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Allison Spurgeon
AlSpurgeon
Biographical Information

ALIAS

  • Butcher of Ardent Valiance
  • Dijunmoh[1]
  • Madame Hades

DATE OF BIRTH

December 29, 2497

HOMEWORLD

Miridem

Physical Information

HEIGHT

177 centimeters

WEIGHT

68 kilograms

HAIR COLOR

Auburn

EYE COLOR

Blue

CYBERNETICS

Command neural interface

Political/Military Information

RANK

Vice Admiral (O-9)

SERVICE NUMBER

00681-30422-AS

BRANCH

Navy

UNIT

Home Fleet

COMMANDS HELD

AFFILIATION

United Nations Space Command

[Source]
"This peace is a five-year intermission at best. The Covenant's successors are varied and far-reaching; we need to be ready when they come for us again."
―Spurgeon took an active role in organizing and shaping the UNSC Navy's rapid remilitarization after the war.

Vice Admiral Allison Spurgeon (service number 00681-30422-AS) is a UNSC Navy officer and current Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCNO) succeeding Danforth Whitcomb after he was killed in action in the final months of the war. Spurgeon is a highly decorated veteran of the Human-Covenant War, earning a reputation in the later half of the war for implementing the controversial "Hades Raids" in which the tactics caused friction and unease among her fellow senior officers. Spurgeon's unpopular, yet effective strategies caught the ire of Covenant leadership in 2544, putting a high price on her head. Her successful raids had become an irremovable thorn in the Covenant's war effort, and soon enough their frustrations in failing to eliminate her finally reached the tipping point in the aftermath of the Battle of 19 Caelum, where she'd earn the title of the Butcher of Ardent Valiance after causing the complete destruction of the fleet of the same name. The Covenant prepared to launch an overwhelming force to annihilate her fleet, but fortunately for Spurgeon she was recalled to Earth in 2545 to aid in the organization of the Home Fleet.

She commanded her infamous battle group from the UNSC Hades Anthem, an Epoch-class heavy carrier for nearly a decade until it was destroyed during the Battle of Earth by an ORS-class heavy cruiser. With the situation on Earth grim, Spurgeon was evacuated from the battle by an ONI prowler to a secure location and briefed on a contingency for the continuation of the human race in the event that Earth was lost.

Spurgeon would return to Earth after hostilities in the Sol system came to a close. She and Joseph Harper would reorganize the badly depleted Home Fleet over fears of the Sangheili breaking the fragile truce between the two species. When tensions began to cool, Spurgeon was in the running to take command of the UNSC Theseus but was later appointed as Terrence Hood's second-in-command.

When Spurgeon was appointed as Deputy Chief, she also inherited a number of Admiral Whitcomb's classified projects, including his brainchild, Project NOVA. When reports of the destruction of Joyous Exultation and Glyke reached Sanghelios, she already found herself at odds with Hood, who wanted the project quietly shut down as not to provoke humanity's new alien allies when claims of a human "planet-killer" began to circulate across Sanghelios. Regardless of her objections, Hood overruled her and ordered NOVA to be decommissioned and its details sealed away indefinitely. Still believing that Project NOVA was necessary for the defense of humanity, Spurgeon was approached by Serin Osman in 2555 and offered to continue the project in secret under the administration of ONI.

Biography

Early Life

Allison was born on December 29, 2497 as an only child to UEG Senator Elsa Sloane and prominent UNSC Naval officer, Gordon Spurgeon a high-ranking member of the Admiralty. Though she was born on the inner colony world of Miridem, Allison would be raised on Earth in Sydney as her family permanently relocated there to continue their political and military careers. This would put Allison is close proximity to some of the most powerful and influential people in human space, who she admired and would greatly affect her future career decisions. Growing up on Earth, Allison would meet her childhood friend Richard Sekibo, who was the son of a representative from the Outer Colonies. The two would develop a very close bond, eventually evolving into a romantic relationship as teenagers. As they reached adulthood, their affection for each other began to conflict with their career paths. Richard wanted to follow his father's footsteps and champion peace between the Outer Colonies and Earth, inheriting his family's charismatic personality. Whereas Allison would be attending the Mare Nubium Naval Acedemy. Knowing that contact between the two would be harder to achieve over the next couple of years, they would break off their relationship on good terms. Though they would go their separate ways, the two would keep correspondence with each other for the next several decades.

While at Luna OCS, some of her peers quietly accused her of nepotism, as her acceptance had been fast-tracked by the academy, possibly by her own father who had noticed her enthusiasm to join the Navy. Despite peer pressure and nasty rumors circulating around the academy, Allison focused on her studies more determined than ever to prove that her family name was not the only reason she was there. A year into the academy, Allison took an interest in analyzing strategies used by both UNSC battle groups and Insurrectionist flotillas, intrigued by the guerrilla tactics implemented by some separatist groups. Using a mix of slipspace ambushes and baiting their own ships some insurrectionist groups managed to score rare victories against UNSC battle groups, inflicting humiliating defeats on what was considered an invincible force at the time. Years later, Allison would copy and intensify these strategies, using them against the Covenant to devastating effect.

