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The First Battle of Antarctica Part 2

Heath woke up in the Longsword Transport Fighter several hours later. "Finally your awake, I thought I lost you Heath," April told him.

"What happen?" The colonel asked.

"Your shields started to recharge, but when they hit you again they completely depleted and fried the shield generator. I'm sorry colonel, but you no longer have any shields. Once you passed out the chief arrived with vehicles and they beat the Covenant assault back, for now. The Covenant sent in Spec Op Elites but UNSC forces killed them too. You're very lucky that your suit could take a lot of punishment without the shields or you would be a dead man."

"How many are left that survived the crash?"

"Three Helljumpers, six regular marines, thirteen UNSC Army soldiers, Lord Hood, Kelly, Commander Jenny, every Spartan that came with us, Admiral Grayson, and the Arbiter all survived." she answered.

"How many arrived with the chief?"

"Twenty-one ODSTs, twenty regular marines, four friendly Elites, and the other Spartans arrived with the chief."

"How many vehicles did they bring?"

"Four Warthogs, 3 Scorpions MBT, four mongoose, 2 Hornet, and three Pelicans." April replied.

"How is the commander?" the colonel asked.

"She'll need surgery, but she'll live." He got up as they start to pack everything up. The colonel got into a Scorpion, the commander got into the passenger seat of a Warthog, the chief took the wheel and Linda took the gun. Fred took the wheel of another warthog, and two other Spartans got into the same Warthog. The rest got into vehicles as while. Spartan-119 took a Mongoose and a marine with a Jackhammer rocket launcher got behind him. They found a dozen Ghost and two Choppers undamaged in the battle, so some got onto those. Lord Hood, with a dozen ODSTs, Spartan-120, and Spartan-087 boarded the only Longsword that was not damage. The Pelicans were filled with squads of ODSTs or marines. Another Spartan took the other Scorpion. Now that everyone is in a vehicle they headed to the secret UNSC base.

They noticed a Covenant cruiser right above the hidden base and also see a downed Covenant cruiser not far from the base with Covenant troops heading right for the base in Ghosts, Banshees, Prowlers, and Choppers. They see millions of Covenant troops on the ground with all kinds of vehicles. Covenant Engineers are busy setting up digging equipment right above the base.

"How do we get through that?" A marine asked over the com.

"We kill them all trooper." the colonel replied. Another Covenant ship was on approach to the base. They noticed two hundred Seraph fighters patrolling the ships and three hundred Banshees were also in the air.

"What do we do now sir?" Spartan-118 asked Lord Hood over the com.

"We do what you said, Kill 'em all." Lord Hood answered before accelerating the Longsword towards the enemy. The Pelicans and the two Hornets followed after him. In the jump seats were two Spartan-III's with the new M716 rocket launcher that holds 6 rockets. The M716 is effective against infantry, vehicles, Banshees, and even Seraph fighters. The rest followed after the aircraft. Banshees, Seraph fighters, Ghost, Choppers, and Wraiths all turned and headed right for them. The Wraith tanks fired their motors and three Mongooses and a captured Ghost were destroyed. The colonel fired the Scorpion's main gun. The 90mm shells from the tank's cannon destroyed one of the Wraiths. The colonel fired six more times and three more Wraith tanks were destroyed. He also destroyed several enemy Choppers. The Pelicans, Hornets, and the only Longsword were dealing with the enemy fighters. At the back of the Pelicans is a chain-gun, and the ODST manning the chain-gun pulled the bolt back and started spraying the enemy Banshees and Seraph fighters with lead. The marines on the Scorpion Main Battle Tank fired the Jackhammer missile launchers at the Banshees, and the Choppers that were coming right at them. A Banshee fired its plasma cannons at a Scorpion, wounding the machine gunner and killing a marine on one of the jump seats. A Jackhammer missile hits the Banshee, causing it to spin out of control and crash into another Banshee and they explode in a cloud of dust. The colonel fired the main gun again and again. The rounds were dead on target with anything he fire at. He rolled over many Grunts that ran in disarray and anything that did not get out of the way of the tank. A Brute tried to hijack the Scorpion, but a marine fired a Jackhammer at the guerrilla-like Covenant soldier and blew him to pieces. The Warthog ran over many Jackals, Grunts, and Elites while Linda fired the LAAG and the commander fired her assault rifle. Linda destroys several Banshees. Commander Jenny shoot a lot of Grunts, Jackals, and Brutes in the back as they ran from the Warthog. A Brute tries to stop the Warthog, but when the chief hit him with the Warthog he went flying backwards; he was dead before he even hit the ground.

