#UNSC Navy

[nebula1734]

Was doing a Halo deep dive and found out that my favorite UNSC navy ship, the Paris Class Frigate, just casually carries 15 fucking nuclear missiles. This means that in halo reach, the two frigates you see get destroyed, the UNSC Grafton and UNSC Savannah went down with that many nukes.

Like I understand it to some extent, but 15 seems excessive.

[unsc-navy]

So if doctrine is to build a ship around a gun... why not just build the Mac with as skeleton of a ship as possible. It would cut costs by like 30% if you just had 5-man operated Mac Cannons Flying around as system defense craft. And its not like the armor and bulk helped, anyway

That wouldn’t work for so many reasons.

1: MACs need a ridiculous amount of power to work, hence the nuclear reactors.

2: The force of one shot may very well irreparably damage the “ship’s” superstructure.

3: Little engine room. These vessels would be slow and un-maneuverable, leaving them vulnerable to retaliatory fire. They also wouldn’t be able to track targets at an effective speed

Thank you.

- Commander Thomas Chandler

[figures4fun]

[halopedia]

Starship Saturday — Spirit of Fire

Launched in 2473 as a colony vessel, the Spirit of Fire was eventually requisitioned by the UNSC and refit to combat the Insurrection. However, these upgrades would see use following the onset of the Human-Covenant War.

Having a pivotal role in the Harvest campaign, the First Battle of Arcadia, and the Battle of Trove, the UNSC Spirit of Fire found herself adrift for 28 years until arriving at the Ark where the ship and her crew are locked in combat with the Banished.

[helix-studios117]

Halo Reloaded: Master Chief & more about Spartans

Born and raised on Eridanus-II, John Downes was the son of bioengineers and gardeners, who wanted to genetically modify Earth-plants to be sustainable on other planets (everyone, up until this point, had just been using the indigenous plants from the alien worlds they colonized); up until he was taken into the Spartan Program, John attended a school known as "The Reach For Life Foundation," a prestigious upper-class school (that was created on Reach before expanding out to the rest of the galaxy) designed to turn all of it's students into the next generation of pioneers, colonizers and explorers who will bring life into the uncharted reaches of space. Humanity came in contact with The Covenant in the year 2511. The Spartan Program saw production in 2517; most of the Spartans were born in the year 2528, while John Downes was born in the year 2530. That two year gap may as well have been a chasm between him and his brothers-&-sisters-in-arms. But, like in canon, the main reason why John was chosen despite being everyone's junior was because he still exhibited the exact same unique genetic-markers that all of the others do. With John being the youngest, he's needed to prove himself to the others by working and training thrice as hard as everyone else; his angst comes from the fact that, because he's the youngest, he's the most generic one of the group. He's not the fastest (that's Kelly), not the strongest (that's Samuel), not the biggest (that's Jorge), the best combatant (Fred), the best at weaponry (Vannak), the best at demolitions (James), the best shot (both Linda & Kai, who are rivals to each other, beat John out), the smartest (Riz), the best pilot (Daisy), the best at technology (Joshua), the one with the best intuition (Kurt), or the most charismatic leader (Jerome); he's only really impressive in comparison to the standard marine, this angst he faces is something he later comes to accept as he gets older. He eventually embraces his status as 'The Generic One' and becomes the Jack-of-all-trades, the one everyone can lean on for just about anything; the "Swiss-Army Spartan," if you will. They all got augmented, and the rest is history; but it wasn't until Operation SILENT STORM, the Spartans' FIRST mission as Spartans, where John was given the rank of "Master Chief Petty Officer," the highest rank a non-commissioned serviceman in the Navy can attain; he even got his first metal, "The Purple Heart," after he got shot on the line of duty (and survived, obviously). When he was a kid, before being inducted, John had discovered an ancient Forerunner rock (not that anyone knew what it was) that had almost possessed him; his obssession over it resulted in his father forcing John to bury the drawings he made of it in the backyard. The training and conditioning of the Spartan Progran, while not designed to brainwash anyone, did result in John repressing any memory of the rock. In the present (2552), John had discovered a similar rock during an extraction mission on Biko, which brought a terrifying wave of memories back to him; this drives him to rediscover the rock he found as a kid back on Eridanus-II, in cave beneath the abandoned ruins of his father's old Solar-Paneled Garden Field. After some back and forth battles between The UNSC and The Covenant, John is quick to deduce that the rock he found on Biko is a keystone to the artifact that he found as a kid; with two rocks joined together, they create a starmap that leads to the one thing The Covenant had been after this entire time: Halo.

