Operation: CERBERUS

Operation: CERBERUS was an operation of the United Nations Space Command to capture or kill Major Leonard Klein from the Luxor Spaceport on the planet of Eridanus II. The mission was explicitly created to remove Watts's designated successor and was undertaken by Green Team and would be the second operation in which the Spartan-IIs participated. Executed in late September of 2525, the operation proved to be a success, with Green Team successfully capturing Klein with minimal injuries, despite the URF attempting to capture the Spartans, having learned of the Spartans from Blue Teams actions during the previous Operation: Talon.
== Prelude ==
=== Elysium City bombing ===
On June 18, 2525, a United Rebal Front infiltration team, under the command of Major Leonard Klein, a senior member of the URF and the defacto second-in-command and the designated successor to Colonel Robert Watts, landed at the Luxor spaceport on Eridanus II. Using fake documents and with the assistance of URF operatives at the spaceport, Klein's team was able to bypass the ports security services, entering the planet undetected by local CMA, UNSC and ONI assets. Their target was a popular nightclub in the neighbouring Elysium city, The Skybox, located in the cities affluent downtown district and a favourite hang-out amongst members of the planets Colonial Military Alliance garrison.
Due to stricter security on freight deliveries at the spaceport, Klein's team were unable to smuggle the necessary explosives into the city, requiring them to source explosives locally. To this end, the team broke into a local CMA armoury, stealing a case of C-12 explosive charges in addition to a handful of MA5 Assault Rifles, which due to poor management, corruption and URF assets, was poorly guarded, and as such the theft went unnoticed.
On June 23, 2525, the team initiated their plan, posing as construction workers in the building during the daytime when the Skybox was closed, the team infiltrated the club planted the charges within the club's walls, setting the charges to go off several hours later, during the club's peak hours. Simultaneously maximizing the number of casualties in the blast zone, and whilst giving the biggest possible psychological impact of the attack on the local population.
The resulting explosion resulted in the deaths of a dozen innocent civilians as well as CMA personnel, including at least one Colonial Military Administration pilot, whilst injuring dozens more, with several being placed into coma's as a result. Klein's team meanwhile, proceeded to 'lay low' following their attack, using URF safehouses to wait out the search efforts, after which they planned to leave the planet in the same manner that they had arrived, returning to the safety of the United Rebel Front's hidden asteroid base, Eridanus Secundus.
=== Operation: TALON ===
* Main article: 
== The operation ==
== Aftermath ==