A Wraith fired its mortar at the colonel's tank, the plasma missing his tank by inches, and the colonel destroyed the Wraith, however a marine was killed form the Wraith mortar. Another marine is killed by plasma from a Ghost, and the Ghost is destroyed by a Hornet. The Longsword destroyed the remaining Wraiths. The Hornets shoot down several more Banshees and a Seraph fighter, but is finally taken out by two Seraph fighters from behind. The two Spartan-III's jumped out before the Hornet was blown to bits. They land in the snow, and a Warthog comes up to them and they get into the passenger seat and on the gun. The Covenant cruiser fired its plasma turrets at the vehicles, but they UNSC vehicles were too fast, so most missed, but it did managed to destroy the second Scorpion and killed the Spartan-IV who was driving it. They then fired the plasma turrets at the chief's Warthog which was in the mist of Covenant troops. The chief pressed the accelerator and ran over several Elites, causing the plasma to miss them by inches. The shipmaster told them to stop firing and instead to send more troops down the gravity lift. Banshees swoop in to try and score a kill on the Master Chief's Warthog, but Linda fired the Warthog's LAAG and destroyed any Banshees that tried to score a kill. Many of the Elites and Brutes piloting the craft fall out and were dead before they hit the snow and ice. A wounded Elite is shot out of his Banshee and he lands into the water, he froze to death before a Phantom could pick him up. The Pelicans fired on all the Phantoms and they went up in a huge white-blue blast. A Pelican is shot down by an anti-air Wraith that just came out of the grav lift. The Spartans and a few UNSC soldiers survived the crash.

"Spartans get to the base, that's an order!" Lord Hood ordered. The Spartans and the UNSC soldiers that survived the crash ran towards the base. Covenant Ghosts headed straight for them, but the Spartans jumped onto the back of them and knocked the Elites pilots off and then finished them with plasma fire. They then allowed the UNSC soldiers to get on and they head for the base. The surviving Pelicans and Hornets, along with the only surviving Longsword entered the base. The rest followed, but they had Covenant right on their heels. Two hundred Ghost and Choppers ran into the door that had just finished closing behind the last UNSC vehicle. The Covenant vehicles all exploded, killing the pilots. Another door sealed behind the first, and another behind the second.

Onboard the Covenant Cruiser, Hand of the Gods, shipmaster Veo watched as his ground forces that he sent down to engage the Demons were obliterated. He turned to his second lieutenant, "I want none of them lift alive when we gain access to the human base."

The Elite major clenched his fist to his chest, "It shall be done." he answered. Ten thousand Covenant troops left the Hand of the Gods to kill the humans. Grunts and Jackals are busy working with the drill equipment. Several UNSC soldiers that were wounded in the battle and didn't make it inside were being executed by Elites. Brutes and other Covenant forces were waiting to enter the human base to kill or be killed.

Once in the base they get out of the vehicles and were surrounded by hundreds of marines in white or Arctic uniforms. As soon as they saw Lord Hood and the Spartans they lower their weapons.

"Where's your control room trooper?" Lord Hood asked one of the marines.

"Follow us sir." The marine answered. They followed them to the control room and along the way the encountered more UNSC marines and about two dozen UNSC Army and a few civilian engineers. Once inside of the control room they saw Dr. Halsey and Chief Mendez there, along with several Spartan-IVs that were assigned to the base.

"John, how are you?" Dr. Halsey asked.

"I'm good ma'am." he answered.

"Heath." she says.

"Doctor." he replied.

"Fred."

"Doctor."

"Kelly."

"Doctor." she replied.

"Linda."

"Doctor."

"Jason."

"Doctor." She did this with all the Spartans. Doctor Halsey never called them by their numbers or their ranks, she has always used their names when she address them. Master Chief John-117 and Colonel Heath-118 shook Chief Mendez's hand.

