"Exiting lightspeed," One of the crew announced on the bridge, at which point the view port drastically changed to the scenery of a lush jungle planet. "Battlegroup Hoxton has arrived in one piece, standing by."
"Send in the colonisation ships, have a squadron of fighters ready to defend each. I want this operation to run smoothly."
"Yes sir!" The crewman replied to his Admiral.

As the colonisation ships came into view in front, Lawrence observed them with narrowed eyes. His posture was straight as always, hands joined behind his back. The aura of authority he gave off kept everyone in the bridge working efficiently. For now he was to simply observe the colonisation efforts with his battlegroup covering them. He hoped it would run without problem or interference. The UNSC was his pride and joy; no matter what questionable opinions they had on other species or people Lawrence would stick by them.

Right now he was set on expanding his nation's territory at all costs.

The colonisation efforts began immediately with several ships unloading thousands of workers and vehicles into the old UNSC cities. Their tasks ranged from clearing up debris and old buildings, renovating said areas, and establishing working outposts to house the themselves for the foreseeable future. Alot of work would be needed to revive a whole city, but the UNSC would get it done.

"Scanners are clear and all ground teams are reporting no resistance."
"Very good," Admiral Steel replied, still examining the view of the planet. It captivated him somewhat with it's exotic appearance. Earth no longer looked as beautiful with it's cities and lights visible from space.

However it was a necessary sacrifice for Humanity to continue.

"Woah, this place is creepy."
"Damn, yeah..."
The two soldiers stacked up against the door of an old rusted warehouse, the left one gently pushing open the door. With a sweeping movement they entered the darkness and flicked their flashlights around. Their torches reveal rows and rows of tables upon which robotic mechanisms lay dismantled or half-built.

"Some kinda robot factory?"
"Are robots legal?"
"Not these kinds I don't think," The first marine shone his light over an arsenal of weapons no doubt made to fit the robots on the table. 
"Creepy..." The second kept searching around until he found a small console in the corner. Poking it's button out of curiosity, the screen blinked and beeped into life.

"Activating Emergency Power."

"Oh, shit," He stepped back and raised his gun slightly, but relaxed once he realised he was still alive. The lights of the warehouse all came on to reveal more unfinished droids, most of them strung up on the ceiling by wires. 
"Man I don't like this." The first marine stepped cautiously around a table, examining a big sign that read 'HELIX Corporation'.
"Look at this..."

The screen had re-opened from it's last position specifically on a research log. On the top it read in bold 'DRAGONFALL PROTOCOL'. Beneath that continued paragraphs of scientific and technological babble neither of them could understand. 
"Come on, let's just go and mark this building for demolishing."
"Yeah..." They finally stepped back from the machine, walking to the exit to leave.

Flicker. One of the hanging droid's receptacle blinked with light, examining for a second the two humans leaving the warehouse. It did nothing while they were still there, but once they were long gone it managed to communicate through the network.
>Arbor Base Compromised.
>Proceed to Data Wipe.
>Data Wipe Complete
>Shutdown Facility


"Status report," The Admiral said as he entered the bridge the next day.
"Colonisation at 10%. No reported incidents."
"Good. Stay alert and don't slack, we've still got time to go and there could be anything passing through. We're still in neutral space."
"Yes sir." The crewman turned back to his console, leaving Lawrence to gaze upon the planet once again.

11 days orbiting one planet was not exactly fun. It almost made Lawrence hope some opposition would come along. The fortunate truth was no pirates or rebels dared to go near UNSC territory now. Whereas before they had cowered behind their limited borders, it's territories were now expanding alarmingly. Everyone in the sector knew it's armies were on the move and were not giving any mercy to those who get in their way.

It pleased Lawrence that his nation was so reputable now. He remembered the days before Haven when their territories stretched must further in relative peace. Of course they had the Covenant among other things to fight, but the people rarely saw the action. Not like now. Now the action was on their doorstep. This war against supernaturals and anything non-human. It was wrong, but no one could stop ONI.

Not even the legends Lawrence remembered...

Weeks later the signal was given; Arbor had been recolonised. Lawrence had little need to see it for himself as video reports came in showing the replenished cities and landscapes. Extra ships arrived carrying the citizens of this old world and the crew of the UNSC Hoxton celebrated promptly. It had been a rather uneventful and boring month, but their efforts had paid off. Most proud of all was Admiral Steel who even put together a great dinner for everyone on board.

They celebrated for half a day until work continued. The crew readied the ship for departure whilst Lawrence contacted the rest of the battlegroup to move out. A successful mission always filled him with pride even after all these years. That one thing would never change.

He would die for the UNSC.