Fleet of Retribution

"Brute ships! Standard line! Shipmaster, they outnumber us, three to one!

"

— A Major Domo Sangheili navigator advising the Shipmaster

"Then it is an even fight. All cruisers, fire at will. Burn their mongrel hides!"

— Rtas 'Vadum

The Fleet of Retribution was a former Fleet serving under The Covenant. When the Great Schism began, this fleet was under Sangheili control. It is a smaller organization of the Sangheilian Armed Forces. Its flagship was the Shadow of Intent.

Notable members of the Fleet of Retribution's Special Warfare Group were the Elites N'tho 'Sraom and Usze 'Taham.

Background

This unit fought during the latter part of the Battle of Earth, as well as the smaller engagement, the Battle of Voi. Remnants of the Second Fleet of Homogenous Clarity were reformed after its fragmentation during the Covenant Civil War into the Fleet of Retribution under newly-appointed Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum. Following the battle but prior to their engagement at Installation 00, Shipmaster 'Vadum ordered the ships under his command to glass the immediate area surrounding Voi following a brief exposure to The Flood in which an Unnamed Flood-Captured Battlecruiser crash landed on Earth and the Flood began to spread. Much to the dismay of Lord Hood (denoted by his line: "And you, Shipmaster, just glassed half a continent! Maybe The Flood isn't all I should be worried about.") and the rest of the Humans, the glassing was the only option if The Flood were to be completely stopped from overwhelming Earth.

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The fleet over the Ark.

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The Fleet over the Portal to the Ark.

Subsequently, they confronted Truth's Fleet at Installation 00 during the Battle of the Ark. Confronted with an enemy which outnumbered them three to one, the Fleet of Retribution nevertheless succeeded in utterly destroying the Brutes' orbital forces, assisting the UNSC on the surface of the Ark. This Fleet was likely a collection of ships that survived the battle around High Charity that subsequently overcame both Covenant Loyalist and Flood forces in the skirmish. It is unknown how many ships survived the space battle against Truth's fleet, though only the Shadow of Intent is confirmed to have survived. It is possible that no others survived, or that Rtas 'Vadum may have sent all the other ships back to Earth following the destruction of the Brutes at the Ark.

Ships

• Assault Carrier - One
  • Shadow of Intent - Flagship
• CCS-class Battlecruisers - Nine
  • Pious Inquisitor
• Later, UNSC Frigates - Two
  • UNSC Forward Unto Dawn
  • UNSC Aegis Fate

Trivia

• A possible note is that this fleet used modified plasma weaponry that was improved by the Humans, similar to what Cortana did in Operation: FIRST STRIKE on the ship Ascendant Justice, making it even easier for the fleet to destroy the Brute forces in orbit around the Ark.