Spartans are much younger here than in canon, being in their early 20s as opposed to being in their 50s like in the show and the games. Their youth, combined with their less traumatizing upbringing, makes them more colorful in their personalities (still professional and their canon personalities are about the same, but they're less sociopathically brusque and terse like in-canon). Super-Soldiers in media are usually portrayed with two major qualities: Extreme Aggression and Complete Obedience. They're designed to be ruthless killers, desensitized to violence, who are more aggressive than the average soldier, as they are more than willing to make the hard-choices and will not stop until their opponents are dead ("They [Spartans] just... keep killing. Until there's nothing. Left. To kill... You in or out?" - Angus; Halo, Season 1 - Episode 1) and the battle is won. As for complete obedience? Well, that's self-explanatory; they are happiest when given an order and only do what's asked of them ("Good soldiers follow orders." - Crosshairs; The Bad-Batch). The Spartans as seen in Halo Reloaded are the opposite. They're trained in: Lateral Thinking, Improvisation and Freestyling. They're very creative, on and off the field, people who are capable of salvaging a busted plan and thinking on their feet in the midst of high-stress situations; which is precisely why they're so good at their jobs, BECAUSE they're not dependant on the word of their superiors. They're less an army of Robocops and moreso an army of Captain Americas. John himself, particularly in his later years at 22, is a more "Commander Shepard' type of person: Swashbuckling, noble, still emotionally guarded but far less traumatized, charismatic (again not as much as Jerome) and often goes with the flow. He's still much more brusque and aggressive in comparison to the other more lively Spartans (the others often call him "the mean one"), but he's still as nice and compassionate as he's always been.

@ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask

@mrtobenamedlater

@killer-orca-cosplay

@biomecharnotaurus

@authortobenamedlater

[halobirthdays]

Happy birthday to Captain Thomas Lasky!

Today is his -487th birthday!

Lasky was born on Mars to a military family. His mother, Audrey Lasky, was a colonel in the UNSC, and was largely absent from the lives of Tom and his older brother, Cadmon.

Cadmon also enlisted in the UNSC and was an exemplary soldier, setting records at Corbulo Military Academy, which both Tom and Cadmon attended, albeit at different times. Despite living in his older brother's shadow, the two enjoyed a healthy relationship and communicated often. This would end when Cadmon died in an Insurrectionist attack on Andesia.

After Cadmon's death, Lasky struggled to keep up with his brother's legacy at Corbulo. His Insurrectionist sympathies, despite the circumstances of his brother's death, marked him as a pariah among his peers. He was offered a medical discharge due to his sensitivity to required cryosleep drugs, but the choice would be made for him when the Covenant attacked Corbulo Academy.

During this engagement, he was rescued by John-117 and Blue Team, and learned of the Human-Covenant war for the first time. Shortly after his rescue, he commissioned into the UNSC Navy.

After the war, he rose to the rank of commander, and was assigned to the UNSC flagship Infinity as its executive officer. CINCONI Margaret Parangosky thought highly of him, and only approved of the assignment of Captain Andrew Del Rio because Lasky was assigned as XO.

During the Requiem campaign, Infinity became trapped in a gravity well which prevented it from leaving the shield world. He activated a distress signal, which was answered by Master Chief. Once Infinity was freed and they returned to the ship, Captain Del Rio ordered Infinity to flee, and for Master Chief to surrender Cortana, who was showing signs of rampancy. When he refused, insisting that pursuing the Didact was too important, Del Rio intended to have him arrested. Instead, Master Chief disobeyed orders and left to pursue the Didact himself, with Lasky quietly assisting his old rescuer by having a Pelican readied.

Once on Earth, Del Rio was removed from duty, and Lasky took over as captain of Infinity . Six months later, Lasky returned to Requiem to secure the planet for the UNSC with the help of Commander Palmer and her Spartan-IVs. While they shared some ideological differences, the two regularly protected the other from consequences from the brass.

Requiem would prove to be more than anticipated, and he would be forced to call in the help of war prisoner Catherine Halsey. This would unfurl into a series of events wherein Halsey assisted Covenant leader Jul 'Mdama as a means to a end--the UNSC was holding her prisoner, and 'Mdama intended to follow the trail to the Absolute Record--a catalog of all Forerunner technology and devices. This lead to disagreement between Lasky and Palmer, as Lasky wanted to spare the doctor, and Palmer wanted to carry out orders to execute her.

