Battle of Iris (2564)

"Very well, Spartans. Just don't get in the way of my people."

- President Whewell to David Greyson The Battle of Iris was a small, multi-day long battle on the independent colony of Iris. While the battle officially started on September 30, 2564, intervention made the battle “offical” to UNSC records, beginning it on the 2 of October and officially coming to a close on the 4th of October.

The battle saw the last known forces of die and officially brought the  forces to a stand still. The battle also saw the death of Christopher Drake and the final battle for the, Devil’s Cry.

Background
Back in April 2536, a Covenant armada arrived at Iris and in three days, annihilated the planet, glassing it and killing thousands. In 2557, human colonists arrived on Iris and began to recolonize the planet, lead by the Norse Wolf Mining Company and its president, President Roger Whewell. The company worked on mining out locations on the world and began to build makeshift towns and villages while the rest of the colony worked on environmental growth.

On September 27th, 2564, a large energy disturbance was located near one of the Norse Wolf mines near the city of Draxus. Norse Wolf deployed security teams to the site in order to investigate the region and learn more about the source of power that erupted from the planet’s sub-terrain worlds. Despite President Whewell keeping a close eye on the project, visual communications were shut off. After hearing screams and several guns shots, the feed stopped and Whewell ordered Draxus to be evacuated.

Iris Militia groups moved into the town and locked down the site and most of the city. On September 30, 2564, first official contact was established and a small firefight ensued. Once the fight was over, Colonel Adam Lang ordered a city wide evacuation and shut down, forcing all non-militia personnel to leave the area. Additionally, a small 5 ship large Devil’s Cry fleet lead by Telroc ‘Rauee arrived at the colony, looking for relics to sell on the black market.

The First Battle over Iris
Once the Devil’s Cry was recognized over Iris, the Norse Wolf company took to its small defenses and deployed its for battle. The shuttles were outfitted colony ships with UNSC level weapons to combat piracy. Additionally, Colonel Lang deployed his ship, an, under the command of LT Commander Nina Ferris. The shuttles were able to greatly weaken the shields of one of the cruisers, allowing for Ferris to shoot it down and destroy it.

‘Rauee deployed fighters to combat the shuttles while the rest of the fleet focused on the cruiser. The shuttles were quickly brought down by fighters and a few supporting rounds from a cruiser. The Grave Poseidon, commanded by Ferris moved in to form a defensive line in front of the Covenant but only lead to the ship being torn into pieces. Small human fighters were able to repeal a few oncoming attacks, but the cruiser was destroyed over the planet and orbital defenses were down.

Battle of Draxus
After holding orbit for the day, ‘Rauee deployed his forces to the city of Draxus to hunt for anything of significant value. However, Telroc lead his forces into a Promethean attack and were also engaged by Lang’s militia force. The humans were able to deploy a line of four scorpions to keep enemy force at bay while the Prometheans were outnumbering Covenant and sending them deeper into the city. As the lines keep pushing further and further back, Telroc ordered one of his down to the city to. The cannon opened fire and a majority of the city fell and turned to dust and fire. Several Prometheans and militia personnel were killed in the attack. However, were still activate and a few  were deployed into the city. The fighters and ground armor were able to drive the cruiser back after severally damaging the outer hull and the ventral cannon.

Militia forces then moved out of the city and began to push back to a small UNSC outpost left abandoned after the war. However, upon arriving, the militia discovered Covenant were crawling inside.

Battle for Archer's Grove
The remaining militia forces found the outpost in the hands of the, Savark ‘Ocarn. Major Warren Davis lead his remaining two platoons of militia men towards the outpost. Allowing black ops units to recon the area, Davis ordered his remaining two scorpions to open fire against the post’s defenses. ‘Ocarn deployed a few to engage the human aggressors and had heavily armed troops along out permitter to engage the humans as well.

While the scorpions were able to bring down a few banshees but were eventually shut down by heavy infantry troops. Davis ordered the black ops team to engage and the specialist attacked outside defenders. After clearing a small section of the wall, Davis ordered second platoon to advance while he and the rest of first platoon stayed and distracted the Devil’s Cry. The militia groups entered the outpost and engaged a few Devil’s Cry defenders before opening the main gate and allowing Davis and his troops inside.

