Canon

Heart of Malice

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Heart of Malice
Brute War Chief Severan's ship, the Heart of Malice, over Warial.
Heart of Malice hovering over the forests of Warial.[1]
Ship history
Banished

Name:

Heart of Malice

Operator:

Vanguard of Zaladon[2]

Captain(s):

Ship commander Vodus[3]

General characteristics

Length:

~1,200 meters (3,900 ft)[4]

Armaments:

 

"Heart of Malice. Have to say, that's a fitting name."
— Captain Abigail Cole[6]

Heart of Malice is a warship serving in the Banished, the flagship of the Vanguard of Zaladon.[2] The ship is a custom design original to the Vanguard of Zaladon, and unique among the Banished.[4]

Overview[edit]

Design details[edit]

At around 1,200 meters (3,900 ft) in length,[4] Heart of Malice is smaller than the massive dreadnoughts that form the core of most Banished fleets, but considered to be extremely effective in combat.[2] The ship is shaped like a jagged arrowhead, coated in naval weapons and noted to provide an air of dread and ferocity. The ship's custom design means that prior to the Battle of Venezia, it was entirely unnoted on Office of Naval Intelligence classification databases, nor was it something that Rtas 'Vadum of the Swords of Sanghelios was familiar with. After a brief analysis during combat over Venezia, the United Nations Space Command were able to ascertain that the ship has an internal honeycomb frame design similar in nature to the UNSC's own Halcyon-class light cruisers - meaning that Heart of Malice is able to endure extraordinary punishment in combat.[4]

The ship's bridge has stations for a dozen operators, mostly consisting of Jiralhanae. The centre of the room has a single holotable surrounded the crew's consoles and displays; this table is the site at which Severan and the ship commander stand. The ship commander commands the ship in naval operations, but takes orders from Severan. The bridge is connected to a long corridor that runs much of the ship's length, connected to a series of lifts that can move personnel around the ship - including to Severan's private quarters, which are the largest of all on the ship. However, given the Jiralhanae penchant for utalitarian design, this means that they are still very cramped. Severan's chamber is relatively sparsely decorated with only rudimentary furniture and essential machines alongside a handful of keepsakes from Doisac and High Charity, owing to the War Chief's tendency to spent little time in the room. The room does feature a central holotable with access to archives pulled from High Charity prior to the city's fall to the Flood.[3]

Armaments[edit]

Heart of Malice is coated in weaponry, making it a formidable foe in combat. These include twin plasma lances[5] and at least 18 naval cannons of unknown type littering the ship's dorsal surface.[1] The ship is also fitted with missiles[4] and point-defense guns.[2]

The ship's armaments are a mix of both directed-energy weapons and conventional ballistics.[4]

Crew and complement[edit]

Heart of Malice has at least one hangar bay capable of housing dropships, including at least one Trespasser. [3]

Service history[edit]

Heart of Malice has been under the command of War Chief Severan for a number of years prior to 2559. On November 8 of that year, the ship was assembled at Warial along with the rest of the Vanguard of Zaladon's fleet, following Severan's promotion to leader of all remaining Banished forces in the galaxy not under the command of Atriox. The fleet was originally assembled to prepare to deploy against the UNSC in the search for the Lithos, but this order was countermanded when later that day, Warial's parent world Doisac was destroyed by the Created. Wrathful, Severan was given new orders by Escharum - the artificial intelligences of the Created were of human origin, and so the Banished were to respond in kind and sack Earth. While the majority of the Vanguard of Zaladon's fleet were ordered to the wider Banished rally point immediately, Severan ordered Heart of Malice and a small escort force to instead deploy to Venezia first.[2] At Venezia, Severan wished to extract Dovo Nesto, High Lord of the Order of Restoration - a Covenant remnant seeking to revive the old empire. Unbeknownst to the rest of the Banished, Severan was secretly aligned to the Order.

