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{{Ratings}}
{{Status|Canon}}
{{Era|FS}}{{Ship
{{References}}
{{Title|''Ascendant Justice''}}
{{Center|''This article is about the Covenant flagship. You may be looking for the [[Ascendant Justice (blog)|blog of the same name]].''}}
{{Individual ship infobox
|name=''Ascendant Justice''
|image=
|image=
|name=Ascendant Justice
|manufacturer=
|manufacturer=[[Covenant]]
|class={{Pattern|Ruma|light carrier}}<ref name="canonfodder">[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/canon-fodder-have-s-moa '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Canon Fodder: Have S'moa'']</ref>{{Ref/Note|''Ascendant Justice'' is referred to as a "supercarrier" in the ''[[Priority Broadcast Log/Eleventh Cycle, Third Unit]]'' included in the Adjunct section of the 2010 edition of ''[[Halo: The Flood]]''. It was later clarified in a [https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/canon-fodder-have-s-moa Canon Fodder post] that this is an internal Covenant classification referring to the high-tonnage carrier classes ''DDS'', ''CAS'' and ''CSO'', rather than the {{Pattern|Sh'wada|supercarrier}} alone.}}
|line=
|length=3,000 meters<ref>'''[[Halo: First Strike]]''', ''page 36''</ref>
|model=
|engine=[[Repulsor engine]]s
|class= Most likely a [[Reverence-class Cruiser]]
|slipspace drive=Covenant [[Borer]] {{C|Taken by UNSC and retrofitted onto {{UNSCShip|Gettysburg}}}}
|length=3000 meters
|width=
|height=
|mass=
|max acceleration=
|max speed space=
|max speed air=
|engine=[[Repulsor Engines]]
|slipspace drive=Yes
|slipspace speed=8 light-years/day
|poweroutput=
|poweroutput=
|power=
|shield ge= Yes {{C|Resistant to at least four plasma torpedoes}}
|shield gen=
|hull=[[Nanolaminate hull plating]]  {{C|Resistant to at least two plasma torpedoes}}
|hull=
*Equipped with energy shields
|sensor=
|armament=*[[Pulse laser turret]]s
|target=
*[[Energy projector]]s
|navigation=
*[[Plasma turret]]s
|avionics=
|complement=Several [[Seraph]]s
|countermeasures=
|crew=*Hundreds of [[Huragok]]
|armament=*[[Pulse Laser]]s
*About 100 [[Sangheili]]  
*[[Energy Projector]]s
*Legion of [[Unggoy]]
*[[Cortana]]-enhanced [[Plasma Torpedo]]es
|firstsight=[[2552#September|September 22, 2552]] - after the [[Battle of Installation 04]]
|complement=
|destroyed=September 13, 2552 {{C|temporal anomaly}} - [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]]
|crew=*Hundreds of [[Engineers]]
|battles=*[[Battle of Installation 04]]
*Couple dozen [[Sangheili|Elites]] and [[Unggoy|Grunts]]
*[[Skirmish over Threshold]]
|skeleton=
*[[Raid of Reach]]
|passengers=
*[[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]]
|capacity=
|fleet=[[Fleet of Particular Justice]]{{Ref/Reuse|Rerelease}}
|consumables=
|affiliation=[[Covenant navy]], later [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]]
|othersystems=
|firstuse=[[2552]] - [[Battle of Alpha Halo]]
|role= [[Carrier]], [[Flagship]]
|era=[[9th Age of Reclamation]]
|affiliation=[[Covenant Navy]]/[[UNSC]]
}}
}}


The '''''Ascendant Justice''''' was a [[Covenant]] [[Flagship]], one of the ships in the [[Fleet of Particular Justice]], and probably used to command large [[Fleet]]s. It was the ship that the Master Chief and the survivors of [[Installation 04]] took over in the book "''[[Halo: First Strike]]''".
'''''Ascendant Justice''''' was a [[Covenant]] {{Pattern|Ruma|light carrier}},{{Ref/Reuse|canonfodder}}<ref name="Rerelease">'''[[Halo: The Flood]]''' (2010), Adjunct - ''[[Priority Broadcast Log/Eleventh Cycle, Third Unit]]''</ref> and a part of the [[Fleet of Particular Justice]]. In [[2552#September|September 2552]] the vessel was captured by [[SPARTAN-II program|Spartan]] [[John-117]] and the other human survivors of the [[Battle of Installation 04]].


