Battle of Alpha Base

The Battle of Alpha Base was a medium-scale engagement between the UNSC Marine Corps the Covenant, part of the larger Installation 04 battle.

Prologue
Before the Battle for Alpha Base began, the Elite Zuka 'Zamamee formulated a plan to eliminate the Master Chief. His Grunt offsider, Yayap, was left to be found by the UNSC forces, and transported to Alpha Base. Once he spotted the Master Chief, he activated a signalling device to call in Zuka's attack force. However, by the time the battle was joined, the Master Chief was well on his way to the Installation 04 Control Room.

Battle
The Battle for Alpha Base began with a distress relay call from the Pelican dropship Charlie 217. This Pelican had been listed as MIA, and so was allowed to land on one of the pads at Alpha Base, although a Marine reaction force was put on standby. The Pelican was piloted by Lieutenant Rick Hale, a Covenant prisoner. As soon as the Pelican was given permission to land, the Lieutenant soiled himself when he was killed by Elite Zuka 'Zamamee, who landed the dropship himself. Wellsley, however, read the thermal readings given off the Active Camouflages and was about to warn his superiors. However, the Elites had already landed, and the battle began.

Thirty heavily armed Stealth Elites disembarked from the dropship and attacked every Marine in sight. Despite being caught fully unaware, the UNSC forces rallied and fought back well, setting fire to the pad Charlie 217 landed on, killing many of the opposing Elites and destroying the Covenant-captured Pelican. In addition, to counter the active camouflage, the Marines had special items which allowed them to read the thermal heat given off. Soon, the battle was dead-even.

By this point, 6 Spirit dropships were spotted heading for Alpha Base. The A.I., Wellsley utilized a 50mm Autocannon and shot down one of them before they could get out of range. The 5 remaining Covenant ships touched down on the plateau and unloaded the main attack force, as well as Field Master Noga 'Putumee. Meanwhile, Zuka 'Zamamee and five of the remaining Stealth Elites descended into the underground level of the base, questioning all they came across about the Master Chief's whereabouts, eventually coming across Yayap and three other Grunts in a prison cell. The Grunt convinced Zuka that the Spartan was guarding a group of captured Banshees on the other side of the base, and led the group toward there. A 3-man Marine fireteam surprised them, killing the five Stealth Elites and the three Grunts before being taken out by a grenade from Yayap. Upon reaching the Banshees, Yayap forced Zuka to fly them both to safety in one of the Banshees.

Meanwhile, on the plateau, the primary Covenant attack force had been thoroughly destroyed. Despite having the remaining Spirit dropships strafing the Marine defenders, they were caught unaware by the pair of entrenched Scorpion Tanks and prepared defences on the plateau. Not only did the Scorpians obliterate the majority of the forces, but also deprived the forces of their leadership when it killed 'Putumee. The strafing Spirits picked up the few surviving Covenant troops and retreated. The Battle for Alpha Base was over.