To those of you that complained about the timeline of this story. Here is the explanation. Yes, this will be an OOC Halo Universe.
Addendum: I have made some large changes throughout the first 22 chapters for those that have been following the story. This was all done in hopes of making the story a little more coherent and readable for you folks.
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2553:
May 14th: The Great War officially ends with a peace treaty between Humanity and the Sangheili Separatists, a peace treaty which many on both sides didn't want but knew that they needed or they would risk mutual destruction.
June 1st: The U.N.S.C. refuses to relinquish power back to former U.E.G. politicians, subsequently turning the government into that of a Military Junta. To become a citizen to vote and or hold public planetary/interstellar office, you must first spend time in Federal Service. I.E., military service, all manners of first responders ranging from local police forces, firefighters, boots on the ground reporters, and front line medical staff for a minimum term of 4-8 years depending on the profession. 2 years of this time is spent in basic and advanced training courses with most people returning to semi-citizen lives as U.N.S.C. reserve units or retiring to citizen status with a seal of approval for allowing them to participate in and form policies. Those that do not participate pay slightly higher taxes than those that serve (like Switzerland or the movie/book Starship Troopers but not any giant killer bugs… yet. If anyone that's old enough to remember that movie is reading, good on you.)
June 29: Insurrectionist activity hits an all-time low due to what many people believe is changes put in place by the new U.E.G. when it comes to negotiation tactics with what's left of the human-controlled outer colony systems. Although there are still minor skirmishes now and then, the death toll is nowhere near as bloody as before the Great War. Although some believe that could easily be due to the much lower populations of the human race.
June 30th: The U.E.G. pass a line of legislation to allow its planets the choice to either stay under its banner or to split off and be its sovereign entity but require 75% of the planet's population to pass and ratify. The space that contained those that chose to turn from the banner of the U.E.G. were informally dubbed Frontier Spacers.
August 7th: Several bills are passed to increase military spending for ships, equipment, and colony reconsolidation, as well as to put new resources into rebooting the portal to the Ark in a desperate gambit to find The Master Chief.
2554:
January 9th: ONI sends recovery units, repair teams, Battle Group X-ray of the Sol Fleet, and several dozen scientific colonization boats to the Ark through standard Slipstream Space. Estimated time of arrival June of 2555.
July 10th: The Sangheili start their slaughter of the Brute fleets and begin counter-attacking Covenant remnant groups across their portion of the galaxy, with U.E.G. acting as economic and supply support.
October 30th: Recolonization efforts begin for the U.E.G., fastly reclaiming lost worlds with the help of the Sangheili and rare pieces of recovered Forerunner tech. Most planets can re-colonize due to only major population centers being glassed, leaving vast expanses of these glassed worlds habitable. Sadly most of these worlds are outer colony planets, allowing them to become significant engineering and production powerhouses compared to their inner colony cuisines. However, they still required trade agreements between the two sectors to refine the resources.
December 31th: The U.N.S.C. fleet strength doubles in size from their weakened state of 400 warships to around 800 warships by the end of the year. The U.N.S.C. Infinity and her escort craft are chief among them. (I can't find direct numbers of total Fleet strength the U.N.S.C. had after the war on any wiki page, but I've put to guess that with 800 worlds to govern, they would need a lot of spacecraft, especially when in the middle of civil war.)
2555:
February 20th: Most of the larger Brute holdouts that still followed the Covenant are confined to their homeworlds, losing most if not all technological advancement and resorting back to the stone age after multiple orbital bombardments by ONI black ops kill teams, Sangheili hunting parties, and other rival Brute Warlords.
April 24th: The first proper shots of the Sangheili Civil War begin between the Covenant loyalists and the Arbiter loyalists, raising three highly influential and strategically important Keeps on both sides of the line. The U.N.S.C. Military pledges its support to the Arbiter's much smaller besieged forces.
April 29th-November 30th: The most brutal point of the fighting took place on the Sangheili homeworld of Sanghelios, leaving several dozen ancient keep lineages as nothing more than ruins, smoking armor, and broken bodies. 100 of the 200 ships' strong fleet assigned to reinforce the Arbiter would be lost during this heavy fighting.
June 16th: The Infinity's sister ship is slated for construction as the head of the second wave of warships to be produced due to the increasing need for more frontline ships to deal with the current conflict and repel rising Kig Yar pirate bands.
July 22nd: The Onyx Shield World is turned into the main training post for all Spartan classes for the foreseeable future.
December 1st: A decisive and pyrrhic victory is won in the orbit of Sanghelios, pushing the Covenant loyalists forces on a permanent back foot, opening a new phase of the war.
December 11th: The Infinity and her crew are reassigned to search for Forerunner artifacts before the Covenant Loyalists can and shift the balance of the war once again, setting up research bases on any Halo's they come across and eradicating any flood life signs that are detected.
2556:
January 3rd: The Portal to the Ark is finally repaired. It was closed in the first place because it was damaged when Installation 04.2 was fired in 2553.
June 19th: The U.N.S.C. war machine pumps out another 400 warships totaling out the U.N.S.C. fleet power to 1,100 ships. Bills are passed on the potential use of the Ark's mega shipyard to build ships.
