Halo ME: Unto the Dawn
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CH1: Of Soldiers and Men
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AN: This fic was produced early 2011 at the start of the UCAF idea I had and the subsequent creation of Halo AU, of course back then I didn't know crap about development, and tried basing it off people I knew. You'll recognise some old friends. This story was based sort of differently.
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Location: Tyr's Arm- Verne Straits- Orvis
Population: 233,453
Orvis the small colony about the size of 2 earths and had a lot more plant life plains and other crap, what could be said of this world specifically? Well firstly it's dead, as in there's nothing to do here, for the 23,000 personnel who are stationed here especially for training there's nothing, we're here to get trained and shipped off to the nearest battlefield.
Well that was the initial purpose of the outpost, here we trained in various bio-spheres from the aquatic depths of the oceans of this calm little world, to the freezing tundra's of the northern and southern continents there was plenty of things to train for, but sadly boredom was not on that list. So even when we get sent on patrols and training runs, you could imagine we weren't really 'excited' by anything that we did during those training missions, for the most part we sat on our asses and read holo novels and watched porn, drank soda and well 'the good shit' we snuck in or made around the colony.
In truth it was a boring thing to be doing, being stuck in the far rear of the UCAF, at the literal butt end of human territory; here we did what we did. And why you ask we weren't deployed? Well that might be because Orvis is a training world for young troopers and reformed troopers, when I say reformed I mean those who had their minds chewed the crap out by what their experience was like on the battlefield.
PTSD troopers were sent here to recover, well get retrained and pass training on to other troopers; it was a sad sight for anyone who came here on their first day, you'd see a bunch of scraggy marines welcoming you with nurses by their sides along with MPs and doctors. War was hell, but many of us accepted that there technically was no hell, just a shit hole you had to dig your way into and back out of.
As for me, I am the not so narcissistic jackass of my force, but many wouldn't call me reliable either, I tentatively screw up when it comes to delivering; you can ask my 2 ex-girlfriends about that. Among many troopers here I'm one of the few troopers who don't act too happy or too dull, or sombre, or bored, I'm just trying to survive.
I'm Corporal Daniel Shepard, 778th UCAF Marines, and I am at the butt end of the whole fucking army for accidently screwing up on my colony and getting caught, let's just say mag-rails aren't so trusty after all. After tagging my local admin's car and getting chased by a dozen enforcers and an angry pair of parents, they locked me down and sent me here to become a more 'productive' member of society.
For productive I mean they wanted me to go fight in the war and try to prove to them I was able to do anything aside from causing mayhem wherever I went. But then again causing mayhem was what the UCAF marines did so I guess that was a sort of win for me, until I learnt how dull rear line service was.
But at least I was alive, and not on the front when the covenant launched their attack or else I might have been laying in some field like a lot of them other poor bastards who were sent and brutally ripped to shreds by elites. I saw the statistics and reports from HIGH COM, a ton of personnel getting killed in short order a lot of them no older than me.
Well enough about me, it's time to get back to the point at hand. The outpost is one of the few locations in the UCAF that is made specifically for a few reasons, training and recovery, and testing. Special weapons development and technologies are developed on the colony because no one else lives here except some tens of thousands of UCAF personnel so it's pretty safe.
However the issue isn't the natural predators or the environment here at the outpost, it's the people that are stationed here that's the majority of injuries here. And also the reason why I found myself in constant pain, and psycho-therapy, in all honesty people find themselves doing things when they're bored, but never mind the odd amount of pain, there was a lot of things to do.
Here's how it starts…
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Orvis- Sector 7 Field Base: Riley
08:34 AM [UCAF Standard Time]
The sounds of the morning were always punctuated with the ever present members of the UCAF marines in the form of chaos. Like…
'CRASH' "Eric you little mother fuc-." 'MORE CRASHES'
The dull hallways of grey gunmetal steel and titanium were always dull except when it came to the mornings, everyone knew what the mornings were like, which explained the absence of other marines and officers who were supposed to be in the corridors and hallways, aside from the daily morning runners.
Eric slid on the smooth metal plating at high speeds his combat boots squeaking on the metal floor as he moved, he bolted down the first corridor that he could see and was getting ahead of his pursuer who happened to be rather pissed at him. "Get back here you little fuck!" The angry tone of the other marine yelled.
Eric was ahead by a mile as Lazzo came running down the hallway after him, David Lazoroski, bolted down the corridor right after Eric, and there began the first morning run of the day as usual, David was a tall 6'1 shock trooper from the UCAF reserves who had been stationed here for vagrancy. He was a damn good shot and his psych profile had been clean for 5 years straight he was the perfect man to go into the field and comeback completely messed up.
As for the guy he was pursuing, that would be Eric Tori, a stout 5'7 marine who was sent here because he was just under the height requirement to go into the field and maybe because of his record of pranking people. From what his records indicated, he pranked a major at his previous base, and resulted in a field accident which got him nearly court martialled.
That led him being dumped here at the outpost, but he was merely the tip of the ice, there were plenty of guys here who came from major cities and lower class families, well in terms of lower class they lived off of the system, and made a living there. These guys they were like me no home and no place to go but the government program to get better lives.