Eventually, Fireteam Osiris would rescue Halsey, just in time for Lasky to call on her once again to assist them in stopping Cortana and her Guardians. In 2560, Lasky and Infinity pursued Cortana to Zeta Halo, but were ambushed by the Banished. Infinity was under heavy assault, and Lasky commanded the crew to abandon ship. He escaped on a lifeboat to the surface, but his current status is unknown.

In canon (~2560), he is turning 50!

[mount-and-do-blahaj-blast]

NOBLE Team headcanons and other things I rotate in my mind

from the top:

The Team as a whole

holy shit did a lot of them die

like, until the final roster got locked in, NOBLEs three, four, and five would constantly drop like flies.

the final roster in question is also entirely made up of human cockroaches

it's basically already spelled out that NOBLE is a joint-ops team on loan from the Navy to the Army, but I like to think that their distance from ONI and the rest of the SPARTANs gives them a bit of street cred amongst the Shock Infantry battalions

NOBLE One, Commander Carter-A259

Carter was definitely the first person chosen to "be on" NOBLE Team, but he's not exactly the first member, if that makes any sense. does that make sense?

speaks with a Dutch accent because his homeworld was colonized by South Africans

He's a father figure to some of the others. In another life, he'd be wearing a 'Kiss the Cook' apron and would simply stay at home to take care of the kids while his high-powered girlboss wife goes to work

If he wasn't a SPARTAN, He'd probably still join the armed forces. I can see him as a high ranking non-com officer. maybe an ODST.

His rank!! So, in the UNSC command structure, a Commander usually has authority over a small line warship (usually a frigate). Not only that, but SPARTAN authority usually trumps that of most officers of the same rank. in summary, Carter's definitely pulled rank in order to commandeer a frigate at some point in his career. probably at Kat's request.

Runs the hottest body temp somehow

NOBLE Two, Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320 "Kat"

She's the real first member of the team.

She absolutely got put there by Ackerson so Carter could keep her out of trouble and stop her from breaching his computer.

It did not work

Speaking of, she and Carter HATED each other for the first few months. I know this, it was revealed to me

They ended up getting fucking shitfaced together after a mission and talked all about their feelings and emotions so now she and Carter pretty much move in synch. they are drift compatible

She can hold her alcohol a lot better than he can though lmao

best at opening locked doors (hacking)

Kat is, most ironically, ambidextrous

She'd FOR SURE be an ODST if she wasn't a SPARTAN. She's too much of a high-powered girlboss to do anything remotely normal

NOBLE Three, Warrant Officer Jun-A266

somehow more catlike than the team member literally named that

likes to lay down on sunny rocks :)

also can't handle liquor for shit

best at opening locked doors (lockpicking)

would not be in the armed forces. he'd be some rich heiress' boytoy in the inner colonies.

...dare I say babygirl?

NOBLE Four (1), Warrant Officer Emile-A239

the only member not technically reassigned to the unit

they found him by pure coincidence half-dead, surrounded by corpses

Jun immediately pack-bonded with him

he's surprisingly kind of normal, actually. he just thinks skulls look cool

second physically strongest member of the team behind Jorge

best at opening locked doors (kicking them off their hinges)

sure, he could be a phenomenal ODST, but to be honest I think this guy would be a crewman on some support vessel in the Navy, maybe.

NOBLE Five, Chief Warrant Officer Jorge-052

second to last member of the final roster.

everyone else on the team initially thought that he'd been transferred in to replace Carter

not quite a father figure. More of an uncle, but not biologically - like it's mom's college friend but he still gets the title

went clean shaven randomly one time and gave Kat a heart attack

god could this man make a fucking stew

he'd probably work in a refugee assistance organization if he wasn't a SPARTAN.

NOBLE Six (1), Warrant Officer Thom-A293

not part of the original team, but got transferred like six months in

very cheerful guy

A bit of a yapper

friends with all sorts of animals but Carter doesn't let him keep any :(

if not a SPARTAN, he'd be a cartoonist

NOBLE Six (2), Lieutenant [REDACTED]-B312

if NOBLE Team is a found family, Six is the dog

Has a UNICOM rank instead of a NAVCOM rank specifically because Ackerson didn't want any oversight in Six's operations (also because bungie forgor)

Probably knows Halsey is Miranda Keyes' mom, or at least would if not for forgetting it.

kind of a dumbass because who needs to know shit if your job is killing people and blowing shit up???

