To the Guest who left a review asking whether or not I will be including Colonel Menteith's speech for this battle:

Yes, that is my intention, but not until much later in the story. The way I envision it in my head, Colonel Menteith's speech won't come until a few days before (spoiler alert! (sort of but not really)) he and whatever remains of the 53rd Armored Division detonates the HAVOK nukes in the Covenant staging area. I know he's supposed to give the speech on the 10th of May which, if readers are following my (non-canon) dates, would occur in four days in this story, but that's one of the things I'm deviating from canon on as I feel like his speech should be more of a last-minute, desperate-move, inspirational thing (sort of a "men, just give me one last effort" as opposed to "men, let's get out there and fight.")

But, like I said, that won't happen until much, much, much later in the story. In the meantime, thanks for the review, and I'm glad you're liking it so far.

To Broman:

You are correct, I did make both UNSC and Covenant ships just a bit stronger than they appear in the games, mainly because when I was experimenting with chapter 3, I found it rather difficult to write out an entire chapter of a space battle if both sides, the UNSC especially, were destroyed fairly quickly. That's not to say it couldn't be done; if the battle was smaller, like say, a dual between two ships, then the focus of the battle could be less about the fighting and more about the maneuvering (kind of like how it was done in the Halo novel Halo: The Fall of Reach where the Captain Keyes and the UNSC Iroquois is forced to fend off three Covenant warships.) But in doing so, I wouldn't be able to depict the sheer scope of fighting I imagine that would be taking place if an entire planet was invaded.

As for why the Covenant haven't began orbital bombardments, there are actually several reasons. First, as we just saw in chapter 16, the UNSC Navy is still very active in the system and if the Covenant were to turn their attention to the surface, it could potentially leave their ships vulnerable to a UNSC counterattack.

Second, as I mentioned back in chapter 8, the entire planet of Actium is the Covenant's prize. In short, the Covenant want to take over the Actium because of the natural resources available on and below the surface and because of that, they're trying to avoid doing serious damage to the planet. (Though, this is only day one of the invasion, so that could change in the future.)

Third, like you said, I would imagine most military bases would be at least partially protected from orbital bombardment, even before the Covenant war began (I'd imagine the UNSC wasn't above blasting a troublesome Innie base from orbit if it suited their purpose.)

Lastly, dont forget in canon, the Elites have been shown to be very honorable (even though their sense of honor is rather warped; they do go around murdering unarmed civilians and children after all.) So the idea of destroying a target from orbital (at least on the first day) I'd imagine wouldn't sit well with Elite commanders, so I think it's something they would push to avoid.

Anyways, I hope this has adequately addressed your concerns. As always, thanks so much for the review!

Moving on, just a general warning to my readers about this chapter: this chapter is short. Very short. In fact, coming in at about 2600 words, it's actually one of the shortest chapters I've ever written and in fact, out of everything I've posted on this website, this chapter might actually the third shortest thing I've written. Why is it so short you might ask?

…because?

Honestly, it just felt right. To try and make up for it somewhat, I've added some extended head-canon notes at the end, which may or may not interest some people, and may or may not be comprehensible.

Chapter 17

UNSC Kilkis, High Orbit, Actium
May 6, 2545
1107

Spaatz

" - and battleships Korolev, Sun Tzu, and Lemnos were all destroyed with all hands lost. Other fatalities include the UNSC Prometheus and the UNSC Illustrious, though search and rescue Pelicans were able to recover roughly forty-five percent and seventy percent of their crews, respectively," Kanin recited to the room at large, a somber look on his furry face. "Other casualties include: carrier São Paulo, who suffered damage to her cooling system resulting in an overload of all three of her fusion reactors. Carrier Liaoning, whose primary bridge was destroyed during the battle, disrupting her navigation. During the loss, she inadvertently collided with carrier Löwenhardt, resulting in the destruction or damaging of all weapon systems located on the Liaoning's dorsal hull, as well as damage to all of the port side hanger bay entrances to the Löwenhardt."

