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This fanfiction article, The Fall of Sera, was written by Major Rawne 001. Please do not edit this fiction without the writer's permission. |
| The Fall of Sera | |||||||||||||||||
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Conflict: |
Human-Covenant War | ||||||||||||||||
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Date: |
08/29/2538-09/12/2538 | ||||||||||||||||
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Location: |
Sera | ||||||||||||||||
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Outcome: |
Covenant Victory, Colony Glassed | ||||||||||||||||
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The Fall of Sera was the 17 day invasion and glassing of the Human Inner Colony world of Sera. It saw a large scale Covenant Fleet assault the relatively defenseless planet as no orbital assets were in system. The densely populated world of 300,000,000 located near the edge of the inner colonies saw its fleet assets taken away to build up the system fleet to protect other more valuable worlds. The defense and evacuations were set entirely on the UNSC Army and Marine ground forces who fought to the very end despite overwhelming odds.
Fleet of Just Annihilation
A Planet of War
Sera is an Inner colony established early on in humanities expansion into the stars. The Ocean world was found to be temperate and ideal for human colonization on its few but massive continents surrounding the two oceans. The large planet with 26 hour days and circled by twin moons quickly grew into a hub of activity. Metropolis' and large manufacturing cities with sparse suburbs and farmland spread all across the continents. While the CMA was the central government there were several independent nations that controlled different parts of the continents. It was not long that inter-national wars broke out. As the wars raged, the government focused efforts on improving their military. Funds were spent to construct forts and military installations on the surface. Defense from the stars was never a thought. These international wars raged on and off until the arrival of the covenant in 2525.
When news of Harvest fell, the forces of Sera called a ceasefire and raised and trained their military forces in preparation for the coming war. UNSC officials informed the world leaders that the UNSC would be drafting units from the planets defense forces to bolster frontline units. When the outer colonies fell, the inner colonies defenses were bolstered. A naval fleet was positioned in orbit for some time, however as the Covenant fleets advanced further and further into the Inner colonies, this fleet was once more redeployed to bolster a fleet elsewhere. It was only two months later that the Covenant found Sera.
Landfall Day Zero
On August 29th, the Covenant Fleet of Just Annihilation entered high orbit of Sera. The fleet arrived unopposed and unannounced and wasted no time in prosecuting the extermination of the humans on Sera. Under the command of Field Marshall Uzil Raamee the Covenant entered in atmosphere and launched numerous simultaneous attacks on the cities of the world. The Field Marshall informed his sub commanders that the fleet's oracles detected numerous forerunner relics hidden on the planet. The orders for the covenant was to clear out the human cities, search for the relics, then burn the city to glass when they were finished. Raamee divided his fleet of 160 ships up across the entire planet and began the assault. While scans of the planet came back from the picket ships Raamee picked his targets. The scans indicated numerous areas of potential relics along the southern portion of the main continent. Raamee selected these areas for immediate attack while he personally assaulted a major city with a large UNSC garrisoned within. As the fleet separated and ships entered orbit over their targets, they launched their first waves. Hundreds of infantry lances deployed via drop pods. As the ships moved lower in atmosphere, they were followed by secondary waves of phantoms and spirit drop ships deploying heavy units and armor while aerial attack craft joined in.
Covenant Drop pods land all over Jannermont
Elites smash into the city centers
Jannermont-
The UNSC had no warning of the covenant assault on their planet. The citizens sleeping in the first cities to be invaded were woken up to the impact of Covenant drop pods smashing into the streets, gardens and homes. In the southern city of Jannermont the Covenant invasion landed during the morning commute. The streets were packed with civilians heading to work in the heavy industrial sector of the city while others drove or took public transit ways to offices in the down town. The usual morning sunrise was accompanied by hundreds of burning meteors. People stood in confusion and shock as the sounds of explosive impacts landed all over the city. The shock turned to horror as pods slammed amidst crowds of people and cars backed up on high ways killing hundreds. This was nothing compared to the horror and bloodshed that occurred when the Covenant forces led by their Elite vanguards emerged and murdered all in their sights. While pods landed all over the city, Raamee led a vanguard straight into the UNSC military base stationed within Jannermont. The army troops there had just returned from an overnight training march and were in the middle of stripping down and turning in their weapons when the Covenant landed in their base. Raamee had planned on using the element of surprise to cause the most amount of damage and mayhem possible. It took the military base 15 minutes to begin to establish a coordinated defense and 15% of the bases occupants were already slaughtered. The soldiers stationed there fought for 30 minutes to get access to the primary armory and equip their men, it took another half hour for them to repel the covenant from within their walls.
Raamee had succeeded in causing city wide panic; and while the city of Jannermont burned beyond the bases walls, the second wave of heavy vehicles and reinforcements was already landing. Raamee fled the base to begin the overtaking of the city. While the civilians were already running in mass panic, most tried to flee however no one knew where to run, and the covenant had already strategically cut off most of the main throughways. Local police forces did their best to direct and protect the noncombatants running for their lives but they were no match for the covenant. The surviving army units in the base launched a rapid counter attack to try and break through the covenant positions to allow evacuation. The UNSC fought valiantly for 24 hours before the city was completely taken by the covenant and 100,000 of it's residents were dead.
Mattino-
Like Jannermont, the coastal city of Mattino was attacked by a massed force of covenant arriving via drop pods. The police and mayor of the city issued an immediate lock in place order while the company of UNSC army troops from the 25th Sherrith Calvary deployed to counter the covenant attack. Mounted in Scorpion battle tanks, cobras and warthogs, they were able to use the open streets to full effect to fight off the covenant invasion without the concern of civilians being caught in the crossfire. The tank company made excellent progress against the covenant, pushing them back wherever they fought, however the aliens were able to flank around the heavy armor units and overwhelm them from cover until banshee air support and armor reinforcements arrived to eliminate the defenders and exterminate any citizens found. The covenant forces then moved on to regroup with other assault forces leaving the burning city to be glassed later by their vessel.
Port Ogari- The Coastal port city was a major hub of fuel transportation and oil drilling. a half mile off the coast were dozen of ocean oil rigs. Despite the importance of this trade, the city was lightly defended. Home to a UNSC Navy's maritime destroyer and home to 80 marines set to guard the docks and single war vessel. When the covenant drop pods smashed into the residential sectors outside the docks, the only defenders were the local police forces. The marine defenders mobilized to help secure evacuation routes, however their main support, the UNSC destroyer was out at sea patrolling the coast. When reports of the covenant attack reached the destroyer, the vessel turned around and rushed to the port to assist in the defense. The ship was fifteen minutes away from shore when a pair of SDV corvettes appeared through the clouds over the ocean coast. A massive lightning storm signaling their arrival. The two covenant space craft opened fire on the destroyer and the oil rig platforms turning the ocean coast into an inferno of burning fuel and bodies. The city and its inhabitants would meet a similar fate soon as no one survived the covenant assault.