"How are you Heath?" Dr. Halsey asked once she finished with the others.

"I'm good ma'am," he answered, based off how his armor looked she scanned him.

"You have no shields, and among several other things you should be in a coma Heath."

"I'm fine ma'am." Heath replied.

"Ma'am, another Covenant Cruiser is right above the base, and two more ships are on their way." a marine told Dr. Halsey.

"Arm the MAC gun and fire at will." she ordered. The advanced, and very well hidden, MAC gun open up and fired three rounds at the Covenant Cruiser, but they only impacted on the ships shields. "Fire another three rounds."

"Yes ma'am." the marine replied. They fire again, this time the three rounds from the MAC gun went through and ripped the Covenant Cruiser in two.

"The MAC is fully charged." a marine report.

"Aim at the two approaching Covenant ships." Lord Hood ordered. The MAC gun then fired at the Covenant Destroyer heading right towards the Arctic base.

On board the Covenant Cruiser shipmaster Veo watched as the ships under his command were being ripped apart by the unseen human weapon. "Where is that weapon?" Shipmaster Veo asked one of his crew members on the bridge.

"We don't know," an Elite replied, "SpecOps teams are moving to a secret entrance that we got from a captured human before he was executed."

"Excellent, tell them to take that human weapon offline." Veo ordered.

"Yes shipmaster." the Elite replied.

"Sir we're receiving a transmission from Ultimate Shipmaster Bani Sadr," another Elite said before the Ultimate Shipmaster appeared on screen.

"I hear you have problems Shipmaster Veo." Bani Sadr said.

"None that I can't handle Holy One," Veo replied.

"Very well, continue your work," he replied before the transmission ended.

"How long until we enter the base?" Veo asked.

"We're almost there now, except for the SpecOps teams they're ready to enter on your command," A Golden Armored Elite told him.

"Tell them to proceed, but with extreme caution," Veo replied. "Especially with those Demons present."

Inside of the control room the marines at computers were monitoring the MAC guns accuracy and kills. Several other marines were watching security cameras. "Sir, we have hostiles trying to cut their way through the vehicle bay that you entered from," a marine told Lord Hood.

"Arm the auto-turrets, get them away from those doors." Lord Hood ordered.

"Auto-turrets armed sir," a marine answered. The auto-turrets opened up on the Covenant outside the vehicle bay and it was a massacred. The bullets tore through the Covenant troops like a hot knife through warm butter. Brutes were no match for the powerful auto-turrets, even two Hunters fell to the auto-turrets.

A Black Armored Elite lead the two teams of SpecOps commando units, mostly Elites, supported by a few Grunts. The Covenant Spec Ops wear active camouflage units to protect themselves from not being spotted. They entered the base through the secret access point and came upon two Helljumpers who were patrolling the hallway just outside of the entrance. The Elites sent the Grunts first. One of the Helljumpers was shot in the back by a Grunt's plasma pistol at full charge. The other Helljumper wheeled around when he heard his buddy screamed and shot the two Grunts in the head. "Command we have Covenant in the," an Elite shot him in the face before he could say anymore.

"This is command come in," command says over the com. The Elite fired his plasma rifle and the ODSTs' com went silent.

"Let's head for their generators and shut them off, then we can neutralize the gun that has been destroying our ships," the Elite in charge said. They head to the generators; the engineers in the generator room were not armed. The Covenant SpecOps teams burst in and killed all the engineers before they even knew they were there. They disabled the generators and the lights went out all over the base. Another team of commando Elites headed for the control center; Brute Stalkers were also with them.

"This is command come in," a marine said over the com.

"A problem soldier?" Admiral Grayson asked.

"Well sir, I received a brief transmission over the com and then it stopped. When I replied to it, there was no answer," the marine replied.

"Alert all security teams that we have intruders in the base," Admiral Grayson replied.

"We must get to Alamo 1, this base has been compromised," Lord Hood told them. "Doctor Halsey, how long before the Covenant drill down and are able to enter the base from above?"

"10 minutes," she replied.

"Marine is there a hanger bay here?" The marine didn't have time to answer before Dr. Halsey answered.

