Battle of London Part 4

"Who are you? Identify yourself!" A voice said over the intercom.

"Sergeant Major Harvey Johnson, 2nd Special Forces Division," he answered. The door opened and the six Marines were looking through the doorway at a squad of Army soldiers. Sergeant Major Johnson and his men entered the nerve center and the door closed behind them and after that a Lieutenant Junior Grade came up to him.

"Glad you guys made it through the Covenant lines. As this building is right in the middle of Covenant occupied territory we've been stuck here and can't risk trying to reach other units in or out of the city because every time we do the Covenant attack until we beat off their assault."

"We still need to call for help though."

"Very well Sergeant Major but what do you suggest we do when the Covenant attack again? In the first three assaults we lost all of our vehicles but we beat off their assaults. The fourth assault drove us into the building while the fifth assault pushed us back to the nerve center with the blast doors sealing behind us and we had to use the hidden turrets to beat the assault back. I only have three dozen men left alive." Sergeant Major Harvey Johnson took a look around at the surviving soldiers and at several dozen too badly wounded to fight. He thought about it for a minute as he looked at the cameras that were still functional in and around the ONI building.

"We trick the Covenant in attacking an area of our choosing and then once all their forces are committed, we destroy the location and kill them all. Hopefully by that time we've already establish contact with other units and can head out to some sort of muster point to retake the city." He said after thinking about it for a minute or so.

"That could work, one of my men can do a fake broadcasting and lure the Covvies into it and then while a distraction team engages the Covenant we establish communications with the command structure within London and find out what our next step should be."

"Well I think we should get to work then. Where do you suggest we lure the Covenant too sir?"

"I say we lure them to an old Subway tunnel a street over that was under construction, it has multiple exit points so the diversion team can escape."

"We just have to make sure that no Covenant escapes."

"We'll make sure to bury them alive sergeant major." They got to work and the Lieutenant Junior Grade and Sergeant Major Johnson divided the soldiers into three squads. Alpha Squads job was to be the diversion and once the real broadcast begin, they were to make sure that the Covenant doesn't find out that the area they're attacking is a fake. Bravo Squad would be responsible for the real broadcast and to defend the Lt. and the communications officer while they make contact with command. Charlie Squads job is to keep the wounded safe until evac can arrive. Sergeant Major Johnson would be with Alpha Squad engaging the Covenant. They found several civilian vehicles that were still functional to transport the different weapons to the diversion site. In the armory of the ONI building they found all kinds of weapons. A brief message came through over their comms as they were packing up the weapons and ammo in the back of civilian transport trucks.

"Attention all UNSC forces within London, we have Covenant jamming devices stationed throughout London. They must be neutralizing before we can make contact with any UNSC units outside of the United Kingdom. Do not respond to any radio messages as Covenant forces are tracing the signals and attacking." There was a short pause follow by the sound of gunfire and the com goes dead. Sergeant Major Johnson and the LT looked at one another.

"So much for Plan A," the LT said.

"Actually Plan A is still a go; we just have to neutralize the jammers first." They heard gunfire and explosions coming not far from their locations. An hour went by and a lance corporal walked up to the LT and saluted him. Johnson looked at the youngster and he looked like he was sixteen and probably fresh out of boot, but his uniform was covered with both Covenant and Human blood.

"Sir, I think we have company coming our way." The Lance Corporal told the Lieutenant.

"Defensive positions," the lieutenant said." They get behind cover and waited. Six figures strolled into view and Sergeant Major Johnson recognized them as Spartans. They introduced themselves as members of Zodiac team. The Lieutenant looked at them and all he knew that they were sent on some highly classified mission in Scotland but that is the extent of his security clearance in ONI. Their visors depolarized and Johnson and the lieutenant saw there was four male and two females.

One of them step forward, "I'm Zodiac One and we will handle the jammers. You just get ready to send that message and tell them to send Spartan support." Zodiac One told them.

"You can't order me around Spartan; I'm a lieutenant in the Office of Naval Intelligence." The Lt. said with an air of authority.

"There you're wrong lieutenant as I'm a Captain in ONI-Section Three." He said. The lieutenant shut up after that. Zodiac One left two Spartans to assist Sergeant Major Johnson as the rest of the Spartans left to go deal with the jammers.

