Kerel-pattern assault carrier

The Kerel-pattern assault carrier is a design pattern variation of assault carrier employed by the naval forces of the Covenant. The Kerel served the Covenant (and continues to serve its remnants) as a rarer configuration of the design, complementing the much more common s. This modification is explicitly approved by the Hierarchs.

Design details
The Kerel-pattern carrier can be primarily distinguished from the more common by its distinctive smooth hull and rear cowling, replacing the city-like structures present on the dorsal surfaces of the Syfon design. Kerel-pattern vessels were rare Hierarch-approved variants of the Syfon. The basic silhouette of the ship is otherwise similar to most other Covenant carriers, with a hooked prow, immense hangar segment and a thick neck section connecting them. The rear cowling is shared with another unidentified carrier design pattern. The armoured hull is composed of nanolaminate battleplate, with energy shield emitters supporting it. The Kerel has a length of 5347 m, a beam of 2118 m, and a height of 746 m. This makes it one of the largest warship classes employed by the Covenant fleet during the Human-Covenant War. Although the carrier's keel length is inferior, its width and mass are more than twice as large as even the UNSC's prototype flagship, the largest vessel in human history.

The bridge of the Kerel is located in an armored command pod in the center of the carrier's neck, situated inside an armoured pod protected by multiple redunant energy shield generator systems and inertial compensators to provide the command crew with the utmost protection from attack. The blademaster's yard runs along the outermost sides of the neck, and is used to train the ship's warrior complement in martial arts. The aft of the ship houses an elaborate shrine to the Forerunners known as the Nave of the Creators, which is kept in perfect condition by the ship's crew. The top section of the ship is capable of separating from the lower-aft half thanks to the application of Modular Dispersal Technology, which sees the ship constructed in a decentralised fashion as such as to ensure entire segments of the ship can be detached with a minimal loss of performance. When detached in this manner, the upper-front half of the ship retains its own repulsor engines and Borer for slipspace transportation. This feature is actually intended to be used in order to detach sections of the carrier that sustained extensive damage in order to increase the chances of saving what is left of the ship and its crew for future use.

Propulsion
For propulsion, assault carriers rely on large deuterium-tritium pinch fusion reactors, housed in cavernous chambers, which power the ship's vital systems. The reactor is located in the centre of the ship, inside the upper hull. As such, and when split into multiple components when Modularly Dispersed, the reactor is retained in the upper hull - leaving the lower component completely without power. as well as the three aft-mounted Raphyus-pattern repulsor engines that propel the ship, capable of operating in a vacuum or in an atmospheric environment. For superluminal travel, a Primus-pattern borer (equivalent to a CODEN Series IV Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine) is installed.

The vessel is propelled by three massive engine units, and possess, like all Covenant vessels, the ability to make pinpoint slipspace jumps in atmosphere. As shown in the Battle of Earth, such slipspace jumps cause massive discharges of EMP, rivaling those set off by nuclear devices.

Armaments
Not all assault carriers are created equally - while the Kerel's most common listed weapons configuration boasts an identical armament loadout to its more common Syfon counterpart, individual ships can nonetheless display a large variety in capabilities. The configuration of weapons employed by the Kerel-pattern, Shadow of Intent, is listed as the following:

The ship's primary weapon is an Infernus-pattern excavation beam, the same model of excavation beam as that fitted on the much smaller s. This weapon is mounted on the vessel's prow, and is used for artifact excavation and military compliance operations. Augmenting this weapon are an additional two Urpeon-pattern plasma lances for heavy anti-ship work. The plasma lances are located on the dorsal surface of the ship, inside a teardrop-shaped emitter linked directly to the central pinch fusion reactor.

The class is additionally fitted with eight Luxor-pattern heavy plasma beam emitters and twenty-four Mictix-pattern heavy plasma torpedo silos, alongside an array of 700 Ferriel-pattern pulse laser turrets. Seven plasma cannons line the horizontal trench running across the ship's prow. These weapons can be fired individually or combined to fire their energy in one devastating mass - though require the ship's shields to be disabled to fire. The plasma cannons are likely the Luxor plasma beams or, more likely, the Mictix plasma torpedo silos, based on their usage during the Ambush at Duraan.

