UNSC Spirit of Fire

''This article describes the warship. For the musical piece, see Spirit of Fire (music).''

"Exitus Acta Probat"

- The ship's motto (Latin for "The Outcome Justifies the Deed")

UNSC Spirit of Fire (hull classification symbol CFV-88) is a Phoenix-class support vessel in service with the UNSC Navy. Built in 2473, Spirit of Fire is a heavily modified colony ship. In 2531 her commanding officer was Captain James Cutter and her primary shipboard AI was Serina. After the crew sacrificed her slipspace drive to destroy the Forerunner shield world known as the Etran Harborage, the Spirit of Fire was forced into a slow return trip back to human space at sub-luminal velocities and was officially declared "lost with all hands" in 2534. After 28 years of drifting through space, the Spirit of Fire was mysteriously transported through slipspace to Installation 00 or the Ark, where the crew was forced into a conflict with the occupying Banished. While Serina perished during the journey as per her limited lifespan as a smart AI, the Spirit of Fire gained a new shipboard AI in Isabel, the only survivor of the Banished's attack on the UNSC outposts on the Ark.

Pre-war service
The Spirit of Fire was originally a colony ship, transporting colonists as well as equipment such as hydroponics, atmosphere generators, and prefabricated schools, in the UNSC's expansion efforts.

More than fifty years after being constructed, it was recommissioned and refitted for military service prior to the period of history known as the Human-Covenant War. The last civilian captain of the Spirit of Fire was Captain Alexander, who had retired from active duty in the year 2520, on the 20th of July, after visiting the world of Verent. Directly after Alexander's retirement, the vessel was requisitioned by the UNSC and scheduled for refit in order to better prepare it for the combat operations in which it would participate.

The ship was refitted with three Magnetic Accelerator Cannons and other armaments to serve as a warship. Huge storage bays that used to house machine parts now carry everything from M12 Warthogs and M808B Scorpions to construction supplies for fire bases involved in front line engagements or in rearguard actions and repair equipment for herself and other ships and crew. In 2530 the Spirit of Fire's thrust assemblies were replaced from the destroyer, increasing output by 37%.

Human-Covenant War
The Spirit of Fire took part in the Harvest Campaign as part of Battlegroup D of Admiral Cole's Third Fleet, providing ground forces with supplies, reinforcements, vehicle support, orbital MAC strikes, air support and more, giving it a major role in the battle.

After the events on Harvest, the Spirit of Fire arrived at the planet Arcadia, where it assisted in the evacuation of civilians, and the eradication of the Covenant from the planet's surface. When Professor Anders was captured by the Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee, the Spirit of Fire quickly gave chase, following the Arbiter's flagship to an unknown planet in the Korinth Prior system. This planet eventually turned out to be a Forerunner Shield World, containing a fleet of Forerunner warships. To ensure that the Covenant would not be able to use these warships against humanity, the reactor that powered the Spirit of Fire's Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine was detonated inside the Shield World's artificial sun by Sergeant John Forge. The ship managed to escape the exploding Forerunner installation, but without a functioning slipspace drive, the journey home would take many years, if not decades. Most of the crew entered cryonic sleep at this point, with only a skeleton crew remaining active to run the ship.

Stranded in space
On February 10, 2534, the Spirit of Fire, previously designated as "missing", was declared "lost with all hands" by the UNSC. The reason for this change was kept top secret. A memorial service was held for the people aboard the vessel, but many of the crew's family members chose not to attend, holding out hope that their loved ones were still alive.

After the Human-Covenant War's conclusion, the Spirit of Fire was honored at the dedication of the living monument, along with numerous other ships that had been lost with all hands during the war.

Flood invasion
Despite the measures imposed by the Chief Medical Officer O'Neil, at least one Flood infection form managed to infiltrate the ship at some point. Six years later in 2537, the infection form came into contact with one of the ship's technicians, infecting her and spreading the Flood infection to other crew members in cryo-sleep. In response, the now-rampant Serina imposed quarantine on the ship's cryo bays in an effort to study the parasite, inadvertently allowing the Flood to mature further from within. The Flood sought to escape confinement, forcing Jerome-092 to exterminate all infected crew and with the aid of Professor Anders went on to erase all remaining traces of the Flood parasite aboard the Spirit of Fire.

In the aftermath of the incident, Serina initiated her retirement from service and after composing a final status report that was to be left to Captain Cutter, finally self-terminated.

Around the same time, the Spirit of Fire had reached an unknown multiple star system and was drifting near a terrestrial planet.

Supposed rediscovery
In March 2558 the freighter, Pilgrims' Pride, was carrying several AC-220 Vultures and AV-22 Sparrowhawks that were previously attached to the Spirit of Fire. The Pilgrims Pride launched a surprise attack on the UNSC Infinity and attempted to self-destruct inside the Infinity's bay. The Spartans managed to eject the freighter out of the bay. They also saved the Pilgrims' Pride from total destruction by removing its exploding core. After recovering the remains of the attacking Vultures and Sparrowhawks, the crew used the ID numbers on the hulls to identify the ships as belonging to the Spirit of Fire. Confusing matters, the crew discovered that Pilgrims Pride had been constructed only five years earlier. While Commander Palmer speculated that the assault craft may have been stolen from the Spirit of Fire before the ship was lost, Roland pointed out that the assault craft were in fairly good condition for their age. Roland also determined that the freighter itself had been launched from Oth Lodon, a gas giant deep inside Jiralhanae-controlled space.

