New Colonial Alliance

New Colonial Alliance
General overview
Type:	Rebel organization
Founder:	Mattius Drake
Notable leaders:	Admiral Mattius Drake Captain Daniel Clayton Ilsa Zane
Organizational overview
Affiliation:	Vata 'Gajat's mercenary group
Part of:	Banished
Historical overview
Formed:	c. January 2553

"We are outnumbered and we are outgunned but our spirit is stronger. Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won with soul."

— Ilsa Zane

The New Colonial Alliance (NCA) is an Insurrectionist group that was founded by UNSC Admiral Mattius Drake some time prior to January 2553. The organisation was one of the foremost opposition groups to the Unified Earth Government in the early post-war era, managing to spark high degrees of civil unrest among human space and contributing to the near-destruction of the UNSC flagship Infinity on multiple occasions. At the onset of the Created uprising, Drake was assassinated and replaced as the head of the NCA by Ilsa Zane, who proceeded to align the organisation with the Banished.

History

Attacks on UNSC Infinity

Main articles: Raid on UNSC Infinity, Battle of Ealen IV, Ambush at Oth Lodon

Ilsa Zane, the leader of the group that attempted to capture Infinity.

While active, one of the primary targets of NCA attacks included the flagship of the UNSC Navy, UNSC Infinity; the first of the veritable Infinity-class supercarriers and (at the time of its construction) the most powerful warship ever fielded by humanity. In 2553 and 2558, the NCA launched multiple attempts to capture or destroy Infinity in an attempt to prevent it from being used to police the colonies and any attempt to break away from the Unified Earth Government, now that the Human-Covenant War was over.

The first attempt, in January 2553, elements of the NCA led by SPARTAN-IV defector Ilsa Zane infiltrated the Infinity disguised as construction personnel and captured most of the bridge crew, using them as hostages. They then secured the ship's bridge in the hope of capturing the prototype UNSC flagship, threatening to vent the ship's atmosphere and kill everyone aboard it. The attempt was foiled by Spartan forces aboard the Infinity and the boarders were all killed or captured. The prisoners revealed Admiral Drake as the organization's leader.

Later in March 2558, the NCA once again attempted to attack UNSC Infinity, though this time to destroy the vessel. By this time, Captain Daniel Clayton, the illegitimate son of war hero Captain James Cutter, had joined the New Colonial Alliance. Clayton served as executive officer to Rear Admiral Horatio Temkin, the UNSC's ambassador to Sanghelios, giving Clayton access to classified information. The captain informed Shipmaster Vata 'Gajat, a Sangheili mercenary from Jul 'Mdama's Covenant faction about the negotiation attempts between the Sangheili and Jiralhanae on Ealen IV. 'Gajat's forces foiled the negotiations when they attacked during the middle of the summit. Spartan Vladimir Scruggs, one of the Spartans deployed to protect the diplomats, was actually a double agent for the NCA and was tasked with killing the lead negotiators.

As the ex-Covenant mercenaries distracted the envoy's bodyguards, Scruggs killed Spartan Fireteam Jackknife and the Jiralhanae and Sangheili warriors accompanying him. After informing Clayton of the act he informed Commander Palmer that the area was secure. Scruggs then took Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood hostage. Though he did not compromise his employer, Scruggs tried to convince Palmer that he knew of secretive machinations behind the UNSC and the Arbiter's inability to make peace with his enemies. Palmer killed her turncoat comrade before he could reveal anything further. Following the battle Fleet Admiral Hood and Captain Lasky of Infinity discussed that Scruggs could not have been the informant who led 'Gajat to Ealen IV; they realized that the security breach involved someone with much greater security clearance.

After their failed assault on Ealen IV, 'Gajat and Captain Clayton lured Admiral Hood and the UNSC Infinity into a trap. They launched a freighter, the Pilgrims' Pride, which sent out a distress signal that was later picked up by Infinity. When Infinity arrived in the Artesia-702 system, it found the damaged freighter leaking atomic matter with faint life signs aboard and tugged the ship into one of its deployment bays. An ambush was sprung within the bay when the freighter set itself to self-destruct and multiple UNSC aircraft exited its cargo bay. The attack was repelled and Infinity later discovered the assault crafts used were from the UNSC Spirit of Fire. Infinity tracked the freighter's origin to Oth Lodon where it found a Covenant space station operated by NCA forces. Captain Clayton revealed himself and his motives to Lord Hood and fired on Infinity with the station's energy projector.