"Carver was horrified. So convinced the war was his fault that he put a bullet in his head. Some still refuse to admit it, but he also predicted more than just the insurrection. If only he knew how right he was."
―Allison, after being on the Covenant, April 2526.

Allison noticed that data recovered from Operation: TREBUCHET paired with the Carver Findings, humanity was leading itself down a path to perpetual civil war, a thought that was reinforced when TREBUCHET would expand to other Outer Colonies, the number of insurrectionist uprisings would inflate even more, creating an endless cycle of civil unrest. Diving deeper into the Carver Findings, she learned of the prediction that the Insurrection could only be interrupted or postponed by the arrival of a greater force. Carver indicated that this "greater force" included but was not limited to: the complete fracturing of human space into multiple interstellar states and extraterrestrial intervention and/or invasion.

"If the colonies cannot be stabilized by military involvement, only a greater force (natural or unnatural) can bring an end to human strife."

Allison would be reminded of this ominous prediction five years after graduating from Mare Nubium Academy in 2520, being briefed about a new threat that demanded the destruction of humanity; the Covenant.

Pre-War Service

Ambush at Aleria

After graduating from the naval academy on Luna, Allison was assigned as a weapon systems engineer to the UNSC Kepler's Journey a Gladius-class patrol corvette tasked with patrolling the border regions of the Inner and Outer Colonies that ran along the Agrobelt. She continued her tour aboard the Kepler's Journey for three years until a reactor leak in the ship's auxiliary fission reactor was discovered in the engine room. The Kepler would undergo repairs for half a month while the Navy investigated the cause of the leak at refit station Anchor 22 in orbit over Cascade. Allison and the crew spent the next two weeks on leave in the city of Mindoro, happy to be back on familiar soil for the first time in nearly a year. While residing at a military base near Mindoro, Allison began an ill-advised intimate relationship with an enlisted Army trooper from the colony's garrison. Though she saw it as nothing more than a fling, her commanding officer put her and the rest of the crew under scrutiny for their "reckless escapades while on leave". Worrying of disciplinary action, the relationship ended as fast as it began and soon the Kepler was operational again.

UNSCIsauria
Last image of the Isauria before being destroyed over Aleria.

With the repairs finalized and and their consumables restocked, the Kepler left dry dock and was tasked with escorting the UNSC Isauria (AE-12), a Pallas-class ammunition ship that was en-route to support UNSC forces during the Andesian rebellion. The escort would travel through the Agrobelt and break off at Arcadia towards Aleria before reaching their final destination. The route was reported to be safe, as a UNSC patrol had traveled the same route to Aleria a week earlier. But when coming of out slipspace in the Elduros system the Kepler and Isauria were ambushed by Alerian insurgents, composed of two heavily armed freighters and a hijacked Mako-class corvette, the CMA Nomad. The Isauria was crippled as it exited slipspace, its engines were hit by an archer missile from the insurgent corvette leaving in vulnerable. Meanwhile the Kepler engaged the freighters, easily destroying both with its own archer missiles and a single shot from its MAC that gutted one of the freighters and rupturing its reactor, killing everyone on board instantly. Despite the Isauria's attempts to fend off the Nomad with point defense, the support ship was suffering critical failures of its systems and fires across multiple decks. The Kepler's Journey positioned itself to intercept the Nomad, but the enemy corvette fired its mass drivers at the Isauria, cutting through the ship to the engine room and destroying the reactor, causing the entire ship to explode. Closing in on the Nomad, Kepler fired its MAC, hitting one of its engines and disabling it. Dead in the water, the Nomad released the remainder of its archer missiles at the Kepler, the corvette responded with its Rampart point defense guns, intercepting all but one missile that detonated near the Kepler's bow, destroying its sensor array and disabling most of its weapon systems. The explosion killed three crewmen and injured five others, including Allison who was knocked unconscious. Aside from its Ramparts, the Kepler's Journey was defenseless, now at the mercy of the insurgent ship. Moving in for the kill, the Nomad's reactor inexplicably exploded[2], a lucky break for the severely damaged Kepler. The corvette left a distress beacon for the Isauria, fled the system before anymore insurgent ships arrived and limped its way back to Cascade for repairs and aid for its wounded crew.

Hopeful Recovery

"I'm truly grateful for everything Captain Moon has done for me. If it wasn't for her, I might not be where I am today."
―Her time on the Hopeful allowed her to regain much of her mental and emotional stability.

Returning to Cascade, Allison and other crewmen that were wounded were moved to a temporary medical wing attached to one of the colony's naval stations. Along with the Kepler's weapons and sensors, the basic medical bay aboard the ship had also been destroyed, making the treatment of the wounded impossible, leaving them in critical condition. Hours later, the UNSC Hopeful arrived in orbit over Cascade and had the wounded transferred under their care. Allison had sustained multiple bone fractures, a concussion, and a great deal of blood. She'd later be told how lucky she was to still be alive, as the amount of blood she lost put her at great risk of death. Allison would remain in recovery for the next five months, as doctors aboard the Hopeful were concerned with the long term effects of the concussion she suffered from.

CaptainMoon
Captain Moon Ji-Woo, Allison's mentor.

