UNSC Spirit of Fire

''This article describes the warship. For the musical piece, see Spirit of Fire (Song).''

The UNSC Spirit of Fire (Hull classification symbol CFV-88) was a modified UNSC built in 2473. The Spirit of Fire ' s commanding officer was Captain James Gregory Cutter by 2531. The Spirit of Fire ' s shipboard AI was known as Serina.

History
The Spirit of Fire was originally a colony ship, transporting colonists as well as equipment such as hydroponics and schools, in the UNSC's expansion efforts.

Prior to the Battle of Arcadia, the Spirit of Fire had visited the planet Arcadia twice, once to aid in the colonization efforts taking place on the planet, and the second time to aid the local authorities in suppressing a violent student riot.

More than fifty years after being constructed, it was recommissioned and refitted for military service prior to the period of history known as the Human-Covenant war. The last civilian captain of the Spirit of Fire was Captain Alexander, who had retired from active duty in the year 2520, on the 20th of July, after colonizing the world of Verent. Directly after Alexander's retirement, the vessel was requisitioned by the UNSC and scheduled for refit in order to better prepare it for the combat operations in which it would participate.

The ship was refitted with a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon and other armaments to serve as a warship. Huge storage bays that used to house machine parts now carry everything from M12 Warthogs and M808B Scorpions to construction supplies for fire bases involved in front line engagements or in rearguard actions and repair equipment for herself and other ships and crew. In 2530 the Spirit of Fire's thrust assemblies were replaced from the Destroyer UNSC Calcutta, increasing output by 37%.

The Spirit of Fire took part in the Harvest Campaign, providing ground forces with supplies, reinforcements, vehicle support, orbital MAC strikes, air support and more, giving it a major role in the battle.

After the events on Harvest, the Spirit of Fire arrived at the planet Arcadia, where it assisted in the evacuation of civilians, and the eradication of the Covenant from the planet's surface. When Professor Anders was captured by the Arbiter, the Spirit of Fire quickly gave chase, following the Arbiter's flagship to a Flood-controlled planet in an unknown system. This planet eventually turned out to be a Forerunner Shield World, containing a fleet of Forerunner warships. To ensure that the Covenant would not be able to use these warships against humanity, the reactor that powered the Spirit of Fire's Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine was detonated inside the Shield World's artificial sun. The ship managed to escape the exploding Forerunner installation, but without a functioning slipspace drive, the journey home would take many years, if not decades. Most of the crew entered cryonic sleep at this point, with only a skeleton crew remaining active to run the ship.

On February 10, 2534, the Spirit of Fire, previously designated as "missing", was declared "lost with all hands" by the UNSC. The reason for this change was kept top secret. A memorial service was held for the people aboard the vessel, but many of the crew's family members chose not to attend, holding out hope that their loved ones are still alive. Various theories circulated throughout the UNSC as to the ship's actual fate, ranging from being lost during a covert mission for ONI, destroyed in orbit over Arcadia, defecting to Insurrectionist forces, or being stranded in space. When Mary Cutter, wife of Captain James Cutter, was asked about the defection theory, she physically assaulted the reporter.

After the Human-Covenant War the Spirit of Fire was given an honor at the dedication of the Living Monument, with numerous other ships that had been lost in the course of the war.

Support abilities
In Halo Wars, the Spirit of Fire can provide various support abilities for the UNSC, some which are universal for the UNSC and specific leader powers, which are often devastating.

Universal abilities
These abilities are available to a UNSC faction in skirmish and multiplayer, regardless of which leader you have selected. Compared to leader-specific abilities, these ones are quite passive, and are less effective and less costly.

The Heal and Repair ability slowly restores hit points to all units and buildings within a small radius for a short period of time. The ability costs 350 resources to use, and has a rather medium "recharge" time. This ability most likely represents UNSC service drones from Spirit of Fire descending to repair ground and air vehicles, and possibly UNSC medical personnel for the living units.

