Draco III

Draco III, also known simply as Draco, is a human colony world governed by the Unified Earth Government, known to be very peaceful and idyllic. Draco III is a watery planet with gold-tinted oceans, a result of how the sun reflected off the waves. The capital city of Draco III is New Albany. Naeori and ice sharks were two aquatic animals native to Draco III's seas. The world of Newsaka was located relatively close to Draco III. Draco III was the homeworld of Edward Buck.

History
When the planet was first colonized, the native naeori survived the Unified Earth Government's terraforming process by hiding deep beneath the surface of Draco III's water bodies. Shortly before the Human-Covenant War, an assassination attempt on Draco III's president occurred in New Albany's capitol building. While the assassination attempt had failed, transparent energy shielding was installed to protect the presidential balcony.

Draco III was invaded by the Covenant in 2545. The Covenant initially assaulted the planet from orbit, destroying a majority of Draco III's defenses. Upon conquering the planet, the Covenant captured and gathered many human survivors, including much of the planet's civilian population, who were then massacred by starving Unggoy and Kig-Yar. The planet was partially glassed by the Covenant, although most of the world remained intact; the Covenant chose to use the planet as a hunting ground, rather than bombard Draco's surface from orbit. After witnessing this massacre via satellite uplink, the SPARTAN-IIs destroyed the occupying Covenant forces. After the invasion, the planet remained uninhabited for the rest of the Human-Covenant War, but was eventually resettled by 2554 when New Albany was rebuilt by new colonists. The reclaimed colony was one of the first in the UNSC's renewed effort to re-establish contact with the colonies they had lost contact with or control of over the course of the war. The Office of Naval Intelligence judged that Draco III held strategic importance in this effort.

In 2554, Draco III was the site of insurrectionist activity when the United Rebel Front attempted to invade the planet and declare its independence from the UEG by occupying New Albany, taking hostages, and precipitating a stand-off between themselves and the ruling UEG. The UNSC responded militarily, with the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of Alpha-Nine under the command of Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck and a team of SPARTAN-IVs led by Sarah Palmer among the responders. The combined UNSC forces eliminated the majority of URF soldiers throughout the city, cornering the rebels in New Albany's capitol building where they had established a command post. The UNSC succeeded in retaking the building and killing all of the rebels, but at the cost of some soldiers, including Alpha-Nine's "rookie".

By 2558, the UNSC was offering flights once again to New Albany.

Locations

 * Lombard
 * Karnak
 * Leeward's
 * New Albany
 * Draco III capitol building
 * Draco Mercy
 * Gold Sea

Government and society
New Albany was the capital city of Draco III; the capitol building located in New Albany served as the seat of the Draconian colonial government. Debates were held, and laws were formed and passed in the capitol building's legislature chambers. Draco III's head of state—at least prior to the Covenant attack—was a president; the government of Draco III was presumably a presidential democracy. After the planet was resettled following the Human-Covenant War, few occupied any location outside of New Albany. Though, some settled in remote locations on the planet to start from scratch, while others took control of long-abandoned sites.

Fishing is a popular industry on Draco III, particularly around the city of Karnak. While fish farms filled Draconians' seafood demand, some fishers sought to capture the native, elusive naeori. Due to the animal's tenaciousness, only shocknets were capable of capturing them. Fishing for naeori and other large native creatures is considered to be the equivalent to Earth's American frontier, where Draconians could feel free from the rest of society.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: New Blood