Well in saying 'better' I mean getting off the streets, which was somewhat better, the schools we get sent to were public government controlled institutions, and then came the option, the day you got to choose where you'd like to go. One you had the option of non-military work, which was everything else category. And then there was the military category which was a lot different, the UCAF allowed for 13yr olds to join and train for 3-5 years of their lives in military uniform.
Best part about the program was being able to choose what jobs you wanted in the future you aim for while in the military and being given a lot of benefits, but those benefits came with a lot of strings attached. Firstly being in the youth academy meant you could be called up to serve at a moment's notice if your colony falls under attack.
Secondly as soon as you reach 14 and 9 months you're legally able to be deployed wherever they want to send you, but you at least get prior military training in the sense you know what you have to do, and put you in an intense simulator which gives you firsthand experience of what you'd face. Sure brutalising children seems barbaric, but there was a good reason, the covenant weren't ones for mercy especially when massacring children.
Then there was the final cherry on top, you have no choice if you get called up, they could deploy you wherever you'd be required, but there was a benefit to this. You could get armour tanks and a lot of ammo to boot, and if you signed your life over to become an ADST you got a pair of wings to signify you were going to die very quickly.
But there were plenty of benefits to becoming a UCAF marine; the health benefits cover everything literally. From your toes to you dick you had medical coverage, you lose an eye they give you a new one, or they replace it with cybernetics, you lose an arm they can clone a new one in or replace it with cybernetics, if you lose your genitals, well you get the picture.
But that didn't mean you'd get everything so easy, training was brutal, hard diets and punishment for any failures during training, with a whip involved and it's not kinky, nerve burns hurt more than you can imagine. A whole team had to function as a team; there were trust bonds that had to be forged in order to work as a team.
There was a lot involved, especially if you were a helldiver, the ultra-lethal weapons of war, made to hunt and kill everything that got in their way, and they had little to no mercy in their eyes. Those guys were probably the single most frighting thing to meet on the battlefield, if you were the enemy. Helldivers are armed with the UCAFs greatest array of weapons to deal with anything and everything that go in their way.
Of course I becoming a helldiver was a long shot, those psycho's are elite to the core. No one knows how many are trained, but its suggested they might have been kids themselves, taken from massacred colonies and turned into psycho's to take vengeance on their family's murders. Of course the war ending has made them sort of aggro.
Well at least I didn't have many of them to worry about, majority of those guys are just here for R&R from the front line to stop them from going on a rampage and killing the covenant POWs and allies that were passing through the area. For me staying a marine seemed the most likely outcome, another 3 more months and I get a discharge back to my colony.
The war ending has put the UCAF surplus military force to withdraw, meaning every marine recruited in the past year or 2 was now being released from service, I was happy sure, but the problem was that there were a few hundred million of them so it would take time before they received discharges for me.
But back to the morning run, Eric slid his way past the various waking personnel heading down to his little safe house separated from the base to stow himself away and then wait out David; of course Lazzo knew this as well. He bolted after the guy like an elite itself was on his heels, he and Eric rushed down to the next level.
He never took the lift and went straight for the stair case; he swung himself through the door and grabbed the railing before swinging himself across the flights of stairs like a boss. Eric was a fairly agile person being part of a parkour gang, teens who go running about causing mayhem doing potentially lethal stunts. Eric speedily hopped down the stairs until he reached the last level doing a backflip out the door before David who took the lift arrived.
David was still a fairly fast guy as well, being an athlete before he volunteered for the UCAF; he got to chasing Eric down the hall. The two of them cause more havoc than about a dozen grunts with fuel rod guns. They pushed their way through the corridors knocking down personnel left and right and starting a chain of daily problems. (Just as planned…)
Eric managed to bolt down the hallway past administration department, sure there was always the risk of running into 'her' but better to cut across to lose David rather than get possibly cornered. Of course Eric had a 1 in 5 chance of running into command admin, and sadly that was today. He got as far as the intersection and turn when he was slammed across the face by a folder.
Eric did a backflip as he landed on his back, as he attempted to get back up he was suddenly stepped on by a heeled shoe.
"Going somewhere private?" A feminine yet very stern voice asked.
"Lieutenant Adder I-." Eric didn't manage to get another word out before she pressed on his chest again and interjected.
"I don't want to hear another excuse private, you've got rounds to complete and I'm sure Sargent Lazoroski would be happy to get you to do them, however I have no patience for either of you. But don't try my patience by running by my office in the morning, and do not knock over command staff or it won't be just your chest hurting." She punctuated by pressing the heel into his abdomen.
"RIGHT." He managed to groan out painfully.
She lifted her heel and turned to face the sergeant. David saluted even though he was a mess; even he didn't dare disrespect the lieutenant, she waved him off.
"Get back to your bunk and change Sargent you look like shit."
"Yes ma'am." He replied and then threw a quick glance at Eric before he stormed off.
Eric's luck had saved his arse if only for a minute.
"Oh before you get going Eric could you get Major Mitchel? I need him to report for a command briefing in an hour at Block 15, the UCAF command had sent new orders regarding the outpost, and he's been included in the briefing." She explained.
He nodded in pain and then limped off still grasping his chest as he headed to the vent intersection, he'd be able to reach the major through the vents rather than the damned corridor, walking was overrated to him. He crawled back into the vents and headed to the surrounding barracks, specifically B-42.
Eric slid down from the ceiling vent in the corridor of the barracks and then knocked on the major's door.