August 5th: Both U.N.S.C. and Arbiter lead forces launch one massive decapitating strike against what's left of the enemy forces within Sangheili space.
October 31st: An odd-shaped space hulk roughly the size of a heavy cruiser is discovered by the U.N.S.C. Infinity. Thinking it to be of Forerunner design, the derelict is set up with a small research group to study it before the larger contingent moves on.
[UNKOWN]: During this year, unknown to the U.N.S.C. and Sangheili, the Unggoy (grunts) form the Parliament of Unified Systems (P.U.S.), basing their fledgling Government after the Earth Government of the United States with their first President being Yap Yap.
2557:
January 10th: Research stations are put in place across the Ark along with a colony and multiple U.N.S.C. military bases turning the Ark into a major U.N.S.C. Military research and development center within the year. Sadly Spartan 117 and the other half of the Unto Dawn are unable to be found or recovered.
January 21st: The Sangheili Civil War ends with the Arbiter's faction taking the victory and the forging of a new Sangheili Republic (S.R.) from the war's ashes.
February 1st: The U.E.G. spends resources to help the S.R. recover from the war and become a more or less self-sufficient civilization and collecting an enormous debt that they would never be able to fulfill.
March 14th: The U.E.G. and S.R. officially open civilian borders limited trade with each other in a sign of good faith between Stellar nations.
April 6th: Reach begins the process of returning to its former glory and is under reconstructing itself as a fortress world along with ten other planets in the core systems around Earth, leaving the Outer Colonies more power in the civilian market as the Inner Colonies turn more of its ability to military armament. The most hopeful estimates mark its completion in the later months of 2565.
July 1st-August 4th: The Events of Halo 4 and Spartan Ops take place.
July 12th: After the shock of the Didacts genocidal attack on Earth and the numerous appearances of Covenant Splinter Groups probing the U.E.G., P.U.S., and S.R., the three nations banded together with several calmer Covenant splinter factions that had carved out their mini fiefdoms from former Covenant space. These factions consisted of The Free Holds (F.H.), a Kig Yar confederacy that specializes in privateer work, Veiled Dominion (V.D.) was made of a mixture of Sangheili and Kig Yar, which held sovereignty over the vast majority of the Covenants production yards and a prominent quantity of Forerunner relics that weren't stored on High Charity, Frontier League (F.L.) a group that was made of a large number of client races that had banded together out of protection, and the Independent Yohet States (I.Y.S.) (the fish looking guys from Halo: Nightfall) ratify unanimously to forge the Alliance of Unified Races or A.U.R. for short and make it the galactic defenders against the multiple Covenant splinter groups, and the Confederacy of Former Covenant States (C.F.C.S.) with each race having a representative in the Government.
July 14th: All members of the A.U.R combine all military power/resources into one massive military under the U.N.S.C banner, equaling out to 4,005 warships in combined strength.
July 15th: the Zeus class Star-Dreadnought starts to research and development using the wreckage of the Didact's ship as a template and scrap material, pulling all resources from across the allied world and marking it as the first stepping stone in presenting a unified front for the A.U.R. against the rest of the galaxy.
2558:
January 3rd: The Last Prophets splinter cell attempts to launch a Crusade into U.E.G. territory to gain the Janus Key but is stopped by the U.N.S.C. when a Spartan team and an entire combat fleet of 200 is deployed. After killing the lesser Prophet commanding the vanguard, the reaction fleet assembled routes the attackers—the battle results in only 2,000 losses.
February 20th: The Janus Key is complete in U.E.G. control, allowing Humanity access to more Forerunner installations. Oddly most of these installations no longer exist, almost as if they were taken or destroyed. This makes the Janus Key less than useless to the A.U.R.
February 21st: The Infinity's sister ship completes construction through the usage of the ARK's shipyards.
August 25th: The mystery behind the creation of the Spartan II's is leaked to the Galactic public, causing 90% of the O.N.I. leadership to be arrested and all its powers in or over any government body to be null and void, causing many to desert their posts but are eventually brought back under heavy probation or imprisonment depending on the severity of their leave. The surviving families and childhood friends of the Spartan II's begin protests to get their family back or see them.
August 30th: The Zeus class Star-Dreadnought under the code name "Death Star" starts construction over the Ark. It was called this after an Unggoy worker made a joke while being questioned by a reporter.
November 4th: The Galactic Hero John-117 and all combat active Spartan II's are declared MIA, and not long after, their families give up their protests.
November 25th: The Banished launch a daring strike on the A.U.R.-controlled Ark, releasing the parasite contained there, causing 2,000,000 civilian and military personnel deaths, as well as the loss of the 200 ship strong fleet stationed at Installation-00. The U.N.S.C. Spirit of Fire arrives at the Ark, helping push the Banished off the Forerunner station, but due to the ship's damage and the lack of a Slipspace drive core is decommissioned for parts which are introduced to the Star-Dreadnought's frame. Its coil gun batteries are turned into broadside weapon systems for one side of the ship. All crew onboard return home after their long voyage.