==Background==
==Background==
It has seven Plasma Turrets and was noted to have three thousand [[Covenant]] personnel, mostly [[Engineers]], along with an unusually small crew of combat personnel: a light company of [[Unggoy|Grunts]] and only a hundred [[Sangheili|Elites]]. There were apparently enough Engineers on board to merit them having an access tunnel of their own. The [[John-117|Master Chief]] noted that he "hadn't seen anything like this on the ''[[Truth and Reconciliation]]''," and that it was "''armed like a ship of war... yet had the support staff of a refit vessel.''"<ref>''[[Halo: First Strike]]'', page 63</ref>
Armed with [[seven]] [[plasma turret]]s, the ship had a complement of 3,000 personnel. There was an unusually small number of combat personnel: a light company of [[Unggoy]] and only a hundred [[Sangheili]]. However, there were enough Huragok on board to merit them having an access tunnel of their own. John-117 noted that he "...hadn't seen anything like this on the ''[[Truth and Reconciliation]]''," and that it was "''armed like a ship of war, yet had the support staff of a refit vessel.''"<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page 63''</ref> It possessed an enigmatic [[Unidentified Covenant AI|AI construct]] that was seemingly based on modified, captured UNSC [[Artificial intelligence|AI]], which was equipped with hitherto unknown and unprecedented [[Artificial intelligence#Covenant AI copying program|software]] for replicating [[Riemann matrix|AI matrices]].


==History==
==History==
The ship was present at the destruction of [[Installation 04]], searching the wreckage for transmissions from survivors. It was boarded and captured by a small team of UNSC forces, among them was [[John-117]] (Master Chief), and [[Sergeant Johnson]], who used it to return to [[Reach]] and evacuate a small number of [[SPARTAN II|Spartan]] survivors, [[Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb]] and [[Dr. Halsey]], as well as a [[Forerunner Crystal|Forerunner artifact]] from the planet, attaching to the wreckage of the UNSC Frigate [[UNSC Gettysburg|''Gettysburg'']] for additional power and escaping through [[Slipspace]] to the [[Eridanus Secundus]] System, becoming the first ship to ever go into slipspace so close to a planet. It was forced to engage multiple Covenant warships, such as [[Cruisers]] and [[Covenant Carrier|Carriers]], in an alternate slipspace. To make things worse, some surviving Elite crewmembers had sabotaged the ''Ascendant Justice'''s main power conduit, forcing the Spartans to go on an extravehicular mission. This mission resulted in the deaths of the entire surviving Elite crew, but also killed [[Warrant Officer]] [[Polaski]], [[Anton-044]], and [[Li-008]].
''Ascendant Justice'' was part of the Fleet of Particular Justice, arriving at Installation 04 just before the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}}.<ref>'''[[Halo Legendary Crate]] 3''', ''[[:File:LC 003 Doc2.png|Data Drop]]''</ref> During the Battle of Installation 04, the [[Prophet of Stewardship]] alternated his base of operations between ''Ascendant Justice'' in orbit and ''[[Truth and Reconciliation]]'' just above Halo's surface. When [[Supreme Commander]] [[Thel 'Vadam]]ee sent a single infantry unit to relieve the Prophet for his constant force misappropriation, Stewardship ordered ''Ascendant Justice'' to destroy their transports on approach, warning that any other affronts to his leadership would result in equally lethal fates. 'Vadamee then assembled a strike force to retake ''Ascendant Justice'' and physically relieve the Prophet of leadership until the humans were eliminated, but Stewardship left for ''Truth and Reconciliation'' before they arrived, leaving orders for the crew to arrest 'Vadamee if he continued to interfere with the Consecration. When Thel's force arrived on ''Ascendant Justice'', no shots were fired and the crew acknowledged his authority.{{Ref/Reuse|Rerelease}}{{Ref/Note|Though ''Priority Broadcast Log/Eleventh Cycle, Third Unit'' provides a backstory for ''Ascendant Justice''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s part in the Battle of Installation 04, it does not explain why the ship's warrior complement was so small. It can be inferred that the Prophet of Stewardship killed most of the crew to quell any real or imagined affronts to his leadership. It is also possible that most of the crew was transferred off the vessel due to the Prophet's insubordination.}}