By January 2524, Allison's had healed enough that allowed her to freely walk around the Hopeful. She was eager to learn what had happened, and how long it would be until she could return to the Kepler's Journey. Unfortunately, she discovered the fates of the three crewmen, and learned of another sailor that had been so badly wounded that he was left in a vegetative state. Like the opening of a floodgate, the events that took place leading up to the disaster came rushing from her memory, leaving her overwhelmed with emotional stress. It didn't take long for survivor's guilt to rule over her mind. Many of the station's doctors became concerned for her health as she was left bedridden with grief and refused to eat. Debate regarding whether she should be discharged from the military and sent back to Earth began to set in, and Allison's future was put into jeopardy.

Commander of the Hopeful, Captain Moon Ji-Woo[3] took a personal interest in Allison's condition, and began paying her frequent visits. An old friend of her father's, Captain Moon was a former psychologist and naval physician and has treat a large number of cases similar to Allison's. Captain Moon dedicated much of her time aiding Allison in regarding her physical, emotional, and mental strength, stating that she would "do anything for the Spurgeon family". At first, Allison was reluctant to accept her help, refusing to believing anything other than that she was responsible for the disastrous loss of life aboard the Kepler. Using a combination of cognitive behavior therapy and cognitive restructuring, to reconstruct the events that took place with assistance from the Kepler's voyage data recorder. Analysis revealed that a malfunction in the ship's point defense guns caused the missile to slip through and damage the ship, and Allison was only one of four weapon systems officers, making maintaining PDGs not her responsibility. Allison refused to believe any changes to the story besides her own fabricated memories. But with enough treatment and time, she finally began to understand and recall the events that transpired.

FoR - Jeromi
The untimely arrival of Admiral Jeromi put everyone on edge.

Months of continued treatment was handled by Captain Moon herself, and with a checkup in early 2525, Allison began to show hopeful signs of returning to her normal self. A close relationship between the two developed, with Moon being see as a maternal figure, Allison began to adopt many of her traits to her own personality. By June 2525, the Hopeful staff deemed Allison fit to return to duty, but instead of waiting for assignment abroad, she requested a post to stay on the Hopeful. Approved, Allison was assigned to the Hopeful's communications department, charged with maintaining communications with Fleet Command. Moon continued to help Allison readjust to normal life, and taught her many lessons that she'd put to use when finally receiving her own captaincy. When the Hopeful began taking in more patients than usual in the early months of 2526, Allison was temporarily assigned as Captain Moon's adjutant, completing the menial tasks of the station while Moon was preoccupied with aiding the mass influx of wounded personnel. Allison noted the peculiarities of the wounded, who weren't had suffered from the more common ballistics or explosive wounds, but instead were suffering from severe third-degree burns unlike she had ever seen before. What added to her suspicions was the unexpected arrival of Admiral Ysionris Jeromi, who took command of the Hopeful in November 2525[4], and relegated Moon to first officer effective immediately. The meeting between Jeromi and Moon frightened Allison particularly in how Moon reacted afterward. Suddenly as if a train had hit her, the once kindly and approachable Moon was incredibly distant, badly failing to hide the obvious look of fear in her eyes.

The weeks following Jeromi's arrival created a tense atmosphere, that put almost everyone on edge. Alert status had been raised, security clearances were restricted, and the Hopefuls naval escort has been intensified. Concerns among Allison and the other junior officers began to pile up, and eventually spilled over to the rest of the station's staff. It wouldn't be long before the majority of the station demanded to know what was going on. Aware of the growing anxiety on the station, Admiral Jeromi called a meeting in January 2526 for all senior and junior officers stationed on the Hopeful. There, the existence of the Covenant and the incidents that led up to first contact were revealed. The briefing laid out their known specifications, technology, and territorial incursions carried out by the aliens since February 2525. While many were shocked by the news, everyone understood that the role they played was now more important than ever.

While understanding the risks that were brought upon by the Covenant, Allison was encouraged to get off the Hopeful and get her career back on track. She requested a transfer a week after the briefing but was meant with resistance by Captain Moon, who didn't bother to sugarcoat the details surrounding humanity's new enemy. Despite the warnings, Allison remained confident in her wish to be transferred. Nonetheless, the request was approved and the Hopeful set a course to return to Reach for resupply and await its next deployment.

Human-Covenant War

Outer Colony Campaigns

"Of course I was afraid; we all were. But we had a job to do, and I stood to face the challenge that laid ahead."
―The Navy's response to the Covenant threat would become the biggest fleet mobilization in history, pulling tens of thousands of Navy personnel from their posts to the frontlines.