Despite the diplomatic risks, Lord Hood, who felt guilty over his role in the Spirit of Fire's disappearance, ordered the Infinity to investigate. When they arrived at the coordinates, they found not the Spirit but Shipmaster Vata 'Gajat's ship, which was docked to a massive glassing cannon. Captain Daniel Clayton contacted the Infinity, revealing himself to be aligned with the New Colonial Alliance. Intending to exact revenge on Lord Hood, Clayton fired three massive energy beams at the Infinity. However, five SPARTAN-IVs managed to enter the station, stop Clayton and used the cannon to destroy 'Gajat's flagship.

Installation 00


"Where you see half a crew, Isabel, I see family, courage. And a thousand heroes who swore to fight their way through hell before they'd ever... EVER turn their backs and run. And where you see one old ship, I see home. And that is always worth fighting for!"

- Captain James Cutter responding to Isabel's pleas to flee from the Banished.

In 2559, after 28 years of bring adrift, the Spirit of Fire was mysteriousy drawn through slipspace and came into orbit above Installation 00. Awakened from cryo-sleep, the crew attempted to re-establish contact with UNSC. In order to do that, Spartan-II Red Team was deployed and tasked with investigating the distress signal coming from the surface. There, inside the abandoned UNSC outpost they encountered Isabel, a logistics AI, who tried to warn the Spartans, but they were ambushed by Atriox, a Jiralhanae leader of a mercenary organization known as the Banished. He and his Brutes forced Red Team to retreat back to the Spirit of Fire. There Isabel, who became a new shipboard AI, briefed Cpt. Cutter on events that had occurred on the Ark, as well as on strength of their enemy. Additionaly Isabel provided number of upgrades to some of ship's systems, including to it's armament, it's subsidiary crafts and ground vehicles used by Spirit of Fire ground forces during combat operations.

In the next few days the Spirit of Fire ground teams led by the members of Red Team conducted multiple offensives against the Banished, including disrupting their salvage operations, crippling their portal network, while Spirit of Fire provided cover from orbit. As a new shipboard AI Isabel also provided battlefield support to Spirit crew during engagements with the Banished. But as the battle escalated, Atriox decided to use his flaship, the CAS-class assault carrier Enduring Conviction. An eighty-five year old Phoenix-class colony ship could not hold too long against enemy vessel that size, so the crew proceeded with plan developed by Isabel. Ultimately they managed to destroy the Conviction, leaving the Banished without slipspace-worthy vessels.

During this time it was discovered that the Ark's Foundry had created a new replacement for Installation 04. Eventually the Spirit of Fire crew got the upper hand and in the final battle over Halo's control room they eliminated all Banished forces on the ring. The UNSC forces managed to evacuate from Halo just before it entered slipspace for the Soell system; however, Prof. Ellen Anders became stranded inside the control room and left the Ark with the Halo, which was intercepted in slipspace by one of the Created's Guardians. On the Ark, both Cpt. Cutter and Atriox began planning their next moves against each other, not willing to leave the Ark to one another.

Specifications
The Spirit of Fire is a former colony ship refit for use as a military support vessel.

The ship possesses dedicated factory modules located on the underside of the aft section, where robotic assembly lines can manufacture many of the UNSC vehicles and aircraft that comprise the Spirit of Fire ' s complement.

Complement
As a support vessel, the Spirit of Fire has a large complement of troops, subsidiary craft, vehicles, and base structures, along with the capability to construct and repair many of these.

Most of the ship's embarked ground forces are Marines, with at least the 45th Marine Regiment calling the ship home. Some of the snipers serving aboard the ship are drawn from UNSC Army cavalry scouts.

Thanks to the machinations of Sergeant John Forge, the Spirit of Fire maintains an unusually large complement of M850 Grizzly tanks.

After the ship's arrival at the Ark, Isabel integrated the design blueprints of several modern UNSC vehicles to the Spirit of Fire ' s factory modules, bolstering the ship's existing complement of vehicles and craft. In addition, a number of intact D81-LRT Condor dropships were salvaged from the UNSC outposts and were mainly put to use in a similar capacity as the Spirit of Fire ' s extant D20 Herons. While these Condors possess slipspace drives, the Ark is far too distant from UNSC space for them to be used for a return trip. However, the crew was able to use their slipspace capabilities for long-range reconnaissance and the exploration of outlying Forerunner installations.

Post-2531 upgrades
In addition to its pre-existing upgrades, during the ship's 28-year slower-than-light interstellar journey, Serina made a series of modifications and repairs across the ship; yet more were implemented by Isabel after her arrival on board, along with updated security and safety protocols. Following her arrival, Isabel scheduled 32,810 Critical System Updates and 1,201,924 Optional System Updates for implementation, expecting to complete them within 16 hours.

