National Holiday
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
| National Holiday | |
|---|---|
| Ship history | |
|
Fate: |
Destroyed in an Insurrectionist terrorist attack[1] |
|
Type: |
Luxury liner[1] |
National Holiday was a human luxury liner starship in operation in the mid-2520s. In 2524, the liner was the subject of a notable terrorist attack conducted during the Insurrection by rebel forces against the Unified Earth Government while in orbit over Reach - the military headquarters of the United Nations Space Command. The Insurrectionists loaded two orbital taxis with large quantities of high-explosives, then sent the vehicles on a collision course with the liner. At the time of the attack, National Holiday was onloading the last of its 1,500 civilian passengers for a charter tour to the resort world of Arcadia, resulting in the ship's captain believing the taxis were carrying late-arriving passengers. However, once the taxis failed to respond to communication attempts, National Holiday attempted to conduct evasive manouevers. Unfortunately, this was too-little, too-late, and the impact and ensuing explosions tore the liner in half, alongside burning away the hull paint of every other ship in a 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) radius.[1]
While unable to manouevre the ship manually, National Holiday's captain was able to calmly redirect other orbital traffic away from the debris flight path as the hull began to burn up in Reach's atmosphere, resulting in the deaths of all of the liner's crew and passengers.[1]
The true nature of the attack as a terrorist plot was concealed by Section Two of the Office of Naval Intelligence, who instead concealed it as a tragic accident. This was due to the attack's nature in the heart of UNSC space; if rebels were able to conduct attacks in such a heavily-militarised region of space, it could lead to more widespread panic and questions about if other such attacks may follow up in other systems such as Sol.[1]
As a consequence of the ship's destruction, ONI and UNSC Fleet Command (FLEETCOM) were put onto high alert, with FLEETCOM issuing a directive that no such similar incidents were to happen again. When reports began of supposed-insurrectionist attacks against automated freighters Horn of Plenty and This End Up operating near the Epsilon Indi system towards the end of the year, ONI Section Three dispatched an agent Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygni to investigate the issue. In reality, the attacks were conducted by a Covenant missionary ship, Minor Transgression, and would ultimately lead to first contact between humanity and the Covenant, and the start of the Human-Covenant War.[1]
List of appearances[edit]
- Halo: Contact Harvest (First appearance)
Sources[edit]
