First Raid on Control

"Roland"

- Jared Miller

During the Requiem Campaign, Fireteam Crimson and Lieutenant TJ Murphy launched a raid on a Covenant facility at "Control" after being mistaken for allies due to their stolen Phantom dropship.

Prelude
While searching for the missing Spartan Gabriel Thorne, Fireteam Crimson was ambushed at the "Quarry" and captured. Taken to "Lockup," Crimson managed to escape with the help of Jared Miller and Robert Dalton and rescued Icebreaker squad who were held captive at the facility as well. Lieutenant TJ Murphy of Icebreaker squad successfully managed to hijack a Covenant Phantom which he and Crimson used to escape from "Lockup."

Planting the worms
As Fireteam Crimson's stolen Phantom got close to "Control," they received a message from a Sangheili over the Covenant battlenet which Roland explained was ordering them to land at the secure facility since the Covenant thought the dropship still belonged to them. Spartan Jared Miller ordered Lieutenant TJ Murphy to play along and he landed at "Control" as requested. Interested in why the Covenant considered the location to be important, Commander Sarah Palmer ordered Crimson to check the facility out.

Almost immediately after Crimson's emergence from the dropship, they came under attack from the defending Covenant forces, including Ghosts, who quickly realized that the dropship was under enemy control. Spotting stolen UNSC gear nearby, Crimson was able to use the weapons to help eliminate the Covenant forces. Miller then detected a nearby Covenant comm relay and Palmer directed Crimson to check it out. After eliminating the Covenant between them and the relay, Crimson removed the hardware lock for Roland, allowing him to access the relay. Using Crimson's short range comm equipment, Roland was able to transmit a worm into the Covenant systems, allowing Roland access to the data within from the. Pleased, Palmer ordered Roland to pass along everything he found to Infinity Command.

As Crimson emerged outside again, they came under attack by Covenant reinforcements from a Phantom and Miller determined that there were two other Covenant comm relays nearby that they could get access to as well. Palmer ordered Miller to direct Crimson to the other relays and they unlocked the second one for Roland after fighting through the Covenant defenders. Roland uncovered information on detailed Covenant troop movements from the second relay and Crimson fought their way to the third. However, as Roland planted the worm, the Covenant placed the system on lockdown and sent in further reinforcements.

Once the reinforcements were eliminated, Roland was able to determine that the lockdown was controlled by two Covenant terminals and destroying them had a ninety percent chance of breaking the lockdown. Palmer ordered Crimson to destroy the terminals as more reinforcements were deployed by heavy orbital insertion pods. Though Murphy attempted to keep the Covenant Phantoms off of Crimson, one was able to slip through and attack. Despite heavy resistance, Crimson was able to destroy the terminals and Roland succeeded in planting the last worm. Roland reported to Palmer that the tap was active on all three Covenant channels and he was hot and cold running information.

Covenant counterattack
With the Covenant comm channels tapped into, Palmer ordered Crimson to clear an area for Murphy to land the stolen Phantom. However, the Covenant launched a massive counterattack including two Banshees and four Hunters. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Crimson managed to use the stolen UNSC gear stored in "Control" to help fend off the Covenant forces. Ultimatly, Crimson was able to clear out the attacking Covenant, ending the battle.

With the Covenant forces gone, Murphy was able to extract Crimson in the stolen Phantom. Palmer apologized for being out of contact for so long and promised to get back in touch with them soon after reviewing the data pulled from the Covenant systems.

Aftermath
Based on the data found in the comm relays at "Control," UNSC forces were able to pinpoint a central Covenant intel center in the "Warrens." Crimson was dispatched to investigate the intel center, ultimately leading them to a Covenant supply depot and an archeological dig.

List of appearances

 * Halo 4
 * Spartan Ops