UNSC In Amber Clad

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The UNSC In Amber Clad (FFG-142) was a United Nations Space Command Stalwart-class light frigate.

Battle of Earth
As of October 2552, the In Amber Clad was commanded by Commander Miranda Keyes. It was docked with the Orbital Defense Platform Cairo during an award ceremony. In the middle of the ceremony, however, the Fleet of Sacred Consecration appeared in the system and engaged Earth's defenses, igniting the Battle of Earth. Home Fleet ships then began to open fire on the Covenant ships. Though the In Amber Clad did not engage in direct combat over Earth, they did descend to catch John-117 after his daring destruction of one of the Covenant's s using their own bomb.

Battle of Mombasa
Afterward, the vessel descended to Mombasa, Kenya, where it dispatched numerous Marine units to reinforce the Marines from E2-BAG/1/7, A Company, the 17th Marine Regiment and several other units on the ground. During the battle, the In Amber Clad served as a headquarters for the UNSC forces in the area, reinforcing and resupplying the Marines with armor, ground support, and troop reinforcements. The In Amber Clad also began to evacuate and treat injured and wounded Marines.

As the Solemn Penance suddenly initiated a Slipspace jump inside the city, the In Amber Clad was one of the only vessels close enough to follow it. Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood allowed Keyes to follow the Solemn Penance through the Slipspace rupture, even though she did not know where it was headed. The, , , and the were sent to follow and assist the In Amber Clad with the heavy assault carrier.

Battle of Installation 05
Piggybacking in the slipspace field of the Solemn Penance, the In Amber Clad ended up at Installation 05 in the Coelest system. There, Keyes immediately sent Spartan-117 and her contingent of Marine Shock Troopers to the surface in Human Entry Vehicles to track down the Prophet of Regret at the Temple, while she took herself, Johnson and the Marines to the Library in order to retrieve the Activation Index and prevent the Covenant from activating Halo. The In Amber Clad remained parked at low-altitude over the Library grounds, remaining on station for the return of its captain.

As Keyes entered the Library, they were immediately attacked by the Flood and most of her Marines were infected, with only a few eventually making it to the Index. Keyes, Johnson, and what was left of the Marines were ambushed, however, by the Arbiter only a few seconds after retrieving the index.

Some time later, the In Amber Clad was commandeered by the Flood and was used as a means by the Gravemind to gain access to High Charity.

Battle of High Charity
Performing a slipspace jump inside the central dome of the Covenant's holy city, the Flood-controlled In Amber Clad soon crashed into one of the towers lining the city's edge and immediately released the Flood into the city. The Flood made use of the ship's remaining Pelicans to spread out over High Charity, often crashing the ships to inflict maximum damage on the city. The majority of the population was quickly assimilated. At this point, the ship was irreparably damaged and considered destroyed.

Cortana intended to use the In Amber Clad's engines to destroy High Charity and Installation 05 in the event the Covenant succeeded in activating the ring. Soon after the ring's activation sequence was halted, the Flood overwhelmed High Charity and Cortana fell under the clutches of the Gravemind, depriving her of the opportunity to destroy the engines even if she wanted to.

The remnants of the In Amber Clad were likely destroyed when the Flood-infested High Charity was destroyed by the Master Chief on the surface of Installation 00. When the Master Chief, the Arbiter and Cortana escaped from High Charity after destroying its fusion reactors, they used a damaged but still operational Pelican left in the city.

Fate of the crew
While the majority of the In Amber Clad's UNSC Marine forces were deployed to secure the Delta Halo Activation Index, Flood forces managed to infect the under-strength ship. The remaining crew were infected, and converted into combat forms for use in the invasion of High Charity. A small number, however, managed to outlive their ship, at least for a short while.

Commander Keyes herself survived the trials of the Sentinel Wall and the Quarantine Zone, as did Sergeant Major Johnson and a small number of Marines. While only Johnson and Keyes managed to reach the Index, the other Marines were either killed by the Flood upon arrival at the Index chamber, or captured by the Covenant. Both Keyes and Johnson were captured by the Covenant, only to escape much later thanks to the intervention of a Sangheili-led assault on their captors' base. They would later go on to play pivotal roles in the later stages of the Battle of Earth. The other captive Marines joined the Master Chief during his rampage through High Charity, but were killed either by the Covenant or by the Flood.

Although several Marine bodies can be found on High Charity well after the planetoid had been totally infested, it remains unknown whether these were survivors of the In Amber Clad or if they had been killed after trying to follow the Master Chief into the infected city, though it was stated by Cortana that there were no human life signs detected on that ship.

Trivia

 * In the level Cairo Station, there is a way of walking at the top of the ship. When you come to the first outside part, you head to the diagonal beam in front of the airlock. After jumping to the top by using it as a step, walk to very end of the path. After the last airlock, move to your right and jump. You will land on the ship and be free to walk all around and get back safely.
 * In Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, the In Amber Clad was erroneously referred to as a destroyer.
 * In Amber Clad's hull numbered designation is 142. 1+4+2 =7; alternately, 14/2=7.
 * In Halo 2, in the cutscenes when you see the interior of the ship, (Delta Halo, Cairo Station) you can see that the monitors show the three MAC orbital cannons, Cairo, Malta and Athens even though they are not present in the level Delta Halo, and the Malta and the Athens were destroyed by the Covenant.
 * In the first four Halo games and Halo: Reach, a main UNSC ship becomes severely damaged and unable to be used again. The Pillar of Autumn was crash-landed onto Installation 04 and later obliterated, In Amber Clad crashed into High Charity, and then was blown up during High Charity's destruction at the hands of the Master Chief, Forward Unto Dawn was cut in half, the had its FTL drive taken out and would take years to get back to UNSC controlled space as it was incapable of entering Slipspace, and the Savannah had it's slipspace drive removed to be used as the slipspace bomb that was used to destroy the Covenant supercarrier, Long Night of Solace and was later destroyed.
 * The name In Amber Clad could refer to the ancient Greek (among other cultures) reverence for amber in jewelery and adornment; thus, In Amber Clad would give the vessel a sense of royalty.
 * The In Amber Clad has the same number in its hull classification as the Cairo Station, its number is FFG-142 while the Cairo Station is ODA-142. Both the numbers on the In Amber Clad and Cairo Station add up to 7.

List of appearances

 * Halo 2
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo: Reach
 * Dr. Halsey's personal journal