UNSC Hopeful

The UNSC Hopeful was a research facility and mobile hospital utilized by the United Nations Space Command.

Overview
The Hopeful was one of the oldest and most revered ships in the UNSC fleet. By 2551, the ship had been involved in eighteen naval engagements against both insurrectionists and the Covenant, having been damaged multiple times. Since at least 2525, it has been commanded by the legendary Vice Admiral Ysionris Jeromi. The ship has taken on near-mythical status to soldiers fighting on the front lines.

Unlike any other ship in the fleet, the station was built of two scrapped refit stations, each a square kilometer of plate, scaffolding, and cargo trams. The two plates had been connected to make an off-center "sandwich". Due to this atypical design, it is known to many naval officers as 'the ugliest thing to ever float in zero-g', although many personnel who had been on the Hopeful describe her as 'the most beautiful thing ever to be seen'.

The Hopeful is virtually always on the move, tending to wounded, assisting in civilian evacuations, and mobilizing medical care when diseases ravage the poorer colonies. Due to its vulnerability the Hopeful is always accompanied by an escort. As the Human-Covenant War escalated its normal escort was increased to five destroyers and six corvettes.

Operational history
In 2495, the UNSC took control of the station and added six fusion reactors and a Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, turning Hopeful into the largest mobile battlefield hospital in history. It had the facilities, doctors, and supplies to treat thousands of critically injured patients at a time. With the horrors of the Human-Covenant War taking their toll on the UNSC forces, the Hopeful was always busy. In many cases, the Hopeful was known to literally 'bring the dead back to life'.

In 2525, Dr. Catherine Halsey messaged her former instructor, Vice Admiral Jeromi, about a set of hypothetical augmentation experiments performed upon Bonobo chimpanzees aboard the Hopeful, much to Jeromi's displeasure at the thought of such an experiment. Halsey used the data provided by Jeromi to conduct the SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures.

In 2536, SPARTAN-III Alpha Company underwent their physical augmentation procedures, Project CHRYSANTHEMUM, on board the Hopeful. In 2551, Gamma Company underwent their augmentation procedures on the Hopeful. As Gamma Company's augmentations had to be performed in the utmost secrecy, Vice Admiral Margaret O. Parangosky ordered that the station be berthed in Sector K-009, much to Jeromi's displeasure. Its normal escort was reduced from eleven ships to just one destroyer and a single Office of Naval Intelligence prowler. Presumably, SPARTAN-III Beta Company also underwent Project CRYSANTHEMUM on the Hopeful.