The ship received assistance from remaining [[Eridanus Rebels]] in a small asteroid colony, who provided personnel and repairs for the ships weaponry, before being discovered by the Covenant. Though the ''Ascendant Justice'' engaged the initial Covenant forces in ship-to-ship battle, reinforcements arrived en masse, forcing it to abandon the colony to the Covenant.  
[[File:Fight on Ascendant Justice.png|thumb|left|250px|John-117, Corporal Locklear, and one of the other survivors fighting aboard ''Ascendant Justice''.]]
When Installation 04's destruction was imminent the Fleet of Particular Justice moved into cover behind [[Threshold]]. ''Ascendant Justice's'' scout group remained to search the wreckage for transmissions from survivors. It was soon [[Skirmish over Threshold|boarded and captured]] by a small team of human survivors, including John-117, Staff Sergeant [[Avery Johnson]], Lieutenant [[Elias Haverson]], Corporal [[Locklear]], Petty Officer, Second Class [[Shiela Polaski]], and the AI [[Cortana]]. The survivors then used ''Ascendant Justice'' to return to [[Reach]] and evacuate a small number of [[SPARTAN-II program|Spartan]] survivors, Vice Admiral [[Danforth Whitcomb]] and Dr. [[Catherine Halsey]], as well as a [[Forerunner crystal|Forerunner artifact]] from the planet, attaching to the wreckage of the [[UNSC frigate|frigate]] {{UNSCShip|Gettysburg}} for additional power. They then escaped through [[slipspace]] toward the [[Eridanus system]], becoming the first ship known to go into slipspace so close to a planet. En route to [[Eridanus Secundus]] ''Ascendant Justice'' was forced to engage multiple Covenant warships, including several [[Covenant cruiser|cruisers]] and {{Pattern|Ruma|light carrier}}s, in an alternate slipspace dimension caused by the Forerunner artifact. Furthermore, some surviving Sangheili crew members had sabotaged ''Ascendant Justice'''s main power conduit, forcing the Spartans to go on an [[Extra-vehicular activity|extravehicular mission]] on the outer hull. This mission resulted in the deaths of the entire surviving Sangheili crew, but also killed Spartans [[Anton-044]] and [[Li-008]] as well as Petty Officer, Second Class Polaski.
[[File:Polaski cam.jpg|thumb|250px|Shiela Polaski's [[Helmet recorder|helmet cam]] captures footage inside of ''Ascendant Justice''.]]
The ship received assistance from remaining [[Insurrectionist|rebels]] in the small asteroid colony of Eridanus Secundus, who provided personnel and repairs for the ship's weaponry, before being discovered by the Covenant. Though ''Ascendant Justice'' engaged the initial Covenant forces in ship-to-ship combat, reinforcements arrived ''en masse'', forcing it to abandon the colony to the Covenant.


Vice Admiral Whitcomb initiated [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]]. The [[UNSC]]-commandeered ''Ascendant Justice'' then inserted John and his Spartans near the ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]'' in a slightly-modified [[Spirit]] Dropship, and started a self-destruct sequence in one of the station's reactor rooms. The Spartans managed to escape from the station and travel to the far side of a near moon where the [[UNSC Gettysburg|''Gettysburg'']] was waiting for them. Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and Lieutenant Elias Haverson had detached the ''Ascendant Justice'' from the ''Gettysburg'' and taken it in a slingshot orbit around the moon. Vice Admiral Whitcomb pretended to have the [[Forerunner]] crystal (by using a hologram) and challenged the Covenant to come and claim it (the Covenant did not want to fire on the ''Ascendant Justice'' because the crystal was supposedly  on it). He used the momentum from their slingshot orbit to crash into the station even after the Covenant had melted the ship's engines off with plasma torpedoes. Whitcomb then ordered Spartan-117 to see what was left of the Covenant and then "''hightail the Intel back to [[Earth]].''" The last few seconds of visual and audio record from the Ascendant Justice showed the door crashing to the ground and the Admiral opening fire with an SMG. The reactors on the ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]'' then overloaded and exploded, destroying the ''Ascendant Justice'' and over four hundred enemy vessels. Only a few Covenant ships survived the catastrophe. Both Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and [[Lieutenant Elias Haverson]] are listed as [[KIA|Killed in Action]].
After fleeing from Eridanus Secundus, the crew of ''Ascendant Justice'' discovered ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]'', a Covenant refit-and-repair station which was being used to service a Covenant [[Truth's fleet|invasion force]] that was poised to invade [[Earth]]. Vice Admiral Whitcomb then initiated [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]], in which the remaining Spartans boarded the station and set its reactors to overload. The Spartans escaped the station and traveled to the far side of a nearby moon where ''Gettysburg'' was waiting for them.


