Battle of Surgeon

"Shield Team...I am, I am proud. Of all of you. You are the best of humanity.  Thank you.  Thank you, everyone."

- Kyle-A245 last words. The Battle of Surgeon was a small single day long battle between the forces and the final Sub-Commander of the Fleet of Regretful Redemption, Zaz ‘Vadem and his forces of Charred Honor. The battle finally put an end to the Regretful Redemption threat after an almost decade long hunt for the commanders.

The battle also saw the loss of Shield Team, and two members of Orange Team, Clark-055 and Thomas-012. However, with the successful mission, officially disbanded Shield Team after sustaining heavy losses over the years.

Background
The located Zaz ‘Vadem after the death of Uhze ‘Nar in 2566 during the Battle of Suzeula. After receiving additional information on the Ship Master from Ripa ‘Sroam’s forces during the Battle for Lost Honor in 2567. After returning to, the UNSC Rio and Badger Mole were refitted with new armor and weaponry to combat ‘Vadem and his troops. Before departing out to face the fleet, the ships were joined by the UNSC Hammer of Dawn, UNSC Sunrise, UNSC Raven’s Nest and the UNSC Altman.

Engagement over Surgeon
Once the forces arrived over Surgeon, the UNSC forces engaged Zaz ‘Vadem’s forces in a strong naval confrontation. Shield Team deployed themselves from and moved to ‘Vadem’s command ship, the Speaker of Truth, to kill the Ship Master. Meanwhile, the UNSC Altman, Sunrise and Raven’s Nest deployed fighters to engage ‘Vadem’s. Orange Team and Foxtrot Team were deployed in fighters and began to fight off enemy ships. The Altman moved itself along the port side of a and opened fire with support from the Sunrise as it fired off its  to take out the rear shielding. While the Altman took heavy fire, additional support from the Sunrise allowed for the shields to be cracked and the cruiser to take heavy damage from both UNSC vessels. , led by Foxtrot Team, moved towards the cruiser and opened fire with rockets and bombed the upper hull while the Sunrise and Altman continued to open fire. The cruiser attempted to avert the fire, but the UNSC Raven’s Nest engaged the starboard side and the three ships destroyed the cruiser. The three ships linked up with the main UNSC attack force and continued to fire upon enemy forces. Foxtrot Team lead Longsword teams to attack a nearby cruiser along with the UNSC Hammer of Dawn and Altman. Orange Team was piloting their own Longsword and attempting to take out enemy defenses along with 4 other fighters.

Foxtrot intercepted several seraphs and fought them off. The fighters were able to eliminate enemy defenses and allowed the Dawn and Altman to open fire on the cruiser and destroyed it. While flying away from the wreckage, Orange Team received a distress signal from ‘Vadem’s.

Battle in the Burning Sky
Orange Team lead three Longswords into the corvette, Burning Sky, to respond to a distress call from inside the ship. The team, and other marines, cleared out the hanger and punched a hole inside the ships corridors and moved throughout the corvette. Thomas and Clark pulled away from the main attacking group to find the distress signal within the ship.

The spartans pushed through the ship and found the detention level in which, the two found civilian prisoners used as a barring chip. Thomas lead civilians out to the hanger towards their longswords for evac while Clark questioned others on what and how this happened. Security cameras saw the breakout and the commander of the ship decided to act. Rather than saving his brothers, the commander began to overload the reactor core. Once the humans all returned to the hanger and prepared to take off, the ship’s reactor went critical and exploded.

Everyone onboard the ship was killed in the blast. Shrapnel spread across the battlefield, some being launched to the planet below. Others hit the surrounding ships, including the Altman and Hammer of Dawn, the latter which retained heavy damage.

Battle of the Speaker of Truth
The UNSC Rio and UNSC Hammer of Dawn began to open fire on the Speaker of Truth with fighters providing additional support. Kyle-A245 lead Shield Team towards the carrier and all six opened fire with  and obliterated the hanger’s entrance. The spartans entered the ship and split up to complete their objectives. Avery, Fisher and Salvos moved towards the engine room to destroy the ship while Kyle and Spartans Jones and Ford moved towards the bridge to kill ‘Vadem. Spartan Avery and his team reached the engine room and prepared to let Salvos shut down the engines. However, defense troops arrived in the room and opened fire upon the spartans. Fisher and Avery held off enemy forces as Salvos continued his work. During the defense, a intercepted the team and wounded Fisher. Avery began to hold off forces with support of Salvos who moved to cover Fisher. After several minutes of the fighting off his wounds, Fisher died in Salvos’ arms.

More elites moved into the area and wounded Salvos next by shooting him in the back with needle rounds. Avery moved Salvos and Fisher’s bodies to cover and prepared to fight off the remaining forces single handedly. Kyle and his team arrived in the bridge were only ‘Vadem and honor guards stood. Kyle and Zaz entered a fist fight in which Kyle came close to winning but was outmatched by ‘Vadem. As they two continued to fight off, both Jones and Ford snuck around the bridge and opened fire against the honor guards, killing them all and wounded ‘Vadem. However, a lose plasma grenade went off and wounded Ford and Jones.

Instead of easily killing ‘Vadem, Kyle used no weapons to kill the Sangheili and almost killed him, until it was revealed that Zaz had a bomb strapped to him which could destroy the whole ship. Kyle then ordered Shield Team to retreat but the trap had sprung and the core room was locked down wit no escape and Ford and Jones became severely wounded. With all of Shield demanding that Kyle kill Zaz, he could, so Nathan Ford, using a magnum, shot Zaz in the face killing him and setting off the bomb. Kyle said that he was proud of everyone on Shield and he was happy to know such brave humans.

Aftermath
Following the battle, Captains Janeiro, Tarkin, Michelson and Command Long all gave similar reports to both ONI and UNSC High Command. Janeiro made mention of Shield Team’s courage, bravery and strength throughout their careers and held a press conference in New San Andreas, Vixel and attributed a new statue to the team and made mention of their defeat. The captain also noted that the last of the Fleet of Regretful Redemption was killed and their forces destroyed.

ONI ceased the use of Shield Team, claiming that their service was officially over. The team was registered as MIA and memorials were held of each member of the team, past and those who died during the Battle of Surgeon. The Swords of Sanghelios also held award ceremonies for Shield Team and for the battle itself, stating it as a form of Sangheili holiday. Tal ‘Moram was also promoted after the battle as did Captain Janeiro, becoming a Supreme Commander and a Rear Admiral respectively.