UNSC Spirit of Fire

''This article describes the warship. For the musical piece, see Spirit of Fire (Song).''

The UNSC Spirit of Fire (CFV-88) is a modified UNSC built in 2473. The Spirit of Fire ' s commanding officer is Captain James Gregory Cutter.

History


More than fifty years after being constructed, it was recommissioned and refitted for military service prior to the period of history known as the Human-Covenant War. The AI on board the Spirit of Fire was known as Serina.

The last civilian captain of the Spirit of Fire was Captain Alexander, who had retired from active duty in the year 2520, on the 20th of July. Directly after his retirement, the vessel was requisitioned by the UNSC and scheduled for refit in order to better prepare it for the combat operations in which it would participate.

Before the First Battle of Arcadia, the Spirit of Fire had visited the planet Arcadia twice, once to aid in the colonization efforts taking place on the planet, and the second time to aid the local authorities in suppressing a violent student riot.

The Spirit of Fire was originally a colony ship, transporting equipment and colonists in the UNSC's expansion efforts. In 2520 the ship was refit with a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon and other armaments to serve as a warship. Huge storage bays that used to house machine parts now carry everything from M12 Warthogs and M808B Scorpions to construction supplies for fire bases involved in front line engagements or in rearguard actions. In 2530 the Spirit of Fire's thrust assemblies were replaced from the Destroyer UNSC Calcutta, increasing output by 37%.

The Spirit of Fire took part in the Third Battle of Harvest, providing ground forces with supplies, reinforcements, vehicle support, orbital MAC strikes, air support and more, giving it a major role in the battle.

After the events on Harvest, the Spirit of Fire arrived at the planet Arcadia, where it assisted in the evacuation of civilians, and the eradication of the Covenant from the planet's surface. When Professor Anders was captured by the Arbiter, the Spirit of Fire quickly gave chase, following the Arbiter's flagship to a Flood-controlled planet in an unknown system. This planet eventually turned out to be a Forerunner Shield World (like Onyx), containing a multitude of Forerunner warships. To ensure that the Covenant would not be able to use these warships against humanity, the Spirit of Fire's Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine was detonated inside the Shield World's artificial sun. The ship managed to escape the exploding Forerunner installation, but without an FTL drive, the journey home would take many years, if not decades. Most of the crew entered cryonic sleep at this point, with only a skeleton crew remaining active to run the ship.

In 2534, the Spirit of Fire, previously designated as "missing", was declared "lost with all hands" by the UNSC. The reason for this change was kept top secret. A memorial service was held for the people aboard the vessel, but many of the crew's family members chose not to attend, holding out hope that their loved ones are still alive. Various theories circulated throughout the UNSC as to the ship's actual fate, ranging from being lost during a covert mission for ONI, destroyed in orbit over Arcadia, defecting to Insurrectionist forces, or being stranded in space. When Mary Cutter, wife of Captain James Cutter, was asked about the defection theory, she physically assaulted the reporter.

Support Abilities
In Halo Wars, the Spirit of Fire can provide various support abilities for the UNSC, some which are universal for the UNSC and specific leader powers, which are often devastating.

Universal Abilities
These abilities are available to a UNSC faction in skirmish and multiplayer, regardless of which leader you have selected. Compared to leader-specific abilities, these ones are quite passive, and are less effective and less costly.

The Heal and Repair ability slowly restores hit points to all units and buildings within a small radius for a short period of time. The ability costs 350 resources to use, and has a rather medium "recharge" time. This ability most likely represents UNSC service drones from "Spirit of Fire" descending to repair ground and air vehicles.

The Disruption Bomb ability calls in a Shortsword which drops in an unusually large bomb which creates a pulsating, field of blue energy. Within this small energy field leader powers are disabled until the bomb explodes (no collateral damage) after one minute. The target area must be within your line of sight for the bomb to be dropped. The cost for deploying a single disruption bomb is 450 resources.

The Pelican Transport ability calls in a small group of Pelican dropships to quickly transport a group of units to a specific location. Both the pick-up zone and the LZ must be visible within your line of sight for the transport to initiate. It costs only a mere 200 resources, and can be reused several times very rapidly in order to transport large armies, due to a non-existent "recharge" time.

Leader-Specific Abilities
As their labeling may indicate, these abilities are only available if a certain leader is selected. Compared to universal abilities, these abilities are extremely effective, and anything but passive. Due to a greater cost (each one costs 600 resources), and much longer recharge time these abilities are not used as frequently. Unlike universal abilities, each Leader-Specific ability (save for the ODST Drop) can be upgraded three times at the Field Armory, each upgrade tremendously increasing the effectiveness of the ability.

