Insurrectionist

The Insurrectionists, also known as insurgents and rebels, were groups of individuals devoted to complete liberation from the influence of the United Earth Government and the United Nations Space Command. They were the main enemy of the UNSC during the Insurrection, an undeclared civil war between the UNSC and numerous Insurrectionist factions. They were commonly called Innies by the UNSC Marines, a satirical name, as they actually "wanted out."

The most prominent alliance of Insurrectionist cells was led by a single political leader, while their military was led by a triumvirate of generals.

Background
Most insurrectionist movements stirred in the Outer Colonies in the late 25th century, where many colonists started to demand independence from the Earth government, which they considered to be oppressive and imperialistic. However, over the next two decades, the fighting spread to some of the Inner Colonies, particularly the Epsilon Eridani system, the heart of the UNSC military. At the early years of the Insurrection, the rebels used a variety of tactics to combat the UNSC, ranging from terrorist attacks to ship-to-ship combat.

Around 2511, the rebels based in the Eridanus system 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. Also in 2511, a major insurrectionist terrorist attack occurred on Mamore, when rebels detonated a nuclear device in the Haven arcology, killing two million people and injuring 8.3 million.

Starting in 2513, Operation: TREBUCHET was one of the largest and farthest reaching operations ever conducted in UNSC military history. It was devised in order to rid UNSC-controlled space of the insurrectionists once and for all. 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 Pyrrhic victory with the loss of four destroyers. Unfortunately, elements of the rebellion escaped into the nearby Eridanus asteroid belt.

In 2525, the Office of Naval Intelligence reported that it had uncovered a breach within UNSC Fleet Command: there were several spies for the Insurrectionists 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. 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 rebel soldiers and civilians who were present at the base.

Operation: TREBUCHET was promptly abandoned following the beginning of the Human-Covenant War in 2525, when the Covenant rapidly became the main antagonist of the UNSC. Still, many insurrectionist movements continued to live on, still causing problems for the UNSC and forcing them to fight a two-front war: one against the Covenant and one against the insurrectionists.

By 2531, the Insurrectionists' operations had been disrupted by a four-man team of SPARTAN supersoldiers known as Blue Team. The team disrupted rebel operations including Station Jefferson, the destroyer Origami, a saboteur cell on Reach, an incident in Micronesia, and a high-explosives manufacturing facility at an unspecified location. 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.

During the Human-Covenant War, Insurrectionists from the Outer Colony of Madrigal colonized and inhabited the Rubble, a sophisticated asteroid habitat orbiting the gas giant Hesiod. In the Rubble, an uneasy truce existed between the humans and the Kig-yar who had originally helped the Insurrectionists build the habitat. While the most of the Rubble's population were Insurrectionists, the Rubble also protected most of the surviving civilian populace of Madrigal.

By 2552, most remaining Insurrectionist factions had ceased active aggression against the UNSC in order to concentrate on surviving the seemingly unstoppable Covenant advance. Still, some rebel movements actively opposed the UNSC on worlds such as Harmony and Reach as late as 2552.

In 2552, a group of UNSC survivors from the Battle of Installation 04 and the Fall of Reach arrived in the Eridanus system aboard the /Ascendant Justice hybrid vessel. Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb requested repairs, threatening Governor Jacob Jiles with the destruction of his base; Jiles countered by aiming nuclear weapons at the vessel. However, the two soon revealed to one another that they had both been bluffing. Soon, a Covenant cruiser arrived in the system, though Cortana destroyed it with Ascendant Justice's sole functioning plasma torpedo turret. After the skirmish, Jiles issued repairs on the ship. However, more Covenant ships soon arrived and Whitcomb was forced to flee, leaving the rebels behind. It is most likely that Jiles and the rest of the Eridanus rebels were killed.

Factions and resources
The Insurrectionists have 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.

Eridanus cell
One of the most significant factions of Insurrectionists was based in the Eridanus system. Their primary base was hidden inside an asteroid, Eridanus Secundus, which prevented the UNSC from finding them for many years. Until 2525, they were led by Colonel Robert Watts, a turncoat UNSC officer. In 2525, a group of SPARTAN-IIs infiltrated the base and captured Colonel Watts, severely hampering the Insurrectionists' operations.

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. They received almost everything in their armament and ships from pirating other vessels, including both civilian merchant vessels and UNSC warships. The soldiers of the Eridanus cell were armed with MA3 Assault Rifles and HMG-38 and "Confetti Maker" machine guns.

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.

111 Tauri cell
One group, led by General Howard Graves, operated at Camp New Hope on the planet Victoria in the 111 Tauri System. This cell possessed an extensive paramilitary operation. 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.

They also possessed a number of arms, ranging from military grade MAKO Drones and FENRIS Nuclear Warheads to Archer missiles and .30 caliber "Confetti Maker" machine guns. They even managed to acquire the destroyer Origami. 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."

Howard was killed, and his cell destroyed, by SPARTAN Blue Team in 2531.

Secessionist Union
The Secessionist Union was a small insurrection group on the planet, Harvest. Their leader, Jerald Mulkey Ander, was assassinated by Corporal Avery Johnson during Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE.

Unidentified rebel group
An unnamed rebel group operated against the UNSC on the planets Harvest and Arcadia, with possible influence on other colonies. The seal of this organization is of a stylized white fist on a red circle, and is found on nearly all of their units. They mainly used stolen technology from the UNSC.

Freedom and Liberation Party
The Freedom and Liberation Party was a terrorist group on Mamore. The group claimed responsibility for the Haven arcology bombing in 2511, and later demanded that the Colonial Military Administration leave the Eridanus sector.

Tactics
Different groups used different tactics.


 * The Insurrectionists of Epsilon Eridani preferred to use terrorist tactics, striking targets with explosives to sow fear and chaos in the region.


 * A common tactic was to use performance-enhancing drugs known as rumbledrugs that radically increased the subject's physical strength and pain tolerance, but would also cause irreversible physiological damage that would kill the user shortly after. Notably, they were used to combat the SPARTANs due to the temporary superhuman strength they granted.


 * Another prominent group focused more on space combat, capturing UNSC warships, such as the corvette Callisto and the frigate Bellicose, and turning them against the UNSC navy in bloody ship-to-ship duels throughout the Outer Colonies.

Notable Insurrectionists

 * Jerald Mulkey Ander
 * Peter Bonifacio
 * Badia Campbell
 * Lyrenne Castilla
 * Diego Esquival
 * Howard Graves
 * Jacob Jiles
 * Jason Kincaide
 * Partch
 * Soren-066

Trivia

 * In skirmish mode in Halo Wars, most empty bases and unoccupied Forerunner artifacts are occupied by insurrectionists. The player must defeat them to claim the area.
 * Jorge-052, though supportive of the concept of colonial self-rule, nevertheless condemned the insurrectionists, as he disagreed with their methods.
 * During the Battle of Psi Serpentis, insurrectionists actually helped Admiral Cole. During the battle, an insurrectionist fleet led by the Bellicose suddenly entered the battle and launched a blitzkrieg-style attack against the Covenant fleet, decimating it, then just as it appeared the insurrectionist fleet jumped right back into slipspace. Ironically, this was the same ship Cole engaged three times earlier in his career.

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars
 * Halo: Reach
 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo: Contact Harvest
 * Halo: The Cole Protocol
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * Pariah
 * Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian
 * Dirt
 * The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole
 * Halo Legends
 * Origins

Related links

 * Frieden
 * Koslovics