"Hey Major, the lieutenant wants you down stairs in an hour." He shouted as he tapped on the door.
The Major, Mitchel Harris, UCAF 188th Marines, he was retired after his unit was decimated, losing almost all of their numbers in their engagement with the covenant during the Daedalus campaigns, he was retired by HIGH COM and called into recovering service here. He wasn't psychologically stable for command, was the official report, but it was more like. 'Keep him from public eye about the giant fuck up we made during the war…'
Harris has since been stuck at the outpost as more a weary officer in charge of keeping the troops in line and getting us prepared to move out when we needed to, which is all nice and shit if it weren't for the fact that he tells us the reality of what the war was like for him, which has pretty much given us a clear detail as to why his force was utterly wiped out, of course it could be worse.
We simply accepted that we weren't going to survive long if we ever ended up on the front line, as for the training we got here. Well I'll give you an example, we have a team of engineers from the technical force, and you'd think they'd drive in a tank or something, but no they drive around in ATVs, a 4 seater ATV which goes around blasting missiles at everything.
So as you can tell, this is a fairly functional military force we have here at base. And none of us have managed to get tried by actual war, if you could tell how we were, then it was pretty obvious war wasn't the thing we were good and blowing shit up and causing all sorts of mayhem yes. Functioning as a proper military force, maybe not, that was purely something that wasn't defined in our force.
But nonetheless Harris knew how to get us to work as a proper military force. He opened the door and answered.
"What is it private?" He groaned as he asked.
"Sir, the lieutenant wants you to get armed and dressed now; she needs you to get to a briefing with the rest of command staff." Eric replied.
He shook his head and sighed.
"I'll be there in half an hour, let me get my clothes on and a bit of breakfast before then." He replied closing the door behind him.
Eric paused and shrugged as he turned away back into his vent in the ceiling and closed it behind him.
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30 minutes later…
Harris found himself in the midst of the higher command staff of the base; purely here for the info and a cup of free coffee, he always did this during meetings. He sat across from the command staff members who were in the inner circle discussing their circumstance with all branches of the UCAF base.
I hadn't been here and well I never will, but Harris usually informs us about how meetings tend to go, and such. Of course we only listen if we ever bother, and well I think I'll have to change to third person here, in all honesty I can't give a fuck about using my own experiences. I can barely pay attention to my teacher when she addresses us about how to dissect Licus worms than recall every event that happens in a 10 year span.
Harris's attention was finally brought to a ONI spook, or spooks, there were 5 members of the base's ONI division here, which was a very rare occurrence because the ONI operated outside UCAF jurisdiction as well as command, it was damn rare to see even one of their higher ups appear before a meeting.
Harris played his usual air of laziness and sat back, he wasn't one to be suspected for being cautious, much of the staff had lost interest in pursuing his past, aside from Lt Adder. Cloe though didn't have to ask she was given full access to UCAF command archives as the Operator for most of the local senior troop units.
Harris did know what she knew about him, but never bothered to pursue any conversation with the woman, he wanted to remain as far from getting close to people as he could. Sitting there he just listened in for what this meeting was about. Colonel Ian appeared, Ivan was a senior from the UCAFs 5th year into the war with the covenant, he fought from Krugis to Balantare, and man was a great leader and strategist who sadly retired because of his years spent on the field.
Lost his wife and 2 children during a surprise attack on his colony and most of his family, the man was alone now, in his 50s wondering if he'd be able to restart his life. But at the moment he remained commander of the outpost, most likely out of respect for the men and women he commanded over as well as familiarity.
Ian began.
"I'll make this clear, and I won't say it again, people, we are in the shit." He stated fairly aptly.
They all looked at him quite seriously, Harris threw a look at the colonel before he continued drinking his iced mocha, and the colonel brought up a display and let the holographic images form a full map of what was happening.
"Nearly 3 days ago, the ONI had received an emergency distress beacon from one of their vessels on the edge of UCAF space, it was out there for research and exploration, along their way they uncovered a suspected Alpha class artefact." The room was filled with uncertain murmurs; they all knew what artefacts they found in the past ones like the Apex and the Halo's and the Ark, all of the things that nearly wiped out life. "What was discovered was not of Forerunner origins though, but whatever it was, had enough power to sling a ship half way across the galaxy pretty easy if the ONI reports been accurate before the loss of the research team."
He was tapped on the shoulder by a colonel of the ONI. He turned back and introduced rather hesitantly the ONI officer.
"I give the floor to Colonel Merrick, ONI's informant here and rep."
Merrick stood with a calm and yet dangerous air around him, even though being rather young looking as well as being 5'6 feet tall. Merrick stated out clear and loud.
"We have 3 days or even less before we find ourselves besieged, the encounter at the artefact was an unfortunate one which has brought the attention of the UCAF and ONI as a whole to bring all immediate forces to the outpost as soon as possible. Why we are doing this is because we are now on alert level 2, high risk incursion from hostile force."
"High risk of incursion? Don't you mean invasion?" One officer interjected.
"Call it whatever you like, the situation remains the same, the force we encountered at the artefact has put command on alert, high alert, with plenty of open space between here and the nearest reinforcements we are on our own for approximately 4 days from the nearest UCAF reinforcements of any kind." The colonel replied.
"Well then what about nearby support forces?" Another officer asked.