The ''Ascendant Justice'''s Slipspace drive allowed the ''[[Gettysburg]]'' to reach Earth and warn the UNSC leadership of the Covenant's plans to reach Earth. It is not currently known what has become of the ''Ascendant Justice''s Slipspace drive, though it is assumed that it was studied by UNSC technicians.
Vice Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Haverson had detached ''Ascendant Justice'' from ''Gettysburg'' and taken it in a slingshot orbit around the moon. Vice Admiral Whitcomb pretended to have the Forerunner crystal by using a hologram and challenged the Covenant to come and claim it. The Covenant did not fire on ''Ascendant Justice'' for fear of destroying the artifact. The two used the momentum from their slingshot orbit to crash into the station even after the Covenant had cut the ship's engines off with laser fire. Whitcomb then ordered John-117 to see what was left of the Covenant and then "''...hightail the intel back to Earth.''" The last few seconds of visual and audio record from the ship showed the door crashing to the ground and the vice admiral opening fire on the boarders. The station's reactors exploded, destroying carrier and over 400 enemy vessels. Only a few Covenant ships survived the catastrophe, which delayed the [[Prophet of Truth]]'s plan to invade Earth. ''Ascendant Justice'''s slipspace drive allowed ''Gettysburg'' to reach Earth and warn the UNSC leadership of the Covenant's plans to invade Earth.  


Only four members of the ''Ascendant Justice''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s original Covenant crew survived its capture. A [[SpecOps Elite|Special Operations]] Elite who engaged the Master Chief in hand-to-hand combat was shot and pushed into an escape pod. This may have been the [[Arbiter (Character)|Arbiter]], but there is no proof. The [[Arbiter (character)|future]] Arbiter was mentioned as "the incompetent one who lost the ''Ascendant Justice''"<ref>''[[Halo: First Strike]]'', page 340</ref> at the end of First Strike, and the [[High Prophet of Truth]] instructed [[Tartarus]] to "''let his fate match the magnitude of his failure.''"<ref>''[[Halo: First Strike]]'', page 340</ref>. A few [[Engineer]]s were taken to Earth on the ''Gettysburg'' and were then turned over to [[ONI]] scientists.<ref>''[[Halo: First Strike]]''</ref>
Only four members of ''Ascendant Justice'''s original Covenant crew survived its capture. A [[Special Operations Sangheili]] who engaged the Master Chief in hand-to-hand combat was shot and pushed into an [[Covenant escape pod|escape pod]] and a few Huragok that were taken to Earth on the ''Gettysburg'' were turned over to the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]].<ref>'''Halo: First Strike'''</ref>


