Disclaimer: the Halo universe belongs too 343 Industries and Microsoft Studios. I only own this story and the new characters, weapons. vehicles, and creatures not from the Halo Universe.
The Battle for the United Kingdom
Part I
Manchester, United Kingdom
Thirteen days after the battle at Alamo 1 and the reconstruction of the city walls and defensive weaponry is still underway, and they're still trying to gather up all the Covenant bodies and dispose of them. The destroyed Covenant vehicles were also being removed to be melted down for materials as the UNSC was working hard alongside the Arbiter and the Elites that had allied with the UNSC. The Spartan-II's, III's, and IV's were busy checking their gear, as well as helping with the cleanup and rebuild of the base. Many were getting impatient as they wanting to get back into the fight with the Covenant and kick their asses off the Earth once and for all. Colonel Heath-118 walked into the Spartan barracks and every Spartan snapped to attention and saluted him until he returned the salute and told them to go back to what they were doing. Master Chief John-117 approaches Heath. "Do you have a mission for us sir?"
"No John I don't," he answered, "but you'll be the first one I tell you if a mission comes up." Heath headed to the control room to found out if Lord Hood had a mission for them as he was also getting impatient. As he was going towards the control room, the UNSC personal he passed salute him and he returned the salute. He entered the control room and goes up to Lord Hood where they shake hands after the colonel salutes him.
"What can I do for you colonel?"
"Do you have any missions for us?"
"The answer is still no colonel."
"Thank you sir," the colonel replied before turning around and making to leave the control room, but before he could a person appeared on screen.
"Lord Hood, the Covenant are attacking London! They have a ship right above Buckingham Palace and we have lost contact with the troops in the immediate area!"
"What about the MAC guns?"
"They were out of order sir, I don't know how. We were trying to get them back online but it looks like they have been sabotage. Requesting Spartan support."
"Request granted, I'll be sending you some support," Lord Hood replied before the screen goes black. "What the hell happened?" Hood asked someone on a computer station.
"Sir, we lost the feed, it must've been from their end." The technician told him.
"Colonel, did you hear that?"
"Yes sir," Colonel Heath-118 replied.
"Go get teams together."
"Sir Yes sir," Heath said before he saluted and left. The colonel contacted the Master Chief and told him to get eight Spartans, including himself, ready for a mission. He told the chief that he'll be there shortly after he goes and saw Major Tristan Rhodes, who commands two platoons of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Colonel Heath arrived at the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers barracks. Every ODST present quickly went to attention.
"Major, I need you to assemble a platoon of your best troopers for a mission against the Covenant in England."
"Yes sir," Major Rhodes replied. "Listen up men, you heard the colonel and I want 40 men ready to move out in six minutes." The colonel left and returned to the Spartan barracks and when he entered they all went to attention and salute him.
"Is the team ready to go," Colonel Heath asked.
"Yes sir," the Master Chief replied. Heath looked at the eight Spartans that the Master Chief had picked for the mission. There was Tom, Lucy, Jun, Daniel and four Spartan-IVs. They then head to the armory to grab their weapons and gear.
"Make sure you pack heavy, we don't know what we're going to encounter in England, or how long we will be there." Heath told them. He grabbed his MA5B Assault Rifle along with a dozen magazines; he also grabbed a sidearm, different types of grenades, and a M90 shotgun. Once they were done getting their weapons, they went to the hanger to board the awaiting Pelicans for their trip to England. Major Tristan Rhodes and his ODST's were already in the hanger waiting for the Spartans to arrive. Several of the newcomers to Rhodes' ODSTs were talking shit about the Spartans since they have never met one before, but Major Rhodes straightened them out before the Spartans arrived. Once the Spartans arrived, they all boarded the Pelicans and as the pilots prepare to takeoff, the Pelican refused to start. They had to go get in one of the brand new Pelican Mark II models. The Pelican Mark II's were a brand new Pelican designed three years after the first Human-Covenant War. They can hold a platoon of soldiers instead of the usual squad or two. It even has a turret on the top of the Pelican to help protect the transport from enemy aircraft. The turret can hold different types of weapons such as the M68 ALIM Gauss Cannon, the M79 MLRS, and the M41 LAAG. They leave the base and head towards the United Kingdom with two Longswords escorting them. They land in France to refuel and wait for nighttime. Several hours before sunlight, the Pelicans and Longswords take off from an UNSC base in Paris, France and keep heading out towards London. They were over the English Channel when a squadron of Banshees appeared and opened fire. A combination of the Longswords and the Pelicans Gauss cannon easily blow them out of the sky. As they approach the city of Manchester, England, a squadron of Banshee and Seraph Fighters engaged them. One of the Longswords escorts is blown out of the sky before it even had a chance to evade the deadly plasma projectiles. The other Longsword left to go and deal with the Seraph Fighters. The Longsword pilot downed three of the Seraph before his bird was blown out of the sky. The gunner in the turret shot down four Banshees, but the rest opened fire with their Fuel Rod Cannons and hit the Pelican in the engines and one hits the turret, killing the Marine gunner. The pilot told the passengers that it was time to leave the doomed bird. Major Rhodes, his ODSTs and the Spartans all had jet packs on. The two Marine pilots appeared with jet packs and one of the pilots opened the back door, but two Banshees were still chasing them. Lucy had a Rocket Launcher and fired it at the Banshees, blowing them both out of the sky, before they jumped out of the Pelican. They activated their jet packs to slow their descent; two Spartans, including the colonel, managed to hit several buildings, which caused their shields to drop some. Colonel Heath-118 unattached the jet pack from his back before grabbing the drop bag filled with extra supplies and deployed a beacon so the rest of his team would come to him. A few minutes go by before Major Rhodes and twenty of his ODST's appeared, shortly after that Lucy appeared with a squad of UNSC Marines.
