First Attack on Alamo 1

Part 4

The attack came without warning as somehow the bases sensors that detected approaching hostiles were temporary offline. A majority of the Covenant vehicles managed to get closer to the human base before they started to take incoming fire from the defenders. Specters, Revenants, and Wraiths all fired their plasma blasts at and even over the walls. John saw a dozen Scarabs accompanied by several Locusts heading straight for the base. He radioed the men operating the heavy guns to switch fire to the Scarabs. However, the Wraiths and Locusts were sacrificing themselves to protect the 12 Scarabs. Two Scarabs were destroyed by the bases regular MAC guns; another was destroyed by the other heavy guns. The Elite General was not allowing his infantry to enter the battle as he was waiting for the vehicles to create several breach points in the walls. Many Covenant vehicles were destroyed, adding to the others out in No Man's Land, making it more difficult for the other vehicles to maneuver through. They also had to maneuver through and around piles of dead Covenant infantrymen that had piled up as they attacked the humans over the last three days. One Scarab managed to breach a section of the wall before it was destroyed. A Spartan-IV survived the explosion, along with several Covenant soldiers, and he dispatched them quickly with the help of Lucy. The Spartan-IV returned to the base and began waiting for the Elite General to send in his forces. Colonel Heath-118 and Master Chief John-117 heard over the radio that several more breach points had appeared in the walls, but the Scarabs that had caused the breach points had been neutralized. The remaining Scarabs were forced to retreat once more MAC guns began to target them and their escorts had been neutralized. Several Revenants, Specters, and Wraiths managed to get through the defenses and sat up a small beachhead on the other side of the breach points, but UNSC forces were fixing to drive them back. The Elite general ordered three hundred Ghosts, two hundred Choppers, and four hundred Prowlers to head towards the breach points. Most of the Ghosts, Choppers, and Prowlers were destroyed as they made their way to the breach points. Warthogs, Scorpions and Grizzlies were waiting for them on the other side of the wall. The destroyed enemy vehicles blocked the breach points for the UNSC from further attacks by Covenant armor. Several Elites and Brutes dismounted from their vehicles and started to climb over the rubble, but UNSC soldiers were waiting for them and they eliminated every Covenant soldier that tried to climb over the rubble. Once the Elite General realized that the base defenders had countered his attack he ordered his armor to retreat once more. He would wait until nightfall to launch another attack against the UNSC base/city. The soldiers of the United Nations Space Command reloaded their weapons and prepared for the next Covenant attack. The wounded UNSC personal and the civilians that were helping with the defense were being taken to the hospitals and the dead UNSC troopers were being sent to the morgue, even the dead Covenant were being cleared away. The destroyed UNSC vehicles were being taking to the base/city junk yard. UNSC soldiers found several wounded Covenant soldiers among the vehicles, as well as dead UNSC and Covenant soldiers. Colonel Heath-118 told them to take the wounded covenant to the hospitals to get treated as well and to guard them at all times. The breach points were being filled up by just dirt and quick drying concrete. Grizzly tanks were placed at the breach points to help guard them. Several sandbag bunkers were also constructed to aid the Grizzly tanks.

During that night, several teams of Zealots, along with Brute Stalkers and Elite Spec-Ops teams entered Alamo 1 through areas in the walls that didn't have to many UNSC soldiers patrolling them since a majority of them were sleeping. The Covenant infiltration teams' job is to disable the MAC guns and all the automated anti-air, anti-armor, and anti-personal defenses in the heart of Alamo 1. Once they accomplished their objectives they're to send a signal letting the Elite General know that his forces can attack. The Covenant infiltration team had to be careful making their way through Alamo 1 city streets because Warthogs were busy going down the streets, and they had to watch out for UNSC soldiers patrolling the streets. At one point they thought they were spotted by an UNSC soldier and a Zealot was just fixing to shoot the UNSC marine, but he ended up walking away. The Covenant Infiltration teams headed to their assign task. The Brute Stalkers along with a contingent of Grunt Spec Ops were assigned to take out a defensive tower. However, they managed to alert UNSC forces to their presences. The UNSC soldiers, along with Spartan-IIs, IIIs, and IVs took care of the Brute Stalkers and their contingent of Grunts; they also stopped a group of Sangheili Spec-Ops teams. The Zealots weren't even aware that the other Covenant infiltration teams have been stopped by UNSC soldiers. Colonel Heath-118, Master Chief John-117, and Major Tristan Rhodes headed back to the headquarters just in case any Covenant Infiltration teams had entered the headquarters. The Zealots eliminated a UNSC security team at one of the security stations. Heath and John entered the base, where they gathering several UNSC marines and Army soldiers to accompany them to the control room. The Zealots mission was to eliminate the UNSC commanders and destroy the bases/city defenses so their forces could search the city for Forerunner artifacts and enslave the people once the UNSC were finally defeated. The colonel and his men saw the dead MPs in the security station; this caused them to hurry towards the control center hoping that they would reach it before the Covenant. The Zealots entered the control room and found it mostly deserted, except for five people, two of them Spartans, along with a small detachment of UNSC Military Police. April shouted a warning to the Spartans over their private coms just before the Zealots opened fire with Plasma Repeaters, Plasma Rifles, Concussion Rifles, and Plasma pistols; the Spartans stepped in front of the Covenant energy weapons, shielding Lord Hood and several others. The Spartans returned fire and a Zealot appeared on the control room's floor, dead. Several more Zealots followed the first, along with several MPs. It took only a couple of minutes before all of the Zealots were neutralized.