[stitchlingbelle]

Watching Halo, Episode 3

Welcome to Planet Recycle Hell, which I feel morally obligated to point out is not too darn different from a lot of the factory/ fast fashion/ greenwashing/ recycle grift economy we have now. Call your senators and make a difference, people! Ahem. Makee’s tragic backstory is revealed! I can see how she decided all humans suck, but quite honestly, how she thinks the Covenant is any better is beyond me. ESH, sweetie. Of course, I’ve seen the ship tag, I know things are going to get Complicated for her as soon as she leaves the bubble, so we’ll see…

More plotting by General Parangosky, trying and I’m sure failing to contain Halsey, as usual. I can’t really blame her for trying, but I extremely question her motives. Here’s hoping Miranda can do some good, I really like her (and would ADORE her getting to show up her mom.) (Meanwhile, am I the only one who thinks these uniforms have Royal Manticoran Navy vibes? They also remind me of the Army of Light from Babylon 5, but while the black color scheme there was meant to subvert expectations, I don’t think these are. Or that the UNSC are good guys to begin with.)

Halsey wakes the person in the pod and oh my God, there’s TWO of them now? I say, as I fall deeply, endlessly in love with Halsey’s clone. God, it’s nice to see someone call Halsey on her bs and clearly hold her own in their battle of wits (if not outright win, the way Halsey backs away from some of her questions.) I hope she sticks around, but the dialogue implies she knows she’s here to die.

Aaand here it comes. God, Halsey’s grooming of John is just endlessly creepy. Someone on the writing staff around here understands what grooming and abuse actually look like. And her goon (Adun?) shows a bit of personality at last by… almost kissing a woman he’s about to kill while she’s immobilized. Fuck this guy. I do think it’s fascinating that the clone doesn’t resist—even as the one on the chopping block, she seems dedicated to her/ Halsey’s goals, enough to die for them. That’s frankly terrifying. And die she does, in a scene that is in turns poignant (“Will it hurt?”), sickening (through her EYE?), and ridiculous (a convenient acid bath, seriously?).

And at last we meet Cortana! Immediately it’s clear she isn’t JUST a mind-clone of Halsey, which is interesting. You’d think Halsey would want Cortana to have her own personality (and possibly memories) to better control her; quite frankly without them I’m not sure what the clone had to die for, other than Hollywood handwavy Evil. If you have computers this advanced a scan would probably suffice, it's not like you put her brain in a jar. But movie logic is movie logic. On the upside, Cortana has a lot more room to grow on her own being based on Siri or whatever. And she’s going to need to grow, she doesn’t yet understand why anyone would have a problem with her and her bullheaded approach is going to be an issue as she tries to bond with the Master Chief. (In the meantime, their sniping is entertaining for us, the audience.)

Makee is kicking off her mission, pretending to be an escapee in nice clothes and flawless makeup with not a mark on her. I am deeply unconvinced. So are the UNSC crewers, which doesn’t save any of them, in a scene that is pure gross horror. (Obligatory Honor Harrington joke: “She shot stabbed him… with her finger.”) Can’t say I think much of her planning here; these people don’t know you call the Master Chief “the Demon” or that some random artifact is “The Keystone”. Ask clearer questions! You probably wouldn’t get any farther, but at least it would make sense. Also, keeping someone alive to unlock the secure tech for you would also be smart. (I should probably stop trying to make villains smarter…)

John’s trying to figure out the artifact-slash-himself, gathering more clues, etc. It doesn’t respond to Cortana, only him, which is interesting. After it’s back to the barracks, where apparently no one prepped the team for Cortana? Like, seriously? You didn’t brief them, sell her as an intelligence and operations upgrade? Getting the rest of the team excited about the possibilities might have helped with John’s acceptance. Instead, Cortana just pops up and John shuts her down. I almost feel bad for her in this scene, she honestly has no idea why she’s not being welcomed with open arms. (At the end of the scene I just wrote “Kai for President”. No idea why, just on general principle, I suppose.) Unaddressed: Is Cortana unique to John, or will they all have a copy? Or is there going to be a unique AI for each of them? If they’re worried about one Spartan going rogue, they have to worry about them all…

Kwan and Soren et al are back pretty briefly in this episode, just to establish that Kwan’s found her purpose in life: bringing down this Vinsher guy and finishing what her dad started. Not sure Chief would be thrilled (the UNSC definitely won’t) and I’m still convinced she and Soren are going to die. I’m no longer suspicious of Laera, and dang, her actress’s delivery of “The universe will be diminished without you in it” was FANTASTIC. Compliment, mourning, condemnation, and a little bit of a threat all in one. (Also, ‘deuterium money’. I love Scifi.)