Heart of Malice deployed to Venezia with an escort of six dreadnoughts, and hid behind its moon Tiro. As such, the flotilla went unnoticed by the UNSC-Swords of Sanghelios task force that entered the system later that day, consisting of the Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser UNSC Victory of Samothrace and Kerel-pattern assault carrier Shadow of Intent. After fighting began on the ground, Severan was able to extract Dovo Nesto aboard a Trespasser dropship, prompting Heart of Malice and the fleet to emerge from hiding to retrieve the VIPs and engage the allied ships opposing them. After emerging, Heart of Malice initially fell back and allowed the dreadnoughts to engage Victory and Shadow, though after successfully collecting the dropship it then aggressively moved into combat. Malice began to pursue Victory of Samothrace once the cruiser began a Marien maneuver, pitching above the battle plane and spinning while firing, with both Victory and Malice unloading all of their weapons on one another.[4] The UNSC-Swords ships ultimately elected to leave the system rather than continue to face the Banished, leaving Heart of Malice and two surviving dreadnoughts - Ghost of K'rryk and Ghost of Volanth - to stare down at the newly-arrived Covenant fleet under Sali 'Nyon. Unsure of Nyon's intentions, Severan ultimately chose to order his ships to leave the system to prepare for the scheduled attack on Earth. Ultimately, Heart of Malice suffered minimal damage during the battle, seeing only minor damage to its exterior battleplate.[3]

On December 12, 2559, Heart of Malice led the awaited Banished assault on Earth. During the opening stages of the fighting, Malice came head-to-head with Victory of Samothrace and Battle Group Omega, immediately beginning to fire upon Samothrace's vulnerable port side - even despite the imminent threat of a Guardian EMP attack. Captain Cole in turn ordered Samothrace's full weapons might to be brought onto Heart of Malice.[7] Severan was tempted to use the opportunity to finally destroy the cruiser, but recognised that the threat of the Guardian was too great, and instead ordered the ship to move out of the Guardian's range. However, just before the Guardian pulse fired, the construct went offline thanks to a simultaneous victory achieved by Atriox at Installation 07. Instead of seizing the moment to finally deliver a crushing blow on the UNSC, Severan ordered the Banished fleet to Boundary to secure the Lithos - and secretly guarantee Dovo Nesto's ability to take control of the Domain.[5]

After arriving at Boundary, Heart of Malice conducted seismic scans of the world and found the location of the Lithos buried under the township of Tyrrhen, allowing the Banished to deploy and take control of the site relatively quickly by December 14.[8] This was interrupted later that day by the arrival of Battle Group Omega and the UNSC's Fourth, Sixth, Ninth, and Thirteenth Fleets. While the initial round of fighting was mostly done between the wider Banished fleet in orbit, Heart of Malice did engage later in the battle, once again attempting to hunt down Victory of Samothrace. Victory of Samothrace initially attempted to fire its Magnetic Accelerator Cannon at Tyrrhen to deny the Lithos to all parties involved, though Heart of Malice made a beeline for the cruiser, ramming it and damaging Victory's fusion drives. Heart of Malice then came back around for another attack, aiming to destroy the now-disabled Victory of Samothrace. Malice rammed Victory for a second time just as Victory fired her twin MACs, successfully bombarding Boundary's surface destroying the Lithos.[9] After engaging Samothrace for a final time, Malice took more damage though was able to, in turn, mission-kill the super-heavy cruiser. This resulted in Victory of Samothrace crash-landing on Boundary. Severan then ordered that the Banished fleet retreat so that he could make his report to Atriox.[10] On January 1, 2560, Heart of Malice returned to the Oth Sonin system to visit the site of Doisac's destruction.[11]

After being recovered from Boundary, Captain Cole was tasked by Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood with tracking down Severan and Heart of Malice.[6]

Production notes[edit]

Heart of Malice was designed by concept artist Espen Olsen Sætervik, who previously worked with Halo Studios on Halo Infinite and produced a few illustrations of the Greater Ark for a previous Canon Fodder.[1]

List of appearances[edit]

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Tasty Tomes (Retrieved on Mar 24, 2025) [archive]
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 8
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 16
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 15
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 20
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 44
  7. ^ Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 19
  8. ^ Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 24
  9. ^ Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 35
  10. ^ Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 36
  11. ^ Halo: Empty Throne, chapter 46
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