"More casualties include carrier Richard Bong, who was hit by a kamikaze Banshee on her forward bow resulting in thirty casualties and damage to her primary sensor and communications array. Carrier Suzan Iqbal, who suffered in an explosion inside one of her hanger bays resulting in hull breach and one hundred and thirteen casualties. Battleship Phoenix, who suffered massive damage to roughly eighty percent of her hull. Cruiser -"

Spaatz held up his hand, stopping Kanin before he could continue. "Did any of these casualties suffer from irreparable damage?" he demanded to know.

"No sir. The Richard Bong will require a replacement of her primary sensors, which can be accomplished within twelve hours although she is capable of operating with reduced efficiency on secondary systems. The Iqbal will require repairs for the hull breach, though work has already begun and the ship should be operating at maximum efficiency within twenty-seven hours. The São Paulo will need a complete overhaul of her reactors, though that will take, at minimum, seventy-two hours."

"The Liaoning, Löwenhardt, and Phoenix will all require several days in the dry docks, though strictly speaking, as neither ship suffered damage to critical systems, both the Liaoning and the Löwenhardt are capable of combat operations. Abet, they would be operating at fifty percent operational status. The Phoenix, on the other hand, will require a minimum of seven Actium days of repair in the dry docks(1), though that time may be able to be reduced depending on crew availability and supplies."

"Priority number one is to get all battleships back up to within ninety percent combat operational status," Spaatz interrupted before Kanin could continue. "Priority number two is to get the weapons, if nothing else, on the naval carriers back up; in a pinch, at the very least I can use those carriers in an anti-ship role. I don't care about the Air Force carriers: they're not intended for frontline combat and besides, until we get more fighters, we're not going to be able to replace their air wings, making them nothing more than oversized anti-aircraft platforms."

Spaatz heard a slight cough and he glanced at the source. Aside from Kanin and himself, the chiefs of his intelligence departments(2) were also in attendance. The cough had originated from Colonel Kendrick, the head of the Air Force Intelligence Command, so Spaatz turned to face him.

"You disagree Colonel Kendrick?"

"Not so much a disagreement sir, but an inquiry," Kendrick corrected. "Could we not simply replace the Air Force carriers' air wings with the fighters from the navy? After all, if you intend to use your carriers in an anti-ship role, then what would the point of having fighters be?"

"There aren't enough navy fighters to replace all three carrier air wings," Spaatz replied. "Furthermore, I'm concerned about the size difference between the two different types of fighters, plus the difference in training between ground crews, the different logistic requirements of the fighters, etc."

Kendrick nodded and Spaatz waited until he fell silent before continuing.

"Let's move on. Covenant casualties. What do we know about them?"

Spaatz glanced at Commander al-Cygni, who took it as her cue to begin speaking.

"At the moment, my department is currently analyzing every scrap of data we've managed to obtain so far. Our current dilemma, however, is there is some confusion as to which ships were already in the system prior to this operation, and what arrived during the course of the battle. The task force that was hidden by the heavy cruiser for example: we're still attempting to determine whether or not they arrived at the same time as the cruiser did and have just been hidden this entire time, or they're ships that were already in the system and only moved into hiding once the Covenant realized what the situation was, or if they're a brand new task force that arrived as reinforcements and were immediately moved into hiding. The last option is probably the most likely, as the heavy cruiser was unaccounted for during much of the initial stages of the battle, and with most of our reconnaissance and surveillance grid having been damaged by the fighting, if the Covenant had emerged from slipspace around, say, Tenedos, we could have easily missed their arrival."

Kendrick leaned forward. "So, do we have a count of the amount of damage TF Whiskey inflicted on the Covenant?"

"We have an idea, but no specific numbers at this juncture," al-Cygni admitted.

"None of which matters because we know for certain we weren't able to disable, much less damage, any of those cruisers, making this entire operation a failure," Spaatz snapped.

