| United Rebel Front | |
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The United Rebel Front is a complex, well organized faction of human insurrectionists devoted to complete liberation from the influence of the United Earth Government and the United Nations Space Command. It is led by a single political leader, while its military is led by a triumvirate of generals.[1] The United Rebel Front is not a singular group, instead containing many cells across human-controlled space.
History
Around 2511, the Eridanus rebels had overthrown the colonial government of Eridanus II and largely controlled all activities within the system. The UNSC responded harshly, seeking to put down the rebellion forcibly.
In 2513, a space battle occurred between the Eridanus rebels and the UNSC as part of Operation: TREBUCHET. During the battle, the UNSC achieved a pyrric victory with the loss of four destroyers. Unfortunately, elements of the rebellion escaped into the nearby Eridanus Asteroid Belt.[2]
In 2525, the Office of Naval Intelligence reported that it had uncovered a breach within UNSC Fleet Command: there were several spies for the URF within FLEETCOM. They had also discovered that the rebels were led by Colonel Robert Watts and that they had connections to the outside world and were being supplied by outside sources such as the cargo freighter Laden.[3] That year, a group of SPARTANs underwent a covert operation and captured Watts from the very heart of the rebel operations base, the rebel stronghold at Eridanus Secundus, killing many URF soldiers and civilians who were present at the base.
By 2531, the United Rebel Front's operations had been disrupted by a four-man team of SPARTAN supersoldiers known as Blue Team. The team disrupted URF operations including Station Jefferson, the destroyer URF Origami, a saboteur cell on Reach, an incident in Micronesia, and a high-explosives manufacturing facility at an unspecified location.[4] In response, the rebels gathered three stolen FENRIS Nuclear Warheads at Camp New Hope in a way so sloppy that the Office of Naval Intelligence easily noticed, then contacted the UNSC and offered to trade the nukes in exchange for medicine for their people suffering from Boren's Syndrome. They then set a trap for Blue Team, whom they anticipated would be sent. During the raid on Camp New Hope, the rebels successfully ambushed John-117, Frederic-104, Kelly-087 and Linda-058 by using an antigravity plate. However, the rebels were unaware of the presence of a fifth SPARTAN; a new addition to the team, Kurt-051, who had avoided the trap. Kurt was able to free the other members of Blue Team and they then retreated from the camp with the recovered warheads before the camp could launch a proper counterattack. General Howard Graves was killed in the process.
In 2552, the SPARTANs returned to the belt aboard the Template:UNSCship-Ascendant Justice hybrid vessel to make repairs. Governor Jacob Jiles was the leader of the rebels at that time. Jiles engaged in a brief "showdown" with USNC Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, in which Whitcomb threatened to fire Ascendant Justice's plasma cannons, while Jiles claimed to aim nuclear weapons at Ascendant Justice. The two soon revealed to one another that all but one of Whitcomb's plasma cannons were nonfunctional and that Jiles' nukes were fake. Suddenly, a Covenant cruiser that had followed the trail of the vessel appeared in the system. After a short fight, the Covenant ship was destroyed after dealing severe damage to the Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice. Several days later, three dozen Covenant vessels appeared in the system, forcing the Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice to retreat. The Covenant then eradicated the base entirely. The Eridanus rebels were massacred in the process.
Resources
The United Rebel Front has a highly organized intelligence division and a far-flung network of facilities, comprised of a network of different rebel movements, such as the Eridanus rebels. They have commanded facilities across human-controlled space, including Eridanus Secundus, Camp New Hope on planet Victoria, and Station Jefferson, which was located in the asteroid belt of Eridanus. They also had a high explosives manufacturing facility, operations of an unknown kind on Micronesia, and a saboteur cell on Reach. All these operations were shut down by the SPARTANs of Blue Team.[4]
Camp New Hope had an impressive security system, even by SPARTAN standards: motion and seismic sensors, a triple layering of guards, trained dogs and overhead MAKO Drones. [5]
They also have a number of arms, ranging from military grade MAKO Drones and FENRIS Nuclear Warheads to Archer Missiles and .30 caliber "Confetti Maker" machine guns. [5] They used Parabola-class Freighters such as the Laden, to ship diverse equipment, resources, and weapons from planet systems to their base. They even managed to acquire the destroyer Origami.[6] Graves' rebel cell also made use of a jury-rigged Warthog Armored Personnel Carrier.
They possess some "old technology that never panned out", such as the antigravity plate Graves' cell used to fool the SPARTANs' armor systems into thinking they were in a 10 G environment, temporarily giving them decompression sickness, otherwise known as "the bends."
The Eridanus-based rebels utilized numerous vessels, including upgraded Pelican dropships, Mako-class Corvettes, and Chiroptera-class Stealth Vessels as an improvised fleet. They had at least a hundred such vessels in their fleet at any time. Two Laden-class Freighters were also used as part of their improvised fleet, being used to tow the damaged hybrid vessel Gettysburg/Ascendant Justice back to Eridanus Secundus. They received almost everything in their armament and ships from pirating other vessels, including both civilian merchant vessels and UNSC warships.
Their ability to infiltrate the UNSC ranks caused the UNSC to keep a small orbital force in the system to respond to rebel attacks. Another reason for their success was their location, which was extremely difficult and time-consuming to discover and was easily defended against even medium-scale assaults.
Sources
- ^ Halo Encyclopedia, page ???
- ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, pages 75-76
- ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, pages 76-77
- ^ a b Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 36
- ^ a b Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 31
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 37