UNSC The Heart of Midlothian

Halberd-class
Ship history
Name:	The Hand of Midlothian
Class:	Halberd-class light destroyer
Namesake:	Heart of Midlothian F.C.
Identification:	Hull classification symbol: DD-366
Operator:	UNSC Navy
Manufacturer:	SinoViet Heavy Machinery
Fate:	Self-destructed per the Cole Protocol, 2548
Artificial intelligence(s):	Mo Ye
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer
Length:	485 meters (1,590 ft)
Mass:	1.8 million metric tons
Power plant:	Fusion reactor
Maneuver drive:	Four primary fusion drives; Four secondary fusion drives;
Slipspace drive:	Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine
Crew:	250 sailors
Complement:	2 F-29 Nandao squadrons (optional); 2 Pelican dropships;
Troops:	50 Marines (optional)
Hull:	2 metres (6.6 ft) Titanium-A armor
Sensors:	Mk. 45 long-range fire director
Armaments:	1 14B11R2 MAC battery Twin-linked 1170mm/647mm (46"/25.5") high-velocity coilguns; ; 26 M58 Archer missile pods; 4 M870 Rampart point defense guns; 3 Shiva-class nuclear missiles;
Air facilities:	1 hangar bay fitted with a gravitic/electromagnetic catapult launch/recovery system

UNSC The Heart of Midlothian (hull classification symbol: DD-366)^[1] was a Halberd-class light destroyer used by the Navy of the United Nations Space Command.^[10] It served in the Human-Covenant War until its destruction shortly following the Algolis Invasion in 2458.^[1]

Service history[edit]

Human-Covenant War[edit]

Main article: Human-Covenant War

While on a mission to the planet Algolis, The Heart of Midlothian was attacked and overrun with Covenant forces. It was later learned that the reason the ship was hijacked was in order for the Covenant to retrieve human navigation data, which would lead them to all the human colonies.

There was only one survivor of the initial boarding action, ODST Michael Baird. The ODST Sergeant had been sedated during the attack and the Covenant had missed him thinking that he was dead. After fighting his way to the bridge, Baird self-destructed the ship by letting the enemy kill him and therefore letting the ship's onboard AI, Mo Ye, have the authorization to destroy the ship. This was a side action during the Algolis Invasion.^[2]

Known crew[edit]

Production notes[edit]

The details surrounding Heart of Midlothian's destruction differ, depending on source. The original short story Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian in the Halo: Evolutions anthology notes that the ship was able to link up with the survivors of the Covenant attack on Algolis, and learned what had happened there. However, in the story's motion comic adaptation (and the Halo Waypoint page based on it, the destroyer is noted to have been destroyed before it could reach Algolis.

Trivia[edit]

The ship was named after The Heart of Midlothian by Sir Walter Scott, which is considered by many to be his finest book.
It also shares its name with a football club of the same name based in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was Frank O'Connor's favorite football club when he lived in Edinburgh.