"With all due respect sir, I wouldn't go so far as to call it a complete failure," al-Cygni argued. "Preliminary data does suggest TF Whiskey managed to inflict just as much damage on the Covenant as they did to us."

"Furthermore sir," Kendrick added, "we are still receiving reinforcements. The 97th Air Division just arrived in system sir, bring not only an entirely new carrier and air wings, but our first ground troop reinforcements: the Army's 222nd Airborne Division."

"Unfortunately, that's not as beneficial as it may seem," Harper interjected. "The 222nd was just rotated out of the Newsaka Campaign roughly a week ago and were on their way back to garrison for rest and refit before they were diverted here. As such, they're not at full strength.

"How bad is it?" al-Cygni asked.

Harper shrugged. "Not counting individual augmentations from the Air Force?" he said, tilting his head in Kendrick's direction. "The division is only at roughly twenty-four percent of their total authorized strength."

"That's still a little over seven thousand soldiers(4), is it not?" Kendrick pointed out. "Not an insignificant number."

"Yes, but how many troops have the Covenant managed to deploy onto the surface?" al-Cygni asked.

"That hardly matters at the moment because while the Covenant cruisers continue to hold position over their landing site, they will be able to continue deploying ground troops indefinitely," Spaatz pointed out. "And with those cruisers in the way, we won't be able to deploy our reinforcements to where they're needed most. No, our focus right now is to figure out how to dislodge those cruisers. And what I want to know is how those ships manage to survive the full force of TF Whiskey without a scratch. Any ideas?"

"Yes sir. We in fact, actually do know how the Covenant managed to accomplish that," al-Cygni admitted.

She called forth an image of a single battlecruiser, one that Spaatz recognized as target 1-Delta, the ship the Kilkis and the Salamis had been tasked with to destroy. Al-Cygni pressed a button and zoomed in on the ship's dorsal hull, specifically on the same structures Spaatz had noticed prior to opening fire.

"These structures attached to this ship are Covenant shield generators(3)," al-Cygni reported, and suddenly Spaatz realized why they had seemed so familiar. "We've seen them in the past before: the Covenant generally use them to protect their ground installations whenever they set up a main operating base during their ground invasions, though this is the first time we've ever seen them installed on a ship before in this manner, as they would be redundant. We believe the Covenant were using these generators to supercharge the shields on all of their cruisers, a sort of overshield if you will, similar to what Elites have been observed using in ground invasions and ship boarding actions."

Spaatz frowned as he called forth an image of the battlecruiser in question he had captured himself during the battle. The use of extra shield generators would help explain some of the Covenant's actions, but not all of them. "This ship doesn't appear to have any extra power generators installed, nor did sensors registered any additional power sources aboard that ship."

"That is correct sir."

"Then where the hell did the Covenant get all their extra power from?" Spaatz demanded to know. "Those extra shield generators would have required an absurd amount of power, especially if they were providing coverage for all four cruisers. That sort of power would require... an external source at the very least."

"You are correct in that regard sir, the power requirements for such an activity would exceed that which the ship's onboard reactors would have been able to supply, especially if they also wished to fire their weapons. Which is probably why we've never seen the Covenant utilize such a tactic before in the past. As for the answer to your question as to where they obtained their extra power from, well..." al-Cygni trailed off and glanced at her counterparts.

"What," Spaatz demanded.

"We think the Covenant obtain their extra power from us," al-Cygni delicately said.

"'Us?'" Spaatz echoed.

"The UNSC," al-Cygni clarified.

Spaatz resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Okay Captain, I'm going to need you to use your words and explain that one to me. What do you mean the UNSC was providing power to the Covenant?"

"To clarify sir, we weren't doing it deliberately, however that is where the Covenant were obtaining their extra power: from Actium," al-Cygni began. "Sir, in order to land troops onto the surface, the Covenant had to destroy Byzas Station. They obviously accomplished this by boarding the station and destroying it within. However, they had also deployed fighters down to the surface to take out the station's ground based generator, Orbital Defense Generator E-109. Despite our best attempts, the Covenant was on the verge of knocking the station offline when they abruptly called off their attack to go after other targets of opportunity. Because that abort order occurred roughly at the same time Byzas Station was destroyed, we initially assumed it was because their mission of disabling the ODP had been accomplished, but now we believe the Covenant had realized they could use the generator for their own benefit."

