John-117/Late War: Difference between revisions

[[File:H2 LimitedEdition MasterChief.jpg|thumb|right|John in front of the [[Mombasa Tether]].]]

[[File:HtT John in New Mombasa original.jpg|thumb|300px|left|This photograph, captured on [[2552#October|October 20]] by war journalist [[Benjamin Giraud]], was later edited and used for [[propaganda]] by the UNSC.<ref>''[[Hunt the Truth]]'', [[Hunt the Truth Season 1/Blog posts|Season 1 Blog posts]]</ref>]]

Upon exiting the tunnel at Kilindini Bridge, John exited the Warthog to approach a small group of surviving Marines watching the same Scarab which had downed his Pelican finish traversing the bridge on the opposite side of the channel, noting that neither fifty caliber rounds or [[M19 missile|rockets]] had any effect on the walker.<ref name="H2M">''[[Halo 2]]'', ''[[Metropolis]]''</ref> A Pelican lowered then to drop off a [[M808B Scorpion]] tank and Sergeant Johnson also disembarked to ask the Marine survivors what had happened to the rest of their platoon. He then ordered the remnants of the devastated platoon to join the Chief, who would be taking control of the tank, in rolling across the bridge in pursuit of the Scarab and the carrier. John climbed aboard the hulking vehicle and began to proceed across bridge, destroying a series of Ghosts and a [[Type-26 Wraith|Wraith]] tank. As John crossed the center of the bridge, another Marine armed with a [[M41 SPNKR|rocket launcher]] emerged from hiding and joined the Spartan. As several Phantom dropships soared by, intending to deliver more Covenant armor to the far side of the bridge, a pair of [[Type-26 Banshee|Banshee]] fliers attempted to strafe John's tank, but were unsuccessful. More Ghosts were waiting at a toll plaza on the far side but these too fell to the Scorpion's weaponry.{{Ref/Reuse|H2M}} Finally a pair of Wraiths and more Banshee's emerged to engage the Spartan. John was able to defeat all of the Covenant vehicles but the Scorpion had suffered heavy damage and the Marines whom had aided him were killed. John left the tank behind and cut across the toll plaza on foot.{{Ref/Reuse|HEPH}}{{Ref/Reuse|H2M}}

[[File:Crow's Nest - Reunion.png|thumb|350px|right|The Master Chief, Thel 'Vadam and Avery Johnson meet up with Commander Keyes at Crow's Nest.]]

{{Quote|no=three|q1=What about Halo?|John-117|q2=We stopped it, but only temporarily. Now, the Prophet of Truth is looking for something called '[[the Ark]]', where he'll be able to fire all the [[Halo ring]]s. If he succeeds... Humanity, the Covenant, every sentient being in [[Milky Way galaxy|the galaxy]]...|Miranda Keyes|q3=The rings will kill us all.|John-117|John, finishing Commander Keyes' thought, states the seriousness of the threat being faced.}}<ref name="H3CN">''[[Halo 3]]'', ''[[Crow's Nest]]''</ref>

Johnson ensured the Master Chief that he would look after Commander Keyes, suggesting that John provide assistance to the marines downstairs.{{Ref/Reuse|H3CN}} He followed two marines out of the ops center, arming himself on the way. One level below, Gunnery Sergeant Reynolds was preparing a defense of the ops center in a large cavern which led to it. When it was reported to the sergeant that Covenant had entered the base via a hangar, however, the sergeant directed John to meet the attacking force head-on. On his way there, John met up with [[Chips Dubbo]] and another marine, both of whom let him know the squad guarding the hangar was in danger of being overrun soon. Keyes contacted him on a secure channel to urge that the hangar be cleared so the wounded and others could be evacuated from there. John, Dubbo, and the other marine with them first encountered Covenant forces already further inside the base before even reaching the hangar, as they had made it to a spacious vehicle access way. John opened fire on the encroaching Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar, and Unggoy, leaving none alive between himself and the hangar. Upon finally reaching it, John lent aid to its defense, pushing back the encroachment of two [[Type-52 Phantom]]s which landed invading troops. Once it was secured enough for a Pelican to begin loading up marines for evacuation Johnson urged John to race back to the operations center, as Jiralhanae were pushing hard toward it from another part of the base. Just as he reached the cavern where Reynolds was in charge of the defense once more, a swarm of [[Yanme'e]] suddenly flew out of various vents and fell upon the defenders. John helped to eliminate them all, only advancing onward to the ops center once Reynolds was sure they were in the clear. There, Keyes spoke to him from the most prominent video screen, drawing his attention to a [[Improvised UNSC bomb|bomb]] linked to smaller charges throughout the base. As soon as the evacuation was complete, she intended its countdown timer to start.{{Ref/Reuse|H3CN}}

