Battle of Mombasa: Difference between revisions

*Heavy civilian casualties<ref>'''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''', game intro</ref>

The '''Battle of Mombasa''' was a part of the [[Battle of Earth]], taking place in late [[2552#October|October 2552]]. Over the course of the battle, [[Covenant Empire|Covenant]] forces captured the city of [[Mombasa]], [[Kenya]] and it was quickly retaken in a matter of hours by the [[UNSC]].<ref name="outskirts">'''[[Halo 2]]''', level ''{{Levelname|Outskirts}}''</ref><ref name="metropolis">'''Halo 2''', level ''{{Levelname|Metropolis}}''</ref> However, after the [[Prophet of Regret]]'s retreat, the city was occupied by another, larger Covenant force sent by the [[Prophet of Truth]].<ref name="bnet">[http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=16989 '''Bungie.net''': ''Bungie Weekly Update: 01/23/09'']</ref> In the aftermath of the battle, the [[The Artifact|Portal]] to [[Installation 00|the Ark]] was eventually found by the Covenant, which would prove to be a major determining factor in the final outcome of the [[Human-Covenant War]].<ref name="coastal">'''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''', {{Levelname|Coastal Highway}}''</ref><ref name="waypoint">'''[[Halo Waypoint]]''', ''"[[Ten Twenty]]" history article''</ref>

On October 20th, during the opening stages of the Battle of Earth, a single [[Covenant Carrier]] (the [[Regret's Carrier|High Prophet of Regret's flagship]]) broke through the [[UNSC Home Fleet]]'s defensive lines and entered Earth's atmosphere.<ref>'''[[Halo 2]]''', level ''{{Levelname|Cairo Station}}''</ref><ref>'''[[Halo Graphic Novel]]''', ''page 90''</ref> The ship hovered stationary above the island city of New Mombasa in Kenya, deploying infantry and mechanized support from the [[Uplift Nature Reserve]].

The city was relatively lightly defended, with only [[New Mombasa Police Department|NMPD forces]], as well as the city's [[Colonial Militia]] and Marines from the [[17th Marine Regiment]] present.<ref>'''Halo Graphic Novel''', ''pages 86 to 98''</ref> Some additional military units had been transferred to the city, along with Earth's other tether cities, following the [[Fall of Reach]] to bolster their defenses in case of a Covenant invasion. These included [[E2-BAG/1/7]] as well as some [[UNSC Army]] forces.<ref name="palace">'''[[Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe]]''', ''[[Palace Hotel]]'', page 367</ref>

In the opening stages of the battle, the UNSC activated the city's Colonial Militia, commanded by a [[Unnamed Marine Officer (Mombasa)|Marine officer]], to fight the Covenant invaders. The Covenant forces proved to be far superior and the Militia was eliminated.<ref>'''Halo Graphic Novel''', ''paged 92 and 93''</ref> However, this allowed for most of the citizens of New Mombasa to evacuate from the city to Old Mombasa using boats destined for other surrounding cities.<ref>'''Halo Graphic Novel''', ''pages 97 and 98''</ref> While some of the [[MagLev Train|train]] tunnels collapsed during the attack, a portion of the civilians were able to escape using trains as well.<ref name="sadie">'''Halo 3: ODST''', ''[[Sadie's Story]]''</ref> More [[UNSC Marine Corps]] and [[UNSC Army]] units later poured into the region after the initial attack, including the [[405th Marine Infantry Division]], arriving from [[Diego Garcia]] near India.

The Pelicans carrying Spartan-117 and the Marines entered the ''In Amber Clad'', which followed the Assault Carrier into Slipspace. Just before the Carrier jumped, remaining ships of the [[UNSC Home Fleet]] deployed dozens of [[Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle|SOEIVs]] down to the city in an effort to infiltrate the Carrier, only to be caught by the [[Electromagnetic Pulse|EMP]] blast in mid-flight, frying their navigational and safety systems, plunging them and their [[Orbital Drop Shock Trooper]] occupants to almost certain death. It is likely that only [[Unnamed Shock Trooper Squad|one Squad]] survived, having changed their course away from the carrier at the last moment. Many of the city's buildings were heavily damaged but remained standing, including the Orbital Elevator. The rupture also created a large crater in the mainland, north of New Mombasa, revealing a section of the Forerunner Portal.<ref>'''Halo 3: ODST''' level ''{{Levelname|Prepare To Drop}}''</ref>

Knocked off their course by the slipspace rupture, two ODST drop pods made rough landings, [[Edward Buck|Buck]]'s pod to [[Lumumba]] and [[Veronica Dare|Dare]]'s to nearby [[Tayari Plaza]]. At this point, the Brutes were already redeploying their forces into the city. Buck fought his way to Tayari Plaza to help Dare, but she had mysteriously disappeared. After the battle, Buck met up with [[Kojo Agu|Romeo]]. As they had no idea of their mission, they decided to find their squad and get out of the city as fast as possible.<ref>'''Halo 3: ODST''' level ''{{Levelname|Tayari Plaza}}''</ref>