Ah, this must be where all the “Master Cheeks” jokes are from. I, too, get naked when I plan to stab myself in the ass. (I kid, it’s actually more practical than getting blood all over your clothes. Less hydrogen peroxide needed!) KAI! Watches from the shadows. Is she gonna report him? How are the other Spartans going to react when she tells them? Again, I said her being smart could go either way…

John wanders through the city having Feelings and a Barbie movie moment of human connection, complete with space music! I live for this stuff. Gimme all the futuristic worldbuilding you want, I’ll eat it up. I love the electronic instruments, the little concert space, all very cool. (Sidenote: one of the transit stops is called ‘Manassas’? Yikes.) Is this the first time John’s been out here? Is he not supposed to be out or did they just suppress the desire to leave? What do the Spartans do with their free time? More visions, and I feel the UNSC is going to eventually regret giving this man a top-level hacker at his beck and call. Cortana slipping into chirpy promo voice as she recites the Reach for Life info was funny.

Reach for Life project, Reach the planet, Reach City. I’m gonna go ahead and guess “reach” is a bit of an Arc Word/ Concept. Reaching for the stars? Or something else?

Off they go to Eridanus, with Halsey and her creepy goon in tow, while Miranda is left behind with a window of opportunity. I have a bad feeling about this.

[ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask]

Spoilers for anyone who plans to read my story Halo: Homecoming, but I think this is my favorite Fred and/or Fred/Kelly passage I've ever written.

Frederic-104 didn't sleep well. He hadn't for years.

The man lay in pitch dark with his eyes open, incapable of meeting the faces that inevitably assaulted his mind the moment he allowed them to close. Most nights, he would lay as still as possible and let physical exhaustion eventually overtake him. Others, he studied each face – the face of every Spartan who had died under his command; the face of every soldier he had failed. The face of each and every member of his family gone, while he remained.

Isaac, Grace, Vinh, Joshua . . . each face burned into his retinas like lasers cutting through styrofoam. Each one of them a hero. Each one of them he failed.

Some nights were better; the voices quieted, and the images eventually faded to nothing and allowed him to drift off to sleep. Others were so bad that he abandoned the notion of sleep altogether and forced himself to occupy his mind with something – anything – else.

This night was the latter.

Fred rose from his bed and exited the barracks silently. He didn't want to disturb his team, but he couldn't lie still any longer. Exiting the special-fit bunk room that had been assigned to Blue Team, the lieutenant made his way through narrow corridors to the Dusk's rec room.

The area was small by most standards in the UNSC Navy, though that was typical of Prowlers. Without the detachment of marines and combat pilots that most other ships carried, Prowlers didn’t need to expend space for exercise equipment. They were, however, stocked with enough machinery to keep the ship's small crew in the best form possible.

In particular, Fred was searching for one piece of machinery that had become commonplace on most UNSC vessels following the induction of the SPARTAN-IV program. Codenamed WARZONE, the machine was designed to accurately simulate combat for training purposes. Loaded with recordings to mimic all opponents the UNSC had faced – from Grunts to Hunters – and linked with the MJOLNIR undersuit, it created a hyper-realistic combat routine. On the Infinity, WARZONE could be used to put dozens of Spartans through full-scale combat simulations. On smaller vessels it was downscaled to a single occupant.

On the Dusk, WARZONE was attached to a small boxing ring in the rec room. Fred deftly stepped through the ropes and loaded a sequence on the machine. It was a personal scenario, made up of increasingly difficult opponents. As the holographic displays began to warm up, Fred swung his arms and shook his legs to loosen his tight muscles.

No matter how hard he tried though, it was never enough of a distraction.

He ducked under an Elite's energy sword. Joshua's hijacked Banshee, spewing smoke as it hurtled from the sky. He dove and rolled to avoid a smashing blow from a Hunter's shield. Malcolm - dead in a heap on the ground, having been denied even the death of a warrior. He plunged his knife through the armored carapace of a Promethean Knight. Holly, her entire body vanishing under the onslaught of a Hunter's plasma cannon as she stepped forward to protect Kelly.

Those images never left his mind. The sounds. The smells. The awful feeling of rage. The knowledge that he couldn’t save them.

The pained smile and unpracticed salute of a young police officer was at home amongst these memories. Fresh, new, yet familiar – as if it had always been in the back of his mind.