Spaatz stared blankly at al-Cygni. "Commander, are you telling me the Covenant managed to HACK into our power grid!?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes sir."

"And we didn't even notice!?"

"To be honest sir, we didn't even realize it was possible sir," Kendrick interjected. "Covenant technology is radically different from ours, and we didn't think their tech and our tech was remotely compatible. Now that we are aware there is a work around, we can take steps to ensure such an event never occurs again. But that's more for the long term sir," he hastily added.

"It's probably why the Covenant cruisers barely moved at all during the battle sir," Harper pointed out. "Whatever they had jury rigged to make this work was probably too fragile to move around."

Spaatz couldn't help but sigh. This was so ridiculous, he could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Okay, how do we deal with the situation now? Can we turn the generator off?"

"We can and we have sir," al-Cygni replied. "However, the Covenant's capacitors are more than likely already charged to full capacity. While all that extra power will probably only allow them to survive one more attack, based on the results of our last attack..."

"We would probably lose the rest of our ships in the process if we were to attempt another offensive," Spaatz finished. He sighed again. "Okay. So, attacking is out of the question. Alternative solutions?"

"Well, we believe the key is target 1-Delta," Kendrick explained. "Of the four cruisers, 1-Delta is the only ship with the extra hardware installed, so we believe that ship is providing shields for the rest of the cruisers. If we can take that ship out, the rest of the cruisers will be left with only their personal shields to protect themselves. While they are still formidable, there's no denying that our ships are at least capable of disabling them."

"Actually Colonel Kendrick, ONI believes it may actually do more than that," al-Cygni interrupted.

Spaatz raised an eyebrow. "How so Captain?"

"Full disclaimer sir: this conclusion requires a lot of speculation on our part due to our general inability to actually test our hypothesis, but based on anecdotal evidence from our field operatives, we believe the conclusion to be sound."

Spaatz gestured for al-Cygni to continue.

"I won't bore you with the science behind it sir, but essentially the way energy shields work is by generating a field of energized particles vibrating at an extremely high frequency in order to dissipate the kinetic energy of high velocity objects or in the case of plasma, disrupt the electromagnetic field that allows plasma to retain its shape."

"In order for a shield to properly provide coverage to an object, the harmonic frequencies of both the shield and the object in question need to resonate properly. That's actually been one of the reasons why ONI hasn't been able to replicate Covenant shield technology despite two decades worth of research. That, and attempting to create an appropriate sized power source, though that's neither here nor there."

"It's because of that harmonic frequency that makes layering shields rather difficult, as they have a tendency to cancel each other out. The issue would only be compounded when providing coverage for an object or objects with extremely large surface areas, such as ships."

"And this applies to our purposes... how?" Spaatz enquired.

"Essentially sir, it is ONI's belief that while that overshield is in effect, those cruisers won't, and can't, have their own shields active."

Spaatz was intrigued. "So, what you're saying Captain, is that if we were to destroy the overshield, the rest of the cruisers would be defenseless?"

"Not exactly," al-Cygni corrected. "There's nothing physically stopping the Covenant from reactivating their shields once that overshield is removed, though it would take them a few minutes to fully reactivate. During that time though, the only thing protecting the ships would be their hull armor. But comparatively speaking, Covenant armor has always been significantly weaker than what the UNSC generally fields."

Spaatz sat back in his seat, deep in thought. "So all we need to do is destroy target 1-Delta and the rest of the dominos will fall?" he asked.

"It would be a very small window of opportunity, but it would exist, yes sir."

"Of course, that raises the question as to how we can destroy that ship." Spaatz glanced at each of his individual chiefs. "Any ideas."

