United Nations Space Command

UNSC
	File:UNSC.jpg
Government overview
Type:	Democracy
Societal overview
Official language(s):	English (Primary), Spanish, Swahili
Historical overview
Formation:	between 2160 and 2164

The United Nations Space Command (UNSC) may be the prime human government in the Halo universe, though this organization may only be the defense agency under the control of the Colonial Administration Authority. The UNSC's military arm is called the United Nations Space Command Defense Force, they are most commonly seen defending planets. Stations such as the Cairo Station are part of the UNSCDF. During the events of Halo 2 the UNSC fought the Covenant above Earth by defending their planet against all odds.

There are several breakaway factions opposed to the Colonial Administration and UNSC as well, including the United Rebel Front.

Background

File:180px-Marines halo 2.jpg

The Marines, the UNSC's main ground force.

The UNSC was formed by the United Nations when over-population on Earth started becoming a problem in the early 22nd century. The UNSC is run by HIGHCOM (which may be akin to the Pentagon of the USA's defense apparatus) and is Earth's premiere defense against the Covenant. The Navy houses the divisions of Marines (including the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers), and Office of Naval Intelligence, and the fleet. Originally designed to keep the peace between neighboring planets and star systems, when certain rebellious factions began to rise in the late 2510s the UNSC was forced to police its colonies to keep privateers and pirates from raiding them. After Harvest, a colony planet, was destroyed, one badly damaged UNSC ship returned to tell the tale of monstrous alien ships that utterly destroyed the colony. The UNSC doubled its shipbuilding to bolster themselves against the Covenant, but it was useless, for the Covenant's technology was far superior to mankind's. The UNSC fortified major positions such as Reach, the UNSC's main shipyards and command center, and Earth. So far, the UNSC is losing the Covenant war, and the only end in sight seems to be utter annihilation.

File:3odst.jpg

The Orbital Drop Shock Troops, a special forces unit of the UNSC.

Recently, the Covenant Civil War has seen the Arbiter and his people, the Elites, join forces with the UNSC against the remainder of the Covenant in a desperate fight for survival.

History

Main article: History of the UNSC

The United Nations Space Command was formed as the result of a series of brutal wars across the Solar System between 2160 and 2164, most prominently among them the Jovian Moons Campaign, The Rain Forest Wars, and a series of battles on Mars.^[1] These conflicts were centered around UN clashes with dissident political movements, the most important of which were the "Koslovics" and the "Frieden."

Covenant War

Main article: Human-Covenant War

The Human-Covenant War started on October 7, 2525 when a UNSC battle group entered the Harvest system and discovered that everything on the planet has been completely incinerated and the surface melted down to glass. In orbit around the remains of the colony world was a single alien ship, which proceeded to attack the battle group, destroying all ships except one. Intercepted communications identify the enemy as The Covenant. The message "Your destruction is the will of the Gods... and we are their instrument" is broadcast in English.^[2]. This began the Covenant War, which has raged for 27 years. Since the Battle of Harvest, the UNSC, by the time of 2552, only has 536 colony worlds left. In a desperate move to stop the Covenant, they sent a group of Spartans to capture one of their ships to find their homeworld and capture a prophet. But 2 days before the operation, a massive battle fleet of 314 Covenant warships came out of Slipspace near Reach to recover an artifact and destroy the UNSC base there.