Three hours earlier:

Zodiac team are Spartans-III's that weren't train on Onyx because they were handpicked right out of selection to be a special ops team. At that time Colonel Heath-118 was a Major and had read their files as they were selected for the task since he was in charge of all the Spartans and decided to train them with the help of Master Sergeant Avery Hunter, an old ODST from the most feared ODST Division in the galaxy, the 509th Division. They trained Zodiac team to be the best of the best; though they quickly became more than the UNSC had ever thought possible. They were better train then any of their fellow Spartan-III's and as such were not considered expandable. Zodiac team was highly classified unit that only a very few select people knew about and their deployments where are all through the Office of Naval Intelligence. Zodiac team was on a top secret assignment in Scotland when the call from London that the Covenant was attacking the city came through. Zodiac One had the Pelican pilots turn around and they jumped out of the Pelicans just before a couple Seraph fighters destroyed them. They all survived the crash but Zodiac team instantly came under fire from Grunts and Jackals, which they took out easy. Zodiac team knew that the Covenant were up to something and they needed to find out what, but first they had to hack into the Covenant battlenet and to do that they would need to find a hologram projector to do that. Zodiac One put Zodiac Eight out on point. They could hear gunfire coming from an undiscernible direction just before several distress calls came in over their coms. They decided to go help the troopers that were holed up in the ONI building. As they made their way through the city streets they were constantly watching for the Covenant. Zodiac Eight was on point and he signaled the team to halt so Zodiac One moved forward to see what was up.

"Sir, enemy patrol moving two by two with Brutes leading followed by Jackals and Grunts."

"We'll quietly take them out two at a time, just like a turkey shoot." Zodiac team unsheathed their knives as they approached the unsuspecting Covenant. The Grunts were the first to be assassinated, followed by the Jackals, leaving the Brutes for last. They followed the Brutes till one part of the pack turned around a corner and then the Spartans assassinated the ones that didn't go around the corner. The remaining Brutes entered a Covenant encampment not far from the ONI building. Zodiac One switched to binocular mode inside his visor and saw what they would be up against. He saw Wraiths, Ghosts, Choppers, and Prowlers in the encampment as well as the beginnings of an anti-aircraft emplacement. He also saw plenty of infantry consisting of Brutes, Jackals, Skirmishers, Hunters, and Grunts. They planned to neutralize the Covenant encampment and take out the Anti-Air Battery before moving on. The Tyrant was only halfway done so Zodiac One decided that it would be the best place to hold off the Covenant from while inflecting maximum damage. Zodiac Two and Three were armed with a Jackhammer Rocket Launchers and a M29 respectively. Zodiac Four was armed with the M79 Multiple Grenade Launcher, and Zodiac Five was armed with the Spartan Laser. Needless to say, Zodiac team was packing some seriously heaving firepower, not to mention Zodiac Seven was armed with a SAW Light Machine Gun. Zodiac Eight and Nine were rifleman while Zodiac Ten loved her a good shotgun. They each carrying an assault rifle or Battle Riffle as well as their sidearms. Two members of Zodiac team were snipers so they climbed up onto a nearby roof to provide sniper support. Once they are in position, Zodiac One motioned for the rest of the team to advance. Zodiac Seven entered an unoccupied Wraith and sealed the hatch, waiting for Zodiac One to give the signal as the rest of Zodiac team got into position. Zodiac One then took the Jackhammer launcher from Zodiac Two and fired it at a Hunter.

The missile slammed into the Hunter's back just as the rest of Zodiac team opened up. The Grunts were saying "Demon" and firing widely, striking a Brute with two dozen Needler rounds and caused a Supercombine explosion. Another Hunter was standing in front of a dozen Grunts and didn't fell the dozen plasma grenades until they had detonated on his back. Zodiac team smiled at the thought that they were causing the Grunts to kill their own troops. The Grunts were all put down by the remaining covenant forces, making Zodiac's job a bit easier. A dozen Drones flew in overhead, but Zodiac Nine with his SAW took care of the Drone threat along with several Brutes that rush him. He reloaded the SAW and continued to fire, even throwing a couple fragmentation grenades at the Jackals heading straight for him. The captured Wraith has been firing on any Covenant that Zodiac Seven saw. He even destroyed several unoccupied Wraiths so they couldn't be used against them again. Zodiac One threw several incendiary grenades at an advancing Jackal shield wall, which is when another Jackhammer missile hit the Jackals, causing some of them to scatter which made them an easy target for the snipers. It took forty-five minutes for the enemy encampment to be neutralized. No Spartans was killed, but the encampment was now littered with Covenant bodies. Zodiac Nine planted explosives in areas that were untouched and after Zodiac team cleared the area he detonated the charges. They then continued on to the ONI building.

