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First Battle of Alamo 1

Part 1

The Silent Hammer was making its way to an UNSC base somewhere in Egypt. As they were approaching the base, Cortana brought the base schematics up onto the holo table. "What is the base defensive armament like Cortana?" Lord Hood asked.

"The armaments include 16 MAC guns, 5 Super MACs guns, and forty-six rail-guns," Cortana answered.

"Tell me about the base Cortana?"

"Parts of the base is built into the Pyramid, and it protects a nearby city. An ONI building is in the center of the base surrounded by a moat, the entire city is surrounded by a wall, with all kinds of bunkers, and outside of the base is a trench. On top of the wall are all kinds of weapon emplacements including heavy artillery pieces and several MAC guns," Cortana answered Lord Hood question.

"Is there an underground area?" Lord Hood asked.

"Aye sir, it's underneath the pyramid and underneath the city as well," Cortana answered.

"Cortana this isn't a pyramid built by the ancient Egyptians?" The Master Chief asked.

"No, it was built in 2550 three years before the Fall of Reach," she answered.

"Cortana deactivate cloak," Lord Hood told her.

"Aye, Aye sir," Cortana replied. The ships cloak was deactivated.

"Sir, we're being hailed," a crewman manning communication reported to Lord Hood.

"Put it through," Lord Hood told them.

"Undefined craft you have entered restricted airspace answer now or you shall be fired upon."

"Sir, MAC guns are coming online," Cortana told him.

"Open up a channel," Lord Hood told her. A channel was open.

"This is Lord Hood sorry about the disable IFF tag, but we haven't installed one on our new battleship," Lord Hood said over the radio.

"Roger, Hanger Bay 64 is open for you," another voice answered. A bay opened up in the ground and the Silent Hammer landed inside and then the hanger bay door closed behind them. The Master Chief, Lord Hood, Commander Jenny, and all the rest of the survivors from Antarctica exited the ship and were met by the base commander and two dozen UNSC regular marines. They went to attention and saluted. Lord Hood returns the salute. Colonel Heath-118 and the other wounded soldiers were taken to the med bay.

"Master Chief, I want you to prepare the UNSC ground troops for a massive attack," Lord Hood told him.

"Sir Yes sir," Master Chief replied, saluting and then heading topside with the rest of the Spartans behind him, except for three Spartan-IVs. Since Colonel Heath-118 was wounded the Master Chief assumed command of the Spartans until Heath recovered from his wounds, and apparently Lord Hood placed him in command of the troops holding off the Covenant as well.

"What's your name?" Lord Hood asked the base commander.

"Lieutenant Colonel Murphy sir," the base commander replied.

"Take me to the control room."

"Yes sir," Murphy replied. Lord Hood had April's chip in his hand. They headed to the control room. The two MPs outside of the control room snapped to attention as Lord Hood, LT. Colonel Murphy, Commander Jenny, and the admiral walked pass them. The people inside also went to attention as well as the civilians working for the UNSC.

"As you were," Lord Hood told them. He plugged April's chip into a port and her image appeared. "April, I want a report on the Covenant."

"Detecting a massive Covenant Ship on its way."

"How long will it take the ship to reach this base?" Lieutenant Colonel Murphy asked her.

"Couple of hours sir, they're moving slow. They must think we have some secret weapon underneath the water to blow them out of the sky. They'll most likely land the ship outside of the MAC guns protective area."

"Send out a flight of A-12s to sees what they can find out," Lieutenant Colonel Murphy told a person on one of the computers. The A-12 is a new fighter designed for atmosphere conditions. They were designed to be able to take on Covenant Seraph Fighters in dogfighting as well as Phantoms, Sprits, Vampires, and of course Banshees. They closely resemble the A-10 Warthogs that were used back in the 21st Century.

"Yes Sir," she answered. Four A-12 pilots headed for their fighters. Once they were in their fighters they launched out of Hanger Bay C. The A-12 fighter pilots hoped that they all would make it back to base for another run against the Covenant. After about an hour, they saw a Covenant Carrier supported by two Corvette-class Covenant ships, and the Covenant carrier launched several squadrons of fighters.

"At least it's not a Super-carrier," one A-12 pilot said. Nobody said anything else, they just armed their missiles.

"Break off, get those fighters to split off and engage you one at a time. Try to get them to follow you back to base so the AA batteries can knock them out of the sky," the leader of the A-12 squadron told the rest of the pilots. "Good Luck gentleman and I hope to see you all back at base."

"Roger," they replied. The battle between the Covenant Seraph fighters did not last long since the A-12s were outnumbered, but they managed to destroy one squadron of Seraph fighters and crippled another squadron and they got the Intel Lord Hood needed. They returned to base and the Seraph fighters following behind them were vaporized by the bases AA batteries. three A-12's were destroyed, their pilots ejected at the last second, and the remaining A-12 was crippled, it would take several days before it'll be battle ready once again. The surviving pilots were picked up by a Pelican supported by a squadron of A-12s and two squadrons of Longswords, but the Covenant felt no reason to attack them, which was a little strange.

