Operation: RAUCOUS SOLITUDE

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Previous:	Battle of Actium
Next:	Operation: TORPEDO
Operation: RAUCOUS SOLITUDE
Conflict:	Human-Covenant War
Date:	June 13-20, 2545
Location:	Billar Pavonis 4A [Covenant: Ghel]
Outcome:	UNSC Pyrrhic Victory Obliteration of Covenant Ground Forces Capture of unknown technology by UNSC
Belligerents UNSC Covenant Commanders Cpt. Mattias Jones Cmdr. Marco Dorota Shipmaster Isba 'Kelusee † Cmdr. Aho 'Fugoree Strength 32 Spartans 15 ODST's 1 Sahara-class Heavy Prowler in support. 10,000 assorted ground forces 3 SDV-Class Corvette's in support Casualties 29 Spartans KIA 5 ODST's KIA All Covenant Ground forces.

Operation: RAUCOUS SOLITUDE was a Human special operations conflict that took place from June the 12th to the 20th in 2545. The operation placed three Teams of SPARTAN-III commandos in an strategic surprise assault on a Covenant controlled planet. The initial UNSC goals of the operation were to capture Covenant communications technology, as well as destroy Covenant facilities in an effort to slow their advances on Human territory during the Human-Covenant War.

Ultimately, the Operation, though successful, would come at a cost to the Spartan assault forces which lost all but two of their operatives: Annalee-B220, and Andrew-B191. The team would ultimately extract from the planet with technology that Humanity had yet to interact with. The Covenant referred to the technology as The Guiding Light.

RAUCOUS SOLITUDE is noted to also have been the christening operation for Rear Admiral Darren Cohen's Diamond Initiative, and was orchestrated by both Cohen, his subordinates, and ONI AI Fluellen. Due to the disastrous nature of the operation, Cohen would be forced to adjust the nature of the Initiative in the months following.

Prelude

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Diamond Initiative Conceptualization

Rear Admiral Darren Cohen, an ONI Section Three officer, was the main architect of the Operation, which was part of the larger Diamond Initiative. Cohen's plan had been to augment the use of the SPARTAN-II soldiers into a predominantly combined operative status, where they would lead and work closely with common Marines and Naval crewman to make strikes on high-value technological targets. This concept was approved as early as 2531.

Though given a green light, Cohen was overruled and denied access to SPARTAN-II operatives by none-other than Dr.Catherine Halsey. It's assumed that Cohen had an adversarial relation with Halsey, though Halsey seldom mentions Cohen in obtained documentation or personal logs; it's possible Cohen's ire for Halsey was one-sided. Due to the lack of access to Spartan soldiers, Cohen's project lost funding for years and remained only as a concept. It was only later when he learned of the SPARTAN-III program that he would meet with Colonel Ackerson to revitalize these plans.

Revitalization and AI Fluellen

After RDML Ned Rich introduced Cohen and Ackerson in 2537, the Diamond Initiative was revitalized. Ackerson had set parameters for Spartan use, allowing for 20-40 to be reassigned after they had "completed" their training. The time frame for the program slated for these Spartans to come from Beta Company. Officially, only 300 Beta Company initiates would be augmented, but this number was raised so that the Diamond Initiative operatives would not offset the final desired company numbers by Kurt Ambrose. ONI records do not account for the increase in augmentations, but it's suspected Cohen had spent a majority of the Diamond Initiative's budget to access to these super soldiers, thus it is an off the books arrangement.

By 2542 Cohen and his staff had reduced their choices to fifty Spartans. Early that year, Cohen decided to invest another large portion of the project's funds in the creation of a state-of-the-art Third Generation "Smart" AI. Cohen and staff would spend the rest of 2542 searching for UNSC Retirees who would be willing to use their brain as a basis for the AI. Ultimately, five individuals—all much older, former UNSC officers—allowed to have instances of their brain copied for use in the creation of the AI. Cohen's ambition and direction culminated in the concept of having all these individual instances melded into one Riemann matrix. After a tremendous amount of work from a team of ONI specialists, AI Fluellen was created on April 23, 2543.

