The Ambush of Infinity and the Rubicon Protocol

UNSC Infinity arrives at Zeta Halo intending to help eliminate Cortana and instead encounters a Banished force prepared to destroy humanity’s flagship. The ambush unfolds with devastating speed. Banished warships batter Infinity, boarding forces penetrate the vessel, and Atriox personally defeats the Master Chief before throwing him into space. This episode examines the collapse of the UNSC expedition and the six-month resistance that follows on the ring. Survivors are scattered across Zeta Halo without centralized command, reliable supply, or knowledge of whether help is coming. Spartans, Marines, sailors, and support personnel organize isolated cells while the Banished hunt them down. The Rubicon Protocol provides a final contingency: if capture becomes unavoidable, personnel must deny the enemy intelligence and resources even at the cost of their own lives. The battle becomes an insurgency fought by the remnants of a force that arrived expecting offensive operations. Infinity is lost as an effective fighting platform, but its people continue the war on the surface.