"Where did you found the Marines Lucy?" Heath asked her.
"They were pin down by some Grunts, but I took care of them," Lucy answered. They wait for a while longer, but nobody else arrived at the rally point so Heath got on the comms to see where they were.
"Chief, where are you and the rest of the team?"
"Tom, five ODSTs, twenty-five Marines and I are pinned down in a cathedral. We need assistance taking out the three Wraith tanks and four Shade turrets that have us pinned down." There was a pause and he heard a rocket fire. "Scratch that, three Shades. Hurry up; the Covenant may be trying to come in the back door."
"We're on our way," Heath replied. Just before they leave the rally point Jun, Daniel and one of the four Spartan-IVs arrived, along with the ten of the ODSTs. So if you're doing the math, all thirty-five of the ODSTs under the command of Major Rhodes are accounted for. They didn't get far from the rally point when they ran into a Covenant patrol consisting of an Elite Major in crimson armor, ten Grunts and five Jackals. Heath tackled the Elite, while the others take care of the Grunts and Jackals. Heath wrestled with the Elite, pinning it down before drawing his sidearm and firing the entire mag into the Elite's face; with the Elite dead, the surviving Grunts and Jackals tried to run away, but were all killed by sniper fire from one of the rooftops. Jun and Daniel soon repelled down from the rooftops.
"Thanks for the help." Heath said and they nodded in response. Jun slung his SRS99AM Sniper Rifle over his shoulder and drew his M7S Submachine Gun. They continued on towards the cathedral, and since the Marines with them were stationed in the city, one of them had taken point.
"Attention all civilian and UNSC personal within Manchester, we have Covenant inside of the city. They have arrived from London in vehicles and by dropships so we don't know the size of the force. All civilians please remain inside, lock your doors and arm yourself with the weapons that were given to you." They hear over the radio. A Marine went around a corner and falls down dead from a plasma bolt to the side of his head. The ODST right behind him also falls dead from another Covenant sniper. Heath and Rhodes both throw sensors out to detect the Covenant forces; even though Heath's motion tractor is picking them up, they can't determine where exactly they are. The sensors were small baseball sized objects that give out a pulse; it shows everyone with a HUD the location of the enemy within the range of the sensor. The sensor showed them the locations of the Jackal snipers, it also showed them that there's a Wraith along with four Elites, two dozen Grunts, and six Jackals with it. Jun and Daniel head to the roof of one of the buildings; an ODST with a rocket launcher followed them to get a drop on the Wraith tank. Heath decided to keep the Covenant busy while the others got into positions. Major Rhodes and a squad were going to come up behind the Covenant forces in an alleyway, thereby catching them in a crossfire. Colonel Heath-118 made sure that the safety on his assault rifle was turn off. He grabbed one of his plasma grenades and goes around the corner and throws it at the Elite Major. The grenade sticks to the Elites head and detonates, killing several Grunts that were standing too close. Jun and two ODSTs eliminated the Jackal snipers at the same time as Heath threw his plasma grenade at the Elite Major. An Elite Minor wearing blue armor charged at him firing his Plasma Repeater as he goes. Heath returned fire with his assault rifle and it took twenty-eight or so rounds to finish the Elite off. He then sprays the Grunts and a Jackal with the rest of his magazine. The Wraith opened fire with its plasma mortar, but it goes over his head. The Wraith fired again, but Heath used his quick reflexes and dodged out of the way of the deadly blob of plasma. He signaled for the Marines and ODSTs to open fire on from the buildings and toss grenades into the Covenant ranks. The Wraith was targeted by no more than six soldiers and it soon ceased to exist. Major Tristan Rhodes and the squad hit the Covenant from the rear eliminating the rest of them. They had regrouped and reloaded their weapons before continuing on to the cathedral when a call for help came over their radios.
"Mayday, this is Charlie platoon, we need assistance as we are cut off from the rest of our unit. Any UNSC personal in the immediate area please respond?" A frantic voice said over the radio, but with English assent. April was quick to react to the call for help.
