Editing Truth's fleet

{{Conjectural title|1}}

{{Military infobox

|variant=Cov

**Around 12 ships {{c|post-FIRST STRIKE}}{{Ref/Reuse|first}}

***At least 8 ships {{c|Oct. 2552, including [[Fleet of Sacred Consecration|Regret’s fleet remnants]]}}{{Ref/Level|Id=CoastalHighway|Game=Halo 3: ODST|Level=Coastal Highway}}

***At least 49 ships {{c|at the [[Battle of Voi]]}}{{Ref/Note|Id=FleetNumbers|Text=In the opening of the ''[[Halo 3]]'' level ''[[The Ark (level)|The Ark]]'', a [[Sangheili]] bridge officer aboard the ''Shadow of Intent'' states that at the onset of the battle above Installation 00, Truth's fleet outnumbers their own force by a ratio of three-to-one. It should be noted that this statement need not reflect the exact ratio of enemy and friendly vessels, for a variety of reasons: the officer may have been rounding for brevity's sake, some of Truth's fleet may have been engaged in other actions at the onset of the battle and only joined the fight after, or the officer may have even neglected to consider any UNSC vessels (such as the ''Forward Unto Dawn'') in his statement. That being said, a total of 44 battlecruisers and two assault carriers of Truth's fleet can be seen at the Portal in the levels ''[[Tsavo Highway]]'' and ''[[The Storm]]''. However, it cannot be stated with certainty that all 46 of these aforementioned vessels entered the Portal as it is known that the Battle for Earth continued after Truth left for Installation 00; as such, some of these vessels may have remained to continue the fight at Earth. Furthermore, at least three other Covenant vessels (the ''[[Gathering of Praise]]'', the ''[[Twilight Compunction]]'', and an unnamed [[freighter]] mentioned in [[Phoenix Logs/Multiplayer Maps/Ashes|this Phoenix log]]), which are neither battlecruisers nor assault carriers, are known to have participated in the Battle of Installation 00, bringing the total possible number of known vessels in Truth's fleet to 50, when the ''Anodyne Spirit'' is considered. Despite all of this, the Fleet of Retribution (plus the ''Forward Unto Dawn'') is only shown to include eleven ships in the opening of ''The Ark'', which calls into question the bridge officer's statement once more. It is possible that the Fleet of Retribution was larger than shown in the opening cutscene, possibly even including more UNSC vessels such as the {{Class|Charon|light frigate}}s of [[Battle Group Victory]]. It is also possible that Truth's fleet at Installation 00 had less than 50 vessels, assuming some of the cruisers at the Portal were instructed to remain at Earth. With the seven vessels depicted in the opening cutscene of ''the Ark'', the ''Gathering of Praise'', the ''Twilight Compunction'', the unnamed [[freighter]], and the ''Anodyne Spirit'', Truth's fleet is known to have included at the very least 11 vessels. However, given the statement by the bridge officer and the ten vessels of the Fleet of Retribution (ignoring the ''Forward Unto Dawn''), a reasonable assumption for the minimum strength of Truth's fleet is 30 vessels.}}

***At least 30 ships {{c|at the [[Battle of Installation 00]]}}{{Ref/NoteReuse|FleetNumbers}}

[[File:HM-UnyieldingHierophant.jpg|290px|thumb|left|The massive space station ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]'' leading a combined [[Jiralhanae]]-controlled assault armada of over 500 warships assembled by the Prophet of Truth.]]

Due to Truth's devious plans for the Covenant, this fleet was commanded exclusively by the [[Jiralhanae]] and featured only few [[Sangheili]] in its ranks; an arrangement unheard of in the Covenant before the [[Great Schism]]. For similar reasons, Truth kept the existence of this fleet, and the fact he had discovered humanity's homeworld, secret even from his fellow [[Hierarchs]].{{Ref/Reuse|Oct20}} This would make it a simple matter to turn the fleet against the Sangheili once the [[human]]s were wiped out. This plan had more immediate advantages as well; leaving the Sangheili to scour Earth in search of the most sacred [[Forerunner]] artifact in existence, the mammoth structure and [[Portal at Voi|portal generator]] that served as the gateway to the [[Installation 00|Ark]], would have placed Truth's plan upon the shoulders of a species he had already decided to cast aside.{{Ref/Reuse|Oct20}}{{Ref/Reuse|bungie}}

However, Truth's plan was slowed down when a small group of human survivors from [[Reach]] and [[Installation 04]] discovered the fleet, leading to the [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE|destruction]] of the ''Unyielding Hierophant'' at the hands of a team of [[SPARTAN-II program|SPARTAN-IIs]]. Only a dozen ships survived the station's explosion, though they were left heavily damaged and limped back to [[High Charity]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=first|Halo: First Strike|Page=333}} For a moment the imminent assault on Earth had been postponed.{{Ref/Book|Id=Mythos|Book=Halo Mythos|Page=??}} Following the loss of ''Unyielding Hierophant'', in High Charity the [[Chieftain of the Jiralhanae]] [[Tartarus]] arrived at the [[Sanctum of the Hierarchs]] where Truth waited within.