"Sir, I might have something that'll be able to help you with that."

Spaatz jerked upright as the holographic image of an unknown man wearing the uniform of a UNSC Army officer suddenly appeared in his briefing room. "What the... SECURITY! KANIN, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"

Kanin instantly appeared by his side, his long rabbit ears drooping in embarrassment and a perturbed look on his face. "Apologies sir, but my security protocols were overridden by someone with higher security clearance than I."

He finished with a slight inclination of his paws in the stranger's direction. Spaatz glared at the man.

"This is a top secret, level 10 mission debrief," Spaatz began. "Identify yourself, NOW!"

The man held up both his hands to show he was unarmed. "Apologies, Admiral. My name is Major Den Volkov of the UNSC Army's Special Warfare Group Three."

"And sir? I believe I have a solution to your current predicament."

Major Den Volkov is an original character of my own creation. For those of you who have read Missing in Action, you might remember him as the officer in charge of Moss' squad for most of the story. In case it hasn't been made clear yet, the events of this chapter (and of the next two) will tie in directly with Missing in Action.

So now you guys get to see how the Covenant capital ships were able to survive being bombarded by so much firepower. Despite my best efforts, I'll be the first to say the solution was kind of deus ex-machina-ish, and I kind of wish I had been able to think of another solution, but this was the best I could come up with. Hopeful it at least seems somewhat plausible within the established rules of the Halo Universe.

Footnotes

1. As per Missing in Action chapter 1, an Actium day is about 36 hours long (35.5 hours to be exact.)

2. Technically the Marine Corps intelligence agency should have a representative in this meeting, as well as the one in chapter 8. There isn't one, mainly because when writing chapter 8, I forgot the USMC actually does have their own intelligence gathering department, so I didn't think to include them. Going forward, I'm probably not going to be including the UNSCMC in these meetings, mainly just to stay consistent, and partially because I just don't want to introduce another character like that just yet. Just know there should be one more intelligence chief, there just isn't (for whatever reason.)

3. Covenant shield generators are from the RTS game: Halo Wars. I don't believe they've appeared anywhere else.

4. About 7,200 soldiers is actually roughly how many soldiers I envision the 222nd Airborne Division as having at the end of the Newsaka Campaign and just before their arrival on Actium. (For any readers who didn't have a chance to read my other story, or simply don't remember, the 222nd Airborne Division is from Missing in Action. It's the parent division of the main characters. The 222nd Airborne Division is a non-canon Army division that's my personal creation and not based on any current or historic real-world unit.)

Now, 7200 soldiers may seem like a huge unit (and admittedly, it kind of is: as a frame of reference, the 101st Airborne Division dropped exactly 6,928 paratroopers on D-Day during the Invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944) but try to keep in mind, only about half of those soldiers would actually be a combat trooper (infantry, artillery, sappers, etc.) The rest would be rear echelon, logistical, support soldiers who, while theoretically would be able to fight as infantrymen in a pinch, would not be as effective as actual combat soldiers.

Some of my readers might be wondering where I derived that number from: the numbers and the structure of the UNSC Army divisions is based on the way the US Army divisions were organized after the 2013 reforms, with elements derived from the late 2015 reforms. What that means is:

- The basic building block of the UNSC Army is the Brigade Combat Team, or simply, BCT. Comprised of anywhere between 4400 to 4700 soldiers depending on type, a single BCT will be composed of: 1x brigade headquarters company, 3x maneuver battalions, 1x cavalry reconnaissance battalion/squadron, 1x artillery battalion, 1x engineer/special troops battalion, and 1x support/logistical battalion.

So, to summarize: 1x Brigade = 7x Battalions.

- Going one step up to the Division. A single division, no matter the type (armored, cavalry, infantry, airborne, etc.) will consist of: 3x Maneuver BCTs, 1x Field Artillery Brigade, 1x Combat Aviation Brigade (consisting of stuff like Falcons, Sparrowhawks, etc.,) and 1x Sustainment Brigade (basically, more logistical troops.) That means, an UNSC Army division will consisted of about 30,000 soldiers.