"This is Red team, we are on our way," April said. Heath opened up his private com to discuss it with her.
"April, what are you doing? We need to go rescue the Chief."
"Heath, you and I both know that John can handle himself for a while."
"Is that a sense of humor I hear coming from you?" She didn't say anything so he switched back to regular coms. They headed in the direction of Charlie platoon. Heath threw another sensor to see what is around another corner, which he thought looked suspicious because of the destroyed Scorpion Main Battle Tank sitting right in front of them. The sensor picked up nothing, but his motion tractor was going nuts. He used hand signals to tell the others to retrace their steps and await his signal. Jun and Lucy volunteer to go with him, but he told Lucy to remain with Major Rhodes and told her over her private com that if anything should happen to him to make sure the mission gets accomplish. She replied with a green acknowledge light. Heath and Jun leave the safety of the alleyway and enter a major city street. Heath and Jun's motion sensors were off the charts, so they put their backs to one another when suddenly multiple Elites, Grunts, Brutes, Jackals and two pairs of Hunters appear all around them. Heath and Jun aim their weapons at the Covenant ground troops. Heath and Jun grab ahold of some plasma grenades and throw them at the Elites. They stick to the Elites and detonated, taking out other Covenant Ground troops with them, before they open fire with their primary weapon or in Jun's case his secondary weapon. Many of the Covenant infantrymen were killed from the two Spartan's deadly accuracy, but they quickly reorganized and returned fire. Heath and Jun get into to cover before Heath tossed a grenade into a line of Grunts firing Needlers at them. He contacted Lucy and told her to take the ODSTs and Marines around the ambush and under no circumstance to come to their aide. He tossed another grenade at several Brutes firing from the rooftops, blowing several of the Brutes off the rooftop. Jun fires his submachine gun at the two Elites charging towards him and they both fall under his fire. He tossed a plasma grenade at another Brute on a rooftop, which it explodes and killed several more Brutes, Grunts and Jackals. Heath used hand signals to communicate to Jun. Jun tossed a smoke grenade to allow him to escape from the ambush unseen. Heath continued to fire at the advancing enemy when April told him that there was a Warthog behind him and the gun should still be operational so he runs for the Warthog. Several Covenant soldiers tried to stop him, but were eliminated by the colonel's assault rifle. One of the Hunter's fired his Fuel Rod Cannon so the colonel slid underneath the Scorpion to evade the deadly weapon. He saw several UNSC Marine and Army bodies on the ground. He also saw a Jackhammer Rocket Launcher underneath the tank so he picked it up and fired one round at the pursuing Brutes, blows them away. He fired the next round at the Hunter, and then he ran out of ammo for the launcher.
Heath arrived at the Warthog and hopped into the mounted Gauss Cannon and fired it at the Covenant. He aimed towards the roof where Brutes were firing their Spikers at him when he saw a Jiralhanae fixing to throw a Spike Grenade at him, so he fired the Gauss Cannon at the Brute's chest. The Brute disintegrated and the grenade fell to the ground, killing the Grunts that were trying to shield the Brute from attack. Some Jackals had overlapped their shields and had started to advance on the Warthog. The Gauss cannon tore through the approaching Jackals; their shields didn't protect them from the bug weapon. Elites and Grunts with Fuel Rod Cannons opened fire on the Warthog, destroying it and blowing the colonel back a few feet. An Elite Zealot went to stab the colonel in the chest with his energy sword, but a bullet entered his skull and stopped him. The dead Elite Zealot fell on him, so Heath pushed the dead Elite body off of him. He nodded in the direction of Jun as he knew that Jun had his back; he then found another rocket launcher with eight rockets as well as a shotgun so he slung his assault rifle over his shoulder. Several Grunts appear in front of him so he shoots them with the shotgun, blowing them away. He killed two Elites, along with a Brute, with the shotgun. After the shotgun was emptied, he used the weapon as a club to kill several Grunts, a Jackal, and an Elite. He drops the empty shotgun, but then he spotted another shotgun, this one is the full-automatic shotgun known as AA-13. The Covenant ground troops start backing away from him when two Hunters fired their Fuel Rod Guns at the colonel, but he simply sidestepped them so instead they destroy the vehicle he is in front of. Jun had already killed one of the Hunters so Heath aimed the Rocket Launcher at the other Hunter and fired, blowing it head clean off its shoulders.