The ODST Drop ability can be used if Captain Cutter is the selected leader. This ability allows you to drop at least a single ODST squad from orbit onto the battlefield, with nearly pinpoint precision. Like all leader powers, the area in which one plans to drop the ODST's must be within your line of sight. Since this ability is constantly "recharging", a player can send as many as ten ODST squads directly to the battlefield. The pods can ONLY be called if you have the ODST Super Unit upgrade, located in the Barracks, and have at least 3 as a minimum tech level. Also, it costs 1 population count and 100 resources to drop a single squad.

The MAC Blast ability is also exclusive to Captain Cutter. This ability fires a number of up to four MAC rounds with amazing accuracy and power to the surface. At first, you can only fire one MAC round per blast, but technologies can be researched at the Field Armory to increase the capacity of MAC rounds up until four MAC rounds per blast. A single shell delivers heavy damage to units within a rather large radius. Like all leader abilities this ability has a very long "recharge" time.

The Cryo Bomb ability can be called in if Ellen Anders is the selected leader. It freezes units temporarily, causing air units to drop and shatter, and make larger units, such as the Scarab, weaker to attacks. The Cryo Bomb is brought by a Shortsword bomber on request.

The Carpet Bomb ability can be called in if John Forge is the selected leader. It releases a double line of bombs along the axis selected by the player, it is capable of destroying several vehicles or squads if used cleverly. The Carpet Bomb is brought by a Shortsword bomber on request.

Trivia

 * A possible canonical inconsistency with the Spirit of Fire's MAC is its ability to accurately fire a MAC round onto the surface of a planet. Even ODST pods that are designed to be fired at a specific target and have thrusters that can direct them to land somewhat off target. Therefore, it seems unlikely that an unguided slug could manage to be landed so accurately. This may, however, be precluded by the immense momentum imparted on the slug making it resistant to external forces and thus unlikely to veer off the calculated course (a multi-ton slug moving at near relativistic speeds will have a great deal of momentum). By contrast an ODST pod travels at lower speeds and uses several methods of deceleration which change its trajectory.
 * Its Ship Emblem reads "Exitus Acta Probat", Latin for "The result justifies the deed" or "The ends justify the means."
 * The campaign of Halo Wars follows the Spirit of Fire and its crew as they deal with their first deadly encounters with the Covenant, as well as the Flood.
 * The Spirit of Fire's former status as a colony ship might be a vague reference to the UESC Marathon.
 * Early concept art of Halo Wars suggests that a cat lived onboard the ship, possibly a pet to Captain Cutter. This is a possible reference to Jonesy, a cat that was lost aboard the Pillar of Autumn.
 * The Spirit of Fire once carried Hydroponics and schools for colonies.
 * Prior to Halo Wars, the crew of the Pillar of Autumn held the distinction of being the first UNSC forces to come into contact with the Flood. In fact, the Spirit of Fire encountered them twenty one years earlier, but were left stranded in space and was presumed lost with all hands, unable to return to UNSC territory to inform the rest of humanity about the threat.
 * Strangely enough, as seen in the mission Repairs, the main "power core" (which would be a very crucial element of the ship), or at least a part of it lies directly on the exterior of the vessel, with very little armor, making it very vulnerable to assault. Considering that the ship was originally a colony ship, and was never designed for warfare in the first place, this design flaw was obviously overlooked.
 * During campaign and multiplayer skirmishes, the Spirit Of Fire's MAC can be upgraded to fire up to four rounds and can fire these rounds at an extremely high rate.
 * Like all UNSC ships, it is not stated how they achieve lift in a planet's gravitational field. In Halo: The Flood, the Pillar of Autumn wasn't designed to enter a planet's atmosphere, due to lack of vertical thrust necessary to keep it in the air. No evidence of lift systems can be seen on "Spirit of Fire", or indeed several of the frigates and destroyers seen in some of the Halo games e.g. "In Amber Clad".
 * In addition to the normal UNSC ship armament, the Spirit of Fire also sports "heavy deck guns", weapon systems not discussed in any of the Halo novels. From appearance, they are heavy duty artillery platforms designed for fleet engagements, or possibly for destroying approaching dropships and Seraph class fighters, as demonstrated in game. They may however, be a relic of earlier UNSC technology, that was unused on other fleet vessels. In addition, the Spirit Of Fires hull has base Base Turret build sites which you can use to repel any unwanted guests. These are possibly oversized point-defense guns, which are used to protect UNSC vessels from single-ships such as the Seraph.