User:TenHalo/Battle of Maritus

Preview
The battle of Maritus was a conflict fought between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant Empire during the Human-Covenant war. The battle was one of the most gruesome ones of the entire war, and lasted for days until the beaten UNSC defenders were finally overwhelmed. The countless sacrifices of the humans on Maritus, served as a fine example for both human and alien alike of the courage that the UNSC would continue to throw against their attackers no matter what.

DETAILS.

- Participants: UNSC / Covenant Empire - Notable UNSC Personnel: General Tobayas, Admiral Tekston - Notable Covenant Personnel: Fleet Master 'Nora 'Vakamee - Date: January 11th-13th 2541 CE - Outcome: Major Covenant victory / Utter defeat of all UNSC forces

Before the battle
Before the arrival of the Covenant, Maritus acted as an important staging ground for UNSC fleets and armies to assemble and move on to their objectives. The various ship yards and military bases there, made it an excellent area from which to mount any form of operation. Or defense. Maritus at all times was heavily guarded by a full fleet of UNSC ships as well as a full division of Marines or Army Troopers. The Covenant arrived to Maritus while on their quest to utterly destroy humanity in search of their holy relics and artifacts. In command of the defenses of Maritus's space forces, was Admiral Philip Tekston, a seasoned officer who had seen much combat over the course of the war. He commanded the UNSC 17th Fleet as well as, now that the Covenant were here, elements of the 22nd and 5th Fleets who were on Maritus doing repairs to their ships. Knowing that the Covenant would strike first at the human fleet, Tekston mobilized his ships and formed a defensive perimeter around the orbit. His fleet was quite a sight to behold, numbering exactly 47 ships. Meanwhile, General Adrian Tobayas, rallied the troops under his command: The 103rd Marine Division, in it's full force nonetheless. He deployed his troops across every major settlement and military site that was worth defending, whilst evacuating the remaining towns and population centers. This left much of the planet undefended, but the UNSC was more concerned of holding the most valuable of areas. The civilians were all evacuated into the cities and placed on transports that would take them to a group of Colony Ships to take them out of the system as soon as possible. But the UNSC leaders knew well that they could not save them all.

Forces
The UNSC troops were formidable in number and skill. The 17th Fleet formed the bulk of the naval forces on Maritus, numbering 39 ships in total. Most of the were Destroyers and Frigates, but were supported by two Halcyon Class Cruisers. The elements of the 22nd Fleet numbered only three ships, but one of them was a massive UNSC Carrier. The 5th Fleet numbered five Destroyers. The UNSC ground forces were composed of the 103rd Marine Division (14,000 men) and Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Local police and militia also offered their assistance in the fight against the Covenant. The Covenant fleet numbered a total of 44 ships, with a massive Super Carrier as it's flagship. The rest were a mix of Destroyers, Frigates and Cruisers. The exact amount of Covenant ground troops in still unclear, but they are known to have numbered in the tens of thousands. Their troops were lead by Ship Master 'Nora 'Vakamee.

The battle
The Covenant fleet advanced towards Admiral Tekston's defenses. Both fleet numbered around 50 ships each, with the UNSC having a slight advantage in numbers. Tekston's flagship, the UNSC Scepter of the Hammers, positioned itself in the frontlines. He had the elements of the 22nd Fleet protect the right flank, whilst the elements of the 5th took the left as the 17th Fleet took formation in the middle.