He opened fire at the next group of Elites, but they were retreating while firing their plasma rifles and plasma repeaters back at him. Many of the Elites were killed while others only had their shields depleted, until Heath reloaded the AA-13 Shotgun and fired at the Elites, their weaken shields allowed him to kill them with hardly any effort. He continues to use the shotgun until the magazine ran out. He drew his sidearm and continued to kill the Covenant. A sniper bullet nailed an Elite Officer that was approaching the colonel from behind. Heath killed four Grunts and then reloads his pistol for the third time. He killed several suicide Grunts, which in turn killed several other Covenant infantrymen. Forty-nine Elites, all with energy swords, charged Colonel Heath-118 and he knows that his assault rifle can't kill them all, nor can his pistol and he only has one fragmentation grenade left so he throws it at the Elites. Instead of rolling into the ranks of the Elites, it rolls into the ranks of Skirmishers that took the hit for the Elites. Colonel Heath-118 fired his assault rifle at the surviving Skirmishers and a couple of the Elites. An Elite slashed at him with his energy sword, but the colonel blocks the slash with his assault rifle, cutting his weapon in two. He drew his own energy sword after evading another sword slash. Heath killed the Elite with his energy sword by slashing at the Elite's throat. The other Elites charge at him, but Jun killed several of the Elites before they reach him. Jun then watched through his scope as the colonel engaged in sword fights with the Elites, and he is amazed with how well Heath fights with a sword; the Elites didn't stand a chance. A Needle Rifle nearly missed Jun but he continued to deal with remaining Covenant soldiers while the Colonel focused on the Elites and a few dozen Brutes still left. One Elite stabbed Brute through the chest due to the Brute getting in his way.
Jun was killing the Covenant with his sniper rifle on the rooftops, especially the Covenant snipers, when he heard an explosion behind him so he nailed one more Covenant Elite that was fixing to fire his Needle Rifle at the colonel. He then left his sniper rifle lying against the rooftop wall and he switched to his submachine gun. He saw the bodies of dead Elites and Grunts that had tried to sneak up on him. He entered the building and looked over the edge of the stairs to see additional Covenant soldiers moving up them. The Covenant soldiers consisted of Elites, Brutes, Jackals, and plenty of Grunts. He dropped two fragmentation grenades, as well as some plasma, grenades into their ranks. Two Grunts reached the top of the stairs, but were killed by his submachine gun. It took only a couple of minutes to deal with the remaining Covenant soldiers. He went back to see how the colonel was doing and he saw that the colonel had killed every single Elite and their bodies were piled up and he's on top of the pile holding two energy swords. He also saw bodies of Brutes, Jackals, and Grunts in the pile. Major Rhodes and the rest of the men that had arrived with the group soon arrived at the ambush site.
"You two just killed all these Covenants by yourselves?" a UNSC Marine asked in amazement.
"Yes son, we did," Jun answered.
"How many were there?" Major Rhodes asked.
"Two hundred thirty-six," April told them.
"That should take down the amount of Covenant troops in Manchester," another UNSC Marine said.
"Let's go rescue Charlie Company shall we?" Heath said. They headed in the direction of Charlie Company last know location; going slowly through the maze of streets and buildings, constantly watching out for any Covenant troops.
Charlie Company was held up in a military station, it was only a small lot with a concrete wall surrounding the main building. It only had six anti-aircraft guns, a single MASS Driver, and a dozen Warthogs to defend the installation. None of the weapons, but most of the Warthogs had been taken out by Fuel Rods rounds and Plasma Grenades. The wall had been breech in several places and the Covenant had been trying to get into the installation for several hours. The three Warthogs left in operating condition were blocking the breech points. Several Banshees flew over the military station, but no shots were fire on the first pass, the defenders were hoping that they will think the anti-aircraft batteries were offline. On the second pass the Banshees were all knocked out of the sky. The UNSC Marines were working hard to keep the military installation secure because they had a few Forerunner artifacts in a huge safe underneath the installation. The Covenant attacked the military installation again, sending in Grunts and Jackals first to soften up the opposition. The Grunts and Jackals were getting slaughter by the installation's defenses, but they were also inflecting casualties on the UNSC soldiers' station there. Two pairs of Hunters, along with forty Brutes, entered the fray. Twenty of the Brutes were wearing Power Armor, but the other twenty weren't and they were being led by two chieftains. Two Wraith tanks were also firing their deadly plasma mortars at them. A Marine with a Spartan Laser managed to destroy one of the Wraith tanks before a plasma grenade latch itself to the Marine's head and killed him. The Marines held the Covenant at bay from the walls for two more assaults before the third assault pushed them back to the main building, which lead to the underground portion of the base. A Spike grenade killed one of the Marines while they were falling back. Several unarmored Brutes were killed by the snipers on the roof as they tried climbing over the walls. A Marine fired a three-round burst into an Elite Minor, killing him and several Skirmishers with headshot before a Needle from a Needle Rifle eliminated him. They enter the main building with the Covenant right on the heels and the blast door seals itself behind the last Marine. Colonel Heath-118 and his team were making their way towards the military installation. They made it to a building rooftop several miles from the military installation. The area around the installation was in ruins, it was littered with destroyed Banshees, Wraiths, Phantoms, Sprits, and even the ruins of a Scarab. He couldn't tell how many Covenant troops were down there due to all the ruins.