December 14th: Scientific research and development into the human genome using Forerunner tech bear fruit in eliminating all forms of physical sickness and theoretically improving humanity's life span by twice as long.
2559:
January 20th: The A.U.R. takes a sigh of relief in the hopes of an uneasy peace unheard in over 40 years by most of the population.
August 29th: The Zeus class Star-Dreadnought completes construction and is manned by men and women from across the Federation.
September 1st: All members of the Spirit of Fire return to active duty with all marine and O.D.S.T. elements receiving Spartan augmentations or promotions and are sent to serve on the Zeus class Star-Dreadnought with the newly appointed Admiral Cutter taking command of the ship naming her after his former warship. The Zeus class ended up as a 30-kilometer long starship built, for one thing, the destruction of hostile Forerunner constructs/any new aggressive alien race. It was currently armed with thousands of archer missile pods, hundreds of plasma torpedo batteries, close rang rail-gun turrets, energy projectors, four hundred nova class nuclear bombs, and point defense guns. (Look up U.N.S.C. Punic-class supercarrier, and that's what it looks like built just a few kilometers larger.)
2560:
January 5th: The first Guardian is discovered in the oceans of Sanghelios.
February 2nd: The Next phase of Spartan classes codename Spartan-Vs begins an initial study to see if the total power and augmentation set up of a Spartan-II can be implemented into adults using doctor Halsy's notes on the matter as a control variable.
March 22nd: 600 more front-line warships finish construction throughout the A.U.R., totaling current fleet power to 4,400 ships of the line.
June 4th: Sightings of unknown alien vessels are spotted near S.R. space. Contact with the system in question is lost soon thereafter.
Fleets, compositions, and stations of the A.U.R. Navy as of 2560:
1. OLYMPUS: defending the Sol system and its surrounding 300 inner colonies, led by Grand Admiral Hood (human) onboard the Punic-Class Carrier U.N.S.C. Atlas. 200 Warships.
2. PALADIN: defending the U.E.G. 300 outer Colonies, led by Rear Admiral Lasky (human) onboard the Supercarrier U.N.S.C. Infinity. 200 Warships.
3. TITAN: defending 200 glassed colonies being terraformed, lead by Fleet Master Rtis 'Radom (Sangheili) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Profits Bain. 200 Warships.
4. SWORD: defending the S.R. 200 inner colonies lead by Fleet Master Rtas 'Vadum (Sangheili) onboard the CAS-class Assault Carrier U.N.S.C. Shadow of Intent. 200 Warships.
5. SPEAR: defending 100 S.R. outer colonies, led by Fleet Master Mrivo 'Natam (Sangheili) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Vengeance of Sanghelios. 200 Warships.
6. HADES: defending 200 frontier colonies on the eastern border, led by Vice Admiral Cutter (human) onboard the Star-Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Spirit of Fire. 200 Warships.
7. WARDEN: defending the P.U.S. 400 inner and outer colonies, lead by Admiral Yulul (Unggoy) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Strong in Numbers. 200 Warships.
8. VALOR: defending 300 V.D. inner colonies, led by Fleet Master Jar 'Kodam (Sangheili) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Fall of the Forerunners. 200 Warships.
9. BASTION: defending the V.D. 400 outer colonies, lead by Admiral Yeth Ren (Kig-Yar) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Against the Dawn. 200 Warships.
10. CERBERUS: holding the border between A.U.R. and Confederacy of Former Covenant States territory, lead by Admiral Makarov (human) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Helldriver. 300 Warships.
11. DAWN: drydock above the Kig-Yar homeworld of Eayn, led by Admiral Yen-Kath (Kig-Yar) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Geisha. 200 Warships.
12. GUARDIAN: held in reserve at the Sanghelios drydocks, led by N'thavo 'Vadum (Sangheili) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. New Beginnings. 200 Warships.
13. ONYX: defending the 400 worlds of the F.H., led by Admiral Mrito 'Savum (Kig Yar) onboard the U.N.S.C. Wyvern. 200 Warships.
14. DEFIANCE: defending the F.L., led by Admiral Keelty (human) onboard the Infinity class Supercarrier U.N.S.C. New Mombasa. 200 Warships.
15. REVALUATION: defending Installation 05, led by Admiral Krucas (human) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. End of an Age. 200 Warships.
16. RENEGADE: defending the I.Y.S., Admiral Kulkak (Unggoy) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Primordial. 200 Warships.
17. DEMON: defending Installation 04.3, led by Admiral Jaxon (human) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Light of Autumn. 200 Warships.
18. VANQUISHER: held as a reserve in the docks of Reach, led by Admiral Jonathan (human) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. From the Ashes. 200 Warships.
19. TEMPEST: at drydock in the V.D. Capital World of Heaven's Fall, Fleet Master Rone 'Losov (Sangheili) onboard the U.N.S.C. Defiance. 200 Warships.
20. SIGMA: defending Installation 00, led by Admiral Tolkien (human) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Tower. 300 Warships.
21. HAMMER: defending the Onyx Shield World, led by Fleet Master Grys 'Nrakam (Sangheili) onboard the Dreadnought U.N.S.C. Vendetta. 200 Warships.