Admiral Hood contacted [[Miranda Keyes|Commander Keyes]] as John and his team made their way outside to a dockyard that had long since had its water vaporized by the ongoing Covenant [[Glassing|orbital bombardment]]. The Admiral requested a situation report, to which Keyes informed him of the intensifying [[Portal storm|atmospheric disturbance]] above the [[Portal at Voi|artifact]] before informing him that John was still on route to his objective. He met a group of Marines who had been pushed back from a small dock office in the middle of the lake bed by a [[Type-52 Phantom|Phantom]] landing directly overhead, and with their assistance, retook the office from the Covenant inside. The Spartan's first objective, a single [[Type-52 Anti-Aircraft Wraith|Anti-Aircraft Wraith]] was nearby, protected by a unit of Unggoy-piloted Ghosts as it used its [[Fuel rod cannon|ordnance]] to support overhead [[Type-26 Banshee|Banshees]] as they fought against UNSC [[AV-14 Hornet|Hornets]] in an aerial dogfight. With the aid of the Marines, the Warthog LRV and a [[LAU-65D/SGM-151 missile pod|missile pod]] on the roof of the dock office to destroy the vehicular presence. Despite the arrival of more Ghosts and a [[Type-26 Wraith|Wraith]] delivered via dropship and even a pair of Banshees, John was successful in repelling the entire Covenant force and destroyed the Anti-Aircraft Wraith, freeing up some airspace for the UNSC pilots above. John soon reentered the Traxus facility, where a small number of Marines were using a [[AIE-486H machine gun|machine gun]] in an attempt to pin down a group of Covenant soldiers led by a [[Jiralhanae War Chieftain]] in an adjacent room. Noting the Spartan's presence, the Marine gunner requested that John flush the Covenant out into the open where they could easily mow them down with the heavy turret. John did so, using a nearby door to get behind the Covenant. As he whittled down the Chieftain's bodyguards, the surviving Covenant attempted to fall back, but had nowhere to go save for directly into the line of fire of the turret, and were soon cut down. The Marines opened the blast door for John's Warthog, but as they were in the process of explaining their situation to John, the glass ceiling high overhead shattered as a huge swarm of [[Yanme'e]] deployed by a Phantom descended on the humans. John and the Marines were able to hold the room, using superior cover and weapons fire to whittle down the swarm. Eventually, the Phantom retreated, with the surviving Yanme'e following suit. As John made his way down the next section of factory, Cortana appeared again in a hallucinatory manner, stating that she has defied gods and demons, most likely referring to the [[Gravemind]]. At the end of the tunnel, a unit of [[M274 Mongoose|Mongoose]] ATVs with [[M41 SPNKR|rocket launcher]]-wielding passengers waited to stage their assault on the next lake bed. John took the controls of one of the ATVs and the impromptu anti-armor force rolled out onto the second dried out lake bed. Near the hulking remains of a beached cargo vessel, a pair of Anti-Aircraft Wraiths along with a contingent of Ghost and [[Type-25 Chopper|Chopper]] support milled around the center while a small group of Marines on the northern boardwalk fought to repel a Covenant [[lance]]. With their superior speed and firepower, John and the unit of Mongooses were able to quickly destroy the AA Wraiths and other vehicles, allowing several Hornets to descend to provide support against low flying Banshees. A number of Phantoms attempted to reinforce the Covenant by dropping more Ghosts into the lake bed but all of them soon fell to the UNSC forces.{{Ref/Reuse|H3TS}}  

[[File:Voi 5.jpg|thumb|300px|left|John joins the makeshift Marine anti-armor unit.]]