"Jun, stay here and provide over watch." Heath ordered, so Jun remained on the rooftop while the rest of the men moved towards the military installation. Heath split the men up so that they would approach the installation from different approaches. Major Rhodes and six men were going with the colonel, eight soldiers were going with the other Spartan, and another sniper was staying with Jun to help him cover the rest of the team. Jun had already taken out two Jackal snipers. Heath took out a squad of Grunts that were patrolling the ruins around the installation, trying to make sure that no help would arrive for the defenders of the military installation. Heath took them out one at time without them knowing what happen. They saw unoccupied Wraiths, Ghost, and Revenants in a depot, so they planted explosives on the vehicles and left the area before a patrol consisting of two Elite minors, twenty-five Grunts, twenty-one Jackals, and two Hunters arrived. Heath waited for them to get into the blast radius of the explosives before he pressed the button on the detonator, obliterating the entire enemy patrol. They then hurry to get out of the area before more Covenant arrived. The Covies didn't understand what had happened as in another part of the ruins a squadron of Ghost were ambush. Major Rhodes nailed several Grunts and a Jackal that were checking out some vehicles on the side streets. April then told Heath that a squadron of Longswords was enroute to his location.
"We have to mark the Covenant locations so the Longswords know where to drop their payload." Heath told them over the coms. They marked the Covenant locations, especially the anti-air batteries that the covenant had set up, as they were using this area as a staging area to take over Manchester before moving on to other cities. The Longswords came in and dropped their payload onto the mark areas of the city. A dozen Phantoms and Sprits were caught on the ground and destroyed and plenty of Covenant troops were also obliterated. Colonel Heath-118 moved into the staging area followed by the others. Jun reported that two Phantoms, along with Banshee and Seraph support, were enroute from London. They entered the installation and saw the bodies of both Marines and Covenant. Several Grunts were moving through the bodies, looking for who knows what. They looked up and saw the Demons just as Heath and the others fired at them, killing them. They entered the main structure and found more dead Covenant, but only five Marines. Heath tried to hail them over the coms, but there was no response so they searched the structure.
"Lucy, take a Marine and gets the MASS Driver operational." Heath shouted out to her.
"Yes sir," she responded before grabbing a Marine and heading towards the control room that controlled the installations only Mass Driver Cannon. Heath, Daniel, and the others go towards the entrance to the underground bunker where they see more dead Covenant soldiers in the way, mostly Grunts and Jackals but there were also the bodies of Elites, Brutes, and even two Hunters. The elevator that lead down into the bunker was destroyed, so they had to use the stairway. They passed more bodies on the stairway; they consisted of all the different Covenant species, and even Marine who had died with his knife in an unarmored Brute. They pass through defensive positions in the hallways where the defenders had tried to hold off the Covenant. The colonel once again tried to reach the defenders over the comms, but with no answer. Heath didn't like that he could be leading everybody into a trap, but his motion sensor wasn't picking up anything. They found the huge blast doors that lead into the bunker had been blown open. They entered and go to VISR mode since the lights were out. The colonel picked up enemy motion on his motion sensor so he signaled for the others to be careful and to check their corners. The colonel could hear gunfire, but still couldn't reach the defenders on coms. They encountered only a small number of Covenant, which the colonel guessed were cleaning up and checking all the rooms for humans. They manage to save a group of Marines that were fighting off some of the Covenant in one of the rooms.
"Where were the rest of the Marines?" Heath asked a lance corporal.
"They were pulling back to guard the safe so the Covvies didn't get the Forerunner artifacts we have stored in there." The lance corporal answered.
"Do you have an armory nearby?"
"Yes sir, follow me," the lance corporal replied. They backtrack the way they came with the lance corporal leading the way until they came to the armory. Heath grabbed a Battle Rifle and told the others to grab a Battle Rifle or DMR if they didn't already have one. They then go to the entrance of the safe that held the Forerunner artifacts. They were on a walkway that overlooked a large room which led to the safe. The blast door protected the room which lead to the safe was still intact but the Covenant forces have already captured the defenders and had them lined up on their knees. A hologram projector was in front of them with the New High Prophet speaking to the Elite commander. The High Prophet told the Elite commander to contact him once he had the Forerunner artifacts. The Elite then turned to the captives and pointing his plasma rifle at the Marine in charge.
"You will open this door or I will kill your men one at a time until you open the door." The Marine Officer didn't say anything so the Elite shot the Marine next to him in the head. He then pointed the rifle at the next Marine in line. Heath looked at the Marines and Army soldiers with him.
"I want each of you to pick a target and hold you fire until I give you the order to fire."
"Sir, what were you going to do?" Major Rhodes asked him.