Allison joined the crew of the UNSC Duke of York on April 7, 2526 and was assigned duties relating to ship communications in the York's combat information center. The Stalwart-class light frigate left NDS Casimir[5] on April 8 and joined Battle Group Marten that was being organized to link up with Admiral Preston Cole's Third Fleet in the Outer Colonies. Since March 2526, the Outer Colonies had the center of the Cole Campaigns, a major fleet operation spearheaded by the Third Fleet that aimed to combat Covenant fleet formations directly. Mostly successful, the high level of attrition created was slowly depleting the Navy's combat capability, while the Covenant had a seemingly endless supply of combat-ready vessels. Allison's first encounter with the Covenant occurred when the Duke of York exited slipspace in the Epsilon Indi system with Battle Group Marten on July 26, and were intercepted by two Covenant destroyers with an escort of seven light cruisers. A long and intense battle occurred, opening with the battle group firing their MACs in unison, destroying one of the destroyers instantaneously and severely damaging the other. The York took an active role in the battle, confronting one of the cruisers and destroying it before moving on and harassing the last destroyer. Despite the battle group's best efforts, the remaining Covenant forces began to gain ground causing Battle Group Marten was falling apart. The Duke of York also took heavy damage harassing the destroyer, but managed to disable the ship and immediately withdrew to regroup with the remnants of Marten. However, with its command ship destroyed, and its lines breached by the remaining CRS-class light cruisers, chaos reigned and threatened to be the destruction of Battle Group Marten.

Although much of the York's CIC had been heavily damaged, Allison remained at her post working frantically with the ship's communications officer to reestablish contact with the battle group and reform what was left of it. After several attempts, Allison made contact with Captain Korbyn Hayes, commanding officer of Battle Group Marten's last Halcyon-class cruiser and connected him with the York's captain. After a short conversation, Allison was ordered to relay rendezvous coordinates and broadcast a distress call, meanwhile, Captain Hayes reformed the battle group and led a desperate counterattack against the Covenant cruisers. With renewed vigor, Hayes led the battle group straight into the Covenant line firing everything they had. The cruisers were unsure how to react and attempted to break off, shifting the momentum back to the UNSC and causing the alien ships to be destroyed one by one. After the Duke of York regrouped with a resurgent Battle Group Marten, they engaged the final Covenant ship, each firing the MAC in quick succession that caused a violent explosion resulting in the total disintegration of the destroyer. Moments after the end of the battle, a detachment of the Third Fleet led by Cole himself arrived in Epsilon Indi to support Battle Group Marten. Allison's actions that helped regroup Marten under the chaos were commended by Admiral Cole, and gave her a field promotion to Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Out of the twenty-one ships that originally composed Battle Group Marten, only eight were still intact and were later absorbed into Cole's Third Fleet. The eight ships remained out of combat for three months undergoing repairs and crew replenishment at the UNSC Klondike, a Guardian-class mobile repair station.

The Duke of York returned to service in October, regrouping with the Third Fleet under Admiral Cole. As Lieutenant, (J.G.), Allison was put in charge of communications in the York's CIC, supervising petty officers and ensigns as they maintained steady communications with the rest of the fleet. When a prowler caught wind of a Covenant fleet approaching the colony of Capella, the Third Fleet arrived in the Alpha Aurigae system to intercept, engaging the Covenant near the Origami Asteroid Field. With the Battle of Alpha Aurigae, Allison witnessed first hand the true power of the Covenant military. Vastly outnumbered, the Covenant still had a massive advantage with their CAS-class assault carriers ripping through the Third Fleet with ease. The Duke of York managed to survive unscathed, but the same could not be said for the thirty ships that had been lost and several others that were severely damaged. With Capella now exposed, Cole ordered the immediate evacuation of the colony. Marines were deployed to the surface to aid in an organized evacuation, along with the commandeering of all private and government ships that were slipspace-capable. Over the next fourteen hours, an orderly evacuation of Capella's twelve million inhabitants occurred without incident. Cole also detached a dozen ships from the Third Fleet, including the Duke of York to take in refugees, which would also make up the escort force for the civilian ships fleeing Capella. Three hours after the evacuation, the Duke of York and the refugee fleet departed from Alpha Aurigae, beginning the seven month journey to the safety of Reach.

ReachMilComplex
Albeit limited, the Naval Academy Archives on Reach provided the best information humanity had regarding the Covenant at the time.

While en-route to Reach, Cole had the detached ships transferred out of the Third Fleet, but not before giving them a full month of leave. The refugee fleet arrived in the Epsilon Eridani system in May 2527, the Duke of York docked with the refit station Anchor 9 to undergo much needed maintenance, repairs, and refit after their engagement with the Covenant. Allison took a shuttle to the planet's surface landing at Manassas Air Force Base. Happy to be back on solid ground, she decided the make the most of her time away from the fighting, she took a train from Manassas to New Alexandria, and from there drove up to the FLEETCOM Military Complex in the Highland Mountains. For the duration of her leave, Allison spent most of her days at the Naval Officers Academy, studying as much as she could about the Covenant that were available to Naval personnel in the academy's Archives. Their technology, territory, language, naval tactics, anything that was available to UNSC personnel that hadn't already been censored by ONI. Although most of humanity's intelligence on the Covenant was very limited, the earliest drafts of the then-hypothetical Hades Raids would emerge from her studies. In between her time at the academy's library, Allison was finally able to contact her parents on Earth for the first time since she was stationed on the UNSC Hopeful. In her last communication with her parents before returning to duty, she noticed how fearful her father looked, tearfully remarking how worried he was with her heading back out to fight. She did her best to reassure her parents, but nothing could quell her family's dread over what horrors were still in store for her.

