Chapter 22
No matter what they decided to do they now had no central leadership or help from the outside. Axel assumed most of the insurrectionists were captured or killed when he raided the final base and captured Colonel Watts.
While there would still be those who didn't like the UEG or the UNSC, there was nothing that could be done about that. But with the fall of the United Rebel Front those who disliked the UEG would have to live with their failure.
After arresting Attorney General Johnston, Axel had contacted Admiral Ross to report his success on Eridanus II.
"Sir, as the report says Colonel Watts is in custody alongside Attorney General Johnston who was abusing his power and allowing the insurrectionists to do whatever they wanted. And with them gone the insurrectionists won't be able to cause problem on Eridanus II for a while" Stated Axel.
Admiral Ross looked over the report which had files attached to it showing evidence of both Colonel Watts and Attorney General Johnston's association with the insurrectionists.
"Good Job Admiral, I will process this report and the two of them will be trialed. In the meantime I will let you get back to it as I know you have a lot of work to do" Said Admiral Ross.
Axel nodded as the call ended. Admiral Ross probably had a lot of work to do as well because of the significant amount of evidence that Axel presented to him to convict Colonel Watts and Johnston.
He was glad that he didn't have to spend that much time talking since he did have things to do.
Over the course of the next 5 days, Axel had spent much time ensuring the stability of the planet until a new Attorney General arrived. Colonel Watts and Johnston were already on a transport back to Earth where they would face a trial for all of their crimes.
On the 5th day the new Attorney General had arrived and Axel had handed over control of the planet to him. Axel addressed the people of Eridanus II to ensure that they were now safe from the threat of the insurrectionists and to also boost his reputation and fame among the people of the outer colonies.
He did a small speech which was attended by thousands and broadcasted across the planet to the others which was well received by the population.
Once the speech was over Axel didn't waste any time and had left for his ship which was docked at the spaceport above the planet.
The building which was transformed into a command building was already returned back to normal as the Marines and other specialists returned back to the battlegroup.
As his ship ascended, Axel had one last view of Eridanus II from his cockpit. He had succeeded in taking down the first insurrection group and now he was on to deal with the rest.
Transmissions from Earth arrived frequently now, updates about Colonel Watts and Johnston's trial. The evidence presented was damning and indisputable; both were found guilty on all charges and sentenced to imprisonment for life.
Meanwhile Axel was onboard his ship as the specialist were busy gathering information on the whereabouts of the next group.
The United Rebel Front was an organization that had been active on Eridanus II for years, so dealing with them wouldn't take long. But the other groups were different as some of them were active on multiple worlds.
And some of them were confused for Pirates.
There was a second group active in the Eridanus system called the Freedom and Liberation Party which were a much higher threat than the United Rebel Front because of their past actions.
In 2511 a terrorist within the party detonated a commercial nuclear explosive, used in asteroid mining, inside the Haven arcology killing 2 million people and injuring a further 8.3 million. After the attack they demanded the CMA withdraw from Eridanus.
The CMA was the Colonial Military Administration founded in 2310 as the military body for the CAA or Colonial Administration Authority.
Since the terrorist attack in 2511 the Freedom and Liberation Party had been lying low and has not been active for the past 5 years. Though Axel knew this wasn't true since the CMA had a lot of traitors within the administration.
That's how the insurrectionists were getting their weapons and such because of the traitors within the CMA. And now some members of the CMA were probably hiding any activity related to the Freedom and Liberation Party.
Axel had always known that the fight against the insurrectionists wasn't solely waged on open battlefields or in clandestine hideouts, but within the deep corridors of political power and influence as well. After all, Johnston wasn't the first high-ranking official to be found in bed with insurrectionists. Unraveling this network, as vast and complex as it seemed, was just a part of his mission now.
So his first task was to head to the planet Mamore and see if the Freedom and Liberation Party is still active or if they find information relating to the whereabouts of one of their hideouts.
Mamore was in the Eridanus system so it wouldn't take lone to warp to the planet. Mamore was known for its bitter cold climate and harsh living conditions. It was an ideal location for rebels to go into hiding - far from the watchful eye of the UEG and the UNSC.
The Freedom and Liberation Party might be lying low... but they wouldn't be for much longer if Axel had his way.
Once the battlegroup arrived above Mamore Axel had began to hack into the CMA's network to gather any hidden information on insurrection activity. It was a simple task and within minutes he had access to their network and started to look through it.
The ship's sophisticated AI, Avia, worked tirelessly alongside Axel to decipher co-ordinates, encrypted communications, and various other data points that could potentially reveal the location of the insurrectionists. Later on Axel would create his own AI to replace Avia.
Axel's gaze was fixed on his holoscreen as he flicked through data logs and classified reports. The silence in the bridge was palpable, save for the occasional murmur of commands from Axel to Avia.
"Avia," Axel finally broke his concentration, "cross-reference these coordinates with recent ship movements in this quadrant."
"Affirmative, Admiral." Avia responded.
As Avia set about her task, Axel leaned back in his command chair and folded his arms over his chest waiting for Avia to finish her task. He would do it himself but their were hundreds of thousands of digital paperwork which had to go through and he didn't have the time for that as it would take weeks.
But Avia could do it in a couple of hours since she was an AI and unlike humans she wasn't restricted when it came to analyzing hundreds of thousands of digital paperwork.
Minutes turned into hours as Avia sifted through endless amounts of digital paperwork. Consequently, patterns began to emerge; suspicious sat-nav plotting and an unusual amount of traffic around a small moon orbiting Mamore.
"Admiral," Avia soon intoned, "It seems there is a significant increase in unidentified ship activity around one of Mamore's moons. The pattern suggests possible insurrectionist activity."
"Prepare Battlegroup Tango for a jump," Axel ordered crisply, standing from his seat. "Set course for those coordinates. Engage at full speed."
"Affirmative, Admiral," Avia instantly confirmed, her voice echoing in the quiet bridge.
The command center was soon a flurry of activity as Axel's orders were relayed. Crewmen and officers darted around, initiating protocols and preparing the battlegroup for warp jump. Within moments, Battlegroup Tango was warping towards the small moon orbiting Mamore at full speed.
The Freedom and Liberation Party had been hiding for years but now that Axel was here there was nowhere that they could hide.
After about 5 minutes the ship had exited warp speed and in front of them stood the moon orbiting Mamore.
"Admiral, I am picking up 3 frigate sized vessels in orbit of the planet and a small signal transmission from the surface of the moon" Reported Avia.
"Acknowledged, Avia," Axel said, standing at the panoramic bridge window, the battlegroup had exited warp a large distance from the moon to give them time to get prepared for combat should they need to and to not get caught in the planet's gravitational pull as soon as they exited warp speed.
"Initiate tactical protocols and ready our forces for a potential engagement. And trace that signal." Ordered Axel.
"Affirmative, Admiral." responded Avia.
Axel wasn't aware of any UNSC vessels operating near the moon which means that they must be captured UNSC vessels by the insurrectionists. If that's the case then they may have just found the Freedom and Liberation Party.
The real question is how long have they been secretly operating under the UNSC's radar?
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