So: 1x Division = 6x Brigades

- Next step on the ladder will be the Corps. A UNSC Army corps will consist of: 3x Maneuver divisions, 1x artillery group (consisting of corps level artillery and air defense artillery,) 1x Sustainment Group, and at least one independent maneuver brigade combat team.

1x Corps = 3x Divisions, 1x BCT, 1x Artillery Group, and 1x Sustainment Group

- After corps, would be a Field Army. Field armies would generally consist of 3x Corps.

- Field Armies in turn would belong to an Army Group. Army Groups, unlike everything before it, would not have any set numbers, and their subordinate units would vary depending on the situation. Above the army group would be a Unified Combat Command, which is based around a geographic region of a planet. Following that would be a Planetary Defense Command, then a FLEETCOM Sector, etc. etc.

Obviously, everything I just mentioned is under ideal situations. However, during the Covenant War and the Insurrection, things fluctuated a lot as losses mounted and entire planets were lost. Some units get bigger, others become smaller (as mentioned in chapter 15, for example, the 53rd Armored Division was supposed to actual consist of 4 maneuver brigades, as opposed to the standard 3.)

(I realize everything I've just said is really confusing, and I've probably lost a lot of people, so here's the quick rundown of military units.)

From smallest to biggest:

Soldier (1x human being)

Team (2x soldiers)

Fireteam (2x teams)

Squad (2x fireteams)

Platoon (4x Squads)

Company (4x Platoons)

Battalion (5x Companies)

Brigade (7x Battalions)

Division (6x Brigades)

Corps

Field Army

Army Group

(Note: there are actually a whole ton more units that aren't listed here, like Troop, Battery, Squadron, and Group, but their usage and size depends on the type of unit in question. And this thing is complicate enough as it is, so I'm not going to bother explaining what any of those are here.)

There is, however, one last unit I do want to talk about, mainly because it has shown up not only in my stores, but also in Halo canon. And that unit is the regiment.

(This will only deal with how I see the regiment is used in the UNSC Army, not the UNSC Marine Corps, because the UNSCMC uses an entirely different structure from the Army and would thus require its own, separate write-up.)

First off, a regiment in the UNSC Army is not a front-line military formation, but simply an administrative unit. Because of the enormous size of the UNSC Army, recruits are drawn from a wide variety of planets, moons, satellites, and space stations. While virtually all of the human occupied celestial bodies have been terraformed to allow human habitation, terraforming is not perfect in the sense that the terraforming technology is incapable of changing certain things about a colony. For example, the physical properties of the celestial body (which determines the gravity of the planet,) the location of the colony within the system (which can affect overall temperature of the planet,) the speed at which the planet/moon orbits around its star (which determines the length of the year,) or even the speed the planet rotates around on its axis (which determines the length of the day.)

Because of the varying characteristics of each colony, military recruits too may vary depending on the location of where they were born and raised. A recruit from the colony of Titan in the Sol System, for example, may be more accumulated to the cold as opposed to a recruit from the colony of Mars due to Titan's distance from the Sun, resulting for an overall lower average temperature. A recruit from Newsaka may prove to be potentially stronger than a recruit from Actium due to the former's stronger gravity. A recruit who was raised on a space station in orbit around Reach may prove to be more mechanically inclined as opposed to a recruit born and raised in the farmlands of Harvest due to exposure.

As a result of these fluctuating physical characteristics, as well as to ensure a greater diversity in terms of knowledge and experience, military units are generally composed of recruits from a wide range of locations. As part of that initiative, the regiment was reintroduced as an administrative unit in charge of the recruitment and training of military recruits from a specific area, on a specific colony. Upon graduating from basic training, the newly minted soldiers are assigned to one of the regiment's battalions, which in turn are assigned to one of the main brigade combat teams of the UNSC Army scattered across the galaxy.

