Battle of Zion

The Battle of Zion was the climax of the perennial First Machine war.
==Events==
===Prelude===
Before the battle occurred it was no secret the Machines intended to destroy Zion. The rebel ship Osiris sent a last wave of data scans before contact was lost and the Osiris destroyed. This information was enough for the rebels to confirm that the Machines had assembled an army: a fleet of Sentinels 250,000 strong and a large number of Diggers which were drilling straight to Zion.
Commander Jason Lock, commander-in-chief of Zion's defenses, theorized that the Sentinels would cut off the main lines in and out of Zion because they would be vulnerable to counter-attack if they were left alone. Before the Machines could get into position, Lock ordered around six ships, including the Logos and the Mjolnir, to counter-attack the Machines with EMP blasts.
However, Bane, whose body was inhabited by Smith, triggered an EMP before the ships could get into position. Five ships including Bane's went down instantly with a massive power failure. The Machines broke through into the main lines and slaughtered almost everyone in the ships. Only the Mjolnir managed to elude the Machines and afterwards made a pass for survivors. Only one was found — Bane.
Subsequently, Lock called for additional volunteers to hold the Dock and make additional weaponry to destroy the Diggers, the most strategic course of action. The Mjolnir made a pass over the Logos and found the Logos crew, and in turn managed to re-activate the ship using a power transfer. After Neo awoke from his coma, he told the crews that he needed to take a ship, planning to go to the Machine City, though he did not tell them his ultimate plan, which was to negotiate with the Machines themselves.
Many were skeptical but Niobe, captain of the Logos, offered Neo her ship. It was during this time that the Machines drilled into the walls of Zion's Dock.
===The Battle===
The APU Corps and around 5,000 Infantry had been assembled in the Dock to try and hold off the Machines. Captain Mifune, in command of the Dock's defense systems, delivered a morale-rallying speech before The Diggers drilled through the walls and crashed into the landing pads. Moments later thousands of Sentinels poured out through the opening to be met with massive gunfire from the APU's. Dual machine guns on each APU gave the defenders a formidable advantage in terms of firepower. Beside the APUs, the Dock Control tower activated and armed large gun turrets mounted on either side of the structure. 
In the tunnels, Niobe began piloting the Mjolnir to Zion through a mechanical line, deemed impossible by Lock because the tunnel was too narrow and compacted with debris. As Niobe trained Mjolnir on the tunnel, she ordered all but four hoverpads to be shut down. Though she was the most skilled pilot aboard, Niobe couldn't stop one of the pads from striking a steel bar on the floor of the tunnel, alerting every sentinel nearby. They attacked, beginning to rip apart the craft with their lasers. Gunners took up the craft's mounted turrets and fired in vain at their attackers. Despite taking heavy damage, the Mjolnirs gunners destroyed hundreds of pursuing Sentinels. Niobe's skill as a pilot, with fumbling assistance from Morpheus, was the chief factor keeping the ship moving. 
As the battle raged between the APUs and the hordes of Sentinels, Zee and her combat partner Charra, moved through access tunnels and passageways, taking shots with rockets at the diggers. Most of their shots were intercepted by Sentinels flying in formation to protect the diggers, however, the duo planted a few successful hits on a digger, causing enough damage to topple it. When they took up a position several hundred feet above the dock's floor, Charra saw a prime opportunity to fire directly into the exhaust port of a digger. With Zee holding her belt, Charra leaned farther over the drop-off than seemed humanly possible and fired, but her shot hit a Sentinel that flew directly in front of it. Now detected by the machines, Zee and Charra retreated between the large pipes they'd been perched upon. Zee made it to the nearest hatch but Charra was impaled first through the leg, then through the chest. Though Zee screamed to her partner, Charra was killed and Zee was barely able to close the hatch in time as the Sentinel reached it. 
Zion Control, once they identified the Mjolnir on radar, estimated it would take the craft 12 minutes to reach Gate 3. The battle now looking hopeless, the primary Dock center was suddenly destroyed by a huge swarm of Sentinels were inside the Dock that now numbers in the tens of thousands. The Infantry forces with dual barreled bazookas managed to temporarily disable one of the Diggers, adding much to the morale of the Zion defenses.
However another Digger crashed into the Dock, allowing thousands more Sentinels to pour into the area, overwhelming the Dock Control and reducing Mifune's APU Corps to just thirteen operational units. Lock tried to contact Mifune, who was closest to Gate 3, to cut the immense chains controlling the counterweights and open the gate, but his radio was non-functional. The Sentinels reformed into a new configuration and swarmed at Mifune's APU just as Kid was reloading the ammo receivers. 
Mifune fearlessly stood his ground and destroyed many Sentinels before he was mauled to death by the Sentinel's claws. With his last breaths, the dying captain told Kid to open Gate 3. Kid, who admitted he hadn't completed the APU training program, commandeered the unit and marched it to the gate. As he took aim at the chains controlling the counterweights, a Sentinel reared up to attack. It was suddenly hit by a lightning rifle blast from Zee, who fired again, disabling the Sentinel. Kid took clear aim at the chain and fired, opening the gate. The Mjolnir smashed through the gate and Link activated the EMP, annihilating the first wave of Sentinels.
However, this was a Pyrrhic victory. Jason Lock admonished the three Captains as they reported in. The EMP had also taken out every piece of defensive hardware there was. Lock claimed that the crew's "incompetence" had handed the Machines the Dock "on a silver platter." Lock ordered everyone to fall back to the Temple, where the fight was now looking hopeless. Lock's infantry began fortifying the entrance with enough mounted weapons and artillery to make their last stand.
Although Trinity had been killed when the Logos crashed into the Machine City, Neo brokered a deal with the Deus Ex Machina: he would defeat the renegade program Smith if the Machines would bring an end to their war against the humans. The Machines accepted but Neo was defeated, and Smith copied himself into Neo. However, this gave the Deus Ex Machina a direct link to the Smith program and initiated a surge which wiped the coding for Smith clean from the Matrix, and restored it to normal.
In return, the Machines called off their war and the Deus Ex Machina ordered the Sentinels to return to the Machine City.
==Aftermath==
The end of the war via a peace treaty was the biggest breakthrough humanity had ever been given. The war was over, and Zion was saved by the actions of Neo and the Machines. Both Zion and the Matrix were allowed to continue their existence, with the promise that anyone inside of the Matrix who realized the 'truth' is allowed to be unplugged without Machine interference.
This suited both, as the Machines still needed humans for energy while Zion did not have the food-production resources to support the entire population - and even then, the majority of the human population was content with living in the false reality of the Matrix. Years later, Neo was brought back from death after much searching from Bugs and her allies.
==Appearances==
* The Matrix: Path of Neo
* The Matrix Revolutions
de:Schlacht um Zion
ru:Битва в Зионе
Category:Battles
Category:Conflicts
Category:Events
Category:Real World
Category:The Matrix Revolutions