Arcadian Defense Fleet

Allison and the Duke of York returned to duty in June 2527, and joined with Admiral Carl Patterson's Rapid Response Group Hornet. The group was led by Captain Radomir Jovanović who commanded the UNSC Mithra, an Orion-class assault carrier. RRG Hornet was formed out of a need to respond to Covenant threats as a great deal of UNSC ships had already been committed to the Cole Campaigns and could not react to new Covenant incursions throughout the Outer Colonies. In order to counter theses threats, and prevent the Covenant from unknowingly pushing into the Inner Colonies, Hornet was also joined by Rapid Response Groups Wasp and Yellowjacket. These formations were organized under Patterson's Battle Group Hotel-2.

Battle Group Hotel-2 engaged Covenant forces across several Outer Colony worlds for more than a year, securing only marginal victories and failing to slow the Covenant's advance. Some of these defeats can be attributed to how poorly equipped Hotel-2 was, which was mostly composed of frigates, outdated destroyers, and carriers while the bulk of the Navy's prominent ship-to-ship vessels in the region were with Cole's Third Fleet.

While on the Duke of York, Allison experienced some of the most intense combat she'd ever witnessed as Hornet was relentlessly thrown into full frontal attacks against superior Covenant naval groups. At the Battle of Hat Yai, she narrowly avoided death when a falling steel beam fell from the ceiling of the ship's command information center, impaling her left hand. Had she only been a few feet to the left, the beam would've likely proved fatal as it speared her through her back. A medical team managed to remove the beam from her hand and stop the bleeding, and though the team recommended she accompany them to the ship's medical bay, she insisted that she'll remain at her post until the battle is over. The disaster at Hat Yai had almost completely destroyed Hotel-2, losses had been so severe that almost all of RRG Hornet, including the Mithra was lost save for the Duke of York. Only a year into their mission, Battle Group Hotel-2 was dissolved, and Admiral Patterson was recalled to Reach. The remnants of Hotel-2 would be transferred to other naval groups, with Allison and the Duke of York being sent to Arcadia. A week after the dissolving of Hotel-2, Allison finally underwent surgery in the York's medical bay to reconstruct her damaged hand. While assigned to Arcadia, the York could only make limited repairs as the chaotic reshuffling of ships prevented it from returning to a naval repair station in the core worlds.

The York remained attached to the Arcadian Defense Fleet until February 2531 when the Fleet of Glorious Interdiction led by Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee targeted the colony. A vanguard of two CCS-class battlecruisers entered the Procyon system and began harassing the colony's defenses. At the time, Arcadia's defense fleet had been spread out over the system and were in the process of regrouping over the colony. With only a few ships guarding the colony itself, the closest ships engaged the Covenant vanguard led by the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. The response group successfully managed to destroy one of the battlecruisers but at the cost of of losing the UNSC Belfast and UNSC Texas. Though their efforts were valiant, the responding ships suffered many lives lost and the Pillar of Autumn and UNSC Armstrong were disabled, allowing the other battlecruiser to bypass the colony's defenses and deploying troops to attack and overwhelm Pirth City and other population centers.

Shortly afterward, the UNSC Spirit of Fire arrived in the system to engage the ground forces deployed by the battlecruiser and support relief efforts to the damaged and destroyed UNSC ships. Meanwhile, the remainder of the Arcadian Defense Fleet had regrouped over the planet, including the Duke of York. The fleet grouped together just in time for the bulk of Glorious Interdiction to arrive at the planet. A brief exchange of MAC rounds, Archer missiles, and plasma weaponry went back and forth between the belligerents. Made up of smaller vessels and outdated destroyers, the Arcadian forces dealt negligible damage to the Covenant fleet all the while most of their ships were obliterated in quick succession. As the battle rapidly deteriorated, the York fought on. As a result, the ship suffered damage that pushed the ship to its critical limits. During the battle Allison was still in the CIC trying to hold the room together as panic began to set it. As the ship's weapon systems began to fail, and communications were lost with the Spirit of Fire and the rest of the defense fleet, Allison convinced herself that this would be where she would die.

Though she made peace with her eventual death, a timely intervention by Battle Group D managed to save the remnants of Arcadia's defenders. The Battle Group was sent to follow the arrival of the UNSC Spirit of Fire. Under the command of Admiral Cole, Battle Group D flanked the alien forces, driving off most of Glorious Interdiction and forced them to withdraw behind one of Arcadia's natural satellites, Pishon.

Although the York survived the battle, her engines began to fail and its translight engine was inoperable. With the rest of Arcadia's fleet in ruins and the disappearance of the Spirit of Fire, the UNSC planned to evacuate and cease all operations on the colony and in space. As additional UNSC reinforcements arrived in preparation for a final battle with Glorious Interdiction, the York was evacuated from the system by the UNSC Klondike.

Massacre of Camber

"They didn't even emerge from the edge of the system, jumped right into the planet's gravity well and slaughtered like us cattle. Navy didn't stand a chance; most of our heavy hitting ships were still docked or being repaired by the Klondike. Whoever led that fleet... God help us all if he finds Reach. Everyone is gone, we flooded the core as per Cole Protocol... it won't be long now. Whoever finds this, tell my daughter I love her."
―Audio recording by Chief Petty Officer Saab, recovered from Camber RSO's data logger, retrieved in 2553.

