November 13th
2583/20 BBY
4:15 UNSC Time
Main Highway
Manhattan Island
United Republic of North America
Earth
3rd Person POV:
"Private Day, step on it! Do you want to die out here?"
"Fuck no Officer!" The Army Private shouts, pressing his foot on the acceleration pedal as the standard-issue Warthog speed through the empty streets.
Ever since the barrier to Manhattan was destroyed, the Republic had been converging on the city after they figured out that the UEG's Senators haven't been evacuated in time. Most of the civilians had been evacuated to a safe planet already, but some were left behind and are either dead from the attack or part of a resistance force that tries to reclaim their homes, with some victory. The Republic has been abandoning their former bases across the planet and converging on the island city so their mission can succeed.
The civilians and UNSC soldiers who can still fight even after helping to reclaim New Austin had been ordered to relocate to Manhattan because it would be too risky to use the Space Elevators at this point. Overhead in the sky, 5 Republic ARC-170s fly in formation before dropping photon bombs on the ground before the Warthog, blowing the concrete road in front of them. The Warthog goes flying into the air before crashing to the ground and rolling on the ground for several yards before stopping. The passengers all get out, groaning as they do so. Officer Deckerson looks to the sky and watches as the ARC-170s start engaging a trio of Wasps, and after a few tense minutes, the Wasps destroy the 170s, sending them crashing to the ground. Suddenly, out of the smoke, shouts and gunfire, a small group of clones runs through the wrecked streets, searching for enemy soldiers. As they do so, a motorcycle ridden by Alicia Redfield speeds towards them, with the woman holding her blaster rifle in one of her hands. She fires the weapon constantly, picking off a handful of clones before they realize what is happening. When they do so, the last duo fire at Alicia as she drives through their ranks, running over another clone while she's at it. Then, 2 sniper rifle shots go off, causing the heads of the clones to blow up before their bodies hit the ground. Deckerson gets onto the comm device that he was given. "Good work, Sergeant."
"Thank you, Officer. But you need to get to cover so we can lay suppressing fire. Motion sensors indicate that an entire battalion of marines are at a standoff with a squad of clones. Redfield out." The comms close off immediately after that.
"Come on. We need to get going." Deckerson says to his companions, hoisting Private Potter up and supporting him since his leg is now twisted at an unnatural angle due to the crash and Alicia drives her motorcycle into the gaping main entrance to an empty skyscraper. As they enter the building, they miss Aayla walking through the streets, with a handful of clones at her sides and Anakin who is still clutching his bandaged chest.
"Alright. Everyone, stick together. I sense that we are closing in on our destination." Aayla says, looking around for any ambushers.
They continue walking down the wrecked street, ignoring the sounds of distant battle. "Get down!" Anakin suddenly shouts, ducking behind a toppled truck. Aayla does so, along with 2 clones, but the last one gets the top half of his body blown up by a high-powered energy blast.
"Hold your position." An angry voice shouts. Anakin peaks out from behind the cover and uses the Force to pull himself back when a sniper rifle shot goes off.
"Fireteam Apollo is back. I fought them on the Defense Platform." Anakin says, then winces and holds his chest.
"Men, fire at will at the Spartans. We need to hold off long enough until reinforcements arrive." Aayla says. Their last troops nod and duck out of cover to fire blaster shots but duck back under again when a flurry of bullets are shot towards them.
What no one notices is a single Phantom emblazoned red flying towards the communication tower and breach the docking bay on the back side.
4:15 UNSC Time
Top floor of UNSC Barracks
For the last few minutes, everyone has been raiding the weaponry that's left on the racks of the Barracks.
The island is a complete battlefield right now, so in order to make it through the city, let alone breach an ONI facility, they decided to break into a set of barracks and equip themselves with weapons. Lopez kept his weapons and didn't grab any, neither did Ahsoka or Rex, but most just replenished the ammo on their weapons, Rtas took a brand-new plasma rifle in the case of Sangheili joining in an attack and even Fred had no choice but to take a Magnum in case things go even farther south. "Alright. Now, how exactly are we going to breach the Communication Tower?" Kenobi asks, looking through the dark sky and smoke clouds at the imposing ONI facility.