The Elite General in charge of the attack on Alamo 1 decided that this time he was going to personally lead his troops in the attack on the humans' base. The Covenant ground troops consisted of Elites, Brutes, Hunters, Jackals, Skirmishers, though it was mostly Grunts. The Elite General was waiting for additional troops to arrive before trying to gain entrance to the human base/city. The Elite general wanted the best landing spots for his Phantoms, Sprits, and cruiser so that they could send troops into the city via gravity lifts, but he knows that the best areas are the most protected areas within the human city.

Come sunrise and still no Covenant attack. Hours passed and still no attack. Many of the United Nations Space Command soldiers were getting inpatient waiting for the attack to happen so their commanders ordered them to relax and that April and Cortana would warn them when the Covenant finally decided to attack. Even more time passed before the Covenant finally launched their attack on the city. They sent in Scarabs and Locust supported by Ghosts to support the infantry. The UNSC Marines and Army soldiers inside of the bunkers behind the walls were firing at the Covenant as they entered through the breach points. Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers, Brutes and low ranking Elites charged at the bunkers; the UNSC marines and Army soldiers inflected heavy casualties on the attacking Covenant infantry, but they kept on coming. A heavy turret turned its cannon onto a Wraith tank that just finished taking out a Scorpion and fired; The Wraith tank didn't stand a chance. The Ghosts arrived and began firing their plasma cannons, but sitting in a solid line one behind the other, the UNSC tanks were beginning to take their toll on the Ghosts until they received a message from the UNSC soldiers on the battlements that Covenant infantry have made it onto the battlements and towers and to be advised that several of the triple-A batteries would be offline. The colonel and the Master Chief ran towards the breach points while leading several other Spartans to help defend the area. Major Rhodes and several of his men had managed to hold several of the towers that the Covenant infantry tried to take offline. Heath looked at John with a look that said, 'I figured out the Covenant plan of attack'. Explosions ripped through sections of the wall, including the section that the Master Chief and the colonel were located on. The Master Chief was thrown off the wall and onto the ground below and had rubble landing all around him. The colonel was thrown back towards one of the towers. Almost eight towers were destroyed in the explosions, including two regular MAC guns and one of the Super MAC's. Several Grunts that arrived on the wall afterwards hurried to finish off the stunned colonel, but Major Rhodes and Lieutenant Jack neutralized the Grunts and the Elite that had followed after the Grunts. Major Rhodes and Lieutenant Jack then helped the colonel to get back onto his feet. He gave them a nod of thanks.