The Duke of York would be brought back to the colony of Ballast to undergo extensive repairs and crew replenishment. At one point, analysis of the damage done to the ship convinced many Navy engineers to recommend the ship be retired from service, citing that most of the ship's systems were destroyed and some sections of the ship would need more than half a year to repair. Though their recommendation was well founded, the Navy knew that they needed every ship available, regardless of the damage done to them as the Covenant came closer to the Inner Colonies every day.

Over the next five months, the Duke of York had its systems repaired and non-vital sections of the ship cordoned off. Doing this cut the York's crew size by half, and reduced its Marine detachment size to just fifteen personnel. By August 2531 the York was ready to reenter service, and was assigned to a support role at Camber. While assigned to the Camber Defense Fleet, the York led a number of patrols throughout the surrounding uninhabited systems of the colony. For a time, the York only encountered pirates and the occasional rogue spacer disgruntled with the military government. It was a welcome change of scenery for the crew, who had spent years fighting a nearly unstoppable alien hegemony. However, they still took their job seriously as encounters with pirates and insurrectionists usually ended in conflict. Two years into policing the space around Camber, Allison was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and became the York's executive officer on May 25, 2533.

The York continued to patrol the space around Camber for another three years, later being fitted with three slipstream probes to be used in emergency situations. The plan was to send a probe to the Camber Defense Fleet in the event that any Covenant presence was detected in the adjacent systems. After that, the York itself was to evacuate the system and initiate random jumps to evade pursuers, as per the Cole Protocol, before regrouping with the defense fleet.

On January 18, 2536, while patrolling a nearby system, the York was intercepted by two heavily armed freighters, the SS Carmen Blues and SS Lismore of an unidentified insurrectionist cell. Allison recommended that they communicate with regarding their place of origin and their destination. After a lengthy debate, the captain agreed and hailed the freighters. Though the captain presented himself as friendly, he could only let out a few words before he was interrupted with shouts and unintelligible demands. The hysteria experienced by the crews finally boiled over, and all communications were cut with the York. Anticipating the worse, the York's Archer pods and Rampart guns were readied. As expected, the freighters opened fire, using crudely attached Helix guns and jury-rigged Anaconda SAM missile systems. The York easily intercepted the hostile ordnance and returned fire, destroying the Lismore and disabling the Carmen Blues' Anaconda missiles. Unbeknownst to them, the Carmen Blues tried to fire their missiles again, only to be met with an explosive misfire as the missiles detonated in their pods, engulfing the ship and its crew in fire.

After the battle, the York's AI managed to reconstruct the freighter's flight patterns, leading the York to an anomaly at the edge of the system. As the York closed in on its destination, the anomaly revealed itself to be the UNSC Diacria, a Hillsborough-class heavy destroyer that was also patrolling Camber's neighboring systems. The situation became even more ominous as no report was sent out nor was there any distress call initiated by the Diacria's crew.

After analyzing the orbit of the destroyer, the York docked with the Diacria, and the ship's AI overwrote the destroyer's door controls to allow a squad of Marines to board and investigate. Immediately after boarding, the Marines confirmed the existence of a Covenant presence, with hundreds of bodies of Kig-Yar strewn out all over the ship. What made matters worse was the forboding lack of an AI aboard the destroyer, as well as the severe lack of complying with the Cole Protocol. Further exploration of the ship revealed that the Diacria's bridge was locked off from the rest of the ship, and the York's AI mysteriously couldn't interface remotely to unlock the bridge, requesting to be transported to the destroyer in order to complete their investigation. Allison volunteered to transport the AI, her own curiosity strongly urging her to explore the destroyer herself.

BoardingtheDiacria
Allison and Marines aboard the Diacria.

While her Marine escort recommended her quickly change into more appropriate attire, Allison opted to keep wearing her standard Navy uniform, though she did agree to wear a vacuum-sealed helmet in case of emergencies. Carrying with her was a M6C sidearm and the data chip carrying a copied version of the York's AI. As Allison entered the Diacria, she finally understood the full extent of the damage. Bodies of human and Kig-Yar were scattered in every corner of the ship, red and purple blood mixed together in small pools, and plasma scorch marks and bullet holes littering the walls.

After finally reaching and unlocking the path to the bridge, Allison and her escort discovered the remains of the command crew, all seemingly dying from asphyxiation. While hopeful in learning what happened to the ship, their investigation was promptly cut short when they were ambushed by a dozen Kig-Yar. The aliens, who had followed the humans to the bridge from the lower depths of the Diacria, opened fire - killing two Marines and wounding another.

H2A Terminals - Thel Commander
Allison is one of the few humans to encounter Thel 'Vadamee and survive.