 

Once informed on the destruction of his armada, while disturbed by the disaster, Truth otherwise regarded it as a minor setback, and told Tartarus to have the surviving ships rendezvous at their designated coordinates. He also ordered the reward and secret execution of the remaining pilots from [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]], so as not to cause panic in the Covenant by stories of how the [[Demon]]s had obliterated an entire fleet of hundreds of warships.{{Ref/Novel|Novel=Halo: First Strike|Pages=406-408}} Knowledge of the ''Unyielding Hierophant''{{'}}s ultimate goal, and its eventual destruction, were eliminated by the Prophet of Truth to keep his plans as a secret to the rest of the Covenant.{{Ref/Reuse|Oct20}}

[[File:Portal odst.png|thumb|250px|The fleet excavating the Portal, forcing [[Alpha-Nine]] to retreat.]]

As ordered by Truth, the Jiralhanae assumed the total command of the remainder of [[Ket-pattern battlecruiser|cruisers]] of Regret's [[Fleet of Sacred Consecration]], including the ''[[Pious Inquisitor]]'', battling UNSC forces above and within [[New Mombasa]]. They as well aggressively began occupying the city with significant infantry, until Truth's reinforcements arrived to ensure that the arrival of the Prophet to the Portal nearly a month later was to be fully secured by his true loyalists as the Covenant forces on the city was needed to be led by the Jiralhanae and not the Sangheili to avoid his aspirations upon the shoulders of a species he had planned to expel from the Covenant and eliminate them.{{Ref/Reuse|Oct20}}{{Ref/Reuse|bungie}}

Later, the cruisers were gathered over the industrial center and started excavating the Forerunner structure by [[glassing]] the planet's surface around it, including Mombasa, starting from the crater created by the in-atmosphere [[Slipstream space|slipspace]] jump of Regret's ship. Eventually the next day on October 21, the Prophet of Truth's fleet arrived to join Regret's fleet remnants for excavation of the excession to the Ark while more and more other Covenant reinforcements later arrived and launched a large full-scale assault on the planet.<!--Halo Waypoint confirms that Truth's fleet arrived on October 21st-->{{Ref/Site|Id=waypointvergil|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/canon-fodder-vergil-reality|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Vergil Reality|D=15|M=06|Y=2021}}{{Ref/Reuse|Oct20}} While the majority of Covenant forces that were under Truth's command, including most of his fleet, were preoccupied and focusing their primary objective for the excavation of the portal as the largest and most organized Covenant stronghold on the planet,{{Ref/Reuse|lootcrate2}} only a handful of vessels of Truth's fleet and its deployed forces attacked the UNSC forces,{{Ref/Book|Id=mythos|Book=Halo Mythos|Page=117}} including those at the outskirts of Mombasa during the [[seven]]-day-long [[Second Battle of Mombasa|second battle of the city]].{{Ref/Film|Film=Believe|Story=Museum}} However, some of these forces were disorganized and sometimes less effective against the UNSC.{{Ref/Generic|Id=lootcrate2|Heading=[[Halo Legendary Crate]]|Subheading=[[Halo Legendary Crate/Data Drops|Data Drop #2]]}}