"I'm going to go down there and rescue those Marines," he replied before getting up and heading towards the bottom of the room. Heath came out of the shadows which scared the few Grunts guarding the entrance. They run away shouting demon. The other Covenant forces turned towards him with their weapons pointing directly at him. The Elite told him to drop his weapons, which he does without hesitation. Major Rhodes was trying to figure out the colonel's plan as a dozen Elite surrounded him.
"What do you want Demon?" The Elite commander asked.
"I'm here to help you retrieve the Forerunner artifacts, as long as you spare me and these men. I know you Elites will honor it due to your honor." The colonel held out his hand. "Do we have a deal?" The Elite commander took the colonel hand and shook it. Major Rhodes was surprise that the colonel didn't break the Elites neck so they could save the Marines. The colonel asked for the Marines' Officer to assist him. The Marine looked at the colonel, trying to figure out what the colonel was planning. He opens the blast door and then the safe door. The Elite and four other Elites entered the area behind where the colonel and the Marine were. The Elite commander looked at the colonel.
"Why haven't you entered the safe yet human? Are there any traps?"
"I don't know, but it helps to be careful," he replied in a calm way. The Elite commander motioned for the Demon and the Marine to go through the passageway to the area beyond.
"The traps only work on Covenant right?" He asked the Marine in a whisper.
"Yes sir," the Marine replied. "What are you planning sir?"
"The others outside can't see in here, so we're going to take care of these five Covenant before we deal with the rest." The entered the main compartment and the colonel told the Elites that there were no traps. As soon as the Elites go a few feet into the passageway, the traps take the Elites out by cutting them in half. They go back through the passageway, pausing long enough to grab the Elites plasma rifles and one of them had a Plasma repeater, which the colonel grabs. The colonel heard a garble transmission over his coms from Jun, but he couldn't make out what he was saying. He asked April to boast the transmission so he could make it out. They made their way back to the entrance. He told Major Rhodes to wait for his signal to begin firing and then Heath came out of the entrance to the safe threw a plasma grenade at the nearest Elite and it detonated, taking the Elite and two Grunts out before he opened up with the Plasma Repeater and the Marine Officer opened fire at them as well. Major Rhodes and the others opened fire on the other enemy soldiers; taking them by surprise so it only took a couple of minutes to eliminate the remaining Covenant. After that, they headed back to the surface after they set the Marines free. The Marines picked up the dropped Covenant weapons, which consisted of plasma rifles, Covenant Carbines, and Needlers; they were going to use them until they reach the armory where they could get some good old fashion UNSC weapons. They arrived at the armory where the Marines grabbed assault rifles, battle rifles, DMRs, shotguns, and rocket launchers. They reached the surface and saw a Covenant Light Cruiser heading right towards the installation.
"Lucy, is the Mass Driver Cannon online yet?" Heath asked.
"Not yet, we need about ten minutes," Lucy replied.
"We don't have ten minutes, there's a cruiser about three minutes out." The cruiser stopped at a soccer stadium several miles away from the military installation. Heath entered the control center of the military installation. A screen popped up and showed him the stadium. He saw the Covenant cruiser starting to unload its troops and vehicles. He noticed that the cruiser didn't have any Elites onboard so the ship must be commanded by Brutes. He told the Marines to get ready as they were in for one hell of fight. The Marines begin setting up machineguns at every window, but first they closed the blast shades, which could stand up to a limited amount of heavy plasma weapons. The windows had gun ports cut into them so the defenders can fire at the attackers, but the attackers can't hit them. Several Marines were making sure the anti-aircraft guns were reloaded, but the MASS Driver was still offline. The Covenant was massing a huge force to take out the military installation. Jun was going to do whatever he could do to slow them down to give the colonel and the rest of the team even more time to prepare for the Covenant attack. Jun begin setting up traps for the Covenant to slow them down. Heath hoped that their preparations would help them keep the Covenant at bay until reinforcements could arrive and drive the Covenant out of Manchester.
Several squadrons of Ghost and Revenants were enroute to the military installation. Jun and a Marine sniper were waiting for the Covenant vehicles to enter the trap. The Brute pilots don't realize that Jun had planted mines. They run into the minefield and were vaporized; some of the Brute pilots managed to survive the explosion thanks to their personal energy shielding, but they were quickly dispatch by Jun's sniping. April reported that they were sending in Wraiths supported by Ghost. Jun turned to the Marine sniper with him. "Get back to the installation and bring back as many rocket launchers and Spartan Laser's as you can carry."
