Battle of Asźod

The Battle of Aszod was an engagement of the Human-Covenant War fought on the planet Reach between the 29th and 30th of August, 2552.

Background
By this point in the battle for Reach, a Covenant victory was all but inevitable. The UNSC's Epsilon Eridani Fleet had been routed by the combined Covenant fleet, and the Covenant ground invasion was now reinforced by large scale naval forces in low orbit. Surviving UNSC ground forces maintained a tenuous hold on the Aszod shipbreaking yards, the only off-planet extraction point left on the Eposz continent. UNSC convoys on the way to the shipyard in the hopes of escaping the planet were decimated by Covenant air attacks.

The cruiser touched down in the shipyards for the transaction of an important package from Noble Team. Near the Pillar of Autumn's landing site, surviving M808B Main Battle Tanks and M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicles engaged Covenant ground forces pushing their way to the Autumn. The battle raged with unabated ferocity, but the UNSC forces were enclosed in a steadily constricting pocket despite their best efforts.

Regroup
As the UNSC forces began to retreat, their land and air defenses moved off to Aszod to regroup. Near the Pillar of Autumn's landing site, countless M808B Main Battle Tanks and M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicles assaulted two Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platforms, making their way to the Autumn. While encircling the scarabs, the UNSC forces had to avoid mortar fire from Type-25 Assault Gun Carriages that were also moving into Aszod from other parts of Reach, well aware of the regrouping. The sky was not free from battle either, as a number of UH-144 Falcons engaged Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft.

Noble Team's arrival
By this point, Noble Team had been reduced to four members, with Jorge-052 and Catherine-B320 killed in action during Operation: UPPER CUT and the Siege of New Alexandria, respectively. Jun-A266 was deployed to defend Dr. Catherine Halsey, and escort her away from the Babd Catha Forerunner complex near Sword Base to another ONI facility, CASTLE Base. Thus, by August 30th, 2552, Noble Team was effectively reduced to three operational members, SPARTAN-B312, Carter-A259, and Emile-A239. The three had escaped Sword Base, bearing a fragment of the AI Cortana containing Forerunner data from the Babd Catha complex. The Pillar of Autumn, docked at the Aszod facility, awaited the team's arrival with this high value package. Captain Jacob Keyes of the Pillar of Autumn deployed a number of Marines to other parts of the ship-breaking facility to stall the Covenant advance and allow Noble Team to break through and deliver the package.

En route to the facility, the Covenant's air superiority made itself apparent to the survivors of Noble Team. Their Pelican was attacked by Covenant aircraft, and Commander Carter-A259, the team leader, was seriously injured by plasma fire. Realizing that the Pelican would be shot down before reaching the Pillar of Autumn, Carter ordered Emile-A239 and SPARTAN-B312 to jump from the crippled dropship, while he attempted to lure the Covenant away. Emile and SPARTAN-B312 landed in Covenant-occupied territory on the main road to the shipyard.

Fighting their way to two M274 Ultra-Light All-Terrain Vehicles, Emile and B312 raced to the ship-breaking yards as fast as the ATVs could travel. Covenant opposition in the area was heavy, with Scarab walkers and numerous infantry preventing the two from shooting their way through. Using speed to their advantage, they two Spartans streaked past the heavy opposition, jumping a collapsed highway bridge in the process and fighting their way through a Covenant outpost on foot. Progressing through a cave, the two found their progress blocked. A Scarab had detected the presence of the two Spartans, and stationed itself over their route. Aware that Emile and Noble Six could not proceed without outside help, and also aware that his Pelican's primary weapon could not hurt the Scarab, Carter-A259 sacrificed himself, ramming the Scarab with the dropship and destroying it.