"Yes, there is a hanger bay and a new UNSC Destroyer is fully equipped and ready for battle," she answered. All of sudden the lights went out.

"What the hell," a marine says.

"Backup generators?" Lord Hood asked.

"They're down and charging," a marine answered.

"The Covenant must have turned off the lights," another marine said.

"No, you think," another marine replied to his comment.

"Helljumpers fan out, check the doors," Lord Hood ordered.

"Sir, yes sir," they replied. As one Helljumper is heading to an exit a plasma bolt hit him directly in the face. More plasma bolt stated to come through all three exits, another marine is killed from plasma and he falls back over the rails. A marine is hit by a spike in his shoulder, a marine medic came up to him and started to remove the spike. A Helljumper sergeant comes over to the wounded marine.

"Can you do your job?" the sergeant asked him.

"Yeah," the marine answered.

"They're invisible," the colonel told them. The ODSTs in the control room switched to VISR mode. The ODSTs fired their assault rifles and Battle Rifles at the invisible Covenant. The wounded marine saw a Grunt come around behind the sergeant; he aimed his pistol at the Grunt's head, and pulled the trigger and the Grunt fell down dead. The sergeant looks at the wounded marine and nodded his approval, but then falls to the ground with a spike to his back. Grunts were the first to enter the control room they fired their plasma pistols and Needlers at the UNSC troops in the control room. The chief stepped in front of the several Needler rounds heading for Lord Hood. He fired a three round burst from his battle rifle and was rewarded when three Grunts fell down dead from head shots. Four more Grunts fell from the colonel's and Fred's Battle rifle. Several Jackals entered the control room with their shields already activated. The chief, colonel, Fred, Kelly, and several marines activated their frag grenades and threw them over the Jackal shields, the Jackals tried to roll out of the way, but they were too late, purple blood and body parts sprayed the walls and everything in the room. Two Elite shields were drain from the grenades and Linda popped each of them in the head with her sniper rifle. A Grunt is coming behind an ODST and is going to shoot him in the back, but the colonel saw him and he assassinated the Grunt from behind.

"Thanks," the ODST told the colonel, but he only nodded. A Grunt threw a plasma grenade at the marines and it stuck to a marine's head, when it exploded it killed two more marines. ODSTs dispatched most of the Grunts with head shots from their Battle Rifle. Jason threw a frag grenade behind a whole bunch of Grunts and it killed them all. Jackals entered the control room and formed a shield wall all the way around them. Elites and Brutes came behind them. The Spartans, marines, ODSTs, along with the few UNSC Army soldiers, Jenny, Lord Hood, and Admiral Grayson took cover behind anything they could find.

"Spartans, throw grenades over their shields!" Lord Hood ordered.

"Incendiary follow by frag grenades," the colonel ordered. They first threw the incendiary grenades which killed the Jackals and disable the Elite shields, and tore the Brutes armor off. Then frag grenades followed the incendiary grenades, which finished off many of the Elites and Brutes. A Brute threw a spike grenade.

"Spike grenade!" A marine yells and ducks behind cover, the grenade hits the wall behind him, so he tore it out of the wall and threw it back to its owner. The spike grenade stuck to the Brutes head, and when it exploded it killed the Brute and wounded several Elites and Brutes that were standing to close to him. Spartan-117 and 118 charged at the surviving Covenant. Many Grunts and Jackals turned and fled, but were mowed down by the Spartans and UNSC soldiers assault weapons. More UNSC soldiers arrived that were patrolling the corridors and the regrouping Covenant were naturalize. Elite tried to stand up, but the colonel caved his skull in with his boot.

"Listen up people we're leaving this Popsicle stand. I want all personnel to meet us in the hanger bay and tell them to watch out for Covenant," the colonel told them. A marine looked at Lord Hood, he nods his head. The marine gives the order over the com.

"We didn't kill them all?" A freckle face marine asked.

"We never kill them all son," the chief answered.

"Let's move before more Covenant show up," Commander Jenny suggested. They head towards the hanger bay. They met two dozen marines and a dozen naval personnel on their way to the hanger. Most of the marines were armed with MA5B or MA5C assault rifles and BR85 Battle Rifles. The Navy personal were armed with pistols and SMGs. One marine is carrying a Machine gun and another one is carrying a flamethrower.