Colonel Heath-118 fired his assault rifle from the hip at an attacking Brute that was coming up behind them. The Brute fell off the wall and onto a Grunt firing at a group of UNSC marines behind some sandbags. Colonel Heath tried contacting the Master Chief and at first he couldn't get a response from him. Spartan-058 Linda, who was posted on the roof top of a building across the field and in the city, had the chief's back. She ended up firing three clips into any Covenant that tried to get through the breach points. A Grizzly tank pulled up alongside the chief's unconscious body and fired a canister shot into the Covenant that were advancing towards the breach. Several other vehicles arrived to help plug up the breach. The Covenant started to focus their attention on the areas in which they had created breach points. Another Scarab was destroyed when a MAC round hit it head on, causing secondary explosions throughout the vehicle. Linda shot an Elite Minor that had appeared behind the colonel. Several ODSTs shot several Grunts with their M7 submachine guns. One of the ODSTs, a medic, went up to the Master Chief and gave the chief a wake up stem. The Master Chief got up a second later. The surviving heavy gun towers were still infecting heavy casualties on the Covenant coming down from their staging areas. Once again Banshees were sent in, but they were still being knocked out of the sky by the triple-A batteries once they got in range. However, the triple-A batteries were starting to run low on ammo and many of them, especially the ones on the walls where the Covenant have been attacking the most, would soon be offline. The Covenant had launched several attacks on several of the towers, but so far the UNSC soldiers were still holding onto them. Piles of dead Covenant were piled up so high that the UNSC soldiers had to clear a path just so they could see what was happening around them. The Master Chief saw several Elites, supported by Grunts and Jackals, setting up an antimatter charge, or something similar, at the base of a tower. The chief gathered ten UNSC marines; a couple of army soldiers also volunteered to help him. They threw fragmentation grenades into their mist. A majority of the Elites survived the explosions, but the Grunts and Jackals weren't so lucky. The Master Chief and the UNSC soldiers that accompanied him finish the Elites off with full automatic fire and some semi-automatic fire from the DMRs.

Master Chief John-117 relayed to all UNSC forces that the Covenant could be using small teams to plant explosives to take out the towers, leaving the walls unprotected. Another tower was destroyed, and with it several of the naval guns and triple-A batteries, which created a breach in the cities/base air and ground defense. April detected another wave of Phantoms and Sprits, supported by Banshees, on approach to the base/city and with majority of the anti-aircraft batteries destroyed in the areas that the Covenant were attacking, they won't be able to keep the Covenant dropships from landing. Colonel Heath ordered the UNSC Mobile Anti-Air Unit (MAAU) to be mobilized. The UNSC MAAU is a specialized unit of Army soldiers and Marines equipped with portable SAM turrets on vehicles, which were very effective against Banshees, Phantoms, and Sprits. They used updated versions of the Wolverine, equipped with duel chain guns to deal with infantry as well as lightly armored vehicles. The Elite General knows that there are multiple breach points along the wall, but the area with the most breached points was near the gate, and that's what he wanted to push the hardest. However, the covenant would have to go through Colonel Heath, the Master Chief, and several other Spartans to take the area. Colonel Heath knows that if more of the walls defensives go down then the Covenant could send in more dropships and fighters. He shot and killed a team of Grunts coming right at him. The fighters and dropships suddenly turned around and headed back to their staging area; their troops also turned around and headed back, so Heath ordered all UNSC forces to stop firing. A MAC gun fired one last time and destroyed another Scarab as a UNSC marine lieutenant comes up to him.

"Sir, why were they retreating?" She asked.

"You're guess is as good as mine," Heath answered.

"I hope they don't come back again," she said. Heath didn't feel like responding because he knows that the Covenant doesn't quit that easy. He knew that the Elite general was trying to figure out the best way to attack the city. The area outside of Alamo 1 is litter with bodies and of the remains of destroyed Covenant vehicles. He looked around and saw plenty of dead Covenant foot soldiers within the base itself. He also saw marines lying up against the concrete cover that's on top of the battlements, some with energy sword through their chest and with the Elite that killed them lying over their legs. He knew that it would take time for the casualties list to reach him, the wounded that were too badly wounded were being sent to the hospitals while the rest were being patch up by the medics. Master Chief John-117 was looking at the breach points trying to find the best way to keep the Covenant out of the base. An hour later he reported back to his commanding officer.

"What do you have to report Master Chief?"

"There are plenty of breach points and I don't know how we're going to keep the Covenant from entering the city the next time they attack." Elsewhere, Marines and army soldiers were busy reloading the anti-air batteries.

Back at the Covenant encampment, the Elite General in charge of the attack on Alamo 1 was getting orders from the Elite in charge of the entire operation. He gave them orders for them to leave the base alone. "Why were we leaving this human base intact?"

"The base will fall in time, especially once all the Demons are neutralized. The High Prophet knew that with the invasion the humans would send their Demons to protect the cities, and one by one the Demons will perish. Now Evac your troops general, this battle is over." The hologram went dead. The Elite General gave the order to break camp and head back to the ships. A Covenant Cruiser landed well outside of the human's anti-air defenses, except for the Super MAC, but they didn't open fire. As soon as the Covenant Cruiser rose from the sand and headed back into space, the UNSC personal and the civilians cheered. They had won a huge battle against the Covenant, but the war is far from over and Spartan-118 believed that the New Covenant would not stop until they're all either enslaved or wiped out completely, either way the Second Human-Covenant War will be long and costly war.