Midnight:

Sergeant Cutler and the others were gearing up to attack the Covenant forces outside of the museum and rescue any civilian and military personal trapped within. They split up so they could hit the Covenant from different positions to minimize casualties once the Covenant would start shooting back. Any LPD officers who was trained as a sniper headed to the rooftops to provide cover along with the Army Special Forces snipers and the lone ODST sniper. They took up positions in different buildings and every soldier was armed with either a M41SSR MAV/AW-Rocket Launcher, a Spartan Laser or a captured Fuel Rod Gun or Plasma Launcher and they were responsible for the Wraith Tanks, Ghosts, Choppers, and Banshees while those armed with assault rifles, DMRs, Battle Rifles, and LMGs would deal with the infantry.

They waited for the General to give the order to fire. He aimed his Battle Rifle at a Brute Captains' head and pulled the trigger sending three rounds towards its head. Everybody watched as the Brute fell to the ground dead. The others opened up just before the Brute hit the ground and it didn't take long before the Covenant were completely neutralized. Once the last covenant hit the ground dead, they moved on to clear the museum while the snipers remained outside to keep an eye out for any Covenant reinforcements.

They entered the museum to see the dead bodies of multiple Covenant, a couple of civilians armed with Covenant weaponry, two London Police Officers and one Army soldier. They continued on and saw plenty more dead Covenant along with another dead LPD officer. Some of the Covenant were killed by UNSC weaponry and some were killed by Covenant weaponry. They even saw a Hunter lying dead over a museum exhibit. They headed for the basement and once in the vast hallway that would lead them to the basement; they saw the remaining Covenant troops trying to get through a blast door. The General ordered his men with the M41 Rocket Launchers to fire onto the Covenant. They fired as a few fragmentation grenades followed the rockets; the Covenant in the hallway didn't stand a chance. Once the Covenant were taken care of the general approached the blast door.

However, before he could do anything the blast door opened and the surviving soldiers, police officers and civilians came out, all armed with a mix of Covenant and Human weapons. A Sergeant walked up to the general and told the General that there was a jammer on the roof of the museum. The General contacted his snipers and informed them of the jammer and told them to take care of it. They responded to him to hold on a minute and rifle shots follow, along with an explosion. They told him that the jammer has been destroyed and the museum was finally secure. The General then decided to head towards the Parliament building to regroup with the ODSTs.

Dawn:

All Major Howler could hear throughout the night was gunfire and explosions coming from all different directions and now that it was first light his men were ready to go. He knew that their vehicles would help them break through the Covenant lines while the rest moved in on foot, but that would be after a long range artillery bombardment of the Covenant. Three of his men had target locators and they moved to their positions during the hours of darkness to get a lock on with the Target Locators to aim the steel rain that was coming in. The Phantoms on the ground exploded along with any Wraiths, Ghosts, Choppers, and Prowlers that got hit. They used the Target Locator until the artillery ran out of ammo, then Major Howler had his men armed with the M41SSR Rocket Launchers deal with any surviving vehicles and any Banshees in the air. He then sent in his vehicles, resulting in heavy Covenant casualties. His snipers eliminated the troops on Parliament roof while the troopers inside were able to take out the jammer, securing the area for the UNSC forces.

The Brigadier General soon arrived with the men and women from the museum. Major Howler and the General had a brief conference about what to do next and they sent out two squads consisting of both ODSTs and Army Special Forces to find any UNSC vehicles that were still operational. The troopers returned with two Scorpions, and four Warthogs. The brigadier general heard over the radio that a Spartan team managed to destroy the last two jammers without any casualties and that Sergeant Major Johnson managed to fake a radio signal and destroy a large force of Covenant while the soldiers at the ONI building sent a message to Alamo 1 asking for help and that Spartans were on their way to the United Kingdom. At that point, all UNSC forces within London knew that the battle for the city is far from over but it was the beginning of the end. The Brigadier General got on the radio and ordered all forces to dig in and fight from positions that they could hold and inflect as many casualties on the enemy has possible.

