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. 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 arrive 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, after which the temple is destroyed by the Covenant Fleet. The Chief escapes into the lake surrounding the temple and is taken by Gravemind.

October 26 October 31:

The Arbiter is sent to claim the Index. The first resistance he encounters is from the Sentinels. He is told to release the shield holding the Flood inside. He encounters the Flood who are combating the sentinels. All the combat forms are ex-humans which means In Amber Clad managed to get past the shields without taking them down and that a considerable number if not all of the UNSC forces have already been deployed on the ground. 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. It can also be assumed that many of the In Amber Clad's bridge officers stayed with the ship when it crashed and were taken by the Flood to become Command Forms to repair the Slipspace capacitors and control the technology. 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. Tarturus takes Miranda and Sergeant Johnson prisoner along with the index. He then attacks the Arbiter which can be taken as the start of the Covenant Civil War.

October 31, 2552:

The Master Chief and the Arbiter are captives of Gravemind. They are each sent to "search for the index". Meanwhile Gravemind focuses the Flood toward repairing In Amber Clad and loading his puppets onto the ship. The Chief fights against both sides of the Covenant while they fight themselves in High Charity. The Arbiter is sent near the Control Room and fights Brutes, Jackals, and Drones.

November 2, 2552:

The Arbiter allies the Elites, Grunts, and Hunters with Miranda and Johnson. Meanwhile In Amber Clad arrives full of flood forces inside High Charity. Now the Chief is fighting Covenant and Flood.

November 3, 2552:

Tarturus is killed and Installation 05 sends a signal to ready the remaining Installations. The Chief boards the Forerunner ship headed for Earth. Cortana sends a message to Earth about the Chief and the happenings at Installation 05. The Covenant Second Fleet of Homogenous Clarity stops destroying itself in order to stop the flood from escaping Delta Halo because none of them know that the Flood already escaped to High Charity. Voro 'Mantakree, Fleet Ship Master of the Elites, leaves to Joyous Exhaltation, 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.