Remote-controlled [[F-99 Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle|F-99 UCAVs]] were sent to the city to maintain air supremacy over the Phantoms and Banshees. Meanwhile, [[Taylor H. Miles|Dutch]] linked up with Marines at the Uplift Reserve, and began to take out Wraiths in the way of them and the Colonel. Eventually, the New Mombasa Orbital Elevator, already damaged by the jump, collapsed, with miles of debris from the tether scattered across East Africa.<ref>'''Halo 3: ODST''' level ''{{Levelname|Uplift Reserve}}''</ref>

After the UNSC reclaimed the Covenant landing zone in Uplift Reserve, defending the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]]'s [[ONI Alpha Site|Section 2 building]] became the top priority. Ninety minutes after the slipspace event, [[Michael Crespo]] linked up with a group of retreating Marines, falling back from an advancing Wraith convoy as the Covenant prepared to lay siege to Alpha Base. After clearing out enemy forces in the [[Kizingo Boulevard (Location)|Boulevard]], they then followed an [[New Mombasa Police Department|NMPD]] officer further inside the ONI complex.<ref>'''Halo 3: ODST''' level {{Levelname|Kizingo Boulevard}}''</ref>

Within the ONI compound, the Marines and the NMPD forces destroyed the bridge leading to the base, in hopes of slowing down the advancing Covenant forces. This however, didn't stop the incoming dropships. The human forces fell back to the base's courtyard, which they defended against waves of Covenant attackers, before falling back into the interior of the main building. Again, they fended off multiple waves of Covenant. They then activated [[M165 Demolition Charge|explosives]] inside the complex, to destroy it in order to prevent the Covenant from accessing the Superintendent's data facility deep under the complex. The Marines and the police forces evacuated to the roof, where they were picked up by an [[D77C-NMPD Pelican Dropship|NMPD Pelican dropship]]. They watched as the explosives inside the ONI building went off, completely destroying it.<ref>'''Halo 3: ODST''' level ''{{Levelname|ONI Alpha Site}}''</ref>

While Dutch and Mickey were destroying the Alpha Site, Buck and Romeo made their way to the top floors of the [[NMPD Headquarters]] building, where they were to be picked up by the Pelican with Mickey and Dutch already onboard. However, the dropship was shot down before landing, and it crashed on another rooftop killing the pilot on impact. Buck and Romeo fought their way through the rooftops, and eventually reached the crash site, where they fought off waves of attacking Covenant using heavy weapons from the Pelican. Finally, a [[Jiralhanae Chieftain]] dropped off from a [[Type-52 Troop Carrier|Phantom]], killed a NMPD officer and severely wounded Romeo. The squad managed to kill the Chieftain, after which they decided to evacuate through the train tunnels which led into Old Mombasa.<ref>'''Halo 3: ODST''' level ''{{Levelname|NMPD HQ}}''</ref>

The squad arrived at [[Kikowani Station]] near the city's northeastern seawall, only to realize that the station, as well as [[Kikowani|its surroundings]] had been flooded by [[water]], making escape through train tunnels impossible. Romeo's condition was getting worse, so the squad used [[Biofoam]] to seal his wound. The squad then decided to hijack a Phantom, in which they succeeded. Buck escorted the rest of the squad through the flooded sections of the city in a Banshee, while Mickey piloted the Phantom. The area was filled with Covenant forces, including a Scarab. They managed to fly out of the city, when Buck suddenly realized he knew where Dare was and decided to go back to find her, inside the Superintendent's Data Center. During the battle, arriving Covenant cruisers started excavating the area around the crater created by the slipspace rupture.<ref>'''Halo 3: ODST''' level ''{{Levelname|Kikowani Station}}''</ref>

Around the same time, a lone ODST only known as "[[the Rookie]]", thought dead by the rest of the squad, woke up in his pod, on the edge of a rooftop in [[Mbaraki]]. The city was already occupied by the Covenant, with no UNSC resistance left. The Superintendent aided the Rookie to survive in the city and look for clues for what happened to his squad. Upon finding objects related to his squad, he envisioned what had happened to them over the course of the day. After wandering around the city for a while, the Rookie received a distress message from Dare, who was inside the Superintendent's [[New Mombasa Data Center|data facility]] deep under the city. He made his way to a subway entrance, and descended down an elevator shaft, to Sublevel 7 of the data center.<ref>'''Halo 3: ODST''' level ''[[Mombasa Streets]]''</ref> At this point, the underground tunnels had become infested with [[Yanme'e]], who had built massive hives in the area.<ref name="data">'''Halo 3: ODST''' level ''{{Levelname|Data Hive}}''</ref>

The High Prophet of Regret would arrive upon [[Installation 05]] along with the ''In Amber Clad''. It is possible he acquired the location of the installation over the course of the battle.<ref>'''Halo 2''' level ''{{Levelname|Delta Halo}}''</ref>

The UNSC would not discover the actual purpose of the Covenant's arrival on Earth until two weeks after the [[Battle of Installation 05]]; most of the information was presumably received from the Huragok that had absorbed [[Vergil]]'s data. By this point, the [[Prophet of Truth]] had already arrived in Sol System on the [[Forerunner Dreadnought]] with the remainder of the [[Truth's Fleet|Loyalist Fleet]] with him.<ref>'''Halo 3: ODST''', ''[[Coastal Highway (Level)|Epilogue]]''</ref><ref>'''Halo 3'''</ref>