John and Thel continued, passing through an area with rusted corrugated plates before arriving in a wider area where they unpinned several Marines taking cover behind sandbags from a number of Jiralhanae. The pair managed to clear out the Covenant soldiers, allowing another Marine to man the machine gun on a nearby catwalk. A group of Jiralhanae chasing a pair of retreating Marines arrived in the area, where they fell to John and his team after a pitched battle. Several surviving civilians who had been hiding from the aliens emerged, arming themselves with [[M6G magnum|pistols]] to assist the Marine forces. In the next area, more civilians attempting to flee from Jiralhanae who were slaughtering them were saved by John, Thel and the Marines. As the group moved out into the final section of the factory, the door leading outside opened up, and a group of factory workers attempting to enter were cut down by a pair of [[assault cannon]] blasts detonating nearby [[fusion coil]]s. A pair of [[Mgalekgolo]] charged into the warehouse and were promptly engaged by the human forces. With the assistance of Thel 'Vadam and the surviving Marines and factory workers, John was able to topple the massive Covenant soldiers. Outside the factory, another large Covenant force led by a [[Jiralhanae Chieftain]] awaited the team. After killing a number of Unggoy, the Chieftain and his [[Jiralhanae Bodyguard|bodyguards]] retreated further back to a Covenant [[Holotank|holo-pedestal]], on which the Prophet of Truth told his warriors to stand firm against their foes. As the rest of the Covenant force collapsed, the Chieftain charged forward with his [[Type-2 gravity hammer|gravity hammer]] but ultimately fell to the Spartan and his compatriots. As the humans passed the holo-pedestal, Thel briefly stopped, declaring that he would [[Arbiter|not be shamed]] by the Hierarch again.{{Ref/Reuse|H3TS}}

{{Quote|no=two|q1=That's...our galaxy. We're beyond the rim.|John-117|q2=Two to the eighteenth light years from galactic center, to be precise|343 Guilty Spark|John, surprised to discover that the Ark was located outside of the [[Milky Way]] galaxy.<ref name="H3TA">''[[Halo 3]]'', ''[[The Ark (level)|The Ark]]''</ref>}}

[[File:Sniper Spartan.jpg|thumb|300px|John, armed with a [[SRS99D-S2 AM sniper rifle|sniper rifle]], on the surface of the Ark.]]

On the opposite side of the cave structure, John arrived just in time to see a damaged [[GA-TL1 Longsword|Longsword]] streak through the canyon and crash out of sight ahead. A pair of nearby Marines informed him that anti-aircraft fire had brought down their Pelican, but they had managed to locate a suitable [[landing zone]] for the ''Forward Unto Dawn'' and offered to lead the Spartan to the destination if they could secure some vehicular transport. Over a slight rise, the team ambushed a group of Jiralhanae and Unggoy searching the Marine's downed Pelican but as they moved forward, a pair of Jiralhanae [[Qavardu Workshop Prowler|Prowlers]] arrived. Despite the heavy firepower provided by the Covenant support vehicles, John and his team managed to eliminate their Jiralhanae occupants and moved to pilot them. At the downed Pelican, John was able to catch brief snippets of radio transmissions of the ongoing space battle above the Ark. Now mobilized, John and his team pressed forward, entering a larger area where the Longsword had crashed. Fighting past a Covenant force consisting of [[Type-25 Chopper|Choppers]], [[Type-32 Ghost|Ghosts]] and infantry, John passed the wrecked Longsword and came upon a crashed Phantom, where he promptly wiped out its surviving passengers. After fighting through a large Covenant force in front of a Forerunner wall, the team make it to the upper level where they encounter [[Aggressor Sentinel]]s fighting against Covenant soldiers. Kilo 023 arrived, Sergeant Johnson informing them that that they had spotted [[Cartographer#Installation 00|a structure]] matching Cortana's description of the [[Cartographer#Installation 04|Cartographer]] that she and John had encountered on [[Installation 04]]. The Sergeant told John to follow the Pelican to the sighted landing zone. While the Sentinels didn't target the humans, several of John's compatriots expressed uneasiness about the presence of the Forerunner constructs. With aerial support from the Sentinels, John and his team fought their way past a number of Ghosts before unpinning several Marines under fire from a large group of Covenant. Once the area was secure, one of the Marines told John that the landing zone was occupied by heavy Covenant armor. On the other side of the cave, John was forced to engage heavy Covenant forces defending the landing zone, including a [[Type-26 Wraith|Wraith]], Ghosts, [[deployable lookout tower]]s and a variety of Unggoy-operated turrets. A final [[pack]] of Jiralhanae attempted to stop the humans from destroying a pair of [[Type-52 Anti-Aircraft Wraith|Anti-Aircraft Wraiths]] but John was successful in wiping out both them and the anti-air.{{Ref/Reuse|H3TA}}