**Kikowani Station: open the route before trying to fly through it**

**Kikowani Station: open the route before trying to fly through it** *MCC walkthrough. Mission spoilers. Normal through Legendary.* Kikowani is the Banshee mission, but it isn't all flying. You steal an aircraft, clear the squad's route, land to work the security doors and eventually leave the cockpit for an infantry fight. Keep a useful carried weapon even when the Banshee seems to be doing all the work. **Clear a path to the Phantom** As Buck, follow Mickey down to the tracks. Use the pistol against exposed Grunts and check the Covenant weapon racks across the tramway for a Beam Rifle if you want a longer-range option. Work toward the parked Phantom, removing the defenders that control its approach. An Engineer can make the supported enemies harder to kill. If you are protecting an Engineer-related campaign challenge, don't casually fire explosives into its position; use the separate achievement plan rather than changing that decision halfway through the fight. Once Mickey takes the Phantom, get into one of the parked Banshees on the nearby raised platform. You are not trying to fly the squad's dropship yourself. Your job is to clear the route it needs. **First flight: watch the ground as well as the air** Destroy the Shade positions along the flight path and deal with the enemy Banshees. A turret that has lost its gunner can be occupied again, so an apparently quiet position is not necessarily finished. Use the Banshee's bomb against heavier targets, but leave room to turn away between attacks. Flying straight at a turret until the aircraft is nearly touching it is not necessary to land a shot. On Legendary, make shorter attacks and recover behind structures rather than hovering in several weapons' lines of fire. VISR can help distinguish enemies and the highlighted structures in the dark. It is useful, not a universal requirement to keep switched on for the entire mission. Continue through the tunnel and clear the next area, including the marked Engineer housing structures when the objective directs you to them. Stay away from the resulting explosions. **Land for the door controls** The first major security-door override requires you to land and use the switch. Park where you can get back into the Banshee without a long exposed run. Once the door opens, expect fire from the space beyond it. Back away and clear the approach rather than flying straight into the opening. There are replacement Banshees along the route. Use them when your current aircraft is badly damaged. Keeping the same smoking vehicle out of habit is not an achievement requirement. As you enter the next open area, check for anti-air Wraiths, including one near the entrance and another on the bridge. Give yourself lateral room to avoid their fire. Clear the relevant structures and move toward the next blocked door. **The infantry corridor** At the later security barrier, the initial control opens the smaller passages, not the full flight route. Leave the Banshee and go through on foot to reach the control farther inside. Use the Beam Rifle or Carbine racks to set up for the corridor. Watch the turret and the Brutes around it, and use VISR if the cloaked Stalkers are difficult to pick out. Fight from the entrance cover instead of walking between several enemies because the hallway looks like a shortcut. A hammer Chieftain is a reason to preserve space. Remove the supporting enemies, then keep an escape route as he approaches. Don't back into a corner while staring through a scope. Activate the control in the room beyond the fight. Return to an available Banshee and continue through the now-open route. **Scarab: destruction is optional** The objective allows you to **evade or destroy** the Scarab. You do not have to dismantle it to finish Kikowani. For the bypass, fly toward the exit control, land, use it and get through the opening. This still requires timing and cover; “optional fight” does not mean the Scarab stops firing. A fresh Banshee inside the onward area can be safer than retracing your path to a damaged one. If you choose to fight, boarding the upper deck from the Banshee is a documented approach. Clear the defenders, reach the exposed core at the rear, destroy it and get away before the explosion. Do not remain beside the flashing core to see whether your last shot counted. **Trigger the escape** After opening the exit and moving through, follow the route to the cluster of Engineer housing pods. Destroying the marked cluster starts the chain reaction and closing sequence. Killing the Scarab alone is not the mission's finish trigger. If the squad seems to be waiting, check the current objective and the next door or marked structure before circling back through every earlier room. Most of the mission's apparent dead ends are a missed control or an unfinished objective, not a requirement to destroy every piece of scenery.