the explosives are detonated which in turn cause several buildings to fall onto the troops advancing up the streets. The Field Marshall slims his fist down onto his hologram map. "Send in everything I want those humans taken out now!"

Nearly 89% of the Covenant troops in the city are advancing on the UNSC positions with almost all the vehicles left including their 2 remaing Scarabs. The Shipmaster wasn't happy about the Field Marshall's decision, but he doesn't know how long it will take the humans to break through his blockade. He allows the Filed Marshall to go ahead with his attack. The Covenant attack came swift Banshees swoop in causing UNSC troops to seek cover while Mantis, and anti-aircraft weaponry go to work. However, the Banshees begin focusing on them many Banshees are blown out of the sky, but they accomplish their mission only a handful of anti-aircraft vehicles remain. Several Phantoms are launched from the battlecruiser to attack UNSC troops on the rooftops and clear them for more Phantom to bring in additional troops. Colonel Thompson gives the order for the Pelican Gunship to take off along with the Apache escorts. Two Forward Observers with Target Locators laser the incoming Scarabs and missiles are launched from the ODP and destroy the Scarabs and Covenant soldiers along with vehicles nearby. The Covenant Battlecruiser Launch Seraphs to go and engage the ODP station. However, the station CIWS blast them into oblivion that is when a Covenant Destroyer takes the station out but not before another silo of missiles are launched some hit the Covenant battlecruiser causing minor damage others hit dropships and infantry coming down the streets. Once again UNSC soldiers must fight once again until nighttime rolled around but by the time the fighting died down, they're once again short of ammo many have already used Covenant weapons some of the fighting was hand-to-hand with knives, combat axes, fire axes, and even fist. Colonel Thompson and others had to fight too because the Covenant broke through several sections and attack the Mammoth before those sections could be plug. Rebekah and the soldiers on the rooftops had to deal with Drones and Covenant troops with jetpacks such as Jump Pack Brutes and Sangheilli Rangers. Some of that fighting got them to use other weapons. The Pelican Gunship and the Apaches helped save the day for the UNSC but at a cost they lost them. Some of the pilots survived but came under attack by enemy troops not much is known if they were killed or taken prisoner as of right now Colonel Thompson list them as MIA. He hoped if any survived, they'll make their way back to the perimeter and perhaps hurt the enemy some more. He knows the enemy losses have been high but so have the UNSC, but the Covenant wave attacks aren't working.

Outskirts of the city:

Three days since the UNSC troops retreated from New Oreland's they've tried to return but are stopped cold by the Covenant each time but they still inflect heavy casualties onto the enemy, but the Scarabs are the biggest threat. Warrant Officer Wild Bill and several other Georgia Company Phoenix pilots are talking with General Eisenhower on heading back and rescuing the besieged troops. Suddenly 3 teams of Spartans enter the tent. "We can get you through the Covenant lines besides the Covenant are expecting us to counter-attack since they believe they routed our troops," Commander Felix says. Commander Felix is a Spartan-IV commando who's part of New York City contingent of Spartans.

"We don't have enough men for any kind of operation Spartan," General Eisenhower says.

"HighCom as sent some help 2 Mercury-Class Battlecruisers the size of 2 Prowlers but able to take out Covenant Battlecruisers and several other ships now a Covenant Destroyer, and Supercarrier will turn them into molten slag, but I doubt the Covenant will risk them. With the 2 Mercury-Class Battlecruisers contingent of marines and ground vehicles we should be able to punch through reinforce the troops in the city and a company of ODSTs with Fireteam Osiris should be able to board the Covenant Battlecruiser sent it up with a Dumb A.I programed for this mission by Doctor Catherine Halsey to send the ship up into orbit and have the Covenant destroy the ship for us." General Eisenhower green lights the operation even though HighCom already green lit it. The first phase of the plan is to punch a hole for the APCs and transport hogs supported by regular Warthogs to get to the trap troops. Phase 2 is to keep the Covenant occupied long enough for a strike team to board the ship neutralize the crew and get the ship on an intercept course. They attack at dawn. The 2 Mercury-class Battlecruiser commence a massive bombardment onto the enemy positions and neutralizing their Scarab support. The Covenant ship attempts to fire but the Mercury-class Battlecruiser are more maneuverable than any other ship in the UNSC fleet and evade the deadly plasma and sent counter-measures to neutralize the plasma. They open fire with their MAC guns targeting the enemy battlecruiser's weapons and fired which cripples the ship and their weapon systems are offline therefore they launch fighters. The Mercury-class battlecruisers launch their 2 squadrons of Broadswords and with the help of General Eisenhower remaining fighter squadrons take control of the skies which is a major problem for the Covenant now that they lost air support again. The convoy of vehicles broke through the enemy blockade while the rest mop up with the help of the UNSC battlecruisers and aircraft. However, despite breaking through the Covenant still control the city and the vehicles heading to Colonel Thompson's position still must fight their way through heavy fortified enemy positions. The troops mopping up the blockade are ordered to not to proceed into the city just yet. Georgia Company, Kentucky Company, and Louisiana Company Phoenix pilots bring in much needed supplies while the vehicles continue to fight their way through. A Pelican arrives just after the vehicles finally arrived after heavy fighting, but Colonel Thompson and the others have been fighting for the last four days and night and many are exhausted but finally help has arrived. Onboard one of the Pelicans 4 Spartans exits. Colonel William Thompson, Captain Jack Price, Captain Ruth Meyer, and Major Rebekah greet them at the colonel's command post the Spartans didn't say anything about the state of their uniforms. The 4 Spartans goes to attention and salute them. "Job well done on under extreme circumstances sir, now we need you and your men for another assignment if you're willing," one of the Spartans tells them. Many of them are thinking why them.

