UNSC Las Vegas

The UNSC Las Vegas was a UNSC Destroyer which was involved in the Callisto Incident, which effectively marked the beginning of the Insurrection.

Sometime shortly after 2490 the corvette UNSC Callisto was captured by insurgents. Its entire crew was murdered and its computer system gutted and replaced. In response the UNSC sent a battle group of three light destroyers - the UNSC Las Vegas, UNSC Jericho and UNSC Buenos Aires - to hunt down the Callisto. Their crews and their weapons were inexperienced and untested.

On March 2, 2494 the battle group confronted the Callisto in the 26 Draconis System. The destroyers all fired six of their seven Ares missiles, and in response the Insurrectionists maneuvered behind an asteroid, which it then detonated in the direction of the UNSC vessels using a nuclear warhead planted beforehand. The Buenos Aires was destroyed and the other two destroyers severely damaged. The entire bridge crew, including Captain Harold Lewis, Commander Rinkishale and Lieutenant Taylor, was killed, with the exceptions of Lieutenant Jorgenson, who was left unconscious and wounded, and Second Lieutenant Preston Cole, who was left unharmed. As the last remaining bridge officer, Cole took control of the Las Vegas.

Cole signaled the Callisto, declaring their surrender. However he ordered the crewmen to remove the ship's last Ares missile from its silo and transport it to Cargo Bay 5. When the Callisto docked with the Las Vegas at Cargo Bay 5 the missile was fired directly into the corvette, crippling it and forcing its surrender.

Trivia

 * The Las Vegas is named after the city in Nevada, United States of America.