Battle of Cyrus VII

Hades Raids

"I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him."
―Revelation 6:7-8
"Hunt, or be hunted."
―Motto used by members of the Sixth Fleet during the Hades Raids

Battle of 19 Caelum

"We don't have Cole to bail us out anymore. We're in the endgame now... time to make it count."
―Allison shortly before the battle
"Humans - soulless creatures made of deceit and dishonor. These blasphemous pests have destroyed one of our most distinguished fleets! Find this nishum and crush her! I want her head paraded through the streets of the holy city!"
―Supreme Commander Moro 'Yaasanee enraged after learning of the Fleet of Ardent Valiance's destruction

Home Fleet Preparations

Battle of Earth

"Hades down! Hades down! Lifeboat deployment unconfirmed! Sixth Fleet is scattering—Admiral Harper is attempting to reorganize."
―Transmission obtained from the UNSC battlenet following the destruction of the Hades Anthem

Post-War

Project NOVA

Lovejoy-Rén Act

"Over the course of just thirty-years, we lost more than ninety-five percent of the Fleet's pre-war strength. Most of our carriers and cruisers are gone and whatever's left is mostly comprised of frigates and corvettes. Even with the Covenant fragmented, successor states are already fighting each other to fill the void it left behind. Earth is more vulnerable than its ever been. If we're going to survive this next decade, we need our Navy back."
―Allison's personal journal, March 2553

Taming the Joint Occupation Zone

Created Crisis

Personal Life

Allison is of Canadian, Scottish, and Danish descent, with ancestry on her father's side featuring a lengthy and distinguished military history stretching as far back as the Second World War with the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Air Force. Despite being an only child, her extended family is quite large with a diaspora spread widely throughout Sol and the Inner Colonies.

While living in Sydney, her father was in possession of the family estate located outside the city of Vancouver in the United Republic of North America built and owned by the Spurgeon family in the early 22nd Century. The estate is historically known for its fisheries and forest industry, employing a few hundred workers annually. While initially an annual vacation spot as a child, her father and mother moved there permanently preceding their retirement in 2523. Allison is a passionate hockey fan, often jokingly describing it as a requirement to uphold her Canadian heritage.

Growing up, she became fond of symphonic music, synth-pop, and servsten[6], however her musical tastes encompass a variety of other genres. While an odd combination for someone her age, she would later remark on her interest in symphonic music as helping her concentrate academically. On her twelfth birthday, Allison received a Finnish Spitz, naming it "Lyra". The two developed a close bond over the years, and when she was preparing to leave for Mare Nubium, she had a pendant made that featured both her parents and Lyra that she still wears forty years later.

After joining the Navy, she developed the habit of running seven to eight miles a day whenever possible. After receiving her first captaincy, this was cut down to four to six miles a day. Along with this, she has maintained a basic healthy diet but has also dabbled with a vegetarian diet in her early military career.

Controversies

Effectiveness of the Hades Raids

Anti-Sangheili Sentiment

Personality and Traits

"There isn't a single soul that survived this war that hasn't come out a changed person."
―Allison

Early in her military career, she was described as reckless and self-interested, often outspoken against her superior officers that often ended in her getting into trouble. Her privileged position coming from a military family gave her an egotistical view of the Navy, where her personal ambitions took precedence over her fellow sailor's well-being. While on the Kepler's Journey, her energetic brash attitude came into conflict with the ship's captain after witnessing the destruction of the Isauria. The ambush at Aleria became an eye-opening experience for her, which made her feel guilt over the loss of three crewmen during the battle. She came to understand her place in the Navy, that despite her family's status in the military she was subject to the same duties as everyone else. Allison remained deeply driven in pursuing her ambitions, but accepted that rushing her way up the ranks would become a risky and sometimes dangerous climb.

EnsignSpurgeon
Ensign Spurgeon serving on the Kepler's Journey in 2520.

Allison's time recovering aboard the mobile hospital ship, Hopeful put her into contact with Captain Moon Ji-Woo, commanding officer of the Hopeful for the past four years. She'd come to greatly respect Captain Moon, who also happened to be a good friend of her father and would look up to her as a role model. Moon's calm and warm persona would carry over to Allison, allowing many that served with her to regain their composure during tense experience.

While not as charismatic as her father, Allison was an instinctive and reassuring leader; combining with natural tactical brilliance she'd become one of the most important and successful naval officers during humanity's fight for survival. With the loss of Admiral Cole, her role in the Navy was elevated to a position that forced her from the front lines, much to her dismay.

Throughout the war, she would lose many loved ones, friends, and colleagues; molding her into a stoic and reserved individual among her superiors and subordinates. Though the war had ended, she kept up her reserved identity, reluctant to form attachments; a state of mind reinforced following the death of an old friend, Richard Sekibo in 2558. Much of her personality would change over the last three decades, but her ambition remained as strong as ever. Rising high in the Navy's chain of command, she aims to be Hood's successor as Chief of Naval Operations, the same position her father held when she was a child.

Skills and Abilities

Before leaving for the academy on Luna, Allison managed to locate and copy her father's personal notes relating to the United Rebel Front and the infamous Robert Watts. She had grown fascinated by the events and people surrounding the Insurrection, namely those who had stood up to Earth's armed forces and managed to win. She became interested in Colonel Watts' feats while in command of several cells of the URF, and had frequently made her father's life a difficult one. Watts secured major victories one after another, while outnumbered and outgunned against far superior forces. The exploits employed by Watts would force her father into early retirement from frontline combat, even nearly destroying his reputation as one of the UNSC's greatest military theorists that brought widespread modernization to the Navy in the late 25th century.