"None, those colonies haven't been noticed or discovered, and command wants to keep them that way, firstly we don't know the capability of our enemies and surely we have enough troops here at base to hold back any attempts of an invasion till reinforcements can arrive." Merrick explained.
"So we're on the literally shit end of the stick waiting for someone to save our asses? Wow that sounds a lot better than being told we're fucking cut off from any support." A bitter sounding lieutenant exclaimed.
"Stow it, the situation at hand is worsening by the minute and we have 32,895 people here, mainly youth shock troopers not to mention the colonists themselves, we prioritize personnel, as per the Eastern Contingency Protocol. All primary personnel are to be armed and prepared for imminent incursion, and any green horns from 14 and below are to get to safe houses located away from the base until UCAF reinforcements arrive." Colonel Ian stated clearly.
"We are all being mobilised as of 2000 tonight, no delays, we are to have all non-active personnel to be evacuated and all primary defence posts manned and armed, shield barriers and defensive walls are to be charged and prepared by tomorrow morning, that is all." Merrick dully finished.
The stink of the ONI's involvement in this was apparent. But they couldn't argue the UCAF had given ONI influence here for the defence of the small outpost then so be it. They began over tactical deployments over the base where to send commanders and where to send all younger officers where they'd emplace deployable and mobile turrets.
Major Harris paid attention, he acted as if he was just sitting on his arse doing the usual crap, but he knew what was going on fairly well, especially in terms of where his unit would be deployed.
"Major, I know it's been a while but we think it might be best if we send another officer to have command over your troops-." A lieutenant suggested.
Harris knew where this was going and replied courteously.
"No thanks, my boys and I have known each other better than most other officers here at the base, I don't give a damn if you've got General Prague, and I'm leading my men into this shithole regardless of what officer you want." He stated nonchalantly as he finished his coffee.
The other officers threw him a disapproving look and the officer who suggested it threw him a rather dirty one as well. But they knew they couldn't take his force off of his hands if they had no grounds to, Harris hadn't disproven he was a bad officer, especially in battle and surely when executing his tactics and plans he's always somehow managed to stay above.
"Very well, but you're taking the training grounds near the base, the training ruins will be a perfect place to put a defence against any attack from that area." Colonel Ian stated.
"Ruins are fine with me, my boys trained there for 3 years they know it like the back of their hand. But what about my support?" He asked as he stared into the empty coffee mug.
Ian looked across at commander Lancer, the technical commander was unsure of how to reply but managed.
"You won't have any."
Harris stopped looking at his empty mug and placed it next to him and leaned forwards to ask.
"Are you telling me, I have no technical armour, or light armour?" He said in bemusement.
"Yes." Lancer replied rather uneasily.
"Fucking hell." Harris muttered as he sat back.
"We don't have much of a choice in this matter major, the enemy will be hitting us from possibly all directions, and we can't bring the armour to back you up fast enough if they're pressing into one region more than others." A sergeant major explained.
"I know how the cookie crumbles; I'm just hoping that I'm not on the wrong end of it." Harris replied as he pondered over his now limited area of defence, he was down to warthogs and mongooses which in all honesty were not meant for direct warfare.
The commanders continued discussing the situation while Harris thought about what the hell he was going to do against a possibly heavily armed enemy.
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Elsewhere…
"Commander Varrick has the relay been secured?" A holographic form of the turian high councillor asked.
"Yes sir, the relay as well as the wreckages have been secured, however all important intelligence and information have been wiped from the records of the 'human' vessels, however we have narrowed down our search to a single system where one human vessel appeared to be jumping to, it is very likely that it may be their homeworld." Commander Varrick replied summarising the situation.
The turian high council member nodded.
"Good, a race of upstarts we need to show law and order to, show them our way of justice for violating council law, I give you full command of your patrol force and all reinforcements. You are to proceed with pursuit of these humans and contain them on their world."
"Very well high councillor Yurin." Varrick nodded in acknowledgement.
As the hologram disappeared he sat back and shook his head.
"How long till more reinforcements arrive?" Varrick asked an ensign.
"Another 4 hours, they're just entering the other side of the relay now sir." His ensign replied.
He nodded and looked out the window wincing at the sight before him. A dozen hulls of turian vessels strewn about, this was a complete disaster, their arrival here was an unintended accident, not to mention captain Eurric who commanded the flagship was the first one to go down, the rest of the fleet fired in response when they demanded to board the unknown ships.
They received a wave of fire for approaching and before he knew it they had lost a dozen ships to only 3, the others they sunk were civilian in design, well it was impossible to tell now, and the ships were scuttled with all crew aboard. They were dedicated to what they were doing that was for sure, but it made him even more uneasy about this whole thing.
They were to pursue these humans to their world, and with utmost haste, it made him cautious as to what they were getting themselves in. But he had his orders as much as he didn't like them or had second thoughts about, he had to follow them. His force of 5 remaining vessels and 18 reinforcements meant they were going for an assault on the human world, he just hoped that it was swift or he might be in serious trouble.
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AN: 2012: I just updates from this day due to a lot of errors and addressing a number of lore issues required for explaining about the UCAF, this should clear things up a bit.
AN: 2013: The story was old and I realised I had separate sections, and not to mention there's been a lot of time since I made this.