"It's not going to be easy. They built that tower to be impenetrable, so I have no doubt that they built it with the hardest metal the UNSC can manufacture, reinforced windows so they will be 10x harder to shatter, with emergency shutters and who-knows how many ONI agents and potential marines patrolling each floor." Palmer says grimly, also staring at the building.
Lopez looks around, seeing if there's anything that would help. Then his eyes fall on an open locker, where dozens of thruster packs are lined in neat rows. After running several calculations in his mind, Lopez walks forward and grabs one of the thruster packs. "[Hey guys. I just want you to know that I have run the calculated and my results are: Let's fucking use this.]"
Fred stares at the thruster pack, looking at the pack with great interest, before speaking up. "You are right, Lopez. If we all apply enough velocity into these packs and strike it simultaneously, the force behind it could be enough to smash through those shutters and one of the windows and gain entry."
Everyone looks at one another, before Kenobi speaks up. "Well, this is not the most reckless plan I have ever heard of. Get suited up."
4:30 UNSC Time
Bridge to Manhattan
"Where the fuck do these guys keep coming from?" Grif shouts with intense exasperation as he fires his Grif Shot at some clones who are charging at them.
"You got me there. But keep firing anyway, dirtbag." Sarge shouts, firing his shotgun at a reckless clone who is charging towards them. Wash had told them that Admiral Osmen had ordered them to hold their position here and hold the Republic back as long as possible until reinforcements arrive. Something that has gotten Carolina furious and kicking Warthogs around out of anger for several minutes.
Suddenly, 30 clones on speeders and an AT-TE charges down the rocky streets towards the Mammoth that is parked sideways, blocking the entire bridge.
Wash swivels the turret on the front of the Mammoth to the speeders and fires round after round of bullets. The wide spray of bullets misses mostly but some of them strike the riders in the arms or chests, throwing 15 of the clones off their speeders and rolling on the ground. As the other speeders approach, a band of 7 red and blue soldiers run out of the Mammoth. "For the glory of the Blue Army, let the great Crusade begin! Our great gods shall not be desecrated by your unholy ways. Suck my rockets!" A Blue Soldier shouts, lifting up a heat-seeking rocket launcher. He fires both rockets and while the clones cleanly dodge them, the rockets turn around and hit the backs of separate speeders bringing up the rear. They simultaneously explode in large balls of light, but the rest of the group keeps speeding on, long black lances in their hands and ready to impale them all. The AT-TE raises its primary barrel to the Mammoth, but its miniature MAC cannon is much faster, firing and obliterating the AT-TE and making it crash to the ground. As the speeders continue to close the distance, one of the side hatches opens up and a Mongoose speeds out, being driven by Carolina and Wash riding in the gunner seat. Wash uses all his training as a Freelancer to fire his battle rifle at the oncoming clones, each burst of concentrated armor-piercing rounds punching through the surviving clone's armor like wet toilet paper and making them all crash to the ground, dead.
Carolina drives back to the Mammoth and gets off. "Well, that was one way to take care of those guys." Wash says as he also gets off.
"I knew you had it under control." Carolina answers, as she grips her own battle rifle.
"Uhh…" Simmons says fearfully, looking behind them.
"Dude, what the fuck is it?" Grif asks, annoyed. Simmons just whimpers a little before pointing behind them. They all turn around and watch as dozens of LAAT gunships start flying towards them. "…Oh son of a bitch."
4:32 UNSC Time
ONI Communication Tower
Manhattan
United Republic of North America
Earth
"…Ow."
When Lopez suggested that they use the thruster packs at maximum burn to smash through the reinforced glass to breach the building, none of them predicted how painful it would be to do so. Who knew glass could be as hard as it is?
"[Ladies and gentlemen, this is why people never try doing that in real life.]" Lopez mutters, as he pushes himself back to his feet. As they look around, they notice that the facility already looks like a battlefield; toppled chairs and red blood smears on the walls, along with some dark blue streaks. Before anyone can ask what happened and what the blue streaks are, the sounds of whirring machinery starts getting louder and louder.
"We have ONI spooks closing in on our current location. Get in that elevator!" Palmer whispers, pointing to 1 of the elevator tunnels in the middle of the room, with a 2nd nearby. The group all lunges into the 1st elevator and closes the door as the other set of doors slide apart.
