Outer Colonies: Difference between revisions

{{Era|UNSC|HCW|Post}}

{{Quote|The UNSC needs every man and woman patrolling the Outer Colonies. Between the raiders and the insurrectionists, it's a wonder it all hasn't fallen apart.|Lieutenant [[Jacob Keyes]]<ref>'''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''', ''page 35'' (2010)</ref>}}

===Insurrection===

{{Quote|Or maybe the UNSC keeps overreacting and causing the Outer Colonies to not want any part of all this. A million casualties now, caught in the crossfire, since TREBUCHET started .No one's going to ignore that. The civilians will keep cheering the rebels on.|[[Felicia Sanderson]]<ref name="dirt117">'''Halo: Evolutions''', "[[Dirt]]", ''page 117''</ref>}}

Earth and the Inner Colonies would become heavily dependent on materials supplied by the Outer Colonies, which prompted the Unified Earth Government to keep them under its control. However, as human-controlled space grew in volume, Earth began to lose its logistical ability to control the far-flung colonies.<ref name="enc43"/> By [[2490]], the Outer Colonies encapsulated the Inner Colonies, in addition to surpassing them in numbers. With increased trade restrictions and taxes set up by the CMA, the tension between the Outer Colonies and Earth increased all the more. This caused many inhabitants of Earth and the Inner Colonies feel threatened by the increasingly hostile Outer Colonies, which now literally surrounded them. Others thought that through diplomacy over enough time, the situation between the core worlds and the Outer Colonies could be stabilized. Despite this, the UNSC increased their military presence in the Outer Colonies, which would in turn provoke them to increased aggression, eventually sparking numerous brushfire wars across the Outer Colonies, collectively known as the [[Insurrection]].<ref name="history"/>

===Human-Covenant War===

{{Quote|Many of you may have come from Outer Colonies. Colonies that fell to the alien Covenant while the UNSC took their time to enact methods of dealing with the aliens. Colonies that you know were not as well protected as they could have been, because the UNSC's loyalties are to Earth first, the Inner Colonies next, and the Outer Colonies last.|[[Maria Esquival]] of [[the Rubble]]<ref name="hcp206">'''[[Halo: The Cole Protocol]]''', ''page 206''</ref>}}

Beginning in [[2525]], [[Harvest]] was the first Outer Colony and human world to [[First Battle of Harvest|fall]] to the [[Covenant]]'s genocidal wrath.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''pages 96-98'' (2003); ''pages 118-120'' (2010)</ref> The technologically superior alien empire succeeded in pushing its way through the Outer Colonies, [[glassing]] the human worlds in its path. Vice Admiral [[Preston Cole]] mounted a defense in the Outer Colonies against the Covenant; despite his tactical prowess in [[space warfare]], the Covenant still proved to be unstoppable. By [[2535]], with the [[Battle of Jericho VII|destruction]] of [[Jericho VII]], most Outer Colonies had been lost.<ref>'''Halo Encyclopedia''', ''page 205'' (2011)</ref> In the same year, Cole had established the [[Cole Protocol]] that forbade human vessels from retreating directly to a human-occupied system after an encounter with the Covenant, to prevent leading the Covenant to other colonies.<ref>'''Halo: The Fall of Reach''', ''page 159'' (2010)</ref> Some Outer Colonists were displeased with how long it had taken for such a protocol to be established, as many Outer Colonies had been destroyed by the time of its creation.<ref name="hcp206"/><ref>'''Halo: Evolutions''', "[[Dirt]]", ''page 131''</ref> Meanwhile, the war had finally moved closer towards the Inner Colonies. The Inner Colonies that were located around the border between the Outer and Inner Colonies soon became staging points for the UNSC.<ref name="hcp26">'''Halo: The Cole Protocol''', ''pages 26-31''</ref>