"There won't be a need to; I brought a whole bunch of weapons with me the first time. Heath suggested that we use the ruins to slow them down and keep them at bay for as long as we can." The Marine sniper said. They began placing the different weapons at different points and they were each carrying two primary and two secondary weapons. They placed mines in different places to confuse the Covenant when they would start to hit them. April reported the Wraith, and a couple of Shadows, were getting closer to the ruins. Jun understood the Covenant intentions, and he is sure that Colonel Heath knows what they were planning to do as well. They were going to put ground troops into the area to clear the ruins of any UNSC personal. Jun contacted the military installation and asked the colonel to send him some additional troops to help hold the ruins for a while. The colonel sent three ODSTs to help out as Lucy and several Marines were still busy working on the Mass Driver. They go through the Covenant staging area that was destroyed by the two airstrikes to see if anything survived the bombardment and found some Covenant weapons, including trip mines. They wished that some of the Covenant vehicles weren't destroyed so that they could be used as well. The five men got into position to wait for the Covvies to enter the ambush site. A squad of Ghosts was the first to enter the ambush site. An ODST armed with an M6A3 Light Machine Gun opened fire on the Ghosts, firing two 200 round magazines at them. He reloaded the Light machine gun a third time, but had to fall back towards another position because three more squadrons of Ghosts enter the fray. He led them into a narrow corridor of ruins and disappeared, leaving the Ghosts pilots to see it's a dead end. All of sudden explosives were detonated, taking the Ghosts and their pilots with them. The UNSC forces did not know that Phantoms were unloaded ground troops not far from the ruins and were making their way on foot. The ground troops consisted of Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers, Hunters, and Brutes.
Jun saw the Wraiths approaching the ruins so he told the ODSTs armed with M41 SSR MAV/AW Rocket launchers to fire on the Wraiths. They even fire the two Spartan Lasers at the Wraiths. Every single Wraith was destroyed, but the distraction worked as the Covenant ground troops were able to get closer to the ruins around the military installation and since the satellites were no longer over the United Kingdom, April couldn't see what the Covenant were doing. Two teams of ODSTs were checking the ruins for Covvies that manage to get into the ruins, preposition motion sensors have gone off in different locations, warning them. One team of ODSTs were ambush by two dozen Covvies, mostly Brutes leading a small contingent of Grunts. The Grunts were easily wiped out in the counter-attack. The ODST's were slaughtered, but they didn't go down without one hell of a fight. A couple of Brutes died with the ODST's knives in their hearts when they charged them. A Hornet flew in and delivered a barrage of missiles onto the covenant, inflecting heavy casualties before a squadron of Banshees entered the battle. The Hornet nailed five of the Banshees before headed back to the installation leading the Banshees after him, which is a mistake on their part as the installation's anti-air batteries blow the remaining Banshees out of the sky. The UNSC defenders in the ruins held off eight Covenant assaults with everything they could bring to aim on the enemy, including long range artillery bombardment of the ruins. Several Marines were killed by friendly fire, but a majority of them survived the bombardment by seeking shelter in basements and old bomb shelters before pulling back to the military installation. Jun left some surprises for the Covvies that had they make their way through the ruins. This time though, the Elite General in charge of the Covenant forces in Manchester did not send in any vehicles to attack the military installation, except for some Banshees and Seraph fighters. They attacked twice and were beaten back both times and on the third assault Hornets, Vultures, Falcons, and Pelicans arrived and drove the Covenant back and then out of the ruins, causing the Covenant to retreat back to their cruiser. Master Chief John-117 and the officer in charge of the UNSC Armed Forces in Manchester came up to the Colonel and told him of their actions prior to their arrival at the installation.
The Master Chief then explained how he escaped the cathedral and what happen until he reunited with Colonel Heath-118. The Master Chief and his team were on their own at the cathedral and were still holding off the Covenant forces attacking them. They managed to destroy all the Shades, so now the Covenant were bringing in tanks. The Wraith tanks fired their deadly plasma at the cathedral, creating holes in the walls of the cathedral. One of the Marines armed with a Spartan Laser charged the laser and fired it at one of the tanks, destroying it. A Marine fired a rocket launcher at one of the tanks destroying it. The Covenant had tried to take the cathedral five times, and each time they were beaten back. Covenant bodies and destroyed vehicles littered the battlefield vehicles. The cathedral was defended by multiple machineguns, there was even a Gauss cannon that they had taken off a Warthog, but they don't have much ammo for the weapons. The Master Chief knew that they had to get out of the cathedral before they run out of ammo. A Marine came up to the Chief and told him that there's a basement with a tunnel that lead well outside of the Covenant forces. The Chief called in an airstrike to help cover the withdraw, which he got. They gathered the wounded Marines and whatever weapons they could carry. Two Marines were armed with rocket launchers and were carrying as much ammo for the rocket launchers as they could carry, include their BR55 Battle Rifle and their sidearm. Tom grabbed the Spartan Laser and his MA5B assault rifle. They headed down into the basement, and once everyone is in the basement, they seal the heavy blast door. They enter the tunnel one at a time as the airstrike was striking the Covenant positions. A few Marines remained behind inside the cathedral to keep the Covenant busy, as well as make the Covenant forces believe that UNSC forces were still in the cathedral. Every Marine that stayed was killed when the Covenant launched an all-out attack on the cathedral. They knew exactly where they were going, so they headed in the direction of the military installation. All of the vehicles were destroyed; so they had to travel on foot. The tunnel was built during World War 2 as an air raid shelter, so they saw storage rooms filled with all sorts of different things. "Where does this come out at?" Master Chief asked.