The Engineers have finally breeched the human base. A few UNSC Marines were caught off guards as an Engineer floats down and explodes. A Golden Armor Elite named Kaidou and his unit arrived in the human base by grav lift. Kaidou commands eighty-nine Elites, sixty Jackals, three pairs of Hunters, and five hundred Grunts all armed with a wide range of weapons to take care of the humans. A Brute Captain accompanied them, the Brute Captain commands, sixty Brutes, forty-five Jackals, and two hundred Grunts. They heard about the units that failed the Hierarch and they don't plan to fail the Hierarch. They entered the troop's barracks, a few marines and a majority of the Army soldiers that were not on duty were asleep or playing cards and thought the alarm was only a drill. The Covenant open up on the humans. An Army soldier tires to grab his rifle but is cut down. A marine grabs his MA5C assault rifle and killed several Grunts, but a Brute grabs the marine by the throat and began strangling him, the marine fired his assault rifle into the Brute but the Brute paid no attention the wounds the marine inflected upon him. He breaks the marine's neck and smells something foul; the marine must had pissed himself. Another marine is torn apart by another Brute. Another Brute stabs a marine in the gut with his bayonet underneath his Brute shot. An ODST just walked in through the barracks door and sees the carnage. He was about to flee until he was stabbed from behind by a camouflage Elite.

Blood splatters out of his mouth and he falls to the ground and his guts were falling out and then he dies. All the marines in the barracks were killed except for three ODSTs that escaped. The Covenant heads to the cafeteria, but no one was there. More units of Covenant arrived and they have been clearing the base one room at a time. They have not encountered much human resistance until they start to get closer to the hanger bay. Marines and two Army soldiers manning chain-guns opened up on the Covenant coming down the hall. Four Elite commandoes fall. One marine fire a Jackhammer at them, but a Hunter steps in its path, but the missile blew a huge hole into the Hunter's chest. The Hunter's bond brother fired its Fuel Rod Gun at the marines and army soldiers killing all four of them. The Covenant meet more Covenant on the way to the hanger bay. Little did they know that they were walking into a trap, which the UNSC set just for them? They place mines and covered them with a type of camouflage so the enemy wouldn't even know they were there. Cortana sealed all the doors leading to the hanger bay except for the way they want the Covenant to go down. The Covenant walk right into the trap and Cortana told the Chief and he hits the mines detonator. Many of the Covenant were still alive thinks to their energy shields, but that sure slow them down. Cortana brought the video of the trap up into the Master Chief's HUD. He sees that four Elites, two Hunters, five Brute Minors, and plenty of Grunts and Jackals were killed in the blast, but more Covenants arrived, but at least they slowed them down.

The Master Chief, the colonel, and all the others reached the hanger. UNSC personnel were already busy fighting with the Covenant that managed to get into the hanger bay earlier in the fighting. An army soldier tossed a grenade over several Jackals shields when it detonated it spray purple blood everywhere and wounded several Elites that stood to close to them. The Marines finished them off with a combination of MA5B and battle rifle fire. The chief's motion tractor picked up contacts coming behind them. The colonel also picked up the new contacts. He opened up the com to the other Spartans and told them about the new threat.

"Let's get in the ship," Lord Hood suggested. They started to board the ship after they took care of the rest of the Covenant inside the hanger bay. Many Covenant were behind cover as the UNSC soldiers and Spartans kept the enemy suppressed so the technicians and the ship's crew could board without getting shot in the back. However, more Covenant forces were on their way to the hanger. Linda popped any Covenant that showed their head. Lord Hood, Commander Jenny Hood, Admiral Grayson, most of the naval personnel and four regular marines boarded to provide security for the bridge. The colonel was the last one to board the ship, but before the ramp close a Brute fired his Spiker and it hit him in the shoulder. The colonel fall to his knees before getting up and walking further into the ship and pulls the spike out of his shoulder. He heads to the medical bay and as soon as he enters Dr. Halsey sees him.

"You're hurt Heath," she says. She has never called any of her Spartans by their ranks or their numbers but by their names, which the Spartans don't like but they have gotten used to it. "Let's take a look at that wound and get your shields back online." He removed April's chip from the back of his helmet and placed it into an AI port. April's image appeared.