The massive Covenant fleet struck first, and fired it's array of plasma weapons onto the UNSC fleet. Many of the shots struck their targets, and three UNSC ships exploded in a ball of fire. The humans responded by firing their MAC guns, their only chance of defeating the Covenant, and struck a precise blow with each shot. Half a dozen of the Covenant ships lost their shielding, and another two were pulverized and left helplessly into the void of space. The battle continued to rage, as the stars became filled with fusillades of Archer Missiles, Plasma Torpedoes, 50mm Auto-Cannon shots and swarms of rockets and turret shots from the C709 Longsword Interceptors of the UNSC and the Banshee and Seraph fighters from the Covenant fleet. Tekston ordered his ships to press the attack, and drive the Covenant from their position. The UNSC fleet shifted it's position, and began firing wildly at the Covenant, who also charged straight into the UNSC fleet. Both sides met heavy resistance, and the fight carried on without any real winner in sight for the moment. While the Covenant fleet battled Admiral Tekston, a group of their Cruisers broke off from the main battle, and began landing ground forces across the planet. General Tobayas soon got a mixture of garbled reports from doomed Marines and civilians and a series of detailed images via Argus Drones and their satellites that told of a massive Covenant presence on the ground. One of his Tobayas's regiments was completely wiped out within a matter of hours by a swarm of Banshee Flyers and an impressive army of Elites, Jackals and Grunts. The Marines bolstered their resolve quickly however, and put up a ferocious fight against the Covenant attackers on the ground. Hundreds of Covenant warriors were slain as they charged into the entrenchments and fortifications that the 103rd Division had set up across the Maritus.



The first day of battle seemed to go by quickly, as both humans and Covenant slaughtered each other in global proportion. Hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides had been lost, but ultimately it had cost the UNSC more then anyone else. Tobayas received reports from teams of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers sent to scout the last known positions of several companies of Marines. Nearly all teams returned with news that the companies had been completely destroyed, whilst others returned with a handful of survivors, who were in complete shock from the battle that had past. After casualty reports from the ground were gone through and documented, Tobayas heard of the news in orbit. Admiral Tekston's flagship had been destroyed by a barrage of plasma fire from several Covenant Destroyers and Cruisers, but fortunately the Admiral escaped in time with some of his command crew onto another one of the UNSC ships still intact. Only around a dozen human ships were still left standing, opposed to the thirty the Covenant still had in space. The UNSC fleet was still kicking, but it was a losing battle. Even so, the safe evacuation of the remaining civilians depended on the cover provided by the fleet. Over 100,000 civilians had already fled the system, but hundreds of thousands of more still remained planetside. On the ground, the Covenant attacked the capital of Maritus at the beginning hours of the second day of battle. As the location of the UNSC Marine HQ, it was imperative that the capital would remain in human hands. All ODST's on Maritus, numbering a full platoon, were rerouted from their positions to reinforce the Marines at the capital. But there was more at stake. If the capital fell, any hope of evacuating the remaining civilians would be nearly extinguished.



The battle at the capital continued for the rest of the day and went on through the night. The Marines and ODST's were hard pressed both defending the HQ and city as well as ensuring that the evac transports for the civilians left unharmed. But many of their attempts were in vain. Countless numbers of innocents had already lost their lives, and many transports had been shot down by Covenant air troops, killing hundreds of civilians in the process. The attack on the capital was finally driven back, but at a terrible cost. Nearly all of the Marines and ODST's were killed along with the majority of the civilians. General Tobayas was also killed, defending the HQ until his last dying breath. Shortly after, just as the third and final day of battle started, Admiral Tekston was also killed in action along with the rest of his fleet and crew. The Covenant, now moved in to glass the planet, like the countless others they had before Maritus. Seeing no hope, the officer now in charge of defending Maritus, Colonel Roderick Evans, ordered a full evacuation of the planet.

Aftermath
Maritus was glassed, just as predicted by the survivors of the battle. The entire UNSC fleet was in ruins, with no survivors in sight, and of the 14,000 Marines who had stood on the ground in the surface's defense, only around thirty were alive, along with Colonel Evans. Millions of human lives were lost, but millions upon millions of others rose up to take their place across the galaxy. The daring actions of the UNSC soldiers at Maritus, were cemented into history. The battle was spoken of decades after it was fought, as a rallying cry to rise up and fight against the Covenant. The sacrifices of the millions of humans who died on the world of Maritus, were remembered forever and ever.