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UCAF chronological data- ACCESS GRANTED
Date of admission- Published 2221- Updated 2521- Modified 2555
/Memo/ -Dr Valerie E Haley
To those who read this chronological archive of the UCAF you may require to read the UCAF foundation records and past ICA records in order to understand this, please note that all archives were accessed and modified by me, and any confidential data seen may or may not be factual as there have been continuity issues through the UCAF archives since 2399. All data regarding specific structures and organisations will be recorded in their own separate sections, please also note that this shares archived data on past organisations and records involving the military, economic and historic events and timelines. This information must not be allowed to fall into unwarranted hands due to the sensitivity of the information.
To those who read this, the future is not set, however the past is, heed this warning, and do not make the same mistakes…
/END/
Index Archives
Factions: Note that some may not exist while others may have disbanded
In the beginning of the new colonies of the Nova Stratus region, there were over 80 known factions in control of the region of space; throughout 2221 the UCAF recorded the 8 main power factions:
Pop: 46 billion, 890 worlds, unknown amount of systems
Imperial Arcadian Empire: The Arcadian Empire was once built over the ruins of a past race that utilised space FTL teleportation; the Arcadians decided to ignore trying to understand the super advanced technology and simply accepted it as a gift from fate. The Empire structured itself on militaristic and imperial beliefs since the early 5th century when the first Arcadians witnessed the first king travel through the gateways with his armies to ascend into godhood. It wasn't until much later that it was discovered to be a teleporter and began to spread news of the new king, and thus over 500 years the Arcadian Empire has stretched far even though not being FTL capable, it encompassed over 172 planets and 5 dozen systems by 2225.
Human Unification Organisation: This faction of power was infamous through the Nova Stratus records as being completely immoral in practices with medicine and genetic manipulation, especially through the early 24th century. The Human Unification was a movement and ideal based on a single mind and body, not literally but metaphorically it meant to bring the human race under one banner and to bring the colonies to improve themselves by adapting their beliefs of improvement through health and genetics, their beliefs were well met, but not widely accepted. The HUO began expansion just 75 years before 2225, it reached over 93 worlds, but had severe restrictions due to non-FTL abilities, but it could communicate to other planets through a unique technological device found on their planet, this communication allowed access to dozens of worlds, but made things arduous as it took years to convince many, and those with them were not as loyal as they had yet to show themselves until 2225.
Imperial Orussian Imperium: The Imperium of the Celestial Tundra is what Orussia essentially means, the Orussians had been formed during the 8th century and continued to evolve into the state that it is, however it is unique due to its amazing bit of genetic evolution. The Orussian people originate on their world of Icarus, frozen tundra of a planet, but they live in underground super cities constructed millennia before their existence, it was said that their gods shaped and created them to do their will. The Orussiuan people were initially suspected to have been cloned, on closer inspection that rumour had become somewhat true, in the earliest days the ICA found that the Orussians were using an alien technology that allowed them to be cloned at nearly instant speeds, it aged the clones to a certain degree before releasing them as perfect replicas, however in the years the Orussians phased out the use of clones as there was no longer a need. Orussian space from records indicated that they possessed 123 worlds.
Independent Colonial Coalition: ICC was not only a formidable power during the early colonial era, but the fact that they had the largest coalition of planets was frightening. The ICC had formed during the late 9th century as the planet of Callistan began to advance; the Callistians had unified and advanced rapidly in technology and science putting their beliefs in religion behind for idealised morals and ethics and beliefs which suited their society. The Callistians recruited a number of neighbouring systems through talk and began to advance into modern 21st century technology by early 11th century, they had covered the areas of technology faster than that of earth, however during the period which became known as the 'colonial age' the Coalition fell apart at the seams as many new colonies wished for independence. For 400 years the ICC was engrossed in civil strife and war, and eventually it fell into a dark age of space. ICC did not reform until late 18th century and only during the 19th did it fully recover to begin again with efforts to reconnect with lost ties. The ICC first developed AI in 2101, and created cybernetics in 2021. ICC planets numbered roughly 180 worlds, however many factions that splintered decreased the numbers down to 50.
Neo Koslovic Separatists: NKS was formed about the same time the ICA was formed and was kept marginally controllable, the NKS however had many flaws in ideals and beliefs and most of the reform was half hearted corrections that worked well to suit certain colonies to join, the efforts it took the NKS to form was staggering and highly costly, the NKS did not survive with its neo communist beliefs as it died out in early 2312. Planets under NKS influence were roughly 45.
United Republic of Calisto: URC was amazingly the wealthiest faction out of the Nova Stratus factions and it was the most developed faction surpassing the ICC, but it was not as expansive as the ICC or the IAE, it took the efforts of the Calisto Strata Cluster 400 years to get to a fully developed point and the URC required to buy most of the FTL technology from the ICC when they encountered each other during the late 18th century. URC was initially 30 systems and 130 worlds but developed heavily into 80 systems and 210 worlds by the end of the 23rd century.
Arian Systems Movement: ASM was notoriously a heavy left hand fascist ruled dictatorship, Arian Molvic was an imperialist ruler who believed heavily in the strength of his people, but also his blood, he was supposed to have died during the 17th century, however with certain technology he had managed to stay alive and active, his rule had been nearly absolute, if it weren't for the many new factions which opposed him during the rise of the 19th century where the ICC and the many rebellion forces began to push forwards with a war on his rule, he was not killed until a single 4 man team infiltrated his palace and managed to slay him in 2332. Number of planets under recorded history is unknown…
Independent Colonial Alliance: ICA was the foremost impressive force of Nova Stratus region because of its FTL and colonisation ability, the ICA formed in 2225 with its position on Anomia and 12 new colonies, it began to garner support over the whole region boasting new technologies from an empire far away on a planet called earth, and thus the ICA began integration in a short 25 years. It continued to expand until it was stopped by the ICC and the IAE during the late 23rd century. The ICA formed 80 worlds and moved upwards since.
