Attack on Crow's Nest: Difference between revisions

{{Battle infobox

|prev=[[Recovery of John-117]]

|next=[[Assault on the Tsavo Highway]]

|name=Attack on Crow's Nest

|image=[[File:Halo 3 Crow's Nest.PNG|350px]]

|date=[[2552#November|November 17, 2552]]

|place=[[Crow's Nest (location)|Crow's Nest]], [[Kenya]], [[East African Protectorate]]

*Base personnel extracted

*Crow's Nest destroyed

**[[Jiralhanae]]

**[[Unggoy]]

**[[Kig-Yar]]

**[[Yanme'e]]

}}

==Background==

===Beginning===

{{Quote|You are, all of you, vermin. Cowering in the dirt, thinking what, I wonder? That you might escape the coming fire? No. Your world will burn until its surface is but glass! And not even your demon will live to creep, blackened from its hole to mar the reflection of our passage... the culmination of our journey. For your destruction is the will of the gods! And I? I ''am'' their instrument!|[[Prophet of Truth|The Prophet of Truth]] threatening the base's personnel, prior to the attack.{{Ref/Reuse|crows}}}}

[[File:H3 MC& Hood.png|thumb|left|250px|John-117 reporting to Admiral Hood.]]

[[File:H3 Crows Nest Pelican hanger.jpg|thumb|left|250px|A Pelican ferrying Marines out of Crow's Nest's southern hangar bay.]]

The Covenant soon began their assault, first neutralizing the base's perimeter cameras before sending multiple [[Type-52 Phantom|Phantoms]] loaded with troops towards the facility. Crow's Nest's Overwatch soon detected their approach and prepared to meet the attackers. Aware that the sheer number of wounded would take the Pelicans longer to evacuate, the bases defenders opted to engage the Covenant until the injured were safely out before evacuating themselves. John opted to go the facility's south hangar bay, the most likely point of entry for Covenant forces while Sergeant Johnson and Thel 'Vadam remained to defend the operations center. Several Marines led John into a large cave adjacent to the operations center, where defensive barriers and [[AIE-486H machine gun|machine gun turrets]] were being deployed. As the Covenant attacked the base, several Marines joined the Spartan for his push to the south hangar. As John moved down a corridor to the facility's vehicle access tunnel, Commander Keyes radioed him, warning her that the base's Marine complement was spread thin and urged him to reach the hangar as quickly as possible. The Covenant had already established a foothold in the vehicle access tunnel, and John arrived just as a fully-manned [[M12 Chaingun Warthog|Chaingun Warthog]] was destroyed by Covenant [[Type-1 plasma grenade|plasma grenades]]. John quickly neutralized the perpetrators, before he and the Marines began their push against a large number of [[Unggoy]] and [[Kig-Yar]] led by a [[Jiralhanae]] [[Jiralhanae Captain|Captain]]. After leaving the vehicle access tunnel, the Spartan fought past a group of [[Type-51 carbine|carbine]]-wielding Kig-Yar marksmen before arriving at the south hangar where the Marine defenders were engaged in combat with a group of Unggoy and Kig-Yar. After these were dealt with, the Covenant began a concerted push to take the hangar, with Phantoms dispatched from a nearby {{Class|CCS|battlecruiser}} deploying groups of Jiralhanae-led Covenant troops into the hangar. With the assistance of the Marines and several machine gun turrets, John was able to successfully repel the enemy assault waves. With the room clear, a Pelican that was docked in a crane in the hangar was able to take off, allowing the Marines in the room to safely extract from the facility.{{Ref/Reuse|crows}}

[[File:H3 CrowsNestCaptive.png|thumb|left|250px|A UNSC Marine held captive by Jiralhanae in Crow's Nest's barracks.]]

Unfortunately for the UNSC, the situation was deteriorating. A large Jiralhanae-led Covenant force succeeded in capturing the operations center, managing to disarm the bomb and forcing Sergeant Johnson and several surviving Marines to fall back. Meanwhile, a group of [[Jiralhanae Jumper]]s arrived on the landing pad and assaulted the parked Pelican, attempting to sabotage the dropship's thrusters and forcing her [[pilot]], [[Hocus]] to take off out of reach. At this time, John, Thel and the survivors from the barracks arrived on the landing pad, repelling the Jumper squad and allowing ''Kilo 023'' to return. Johnson and his men arrived at the landing pad while under fire from Yanme'e; the sergeant providing covering fire to allow his soldiers to make it to the Pelican. Unwilling to allow Crow's Nest to fall to the Covenant, Commander Keyes ordered John to return to the operations center and re-arm the bomb, promising to send another Pelican for the Spartan. Johnson and his squad, along with Thel 'Vadam and the Marines from the barracks boarded ''Kilo 023'' and the Pelican departed the base, leaving John as the only human left in Crow's Nest.{{Ref/Reuse|crows}}

===Re-arming the bomb===

Sergeant Johnson urged the Master Chief to go to the south hangar, where a service elevator would allow him to escape from the facility. Retracing his steps to the hangar, John made his way past a group of panicking Unggoy in the nearby cave while echoes of Halsey's speech repeated by Cortana continued to assail him through his [[Spartan neural interface|neural interface]]. As Unggoy and Yanme'e in the vehicle access corridor desperately attempted to escape from the exploding base, John pushed through, eventually arriving in the south hangar as Phantoms took off from the base, abandoning many Covenant troops to their fates. The Spartan made his way to the elevator and entered just as flames roared into the hangar bay. As the elevator descended into an underground vehicle bay, the base detonated above him and the elevator was shaken loose, plummeting to the ground below. As it slammed into the ground and John lost consciousness, the final thing he heard was Cortana's voice telling him that "this place" would become his tomb.{{Ref/Reuse|crows}}

==Aftermath==

==List of appearances==