==Trivia==
==Trivia==
*In the ''[[Halo Graphic Novel]]'' story ''[[The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor]]'', the Flagship of the [[Fleet of Particular Justice]] is indicated to be the [[Seeker of Truth]]. This would make the ''Ascendant Justice'' appear to be a secondary flagship, kept in case the main one was destroyed or evacuated.  
*''Ascendant Justice'' is the second [[Covenant]] vessel successfully captured by human forces. The first was the {{Pattern|Ket|battlecruiser}} ''[[Truth and Reconciliation]]'' during the [[Battle of Installation 04]]. Like the ''Truth and Reconciliation'', the ''Ascendant Justice'' was captured for the purpose of getting the survivors of the battle home.
*The ship was equipped with an escape vessel, which may be a feature exclusive to the ship.
*The capture of ''Ascendant Justice'' effectively completed the first phase of [[Operation: RED FLAG]]: commandeering a Covenant vessel. Ironically, while the mission was slated to be performed by Spartans aided by the {{UNSCShip|Pillar of Autumn}}, ''Ascendant Justice'' was captured by [[John-117|a single Spartan]], [[Locklear|an ODST]], [[Avery Johnson|a Marine]], [[Elias Haverson|an ONI officer]], [[Shiela Polaski|a pilot]] and [[Cortana|an AI]] using only a [[D77-TC Pelican|Pelican]] dropship and a [[Longsword]] fighter.
*When the ''Ascendant Justice'' first arrived at [[Reach]] in the greeting that Cortana received, someone called the 'Guardian of the Luminous Key' was supposed to be in command of the ship, according to the string of honorifics attached to the greeting. This guardian could be the [[Supreme Commander]] that would eventually become the Arbiter.
*While aboard, Cortana successfully completed the first recorded in-atmosphere slipspace jump, a feat previously believed to be impossible due to the complexity of factoring in a planet's gravitational field. This information was later leaked to the Covenant fleet around Reach by the ship's AI. In-atmosphere slipspace jumps were subsequently performed by Covenant forces during the [[Battle for Earth]].
*When Spartan-117 and the others traveled back to Earth on the ''[[Gettysburg]]'', they took with them Covenant Engineers to debrief with ONI.
*The epilogue of ''Halo: First Strike'' strongly implies that Thel 'Vadamee (referenced indirectly as "the incompetent who lost ''Ascendant Justice''") was brought before the High Council and stripped of his rank because he allowed the ship to fall into human hands. Despite this, the novel clearly identifies the ship as part of a scouting party separate from the Fleet of Particular Justice; this also ignores the immeasurably greater significance of his failure to save Halo. Though his command vessel was [[Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor|established]] as the assault carrier ''[[Seeker of Truth]]'' following the novel's release, 'Vadamee's [https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/universe/characters/arbiter-thel-vadam Halo Waypoint biography] erroneously refers to ''Ascendant Justice'' as his flagship.
*The ''Ascendant Justice's'' computer had a software replication program which allowed [[Cortana]] to make imperfect replications of herself, which made it easier to destroy ''[[Unyielding Hierophant|The Unyielding Hierophant]]''.
*During ''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]'', [[Blue Team]] captures the {{Pattern|Sinaris|heavy destroyer}} ''[[Bloodied Spirit]]'' with relative ease, especially compared to the capture of ''Ascendant Justice''. It's stated that their actions were made far easier due to what was learned from the capture of ''Ascendant Justice'' and what Cortana learned from its systems.
*There is a popular Halo blog presumably named after the ship.<ref>http://www.blog.ascendantjustice.com</ref>
*During the [[Ur-Didact|Didact's]] [[New Phoenix Incident|attack on Earth]] in [[2557]], Cortana used the AI replication matrix from ''Ascendant Justice'' to split off the rampant elements of her personality construct array; this enabled her to operate in a quasi-normal state for a brief period. Much as she had done on ''Unyielding Hierophant'' years prior, she used these clones to infiltrate the [[Mantle's Approach|Didact's ship]], allowing the Master Chief to destroy it.{{Ref/Level|H4|[[Midnight]]}}
*The ship is very heavily armed, though it contains a very small amount of combat personal.
 
*The Master Chief confronted a energy sword-wielding Sangheili warrior in close combat near the bridge of this ship. The Master Chief pushed him into an escape pod and ejected him into space, rather than killing him. A popular theory among Halo fans is that this Elite may be Thel 'Vadamee, the future Arbiter. However, the Elite is described as wearing [[Special Operations Elite|black armor]] and [[Active Camoflauge|suddenly appearing]] into view, muddying this claim.
==List of appearances==
*The Sangheili fought by the Master Chief is severely wounded in the melee; 'Vadamee appears completely unharmed in Halo 2's cutscenes.
*''[[Halo: The Flood]]'' (2010)
*''[[Halo: First Strike]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]'' {{mo}}
 
==Notes==
{{Ref/Notes}}


==Sources==
==Sources==
<references/>
{{Ref/Sources}}


[[Category:The Covenant]]
[[Category:Carriers]]
[[Category:Covenant Starships]]
[[Category:Covenant ships]]

Latest revision as of 16:11, September 6, 2022

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This article is about the Covenant flagship. You may be looking for the blog of the same name.
Ascendant Justice
Production information

Class:

Ruma-pattern light carrier[1][Note 1]

Specifications

Length:

3,000 meters[2]

Engine:

Repulsor engines

Slipspace drive:

Covenant Borer (Taken by UNSC and retrofitted onto UNSC Gettysburg)

Hull:

Nanolaminate hull plating (Resistant to at least two plasma torpedoes)

  • Equipped with energy shields

Armament:

Complement:

Several Seraphs

Crew:

Service information

Destroyed:

September 13, 2552 (temporal anomaly) - Operation: FIRST STRIKE

Participated battles:

Fleet:

Fleet of Particular Justice[3]

Affiliation:

Covenant navy, later UNSC

 

Ascendant Justice was a Covenant Ruma-pattern light carrier,[1][3] and a part of the Fleet of Particular Justice. In September 2552 the vessel was captured by Spartan John-117 and the other human survivors of the Battle of Installation 04.

