Far Isle insurrection

The Far Isle insurrection was the first major intervention by the United Nations Space Command against a secessionist movement since the ending of the Interplanetary War. At the time the UNSC intervened, the Far Isle Civil War had been raging for two years, and was continuing to violently escalate, despite the Colonial Military Administration committing increasingly larger military assets to Far Isle. Following a formal request and emotional plea from the CMA, UNSC High Command deployed a major battle group, complete with massive army and marine forces.
At the beginning of the crisis in 2487, the Colonial Administration Authority (CAA) recorded the population of Far Isle at 349,000 residents with the bulk of the population living in the capital city of Shikishima (260,000) and the rest living in small settlements scattered across the planet. The Far Isle Colonial Guard numbered some 1,200 active and 16,000 reserve personnel and possessed considerable defense assets in several arsenals. The CMA maintained a garrison of around 1,000 personnel mostly stationed in Camp Berkeley. 
The insurrection overall and the UNSC's destruction of Shikishima especially killed approximately 262,000 Far Isle residents, 74.8% of the colony's total population. The UNSC took considerable corrective action following the bombing of Far Isle, including court-martialing the officer responsible for the destruction of Shikishima, granting general amnesty for insurrectionists of Far Isle, and paying out enormous compensation to the survivors of the colony. 
While the colony became synonymous with the insurrection and the brutality of the UNSC, Far Isle recovered from the devastation of the conflict and the bombing of its capital city. Shikishima was rebuilt and the planetary population grew to around 150,000 by 2520; after the Human-Covenant War started in 2525, Far Isle became a refugee center for the Outer Colonies and eventually hosted some 7,000,000 displaced colonists. 
Far Isle was attacked by the Covenant in 2533 and ultimately glassed though the majority of the population was successfully evacuated. 
==Background==
Far Isle was colonized in 2421. 
==Crisis==
#Far Isle in crisis (2487-2491)
#CMA Major General Benjamin Ferguson and 1,600 CMA soldiers reinforce Far Isle's garrison. (November (2491)
#Far Isle governor Fumito Tanaka refuses the CMA's request to mobilize the Far Isle Colonial Guard. (February 2492)
#Major General Ferguson departs Far Isle and is replaced by Colonel Isaiah Cho. The CMA requests UNSC reinforcements and humanitarian aid without disclosing the increasing unrest or the failed colonial mobilization effort. (April 2492)
==UNSC involvement==
#The UNSC rapidly assembles Battle Group Uniform and assigns Rear Admiral Gordon Schofield as its commander. The battle group comprises 1 light carrier, 1 light destroyer, and 5 corvettes, and carries 2 battalions of Marines and a single company of ODSTs, as well as two squadrons of Longsword Interceptors and several dozen dropships. (Late April 2492)
##1 x Steadfast-class light carrier (Chateaurenault), 1 x Sentinel-class light destroyer (Semarang), 2 x Katyusha-class light corvettes, and 3 x Mako-class light corvettes
#Battle Group Uniform arrives at Far Isle and deploys Marines to the city of Shikishima, Camp Berkeley, and Far Isle's only space elevator, the Strand. (May 5, 2492)
==Rebellion==
#Governor Tanaka orders the Far Isle Colonial Guard to mobilize and prevent the UNSC from seizing their arsenals and depots. (May 9, 2492)
#Marine commander Samuel Keller is critically wounded by a sniper; Rear Admiral Schofield arrives in Shikishima City to assume direct command of UNSC and CMA ground forces. (May 11, 2492)
#Following attacks on UNSC positions in Shikishima, Schofield and his staff travel to Camp Berkeley; after a contentious conversation with Governor Tanaka, Schofield orders the Chateaurenault to deploy major military assets to Far Isle. Less than twenty minutes after acknowledging the order, the Chateaurenault suffers a catastrophic explosion on the starboard bow that disable the main gun and the main hanger and effectively prevents the UNSC from receiving reinforcements in the near future. Following the explosion and an escalation of fighting in the City, Schofield orders UNSC and CMA forces to withdraw: the bulk of CMA forces are to withdraw to the space elevator and reinforce the Marines already present, while the bulk of UNSC marines and ODSTs are to withdraw to Camp Berkeley. (May 12, 2492)
===Chateaurenault explosion===
At 1:15 PM local time, the light carrier UNSC Chateaurenault suffered a major explosion of unidentified origin originating in the starboard section of the bow. The enormous blast destroyed approximately 250 meters of the ship's outer hull, compromising nearly eight decks and causing the immediate deaths of 746 personnel: 684 UNSC sailors and marines, 33 CMA sailors, and 29 Far Isle colonials. The explosion compromised the integrity of the main hanger and disabled the carrier's magnetic accelerator cannon, damaged numerous sensor systems, and caused fires in sections that did not immediately lose atmosphere. Damage control teams were able to extinguish these fires in a timely manner, while repairs to the damaged carrier were delayed by more than day while the ship was thoroughly inspected for potential sabotage, saboteurs, and suspect munitions. The Chateaurenault remained on station near Far Isle until June 11, when it returned to Reach and entered drydock for repairs; the carrier only returned to active duty in 2496. 