Everyone starts squirming around, cramped in the limited space, while Palmer pushes through them to get to the side and pushes the top button on the holographic screen that has just been displayed. "Please state your name and rank." A robotic feminine voice states.
"Sarah Palmer, Spartan Commander."
"Confirmed." The voice says before going silent. The elevator rises higher into the air until it jolts to a stop, lets out an audible ding, and the doors swing apart. Kenobi pushes himself out of the elevator and looks in different directions.
"Clear." He says, walking out and further examining the room. The rest of the group also cautiously walk out onto the concrete ground, looking around with their various guns raised in the event of a firefight breaking out. They walk around the elevator shaft and pause. Before them is a huge metal generator that is rectangular shaped and is as tall as the 50-feet tall chamber, with numerous appendages at the top and a control panel on the panel before them.
"This is too easy." Rtas says, but still cautiously steps toward the control panel.
"You're right about that, traitor." A deep, bellowing voice says. Rtas pulls out his plasma rifle and wheels around to face an imposing figure with bunches of thick grey hair peaking out of his red armor and gleaming amber eyes are visible behind his helmet. From behind him, 5 dozen red-armored Grunts walk out from behind him, holding rusted-looking plasma pistols and form a circle around the Republic, UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios troops.
"Castor." Rtas growls, activating his energy sword. This Brute Chieftain, leader of a radical remnant of the Covenant, is well-known for his hatred for anything related to the UEG or UNSC, so to see him here is most concerning. "What is your purpose here?"
"We were sent to capture the slime who work for the ONI and anything that would aid our cause." Castor responds, lifting up his Brute Shot and pointing it towards the Sangheili Fleetmaster. In the corner, Palmer briefly notices about a dozen unconscious men and women in crisp black suits looking heavily beaten up and energy shackles on their wrists.
Kenobi looks at Rex, Lopez, Ahsoka and they nod at each other, a plan forming between them. Rtas notices this out of the corner of his eyes, but keeps his attention on the Covenant remnants as they surround him. "All right, Brute. Tell me. Who do you serve?"
"I serve the great Sangheili, Sali 'Nyon. He is the one true Prophet. The one who will breath life into the Covenant once again and end the tyranny of the UNSC and its government. I will kill the heretic. Feast on the flesh of the rest once I'm done." Castor says darkly, pointing his Brute Shot at Rtas.
Rex whirls around and shoots a blue portal at the 2nd elevator wall. "Now!" Rex shouts, pointing his portal gun at the wall behind the Brute Chieftain.
But the Brute's reflexes had acted first, and a grenade from the Brute Shot was launched. Rtas barely manages to dodge the grenade in time, the heat making his skin burn a little, but the grenade flies at the portal and comes out the one placed on the wall behind him. The grenade strikes the Chieftain's back, shattering his entire suit of armor and revealing his grey skin and hair. He roars in anger and starts firing his Brute Shot at Rtas's companions. Obi-Wan uses the Force to freeze the grenade mid-air and activates his lightsaber to start attacking the closest Grunt next to him. The 1st attack cut a tube sticking on the side of its neck, making it screech in pain and distracted it long enough for the 2nd slash to cut it clean in half.
Ahsoka activates her own lightsaber and slashes apart 2 Grunts before her. The Grunts get over their surprise and start firing their plasma pistols at their conscious captives. Lopez, Fred and Rex go back-to-back-to-back, kicking aside any Grunts who are unfortunate enough to be nearby, with Lopez finishing them off with his twin plasma rifles. One of the Grunts throws his pistol aside and grabs both of the plasma grenades on his belt, activates them, and runs at Palmer as her back is turned.
Before the Grunt can reach his destination, Johnson takes notice and fires his assault rifle with deadly accuracy. The shots hit the grenades, making them explode prematurely and leaving little more than a puddle of dark blue blood. "I hate it when a Grunt goes suicidal." Johnson mutters, before continuing the firefight.
Eventually, the Grunts continue getting whittled to a measly dozen and they continue losing numbers fast. "You have lost, Castor. The traitor 'Nyon will burn for his treachery." Rtas shouts as he uses his plasma rifle at the Brute Chieftain, hitting his shoulder and blackening the wound. But what the Brute said earlier concerned Rtas deeply: Could the Shipmaster who served under Jul 'Mdama have managed to reorganize the Covenant?
