UNSC In Amber Clad

The  (FFG-142) was a United Nations Space Command Frigate.

First Battle of Earth
As of October 2552, the In Amber Clad was commanded by Commander Miranda Keyes. It was docked with Orbital Defense Platform Cairo during an award ceremony. In the middle of the ceremony, however, a Covenant Fleet appeared around Earth and so the First Battle of Earth began. 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 Assault Carriers using their own bomb.

First Battle of Mombasa
Afterwards, the vessel descended to Mombasa, Kenya, where it dispatched numerous units from the 17th and 77th Marine Regiments. During the battle, the In Amber Clad was the headquarters for all UNSC forces in the area. The ship also reinforced and resupplied the Marines with armor, ground support, and more troops. The IAC also began to evac and treat injured and wounded Marines.

As the High Prophet of Regret 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 Assault Carrier 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
The In Amber Clad ended up at Installation 05. There, Keyes immediately sent John-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 77th Marines to the Library in order to retrieve the Index and prevent the Covenant from activating Halo.

As Keyes entered the Library, they were immediately attacked by the Flood and most of her Marines were taken by the flood and became Combat Forms and Carrier Forms, only a few eventually making it to the index. However, Keyes, Johnson, and what was left of the Marines were ambushed by the Arbiter only a few seconds after retrieving the index.

It is likely that the Flood commandeered a Pelican and infiltrated the In Amber Clad, as it was not seen again until it crashed into High Charity. At this point the Flood controlled the ship. It is speculated that Gravemind was aboard.

First Battle of High Charity
The ship crashed into a tower near the Council Chamber and immediately the Flood used most of the ship's remaining Pelicans to spread out over High Charity, often crashing the ships to inflict maximum damage on the city. The Flood quickly assimilated most of High Charity's population. At this point, the ship was out of commission, designating it as destroyed.

Cortana intended to use the In Amber Clad's engines to destroy High Charity, but it was never done. It is unclear whether she still could do it because during the Battle of Installation 00, Cortana was unable to stop the Gravemind from using High Charity to travel through the galaxy. It is assumed to be completely destroyed when John-117 blasted the station's reactors causing them to go critical.

Trivia

 * In Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, the In Amber Clad was once referred to as a destroyer, however, because the ship carries the FFG hull classification, it is designated as a frigate.''
 * In Amber Clad's hull number is 142. 1+4+2 = 7.
 * In Halo 3, there is evidence that not all of the ship's crew had been infected before the frigate had crashed in High Charity. On the level Cortana, you can find an occasional marine or ODST corpse, often located near a flamethrower.
 * 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 only present in the level Cairo Station and the Malta and the Athens were destroyed by the Covenant.