After firing several times the cannon overheated, forcing Clayton and the others to wait to bring it back online. The station then detected several OF92 Booster Frames and he ordered the station's smaller arms online. He asked 'Gajat to keep Infinity busy until they brought the cannon back online. 'Gajat however, questioning Clayton's vision, decided destroying the ship would get his faction more notability than working for Clayton. Five Spartan-IVs boarded the station and seized control of it, ordering everyone to freeze. Clayton told them not to listen, asking the Spartans if they knew who he was. One of them said they did know him and knocked him out with their sniper rifle for killing his friend Paul DeMarco during the Battle of Ealen IV. 'Gajat was killed when the Spartans aimed the station's energy projector at 'Gajat's ship. Clayton and the others were captured and brought aboard Infinity, and Clayton was transferred to Midnight Facility.

Other activities

Aside from their attacks on UNSC Infinity, the NCA were prolific throughout human space and stirring anti-colonial sentiment in an effort to raise alliances against Earth and the Inner Colonies. After the news broke of the disastrous outcome of the human-Sangheili peace talks on Biko in early 2558, the NCA were quick to jump on the outrage caused by the apparent assassination of a diplomat by John-117. This included demonstrations and rallies across a number of colony worlds, with support resulting in thousands of attendees per-rally. The civil unrest sparked by the NCA resulted in UEG consulates shutting down on several worlds and law enforcement deployed to quell the unrest. In the rallies, NCA spokespeople preached their ideals of self-suffiency, boycotting the UEG, and the need to prepare for an inevitable embargo of their worlds by the UNSC (similar in nature to the one conducted over Gao during the Insurrection). For Katrina, this unrest resulted in power outages and service interruptions, with the general unrest further inflamed thanks to the ongoing investigation by Benjamin Giraud into the Office of Naval Intelligence's cover-up of the SPARTAN-II program and an inability to explain the deep-space anomalies a result of the Guardian Custodes' awakening. The stir caused by the NCA, in conjunction with the other issues of the time, caused the UEG to shut down Waypoint buoys throughout human space - cutting off colony worlds from communication with one another. However, the later framing of Ben Giraud as an instigator working for the Sapien Sunrise terror organisation was intended to let the widespread anger simmer with Giraud as the target, followed by trade being allowed to resume and the buoys brought back online.

Elsewhere, the NCA were busy corralling allies in various colonies by supplying military hardware in exchange for support. This was especially apparent in the Joint Occupation Zone, where the NCA were eager to use any opportunity they could to stoke unrest for the UEG. On Carrow, this included supplying the Surakan Militia Volunteers with military materiel including ex-UNSC ground and air vehicles, weapons, and ammunition. Vehicles supplied by the NCA included heavy-duty dropships and gunships like D77-TC Pelicans and AV-22 Sparrowhawks, alongside Warthogs and even an Elephant Heavy Recovery Vehicle. When the Surakans agreed to work alongside the UNSC and Sangheili colonists on Carrow for peace, the NCA cut their ties with the Surakans - with Ellis Gass suspecting that they may have even actively drawn the NCA's ire. Melody Azikiwe suspected that the Sapien Sunrise terrorist group were also responsible for supplying the Surakans with hardware.

On the remote human colony of Conrad's Point, the NCA rebels and mercenaries were undisciplined and poorly led by an unidentified colonel. The colonel would be relieved of command when Ilsa Zane arrived on the planet. Zane organized the rebels into a more formidable force, operating ruthlessly and killing anyone who didn't carry their weight. Under her command the NCA forces on the colony started to prepare for war with the UEG and accumulated a large amount of nuclear weaponry.

Created uprising and changing allegiances

Main articles: Created uprising, Skirmish on Conrad's Point, Skirmish on Laika III

In 2558, a Forerunner Guardian was activated on Conrad's Point, causing large-scale destruction to one of its cities. All NCA forces on the colony were sent to secure the site and sought to search the ruins for clues of the Guardian's next site of attack. Not willing to let the Guardian site fall into the NCA's hands, ONI tasked Commander Maya Sankar to go undercover as the insurrectionist leader "FERO" and gather information by infiltrating the NCA, with the help of the AI Black-Box. After rendezvousing with her contact Ari Rezneck, they moved into the NCA encampment and discovered that the insurgents were celebrating the apparent death of Spartan-II John-117. ONI discovered Zane's presence in the camp and had warned Sankar of an incoming UNSC airstrike. Gaining what information they could, they attempted to leave but the camp was put on lock down and were then approached by Zane herself. Zane revealed both of them to be ONI operatives, killed Rezneck, then attempted to kill Sankar but was halted when the airstrike began. As the compound was bombarded, Sankar fled the planet and Zane with her NCA forces attempted to stop her but failed. Tracking down Sankar's group to Laika III, Zane and her NCA forces shot down her ship and pursued her, intending to kill Sankar and then secure the planet's Guardian to use as a weapon against the UNSC. During their pursuit, they encountered UNSC and ONI forces and engaged them as the Guardian started to rise.