Races: This must remain absolutely confidential for the security of the human race and beyond it
Fenrisson: An indigenous species connected to the world of Valence, their discovery was not made until the 15th century by ICC colonial explorer ships. The Fenris have no intentions to join the human race as they had lived in isolation for many millennia, the ICC did not attempt to force borders open and simply remained passive. The Fenris race did not join the human race until late 2400s where the planet suffered a disastrous famine caused from heat of the local star, it had a minor solar flare which lasted 3 months and destroyed over 60% of crops and caused heavy instability in the planet's ecosphere.
Timeline: 2250-2350
ICA formation in Nova Stratus was welcomed by many, the formation of the first new faction since the HUO centuries earlier, the ICA formed with the intent to bring a democratic social order and wealth to the worlds of Nova Stratus, its 110 ships and 1.1 million colonists met with the first Anomians who lived on the new capital and integrated the pre-space capable race into its own. The ICAF was later formed in 2263 in order to defend against possible raids from pirates and slavers.
ICC and the ASM began a conflict when the planet of Vekta was invaded by ASM forces, the ICC responded with a massive fleet strike and soon the far western regions of the Nova Stratus region was engrossed in a war of attrition, it would not end until late 2341.
URC and HUO form a pact of trade in order to maximise their economic standing as the ICC colonial conflict progressed, the pact would last until the rise of the Advent order and the Imperial Vindicators of 2371.
IAE makes a calculated move to engage the ICA in the south east regions of the Nova Stratus regions, the factions face off in a heavy warzone and soon finds themselves battling on equal terms. The ICA only has the advantage of space FTL and weaponry while the IAE only possess the ability to utilise ground troops. The first conflict alerts the ICA to its fragile situation and makes the ICA council partake in a future plan to protect its space.
2350-2450
The ICC becomes united as it celebrates the victory over the ASM and the death of Arian and his rule, the support for the ICC rises and changes in power gives way for change to order. The ICC begins the next stage of development as it moves to unify the western regions of Nova Stratus.
2370 marks the beginning of change as the URC encounters a mysterious unexplored region of Nova Stratus, this isolated region reveals 64 worlds under the control of the Imperial Vindicator order which had taken root nearly a millennia before. The IVO was formed by the ruling emperor Kisage Hotari his empire had been formed through the use of alien technology in 1250. The IVO keeps at distance until offers of trade and expansion are revealed, the IVO accepts in late 2371 when the URC offers to show them regions of recently conquered ASM systems.
ICAF begins rapid expansion across all front as helps in reconstituting the many ASM worlds, the expansion of the ICA grants it access to over 61 worlds and 30 systems, it had covered as much ground in technology as the ICC, but still did not possess a formidable military.
IAE began its intervention into the expansion of the ICA and the confrontation of the IVO, this move made the Nova Stratus region breach a tension point as the IVO found the intrusion an act of stupidity and challenged the IAE in 2375.
The First Colonial War-2375-2385
The ten year period saw to the end of minor instability as the IVO began its first major step into Nova Stratus, and its first major stride into forming the UCA, the IVO engaged in the war with no belief over pride or greed, but purely on the basis of honour. The war went through 50 systems and on 60 worlds; it totalled 18 million lives and 360 billion credits worth of reparations from the IAE to the IVO.
The ICA made contact with the IVO in 2378 and joined the war, the IVO granted the ICA access to military power and technology as well as access to the legendary Vindicator Order. It was at the end of the war that the ICA suggested a combined effort to unite the colonies and bring proper order to all factions with their assistance, there would no longer be conflict, maybe minor apprehension to the idea, but it would work well with the IVO.
The IVO joins the ICA and forms the ICAF…
Second Colonial War-2415-2445
The remnants of the IAE formed into the Neo Imperial Arcadian Empire, and begin another war, the URC step in to assist as hundreds of URC worlds are annexed and the ICC also join. The war goes for over 20 years and brings into play the advanced technologies of the ICC and the IVO creating the MKI Hayabusa powered armour variant suit. The war rages on until the Orussian military joins from its years of isolation. The war escalates with the defeat of the Arcadian Emperor, Magnus Derion on Theta Arcadia.
2450-2525
The UCA is formed in the aftermath of the SCW2 as the ICA no longer was capable of being independent as it had encompassed over 5 major factions of power and over 1200 planets in 2450, the UCAF begins mass expansion and colonisation up until the covenant war.
However things did not stay normal, in 2455 the UCAF was contacted by the Office of Naval Intelligence of the UNSC and was asked into aiding in possible future plans it required. The UCAF was sceptical in accepting the ONI or the UNSC as it had long since ended its ties with earth. But the role of the ONI seemed too good to ignore, the UCAF accepted the terms and conditions and integrated and formed the ONI on Anomia, Hyperion Point base.