Meanwhile in the medical bay, Dr. Halsey brought up Colonel Heath-118 MRI shots. "It's amazing that you're still alive after the beating you took in Antarctica," she said. "Of course that's why we created the Spartan-II's anyway to be almost indestructible. You're unique among the other Spartan-II's, you have all the skills of all the other Spartans." She read through the colonel's mission reports since the war with the Covenant began and his service record. I made the right decision when I choose you to be the commander of my Spartan-II's and I was right to choose John as your second in command. Your parents were both in the UNSC I'm sorry that you lost them when the Covenant attack Earth. She sees some of the files are encrypted but she knew how to get through it. "ONI had the colonel go on classified missions with the Spartan-III's several times. She read that he couldn't tell anyone about the existence of the Spartan-III's. She saw that he trained a team of Spartan-III's known only has Zodiac Team. She brought them up; they were deployed on a Top Secret mission only the colonel and several officers in High Com knew where they are. ONI also covers up the colonel's knowledge of the Covenant technology but how is that possible." She would have to ask him sometime later on, but right now she has surgery to perform on him. She glances back at his record, "We're going to need you really soon Heath. Mendez and the High Command choose the right person to lead all the Spartans."

On board a Covenant Destroyer an Elite captain is talking with the Ultimate Shipmaster, "Send your three ships to the location of the UNSC base in what the humans call the Sahara Desert. We have intercepted a human transmission that they have a Forerunner artifact in their possession. I'll inform the shipmaster heading to a decoy human base to come to your aide captain," the Ultimate shipmaster told the captain. The three Covenant Ships got on their way to the UNSC base. Two of the Covenant ships are frigates and the other is a carrier.

Six hours later Colonel Heath-118 awoke in the medical bay. "Where am I?" Colonel Heath asked. April's image appeared right next to him.

"Glad to see that you're awake colonel," she said to him. "You're in medical bay 7."

"What the status of the Covenant?"

"There still on their way here."

"Where's the Master Chief and the other Spartans?"

"The Master Chief is seeing to the defense of this base," Cortana answered.

"It's time for me to join them," he answered as he got off the bed and removed the IV's from his arm.

"You know you shouldn't be moving around, you're too injured even with the biofoam in you, and those are the doctor's orders."

"I don't take orders from civilians," he replied.

"You know your attitude as changed a lot," she told him.

"Noted, where are Lord Hood and Commander Jenny?"

"They're in the control room." He left the room and headed for the base control room. The marine MP's went to attention as he walked passed them, they noticed his hospital gown but didn't say anything about it.

"Sir," Colonel Heath-118 said to Lord Hood and he turned around.

"Dr. Halsey said you wouldn't be around for a couple of weeks."

"I'm good to go sir," the colonel answered, then Dr. Halsey walks in.

"You know you should be in bed from all the injures you sustain."

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

"Heath, I never knew you or John would tell an outright lie." She looked at him. "Very well you, know you condition better than I do."

"Dr. Halsey we're going to need him in the coming fight because I believe this will be a hard fight. Show them April." A screen popped on showing the layout of the area surrounding the base.

"Three hours ago our satellites detected this Covenant ships we've been tracking since they left Antarctica, they have landed and are unloading troops along with vehicles," April told them. "Ten more Covenant ships are on their way here from Australia, ETA 3 hours, they're going slow, it looks like they took a beating when they got closer to the continent."

"You and your Spartans have command over the defense of this base. You leave the Covenant ships to me," Lord Hood told Colonel Heath-118.

"Yes sir," he said saluting. Colonel Heath-118 turned towards Dr. Halsey. "Ma'am I'm going to need a new set of MJOLNIR armor," Heath told Dr. Halsey.

"I've got the perfect suit for you Heath, it's an updated version to the current model of MJOLNIR armor and the only one of its kind," She told him. They left the control room and headed to one of the labs.

Inside of the lab Colonel Heath-118 saw the new MJOLNIR armor suit Doctor Halsey was talking about. He's shocked to see it looks similar to the one he's been wearing over the years. "I've been designing this suit specifically for you," She told Heath. The colonel just stood and stared at the new armor.

"Could you tell me about the armor ma'am?"

"The armor is similar to every MJOLNIR armor you have worn to the date except for a few improvements we made. Since you're a qualified sword fighter we installed an energy sword in a holder within your leg, while it's in there it also recharges. The shields on this MJOLNIR armor recharge a lot faster and are even stronger than any other MJOLNIR armor that is currently out there. You still have a port for AI. We have also installed an advance motion tracker that should give you the locations of friendlies and enemies even if they're using suppress weapons, and you have a new health gauge."

"Does it work well in space?" The colonel asked her.

"Yes it does," she answered. The colonel puts on the new armor with some help from technicians. "Good luck colonel and come back alive, that's an order."

"Yes ma'am," he replied. He headed topside to join the chief and to prepare for the Covenant attack.

Colonel Heath-118 arrived on the surface and he walked out of the pyramid where sandbag emplacements surrounded the entrance. There were eight Heavy machine guns guarding the approaches. They even have barriers around the area to give the defenders cover. He saw Scythes setup around the pyramid along with M95 Lance Anti-Aircraft battery's and some SAM sites. A Hog pulled up next to him. "Sir I'll take you to the Chief. He is in a building not far from the battlements," a marine told him. The colonel got in and the marine hit the accelerator. As the marine is driving, the colonel is looking at what's going on around him. He sees barriers being raise from the ground similar to the New Mombasa layout. He looks up into the building and sees sandbags being place around as two marines are checking their weapons. The Warthog pulled up to a building with a wall surrounding the building two ODST stood guard at the building's gate. The colonel got out and He walks pass the two ODSTs, they didn't even bothered to stop him. The Master Chief was waiting for him at the door. "Welcome to the party sir," the Master Chief said to the colonel.

"Glad to be here Chief, now let's sees what we can do to welcome our party guest," the colonel responds as they entered the building