Unfortunately for all of the humans on the ground, the devastation caused by the Guardian was so great as to effectively render the battle meaningless. With most of the people on the ground incapacitaed by the Guardian, the site was left open for the arrival of the Banished, who were quick to round up prisoners and put them in an open pen. Ilsa Zane was quick to kill Amatus - one of the Jiralhanae guards who had sized her up as a threat - impressing the Chieftain in charge enough to allow her to dine with the Brutes and choose a victim for them to eat. Initially, Zane expected to simply wait out the Brutes until Admiral Drake would arrive with a force of NCA troops to rescue her from captivity. Unfortunately for Zane, this never happened, and Zane spent weeks and months waiting for help to arrive. Zane grew to resent the admiral for this, and slowly grew accustomed to her life among the Banished - eventually rising to the title of Bloodstar.

By May 2559, Zane - now fully-integrated within the Banished - was able to arrange a meeting with Admiral Drake and the bulk of the NCA forces holed up at an ex-Covenant space station in the Edolas system. This force included the NCA's flagship NCA D'artagnan, around two dozen light frigates, corvettes and merchant trawlers, and the remnants of Vata 'Gajat's mercenaries - now led by Tek. During the meeting, Zane demonstrated her distaste for Drake by tying him into his chair and executing him in front of the Banished War Chief Escharum, before swearing the NCA's loyalty to the Banished as a whole. Zane felt that Drake had critically missed the NCA's prime opportunity to kickstart their war with the UEG and was too cowardly to do what needed to be done - in turn risking that all of the support the NCA had worked to build would eventually abandon them and go their own ways. By this time, Zane noted that NCA agents were dispersed across numerous front lines, and the NCA fleet was stationed throughout the colonies, and soon after pledging their allegiance, Escharum quickly put his new allies in the New Colonial Alliance to work. By the end of September that year, the NCA had begun a renewed campaign of raiding throughout the colonies, with an attack on Cygnus. This, combined with a number of other resurgent threats in the era, was an active contribution to Adam Andrews' efforts to pivot the Optican corporation towards the production of supersoldiers.

When UNSC Nereid was powered-down by a Guardian pulse during the Created uprising, Kell Tanris speculated that the attack may be the work of the NCA or Kig-Yar raiders.

Military assets

"I didn't see a sympathetic resistance. These weren’t my people. I saw blood lust. Groups responsible for attacks on civilians. Half the people here were mercenaries. No one seemed to stand for anything, except vengeance; “From fire to blood.” Any banner you wanna fly to justify crushing skulls. This was the opposite of everything I had fought for as FERO."

— Maya Sankar regarding the NCA troops on Conrad's Point; a stark contrast from her attempts to channel the insurrection in a more peaceful direction.

The NCA's prowler emerging from stealth to retrieve Ilsa Zane from space.

Right from its earliest days, the NCA has employed a vast array of military assets to achieve its objectives. For the most part, these have consisted of materials stolen from the UNSC, with some small amounts of equipment of Covenant origin here and there. During the 2553 raid on UNSC Infinity, the NCA utilised a prowler of unidentified class to retrieve Ilsa Zane after she was ejected from one of Infinity's airlocks. In this raid, the NCA's operatives also used an Ibis-class freighter to board the carrier.

As the NCA's power and prestige grew, they were able to corral the support of thousands of followers. This included defecting SPARTAN-IVs Vladimir Scruggs and Ilsa Zane, with the latter used to train and instruct the various allied insurrectionist militias and mercenary organisations that worked alongside the NCA. The NCA's support of regional militias like that of the Surakans on Carrow demonstrated the depth of the NCA's stockpiles, with the organisation capable of supplying Warthogs, Elephants, Pelicans, and Sparrowhawks to the militia (among other weapons, vehicles, and munitions). Much of the NCA's regular personnel consisted of disaffected colonists with grudges against the UNSC - and considered by Maya Sankar to represent the more extreme end of the insurrectionist spectrum. Groups working within the NCA included mercenaries and partisans known for attacks on civilian targets - with no common uniting thread except vengeance - something symbolised in the common saying "from fire to blood".

By May 9, 2559, the NCA's forces included over 24 light frigates, corvettes, and converted merchant trawlers alongside the remnants of Vata 'Gajat's mercenaries and an ex-Covenant space station in the Edolas system, with further agents and fleets spread across the human colonies as the New Colonial Alliance grew large enough to bring war to the UNSC. At this time, the NCA's flagship was NCA D'artagnan, commanded by Drake himself.

A list of known NCA personnel can be found here.

List of appearances

• Halo: Initiation (First appearance)
• Halo: Escalation
• Hunt the Truth
• Halo: Tales from Slipspace
  • Undefeated (Mentioned only)
• Halo: Envoy (Mentioned only)
• Halo: The Third Life
• Halo: Venezian Sonata (Mentioned only)