"Who are you Spartan?" Captain Meyer asks.

"Spartan Jameson Locke Fireteam Osiris Team Leader," he answered.

"Spartan Locke, What's the mission?" Colonel Thompson asks.

"TO infiltrate the Covenant Battlecruiser and set it on a collision course with a Covenant ship and let the Covenant destroy the ship for us," he answered.

"Count us in?" Captain Price says. Rebekah looks at him, but nods in agreement.

"Very well Price gather Georgia Company survivors that aren't too badly exhausted and have them meet us here."

"Yes sir," Jack says saluting and leaving.

"Sir permission to tag along with what's left of my company? Captain Meyer asks.

"Permission granted captain," he says. She goes to gather her troopers as well. A few minutes later all soldier fit for the mission are at the Mammoth all have replenish their ammo and are waiting for Colonel Thompson and the Spartans to exit from the Mammoth. Once they exit, they head to a manhole cover and descend into the tunnels underneath the city. Every soldier placed a suppressor onto their weapons to keep things quiet if they run into Covenant troops in the tunnels but they're hoping they haven't found them before Spartan Locke descends into the sewer, he contacts General Eisenhower and tells him to commence the next stage to keep the Covenant focus on him.

Georgia Company, Foxhound Company, and Fireteam Osiris are still making their way through the sewers to a manhole which they believe isn't far from the Covenant battlecruiser gravity-lift. They have their coms turned off and are communicating with hand signals. They've been following Fireteam Osiris directions base off their ATS. They reach a manhole. "Spartan Locke, see if this is the right manhole." He climbs the ladder and opens the manhole cover carefully trying not to attract unwanted attention. He reports back that the close is clear. One by one they ascend the ladder. After arriving on the surface Colonel Thompson deploys a mini-drone to check out the area. He sees the enemy has; 6 Shade Turrets with 3 on the roof-tops, 4 regular Wraith Tanks, 2 Anti-Air Wraiths, and 14 Ghost patrolling the area and 1 Prowler. His drone counts at least 150 Covenant soldiers mostly made up of Grunts. "Anders Rebekah you're on overwatch. Fireteam Osiris, you have the Ghost and Wraiths. Lieutenant Dimitri you're on the Hunters. Once the vehicles and Hunters are neutralized, we'll hit them hard and fast but they still may summon reinforcements Anders, Rebekah keep an eye on the gravity-lift," Colonel Thompson briefs them. Sergeant Major George Anders and Major Rebekah-099 move across the street to a nearby building and climb the stairs to the roof. Once on the roof they neutralize the two Jackal snipers then reported they're in position. The rest of Carnage Platoon and Fireteam Osiris also got into position. Once they're all in positions are waiting for the colonel to give the order to start the party. Colonel Thompson takes aim with his DMR, he fires dropping a Grunt on a Ghost. He kills the Grunt with a headshot. The Hunters, Wraiths, Shades, and Ghost are hit hard from multiple angles. The Shade gunners are killed with headshots from Anders and Rebekah. Spartan Buck gets on one of the Ghost and rams an Elite then opens fire with the Ghost plasma cannons cutting down more Covenant soldiers. The Covenant infantry are dealt with in under 6 minutes. "Colonel be advised reinforcements coming down the gravity-lift," Rebekah reports. She and George open fire. Spartan Jameson Locke man's one of the Shade turrets and turn it towards the gravity-lift. The gravity-lift turns into a bloodbath wet with Covenant blood. Two Hunters appeared with a dozen Elites and Grunts. Spartan Locke managed to kill one of the Hunter's with the Shade turret. However, the 2nd Hunter charges pass killing two soldiers in his path. The Hunter fires but the Spartan already abandon the Shade just before the Hunter's energy blast hit. The Hunter charges towards Spartan Locke he only has a millisecond to dodge, but Rebekah put a round into the Hunter's head and it slides its head only landed inches from Lock's foot. After the last Covenant soldier is killed Colonel Thompson orders them onto the lift. They double it time on the lift and are taken up the lift and into the beast. As they arrive onboard the ship in a large room, they're expecting to be attack but none came they wait in a square formation for 3 minutes.

