Siege of New Alexandria

"I know we're losing. I want to know if we've lost"

— Kat-B320

The Raid of New Alexandria was a major engagement between the UNSC and the Covenant Empire within the city of New Alexandria on Reach. Major evacuations of civilian personnel took place during the battle. It lasted for five days and concluded with the glassing of the city by the Covenant.

Battle

Though the Supercarrier Long Night of Solace had been destroyed in the atmosphere by UNSC forces, the arrival of Covenant reinforcements in the Reach system ensured the initiative remained with the Covenant. They dispatched a large Brute-led raiding party to the city of New Alexandria, supported by at least three Covenant Corvettes. Heavy fighting raged on the ground, but many civilians were killed in Covenant atrocities, prompting an evacuation of the civilians through the Traxus Tower. However, the Covenant local air superiority with their Corvettes prevented the evacuation, as one of the Covenant ships destroyed the tower, leaving the evacuees no choice but to use aerial transport. During these events the Spartan Noble Six had made his way into the city after surviving the destruction of Long Night of Solace, and he led a group of ODSTs and Army troops under Sergeant Major Duvall in a successful effort to reactivate the city's missile defence batteries, which had been captured and disabled by Covenant troops. This allowed the human forces to damage one Corvette and force its retreat, allowing the transports to evac safely.

By nightfall, the situation had deteriorated further for the UNSC forces, as the Covenant forces had placed Covenant communications jammers on numerous buildings, cutting off communications between the surviving UNSC troops and Command. Noble Six, now having rejoined his team, was tasked with destroying them in spite of the now-overwhelming Covenant air superiority. Noble Six eliminated all three jammers and aided other UNSC troops trapped in the ruined city, but it was too late; multiple CCS-class Battlecruisers arrived during his mission and started glassing numerous locations in the city. Six would assist in the final evacuation of ONI headquarters by providing air support against numerous anit-aircraft Shade turrets, and rejoined his team in the building. As the group received their new orders from Colonel Urban Holland, the Covenant evacuated their remaining ground forces and began the full glassing of the area, forcing Noble Team to flee. Kat was killed by an Elite sniper but the rest of the team were able to escape into a radiation bunker beneath the building and survived the subsequent destruction of the city. They later emerged to be picked up by a Pelican while they surveyed the shattered city.