Once inside, the militia moved towards the command post but were pinned down by guarding the entrance. However, Broadsword teams returned, led by Colonel Lang, and cleared a path into the center. Once inside the humans retook the post and killed ‘Ocarn. After recapturing the post, Lang had his team return to the capital and deployed marine assistance to the post before building up his arms for the next wave of attackers.

Battle for Lang Station
On October 2nd, arrived at Lang Station near the planet’s only remaining. Colonel Lang deployed marines and militia forces along the town’s permitter with Norse Wolf security detail acting as back up. Promethean forces were quickly outmatch by heavy human fire at ground forces. However, arrived and began to attack the heavy armor that was defending the city.

A hour later, Devil’s Cry forces arrived and engaged Promethean troops, causing a battle to occur in the air as well. Militia forces primary focused fire on incoming ground troops and anything in the air that got into a kill zone. However, more and more forces entered the city and began to mobilize and capture militia held zones. Human troops began to push back but to no avail and thus issued a retreat. Both Colonel Lang and President Whewell issued evacuation orders for civilians. However, squadrons bombed local shuttle bays and rendered them ineffective. Lang moved his troops to stand around the fields of the bays in order to protect remaining civilians. However, Lang recalled Major Davis and his troops revere able to punch a hole in Covenant advances. However, the forces weren't strong enough to reach Lang. As a result, civilian colonist took up arms and joined the militia forces to attack Devil’s Cry and Promethean forces. After a few hours, a pelican arrived at the space elevator and descended down towards the station. President Whewell contacted the intruders who revealed themselves as Fireteam Guardian, of the. While Whewell wasn't pleased with having the UNSC on his world, he agreed to let the spartans assist if it meant saving his people. The spartans arrived within the square and quickly began supporting local colonists and militia troops and pushed the and Devil’s Cry forces back. The push lead them to a small Devil’s Cry motor pool and the survivors were able to capture a few wraiths and use them against enemy infantry. Norse Wolf hangers were also recaptured by Colonel Lang during the charge and several more scorpions, warthogs and a few pelicans were recaptured and readied for use. The remaining militia forces deployed and gutted enemy troops and cleared out a majority of the town while the spartans finally arrived at Davis’ position. After setting up local air defenses, the humans opened fire on the last of the phaetons and banshees in the sky. Once cleared, President Whewell and Colonel Lang recalled Fireteam Guardian to the town’s command center for orders.

Mission to Draxus
After the spartans arrived, Colonel Lang and Major Davis requested that they assist the remaining forces near Draxus that Davis left behind. The spartans agreed and deployed to the city. After scouring throughout the destroyed city, the team located the marine teams and found them all dead. The team then located a local doctor and guided him to an old fuel station along the town’s border. While on the walk, the doctor explained to them of what it was that originally attacked the town. Then, the last Promethean forces attacked the spartans and killed the doctor. The team began to fight off the Promethean forces and rushed to the fuel station for “improvised” cover. While the spartans fought off enemy opponents,  Drake realized a necessary sacrifice was to be made. He hopped into a truck and rammed himself at full speed into a fuel station, killing himself and all surround Prometheans giving Guardian time to fall back and escape.

Battle of Cairo Station
Major Davis lead heavy armament forces into the town of Cairo station in order to clear out a hanger bay for ships and fighters. The militia forces destroyed the remaining Devil’s Cry ground units and began to jam alien transmissions to keep the Covenant at bay. Finally breaking into the town, the militia forces invaded small tents and a few hangers and cleared out and fought for each inch of a room in the town.

Finally, Davis and his troops reached the main hanger of the station and opened fire. During the attack, militia forces hijacked and stole and used them to clear the rest of the town. However, a small squad of phaetons arrived at the town and fired upon both the militia forces and Devil’s Cry troops. During the bombing, Davis was killed and a majority of his ground forces. The militia banshees brought down the gunships.

