UNSC Starry Night
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UNSC Starry Night was a Razor-class prowler commanded by Captain Halima Ascot of the UNSC Navy.[1] The vessel acted as the flagship of both Night Flight and Task Force Yama during the opening events of Operation: SILENT STORM.[6] The Starry Night would be shot down on Seoba by a Covenant flotilla, resulting in the deaths of much of its crew, including Captain Ascot.[4]
Design details[edit]
As with all prowlers in service with the United Nations Space Command, the Starry Night featured a stealth ablative coating that hid its radar signature, making it virtually invisible in the blackness of space. The vessel had a deployment bay fitted with a tactical monitor on the bulkhead, allowing those within to watch what the Starry Night could see with its array of sensors. This same bulkhead also included alert lamps that could be changed from red to amber to green, signifying the time until deployment. The lights in the drop bay could be changed from white to a pale purple, the later of which was less noticeable to any potential onlookers if the four meters square jump hatch was opened in space or any other dark location. For those within the bay, this darker lighting would also help their eyes to adjust before entering low-light conditions. In the event that the jump hatch was opened in the vacuum of space, the drop bay could be sealed off from the rest of the ship. It could also be pressurized or depressurized on command.[1] The Starry Night had at least one escape pod, accessible through a hatch or similar kind of portal on the floor of the engineering compartment. On the outer hull of the prowler, the escape pod was protected by a large hatch that would be forcefully blown open roughly half a second before the pod's launch.[4]
Armament and countermeasures[edit]
As comes standard on Razor-class prowlers, the Starry Night featured 30mm autocannons and M28 Shrieker missiles, which could be used for ground support.[2] In the event that the vessel was compromised, it had a self-destruct system tied to a one-megaton Fury tactical nuclear weapon in the engineering compartment, which would completely pulverize the ship, any technology or data within it, and any hostile party that may be trying to access it. The nuke was programmed to detonate automatically if the ship experienced a catastrophic event, such as a crash. However, it would only detonate if there were no live signs detected within the vessel. If there were survivors detected, the self-destruct system would activate once there had been no shipboard motion for two hours. The nuke could also be remotely activated at will by either the ship's flight commander or wing commander. The captain of the fleet or task force's flagship could also detonate the nuke remotely.[3] If one was familiar with Fury nukes, they could enter certain codes to arm the device manually, even setting a timed delay if desired.[4]
Service history[edit]
Skirmish over Netherop[edit]
- Main article: Skirmish over Netherop
In March 2526, the Starry Night acted as the command vessel during a mission to capture a Covenant warship so that humanity might learn more about its new enemy and their technology. To accomplish this task, the prowler was stocked with a complement of twelve Spartan-II soldiers, whom would be boarding the Covenant vessel. While remaining hidden in orbit over Netherop, Captain Halima Ascot and her prowlers observed the Covenant vessels in orbit for over a day. When the Spartans were ready to make their move on March 5, 2526, Ascot was somewhat hesitant to give the Spartans' leader, John-117, permission to initiate the operation at the time he requested. John assured her his assault squad could handle the mission, even to the point that Ascot warned him to be careful about pissing her off. Though she wanted to continue to wait for a more opportune moment to present itself, the Spartan was eventually able to get her to admit that the longer they waited, the more chance there was that something could go drastically wrong. Once they both agree, Ascot contacted the bridge and then informed John that the Starry Night would begin a slingshot maneuver in five minutes' time. John thanked the captain but she made it clear that her acquiescence to his arguments was not meant as some sort of favor to him. Once the Starry Night initiated the maneuver, the Spartans leapt from the prowler's deployment bay, drifting through space toward their target.[1]
After the Spartans departed for the Covenant frigate, Ascot monitored their progress as best she could from the Starry Night. Ultimately, the mission went south when a sensor operator on another prowler "mistakenly" broadcast to the Spartans' SQUADCOM, revealing their presence to the alien crew. In reality, this sensor operator was aligned with the Insurrectionists led by Lieutenant Commander Hector Nyeto, and the intent of the broadcast was to get the Spartans killed. While the Spartans did need to evacuate the Covenant ship when its shipmaster activated its self-destruct sequence, each of the twelve survived and were picked up by Ascot's prowlers.[8]
Flagship of Task Force Yama[edit]
- Main article: Task Force Yama
On March 8, 2526, the Starry Night was made the flagship of Task Force Yama, an offshoot of Vice Admiral Preston Cole's Battle Group X-Ray. This would be for the duration of Operation: SILENT STORM, the