View source for Long Night of Solace

==Operational history==
===Human-Covenant War===
On or prior to [[2552#July|July 23, 2552]], the fleet, [[Active camouflage|cloaked]] by ''Long Night of Solace'', made landfall on Reach.{{Ref/Reuse|essential}} The fleet then deployed a network of [[deployment spire]]s and [[stealth pylon]]s to covertly land an advance ground force. ''Long Night of Solace'' served as the [[flagship]] for the advance force, which was comprised of the supercarrier and at least five {{Pattern|Ceudar|heavy corvette}}s.

[[File:LNoS ends.jpg|thumb|left|250px|''Long Night of Solace'' is destroyed.]]
On [[2552#August|August 12]], the UNSC launched an [[Battle at Szurdok Ridge|attack]] on the Covenant base in [[Viery Territory|Viery]]. After [[Spire One]] was destroyed, the ''Solace'' decloaked and engaged the UNSC. Immediately after its position was compromised, ''Long Night of Solace'' destroyed the {{UNSCShip|Grafton}} and laid waste to several other UNSC deployments. It then retreated to Covenant-held space in orbit above the planet.{{Ref/Level|HR|Reach:Tip of the Spear|Tip of the Spear}}

During Operation: UPPER CUT, an operation designed to destroy the ship, UNSC [[Extra-vehicular activity|EVA]] teams boarded the Covenant corvette ''[[Ardent Prayer]]'', which was on a refueling run with the supercarrier, and transported a [[Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine]] onto the corvette.  Simultaneously, [[Operation: LEFT JAB]] was initiated to distract the carrier's escort fleet.{{Ref/Tabletop|HFB|Scenario=Scenario Six: Left Jab}}

During the battle aboard the ship, the detonation controls of the improvised bomb were damaged, forcing [[SPARTAN-II Program|SPARTAN]] [[Jorge-052]] to sacrifice himself by activating the drive manually, staying on the corvette as it was consumed in a [[Slipstream space|slipspace]] rift. The unrestricted slipspace rift teleported the middle section of the supercarrier's hull into slipspace, destroying ''Long Night of Solace''. The remaining two-thirds of ''Long Night of Solace'' then crashed into a mountain range on the surface of Reach as a larger Covenant fleet dropped out of slipspace over the planet.{{Ref/Reuse|LNoS}}{{Ref/Level|HR|Reach:Exodus|Exodus}} [[Kantar 'Utaralee]] took over the Fleet of Valiant Prudence following the destruction of ''Long Night of Solace'', rallying the fleet near [[Turul]].{{Ref/Tabletop|HFB|Scenario=Scenario Eight: Rally Point Zulu}}

On August 27, [[Vice Admiral]] [[Hieronymus Michael Stanforth|Hieronymus Stanforth]] stated that ''Long Night of Solace'' would have been a prime candidate for use in [[Operation: RED FLAG]]. However, with the vessel destroyed, the Navy was forced to wait to enact the operation until the Covenant arrived in force days later.{{Ref/Generic|[[Data Drop]]s|Detail=Data Drop #5}}

===Legacy===
''Long Night of Solace''{{'}}s wreckage remained undisturbed even after the end of the Fall of Reach, remaining anchored in the mountain range where they originally fell. Due to the instability of the mountain range, throughout the [[Post-Covenant War conflicts|post-war years]] only a small handful of teams have been sent into the ship's wreckage to study and salvage it. All of these teams were lost, leading to the site gaining an ominous reputation among Reach's postwar colonists almost akin to a folk story. For Reavian children, the ship's wreck has inspired tales of the ghosts of Covenant soldiers trapped inside the ship that entomb interlopers in [[Lechatelierite|glass]] while doomed to exist as a broken monument to Rho 'Barutamee's failure. For others, the ship's wreck is little more than an empty ruin and a reminder of both humanity's losses in the war, but also the scale of the Covenant.{{Ref/Site|Id=CFFeetFall|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/canon-fodder-feet-first-into-fall|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Feet First Into Fall|D=29|M=09|Y=2025}}