Battle of Alpha Base

The Battle of Alpha Base was a military engagement between the UNSC Marine Corps and the Covenant during the Battle of Installation 04.

Prelude
Prior to the battle began, Zuka 'Zamamee formulated a plan to eliminate John-117. 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 signaling device to call in Zuka's attack force. However, by the time the battle had started, the Master Chief was well on his way to the Installation 04 Control Room.

Attack on Alpha Base
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 was then strangled to death by Zuka 'Zamamee using an Energy Garrote. The last thing the Lieutenant did was soil himself, as 'Zamamee landed the dropship by himself. Wellsley, however, read the thermal readings given off by the Active Camouflage and was about to warn his superiors. However, the Elites had already landed, and the battle thus 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. However, Antonio Silva now had to deal with the problem of roasting all of the Pelicans.

By this point, 6 Spirit dropships were spotted heading for Alpha Base at 350 kph by Wellsley. 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 mesa 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, slaughtering all the humans that they came across. Finally, they entered the Control Room and massacred Cho, Pauley, and Murphy (UNSC personnel). However, they were seen by Wellsley, who promptly warned Silva. Soon,six teams of 3 Marines were set out to halt the Stealth Elites; to counter the active camouflage, the Marines had special items which allowed them to read the thermal heat given off by the active camo. The Elites questioned everyone they came across in an attempt to learn the Master Chief's whereabouts. Eventually they came 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 plasma grenade from Yayap. Upon reaching the Banshees, "he (Yayap) pointed a plasma pistol at his superior's (Zuka's) head", to get Zuka to fly them both to safety.

Meanwhile, on the plateau, McKay was in command in halting the Covenant forces on the plateau. The primary Covenant attack force had been thoroughly destroyed. First, the snipers attempted to kill the majority of the enemy ground forces. 'Putumee, unable to land on the pads as originally planned, alternatively landed on the area up-spin of the Forerunner complex. Despite having the remaining Spirit dropships strafing the Marine defenders, they were caught unaware by the pair of entrenched Scorpion Tanks and prepared defenses on the plateau. 'Putumee noticed that the trenches were too neat to be dug in the last unit, but the thought crossed his mind too late (for an Elite anyway). Not only did the Scorpions obliterate the majority of the Covenant forces, but also deprived the Covenant forces of their leadership when 'Putumee was killed. However, the assault moved onward, albeit slowly, as the lower-ranked Elites assumed command and attempted to rally the troops without much success, soon enough the strafing Spirits picked up the few surviving Covenant troops and retreated. The Battle for Alpha Base was over, ending in a UNSC Marine Corps victory.