User:Agreon/Quezon Station

"She had no battle history until Reach, but she made a file-folder of history there."

- Anonymous Marine

Sometime before the Fall of Reach, 20 Orbital Defense Stations were built above Reach. Quezon is one of the three largest cities on Reach. Naturally, the UNSC positioned one station above Quezon. It was a class above the rest of the ODPs though, because it was protecting such a high value city. The UNSC had it equipped with shields, a 3rd generation AI, and Archer missiles. This made the MAC cannon have a slower recharge rate, as all of the additions used power. During the Fall of Reach, the station lasted for the longest. It had a heavy frigate, the UNSC Crystal Fire, docked at it. When Beta-5 Mist team left the planet, they were taken via Pelican to the station, and were evacuated on the Crystal to Earth.

Fall of Reach
When the Covenant attacked Reach, the crew of the Quezon realized that they might be a large part of the battle. They began to use their MAC cannon to prevent ships from entering atmosphere. However, they did very little to change the battle until the Long Night of Solace was destroyed and the rest of the Covenant forces came to Reach. The ship then began to play a crucial part in defending Quezon. Because its power generator was hidden in a locked "factory," the Covenant forces on Reach, in Quezon did not find the generator to shut off the station until the late stages of the battle. It managed to continue destroying ships past the point that it was a useless cause.

Withdraw of Mist Team
When Mist Team was evacuating out of New Alexandria and needed to leave the planet to report to ONI, the shipboard AI volunteered the Crystal Fire to ferry them to Earth. A Pelican was diverted to pick up the team and take them to the Quezon. When the team was onboard, they were quickly escorted to the Crystal. There, the team was slip-spaced to Earth. The AI was taken on the Crystal so that the Covenant wouldn't capture it and gain the information it could offer.

Destruction
The Station was destroyed not long after the Crystal left. The Covenant was bombing Quezon when they destroyed the "factory." There, the generator was destroyed, leaving Quezon Station with not enough power to fire its MAC cannon. There was no way its crew could escape. Some of them went mad and committed suicide by jumping out of the hangers, but more stayed to help defend, and destroy, in a futile attempt to survive. The station survived 3 days because of a miscommunication in the Covenant's fleet. They thought it was destroyed, and it was not firing. Once it was realized the station was still active, the Covenant tried to board it. It had been 3 days, which gave them enough time to destroy anything important. The station didn't last longer than an hour under the Elite Ranger boarding.