On the bridge of the Covenant Battlecruiser Fullbring of Something the shipmaster turned towards the Field Marshall. "We've been boarded." The Field Marshall didn't say anything. "Send troops to intercept them don't let them reach the bridge." The remaing Covenant troops on the ship move to intercept the humans.

As soon as strike team exit the room, they a run into a squad of Grunts. The Grunts and the lone Sangheilli Minor didn't stand a chance. After that it became a running gun-battle. They fought their way through a maze of interlocking corridors which eventually emerged into a large shuttle bay. A Covenant dropship passed through a bright blue forced field as all hell broke loose. Fire shuttered down from the platform above. A Marine took a flurry of needles in the chest and was torn in half by the ensuring explosion. Several soldiers toss fragmentation grenades onto the platform above and are rewarded when they see bodies fly in different direction. Jack shoots three Grunts off the platform before he was forced to seek cover to reload. He reloads and continues to fire killing several more Grunts and 2 Jackals. An Elite fell after his second reload. A Grunt dropped from above and landed on Dmitri shoulders. He reached up, got a grip on the alien's methane rig and jerked the device off. The Grunt started to wheeze, fell to the deck, and flopped around like a fish until Dmitri shoots the Grunt in the head. He shoots many more Grunts in the head with his M247H. as an Elite fixing to throw a spike grenade at Dimitri however before the Elite could throw the grenade Rebekah puts a bullet into the alien's skull. The grenade drops to the ground and explodes killing one Elite and blows two up into the air which she kills with headshots. Spartan Buck comes behind an Elite and kills him with his combat knife. Colonel Thompson just finish dispatching another Elite when numerous hatches open into the bay and additional Covenant troops poured in from every direction. "Spartans concentrate on the Elites and Brutes we'll deal with the rest." They open fire forming a square to meet all threats. Jack toss a fragmentation grenade underneath the Jackals as they're running to get into a wall formation. A rocket hits the formation next. Anders discards the spent rocket. Wounded and dead humans and Covenant alike littered the deck. They manage to fight their way through the shuttle bay and are heading towards the bridge. They came under attack by Drones, but Dimitri and several others deal with the drones with their machine-guns. They have a few more firefights with the Covenant forces by the time they reach the corridor leading to the bridge. Colonel Thompson has lost nearly 60% of his troops. So far, the survivors of Georgia Company are; Rebekah, Anders, Price, Dimitri, and 32 others along with Fireteam Osiris and most of the soldiers from Foxhound Company. A well placed rocket takes out the Covenant troops guarding the bridge entrance. They all know the Covenant are on the other-side waiting for them. the shipmaster looks at the field marshal who exits from one of the bridges exits he's followed by 8 Sangheilli Ultras. "Look at the coward running with his tail between his legs." The shipmaster says in Sangheilli. "Let's go meet these Demons head on." He activates his energy sword. The others do likewise. The bridge doors open. Captain Jack Price and Lieutenant Dmitri throw two flashbangs into the bridge blinding them then they blind-fire. They kill two Elites. The Sangheilli charged towards the humans. One ODSTS with an M45D Tactical Shotgun fires on the nearest Elite Killing him with one shot. Jack and Dimitri cut down two more four more members of Carnage Platoon entered the bridge with Anders, Rebekah, and Locke. One soldier fires his SMG at an Elite but the Elite cuts him down with his energy sword before Dimitri kills him with his shotgun. Rebekah and Anders sniped many of them including cowardly Grunts still manning the consoles. It takes only 3 minutes to clear the bridge of every Covenant. Locke moves over to the console. The Sangheilli shipmaster attempts to get back-up but Dimitri puts his shotgun into the alien's face.

"Sir, we have a live one," he says. colonel Thompson comes up to the Elite.

