Battle over Installation 04: Difference between revisions

===Boarding actions===

Out of fear of damaging the ring, Covenant forces were ordered by the Minor Prophet of Stewardship to concentrate on boarding actions as opposed to firing ship-borne weaponry. The Covenant launched waves of boarding craft<ref name="CEPOA"/><ref name="flood1"/> to drop off troops on the ship. Aboard the ''Pillar of Autumn'', the [[ODST]] complement under command of Major [[Antonio Silva]] was ordered to defend the ship's engine rooms and power plant,<ref name="flood1"/> while [[5th Platoon]] was ordered to secure airlocks on deck 11 and [[14th Platoon]] was ordered to rendezvous with the [[22nd Tactical]] at bulkhead charlie-14. In the hangar bay, Sergeant [[Avery Johnson]] gave a speech to his Marines.<ref name="CEPOA"/> To assist in the ongoing defensive operations, one bridge crew member operated the life support controls and used them to suck out their air from compartments occupied by Covenant forces.<ref name="flood1"/>

Following his brief wakeup, John-117 was ordered to report to the bridge. Along the way, he would pass several firefights going on as boarders began to engage [[UNSC Marine]] [[fireteam]]s, before eventually arriving at the bridge.  Another blast, caused by an [[antimatter charge]], rocked the ship and brought the ship's primary [[MAC]] gun offline. Consequently, the Spartan was informed that Keyes was enacting the [[Cole Protocol]]; the crew were to be evacuated and Cortana taken by John to ensure she did not fall into Covenant hands. Keyes would fly the ship in manually before evacuating himself. The Spartan left the bridge and proceeded to try and find a lifeboat, fighting through many corridors filled with Covenant. Eventually, the ship began rocking with the impacts of [[plasma torpedo]]es and lifeboats began launching. At the same time, the Covenant boarding craft began to latch onto the now-vacant airlocks to insert troops the same way the UNSC left the ship.<ref name="CEPOA"/><ref name="flood1"/>

Two of the [[Unggoy]] personnel assigned to board the ship, [[Yayap]] and [[Gagaw]], were passing a pile of Covenant corpses when they noticed some slight movement - a [[Zuka 'Zamamee|special operations Elite]], clad in black armor. While Gagaw wanted to abandon the Elite as he would do for the grunts, Yayap instead suggested the grunts evacuate the elite, thereby ensuring the small unit would be unable to engage combat for the rest of the boarding action.<ref name="flood1"/>

===Evacuation===

{{Quote|Captain Keyes is tired of our company and wants us to leave this tub. There’s a construct down there, complete with an atmosphere, gravity, and the one thing Marines love like beer—and that’s dirt beneath our feet. Most of the crew—not to mention your fellow jarheads—will be leaving the ship in lifeboats. They’ll ride to the surface in air-conditioned comfort, sipping wine, and nibbling on appetizers. Not you, however. Oh no, you’re going to leave the Pillar of Autumn by a different method.|Silva, addressing his troops.<ref name="flood1"/>}}

With Keyes planning to crash the ''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 name="CEPOA"/><ref name="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 name="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 name="flood1"/>

==Gallery==

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File:HCEA_PillarOfAutumn_Bumblebee_Destroyed.png|Covenant lasers shoot down an evacuating Bumblebee lifeboat.

</gallery>