Siege of Jacinto
From Gears of War
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[edit] The First Mistake
After the Lightmass Offensive, Coalition forces began to drop their guard. Seizing the opportunity, they began much needed repairs on their dwindling resources, and half of the Raven fleet was put in hangars for repair. However, hope of a victory proved premature. The Locust sunk the cities of Tollen and Montevado, a massive Locust army began taking COG-controlled farmland, and the Strandeds' looting had left the COG unable to properly react to the Locust assault. COG forces began to pull back toward Jacinto to prepare for an imminent siege.
[edit] They're Back
Both Tollen and Montevado had literally fallen. These were cities once thought invulnerable since the Jacinto Plateau rock was too hard for Locust to breach. With the Locust slowly chipping away at the city's foundation, Jacinto itself was now threatened with the same fate as Tollen and Montevado, leaving Coalition High Command no other choice but to organize a counter-offensive into the Locust heart: The Hollow.
[edit] Incursions
Months after the Lightmass Offensive, the Locust began raiding COG-controlled zones and attacking vital facilities, such as the North Gate Agricultural Depot[3], water pipelines, and Jacinto's main military hospital. After the successful Evacuation of North Gate, Locust troops laid siege to Jacinto, pushing deeper into the city every day.
[edit] Urban Warfare
Locust forces entrenched themselves in Jacinto and began moving into Cooper Street to attack the nearby hospital to raid supplies[4]. The major Locust sinkhole was located near Cooper Street, and the Locust forces were able to move Grinders, Reavers, and Maulers into the area, quickly making it a stronghold. Fighting for Cooper Street cost the Coalition heavy causalities, and led to the fall of Pomeroy Depot. The nearby hospital was hit next, but heavy air support and Delta Squad were able to drive them off.[5]
[edit] Counterattack
Since the Lightmass Offensive failed to kill all the Locust Horde in the Hollows, Coalition High Command theorized that an attack on the Inner Hollows via Landown to destroy the Locust home front would end the war once and for all. COG forces moved out of Jacinto and into the staging grounds for the Assault on Landown, taking heavy losses along the way. Gears managed to capture Landown and enter the Inner Hollows using Grindlifts, thus bringing the Human-Locust War to the Locust themselves.
[edit] Who Sinks It First?
During Operation Hollow Storm, Delta Squad discovers the Locust's plans for sinking Jacinto and the Lambent threat to the Locust Horde.[6] High Command theorized from the late Adam Fenix's data that if the COG were to sink Jacinto before the Locust could evacuate the Hollow beneath it, they could destroy the Locust. However, this potential victory would require the sacrifice of humanity's last stronghold.[7]
[edit] All Out Attack
The race was now on to see who would sink Jacinto first. Queen Myrrah sent a massive force to destroy any Gears and civilians left in the defense of Jacinto. Heavy street-to-street fighting erupted within the city as the Locust, emerging from a massive sink hole, carried out a coordinated attack on the Coalition COM tower from Cooper Street alongside Grapplers on the South platform. With the attack foiled by Delta Squad and the other Gears, Dom and Marcus commenced a two-man counterattack into the sink hole, leaving Baird and Cole to join them later with a Lightmass bomb on a Raven. Dom and Marcus managed to wipe out large numbers of Locust troops once in the sink hole using a hijacked Brumak.[8]
[edit] Jacinto's End
After making their way directly underneath Jacinto, they used the Brumak's weapons to destroy three underground columns, opening holes in the surface large enough for Ravens to fly in with the Lightmass bomb and recover Dom and Marcus. Losing control of the Brumak as it started to react to the Imulsion, Dom and Marcus escaped onto Baird's Raven, but not before the Brumak knocked the Raven carrying the Lightmass bomb into the Imulsion. With their plan now in ruins, Marcus realizes that the Brumak is turning Lambent, and therefore becoming explosive. With approval from Command, the Ravens circled the Brumak underground while Gears targeted it with the Hammer of Dawn. After several hits on the Lambent Brumak, the Ravens evacuated the Hollow and Jacinto as the Brumak exploded, destroying the city's foundation along with it. Jacinto quickly collapsed, allowing seawater to pour into the Inner Hollows, possibly wiping out the Locust forces stationed there, as well as the advancing Lambent army.[9]
[edit] Mass Evacuation
- "If you want to flood the city, we can handle it. The evacuation's already under way by road, we've got ships on standby, and this is a population that's used to emergency drills. They move when we say move. But that's the easy part. It's winter, and somehow we've got to carry enough equipment and supplies to create a giant refugee camp from scratch in the middle of nowhere, then sustain it for maybe a year. We're going to lose a lot of people, whatever happens. So let's start by accepting that."
- — Royston Sharle,head of Emergency Management
Every single King Raven, ship, and vehicles poured into all exits from Jacinto City in the mass evacuating heading for nowhere.[10] But Chairman Prescott ordered all Coalition forces to head to Port Farrall without Col.Hoffman's knowledge;[11] the Chairman's King Raven landed on the Sovereign, a Helicopter carrier and flagship of the fleet.
[edit] Outcome
With 30% of Jacinto's citizens and Gears lost in the evacuation High Command decided to move what was left to Port Farrall, an abandoned COG base[12]. Realizing the logistical nightmare they were in; a winter environment with the majority of the base rundown and setting up a refugee camp in the cold, the COG decided to look for a new base of operations while dealing with Locust stranglers and Stranded infiltration of the camp. After finding supplies in the catacombs of the port and destroying all the feral dogs there, the COG began thinking the worse was over with a large quality of ammo and food discovered. Unfortunately Locust forces attacked the civilians from the very same catacombs, killing many of them at the food center, while what was left of the navy was collecting the rest of the Imulsion from Merrenat Naval Base.
[edit] References
- ↑ Gears of War:Jacinto Remnant pp34
- ↑ Gears of War:Jacinto's Remnant
- ↑ Gears of War: Aspho Fields
- ↑ Gears of War Bonus Disk
- ↑ Gears of War 2 - Act 1
- ↑ Gears of War 2 - Act 2
- ↑ Gears of War 2 - Act 4
- ↑ Gears of War 2 - Act 5
- ↑ Gears of War 2 - Act 5
- ↑ Gears of War:Jacinto's Remnant pg 7
- ↑ Gears of War:Jacinto's Remnant pg 8
- ↑ Gears of War:Jacinto's Remnant
Seen in-game:
- Act 1: Tip of the Spear
- Act 5: Aftermath (All chapters)
