Siege of Aethia

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Concurrent:	Operation: TREBUCHET
Next:	Skirmish at Theta Ursae Majoris
Siege of Aethia
Conflict:	Insurrection
Date:	2518 - 2521
Location:	Aethia, Meridian, Hestia system
Outcome:	UNSC victory
Details Belligerents United Nations Space Command Meridian Air Force Sundered Legion

The Siege of Aethia, formally known by the UNSC as Operation: OPEN GRAVE, was a prolonged engagement conducted by joint United Nations Space Command-Meridian Air Force forces against the insurrectionists of the Sundered Legion. The siege took place between 2518 and 2521.

Prelude

The Siege of Aethia's origins lie in the decades of fighting between UNSC and Colonial Military Authority forces against the Sundered Legion, which emerged in 2495 - only a few years after the brutal conclusion of the rebellion on Far Isle. Between 2495 and 2499, the Sundered Legion (in cooperation with the Secessionist Union) maintained consistent brushfire conflicts across Meridian, escalating their actions once the CMA left the colony in 2499 due to the fallout of the VERITAS scandal. The departure of the CMA allowed the Sundered Legion to launch an attack on the city of Bretagne, paving the way for further uprisings in the regions of Aagen and Sabudia, cementing the Legion's foothold on the planet.

To counter the growing insurrectionist threat, the Unified Earth Government began to train up and provise for a local national military for the Meridian government, headed by the Prospector Party and its leader Charles Zdenek. With the CMA still undergoing its downfall and assimilation into the UNSC, redeploying the military directly was not an option; instead, ex-CMA pilots were used to staff the Meridian Air Force, and the colonial military as a whole was provided with top-tier equipment to continue the war against the Sundered Legion. This was taken as a provocation by the Legion, who in turn continued to stoke tensions amid the backdrop of the wider ongoing colonial insurrection throughout the colonies. Despite the moon's growing economy, the vast investment of UEG resources was seen by some as a way of ensuring stability and control over a strategic world - one with vital industry connections such as the manufacture of Chalybs Defense Solutions' M808 Scorpion tanks.

The siege

In 2516, tensions on Meridian boiled over and the Sundered Legion began attacks across the moon - even managing to steal a handful of Scorpion tanks for themselves. This action finally prompted the UNSC to respond with force in a mission dubbed Operation: OPEN GRAVE. In 2518, a joint force of the UNSC and the Meridian Air Force began a strike into the country of Aethia with the goal of swiftly destroying the organisation. The battle began with air strikes conducted by the Meridian Air Force, but the rebel forces held out against initial expectations. As such, what was initially intended to be a swift engagement turned into a brutal and bloody multi-year conflict across Aethia. A larger-scale UNSC intervention began in 2521 thanks to additional resources from the ongoing Operation: TREBUCHET, resulting in the Sundered Legion's total defeat.

Aftermath

The Siege of Aethia was a pivotal event for Meridian; the defeat of the Sundered Legion on the world proved to be the definitive end of any organised attempts at insurrection on Meridian, something which would ensure the world's stability as a strategic hub well into the Human-Covenant War. Despite this, some rebel holdouts did remain, though these were never able to achieve the same numbers as the Legion at its height; this is due to the generous terms offered by the UEG for rank-and-file members of the Legion. While the military leadership of the Sundered Legion were tried in UEG courts, all ground-level members of the organisation were offered amnesty.

The buildup of Meridian's colonial military ultimately ensured that the planet was able to hold out for three years against a brutal siege conducted by the Covenant later in the Human-Covenant War.

List of appearances

• Halo 5: Guardians (First mentioned)
• Halo: Battle Born
  • Free Frontier Education: The Sundered Legion (Mentioned only)