The cause of the explosion was never determined. The most prominent theories include a deliberate act of sabotage by a colonial agent or crew member, an accidental weapons discharge involving unsecured munitions being readied for deployment, and a failed attempt at disarming a defective anti-ship missile. An external attack was entirely ruled out quickly, as no spacecraft were in the proximity of the carrier subsequent to the explosion, and no interaction in that area of the carrier occurred in the days before the explosion that was not observed and thoroughly examined. While the Office of Naval Intelligence could not rule out deliberate action by an unknown actor, the agency unofficially concluded the explosion was simply a tragic accident. 
The explosion prevented the Chateaurenault from providing substantial reinforcements and equipment to UNSC forces on Far Isle, limiting Schofield to the marines and CMA troops already present. With more than 50% of his forces suddenly unavailable and with the violence in Shikishima escalating rapidly, Schofield ordered the immediate abandonment of Shikishima. The bulk of CMA troops would withdraw away from the city and regroup with UNSC perimeter forces around the Strand while remaining UNSC and CMA troops withdrew to Camp Berkeley. By late evening, downtown Shikishima was devoid of UNSC and CMA personnel, and the majority of Schofield's troops were split between the outskirts of Shikishima or the on the highway to the Strand. 
===May 13===
#UNSC personnel withdraw from Shikishima under fire and are pursued by Colonial Guard and insurgent forces almost immediately. Marine casualties are heavy, with more than a hundred fatalities suffered in less than a hour of beginning the evacuation. The marines attempt a fighting withdrawal but begin to suffer ammunition depletion extremely quickly. Schofield orders all UNSC and CMA air assets present in Camp Berkeley to get in the air and provide much-needed air support for the withdrawal. Only the five Longswords of Dagger Flight are held in reserve, as they carry nuclear munitions. At approximately 11:00 AM local time, UNSC forces at the space elevator attempt to communicate a status update to Schofield, but Far Isle insurgents successfully jam planetside communications between the Strand and Camp Berkeley, resulting in a mangled report: Schofield believes the elevator's perimeter has fallen to the Colonial Guard, when the opposite is true - the perimeter remains in Marine hands and CMA reinforcements from Shikishima have successfully made their way to the elevator. Believing the elevator to be in enemy hands, with his carrier disabled and the remainder of his forces potentially being slaughtered by colonial forces, Schofield orders Dagger Flight to bomb Shikishima in order to prevent the UNSC from suffering a complete defeat. Dagger Flight executes his orders with precision, leveling Shikishima and killing Governor Tanaka and approximately 257,000 colonial residents. Gunships from the destroyer Semarang arrive shortly thereafter and intercept a colonial column on the road to the Strand, destroying it utterly. (May 13, 2492)
===Subsequent events===
#UNSC and CMA forces regroup at Camp Berkeley and the Strand. Schofield remains in command and both installations brace for subsequent offensives from the Far Isle Guard as dropships from the battle group ferry a steady trickle of reinforcements to the planet. Far Isle Guard forces are in disarray: some elements are attempting to conduct SAR operations in the ruins of Shikishima without an overall commander while the forces previously engaged with UNSC forces on the outskirts of the city coalesce around Guard Captain Susumu Igawa. With both colonial civilian leadership and the majority of Guard officers killed in the destruction of Shikishima, and with exact details of that destruction still extremely lacking, Captain Igawa ultimately assumes command of the colony's remnants. The Guard fortifies the outskirts of Shikishima and their remaining installations and prepares for an anticipated UNSC counterattack which does not occur. Recovery operations in and around Shikishima intensify in the evening and throughout the night, without much success. (May 14, 2492) 
==Aftermath==
The Far Isle insurrection and the Bombing of Shikishima sent shockwaves through UEG Space and the UNSC. While a few militant hardliners crowed that an unfaithful colony had been justly punished for its treachery, the majority of commentators and public officials decried it as a tragedy and disaster. Rear Admiral Schofield was arrested and court-martialed, though his dismissal was only the beginning. UNSC High Command ordered a series of investigations that ultimately spread considerable blame throughout the UNSC and the CMA. The CMA provided inadequate information about the crisis on Far Isle to the UNSC, and the Office of Naval Intelligence failed to provide a realistic evaluation of both the CMA's information and the colonial situation as a whole. The battle group was cobbled together from whatever ships were available and were ill-suited to the needs of the operations they were expected to fulfill; further, the troops and specialists provided were unsuited to the task, and their command structure was lacking and fragile. UNICOM failed utterly at Far Isle and resulted in an unqualified fleet officer taking charge of ground operations. Schofield himself was seen as an ultimately inappropriate choice as a commander for such a task, given a lack of experience in colonial relations and expeditionary operations; similarly, his seniority in the battle group prevented any of his immediate subordinates from intervening in his potentially flawed decision-making. 
There was also the fact that a flag officer of the UNSC had felt justified in using nuclear weapons against a city, which caused a considerable crisis of faith within the upper echelons of the UEG and the UNSC. 
==Legacy==
The Far Isle insurrection had a lasting impact in the outer colonies.