"This will not be over. In the inevitable case you will try to intervention on our assignment, I brought many of my own warriors with me. Kill them!"
From out of the shadows surrounding the ONI agents, 5 more Brutes in much lighter armor than their Chieftain come barreling out, already enraged. One of them hits Rtas while he is surprised, sending him flying for several feet before rolling on the ground and using the momentum to get back to his feet.
"[Seriously? How the fuck did we not notice these assholes before?]" Lopez demands as he fires his shots at a particularly berserk Brute holding a Type-3 Gravity Hammer, just like the others. The berserk Brutes, while few in number, are so tough that everyone is required to get in groups of 2 to take them down.
Lopez and his partner, Fred, continue to fire at the Brute before it roars in rage and charges again, planning on smashing Fred to pieces. The brown-armored robot raises his only active plasma rifle and lets out a massive burst of plasma before it too loses all of its remaining energy. Fortunately, the shots connect with the charging Brute's head, and the beast crumples to the ground. Fred lowers his Magnum, shocked at his own actions at fighting, and walks forward, picking up the Gravity Hammer. "Impressive. For a species that gives into rage like they do." He mutters, studying his trophy as the battle goes on. He then turns around to watch as Kenobi and Palmer work together to take care of another Brute who is running towards them at break-neck speeds.
Throwing his pacifism out the window, he decides to do the one thing that would give most people heart attacks: Charging at a berserk Brute, raising his activated Gravity Hammer, and smashing it downwards. The blunt end collides with the Brute, crushing its head and sending blood flying in all directions. "Um…thank you." Kenobi says, shocked that Fred managed to kill a Brute and a little disturbed at how barbaric, but effective the weapon is.
All around them, the other Brutes are getting killed off and Rtas has managed to wound the Chieftain enough for him to fall to his knees. "You think you won? The Covenant shall return and you will burn." Castor growls.
Rtas glares at the Brute one last time before taking his Energy Sword and thrusting it between his eyes. The Brute hisses in pain, then his movements become slower before he falls to the ground, dead.
"That was harder than I was expecting." Kenobi says in a half-heartened attempt to lighten the mood.
"This madness needs to end now. We need to get that…" Rex says, then he notices the generator in the center of the room and his eyes widen under his helmet. The others look in the same direction and notice what's wrong. While the broadcast station is mostly intact, the battle they just went through had damaged the control panel. Without it, they can't operate the station.
"What a bunch of assholes." Johnson says, feeling the gravity of their current situation sinking in.
"Not necessarily." Palmer says, gaining everyone's attention. "ONI takes no risks. Usually, they make their hardware so that way if the manual controls are damaged beyond repair, they can plug an AI into it to do the work for them."
"So, we need an AI. Alright then, let's hear it. Where the hell are we going to get an AI around here?" Johnson asks sarcastically.
"What about the AI chip that mercenary Locus gave us?" Rex asks, taking out the chip and looking at it.
"Thus far, it's our only hope. Plug it in." Rtas says, deactivating his energy sword and strapping it to his side.
"I'm on it." Palmer says, grabbing the chip and slipping it into the slot.
A voice comes out of the speakers and it's the last voice Obi-Wan expected to hear ever again. "…Howdy, howdy, dudes, dudettes. Wait, where am I, muchachos?"
"Vic, it's me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was at the Council Room when you were re-activated."
"Oh yeah, dude. I remember very few thangs from my rampage. Thanks to the green X, I got patched up. Too bad he didn't give me hands or fix my inability to move my legs. Do you have any ideas how embarrassing it is to not feel my legs?" Vic asks, sounding much calmer than Obi-Wan last heard him.
Most of the group is dumbfounded at this AI's attitude, but Lopez speaks up. "[What the fuck is this? They pulled this same shit in the Resident Evil movies.]" Lopez says, even more horrified than anyone else at the revelation that Vic is alive.
"Is that you, señor? It is so great to see you again, dude. Except…hold on a second. I can't see you. What gives, dude? You promised to kill me."
Everyone looks at Kenobi as he rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Actually, I didn't make that promise."
