Major Leonard Ross looked at the overview of the battle. The Turian forces were doing an admirable job fighting the Covenant. If not for their plan, he believed they'd be able to take the city back on their own. But the cost would have been catastrophic.
His own UNSC forces had been nearly wiped out by the Covenant invasion, with only the forces he was calling in from surrounding regions still capable of effective combat. His scattered and broken regiments were currently evacuating every survivor they could to Turian evacuation points, while the Turians kept the Covenant busy in the city. Seraphs stopped their attack runs after the Turian began running air-interdiction patrols.
The twin armored spearheads were making excellent progress around the city. The remaining UNSC armored forces sweeping aside the Covenant patrols they encountered with the aid of Turian airpower. His Grizzly and Scorpion tanks advanced unimpeded as lightning-fast Turian fighters zoomed overhead, coring wraiths with their cannons, while Turian missiles launched from up to twenty kilometers behind the lines on the armored forces of both sides.
Their so-called "Jiriss" fighting vehicles were a sight to behold. Fast moving hovertanks that sped across the open field, firing missiles at incredible ranges at both Covenant air forces, as well as targets in the city. He'd have loved a few of those back on Harvest.
To avoid confusion, he had declined Turian mixing their ground forces together for now. The UNSC would hold the western flank by themselves. UNSC armored forces could somewhat reliably take on Covenant forces in a one on one engagement, but that rarely happened. The Covenant would just hit UNSC forces from orbit if they were starting to make actual progress.
But the air support was starting to thin. The Covenant were deploying heavy anti-aircraft guns whose beam weapons could instantly shoot Turian fighters out of the sky. A formation of these guns were being placed around the gravity lift north of the capital. Scouts were also reporting other Covenant structures and machines under construction.
The Covenant had a definite lack of airpower at this point in the battle, and were using their Seraph fighters sparingly, only engaging inside the defensive fields of fire of their anti-aircraft guns. From what few engagements he'd been able to get good views of, the Turian fighters while smaller, were much faster than the Covenant ones and could go circles around them. The only problem were the Seraphs, who'd require multiple Turian fighters cooperating to take them down.
He tried to imagine a confrontation with equal numbers of fighters on each side, and couldn't imagine it going as well for them as it did now. But in his mind, he started thinking of how he'd combine Longswords with these Turian fighters. He'd keep such a thing in mind for future cooperation.
He switched over to the Turian armored push. They had flown recon missions with their planes, marked out Covenant positions, and then fired a massive barrage of missiles that struck whatever could provide resistance against their advance. They avoided attacking Covenant armor directly, instead moving around them to get deep behind lines and strike the wraiths in their vulnerable read armor. It lacked the gravitas and raw power of UNSC armored tactics, but it worked.
They'd be meeting up sooner than they had anticipated at this rate. But he didn't want to count on it. The Covenant were still reeling from the surprise attacks.
The Turian general approached, observing the advance of his forces.
"I see the encirclement is almost complete. Are your demolitions troopers ready?" The Turian asked. The way the human spoke fluent English was still something that felt off. The way his mandibles moved unnerved the Major slightly. It reminded him a bit too much of the Elites. He forced a smile.
The Major nodded. "I've received word that the Marine teams have placed the bombs, and are defending them until they detonate."
The Turian paused. "They're sacrificing themselves." he nodded solemnly. "I will have their names written in the annals of the Thirteenth Turian Legion."
"It was their decision. They want to make sure the bombs go off." The Major looked at the tactical reports flooding in. "They're not the ones making the biggest sacrifice though. Your men are dying in droves."
The Turian merely nodded. "It is the duty of Turian soldiers to fight for the cause, and if necessary, die for it. My men will hold the line until the encirclement is complete, then stage a short withdrawal as we activate the weapons. Then with the Covenant distracted, they can mop up the remaining Covenant. While my ground forces focus on the city, our armored forces punch through to the gravity lift north of the city. If we secure it, I can take my last mechanized infantry forces not yet committed to the fight, and send them up the lift."
"Are your forces ready to strike?"
"The boarding shuttles are ready. I've got a detachment of the 26th Armiger Legion with me. The best troops in the Hierarchy. If anyone can take the cruiser, its them."
The Major nodded. "The Covenant might self-destruct. Whenever a Covenant ship has been under threat of boarding, they'll begin trying to scuttle the ship. I hope you have good combat engineers with you."
"The best." Pallonis said proudly.
"Things are different here than the last time I fought the Covenant. Whatever is on the planet. They want it badly. They are holding forces back to guard it." Something caught the Major's eye. " Look." He pointed at a large cluster of troops beneath the cruiser.