Fluellen would immediately be isolated from all but select staff of the project, and would not meet or learn of Darren Cohen for years. Fluellen was designated to reach a final desired list of operatives, and then see that they were directed in a manner such as to maintain their desired skills. He would ultimately decide on the final list of 32 Spartans. Interestingly, he changed the manner of selection from an individual basis to one emphasizing teamwork. Of the original list of 50 individuals Cohen had selected, Fluellen had selected only seven and maintained that Teams November, Golf, and Oscar be assigned to the Initiative. Cohen would adopt this plan in late 2544.

Finalization

In January of 2545 the three Spartan teams were officially reassigned to ONI and briefed on the intention of the Diamond Initiative. From January to March of 2545 Cohen worked closely with other ONI officials to devise targets to strike. It was decided that the first mission would be an exclusive Spartan mission before ONI would search for five-hundred operatives to build the strike force for deployment in the following year.

The final selected target would strike in Covenant territory, focusing on sparse data collected from the ONI signal corps and Section One data collection on what was presumed to be a Slip-Space communications relay. The area of operations was in the distant Billar Pavonis system on a moon designated Billar Pavonis 4A. The technology on 4A was deemed an extremely valuable target that was likely a part of a larger Covenant communications relay. The Operation was also slated to precede Operation: TORPEDO by a few weeks, possibly exacerbating the latter mission's effect. Fluellen would explain that "...if Operation: TORPEDO was a knock-out punch, RAUCOUS SOLITUDE was the jab that preceded it..."

In March ONI assigned Captain Mattias Jones of the Prowler Corps was assigned to the mission. Cohen would have his staff meet with Jones, and in an act of subterfuge remained entirely anonymous. Instead, his staff notified Jones a civilian contractor would be observing for assessment of the project's success. For all intents and purposes, though, Jones was selected as the Commanding officer for the Operation and would work closely with Fluellen in April to ready for the mission. He would only learn later that the faux contractor was Cohen.

In late April of 2545, ODST Master Sergeant Waimarie Paiwei and her combat team were selected and flagged by ONI for assignment to Jones command. They had been slated to be used as an on-board security detail in the mission. Paiwei was initially reluctant to run ship security, but when she was told that the mission would be carried out by Spartans she changed her tone. Curious to see the Spartans up close, and willing to help hit the Covenant hard, Paiwei agreed. She and her combat team reported to the UNSC prowler Boudica in early May, 2545 and the ship was en route to Billar Pavonis 4A shortly after.

Battle

June 13

On the first day of the Operation, the Boudica launched the three Spartan teams in stealth drop-pods in three separate landing zones. The Intel for the the mission was extremely sparse, and the pods would arrive in system before the Boudica. The main objective of all teams was to infiltrate the Covenant Citadel which contained the Relay. Secondary objectives were to disrupt troop-movements and support facilities to the tower. The planet also housed plasma refineries and gas extraction plants, and though the main objective was the Relay, the final objective was to detonate a HAVOK Tactical Nuclear Device to destroy as much of these facilities as possible.

Team Golf was the first to touch down at roughly 0500, three hours after launching from the Boudica. Immediately on touchdown the team was engaged with hundreds of Grunt engineers, and the team was split up. Reports indicate similar instances for both November and Oscar teams which would touch down at 0505 and 0507 respectively.

From Team Golf survivor reports: Spartans Joel-B404 and Ahmed-B077 were killed within 15 minutes of touch down, and communications broke down soon after. Spartans Andrew-B191 "Drew" and Annalee-B220 were both individually separated from the main group. Spartans Wei-B256 and Mary-B300 were able to stay together and would link up with Team Oscar. Oscar was able to assault a heavily fortified bunker and put up resistance to local forces. With communications either down or dangerous to use, Spartan Mary was used as a runner to try and contact Team November. She would not be seen again alive.

Team November took massive casualties, and only their team leader Spartan Spencer-B337 "Spike" would survive.

June 14-16

Spike and Drew would link up early on June 14 and begin an effort to destroy support structures in the area, hoping to soften the defenses and capabilities of the main Citadel. Drew had been able to retrieve the HAVOK nuclear device in the prior day's fray, and would carry it to the Citadel over the following week.

Based on survivor descriptions, it's assumed that Team Oscar bunker was counter-assaulted by Covenant forces. It's estimated that hundreds of Grunts and Jackals overran the position. Team Oscar appeared to have retreated from the position and was presumably killed on an individual basis based on corpse locations.