"You know what, muchacho? I'm willing to be your genie. I grant you 3 wishes, and when they are used, you cut the cord that connects me to life. Savvy?"
Palmer nods, frustration starting to show on her face. "Yes, we agree to the terms."
"Take a chill pill, señorita. How can I help you today?"
"We are giving you this message. Broadcast it on all channels, and intercept as many as you can." Rex says, taking the advanced microphone and installing it onto the side of the machine.
"If that is your wish, so shall it be done." Vic says, then gets to work. The machine hums to life, light glowing on the edges.
"What if this machine fails?" Fred asks, looking at the display with pure awe for probably the 10th time that day.
"We can't worry about it. Right now, the only thing we can hold on to is hope." Obi-Wan says, then watches the spectacle.
4:45 UNSC time
Bridge of Galactic Republic Acclamator-class Starship
Orbiting Earth
Jedi Grandmaster Yoda watches grimly from the bridge as the space battle comes to an end.
No matter how hard the Invasion Fleet fought, they continuly lost ground and numbers, especially when dozens of troops and Jedi went planet-side to secure the UEG and attain a swift end to the bloodbaths.
Of course, the battle only went downhill when the Infinity, Pillar of Winter and its escorts joined the fight. The destroyed ODP gave the Fleet some breathing room, but still very little maneuverability space. That only left them wide open to the 2 beast's MAC cannons and nuclear missiles, coupled with the rest of the Home Fleet's. The clone fighters managed to gain a handle on the fighter-to-fighter combat, but it didn't amount to much in the end.
After a while, the Home Fleet had started to spread out and form a circle around the beaten fleet that is on the verge of destruction. Suddenly, most of the UNSC Fleet starts glowing white on the front, indicating that the ships that still have those weapons systems operational are going to fire the MAC cannons one final time. Yoda closes his eyes in resignation. Even with the Force, he can't stop them all.
"An honor to serve with you, it has been. May the Force guide us all." Yoda says, waiting for his death.
Suddenly, the comms channels are filled with static and a sinister voice speaks in its place. It is just a recording, but what it said deeply disturbed Yoda and the crew. The more the conversation went on, with Kenobi and Rex chiming in with questions and accusations, the more Yoda felt empty and hollow on the inside. Then the last part plays out. "You got that right. We're going to let the Second Battle of Earth play out. With a battle of this magnitude, only the best soldiers and warriors in the galaxy will be gathered. Many Jedi will meet their grizzly ends, many Spartans will suffer the same fate. The 2 sides will kill each other off and what will be left, we can easily kill off." The recording cuts off and absolute silence reigns across the bridge. Even in open space, the fighters just hang suspended in the black void and the white glow in front of the UNSC ships dims then goes out completely.
Then, one of the communications officers speaks up from his station. "Sir. The UNSC's pulling their fighter ships back. The Infinity is hailing us."
Yoda looks down at the ground before turning around and walking to the comms table. "Put it through. Negotiate a treaty, we will."
5:00 UNSC time
ONI Communication Tower
Manhattan
United Republic of North America
Earth
The battle is officially over.
The clones and UNSC soldiers have stopped fighting each other and searches for survivors have started. But no one is going to forget the terror and magnitude this day has on them all. "Strange. At first, I see death and destruction. Now, I see hope." Fred says, staring out at the destroyed island-city, clones and marines walking down the streets together.
"Indeed." Rtas says, standing at his side but watching the night sky instead. But the words of Castor still rung in his head, and for the first time in a long time, Rtas feels genuine fear.
Could the Chieftain have spoken true and that the Covenant have been reformed? If so, what does that spell for this war and its participants?
AN: Let this be a lesson to me: Do not write out a battle to be 4 parts long again. I honestly ran out of inspiration for this chapter, so I decided to throw a Covenant remnant group and Vic's return into the mix to make myself feel better. And yes, Castor is an actual Halo canon character and an actual leader of a Covenant faction.
As for if the Covenant really had reformed…you'll see soon enough.
So yeah, the UNSC, Swords of Sanghelios and the Republic are not at war with each other anymore. Doesn't mean they aren't out of the woods, though.
See you next time when the start of a new arc starts and one of the most important chapters in the story.
Later, all!