Allison considered the study of the accomplishments and tactics used by the URF and Watts of significant importance, and believed their implementation into UNSC Navy formations would be vital to one day bringing an end to the Insurrection. Instead, her study of insurrectionist naval tactics would provide her with keen insight in earning victories against Covenant fleets, as the key to defeating the Covenant in space required the rethinking of UNSC naval doctrine, often adopting asymmetrical planning to slow the Covenant's advance, a contrast to Cole's approach to the alien threat.

Allison's tactical brilliance would be displayed during the Hades Raids, a doctrine that involved the disruption of the Covenant's advance by combining data from insurrectionist tactics, Preston Cole's engagements and her own calculations to initiate successful strikes against the Covenant. The raids would culminate with the Battle of 19 Caelum in 2544 causing yet another humiliating defeat for the Covenant only a year after the Battle of Psi Serpentis. While only a temporary disruption, the Hades Raids provided to be an invaluable distraction that would save millions of lives and prevent the destruction of several colonies. Plans to intensify the raids were scrapped when the Sixth Fleet was sent back to Earth.

Quotes

"Harvest was a short victory with little payoff. HIGHCOM wanted to make a statement and show they could hold and retake the colony, all the while the rest of the Outer Colonies burned. The logistic and manpower cost to retake Harvest was too great, and it didn't take long for our commanding officers to begin ordering a gradual withdrawal from the Outer Colonies. We left billions to fend for themselves. Can't blame them for hating us."
―Allison recalls her time in the Third Fleet.
"The York was a durable ship for its class. Got more scars all over its hull than most other Navy ships I'd bet... I suppose she deserves the rest."
―After learning of the Duke of York's dismantling

Career

Career Service Vitae

SpurgeonCSV
Allison Spurgeon
Vice Admiral (O-9)

FULL NAME: Spurgeon, Allison Katharyn
SERVICE #: 00681-30422-AS


    UNIT: Home Fleet
    ENLISTMENT DATE: February 9, 2516
    GARRISON: HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6
    STATUS: ACTIVE

    GENDER: Female
    BIRTHPLACE: Miridem
    BIRTH DATE: December 29, 2497
    BLOOD TYPE: A+
    HEIGHT: 177 centimeters
    WEIGHT: 68 kilograms

General Notes

She made a name for herself at 19 Caelum. Hell of a miracle that pissed off our former alien adversaries so much that she still needs a security detail when meeting with Sangheili leadership. For them, old wounds aren't so easily healed. She claims to want to build a close, working relationship with the Sangheili, but Oz wants us to keep an eye on her if she ends up being Hood's successor in the near future.

Service History

[See UNSC Service Record Archives for details.]

Comments

One of the most ambitious officers in the Fleet. She's pushing to become CNO, but Hood is too stubborn to give it up anytime soon.

Note

Couple of Sangheili Rangers loyal to the Arbiter tried to kill her when accompanying Hood on a visit to Sanghelios in 2554. She really did a number on their pride during the war. Recommend her security detail be upgraded to include a Spartan team.

[Revision 04/14/2555: Recommendation to assign Spartan security detail to Admrial Spurgeon reviewed and approved.]


Promotions and Decorations

 Rank   Date of Promotion 
UNSC O-9
Vice Admiral October 5, 2545
UNSC O-8
Rear Admiral July 21, 2543
UNSC O-7
Rear Admiral (Lower Half) February 27, 2541
UNSC O-6
Captain May 4, 2537
UNSC O-5
Commander April 11, 2536
UNSC O-4
Lieutenant Commander May 25, 2533
UNSC O-3
Lieutenant December 22, 2527
UNSC O-2
Lieutenant, Junior Grade July 27, 2526
UNSC O-1
Ensign May 31, 2520

Naval Service Record

Name Service History Image Status (As of January 2553)
UNSC Kepler's Journey
June 2520 - August 2523 UNSC Kepler's Journey Active
UNSC Hopeful
August 2523 - June 2526 The Hopeful Unknown
UNSC Duke of York
April 2526 - February 2536 UNSC Duke of York Scrapped (Asźod, 2536)
UNSC Intrepid
April 2536 - April 2540 UNSC Intrepid Destroyed (Fall of Actium, 2545)
UNSC Hades Anthem
August 2540 - October 2552 UNSC Hades Anthem Destroyed (Battle of Earth, 2552)

Relationships

Family

Moon Ji-Woo

Appearances

Related Pages

  • Field Analysis written by Commander Estelle Jacobs, commanding officer of the UNSC Montauk. (Analysis Finalized on 11/03/2544)

Notes

  1. Phonetic spelling, use in Sangheili script unconfirmed.
  2. Future analysis revealed that damage sustained earlier along with damage to the engine caused a fatal explosion from a liquid oxygen tank bursting in the ship's engine room.
  3. Captain Moon was in command of the Hopeful from 2521-2525.
  4. Jeromi was relieved of his command of the Hopeful in 2520 following a risky CASEVAC maneuver during a major uprising at Talitsa.
  5. Naval Docking Station Casimir, or Casimir Station, was the largest naval dockyard in orbit over Reach.
  6. Often described as a form of "nu synth-punk" that originated on Tribute in the 2490s and gained widespread popularity in following years.

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