Background[edit]

Armed with seven plasma turrets, the ship had a complement of 3,000 personnel. There was an unusually small number of combat personnel: a light company of Unggoy and only a hundred Sangheili. However, there were enough Huragok on board to merit them having an access tunnel of their own. John-117 noted that he "...hadn't seen anything like this on the Truth and Reconciliation," and that it was "armed like a ship of war, yet had the support staff of a refit vessel."[4] It possessed an enigmatic AI construct that was seemingly based on modified, captured UNSC AI, which was equipped with hitherto unknown and unprecedented software for replicating AI matrices.

History[edit]

Ascendant Justice was part of the Fleet of Particular Justice, arriving at Installation 04 just before the UNSC Pillar of Autumn.[5] During the Battle of Installation 04, the Prophet of Stewardship alternated his base of operations between Ascendant Justice in orbit and Truth and Reconciliation just above Halo's surface. When Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee sent a single infantry unit to relieve the Prophet for his constant force misappropriation, Stewardship ordered Ascendant Justice to destroy their transports on approach, warning that any other affronts to his leadership would result in equally lethal fates. 'Vadamee then assembled a strike force to retake Ascendant Justice and physically relieve the Prophet of leadership until the humans were eliminated, but Stewardship left for Truth and Reconciliation before they arrived, leaving orders for the crew to arrest 'Vadamee if he continued to interfere with the Consecration. When Thel's force arrived on Ascendant Justice, no shots were fired and the crew acknowledged his authority.[3][Note 2]

John-117, Corporal Locklear, and one of the other survivors fighting aboard Ascendant Justice.

When Installation 04's destruction was imminent the Fleet of Particular Justice moved into cover behind Threshold. Ascendant Justice's scout group remained to search the wreckage for transmissions from survivors. It was soon boarded and captured by a small team of human survivors, including John-117, Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, Lieutenant Elias Haverson, Corporal Locklear, Petty Officer, Second Class Shiela Polaski, and the AI Cortana. The survivors then used Ascendant Justice to return to Reach and evacuate a small number of Spartan survivors, Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and Dr. Catherine Halsey, as well as a Forerunner artifact from the planet, attaching to the wreckage of the frigate UNSC Gettysburg for additional power. They then escaped through slipspace toward the Eridanus system, becoming the first ship known to go into slipspace so close to a planet. En route to Eridanus Secundus Ascendant Justice was forced to engage multiple Covenant warships, including several cruisers and Ruma-pattern light carriers, in an alternate slipspace dimension caused by the Forerunner artifact. Furthermore, some surviving Sangheili crew members had sabotaged Ascendant Justice's main power conduit, forcing the Spartans to go on an extravehicular mission on the outer hull. This mission resulted in the deaths of the entire surviving Sangheili crew, but also killed Spartans Anton-044 and Li-008 as well as Petty Officer, Second Class Polaski.

Shiela Polaski's helmet cam captures footage inside of Ascendant Justice.

The ship received assistance from remaining rebels in the small asteroid colony of Eridanus Secundus, who provided personnel and repairs for the ship's weaponry, before being discovered by the Covenant. Though Ascendant Justice engaged the initial Covenant forces in ship-to-ship combat, reinforcements arrived en masse, forcing it to abandon the colony to the Covenant.

After fleeing from Eridanus Secundus, the crew of Ascendant Justice discovered Unyielding Hierophant, a Covenant refit-and-repair station which was being used to service a Covenant invasion force that was poised to invade Earth. Vice Admiral Whitcomb then initiated Operation: FIRST STRIKE, in which the remaining Spartans boarded the station and set its reactors to overload. The Spartans escaped the station and traveled to the far side of a nearby moon where Gettysburg was waiting for them.