"Have we taken off yet?" The colonel asked her.

"No, we haven't," April replied.

"What about the Covenant outside the base?"

"The base auto-turrets are dealing with them," April answered. Dr. Halsey sedated him.

"I'm sorry Heath, but this is for your own good." Doctor Halsey sedated him and he fell hard but thanks to his armor, he wasn't hurt.

On the bridge, the Master Chief arrived and placed Cortana in the AI port. "Hang on," Cortana told them. She ignited the engines and any Covenant behind the engines were roasted, and they started down a long tunnel.

"Commander Jenny, open up those dam hanger doors," Admiral Grayson told her.

"Aye, Aye sir," she answered before opening up the hanger doors. They exit the Antarctica Base and see a Covenant Cruiser headed right towards them with its plasma turrets hot.

"What's our weapon status Cortana?" Lord Hood asked.

"MAC guns fully charge, Archer missile pods are full, rail-guns online, Ion cannon online, and four Silva warheads online," Cortana answered.

"What's our shield status?"

"Shields, this ship has shields?" The Master Chief asked.

"Yes chief, this is one of the new UNSC ships," Admiral Grayson told him.

"Primary and secondary shields online," Cortana reported. The Covenant cruiser fired its plasma turrets at the UNSC Destroyer. The crew onboard the UNSC destroyer prayed that the ship's shields would hold and that it wasn't a waste of time installing them, and the shields held. While the Covenant cruiser was recharging their plasma turrets the UNSC Destroyer, Silent Hammer, returned fire. The two MAC guns fire three rounds apiece at the Covenant Cruiser.

"Arm Archer missile pods A1-A7 and fire," Lord Hood ordered. The first three rounds form the MAC guns knocked out the ships shields; the next three rounds gutted the ship, and the Archer missile pods finished it off.

"Sir, we're detecting another Covenant ship, correction make that four Covenant ships, heading right for us, ETA three minutes," a naval person told Lord Hood from the radar station.

"Cloak it now," Lord Hood ordered, so Cortana cloaked the ship. The three Covenant ships search everywhere for the UNSC ship but their scanners could not pinpoint or find the ship. The cloaked UNSC Destroyer Silent Hammer continued on to the Alamo I, somewhere in desert of Australia or Africa, the exact location is classified.

"Commander Jenny, I want you to report to the medical bay and get that ankle looked after."

"Yes sir," she said saluting. She then leaves, followed by the Master Chief.

Shipmaster Veo watched as one of his cruisers fired on the human ship, but did not destroy it, but when it fired it destroyed his ship. "Why did we not destroy that ship," Veo asked one of the Elites on the bridge.

"I believe shipmaster they have shields now," an Elite replied.

"Shields, the Ultimate Shipmaster is not going to like this or the Hierarch." He replied. "How did they get shields on their ships? Send in three more ships." He watches as more ships were approaching the human ship and then suddenly it is gone. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Well the Arbiter been helping them," an Elite told him.

"Shipmaster, we found another human base," Elite on the bridge told him.

"Where is it?" Veo asked.

"At a place the humans call Australia," the Elite replied.

"Evac our forces, we shall take our revenge on these humans," Veo told them. "Order all my ships under my command to head for Australia."

"As you wish shipmaster," the Elite reply. They start to Evac their troops from the surface and then headed for Australia. The base didn't self-destruct because Covenant engineers disable the device. A Covenant cruiser was going to remain along with about two thousand Covenant infantry to make sure it wasn't recaptured.

"Admiral Grayson, was the data at the base destroyed?" Lord Hood asked.

"Yes sir, and the artifacts were placed in the vault and all blast doors leading to the vault have been sealed and turrets are all armed. It should take the Covenant months to get to the vault and a few months to cut through. "Admiral Grayson replied.

"Good, at least they want be able to get our data on everything we've been doing."

Shipmaster Veo attempted to attack Sydney but failed as two of his support ships were destroyed in the ocean and his ship sustained moderate damage. The Ultimate Shipmaster ordered him to the orbiting Covenant space dock for repairs. The Covenant were reinforce by five more ships.