Editing UNSC Rubicon

|commission=[[2553#December|December 2553]]{{Ref/Reuse|hitd c2}}

'''UNSC ''Rubicon''''' was a [[UNSC starship|ship]] in service with the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]], commissioned for the first manned mission to [[Installation 00|the Ark]] following the [[Battle of Installation 00]].<ref name="provenance">'''[[Eleventh Hour reports]]''', ''Report 4: Provenance''</ref><ref name="hitd c2">'''Halo: Hunters in the Dark''', Chapter 2</ref> The shipboard AI was [[Curator]].{{Ref/Reuse|mythos}}

==Service history==

The ''Rubicon'' was commissioned in [[2553|December 2553]] in response to the loss of automated probes sent to [[Installation 00]] earlier that year.{{Ref/Reuse|hitd c2}} The ship was dispatched to the Ark from [[Luna]], carrying specialist [[remote contact team]]s, ONI scientific personnel, and an array of probes. When the ''Rubicon'' arrived at the installation, a strange signal was found to be emanating from its surface.{{Ref/Reuse|provenance}} Due to the damage dealt to the Ark's life support systems, the RCTs were forced to brave extremely hostile conditions on the surface in search of the signal's origin. Contact was lost with all teams after eight days; only [[RCT-06]] returned, having sustained heavy casualties. However, they succeeded at recovering the beacon's source - the debris of [[343 Guilty Spark]], the former [[Monitor]] of [[Halo Array|Halo]] [[Installation 04]].{{Ref/Reuse|provenance}}

The science team questioned the damaged monitor on his origins, who obliged the humans due to their authority as [[Reclaimer]]s. Over the course of the interrogation, Spark breached the ''Rubicon's'' firewall several times, much to the team's dismay. Spark powered down after concluding his story and his damaged remains were subsequently ejected into space; unknown to the crew he had already transferred his consciousness to the shipboard computers. After subduing the [[Curator|onboard AI]] and taking control of the ship, he explained to the crew that he was going to resume his quest to find the [[Librarian]] and to restore his old friends, [[Riser]] and [[Vinnevra]], back to life. Asserting that the Librarian was still alive, he put the crew to sleep and had the ''Rubicon'' proceed to her location.<ref>'''[[Halo: Primordium]]'''</ref><ref name="mythos">'''[[Halo Mythos]]'''</ref>

In order to prepare the ship for the journey he planned, Spark used one of the Ark's remaining active [[slipspace portal]]s to return the ''Rubicon'' to the galaxy with the intention of taking it to the [[shield world]] [[Trove]] to get an [[upgrade seed]], unaware that the Etran Harborage had been [[Battle of Trove|destroyed]] in [[2531]] by the crew of the {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}}.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 143''</ref> However, there were complications after Spark took control and the ''Rubicon'' crashed into the planet [[Geranos-a]] in the [[Ibycus system]]. The crash killed everyone on board, though Spark survived by transferring himself into an [[armiger]] salvaged by the ''Rubicon'' from the Ark. Spark buried the crew in a mass grave on the planet and calculated that he was only 62.35% culpable in the tragedy. Spark sent out a distress signal that was eventually picked up by a cargo ship three years later in [[2557]] and passed on to [[UNSC Armed Forces|the military]]. Having learned of Spark's story, ONI intended to capture the AI for themselves, but the wreckage was reached by the [[salvager]] vessel ''[[Ace of Spades]]'' first. The crew of the ''Ace of Spades'' recovered Spark and escaped with him. As part of a deal with ONI to get their seized property back, the ''Ace of Spades'' crew turned over everything they had salvaged from the ''Rubicon'' in August, including a data core they claimed held Spark but in reality held a splinter of him instead.<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]'''</ref>

Search-and-rescue teams were sent to the area after contact with ''Rubicon'' was lost, but they failed to find any trace of the ship.{{Ref/Reuse|provenance}} ''Rubicon'' was formally declared lost on [[2557|July 2, 2557]].<ref name="catalog">[https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_postsm2969311_Catalog-Interaction.aspx#post2969311 '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Catalog Interaction (post 2969311)'']</ref> though a data drop containing a record of Spark's story was recovered in late [[2555]].<ref>'''[[Halo: Renegades]]''', ''page 96''</ref>

*The ship is named after the [[Wikipedia:Rubicon|Rubicon]], a river in Italy known as the site where Julius Caesar uttered the famous phrase "alea iacta est" or "the die is cast" as he and his army crossed the river. Due to the historical significance of the event, "Rubicon" has become an idiom for a point of no return. Given this meaning, the name of the ''Rubicon'' may be a reference to another ONI vessel, the {{Class|Point Blank|prowler}} {{UNSCShip|Point of No Return}}.

{{Ref/Sources}}

[[Category:UNSC ships]]