After gathering a squadron of, and the stolen banshees, the remaining militia troops returned to Whewell and Lang. The two ordered the ships into orbit to fight off the remaining Covenant forces. Lang and his black ops team also found an experimental slip-space drive that the militia decided to use as a bomb against the Covenant forces.

Second Battle over Iris
Lang lead his squads of Broadswords, banshees and pelicans to the 5 ship fleet in orbit of Iris. Fighters were to distract enemy fighters and bomb and weaken structures of the capital ships while the pelicans would carry troops into the ships to plant a possible location of the bomb. During the fight, a team landed inside the and easily cleared out the hanger bay. Lang had found his target and guided the pelican with the bomb to the ship. After Fireteam Guardian returned to Lang Station, they received a pelican and was deployed to the orbit battle. Seraph fighters were deployed the militia troops and were able to shoot down a few. Despite the firing, Guardian’s pelican slipped past and landed on the corvette and joined the small militia team inside. The spartans were able to clear a direct path into the ship’s bridge and killed the crew. Spartan Gordon then took control of the ship and navigated towards the Cry of the Demon.

Militia forces primed the bomb and once the course was set, the teams extracted themselves and made a b-line for the surface. The bomb was detonated and the entire fleet was sent into oblivion over the colony of Iris, effectively ending the battle.

Political
With the battle officially over, forces arrived on the planet. Fireteam Guardian was extracted by the UNSC Raven’s Nest and the promised a relief effort. However, President Whewell and Colonel Lang denied the assistance. However, with the UEG push, a few civil debates broke out within the planet’s government. Regardless, a small UNSC presence was fixated over the planet consisting of two and a.

A few political outburst in major Iris cities broke out over the UEG intervention. Additionally, a small rebellion formed against the UEG and was actually able to push the UNSC forces out of Lang Station until the orbital intervention.

Economic
With the intervention of the UEG and UNSC, the Norse Wolf mining lost a large amount of funding due to UEG intervention. As a result, the power held by the company slowly diminished especially the power instilled by Whewell. As a result of the large amount of funding, a rebellion formed in response. However, the UNSC was able to destroy the rebellion and soon, the Norse Wolf mining company went out of business.

Twenty-Seventh

 * Large energy disturbances are located near the city of Draxus on Iris.
 * President Whewell deploys a security team to investigate.

First

 * Colonel Adam Lang deploys Iris Milita forces to the city.
 * are found at the Draxus and attacks the city.
 * The Devil’s Cry Covenant faction arrives and attacks the Iris defense ship over the planet.
 * LT Commander Nina Ferris dies with Lang’s ship, the Grave Poseidon.
 * Devil’s Cry forces invade the city of Draxus and engages both militia forces and Prometheans.
 * Major Warren Davis leads militia forces against Ultra Savark ‘Ocarn at Archer’s Grove.
 * Archer’s Grove is recaptured and ‘Ocarn dies.

Second

 * Promethean and Devil’s Cry forces invade Lang Station.
 * Colonists take up arms to defend themselves against the invading armies.
 * Fireteam Guardian arrives at Iris and assist in the station’s defenses.
 * The spartans are assigned to investigate Draxus.

Third

 * Fireteam Guardian arrives at Draxus to find the city destroyed.
 * Promethean forces engage the spartans and close them into an old fuel station.
 * Spartan Drake sacrifices himself to save the rest of his squad.
 * Major Davis leads troops to Cairo Stations to capture heavy human armaments.
 * Major Davis dies in the fight.
 * Colonel Lang competes the assignment and recaptures human armor to fight against enemy forces.
 * The colonel also found an experimental slip-space drive to use against the Covenant.

Fourth

 * Colonel Lang leads militia forces into orbit against the Devil’s Cry forces.
 * Fireteam Guardian arrives into the battle.
 * Lang and Guardian guide the slip-space bomb to a corvette and guides it to the carrier of the fleet.
 * The humans escape and the bomb goes off, destroying the Devil’s Cry faction.
 * Battle ends.