The amount of battalions assigned to a regiment varies depending on unit type (infantry, artillery, aviation, etc.) however as a general rule, a single regiment will consist of at least nine battalions, all of which will be assigned to different brigades. How many regiments are assigned to each colony also varies and is entirely dependent on the population density of the colony in question. For example, the colony of New Llanelli is a rather small and sparsely populated colony and as a result, only has a handful of regiments assigned to the planet. In contrast, the colony of Reach has thousands of regiments, and of all separate types.

The regimental system not only applies to the UNSC Army, but also to the Army component of the Colonial Militia. But whereas the UNSCA draws their recruits from across the galaxy, individual Colonial Militia Armies draw their recruits from their own colony. As a result, while CMAs are organized in a similar way to the UNSCA, with brigades being the basic building block, occasionally an entire CMA regiment will fight together as one unit. This, however, has only occurred infrequently in the past, and only in the event of an emergency (such as when the colony is being invaded.)

However, this systematic approach to the regimental system only works best during times of peace. With humanity as a whole steadily losing ground to the Covenant, the loss of multiple colonies, coupled with heavy casualties, resulted in a number of regiments combining together to form new units. The 131st Engineer Battalion (from MIA) is one such unit, being a conglomerate of three separate, outer colony regiments (the 13th and 31st Engineer Regiments from Mamore and the 100th Engineer Regiment from Arcadia.)

Furthermore, due to the way the UNSCA individual replacement policy worked, new soldiers often found themselves being assigned to a unit "based on the needs of the Army," as opposed to assignments based on their geographical origins. (Most notably, Moss and his squad mate Clifton Roer, both inner colonist, were assigned to an outer colony unit.)

Note that this system does not apply to the various Provincial Militia Armies as, unlike the Colonial Militias, the PMs fall under the command of the individual colonial governments and not the UNSC. As a result, Provincial Militias have a tendency to be less uniformed in their structure, as their size is dependent on the amount of funding the individual colonial authorities wish to allocate to their various PMs.

Something to note about that. Prior to the start of the 2490's, the Colonial Militia had once belonged to the Colonial Military Administration, as opposed to the UNSC. However, at the start of the Insurrection Wars, that rapidly changed. Due to a number of high profile defections of military personnel to the Insurgency (including one incident in where eighty percent of the chiefs of staff of what was then the Alluvion Colonial Militia defected to the Insurgency, thus forming the basis of what would later become known as the "Alluvion Defense Force,") starting in the 2940's, the CMA was rapidly made defunct, with the organization formally dissolving in 2525.

In the meantime, the various services branches of the various Colonial Militias began to revert to their appropriate UNSC branch (i.e., militia armies were turned over to the UNSC Army, militia navies were turned over to the UNSC Navy, etc.) at which point, attempts were made to train the militias up to UNSC standards.

However, despite the UNSC's best efforts, even twenty years after the mergers, the various colonial militia groups were still at varying degrees of proficiency (for example, the Actium Militia was noted to be highly professional and competent to the point they were easily interchangeable with active duty UNSC military formations. In contrast, the Reach Militia was, as observed by one UNSC staff officer in his review, "a good example of what a bad example of a militia should be.") (With that in mind, it should be taken into account the higher concentration of permanent UNSC military installations on Reach as opposed to Actium, so a case could be made that having a professional militia on Reach would simply be redundant.)

Generally speaking though, the various Colonial Militias were generally used as replacements for the units that had once made up the UNSC's reserve components. Prior and during the early days of the Insurrection, all UNSC service branches were composed of two main components: active duty and reserves (the 222nd Airborne Division was an Army Reserve division for example.) However, with the Covenant invasion, all reserve units were called up to active duty service, leaving the UNSC without any reserves in the event of an emergency. With the acquisition of all assets from the CMA however, the militia groups were re-tasked to assume the duties of the UNSC reserves where their poor training and general lack of cohesion would prove to be less of a detriment.

(Many thanks to my editor, Darkfire7881 for helping me make this last part some what coherent.)