He had no idea how long it had been when he dropped to his knees; labored breathing caused as much by the physical exertion as by the mental assault of seeing each member of his family on a horrendous parade through his mind. All at once the bodysuit that was usually nothing more than an extra layer of skin suddenly felt so tight around his throat that it was strangling him.

With trembling hands, he forced his fingertips underneath the nanofiber material that clung to his jawline and violently wrenched it apart, tearing the fabric from the point of his chin down to his sternum and leaving the flaps hanging open. The weight didn't subside.

He fell backward until he leaned against the corner post of the boxing ring, then brought his knees up to his chest and rested his head in his hands. And he breathed.

In

Out

In

Out

He didn't know how long he had stayed in that position when he felt a vibration run through the pole behind him; someone was pushing their way through the ropes and into the ring. Reflexively, the Spartan lifted his head and made to rise from the ground, preparing to quickly leave the ring to make room for whatever crewman had come for their own exercise, and to – hopefully – avoid any uncomfortable questions he would have to lie about.

Instead of the tentative crewman in sweatpants and t-shirt he expected when he lifted his gaze, there was a striking figure, standing more than two meters tall, with dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail and blue eyes that were trying hard to hide the concern behind them.

Kelly stepped toward Fred and held up a hand, forestalling further attempts to rise to his feet. When he relented and settled his shoulders against the post behind him, she silently went to the console and deactivated the program. The rec room fell into silence once more.

Kelly knelt in front of him. Fred did his best to look nonchalant as he avoided her gaze. They sat in silence for some time, Fred diligently studying every square inch of the ceiling in an effort to avoid his partner's eyes.

"Must have been some kind of fight," she finally said, gesturing to Fred's torn bodysuit.

"You should see the other guy," he replied, doing his best to muster a convincing grin. When he turned to his partner, he was confronted by her stare.

Her eyes were familiar, as were the eyes of each of his teammates. Kelly's were a dark blue, interrupted by white lines stretching from the pupil to the edge of the iris. The white intermingled with the blue, lazily spreading outward in a way that drew to mind the clouds that, as a child, he used to watch meander across the deep blue sky of a late Reavian summer.

Yet another memory that reminded him of his failures. It was unlikely anyone would be able to appreciate the beauty of the sunset on Reach again. Yet another image he would never see again, except behind his own closed eyes as he tried in vain to sleep.

"It isn't your fault."

The statement cut through his thoughts like a plasma sword through a block of ice. The words dashed through his mind, passing so quickly that the Spartan almost wondered if he imagined it. The only confirmation that his partner had said anything were the extra worry lines crinkling the corner of her eyes, and the sudden tightness in his chest in response to what he knew she was referring to. Fred opened his mouth to answer but, for once, no smart remark came to mind.

"They aren't your fault," Kelly said. The worry lines deepened. "Spartans. Marines. Civilians. They all knew what they were getting into. They chose to go."

He coughed out a laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about, Rabbit," he lied.

"He isn't your fault."

His chest tightened. His legs were trembling. He wanted to say something. To diffuse the tension with humor. To push the feelings back down until they were so deep that he could be sure he was safe from them again. For things to go back to normal, at least for a while.

Instead, he stayed silent. Kelly stayed silent. The entire universe was silent. The silence pressed in on Fred – isolated him, dragged him into a pitch black abyss and squeezed from all sides. It was like a tidal wave crashing over his body – just as tangible and twice as loud.

Then the silence broke. He felt a hand slowly reach out and press itself against the right side of his face. The palm pressed against his cheek and the finger splayed out, the thumb on his cheekbone and the little finger curling below his jaw. Another hand landed at the base of the left side of his neck.

The feeling was unusual – Spartans weren't exactly known for being "touchy." Though he knew whatever Kelly was doing couldn't possibly mean him harm, Fred's instincts screamed to distance himself from the foreign experience until he could be sure he was safe. Instead, he opened his eyes and found himself drawn back once more to the beautiful clouds tracking across the open air over the Longhorn Valley.

"Those places aren't home," Kelly said. "Reach, Imber, Ballast . . . no place is our home." She seemed to study his eyes as she spoke. Then she gingerly pulled his face forward until his forehead rested against hers. The new gesture surprised him, but once again he didn't recoil. In fact, he found himself leaning back against her, matching the pressure she was putting against him.

"We're Spartans," Kelly whispered. "Our heritage is each other. We are our home."

They fell once more into silence, though this time the silence wasn't so loud.

