User:Ebon Shadowshot/Battle of Azather

A battle of massive proportions, the Battle of Azather was a strategic invasion of the Forerunner Stronghold and planet Azather by the Flood. Following their suprise attack on Mars, the Flood discovered the teleporter connecting Mars to Azather. Previous attempts by the Flood to attack Azather had been prevented by a energy shield of gargantuan puporsions, however the Flood gained direct acess to a major Forerunner city from the teleporter.

While the Forerunner attempted to quarantine the city before the Flood could spread, the barricade fell when the citizens of the suburbs had been infected by Infection Forms which had breached the suburbian homes before the barricade was put up. The Flood proceeded to destroy the Forerunner Shield Generator located on the continent. The Flood continued to destroy the generators to allow for the Flood fleet to invade Azather's moons to stop orbital bombardment.

The Flood's advance was halted for three weeks by the central Forerunner defence force, however their attempts proved futile when reinforcements came in from Mars. The Flood then proceeded to breach the science labs on the continent, collecting their intellegence to discover the location of the remaining generators of the eastern continent Loporan and the artic continent Yuton. The energy shield retracted from the moons, haven been heavily damaged by the floods onslaught. The flood fleet attacked, taking over three of the moons, while battling the Forerunner on the other two.

What stopped the flood's advance once and for all was the Reclamation of Mars by the Forerunner, and the rise of Nartol from the oceans. After this, the floods were driven out of the central continent and eventually back to the teleporter's city. After bloody fighting, the Forerunner retook Mars and sent in a small invasion force which was annhilated by the sheer number of Flood in the mountain facility. In December 97,689 B.C, the Flood were driven back to their military command city. The combined Nartol/Forerunner assault breached the Flood's defences and the two forces battled for two months. The Gravemind, in an effort to save himself, ordered the army to retreat through the teleporter. However, the Gravemind, his Proto-Graveminds and his army soon realised that Mars was no longer under their control and they were annhilated as they came through. In the closing days of the battle, the Forerunner and Nartol raided the mountain facility, destroying the last of the flood forces and slaying the last Proto-Gravemend; this was the ending of the battle.

Prelude to the invasion
Main Article: Invasion of Mars