Responding to the Spartans' call for help, a small flotilla of UNSC ships appears in orbit. They are quickly destroyed by the Covenant fleet, but not before many ODSTs make it to the surface alive. Meanwhile, the Spartans return to Delta Base and find it occupied by Erda Renadee's Elites, and are forced to find a new home. After hooking up with the ODSTs and their leader, Sergeant Henderson, who were holed up in the wreckage of their destroyed ship, the Humans make their way to a remote mountain fortress called Mt Jefferson.