When he closed his eyes, the faces of his family slowly faded away. Kurt, with one last handshake before he made the ultimate sacrifice. Li, vanishing in an explosion during a zero-gravity battle; the one place the man had truly felt at ease. Ellsworth, with blood staining his teeth as he smiled with the hope that he was fulfilling his most sacred vows.

Each face slowly passed on and was replaced by a single thought as Fred took in the sound of the Dusk's systems, the light of the rec-room lighting his eyelids, and the feeling of Kelly's hands cradling his face and their foreheads still resting one against the other.

We are our own home.

Welcome home.

[john-halo]

What sort of stereotypes exist in the UNSC about various types of soldier? I've heard 'ODSTs are sluts' and 'Spartans are frigid' out of another Marine and now I'm wondering if those are common stereotypes, or if there's others I haven't heard...

Lot of the jokes are old. Very, very old. But you asked.

The Army doesn't have the budget for a sense of humor.

The Spartans do, but we divert the funds for robot parts.

The Marines are dumb. ODSTs are the best and brightest, so they'll bother to check that the crayons are nontoxic before they eat them.

The Navy is the UNSC's special pampered favorite with a cushy job with soft seats. Lot of jokes about ships not arriving when and where you want them to, even though slipspace travel's getting better fast.

The Air Force gets the Navy's hand-me-downs, which is why they have boats. A sailor will also tell you the Air Force is a misnomer, they all wouldn't cut it in the Navy because they're too scared of heights.

I know more, but you'll find a lot of this kind of thing isn't worth the breath repeating.

[authortobenamedlater]

Found this thing in my WIP folder. It’s the first part of the idea I had based on the TNG episode where Riker goes on an exchange to a Klingon ship.

Don’t have a whole lot of meat on these bones, but here’s how it would start.

—

“No way.”

Chyler crossed her arms. “Tom.”

“Let me rephrase.” Tom sat forward in his chair. “No way in hell.”

“We have a contingent from the Swords of Sanghelios stationed here,” Chyler argued. “It only makes sense we’d loan out an officer to one of their ships.”

“We can loan out someone else. There are plenty of other first officers in this fleet.”

“None who have my experience with the Sangheili,” Chyler pointed out.

“Spartan Vale,” Tom said.

“Spartan Vale is not your first officer.”

“She’s also not my wife,” Tom snapped. “And I am not sending my wife to a Sangheili cruiser, alone, for [however long]!”

Chyler set her elbows on the desk. “Tom. It’s not exactly a secret that I’m here because you shanghaied Admiral Hood into signing off on it.” 

“I did not shanghai Admiral Hood,” Tom said.

“A good chunk of the Navy thinks you did.”

“A good chunk of the Navy can kiss my—"

“And if you stop me from taking this assignment,” Chyler tapped the tablet in front of her “a good chunk of the Navy is going to think you held me back because I’m your wife.”

“I’m not stopping you,” Tom said. “You’re just declining.”

“I am doing no such thing,” Chyler fired back. “Even if I were, scuttlebutt would have it that the captain of the UNSC’s flagship didn’t want his wife participating in the officer exchange program. That could be all the push they need to reinstate the rules about spouses not being in the same chain of command.” 

Tom rubbed his forehead. 

“If I were any other first officer, you’d have no reservations about this,” Chyler said.

“Actually, I would,” Tom said. “There are a lot of safety considerations here.”

“Safety?”

“Sangheili ships aren’t built for humans.” Tom looked uncomfortable. “Especially not…human females.”

Chyler gave her husband a withering look. “What do you think is going to happen? A bunch of Sangheili are going to corner me and attack me?”

“Thought crossed my mind,” Tom said tersely.

“None of the Swords here have ever caused problems.”

“They’re on our turf,” Tom said. “And they chose to be here. The rank and file on a Sangheili vessel might be less amenable.”

“I will remind you, only one person in this room has an Expert Marksman’s badge.”

“Right. Gunning down Sangheili on their own ship would look great for our side.”

Chyler scowled.

“And before that look freezes to your face,” Tom said, “yes, I would say this to anyone else.”

“To a man?” Chyler challenged.

“You’re not a man!”

“That’s the point!” Chyler exclaimed.

Tom looked puzzled. “What?”

“Tom, did you see the ship I’d be assigned to?”

“Yeah. [insert ship name here].”

“And whose ship is that?” 

Tom stared blankly at her.