At the combat bridge, Serina improved the fire control matrix and trunk lines, providing 50% additional bandwidth. The ship's sensors remained operational following its arrival at the Ark, but the Ark's sentinels would register every use of active wide-range scans as an act of aggression, limiting effective visibility to a three light-second radius. In the observation deck, previously appropriated by Professor Anders as her onboard laboratory, Serina constructed new laboratory equipment and facilities, the function of most of which remained elusive to much of the crew apart from Anders. Berthing facilities remained limited at this time, with three out of four of the atmosphere scrubbers in berthing compartments one to five inoperable. The Naval crew moved out of these facilities, only for the 45th Marine Regiment to appropriate them for their own use, maintaining even they were an improvement to their previous accommodations.

The ship's factory modules remain operable by 2559, with Serina and later Isabel having made major upgrades to their usability and safety. However, these onboard factories lack both the mechanical capacity and design template to construct a new slipspace drive core. The port side of the ship, damaged in a collision with the Covenant destroyer Proclamation's Tithe, was also repaired, with all ten of the Spirit of Fire ' s D20 Heron dropships being operational.

During the operations on Installation 00, Isabel and Anders modified the ship's Magnetic Accelerator Cannon to fire special EMP rounds capable of disabling Forerunner technology.

Spirit of Fire Command

 * Captain James Cutter — Commanding Officer (August 2525 - present)
 * Isabel - Current primary shipboard AI (Replacement for Serina) (2559)

Officers

 * Blake — Bridge crew
 * Lieutenant commander Alys Vallum — Chief Engineer
 * Lieutenant Green —Bridge crew
 * O'Neil — Chief Medical Officer

Crewmen

 * Andrew Prescott —  former Chief Engineer
 * Andrew Sandmoore — Doctor
 * James
 * Johnson
 * Lulu Hershey — Nurse
 * Mary
 * Yvain

Spartans

 * Douglas-042
 * Jerome-092
 * Alice-130

Marines

 * Private D. Wilson
 * Private D. Wood
 * Private Papadakis
 * Private G. R. Scott — Sniper detail
 * Floyd
 * Sergeant Allieri — Sniper team leader
 * Lieutenant Colonel Morgan Kinsano — Hellbringer

Other

 * Spock — Ship's cat and mascot

Former

 * Serina — Primary shipboard AI; Afflicted with rampancy and self-terminated - January 4, 2537
 * Chris — Killed in action co-piloting a Pelican to the UNSC Prophecy - February, 2531
 * Sergeant John Forge — Killed in action during Battle of Shield World 0459 - February 25, 2531
 * Terrence Hood — Former Executive officer; transferred to the (UNK - December 2530)
 * Lieutenant Kwan — Killed by a Flood infection form, January 2537
 * Violeta Maldini — Specialist; killed by a Flood infection form - January, 2537
 * Dimitri — Killed by a Sangheili during the Battle of Installation 00 in 2559.
 * Prof. Ellen Anders — Lead ONI scientist; forcibly teleported with Installation 04C to the Milky Way in 2559.

The following is a list of former captains of the Spirit of Fire, found painted on the side of the ship's hull:


 * Coleman — (served 2473 to 2484)
 * Rehkov — (served 2484 to 2491)
 * Donald — (served 2491 to 2499)
 * Johnson — (served 2499 to 2505)
 * Roggan — (served 2507 to 2513)
 * Alexander — (served 2513 to 2520)

Military organization
Onboard the Spirit of Fire were numerous UNSC military groups and units ranging from Fireteams to Regiments.

Regiments

 * 45th Marine Regiment — present on the Spirit of Fire circa 2559.

Platoons

 * Alpha Platoon
 * Bravo Platoon
 * Charlie Platoon

Battle group

 * Firestorm Battle Group — present on the Spirit of Fire circa 2559.

Fireteams

 * Fire Team Echo — wiped out circa 2531.
 * Fire Team India — wiped out circa 2531.
 * Fire Team Lima
 * Fire Team November

Teams

 * Alpha Team
 * Bravo Team
 * Red Team

Transport

 * Bravo 029
 * Victor 397 — wiped out circa 2531.

Trivia

 * "Spirit of Fire" is a translation of one of the names of Fëanor, the arch-rival of the Dark Lord Morgoth in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. Like Captain Carol Rawley's callsign, Foehammer, this is likely a deliberate Tolkien reference.
 * Early concept art of Halo Wars suggests that a cat lived onboard the ship, possibly a pet to Captain Cutter. This is a possible reference to Jonesy, a cat that was lost aboard the.
 * The Spirit of Fire has its own onboard news publication, The Spirit.

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars: Genesis
 * Halo Wars
 * Halo: Reach
 * Dr. Halsey's personal journal
 * Halo Living Monument
 * Halo: Escalation
 * Halo: Hunters in the Dark
 * Halo: Fleet Battles
 * Halo 5: Guardians
 * Know Your Enemy
 * Halo Mythos
 * Halo: Fractures
 * Into the Fire
 * Halo: Tales from Slipspace
 * Something Has Happened
 * Halo: Smoke and Shadow
 * Halo Wars 2