2500
The birth of Valerie Haley and the initiation of Project Delta One-
2520
The preliminary stage of development of the Spartan Alpha project and the final steps of Project Delta One, the initiation of Project Rey and Forge
2525
Completion of all assigned task and programs…
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/Memo/ -Aniston Grey- UCAF Rey Project Director
"To those who maybe hearing this message, I warn you about what you will hear and what you will read, this is no story of great honour or faith this was survival, and I'll be damned for those who condemn the actions we took in order to save the human race from extermination at the hands of the covenant… we did not sit on our asses and do nothing, we took the war to our enemies, with fire and vigour, we shall ensure that mankind will live to see the future, even if we do not make that journey. I say this now, 'I have become death, the destroyer of worlds'."
Project Rey: The Rey project was by far the most disturbing project ever undertaken, this child known as Rey -0149 was taken as a child and then genetically cloned with a psychic membrane in his frontal lobe, his genetic augmentations were meant to keep his mind in communication with the other Rey clones, however he suffered severe trauma and went into a coma. His body was cryogenically stored and 5 more clones of him were created in order to test the psycho telepathic communications link.
The link was proven to be highly unstable as the many Rey individuals shared memories and emotions, but also their same creator, their mother. Rey then began to show signs of psychosis amongst the young group as their minds drifted into the mind of Rey-0149 and began to relive dead memories; the ONI took action to severe the link and begins a neuro-telepathic connection to a quantum core in order to avoid any future incidents.
The units after the connection began to act normally passive and engrossed in training, their controlled belief was to die serving and then to end up with their creator in the afterlife, or the quantum core in which their fragmented existence is sent to after their initial deaths, however there was a severe down side to this adaptation, the neural link made the effect of one of the units dying and sent a psycho impulse to all other units warning them of their brothers deaths and making them relieve their deaths inside their own minds. The ONI did nothing to subdue the effects and observed intent on figuring out the working mind of the young Rey clones.
The program did not end until 2601 when the Rey units reached 11,000 units; although of the 11,000 barely 1000 survive up till 2605.
Project Alpha: "They show greater promise than that of Orion, and they show much to be offered to save humanity, it is a cruel truism that I must do this in order to save lives by destroying theirs, but it is a necessary evil that is inexcusable and for what may come I shall eventually pay for it, but till then they are my children, my legacy to humanity for better or for worse, the judgement is made by us as humans to decide upon it. I did what I believed was right, even when they suffered; I did it because it was necessary. Mind, body and soul…" Valerie Haley 2525- A Choice page223
Project Alpha was named in the alpha stages of the Spartan program; it was formed after the failure of Orion and was then used as a template to test the gene-enhancements for the SPII program, Alpha was made in order to ensure that the SPII did not fail, however there were substantial differences in the two programs, the UCAF had funded enough to have 750 candidates aside from the 75 that the UNSC could only afford, the reason being was due to the sheer amount of resources available by the UCAF and the number of highly related gene-strands of precursor DNA that was in the human race in the Nova Stratus region as many humans had been originally altered by the forerunners.
The UCAF had all candidates tested and evaluated over the period of 6 years had had them all take a 3 step initiative into becoming Spartans, the fact remained that some of the chemicals and procedures were far too deadly to perform all at once and it was advised to the ONI that doing so would kill the subjects faster, the process taken by Valerie Haley proved the best option as the program had plenty of time.
The program proved fruitful if not somewhat gruelling, the program produced 690 available Spartans from the 6 year training program and it was less suspicious as to the SPII program, many children were selected from orphanages and certain locations, there was also the fact that those children taken from families were either compliant or unaware of the circumstances involved with their children. The Alpha project moved swiftly and deftly through to the final stages without flaw.
And the program reached its intended goal by the end of 2524 to begin the Ascent Program.
Project Ascent: The Ascent was meant as an inspiration to the new generation at the beginning of 2525, the program was to provide the new powered armour of the UCAF to the Spartans, and it was also to provide Project Rey with the advanced combat skeletons which had been in secret development in the Prodigal System from early 2520. The MKIII series armour was an early prototype suit required to be piloted by a single Spartan occupant, it was a streamlined variant that shaped exactly to that of their bodies, the only flaw was that the suits had bulky designs and irregular joints, it was based off of the Powered Armour of the Vindicators Order, but had to be adapted with the EOD from the Union Specialists program in order to compensate for the lack of shielding from possible enemy fire.
The Ascent Project also featured the research of the MVF-01 series suits, the Mobile Versatile Frames were made as an external support force for the Spartans, it possessed the firepower that the Spartans lacked as well as the shielding, but it could not create a body shield only a bubble area of effect shield. The MVF was first seen in use in the Prodigal system in the first month of the war, there were records that indicated further use, and then afterwards the suits became obsolete during the fall of 2535 when the Mobile Suit program took place.
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Pop: 76 billion, 1780 worlds, 1500+ systems
Timeline-2525-2555
2525- January
UCAF troops are moved to the Prodigal and Haven's Gate, suspicion to many beliefs that there would be an expedition into the further reaches of space garner much support and thus masks the hidden agenda of the UCAF HIGH COM in its pursuit of hiding the truth of the situation.
Spartan Alpha is moved to Haven 2 days later and begins the final armament procedure before they reach Seti Etha.
Prodigal final checks completed and all MVFs had been fully prepared, only 1 capable pilot is used in the program and is set out to test in field.
