Battle of Installation 05

Summary
DATE: 2552 - ongoing

LOCATION: Installation 05

Involved: UNSC, Covenant, Flood, and Forerunner construct forces.

Synopsis: For the second time, the four factions met in battle over one of the Forerunner Halos. This time, however, it appears the Flood had the upper hand.

Outcome: Prophet of Mercy is killed by a Flood Infection Form. The Covenant is broken up by a civil war (between the Elites, Hunters, and most Grunts against the Brutes, Drones, Jackals and some Grunts.). Truth heads to Earth with Master Chief onboard a Forerunner ship. Flood and Gravemind left to consume High Charity (where Cortana was left behind near the end of Halo 2).

UNSC
Commander: Commander Miranda Keyes

1 UNSC Frigate: (The UNSC FFG-142 In Amber Clad)

Elements of the 7th ODST Battalion and the 405th Marine Infantry Division

1 Spartan II supersoldier: SPARTAN-117

1 possible Spartan I soldier: Sergeant AJ Johnson

The Covenant
Commander: The High Prophet of Truth, the Prophet of Regret, the Prophet of Mercy, Tartarus, The Arbiter

1 City-Planetoid (High Charity)

Second Fleet of Homogenous Clarity

The Forerunner Constructs
Commander: 2401 Penitent Tangent

Unlimited Sentinels, Sentinel Majors, Enforcers, and Constructors

The Flood
Commander: The Gravemind

Thousands of Combat Forms

Millions of Infection Forms

Timeline
October 24, 2552:

In Amber Clad follows Covenant Capital Ship through Slipspace from Earth.

October 25 or October 26, 2552:

Both ships arrive near Installation 05. The Covenant land and deploy troops surrounding the temple containing the Prophet of Regret. Master Chief and several ODSTs drop on the edge of Covenant patrols as Commander Miranda Keyes takes the remaining UNSC forces along with Sergeant Johnson to claim the Index near the Flood infested Library. The Covenant world High Charity along with The Second Fleet of Homogenous Clarity arrives near Installation 05. The Master Chief, along with elements of the ODSTs and Marines onboard the In Amber Clad, fights his way through Covenant held ruins. After navigating a system of underwater-linked structures in the center of a lake, 117 kills the Prophet of Regret. This leads to the Changing of the Guard, in which the Brutes replace the Elites as the Prophets protectors. Tensions begin to mount inside the Covenant. In an attempt to kill the Master Chief, the Covenant Fleet destroy the temple with a Gravity Beam. The Chief escapes into the lake surrounding the temple and is taken by Gravemind.

October 26 - October 31:

Several squads of Brutes and other Covenant forces are sent into the Library to lower the energy shielding surrounding the complex, but none return. As a result, the Prophets order the Arbiter to retrieve the Index so that the Covenant can fire the ring and begin the Great Journey. He arrives at the Library, the holding place for the Index, with the objective to disable the shields surrounding the complex so that the rest of the Covenant forces can get inside. However, since this shielding also contains the Flood, the Sentinels that monitor the complex attack the Arbiter as he makes his way to the Shield Generator. He links up with surviving Covenant forces inside the Library and fights his way through the Sentinels and the newly-released Flood. The Flood he encounters wield Human weaponry and command a handful of Scorpion Tanks and Warthogs, which indicates that the In Amber Clad had made it through the shields and into the facility and that most of the crew had been assimilated by the Flood. A considerable number if not all of the UNSC forces have already been deployed on the ground. During all of this, the In Amber Clad is attacked by Sentinels causing it to crash land near the building containing the Index. The Flood then take the ship and begin repairing it. Because of the Flood's knowledge of the workings of the ship and the fact that they seem to have repaired it, it would seem that some of the Bridge Crew were on the IN Amber clad during the crash and were also assimilated. The Covenant send considerable forces because now there are ex-elite combat forms. The few remaining Humans and the Arbiter race for control of the Index, fighting through the Sentinels and the Flood. The Human survivors are killed by the Flood and the Covenant, and Tartarus takes Miranda and Sergeant Johnson prisoner along with the Index. Tartarus then betrays the Arbiter and hurls him down the hole where the Index was contained, unknowingly sending him into the clutches of Gravemind.

October 31 - November 2:

The Master Chief and the Arbiter are captives of Gravemind, who wishes to stop the activation of the Ring. The Chief and the Arbiter both comply (although they do not have much of a choice), 117 because he wants to save the Human race, and the Arbiter because he realizes the Prophet’s betrayal of the Covenant. Utilizing the ring's teleportation grid, Gravemind sends the Master Chief to High Charity and the Arbiter to the location of the Elite Councilors with the intention of obtaining the index and stop the activation of Halo. Meanwhile, Gravemind had repaired the In Amber Clad and loaded the Flood onto the ship. Under the command of the Prophets, the brutes kill almost all of the Elite Councilors, sparking Civil War throughout the Covenant. This reaches the High Charity, where the Master Chief fights through the Covenant Loyalists and Covenant Separatists as they fight each other in the halls of High Charity. As the Prophets escape form the holy city, the In Amber Clad, carrying Gravemind and a hoard of Flood, crashes into High Charity. A Flood Infection form kills one of the Prophets, but the Prophet of Truth makes his escape in a Phantom and heads towards a Forerunner ship to get off the city. The Chief now fights three enemies: The Loyalists, the Separatists, and the Flood, which is rapidly spreading throughout the city. He manages to board the Forerunner ship as Truth exits the system and initiates a Slipspace jump towards Earth. Back on Installation 05, the Arbiter discovers the slaughter of the Elites by the Brutes. Along with a few remaining Councilors, Elites, and a pair of Hunters, the Arbiter, he avenges them by killing the Brutes that had killed the Councilors and that protected their Chieftain, Tartarus, as he tried to activate the ring. After reuniting with Half-Jaw, the remaining Separatists forces fight to control a Scarab, which, with the assistance of Sergeant Johnson, they manage to destroy the sealed doors of the Control Room. The Arbiter and his forces arrive in time to see Miranda Keys forces to activate the Ring by Tartarus.

November 3, 2552:

With the aid of Johnson and the rest of the Separatist forces on the Ring, the Arbiter slays Tartarus and Installation 05 is deactivated. However, this event causes the Installation sends a signal to ready the remaining Installations as a part of a fail-safe system. The Monitor of Installation 04, 343 Guilty Spark, informs the survivors that all of the remaining Halos are ready for remote activation from the Ark.

The Covenant Second Fleet of Homogenous Clarity stops fighting amongst itself in order to stop the Flood from escaping Delta Halo, unaware that the had Flood already escaped to High Charity. Voro 'Mantakree, Fleet Ship Master of the Elites, leaves to Joyous Exaltation, an Elite outpost world. Undoubtedly the Battle of Installation 05 will continue, since the Arbiter is still there, the Second Fleet is still fighting amongst itself, and the Flood now own High Charity, into Halo 3.