Battle over Installation 04: Difference between revisions

*[[Fleet of Particular Justice]]

**{{Class|CAS|assault carrier}} (1)

**[[Covenant destroyer|Destroyer]] (1)

**[[Morsam-pattern Seraph]]s

|forces3=[[Installation 04]]

*Several {{Class|Confidence|weapon array}}s

*Heavy defending crew casualties

|casual2=

*''[[Truth and Reconciliation]]'' damaged

*Heavy boarding party casualties

On August 30, the ''Pillar of Autumn'' fled the [[Fall of Reach]], along with its complement of personnel. The ship was followed by the [[Fleet of Particular Justice]], led by the [[Supreme Commander]] [[Thel 'Vadam]]ee, who hereby ordered all vessels of the fleet to contribute two [[Space fighter|fightercraft]] to advance recon pickets to ensure the human cruiser would not be able to slip past the fleet defenses, while the fleet held position on the far side of the ring.<ref name="LC3">''[[Halo Legendary Crate]], [[Halo Legendary Crate/Data Drops|Data Drops]] - Crate #3''</ref> The fleet had arrived earlier than the ''Autumn'' thanks to their superior [[Borer|slipspace drive]] technology.<ref name="CEPOA">'''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]''', campaign level ''[[The Pillar of Autumn (Halo: Combat Evolved level)|The Pillar of Autumn]]''</ref> The [[Prophet of Stewardship|Minor Prophet of Stewardship]] would declare the matter one of religious significance and invoke his right to leadership, though this would be contested on the grounds of 'Vadamee, who insisted he would not relinquish command to a politician in combat.{{Ref/Reuse|LC3}} The two would convene aboard the fleet's flagship ''[[Seeker of Truth]]'' to contact [[High Charity]] for guidance,{{Ref/Reuse|LC3}} though no contact was able to be made, and no decision reached.<ref name="adjunct">''[[Halo: The Flood]]: [[Halo: The Flood#2010 bonus content|Adjunct]] - [[Priority Broadcast Log/Eleventh Cycle, Third Unit]]''</ref>

==The battle==

Unbeknownst to either side, the Forerunner installation was not inert. [[Monitor]] [[343 Guilty Spark]] attempted to contact the ''Pillar of Autumn'' and warn of them of the ring's danger, insisting the cruiser retreat to a safe distance of one light-year. The monitor prepared several {{Class|Confidence|weapon array}}s to fire on the vessel and gave it thirty seconds to change course, though he stopped once he realised the ship belonged to [[Reclaimer]]s and cleared the ship for landing. The monitor disabled the ring's defensive systems, but warned the crew not to disembark once they landed.<ref>''[[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary]], [[Terminal (Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary)|Terminals]] - Terminal One''</ref>

In the ODST drop bay, Major Silva assigned [[Fireteam Raven]] to defend the ''Pillar of Autumn''. The fireteam proceeded to exit the drop bay and tour several corridors before being contacted by [[Wellsley]]; several of the ship's [[M910 Rampart point defense network|M910 Rampart]] guns had been taken offline, and the team would need to perform a [[Extra-vehicular activity|spacewalk]] to man them and fend off waves of fighters. The team were able to shoot down multiple waves of Seraph and Banshee before beginning to head back into the ship.{{Ref/Reuse|HFR}} Meanwhile, the ODST complement under Lieutenant McKay had performed their jobs successfully, and had taken to stacking Covenant bodies like firewood to maintain clear fields of fire in the reactor bay. Unfortunately for the ODSTs, the human side had also taken many casualties.{{Ref/Reuse|flood1}}

===Evacuation===

With Keyes planning to crash the ''Pillar of Autumn'' on the surface of the ringworld, a general evacuation was ordered. For most personnel, this meant evacuating the ship in [[SKT-9 Bumblebee]] lifeboats. Eventually, the Master Chief was able to find a lifeboat that had not yet launched, and paused to throw a stumbling marine into the craft before boarding himself.{{Ref/Reuse|CEPOA}}{{Ref/Reuse|HFR}} Fireteam Raven were just behind and covering fire, and soon headed for the [[SOEIV]] drop bays to join their comrades in dropping "feet first into hell".{{Ref/Reuse|HFR}} The troops were ordered by Silva to abandon the reactor bay and make preparations to drop, with McKay entering her pod last and launching just as someone began to play the [[Helljumpers' anthem]] over the radio network shared by all the drop pods. Despite being against regulations, nobody ordered the music to be turned off.{{Ref/Reuse|flood1}}

Despite the rest of the UNSC personnel abandoning in lifeboats and drop pods, several naval [[pilot]]s and ground crew including [[Carol Rawley]] devised an alternate plan; to attempt to take off from the ship in their [[D77-TC Pelican]] dropships, believing that dying behind the stick of her own craft was preferable to death by a Covenant weapon. The pilot team managed to make their way to the Pelican bays, thankful to find their craft undamaged and fully fueled. As they ran an abbreviated pre-flight checklist, they spotted a Covenant boarding craft lining up to enter the bay, though the Pelican's chin-mounted 70mm chaingun took care of the dropship without issue. By this time, the ''Autumn'' was beginning to scrape the atmosphere of the Halo, meaning the ships would have to be extremely lucky to deploy due to the wall of fire building around the ship. Nonetheless, the Pelicans were able to deploy without issue.{{Ref/Reuse|flood1}}

Following his landing on the ring, Keyes and the rest of the bridge crew would later be captured by the Covenant. Meanwhile, John-117 would proceed to begin rounding up survivors for evacuation by Rawley's Pelican.

==Gallery==