5th of January brings the heralds of unknown contacts in orbit over the Haven System, the UCAF respond by attempting communication, the reply is. "Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instruments." UCAF engages in space combat, the UCAF fleets are heavily armed and manage to fend the covenant off from taking the planet on several occasions; however planet side operations revealed heavy combat and action on the planet.
UCAF marine Mitchel Walker of the Marauders independent division is called in from his previous station in orbit aboard a UCAF cruiser to help in a classified mission.
18th of January the Spartan arrive on Prodigal Eta and encounters the Rey program and Dr Haley, the Dr requires to give all Spartans the armour Ascent units and then asks for assistance in evacuating all Rey units to escape craft in order to continue program, Rey Unit 201 is left behind and ordered to self-destruct once all UCAF ships escape, the unit complies and is killed in action, the first clone casualty of the war.
21st of January, Major Mitchel arrives in the Eastern Verge, he is ordered to aid in the location of a special forerunner beacon and is tasked in retrieving the technology to be sent to ONI Section III, his mission soon spirals out of control as the facility he enters is infested with a hostile parasitic entity known as the flood, his platoon is wiped out shortly and he and 3 others manage to reach the safety of the main complex, however surrounded by the flood and the covenant he soon finds no other option aside from sending the message and ending the facility, he activates a quantum purge inside the station core and sucks the station into oblivion with the flood and the covenant.
Through the rest of the year, the covenant press to engage the UCAF, battles prove to be highly costly on both sides as they are nearly equally matched, the covenant fleet masters agree to bring forth their finest commander, grand fleet overseer Tol'ree Moteree, the devised operation heralds the name of the first exalted crusade.
2526-2531
The UCAF lose over 200 light years and over 400 planets are either destroyed or rendered lifeless, more than 8 billion die within less than 5 years and over 1.9 billion soldiers of the marauders and reserve forces. The UCAF initiate military protocol and command, all military academies were to provide youths with military mandatory classes and training, all colonies were to have an immediate defence force in order to stop any chances of the colony's demise.
The UCAF military standing was at roughly 3 billion, with 175,000 available warships and vessels.
Spartan Beta begins the recruitment of more than 1500 new Spartans and advanced MKIV armour is placed into production.
2531-2540
UCAF casualties mount as the war progresses, the UCAF colonies are cut nearly finely in half at the middle of the Nova Stratus region, 490 light years had been lost, 29 billion had been killed and a million youth a day were being killed to fight the enemy covenant on the front lines. Child soldiers from ages up to 12-17 were being recruited near combat zones and guerrilla fighting becomes fierce in the region of the now known dead zone, the Daedalus Crusades.
2535 sees the change in the war as the MS program takes hold in the western regions and the eastern flanks, the UCAF begin a massive counter offensive using MS units. The war takes a significant turn, as also the UCAF brings forth the many new Spartan troops, the Beta program brings out over 2000 troops into the war and begins mass escalation in the war.
2539 brings out the covenant's own MS program to bear and the war begins to stagnate once more, the UCAF finds itself at a kill to death ratio of 1:7, the UCAF only suffering 1 for almost every 7 of the covenant's own. The war continues as it had until 2545…
2540-2551
UCAF begins the slow build up till operation Overlord to which the UCAF would spearhead a massive attack upon the covenant planetoid to kill and wipe out the hierarchs of Divine Resolve, the Spartans receive further upgrades and new forces appear. Covenant renegades begin to harbour support and the war takes a turn for change.
2545 brings into motion the massive assault, the UCAF bring to bear over 11,000 ships upon one of the 4 command planetoids of the covenant, the mass assault breaks the covenant grasp in a major sector and kills one of the prophets. Another flees into the depths of space and is pursued by the UCAF Spartan team Sigma.
Sigma encounters a forerunner planet in the unknown regions of Nova Stratus; the planet of Reverence's Grace is discovered. UCAF forces engage in battle with the covenant, and also locate the forerunner known as the Inheritor, his revelation of the human race and the forerunners changes the beliefs of the prophet of Amity who seeks to change the covenant, Amity vanishes from the Nova Stratus region and takes with him his most loyal troops in order to reform the covenant.
The prophet of Reverence takes his forces and steals the location to a forerunner ultra-dreadnought and begins to hunt for its location, the UCAF soon follow behind to deal with the rogue covenant leader and the covenant forces soon fall into civil war. All 3 planetoids are isolated however their forces manage to build a heavy resistance to the UCAF approach and the UCAF wait until the end of the hunt for the rogue prophet in order to regroup.
2550 the final battle rages after the discovery of the dreadnought Light of Grace, Himitsuki and his fellow Spartans of the specialist division of Alpha fight the covenant and the flood in the region and successfully eliminates the prophet and destroys the dreadnought in the process, Himitsuki and his forces are reported as MIA.
UCAF forces begin operation Will of Innocence, the UCAF launches a massive counter offensive into the covenant remainders, all 3 planetoids are either destroyed or captured and the loyalists begin mass withdrawals back into covenant space. The UCAF regain the region within 1 year and begins to recolonise and re-secure planets. Total death toll, 36 billion excluding the 26 billion from the UNSC, total military personnel active, 5 billion personnel, 450,000 ships and countless resources
The war ends with the Treaty of Prodigal in 2555/1/5
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AN: 2013
This is negligible sorry…