Crew and complement
Kerel-pattern carriers are capable of operation with a crew of as few as two hundred Superiors - even in dire circumstances such as those faced by the Swords of Sanghelios during the Blooding Years. The hooked prow's endmost section contains living and entertainment quarters for the ship's permanent crew. Recreational facilities include habitat domes and hunting preserves, similar in nature to those of the.

When under ideal operating circumstances, a carrier can boast a troop complement of 40,000 warriors, with facilities such as the blademaster's yard for on-board training and recreation. Supplementing the troop complement is an armada of ground vehicles including three Scarab quadruped excavators, 196 Wraith tanks and 700 Ghost scout bikes. 44 Shadow troop transports are additionally embarked aboard the carrier for groundside troop movement.

Alongside the ground complement, Kerel-pattern carriers house a massive air wing of both atmospheric and exoatmospheric strikecraft. Eight hangar bays line the sides of the ship's lower section, flanking the gravity lift. These hangars have an additional large forward entrance, and their cavernous nature is such that they are capable of housing whole smaller warships such as UNSC frigates. The ship's air and deployment wing includes 250 drop pods, 20 s and 44 Spirit or Phantom dropships for transport - for use when the massive gravity lift on the ship is unavailable. Escorting these troop transports are 600 Banshee ground attack flyers, alongside 192 of their "space Banshee" cousins for exoatmospheric intercept. 64 Seraph fighters supplement this number for heavier intercept and limited anti-ship capability.

In addition to their combat complements, carriers also stock a number of Ren transport shuttles for logistics and personnel transportation.

Usage
In the starship classification system, the Kerel-pattern is considered a part of the Examiner category of vessels.

Within the hull classifications of Covenant ships undertaken by the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Kerel is one of two warships designated the CAS-class assault carrier - alongside its more common cousin the. The "S", for Salvation, denotes that the CAS-class assault carrier is a dedicated warship. Along with the Covenant's other assault carriers and supercarriers, the Kerel-pattern assault carrier was designated a Class-Five flagship carrier by the United Nations Space Command due to their use as a flagship of Covenant fleets.

Kerel-pattern ships are considered effective when used in fleet command and offensive space warfare roles. This puts them in contrast with the and, which are both considered more useful in force deployment roles than in combat.They generally serve as the primary flagship of most fleets, working as the fleet command centre and the seat of the armada's fleetmaster or Supreme Commander.

Ships of the line

 * Breath of Annihilation – A carrier serving within Sali 'Nyon's Covenant.
 * Resplendent Fervor - The flagship of the Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence.
 * Seeker of Truth – The flagship of the Fleet of Particular Justice.
 * Shadow of Intent – The flagship of the Fleet of Retribution.
 * Song of Retribution – The personal flagship of Supreme Commander Jul 'Mdama.

Operational history
The Kerel-pattern assault carrier had entered service at least by circa 2135.

During the deep and bloody siege of Earth that was still continuing, numerous assault carriers were assigned within multiple Covenant reinforcement fleets to complete the destruction of humanity's last and most important and defended stronghold. Near the end of the Battle of Mombasa, at least three assault carriers that were part of a large Jiralhanae excavation fleet sent by the Prophet of Truth joined the remaining battlecruisers of the Fleet of Sacred Consecration in finishing the glassing of Mombasa and excavating the Portal at Voi. One, having exited slipspace nearby to begin glassing operations, nearly killed Alpha-Nine as they escaped in a hijacked Phantom. Near the end of the Battle for Earth, at least a few of survived carriers retreated with Truth's ship and his fleet through the portal to the Ark.