"If you blow this ship, you'll kill the prisoners we have onboard," the Shipmaster says laughing. "Besides we're only the diversion for the real threat." The Elite dies after that.

"Fireteam Osiris, find those human prisoners and get them to the shuttle bay hopefully the Covenant still have a few more dropships left." Colonel Thompson says. Spartan Jameson Locke activates his Artemis Tracking System (ATS) for the best route to the prison bay, but before he leaves, he hands Colonel Thompson the A.I disc. Fireteam Osiris heads to the prison bay. They had to fight their way to the prison cells mostly encountering Grunts and Jackals but a few Elites. However, as they arrive at the holding cells, they're out of ammo so they pick up the enemy weapons. Spartan Locke isn't surprised to see Sangheilli prisoners on the other side of the humans. Spartan Olympia Vale talked with the Sangheilli she informs them they're members of the Swords of Sanghelios. Jameson Locke frees them. They picked up weapons and proceeded back towards the shuttle bay encountering very few Covenant soldiers. They meet Colonel Thompson and the rest of Georgia Company. Colonel Thompson tells Locke the mission was a success and the A.I is fixing to set a collision course to a Covenant Destroyer. They see four Litchs left in the shuttle bay the humans take 3 and the Elites take another. A Sangheilli Ultra turn towards Spartan Jameson Locke.

"Spartan, before we depart you must know the New Covenant Empire are planning to take this continent from you. They're going to use a Supercarrier to take it."

"Do you know where the supercarrier is?" Captain Price asks.

"Yes, in the ocean," the Elite answers. He gives them the coordinates. They each board a Litch and escape from the ship. The Litch with the Elites loyal to the Thel 'Vadam (Arbiter) heads to orbit and open up a Slipspace window and jump. A squadron of Seraph Fighters chase after the Litch occupied by the humans. However, the squadron of A-11s blows them out of the sky.

"Excellent work sir, procced towards Fort Old Hickory all UNSC forces have evacuated." The leader of the squadron tells Colonel Thompson over the coms. The colonel radios General Eisenhower's HQ to tell him about the threat and he gave him the coordinates. The Dumb A.I. pilots the ship on its collusion course and a fireball dotted the night sky. The Litch touches down at Fort Old Hickory cheers erupt from the troops. As soon as they exit Fireteam Osiris boards an ONI Prowler and disappears. General Eisenhower comes up to Colonel Thompson shakes his hand as well as the hands of the other survivors of Georgia Company and Foxhound Company congratulating them.

"Sir, have you checked those coordinates?" Captain Jack Price asks.

"There's nothing there. We contacted our base near the area those coordinates have there is nothing the Elite described."

"Sir this Elite was certain of this he was scheduled for execution after they learned he was a member of the Swords of Sanghelios," Sergeant Kat O'Donaild says to the colonel.

"I'm not going to take the word of an Elite they're the enemy. However, if you don't believe me, we'll contact the base again and you can hear it from them." Colonel Thompson nods he's not taking any risk especially with the Covenant. They receive no response and the screen remains black.

"Can you access the base cameras?" Colonel Thompson asks one of the air force soldiers on the consoles. The soldier looked from him to the general. The general nods. The air force soldier hacks into the base cameras. The first image they see is nothing not even the UNSC soldiers on duty. The soldier switch to the control room and see bodies. The camera pans left and right and then Elites appeared with engineers. The soldier checks all the camera every human onboard are dead. The only ones alive are Covenant soldiers.

"I guess your right colonel." General Eisenhower says. "Contact Admiral Blackwell inform him of the threat."

"Yes sir," the communication operator replies. "Sir, Admiral Blackwell request Georgia Company and her two sister companies be sent too Charleston ASAP along with Foxhound Company." The general turns to Colonel Thompson.

"Good luck and God speed." They salute, and Colonel Thompson exits. They board Albatross and are enroute too Charleston, South Carolina.

Several minutes later they arrived at airfield. They're showed to a hanger were sixty-nine soldiers are present and that's when Captain Jack Price, Lieutenant Dmitri, and Sergeant Major George Anders hears familiar voices. Jack and Dmitri couldn't believe it's John Connors, Sinclair Stein, and Grieg McFee their former squad mates. Jack knew Sinclair and Grieg retired but John stayed in the service. Lieutenant Colonel William Thompson comes up to them. "Sir, when do we depart? Jack asks him.

"We're waiting for some new vehicles to arrive design for this kind of mission and we're waiting for Blue Team," he answers. Everyone has heard about the famous/infamous Blue Team lead by the Master Chief. Jack looking forward to working with the Master Chief.