Battle of Installation 00: Difference between revisions

A large group of [[Unggoy]] and [[Kig-Yar]] lead by a [[Jiralhanae Captain]] guarded the first bridge. The two tank forms lumbered into their midst, the huge Flood forms easily crushing the smaller Covenant soldiers. With large numbers of Pod infectors along with the efforts of the Spartan and Sangheili, the forces on the first bridge soon crumbled. On the second bridge, a pack of Jiralhanae including a unit of [[Jiralhanae Jumper|Jumpers]] fought viciously to halt the process of John-117, Vadam and the Flood, but with each Jiralhanae that fell, a new Flood combat form was produced and as a result, the Covenant forces began to collapse. Even the Chieftain and a group of fuel rod gun-wielding Unggoy [[Unggoy Heavy|Heavies]] failed to stop the determined assault. The Covenant defenders on the third and final bridge were slaughtered by the Flood before the Chief and Thel even arrived. With that, all Covenant in the Citadel had been eliminated, and the way to Truth was clear. Crossing the light bridge to the Citadel controls, the Chief and 'Vadam passed by several Flood corpses and found Johnson cradling the dead body of Commander Miranda Keyes. He urged John-117 to stop the rings. Thel 'Vadam approached Truth, who was on the floor and had already been partially infected by the Flood. Declaring his intent to have his revenge against the Prophet as the infection began to ravage Truth's body, 'Vadam allowed the Prophet to live long enough to see the Chief deactivate the Halo Array. In a final defiant declaration, Truth announced himself as the voice of the Covenant, before being fatally stabbed in the back by Thel's [[Type-1 energy sword|energy sword]]. With Truth's death, the Covenant was brought to an end.<ref name="cov"/>

Almost immediately after the death of the Prophet of Truth, the Gravemind announced his sudden betrayal, his tentacles surrounding the platform. Johnson attempted to airlift John-117 and Thel away but one of the Gravemind's tentacles struck the Pelican, sending it spiraling out of control and knocking the pair to the ground near the platform. The two quickly got to their feet, standing back to back with their weapons ready as the Gravemind taunted them. Thel acknowledged that they had traded one villain for another. Suddenly, the Gravemind retracted his tentacles below the platform as a pair of combat forms clambered up to challenge the pair. Quickly slaying the combat forms, the Master Chief and Arbiter hastily made their way back towards the lift they had used to enter at Johnson's urging. As they went, myriad Flood forms attempted to stop their progress. On the second bridge, a squadron of [[Aggressor Sentinel|Sentinels]] arrived to assist the duo. With the assistance of the Forerunner constructs, John-117 and Thel soon made their way back to the lift. Discovering that the controls aren't working, they opt to use a shaft at the back of the lift. The Spartan enters first. A flickering image of [[Cortana]] leads him to a control panel. Upon activating it, [[Installation 08|an incomplete Halo ring]] rose out of the Ark's [[Foundry]]; it was suddenly clear what Cortana's "solution" to the Flood was. Realizing what needed to be done, John-117 announced his plan to fire the ring to 343 Guilty Spark. The Monitor agreed that a tactical pulse would eradicate the local Flood infestation and made his way to the ring for final preparations. The incomplete ring lacked an [[Activation Index]] however. The only way they could get another Index was to rescue Cortana from ''High Charity'' since she still possessed the Index from [[Installation 04]].<ref name="cov"/>