Pallonis leant over to take a look at them. "I was thinking about why this was the case. I had anticipated they'd send their forces to avoid an encirclement. But it seems I was wrong. They're leaving their forces in the city and consolidating their defences around the gravity lift. Their defences are strong for something built so quick. We'll need to combine our forces to assault that line." Pallonis tried to think of just how many losses he'd take assaulting a Covenant defensive line.
Rickard returned to the room, taking up his old position at the table, and not a centimeter off where he stood originally. He even took up the same posture as last time. Pallonis suppressed a grin at that.
"Prowler's moving into position. The Captain didn't like it, but he agreed on the plan. On our command, he'll drop the remaining shields of the Cruiser, then take out as many shield generators as he can. I took the liberty of ordering men to get our last mass-drivers online, and aim them at the shield generators. That should improve our odds."
Pallonis looked everything over one last time. Things were falling into place. The Fusion bombs beneath the city's streets were set to blow. The armored encirclement was almost complete. His boarding shuttles were ready to attack. And the space battle had turned into a stalemate for now. Now they just had to wait for the perfect opportunity.
"I no longer feeling so confident about our plan to nuke the cruiser at the same time as the city. There's just too many Covenant forces near the gravity lift. We'd need to engage those first before we can hit the Cruiser. And we can't do that until the city has been cleared of hostiles. Then we'll put our UNSC and Turian forces together for a full invasion of their landing site."
Leonard Ross nodded. "That might be for the best. If that's the case. I can relocate some garrison forces near to the evacuation route to take over escort duty, and prepare UNSC support for the final assault. I should be able to field eight hundred or so marines for the final assault."
"You should have seen us in our prime, turian. I think you'd have loved to see what our armies were like when we weren't always on the run." The Major said melancholically. "Doesn't mean we cant deliver the hurting though. These covvie bastards have infested our world for far too long."
Shipmaster Vado 'Mavamee looked at the reports coming in from the surface, of the mysterious new race that had so suddenly launched themselves into the conflict.
In truth, he didn't know what to think of them. Their spacecraft were small, but used expertly and with great skill. Their realspace FTL ability intrigued him. The tactical possibilities such a thing allowed were fascinating to consider. The limited sensor readings of their movement had clocked their speed at fifteen lightyears a day. A respectable speed, especially when used in a planetary system.
Their actions on the surface were the most intriguing however. They threw themselves almost fanatically at his forces.
No, that was the wrong word. Determined. They advanced with expert skill and training, always advancing with at least half their formations providing covering fire for the other half. Their doctrine seemingly being based around a mass deployment of long range artillery to weaken enemy positions, followed by infantry supported by air support and armored vehicles, with additional artillery called in to take out whatever Covenant strong points remained. He had to admit that the Stratagem was efficient. These were true warriors he was up against.
He was losing this battle. No doubt about it. The only question was if he could hold it for long enough to repair his Battlecruiser. The encirclement of his advance forces in the city was a predictable move.
Encircle, deploy heavy artillery, attack with all available forces. Simple, predictable, but still effective. He could have tried to break them out, but he trusted in the field commanders to hold long enough for him to establish defences. After that, he could move to reinforce the forces trapped in the city. With a full deployment of artillery and anti-air emplacements. His heart yearned for open war on the field, with large armies clashing in battles of maneuver. But he'd learned the art of defensive war during skirmishes against warlords on the frontier.
He'd put his troops to work setting up defences around the Gravity lift, and getting as much heavy equipment deployed from the Cruiser as he could. He'd wait until he had the largest possible force, and punch through to retake the city. Normally he would have been using dropships to provide the forces in the human city with at least a shield generator. But the amount of enemy fighters made such a move a certain suicide mission.
He'd sent a signal for reinforcements. But the closest Covenant fleet had answered they would only when they'd gathered reinforcements. The Cole human was operating in the vicinity with a large fleet, and the Fleetmaster refused to engage unless his fleet was at least half the size of the Human once.
He thought of these new aliens, trying to divine their purpose in the divine scheme of the cosmos. They fought with courage, honor, and determination, and were of great individual skill.
Their weapons were effective against his troops, even his sangheili. Their singularity weapons were also unlike anything he'd seen before.
Their armor was.. reasonable. It couldn't hold against sustained weapons fire, but it lasted longer than any human armor. That was for sure.
Vado'Mavamee just couldn't figure out what to think about these aliens. They seemed too proud and honorable to be working with the Humans, but they were. And going by scouting reports, were dying to evacuate them. If they hadn't been defending humans, he would have recomended they replace the Jiralhanae on the Covenant hierarchy. But now? He just couldn't decide. He put those thoughts aside until after the battle was won.
Outsiders then? He thought. Perhaps they saw us attacking, and intervened because of it? Their technology implies they know little of what the gods left behind. Perhaps the missionaries could convince them of their folly of siding with the Humans? He'd contact the Ministry of Conversion, and ask them to guide this race away from their folly.