UNSC Infinity

The UNSC Infinity (INF-101) is an experimental warship of the UNSC Navy commissioned following the end of the Human-Covenant War and the lead ship of her class. Built in secret using technology recovered from Forerunner and Covenant sources during the war, the Infinity is the UNSC's largest and most advanced warship to date. Infinity serves under the command of the Office of Naval Intelligence and is captained by Andrew Del Rio, a seasoned naval officer.

The first ship of her class, Infinity was commissioned in 2557 after being refitted with technology that would add scientific and diplomatic endeavors to her capabilities. By summer 2557, Infinity had a crew of over 17,000 sailors, Marines, Spartans and science personnel, as well as a number of Huragok, with two escort formations of either seven upgraded Halcyon-class light cruisers or at least two Paris-class heavy frigates.

Hull and complement
From stem to stern, the Infinity is 5,694 meters, 18,681 feet, in length, making her the longest warship the UNSC Navy has commissioned. Aside from various Forerunner vessels, her length is surpassed only by the Covenant's gargantuan 29-kilometer. Infinity tremendously surpasses the previous UNSC record holders such as the supercarriers and other vessels such as the retrofitted s.

The ship's sublight power plant is a XR2 Boglin Fields: S81/X deuterium fusion reactor. Translight power is provided by a Mark X Macedon/Z-PROTOTYPE #78720HDS mounted on a remote carriage.

Armament
The Infinity-class warship's primary armament is four CR-08, Series-8 magnetic accelerator cannons. Infinity boasts a significant missile network that can be implemented for ship-to-ship combat, anti-air defense, orbital gunfire support for Marine forces, among others. Emplaced throughout the ship are 1100 missile cells ("pods") of three types: Archer, Rapier, and Howler. The M42 Archer missile, a variant of the M58 series used to great effect in the Insurrection, provides secondary armament for Infinity with 350 pods that can launch 24 missiles simultaneously. Additional missiles include the M75 Rapier (250x30 missiles) and the M96 Howler (500x20 missiles). Close-in defense against enemy missiles, fighters, and boarding craft is the primary mission of the M965 Fortress point defense network, a series of 830 70mm automatic cannons.

Construction
The ship was constructed in the Oort cloud approximately one lightyear beyond the Sol system, with construction beginning circa 2537. Secrecy was ensured by having workers permanently stationed there over several years with a total communications blackout in effect. The ship's massive building expenditures, however, prevented ONI from keeping the Infinity a complete secret. Many senior members of the Admiralty, such as Rear Admiral Saeed Shafiq of UNSC Procurement, are fully aware of the ship's existence. Andrew Del Rio took command of the Infinity and her pre-commission crew years prior to the end of major hostilities in the war.

As of March 2553, technology discovered on the Sharpened Shield, a shield world located in the Zeta Doradus system, was planned to be incorporated into the ship. Huragok assistance in refining the ship's slipspace navigation capabilities, in particular, were expected to push the final construction milestones ahead of schedule. Unlike older warships that had only areas such as a gym or hangar space for Marines and Spartans to train in, the Infinity is the first known vessel to include a state-of-the-art virtual reality combat deck capable of replicating environments from across the galaxy using holography and pneumatic riser fields.

Trials
With the additional upgrades from Trevelyan, the first space trials of the Infinity were undertaken in mid-2553 with Del Rio at the helm. A number of SPARTAN-IVs, the newest generation of the supersoldier program, were assigned to the Infinity before her maiden voyage; additional Spartans were included in the ship's contingent as time progressed.

Action on Sanghelios
During the Sangheili civil war, the Infinity arrived and destroyed several of the vessels assaulting Vadam Keep.

Requiem
In summer 2557, Infinity picked up the distress call of the and her two surviving crew, John-117 and his smart AI companion Cortana, now surviving on the Forerunner shield world Requiem. During the attempted rescue, the ship's control systems were hacked by the Didact and promptly crash-landed on the conservation sphere's surface. The Chief then had to round up as many survivors as he could and meet up with the high-ranking officials of the Infinity. Eventually, she was repaired and her complement of Marines and Spartans would later assist the Master Chief in combating the Didact's forces.

Senior staff

 * Captain Andrew Del Rio — Commanding officer
 * Commander Thomas Lasky — Executive officer
 * Commander Sara Palmer — Commander, Spartan contingent
 * Armstrong — Executive petty officer
 * Glassman — Chief engineer

Junior officers

 * Lieutenant Cameron
 * Lieutenant Priselkov
 * Lieutenant Junior Grade Campbell

Science personnel

 * Dr. Catherine Halsey

Crewmen

 * Petty Officer Richardson
 * Wolfkill

Production notes
This advanced ship plays a major role in Halo 4, serving as the fictional backdrop for War Games and Spartan Ops, the competitive multiplayer and episodic cooperative campaign modes in the appropriately named Infinity section. War Games, in which players take control of SPARTAN-IV supersoldiers serving aboard the warship, train against one another in the ship's environment-replicating combat deck. Spartan Ops puts up to four players in the role of Majestic Squad in a series of weekly episodic campaign missions following the ongoing story of the Infinity and her crew.

The webseries Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn chronicles the early military career of Thomas Lasky; Lasky will play a prominent role in Halo 4, having become a commander aboard the Infinity. On April 17th, 2012 episode of the TBS late night comedy show Conan, hosts Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter announced that they will be voicing Navy deckhands, with whom the player will be able to interact while they lift crates in the Infinity hangar bay. They can be encountered towards the end of the game.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Glasslands
 * The Commissioning
 * Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
 * Halo: The Thursday War
 * Halo 4