On the 15th Spartan Drew would place a hacking device on a Covenant terminal in hopes of establishing a back-channel communication with the Boudica. At this point Captain Jones had pulled the Boudica far back from Billar Pavonis 4A to maintain their stealth. Jones felt as though the Covenant had anticipated the attack due to the initial estimations of high Spartan casualties; he feared the Covenant had expected a Prowler's presence. Jones ordered radio silence and restricted Fluellen to use EI Probes as the only battlefield element to maintain contact with. Due to this practice, the remaining Spartans would not be hailed for the next five days by UNSC forces.

On the 16th Spartan Annalee would discover the remnants of Team November as well as a range-finder owned by Mary-B300. She recovered the range-finder and continued scouting for survivors. Later that evening she would also find the bunker Team Oscar had defended and been purged from. There, she would find a rifle used by Wei-B256 on the ground. The evidence at the bunker had led Annalee to believe she was possibly the only survivor of the assault.

Also on the 16th, local Covenant forces ordered further fortification of the Citadel. The local policing fleet commanded by Shipmaster 'Kelusee requested reinforcements from a Expeditionary Force. Shortly after these standing orders were made, Drew and Spike spotted Elites being deployed from drop ships to search the region around the Citadel structure.

June 17-18

On the 17th, Annalee reached the edges of the Citadel perimeter and found a Crows Nest to oversee the Relay tower and the forces camped around the Citadel. The Crows Nest allowed for her to observe troop movements, time Relay pulses, and plot an eventual infiltration into the Citadel tower that houses the relay. Spartan Annalee also took this time to take inventory on her supplies.

Also on the 17th, bridge officers aboard the Boudica discuss at length the possibility of relieving Jones from duty as Captain. The officers began discussion due to a perceived lack of action and general detachment from the ground forces—they felt that the lives of Spartans were possibly in the balance, but Jones denial to use the Boudica's communications Suite had left them "blind" to the situation on the surface. This ire had been exacerbated due to Jones choice to ignore suggestions from Fluellen, and Cohen secretly urging the officers to consider removing Jones from control. Cohen never revealed his rank during these events.

The following day on the 18th, Spike and Drew arrived near the Citadel camp. Drew was able to establish a makeshift connection to the Covenant BattleNet and notes that a Covenant Corvette was now in orbit over the Citadel.

June 19-20

After careful preparation Annalee begins infiltrating the camp. The moon had just entered a new phase and the tower was to be in darkness for a extended period of time. Annalee, in an attempt to avoid detection, enters a barracks where she finds Spike and Drew also infiltrating the Citadel.

Around this same time, Fluellen makes an effort to prove Captain Jones was out of line and this confrontation comes to a head when Cohen and the bridge officers remove Jones from his position and plot a rescue of the remaining Spartans. Commander Marco Dorota is elected to take command. Sgt. Paiwei soon after tasked to land on the Citadel Relay Tower and attempt link up with any remaining Spartans.

Spike, Annalee, and Drew all plan to charge the tower and see if they can force their way in and find data worth keeping. They also plant their HAVOK tactical nuke before their infiltration began. The Spartans discovered that the Covenant were trying to destroy technology they feared may fall into human hands. After causing a distraction, and establishing communication with the ODST troops led by Paiwei, the Spartans fought their way to the tower. It is there they discovered what the Covenant referred to as The Guiding Light. By chance, they are able to find a working piece of the technology. They then became engaged by Special Operations Elites. The skirmish came at the loss of a few ODST's and Spencer-B337's life. However, Spartans Annalee, Drew, and the remaining ODST's were able to fight off the Covenant forces and make their way aboard the Boudica.

In the end, they were able to escape the moon with alien technology and detonate the HAVOK nuke, destroying the Covenant facilities nearby on the surface.

Aftermath

Humanity

Both Spartans Annalee and Drew would go on to receive commendations and promotions for the work they accomplished. Both would return to Reach where Annalee would head to Reach Naval Officers Academy, and Drew would be promoted to Chief Warrant Officer and assist local Reach forces with Insurrectionist cells before Annalee's graduation from the Academy.

Due to such massive Spartan losses Cohen would have to revisit the scope of the Diamond Initiative. Armed with the knowledge that ONI gained from the technology they acquired, he readied a new mission on Mendel IV. He also invited Paiwei to join the initiative as one of the team leaders for DIAMOND Team, and Marco Dorota to lead the team on Mendel IV, and plans to send Fluellen to oversee the project.