Fleet of Sacred Consecration

The Fleet of Sacred Consecration was the Covenant fleet under the command of the Prophet of Regret. Originally composed of thirteen s and two s, the fleet suffered tremendous losses when it accidentally stumbled upon the heavily-defended planet Earth.

History
After the Prophet of Regret discovered the location of the Ark Portal from a Forerunner Luminary unearthed in the aftermath of the Battle of Meridian, he quickly conjured a small excavation fleet to uncover it. He was unaware that the relic he sought after was located on humanity's homeworld. His significantly outnumbered and out-classed fleet was quickly attacked by the UNSC Home Fleet, consisting of eight s and sixty-seven s under the command of Fleet Admiral Harper.

The Covenant fleet then deployed dozens of boarding craft at the orbital defense platforms defending the planet, in hopes of destroying a cluster with antimatter charges. They managed to destroy two orbital stations; the Athens and Malta station, clearing a path for Regret's flagship, the Solemn Penance to reach Earth.

Meanwhile, the UNSC ships split into echelons, where one group of ships attacked the carriers and a second covered the cruisers. The combined firepower of Fleet Admiral Harper's fleet ensured the rapid destruction of many of Regret's ships, in spite of the numerous losses the human fleet was sustaining. The Fleet's second carrier, staying above orbit, disabled at least one Marathon-class cruiser with an energy projector. At some point during the battle its shields were destroyed by the Home Fleet's concentrated assault, allowing a pair of Longsword fighters to punch a hole into the carrier's hull, thus exposing the hollow center housing the ship's reactor core. John-117 managed to disable the Covenant bomb meant for the Cairo and threw himself and the device into vacuum, activating it next to the core and propelling himself to safety, thus destroying the carrier.

After UNSC forces in New Mombasa began to push Covenant troops back to Regret's landing zone, Regret decided to head to Halo Installation 05, which he located via the Luminary that had revealed him the Ark Portal as well as all the Halo rings. He proceeded with an in-atmosphere slipspace jump, with UNSC ships, , , and  following. At least one other Covenant ship escaped the battle, the cruiser Pious Inquisitor, which would eventually become part of the Fleet of Retribution.

The battle in Earth orbit destroyed the vast majority of Regret's fleet, whose loss was compensated by the arrival of Truth's fleet, which proceeded to invade Earth only hours afterward. The ultimate fate of the Solemn Penance is unknown.

List of appearances

 * Halo 2
 * Halo 3
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo: Broken Circle
 * Halo 2 Anniversary
 * Terminals