Sergeant First Class Madison, 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 3rd Marines and his platoon were holed up in a hotel not far from one of the Covenant Anti-Aircraft emplacements. They're aiming to try and take out some of the anti-air emplacements so that Pelicans, Falcons, and Phoenix's could enter the city to evac the wounded and civilians. Eight ODSTs were with them. Sergeant First Class Madison looked out over the city with his binoculars and saw destruction everywhere he looked; some buildings were destroyed but most of the destruction was vehicles, UNSC, Civilian and Covenant. He even saw the burning hulks of some UNSC and Covenant aircraft inside buildings. Their platoon leader was severely wounded during their drop into the city, along with some of the NCOs. They heard the general's message over their comms just as one of the soldiers blew a Banshee out of the sky. Staff Sergeant Tom told the private to hold fire as they only had a few rockets left for the launchers. Sergeant First Class Madison gathered the surviving squad leaders together to inform them of what they would do next.

"You've all heard the General's orders; we need to neutralize the enemy anti-air emplacements so we can bring in ammo and food while allowing an evac of the wounded. Let's get this done so we can get those supplies and some much needed reinforcements."

"Copy that," they all reply. Sergeant First Class Madison divided his men up into three teams. Staff Sergeant Tom with 3 soldiers would remain with the wounded while Sergeant First Class Madison and his squad moved towards the nearest Anti-Air emplacement and the rest headed towards their own target. Sergeant First Class Madison and his squad ran into an enemy patrol of four Brutes and both teams opened fire immediate after spotting each other, with the Jiralhanae Minors charging towards them. A Spiker round hit Madison in the shoulder causing him to drop his BR so he drew his sidearm and fired until the magazine was emptied. Two Brutes lay dead in front of him and the remain two Brutes were dealt with by other members of his squad. All of a sudden a Wraith appeared and fired its plasma mortar at the team, but the deadly ball of plasma missed the team. Before the wraith could fire again, two rockets hit the tank and destroyed it. Sergeant First Class Madison looked around to see who fired the rockets, but none of his men had rocket launchers in their hands. Eight figures then walked out of the smoke, all of them wearing armor.

"Sergeant Madison, I'm Sergeant Bartoskwi, Spartan Team Specter team leader. We're here to help you take out the Anti-Air emplacements." One of the Spartans said. Madison simply hooded and they went on their way. Sergeant Madison and his men, with the help of Spartan Team Specter, managed to neutralize two of the Covenant triple-A batteries to allow for some much needed support to enter the city. They all knew that the Covenant still controlled London though. A few Pelicans landed at Parliament and delivered some much needed supplies. On the way back out the Sparrowhawks had to clear the way because the Covenant had sent in Anti-Air Wraiths to stop them. Two of the Pelicans were shot down but the others made it out.

Shipmaster Haru, furious the humans were still holding out, ordered his troops to seal off the city. New battles broke out as the UNSC forces tried to keep the Covenant from sealing off the city. Any UNSC forces who took up positions on the outskirts of the city had three choices: surrender, retreat away from the city, or head towards Parliament or the Central Train Station. None of them wanted to surrender or run away, so they abandoned their positions and headed towards the Parliament building or the Central Train Station; of course they're engaged by Covenant forces along the way, but they deal with them and continued to the rally points. Despite the efforts of the UNSC forces within London, the Covenant managed to seal off the city once again.

Major Tom Mason received the reports of this so he halted all trains from leaving, but two were still destroyed as they attempted to flee the city. Him and his troops had held off several Covenant assaults when Colonel Urban Holland arrived at the Central Train Station. Major Tom Mason offered the colonel command but Holland waved it off, simply saying. "You've done a fine job defending this position against overwhelming odds. What are my orders?"

"I need your men to reinforce the troops on the perimeter; the Covvies have been hitting us hard. I could use you there sir," The Major replied.

"I'll get right their Tom," the colonel replied. Colonel Urban Holland then divided his men up to defend the train station and they joined with the already exhausted soldiers on the line. The Covenant attacked the positions again, but were beaten back. Falcons would consistently risk the possibility of being shot down to bring in ammo and other supplies to the troops in London. A few of the Falcons were shot down while some managed to evade the Banshees and cause them crash into buildings. Fuel-Rod Shade Turrets fired on the Falcons as they approached the train station but the door gunners' fired on the Shade Turrets and the enemy soldiers were the only ones killed. Once the supplies were delivered they had to fly out. Several of the UNSC soldiers managed to shoot done their pursuers but a few of the Falcons were shot down as they attempted to make their escape from London. Most of the Falcons were able to get in and out of the city and brought in even more supplies. Colonel Urban Holland contacted the other UNSC units in the city to send squads to the crash sites to see if there were any survivors and to gather any