"At a hospital," the Marine sergeant replied. They entered the hospital and found it full of wounded soldiers and civilians. They made their way to the exit and found that the Marines and Army soldiers had set up a perimeter around the hospital. The Chief saw several warthogs with different weapons on them, including some Rocket Hogs. They even had a couple of Scorpions, Grizzly's, and Wolverines to knock enemy aircraft out the sky. The Chief asked them if they can barrow a couple of the Warthogs but they only give the Chief one Warthog with a Gauss Cannon so only Tom, the Chief and one Marine were able to go. April reported that the Covenant troops were moving towards the hospital. A flight of Hornets and Falcons landed on one of the hospital's couple landing pads. The Hornets then headed in the direction of the Covvies to harass them. A Marine colonel then appeared out of the hospital with his right leg injured. Master Chief was about to get into the Warthog when the Marine colonel came up to him.
"Master Chief, I need your help defending this hospital from attack!"
"No problem colonel, I'm glad to help," Master Chief said. "What do you need done?"
"The Covenant are falling back to their ship." A Major that had just walked up to them said.
"We must pursue them and take back Manchester."
"First we need to get to the military installation," the Chief said. Everybody then boarded the Warthogs, Scorpions, Grizzly, Falcons, Pelicans, and Hornets. They then headed out to the military installation and had to fight several Covenant road blocks to get there. They made it to the installation with only two Hornets, four Warthogs, and one Falcon taken out of the fight.
Colonel Heath decided to take out the cruiser over Manchester, which should put a stop to the Covenant occupation of Manchester. April told them that the satellites were back online and she sends the images to the colonels HUD. He saw that the area around the stadium was surrounded by Covenant. They had several anti-air guns sat up, consisting of Mantis and Tyrant turrets and Anti-Air Wraiths. There were numerous Ghosts patrolling around the stadium and even several Scarabs and Locusts around the area that were properly going to be use level the city.
"We must first neutralize the Anti-air emplacements so we can get some assistance from the UNSC Air Force and Navy." Heath told them. "We're going to split into three groups and attack the emplacements with vehicles and on foot. How many Marines are left to fight the Covenant here in Manchester?"
"Over three hundred, but we should be getting reinforcements soon." the Marine colonel told him.
"We won't be getting reinforcements as long as those emplacements are operational, they will only be able to enter the city on vehicles or on foot." Heath got into a Grizzly tank and led the tanks straight down the middle to keep the Covenant occupied while the chief and the Marine colonel attacked from the sides. Thanks to the civilians in Manchester, he and the others knew the Covenant locations before the Covenant would know theirs. The commander of the Covenant troops in Manchester sent a squadron of Ghost and Wraiths to deal with the attacking Grizzly tanks. Seven Warthogs were accompanying the Grizzlies. The Ghost's are the first to enter the fray, but are quickly dealt with by the combined firepower of the Grizzlies and the Warthogs. The Wraiths fired their plasma mortars at them, but many just sailed right over the UNSC vehicles. The Grizzlies fired their primary armament at the Wraiths, destroying the entire squadron with only one Grizzly and two Warthogs destroyed. They continued on to the stadium when a squadron of Banshees was sent in to destroy the UNSC vehicles, but they didn't even have a chance as the Wolverines and Warthogs blow them out of the sky. Hornets, Vultures, Falcons, Longswords, and Pelicans were waiting for the signal to launch their attack.
A transport ship was enroute to Manchester England airport to deploy two mobile MAC guns to destroy the enemy cruiser above the stadium. The transport is only armed with Archer Missiles, point defenses turrets, and railguns. They aren't arm with any MAC Guns as they are used to deploy infantry and vehicles. They do have a contingent of Longswords, Shortswords, and Sabers to provide air support, which were all launch to clear the skies of enemy aircraft. Many Banshees, Phantoms, Sprits, and Seraphs were blown out of the sky. The transport unloaded the two Mobile MAC Guns and some additional support. Heath hears reports coming over the comms that a majority of the anti-air installations had been taken out. The mobile MAC guns were already in position, and the support units have taken out numerous Covenant vehicles and ground troops. The MAC guns fired a salvo of rounds at the Covenant ship, which causes the ship to explode and taking the stadium with it. The remaining Covenant forces were dealt with, but a large force of Covenant ground and airborne troops headed towards London, England.
"Reinforcements from France have arrived, now it's time to take London back." Heath informed everybody, earning a cheer from the men around him.
Author Note: I like to think all those who have review, favorite or follow this story. I also like to shout out to thearizona for his continuing beta-reading. Kiloactueal for his review, D4thknight for his review, LoyalODST for his, and their help for ideas and new character ideas.