In [[2552#November|November 2552]] after the beginning of the [[Great Schism]] when the Sangheili were thrown out by the Covenant now solely led by the Prophet of Truth and its Jiralhanae loyalists,{{Ref/Level|Id=HG|Halo 2|High Charity (level)|High Charity}} the [[Flood]] [[Fall of High Charity|overwhelmed]] [[High Charity]] and the remaining Covenant reorganized in an attempt to make a final push offensive on Earth.{{Ref/Reuse|TGJ}} By the time the surviving ships and fleets of the [[High Charity defense fleet]] controlled by the [[San'Shyuum]] and Jiralhanae, including the [[Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity]], managed to follow the Prophet of Truth and his [[Anodyne Spirit|Dreadnought]] to Earth,{{Ref/Reuse|Id=TGJ}} where they would join the Covenant forces that had arrived earlier. While the Dreadnought, along with a Covenant escorting fleet,{{Ref/Comic|Id=HUI1|HU|Issue=1}}{{Ref/Comic|Id=HUI2|Comic=Halo: Uprising|Issue=[[Halo: Uprising Issue 2|2]]}} traveled through the system for a period of nine days as it was [[Scramble onboard Forerunner Dreadnought|delayed]] by the presence of the [[SPARTAN-II program|Spartan-II]] [[Master Chief Petty Officer]] [[John-117]] before eventually jumping to Earth on November 17,{{Ref/Site|Id=bungie|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=16989|Site=bungie.net|Page=Bungie Weekly Update 01/23/09}}{{Ref/Marketing|Id=LongRoad|Halo Waypoint|The Long Road Home}} a massive{{Ref/Reuse|HUI4}} Covenant loyalist armada led by the Prophet of Truth arrived in the [[Sol system]].{{Ref/Reuse|Id=TGJ}} By this point, the UNSC was hardly faced with impossible odds with no hope in sight against the full might of Covenant forces on Earth as they began to dramatically increase and mostly focus their forces on the planet following the UNSC's defeat on [[Mars]] after the [[Battle of Mare Erythraeum]].{{Ref/Reuse|HUI4}}{{Ref/Reuse|HUI3}} However, [[Colonel]] [[James Ackerson]]'s work in the siege on Mars helped buy UNSC ground forces on Earth precious time.<ref>'''[[Halo Encyclopedia (2009 edition)]]'''</ref>

The final Covenant fleet breached [[Luna]]r perimeter and then battled the horribly-outnumbered and outgunned UNSC Home Fleet that was already weakened by waves of Covenant fleets over Earth. Shortly after, the Dreadnought jumped to Earth where it was later surrounded by the massive space battle between the opposing fleets in high Earth orbit.{{Ref/Level|Id=TGJ|H2|The Great Journey (level)|The Great Journey}}{{Ref/Comic|Id=HUI3|HU|Issue=3}}{{Ref/Reuse|HUI4}} Ultimately, the UNSC defending orbital forces was unsuccessful as too much of the [[UNSC fleet]], including many [[Dead fleet|smaller remaining fleets]], and defense forces despite having strong defense was completely obliterated by the overwhelming Covenant fleet but it is likely that countless Covenant vessels, especially the [[capital ship]]s, was in return destroyed, mainly because of the planet's unusually strong defense, including hundreds of {{Class|Moncton|orbital weapon platform}}s equipped with [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon#Mark V|"Super" MAC]] guns.{{Ref/Level|Id=H2TA|H2|The Armory}} Soon after the remnants of the Covenant fleet move in and began to massively [[orbital bombardment|bombard]] Earth, destroying an extreme number of Earth population, including the most of scattered and remaining UNSC resistance forces.{{Ref/Level|Id=H3CN|H3|Crow's Nest}}  

However, before the [[planet]] could be completely glassed and fell with relative ease to the might of the unparralled Covenant invaders like [[Reach]] with an all but achieved and inevitable Covenant victory, the act of self-sacrifice of James Ackerson{{Ref/Reuse|HUI1}} and that of his civilian brother, [[Ruwan Ackerson|Ruwan]], managed to slow down Covenant occupation of Earth after the destruction of the ''[[Harbinger of Piety]]'', hence the death of one of Covenant [[Minister of Inquisition|Ministers]], and the fact that a supposed Forerunner artifact, known as the [[Key of Osanalan]], was not real at the end of the [[Battle of Cleveland|Battle of]] [[Cleveland]] in [[North America]].{{Ref/Comic|Id=HUI4|HU|Issue=4}} As a result, the Martian valiant defense forces despite being defeated by the Jiralhanae-led [[Fleet of Furious Redemption]], which sympathized Truth's forces, were credited for delaying the Covenant from pressing their siege on Earth.{{Ref/Site|Id=mars|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/locations/mars|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Mars|Y=2021|D=14|M=06}}

*Jiralhanae-controlled [[High Charity defense fleet]]{{Ref/Reuse|HUI1}}{{Ref/Reuse|H3CN}}

**Jiralhanae-controlled [[Second Fleet of Homogeneous Clarity]]{{Ref/Reuse|HUI1}}{{Ref/Reuse|H3CN}}

File:PL Banished.jpg|A hologram of one of Truth's destroyed ''Ket''-pattern battlecruisers near the {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}} in ''[[Halo Wars 2]]''.