Chyler sighed internally. How Tom could hold a thousand contingency plans in his head yet gloss right over a familiar name would never cease to amaze her. “Read.” She slid the tablet across the desk.

Tom began reading. “Mahkee ‘Chava?”

“That’s right.”

“The only female shipmaster in their fleet,” Tom said slowly.

“Yes.”

Tom set the tablet down. “Maybe that’s why the Arbiter thought you’d be a good choice for this.” 

“Maybe,” Chyler agreed. 

“And you do have more face time with Sangheili than any other XO.” Tom tapped the tablet’s edge thoughtfully. 

“But you aren’t any other XO,” Chyler could hear him thinking. She reached across the desk and took his hand. “Tom, look at me.”

He looked up.

“This is a command decision,” Chyler said, “and you need to make it as my commanding officer. Not as my husband.”

Tom chewed his lip. “I really hate it when you’re right.”

“I’m sorry it has to happen so often,” Chyler quipped.

Tom scrunched up his face at her. “Is it too much to say I’ll miss you?”

“I’ll miss you, too,” Chyler said. “It’s only [how long?]. We’ve been apart a lot longer than that.” She rested her chin on her free hand. “You know what I think the real issue is here?”

“Do tell.”

Chyler gave him a sly smile. “I think you’re afraid you can’t run this outfit without me.”

Tom harrumphed. “Sarah’s the one who needs to worry. She’ll have to keep her Spartans in line solo. They’re all scared to death of you.”

“I guess someone else will have to collect Majestic’s contraband.”

—

The last line is an explanation for my headcanon about how little Chyler has Infinity’s entire Spartan complement running scared. It really deserves its own fic at some point.

[oni-official]

I still can't remember my incredibly funny ship name, but can i name one Throckmorton or does a UNSC ship have to be named "noun of noun" or something

I went over the registered UNSC ship names and discovered two things.

1. You can name them WHATEVER you like.

2. This navy is full of fucking clowns.

Here's some of my favourites:

And my personal favourite:

[unsc-navy]

Wait... if Covenant ships outgunned us, outarmored us, outshielded us, outteched, outspeeded us, And outnumbered us... how did we survive at all???

Luck, Sailor. We had Luck.

[bloodgulchblog]

Right? The whole thing was that the UNSC’s stance was that, ‘if you won’t do it, someone else will.’ She had a gun to her head and the certainty that it was just going to happen anyways.

Halsey’s no saint. But the IV’s that look down on her and the navy higher-ups seem to conveniently forget that she had to get her resources from somewhere. The same place they do. That must be incredibly galling for her to know and not be able to communicate in any way that they care about.

Like, almost everything Halsey ever did was done with the explicit knowledge, approval, and material support of someone else. The crimes she committed would not have been possible otherwise. Every order she gave, every test she conducted and every small body she mangled had someone else’s signature on it- the same people signing off on the modern-day supermen.

YES

(This turned into me writing dramatically and clowning for a while i hope u don't mind)

They recruited a teenager (albeit a very smart teenager) to solve a big scary oncoming war against the scary insurrectionists that they'd been pumping out scary propaganda against for decades.

Her solution was fucking wild, and they went with it because now they had a scapegoat in hand.

As she got older, as they began to build the monster she designed, she began to regret. She began to hate herself for it, and she couldn't escape.

And when it stopped being convenient for them to cover it up, they fucking devoured her and blamed her for all of it.

Margaret Parangosky herself came down from on high and performed outrage for actions she sanctioned, and Halsey had to live with it. Halsey had to die with it, even, from a legal perspective. They imprisoned her and forced her to work for them and erased her from existence.

She couldn't make it up to those kids she hurt. She couldn't stop most of them from dying. The most insidious, fucked up part was she couldn't even convince them that what was done to them wasn't okay, that the ends didn't justify the means, that demanding the sacrifice of innocents wasn't acceptable.

She couldn't save her own family from the war, she couldn't even save her relationship with her daughter from the damage caused by her job. (And the UNSC recruited Miranda, too.)

It is no wonder she is so, so, so bitter.

I feel like Halo after Reach didn't know what to do with Halsey anymore and has kind of drifted writing her as just a haughty evil scientist with sometimes incomprehensible motives, but........... but...........!

[halopedia]

Starship Saturday - Huygens-class survey ship

Introduced in 2499 by Aerofabrique SA, the 85m-long Huygens is a scout ship intended for mapping new worlds, charting slipspace routes, and - in wartime - hunting for raiding targets that can be attacked by UNSC Navy destroyer wolfpacks.