The assault carrier Shadow of Intent later became the flagship of the Fleet of Retribution, which also includes another assault carrier. The Special Operations Commander and Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadum, in command of the ship, led his fleet to Earth in pursuit of a surviving Flood ship, arriving in time to glass the infected area of the planet. Shadow of Intent and its escorting cruisers joined the remnants of the UNSC Home Fleet's Seventh Fleet to launch a joint attack on the Covenant at Installation 00, destroying their fleet and providing a distraction while ground forces engaged Truth's loyalists that had landed on the installation. It later evacuated the UNSC and Sangheili personnel and returned to Earth for a short time before returning to Sanghelios. The Shadow of Intent later became embroiled in a conflict with Tem'Bhetek's faction which was seeking revenge against the Sangheili. After defeating the faction, Rtas decided to seek out the surviving San'Shyuum.

By 2554, Jul 'Mdama, a shipmaster and Supreme Commander of his self-proclaimed Covenant commanded the assault carrier Song of Retribution during his attempts to enter the Forerunner shield world Requiem. Three years later, the Song of Retribution led a fleet of numerous s. After rebelling against Jul, Sali 'Nyon stole away the assault carrier Breath of Annihilation from him.

Numerous assault carriers were present at the peace talks on Ealen IV under the command of the Arbiter, Thel 'Vadam, and the Elder Jiralhanae Chieftain, Lydus. Many assault carriers were also used under the command of Vata 'Gajat during the battle that ensued in an attempt to capture the delegates.

Operators
Kerel-pattern carriers were employed by the various ministries of the Covenant, during the empire's reign. Following the empire's dissolution, Kerel-pattern carriers fell into the hands of the imperial remnant warlords.

Covenant

 * Fleet of Particular Justice
 * Seeker of Truth
 * Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence
 * Resplendent Fervor
 * Truth's fleet
 * Dozens of Kerel-pattern assault carriers.
 * Due to their huge resource investment, nearly all Kerel-pattern vessels were under the control of the Covenant prior to the empire's collapse. As such, all ships listed in the remnant listings below were likely a part of the Covenant fleet prior to its dissolution.

Covenant remnants

 * Children of Oth Sonin
 * At least two Kerel-pattern carriers.
 * Swords of Sanghelios
 * At least two Kerel-pattern carriers.
 * Shadow of Intent
 * One unidentified vessel employed during the Attack on Ealen IV.
 * Jul 'Mdama's Covenant
 * Song of Retribution
 * Breath of Annihilation
 * Sali 'Nyon's Covenant
 * At least one Kerel-patern carrier, Breath of Annihilation.
 * Merg Vol's Covenant
 * At least four Kerel-pattern carriers.
 * Vata 'Gajat's mercenary group
 * At least four Kerel-pattern carriers.

Production notes
Kerel-pattern assault carriers were first introduced into the series as the assault carrier design featured in Halo 2 and Halo 3 - then-known by the name of the CAS-class assault carrier. The design remained relatively consistent until the release of the Halo 2: Anniversary in 2014, with the Blur Studio cutscenes depicting Solemn Penance differently. The two designs were later canonised in 2017's Halo: Warfleet – An Illustrated Guide to the Spacecraft of Halo as two individual design patterns of Covenant carrier that serve alongside one another in the Covenant fleet.

List of appearances

 * Halo 2
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo: Uprising
 * Halo 3
 * Halo Wars: Genesis
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * Palace Hotel
 * The Return
 * The Mona Lisa
 * Halo: Blood Line
 * Halo Legends
 * Origins
 * The Package
 * Halo: Reach
 * Halo 4
 * Terminals
 * Spartan Ops
 * Halo: Spartan Assault
 * Halo: Initiation
 * Halo: Escalation


 * Halo 2: Anniversary
 * Terminals
 * Halo: New Blood
 * Hunt the Truth
 * Halo: Spartan Strike
 * Halo: Shadow of Intent
 * Know Your Enemy
 * Halo Mythos
 * Halo: Silent Storm
 * Halo: Lone Wolf
 * Halo: Oblivion
 * Halo: Shadows of Reach
 * Halo Infinite