Their path cleared, Emile and B312 were attacked by a group of Yanme'e, who were hunting down troopers who had wandered through the caves seeking safety. Escaping the caves, the two SPARTANs finally reached the shipbreaking yard. The area devoted to the scrapping of the aged frigate Commonwealth had become a battleground. Covenant forces had cut off straggling troopers from the Pillar of Autumn, and infantry firefights broke out across the facility. With the assistance of Emile and Noble Six, the UNSC forces cut their way through to the drydocks.

Finale
Finally reaching the rendezvous point for the transfer, a furious battle broke out between the advancing Covenant soldiers and the surviving UNSC forces. The Covenant, sensing their victory and wishing to stop the escape of the humans, deployed waves of Type-52 Troop Carriers and Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft to overwhelm the human defenses. While Noble Six led surviving Marines against the Covenant ground forces, Emile manned a Mk. 2488 Onager MAC on top of the facility, using it as a makeshift anti-aircraft battery. The sheer power of the mass driver, aided by the Pillar of Autumn's point defense guns, devastated the Covenant assault waves, but the Covenant fought relentlessly, sacrificing dropships willingly to get their troops on the ground. Despite Emile's best efforts, a number of Jiralhanae lead forces fought furious battle with UNSC infantry. The Covenant had the advantage of numbers, but the UNSC held the high ground, and led by SPARTAN-B312 the Covenant infantry assault was repulsed. With the landing zone clear, Captain Keyes personally took a Pelican to the rendezvous point, where he was met by Noble Six.

Keyes promptly took possession of the package, but the Covenant, realizing that their ground attack had failed, deployed a CCS-class Battlecruiser to destroy the facility and block the Pillar of Autumn's escape. Keyes ordered Emile to cover the Autumn's escape, and the Spartan prepared to oblige. However, as Keyes boarded his Pelican and prepared to return to the Pillar of Autumn, with Noble Six in tow, the landing zone was attacked by a Phantom dropship that managed to slip through the UNSC defensive barrage. The Pelican escorting Keyes was destroyed by a barrage of plasma from the Covenant dropship, which took up position by the mass driver and dropped off a team of Sangheili Zealots to eliminate Emile and the threat of the mass driver. Emile, although caught by surprise, reacted swiftly, and killed the first Zealot at point-blank range with his shotgun. Emile's victory was short-lived, as a second Zealot impaled him from behind with an energy sword. Emile, defiant to the last, managed to take his killer with him to the grave, drawing his knife and stabbing the Zealot to death. However, Emile's death left the mass driver unmanned, and the Pillar of Autumn was rendered vulnerable to the advancing Covenant battlecruiser. Noble Six decided to sacrifice the only ticket off of Reach (thus sacrificing his/her life) and commandeer the mass driver and ensure the Autumn's safe passage into space. The Covenant, aware of the threat posed by the mass driver, had deployed a crack Sangheili Zealot team, led by a Field Marshall, to prevent the gun from being manned, but even they failed against the last Spartan of Noble Team, and Noble Six manned the mass driver. The battlecruiser, undeterred, or perhaps unaware of the danger of the mass driver, continued to advance on the shipyard. The Covenant warship charged its ventral energy projector, preparing to destroy the Pillar of Autumn, but in order to fire, the ship needed to drop its shield around the glassing port. Turning the cannon on the battlecruiser, B312 fired a round straight into the ship's unshielded energy projector. The hit was devastating. The slug's impact disrupted the finely tuned magnetic field controlling the energy projector, and the wild plasma gutted the ship, sending it plummeting to the surface of Reach. The Pillar of Autumn's path was clear, and the cruiser immediately launched.

Aftermath
After the Autumn's successful escape, SPARTAN-B312 was left as the last remaining human survivor in the area, which was now occupied by Covenant air and ground forces. The Spartan managed to hold off the Covenant forces for some time, but was ultimately overwhelmed by Sangheili warriors and slain by a Sangheili Zealot. The Autumn, one of the few ships to survive the Fall of Reach, would arrive at Installation 04 three weeks later, pursued by a portion of the Fleet of Particular Justice, igniting the Battle of Installation 04.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Reach