Bloodstar Flotilla

Bloodstar Flotilla
Active:	2526
Affiliation:	Covenant
Group:	Covenant Navy
Type:	Flotilla
Size:	5 intrusion corvettes Sacred Whisper (flagship) Worthy Silence
Engagements:	Battle of Seoba Battle of Biko Attack on Zhoist
Commanders:	First Blade Tel 'Szatulai

The Bloodstar Flotilla was a Covenant flotilla of intrusion corvettes attached to the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience and led by First Blade Tel 'Szatulai of the Silent Shadow. It was formed to serve a kai'd of the Bloodstars, a force of highly-trained Jiralhanae Stalkers and Special Operations Sangheili. The flotilla participated in the Battle of Seoba and the subsequent Battle of Biko in March 2526.

History

Inexorable Obedience

Early in the Human-Covenant War, First Blade Tel 'Szatulai's squad of Silent Shadow was approached by a courier of the United Rebel Front as they scouted out a human colony. The Sangheili were offered information on the United Nations Space Command and their Spartan supersoldiers in exchange for the insurrectionists' safety. 'Szatulai took this information to Fleetmaster Nizat 'Kvarosee and the Minor Minister of Artifact Survey of the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience, who both instructed the warrior to tentatively accept their offer of a meeting on Biko's icy moon of Seoba, with the intent to gather what information he could. However, when the rebels inevitably outlived their usefulness to the Covenant, they would be destroyed. For this mission, 'Szatulai took the five intrusion corvettes of the Bloodstar Flotilla, and left for the Kolaqoa system. He led the small force from aboard the Sacred Whisper, a vessel commanded by Shipmaster Hulon 'Budyasee.

Meeting on Seoba

Main article: Battle of Seoba

On March 19, 2526, the Bloodstar Flotilla emerged from slipspace in the Kolaqoa system far outside of Biko's detection range, activating its active camouflage and approaching the planet without its defense force noticing. Despite the intrusion corvettes' cloaking, the flotilla was soon detected by the UNSC force that had recently captured the rebels' ice quarry base on Seoba. The humans began to scramble their prowlers to meet the Covenant force. 'Szatulai, who was standing in the Sacred Whisper's forward observation blister, could see the vessels with his naked eye as they rose into space, backed by Biko's pink disk. However, none of the corvettes' sensors could detect anything that suggested that human spacecraft were leaving Seoba. After 'Szatulai showed 'Budyasee what he was seeing, the two of them visited the stations toward the back of the bridge to confirm that the problem was with the sensors, rather than with the bridge crew. As he was certain that human vessels were indeed rising from the ice quarry that was their intended meeting location, 'Szatulai ordered all of the flotilla's vessel to fire on the quarry, despite the extreme range and apparent lack of targets. He hoped to damage and capture one of the alarmingly advanced stealth vessels for study.

The bombardment was successful in downing the UNSC Starry Night, the flagship of Task Force Yama. It crashed into the wall of the ice quarry, demolishing layers of terraces and coming to a rest halfway up an avalanche of ice. Noticing that his blind firing on the quarry had yielded the desired results, 'Szatulai ordered the Worthy Silence to secure the crash site and recover the stealth vessel for study. As the flotilla approached Seoba, it detected a human transport fleeing the quarry. All five corvettes fired on the transport as soared out of the atmosphere toward Biko. By the time the Worthy Silence had reached the Starry Night's crash site, so had a team of twelve Spartans lead by John-117. Noticing the humans, the corvette began firing on them and deploying EVA-equipped Sangheili, Jiralhanae, and Kig-Yar Bloodstars onto the stealth vessel via gravity lift. Meanwhile, Karo'etba-pattern Ghosts and another intrusion corvette moved in to cut off the advancing Spartans. With few options available to them, John-117 had his team fire on the avalanche just below the Starry Night with their grenade launchers, causing the vessel to tumble all the way to the quarry floor. This prevented the Bloodstar boarding party from gaining access to the prowler and the sensitive data held within its computers. The action had also buried half of the group of Spartans under the ice flow, buying the Bloodstars some time to recover and send in more armored vehicles. As they fought the Spartans for control of the prowler, two more of the intrusion corvettes approached to harass them. Despite this, the humans gained access to the prowler and its nuclear self-destruct system, and a strafing run from the task force destroyed two of the flotilla's corvettes. A trio of prowlers managed to chase off a third, leaving the Worthy Silence alone as it tried to collect the Starry Night. With the situation turning in the Spartans' favor, the corvette began lifting the prowler into its hangar bay via gravity lift. It was too late, however, as the team inside the prowler armed the nuke and fled in an escape pod. The explosion pulverized both the Starry Night and the Worthy Silence, leaving the Bloodstar Flotilla with only the Sacred Whisper and one other vessel.

As they had become overwhelmed, the two remaining corvettes retreated, allowing the Spartans to comb through wreckage of the Worthy Silence before being extracted. On its bridge, the humans discovered that the corvette's kelguid was still intact. They carefully removed the device from the floor panels and transported it back to their logistics vessel for further study.

Destruction of Biko

Main article: Battle of Biko

On March 20, 2526, the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience arrived at Biko and began its assault on the colony, prompting 'Szatulai to have the Sacred Whisper and the flotilla's only other surviving corvette move to join 'Kvarosee's fleet. However, a human transport broke from Seoba's orbit and began trailing them. Realizing that the only ones foolish enough to chase after his flagship in such a poorly armed craft would be the insurgents that they had come to meet, 'Szatulai had the Sacred Whisper slow down and dock with the vessel. He and two young Jiralhanae Bloodstars boarded the vessel via its airlock. The visit resulted in 'Szatulai "agreeing" to help the Insurrectionists take control of Biko in exchange for more information on the Spartans. After the meeting was over, he took one of the humans with him to facilitate communication with the insurgents in the future and returned to the Sacred Whisper.

After the human defense forces had been eliminated and the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience had begun glassing Biko, 'Szatulai returned to the Pious Rampage to report to Nizat 'Kvarosee. When he learned that the fleetmaster had called up a new logistics flotilla from Zhoist to supplement the one had had recently been decimated at Etalan, 'Szatulai became worried. He revealed to 'Kvarosee that the humans had managed to taken some things from the wreckage of the Worthy Silence, including its kelguid. With this, the humans could potentially discover where the logistics flotilla originated from and attack Zhoist. Realizing this, the fleetmaster directed the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience—including the Bloodstar Flotilla—to Zhoist.

Defense of Zhoist

Main article: Attack on Zhoist

After realizing that the humans were going to target Zhoist, the remaining ships of the flotilla joined the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience in defending the planet. However, 'Szatulai and his forces, aside from Castor and Orsun, were killed by Blue Team. The Sacred Whisper was destroyed along with the Ring of Mighty Abundance which it was docked to at the time, taking with it all of the data that 'Szatulai had gotten from the human Insurrectionists. The fate of the last vessel is unknown.

Composition

Five intrusion corvettes:

• Sacred Whisper (flagship) - First Blade Tel 'Szatulai - Destroyed in the Attack on Zhoist
• Worthy Silence - Destroyed in the Battle of Seoba

List of appearances

• Halo: Silent Storm (First appearance)