Vice Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Haverson had detached Ascendant Justice from Gettysburg and taken it in a slingshot orbit around the moon. Vice Admiral Whitcomb pretended to have the Forerunner crystal by using a hologram and challenged the Covenant to come and claim it. The Covenant did not fire on Ascendant Justice for fear of destroying the artifact. The two used the momentum from their slingshot orbit to crash into the station even after the Covenant had cut the ship's engines off with laser fire. Whitcomb then ordered John-117 to see what was left of the Covenant and then "...hightail the intel back to Earth." The last few seconds of visual and audio record from the ship showed the door crashing to the ground and the vice admiral opening fire on the boarders. The station's reactors exploded, destroying carrier and over 400 enemy vessels. Only a few Covenant ships survived the catastrophe, which delayed the Prophet of Truth's plan to invade Earth. Ascendant Justice's slipspace drive allowed Gettysburg to reach Earth and warn the UNSC leadership of the Covenant's plans to invade Earth.

Only four members of Ascendant Justice's original Covenant crew survived its capture. A Special Operations Sangheili who engaged the Master Chief in hand-to-hand combat was shot and pushed into an escape pod and a few Huragok that were taken to Earth on the Gettysburg were turned over to the Office of Naval Intelligence.[6]

Trivia[edit]

  • Ascendant Justice is the second Covenant vessel successfully captured by human forces. The first was the Ket-pattern battlecruiser Truth and Reconciliation during the Battle of Installation 04. Like the Truth and Reconciliation, the Ascendant Justice was captured for the purpose of getting the survivors of the battle home.
  • The capture of Ascendant Justice effectively completed the first phase of Operation: RED FLAG: commandeering a Covenant vessel. Ironically, while the mission was slated to be performed by Spartans aided by the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, Ascendant Justice was captured by a single Spartan, an ODST, a Marine, an ONI officer, a pilot and an AI using only a Pelican dropship and a Longsword fighter.
  • While aboard, Cortana successfully completed the first recorded in-atmosphere slipspace jump, a feat previously believed to be impossible due to the complexity of factoring in a planet's gravitational field. This information was later leaked to the Covenant fleet around Reach by the ship's AI. In-atmosphere slipspace jumps were subsequently performed by Covenant forces during the Battle for Earth.
  • The epilogue of Halo: First Strike strongly implies that Thel 'Vadamee (referenced indirectly as "the incompetent who lost Ascendant Justice") was brought before the High Council and stripped of his rank because he allowed the ship to fall into human hands. Despite this, the novel clearly identifies the ship as part of a scouting party separate from the Fleet of Particular Justice; this also ignores the immeasurably greater significance of his failure to save Halo. Though his command vessel was established as the assault carrier Seeker of Truth following the novel's release, 'Vadamee's Halo Waypoint biography erroneously refers to Ascendant Justice as his flagship.
  • During Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, Blue Team captures the Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyer Bloodied Spirit with relative ease, especially compared to the capture of Ascendant Justice. It's stated that their actions were made far easier due to what was learned from the capture of Ascendant Justice and what Cortana learned from its systems.
  • During the Didact's attack on Earth in 2557, Cortana used the AI replication matrix from Ascendant Justice to split off the rampant elements of her personality construct array; this enabled her to operate in a quasi-normal state for a brief period. Much as she had done on Unyielding Hierophant years prior, she used these clones to infiltrate the Didact's ship, allowing the Master Chief to destroy it.[7]

List of appearances[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Ascendant Justice is referred to as a "supercarrier" in the Priority Broadcast Log/Eleventh Cycle, Third Unit included in the Adjunct section of the 2010 edition of Halo: The Flood. It was later clarified in a Canon Fodder post that this is an internal Covenant classification referring to the high-tonnage carrier classes DDS, CAS and CSO, rather than the Sh'wada-pattern supercarrier alone.
  2. ^ Though Priority Broadcast Log/Eleventh Cycle, Third Unit provides a backstory for Ascendant Justice's part in the Battle of Installation 04, it does not explain why the ship's warrior complement was so small. It can be inferred that the Prophet of Stewardship killed most of the crew to quell any real or imagined affronts to his leadership. It is also possible that most of the crew was transferred off the vessel due to the Prophet's insubordination.

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ a b Halo Waypoint: Canon Fodder: Have S'moa
  2. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 36
  3. ^ a b c Halo: The Flood (2010), Adjunct - Priority Broadcast Log/Eleventh Cycle, Third Unit
  4. ^ Halo: First Strike, page 63
  5. ^ Halo Legendary Crate 3, Data Drop
  6. ^ Halo: First Strike
  7. ^ Halo 4, campaign level Midnight
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