Zanar-pattern light cruiser

The CRS-class light cruiser is a Covenant capital warship classification.

Overview
While classified as "light cruisers" by the UNSC, the Covenant intended them to fill a role more analogous to police cutters to patrol inhabited star systems, conducting routine inspections and enforcing travel laws. After the war, CRSs became the backbones of fleets owned by Covenant remnant factions, serving in combat roles against humanity and the Swords of Sanghelios. Crews of CRS cruisers generally regarded serving aboard one as a stepping stone to more glorious service aboard the Covenant's Examiner ships, such as s, and would take risks during combat to prove their worth in hopes of reassignment. They regarded escorting Executor-type ships and their disgraced crews such as the as a more distasteful assignment, and could never be relied on to do more than their basic duties. When the Prophets took their Procurator-type ships and fled Covenant space in the wake of the Great Schism, they took many light cruisers whose crews remained loyal with them. As with other small attack ships employed by Covenant fleets, CRS cruisers didn't have permanent crew quarters, instead rotating fresh crew members on between missions.

Specifications
Resembling a luminous manta ray, the CRS is essentially a smaller, weaker version of the, with the Zanar-pattern light cruiser originally spawning as a stable mutation of the class' Elefen and Ket design patterns. One notable difference is that the CRS-class (at least those used by Jul 'Mdama's Covenant) bears green lights, as opposed to the white-blue lighting on the CCS class. The control coils of CRS-class light cruisers require careful fine-tuning to prevent disorientation and hallucination when operating at full power. In addition, in rare cases the sensor arrays of these ships subject to aberrant mutations during fabrication that make them appear friendly to Forerunner defense protocols.

The four Pok-pattern beam lasers coordinate fire using two dedicated auger arrays to coordinate fire and rapidly target dozens of targets in quick succession, a useful feature during suppression operations on Covenant worlds. Their Sintra-pattern plasma torpedoes were extremely fast, but their high velocity in flight made them almost impossible to guide to the target, making them better employed as airborne artillery.

The "R", for Reverence, in the cruiser's three-letter classification code indicates that the cruiser is capable of conducting reconnaissance missions and is capable of excavating Forerunner artifacts. The "S", for Salvation, denotes that the CRS-class light cruiser is a dedicated warship.

Operational history
While some CRS-class light cruisers engaged human forces during the Covenant War, the majority of them were assigned in rear echelon assignments to ensure Covenant supply lines were well protected. This made them a prime target for opportunistic warlords during and after the Great Schism to expand their fleets, using them in more combat focused roles than they were intended for.

Ships of the class participated in the Battle of Psi Serpentis in 2543. Several CRS-class cruisers were used over Reach during the Covenant's invasion of the planet in 2552.

The light cruiser Spear of Light acted as the vessel for Prelate Tem'Bhetek who used it to rescue the Minister of Preparation during the Fall of High Charity. Convinced that Rtas 'Vadum was responsible for the death of his family, the Prelate formed a faction to get revenge upon the Sangheili. The cruiser attacked two Sangheili colonies and ambushed the Shadow of Intent at the second one with the crew abandoning the Spear of Light to board the Shadow of Intent. After the boarders were repelled, the cruiser was captured and its navigation database led the Sangheili to the prototype Halo installation. The Spear of Light's database later revealed that more of the San'Shyuum had survived then was previously believed and was used by 'Vadum to begin a search for them.

In the wake of the Human-Covenant War, the CRS class forms the backbone of Jul 'Mdama's Covenant's fleet, which deployed numerous CRS-class cruisers to Requiem prior to and during the First Battle of Requiem. After finding the, one approached the ship with its shields down, not expecting a threat, intending to open fire on the Dawn. However, Spartan John-117 destroyed the cruiser with one of the Forward Unto Dawn's Hyperion nuclear missiles. Several were destroyed moments later when the gravity well of Requiem pulled them in. Three cruisers made a slipspace jump into Requiem's core to deploy troops around the satellite containing the Didact's Cryptum. At least one of these cruisers, possibly more, was sucked into the gravity well created by the Didact's Cryptum entering slipspace and was destroyed. Numerous light cruisers were later sent to attack the after it crashed into Requiem, but at least two were destroyed by Infinity ' s defensive turrets and surface-to-air-missile launchers after John-117 reactivated Infinity's defenses. During the Didact's Raid on Ivanoff Station, at least three cruisers were present, deploying Phantoms to stop the evacuation as John and Cortana reprogrammed Ivanoff Station's defense turrets to cover the evacuation. As their Phantoms continued to be shot down by Onagers, the three cruisers moved into position over the station, remaining in close proximity to each other.

Several CRS-class cruiser were present during the Requiem campaign in February 2558. Many provided escort for an that was destroyed immediately after Infinity ' s emergence from slipspace. They immediately engaged Infinity ' s s, though they were quickly destroyed or routed. Later, a CRS was deployed to Two Giants in a desperate attempt to keep the UNSC from activating the Forerunner portal technology there. Despite being supported by numerous Phantoms and Banshees, it was destroyed by a large anti-ship HE missile launched by Infinity ' s Sub-vessel 3 and the UNSC's operation was a success. Another light cruiser attacked the UNSC base at "The Refuge", but was destroyed when Fireteam Shadow boarded and overloaded its power core. Later, several light cruisers participated in the Covenant-Promethean attack on Infinity. At least one was destroyed when Fireteam Crimson brought the Infinity ' s weapons back online. Several CRS-class cruisers fled Requiem after Jul 'Mdama set the planet on a collision course with its parent star.

Ships of the line

 * Spear of Light

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole
 * Halo: Fall of Reach
 * Invasion
 * Halo 4
 * Spartan Ops
 * Halo: Escalation
 * Halo: Shadow of Intent
 * Halo Mythos