Sacred Whisper

The Sacred Whisper was a Covenant intrusion corvette commanded by Shipmaster Hulon 'Budyasee. It served as the flagship of the Bloodstar Flotilla in early 2526. The corvette was used by First Blade Tel 'Szatulai of the Silent Shadow as he led the flotilla to meet with human insurrectionists and to search for the rumored Spartan supersoldiers.

Specifications
As is the case with the other intrusion corvettes of the Bloodstar Flotilla, the Sacred Whisper was shaped like a pair of teardrops connected by a thin center fuselage, lined with rows of blue lights. The bridge featured an observation blister which allowed a crewmember to see into space directly ahead of the ship. At the back of the bridge was a maze of control consoles and equipment stands, including a tactical hologram projector. The hologram projector was surrounded by ten data-collection lecterns, each manned by a Sangheili reader. Typically, two obedientaries would each observe five of these readers each, standing at opposite ends of the tactical hologram. The spine of the vessel contained a contemplation sphere where certain high-ranking Sangheili officers could meditate in peace.

The corvette was equipped with a single anti-ship plasma cannon, and a gravity lift that could be used to move troops and equipment.. Being an intrusion corvette, the Sacred Whisper featured an advanced active camouflage system. Working in tandem with this system, the vessel's specialized repulsor engines would let out only a small amount of thermal emissions, such that any thermal scopes could pick up only a momentary red flare from the vessel during takeoff.

Tool of the Silent Shadow
In early 2526, First Blade Tel 'Szatulai's squad of Silent Shadow was approached by a courier representing the United Rebel Front as they scouted the colony of Amasa. They were offered information on the United Nations Space Command in exchange for the insurrectionists' survival. 'Szatulai took this information to Fleetmaster Nizat 'Kvarosee of the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience, who instructed the warrior to accept their offer of a meeting on Biko's third moon of Seoba, with the intent to gather what information he could. However, once these human rebels outlived their usefulness to the Covenant, they should be destroyed. To carry out this mission, 'Szatulai took the five intrusion corvettes of the Bloodstar Flotilla to the Kolaqoa system, commanding the small force from the Sacred Whisper.

Mission to Seoba
On March 19, 2526, the Bloodstar Flotilla arrived in high orbit over Biko without the planet's defense force noticing. Despite the intrusion corvettes' active camouflage, the UNSC force that had just captured the rebels' ice quarry base on Seoba detected the incoming flotilla and began to deploy its prowlers. As the Sacred Whisper approached the moon, 'Szatulai—inside the vessel's observation blister—could see those prowlers rising into space, backed by the pink disk that was Biko. However, none of the corvettes' sensors could pick out anything that suggested that human stealth vessels were leaving Seoba. 'Szatulai and Shipmaster Hulon 'Budyasee visited the stations toward the back of the bridge to confirm that nothing could be seen on the sensors. As he was certain that human vessels were indeed rising from the ice quarry that was their intended meeting location, the First Blade ordered the corvettes to fire on the quarry, despite the extreme range and lack of vessels to target.

The barrage successfully downed the, the flagship of the human task force. Impacting the quarry wall, the prowler's fuselage was heavily damaged and an avalanche was caused, resulting in the prowler coming to a rest atop a massive ice pile. Realizing that the barrage had yielded the desired results, 'Szatulai ordered the flotilla to move in to recover the disabled stealth vessel, all while fending off the other human ships. As the corvettes approached the quarry, they detected a transport take off from a a maintenance grotto. All five corvettes—including the Sacred Whisper—fired on the vessel as it fled toward Biko. A single intrusion corvette made it to the crash site before the others and deployed Bloodstar forces to secure the wreck. Before it could be recovered, a team of twelve Spartans arrived and contested them. However, with the arrival of a second corvette, the Spartans were forced to restart the avalanche with their grenade launchers, burying half of them in the ice, but also delaying the Covenant. As 'Szatulai's Bloodstars fought the Spartans for control of the Starry Night, two more of the intrusion corvettes approached to harass the supersoldiers. Despite this, the humans gained access to the prowler and its nuclear self-destruct system, and a strafing run from the task force destroyed two of the flotilla's corvettes and chased off a third. With the situation turning in the Spartans' favor, the first intrusion corvette began lifting the Starry Night into its hangar bay via gravity lift. It was too late, however, as the team inside the prowler armed the nuke and fled in an escape pod. The explosion pulverized both the Starry Night and the corvette, leaving the Sacred Whisper and only one other corvette as the remaining vessels of the Bloodstar Flotilla.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Silent Storm