Operation: TREBUCHET: Difference between revisions

{{Battle infobox

|name=Operation: TREBUCHET

|conflict=[[Insurrection]]

|date=[[2513]]–[[2525#February|February 3, 2525]]

|casual1=Four destroyers, several Marines

|casual2=Rebel soldiers, almost all space craft

}}

{{Quote|Operation: TREBUCHET had been the UNSC's answer to Insurrectionists, and we'd just been folded into the far-ranging series of operations aimed to "pacify" the Outer Colonies.|[[Gage Yevgenny]]<ref name="dirt141">'''Halo: Evolutions''', "Dirt", ''page 141''</ref>}}

==Prelude==

{{Main|Operation: CHARLEMAGNE}}

In [[2494|January of 2496]], UNSC forces finally responded to the government's requests and launched their campaign—[[Operation: CHARLEMAGNE]]—to retake Eridanus II, deploying a [[battle group]] to engage the makeshift insurrectionist defense fleet.{{Ref/Reuse|ENC44}} Through a series of counter operations, the UNSC managed to break Watts' hold on the planet and splinter the insurgent factions allied with him by eliminating their leaderships.{{Ref/Reuse|watts}} Eventually, the UNSC successfully regained control of the world, at the cost of four [[UNSC destroyer|destroyers]].{{Ref/Reuse|ENC44}} Following the Eridanus II rebellion, Watts realigned most of the remaining insurgent factions that had aided him under his command and formed the [[United Rebel Front]]. The URF continued to engage UNSC and CMA forces on a number of worlds across the [[Outer Colonies]].{{Ref/Reuse|watts}}

{{Quote|In 2513, an armed insurrection in this system was suppressed by the UNSC force—Operation: TREBUCHET.|Doctor [[Catherine Halsey]], referring to the insurrection on Eridanus II<ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', ''page 95'' (2010)</ref>}}

[[File:FoR - Iliad.png|thumb|250px|left|''Iliad'' engaging UNSC warships over Eridanus II]]

Meanwhile, a ground campaign was fought on Eridanus II, as units from the [[9th Marine Expeditionary Force]] were sent to the planet in force, hoping to capture leaders of the secessionist movement and pacify the population. One of these units, the [[1st Battalion]] of the [[21st Marine Division]] commanded by [[Ponder|Lieutenant Colonel Ponder]], was involved in a disastrous mission to try and capture a rebel leader—the second-in-command of the United Rebel Front—in [[Elysium City]]. When Ponder questioned the father of the rebel's wife, the man revealed himself to also be aligned with the URF and threatened to kill himself and his own daughter with a [[grenade]]. While Ponder realized the man was bluffing, an attached [[sniper]] drew an opposite conclusion and shot the rebel. The rebel pulled the grenade's pin out on reflex, which ended in the leader's family being killed and Ponder wounded and demoted.<ref name="ch112">'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 112''</ref>

===Spread across the colonies===

Fighting continued, now in the [[Inner Colonies|Inner Colony]] system of [[Epsilon Eridani system|Epsilon Eridani]]. When it was discovered that several major insurrectionist cells were operating on the industrial and populous colony world of [[Tribute]],<ref name="tribute">[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/locations/tribute '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Tribute'']</ref> a Marine battalion was posted at the planet, commanded by [[Aboim|Lieutenant Colonel Aboim]] and supported by the [[UNSC corvette|corvette]] {{UNSCShip|Bum Rush}} with air support from [[AV-14 Hornet]]s.<ref name="ch9">'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 9''</ref> The UNSC's initial attempts at eliminating the insurrectionists failed, leading to waves of bombings, assassinations, and UNSC raids in urban areas that resulted in high numbers of civilian casualties.{{Ref/Reuse|tribute}} During one of the battalion's operations on Tribute, the unit attempted to put a stop to rebel bomb makers. Two special warfare [[squad]]s, led by Staff Sergeants [[Avery Johnson]] and [[Nolan Byrne]], were involved in the disastrous attempt in stopping the bomb makers in June 2524.{{Ref/Reuse|ch9}} Although the rebel bomb makers were found and executed in a bomb shop in a struggling industrial town on Tribute, a truck lined with the bombs escaped to a [[Jim Dandy]] restaurant in the nearby [[Casbah City]]. When ordered to shoot the rebel with the bombs, Johnson's hesitation led to a rebel detonating her explosives. Three members of Byrne's team, as well as thirty-eight civilians, were killed. Byrne was critically injured in the explosion and Johnson was lightly wounded.<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 20''</ref> Byrne and Johnson are pulled from the system, and later sent to [[Harvest]].<ref>'''Halo: Contact Harvest''', ''page 48''</ref> Although the insurgents initially enjoyed some degree of support from a part of Tribute's population, it soon became clear that the rebels were often the cause of violence on the planet and their support and popularity quickly decreased.{{Ref/Reuse|tribute}}

The rebel base in the [[Eridanus system]] was marked for further attack, but for some reason, likely due to the greater threat the [[Covenant]] posed, it was left alone and mostly forgotten until [[2552]] when [[Danforth Whitcomb|Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb]] and a small crew including the [[artificial intelligence]] [[Cortana]] and several Spartans (including all but [[Samuel-034|one]] of the team that attacked the base) returned looking for repairs.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page 307''</ref> After being convinced to help by a Covenant attack, the rebels repaired the ''[[Ascendant Justice]]''-[[UNSC Gettysburg|''Gettysburg'']] to operational status, but the two ships were too badly damaged to be fully repaired before the Covenant returned. The UNSC forces were forced to abandon the rebels and the base and the rebels have been [[Massacre at Eridanus Secundus|presumably destroyed]].<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page 338''</ref>

==List of appearances==