The Disruption Bomb ability calls in a Shortsword which drops in an unusually large bomb which creates a pulsating, field of blue energy. Within this small energy field leader powers are disabled until the bomb explodes (no collateral damage) after one minute. The target area must be within your line of sight for the bomb to be dropped. The cost for deploying a single disruption bomb is 450 resources.

The Pelican Transport ability calls in a small group of Pelican dropships to quickly transport a group of units to a specific location. Both the pick-up zone and the LZ must be visible within your line of sight for the transport to initiate. It costs only a mere 200 resources, and can be reused several times very rapidly in order to transport large armies, due to a non-existent "recharge" time.

Leader-specific abilities
As their labeling may indicate, these abilities are only available if a certain leader is selected. Compared to universal abilities, these abilities are extremely effective, and anything but passive. Due to a greater cost (each one costs 600 resources), and much longer recharge time these abilities are not used as frequently. Unlike universal abilities, each Leader-Specific ability (save for the ODST Drop) can be upgraded three times at the Field Armory, each upgrade tremendously increasing the effectiveness of the ability.

The ODST Drop ability can be used if Captain Cutter is the selected leader. This ability allows you to drop at least a single ODST squad from orbit onto the battlefield, with nearly pinpoint precision. Like all leader powers, the area in which one plans to drop the ODST's must be within your line of sight. Since this ability is constantly "recharging", a player can send as many as ten ODST squads directly to the battlefield. The pods can ONLY be called if you have the ODST Super Unit upgrade, located in the Barracks, and have at least 3 as a minimum tech level. Also, it costs 1 population count and 100 resources to drop a single squad.

The MAC Blast ability is also exclusive to Captain Cutter. This ability fires a number of up to four MAC rounds with amazing accuracy and power to the surface. At first, you can only fire one MAC round per blast, but technologies can be researched at the Field Armory to increase the capacity of MAC rounds up until four MAC rounds per blast. A single shell delivers heavy damage to units within a rather large radius. Like all leader abilities this ability has a very long "recharge" time.

The Cryo Bomb ability can be called in if Ellen Anders is the selected leader. It freezes units temporarily, causing air units to drop and shatter, and make larger units, such as the Scarab, weaker to attacks. The Cryo Bomb is brought by a Shortsword bomber on request.

The Carpet Bomb ability can be called in if John Forge is the selected leader. It releases a double line of bombs along the axis selected by the player; it is capable of destroying several vehicles or squads if used cleverly. The Carpet Bomb is brought by a Shortsword bomber on request.

Crew roster

 * James Cutter - Captain
 * Serina - Ship's "SMART" AICaptain Cutter and A I Serina.png
 * Andrew Prescott - Chief Engineer
 * Lulu Hershey - Ship's Nurse
 * John Forge- Ship's Sergeant KIA
 * Douglas-042- Spartan on board
 * Jerome-092- Spartan on board
 * Alice-130- Spartan on board
 * Ellen Anders- Lead ONI Professor on board
 * Marine and Naval personnel
 * Blake - Bridge Crew

Captains
The following is a list of individuals who have captained the Spirit of Fire at some point, found painted on the side of the ship.


 * Coleman: 2473-2484
 * Rehkov: 2484-2491
 * Donald: 2491-2499
 * Johnson: 2499-2505
 * Roggan: 2507-2513
 * Alexander: 2513-2520
 * Cutter: 2520-

Trivia

 * Its Ship Emblem reads "Exitus Acta Probat", Latin for "The result justifies the deed" or "The ends justify the means."
 * Early concept art of Halo Wars suggests that a cat lived on board the ship, possibly a pet to Captain Cutter. This is a possible reference to Jonesey, a cat that was lost aboard which is itself a reference to the cat in the movie Alien.
 * Prior to Halo Wars, the crew of held the distinction of being the first UNSC forces to come into contact with the Flood. In fact, the Spirit of Fire encountered them twenty-one years earlier, but was left stranded in space and was presumed lost with all hands, unable to return to UNSC territory to inform the rest of humanity about the threat.
 * Like all UNSC ships, it is not stated how they achieve lift in a planet's gravitational field. In Halo: The Flood, the Pillar of Autumn wasn't designed to enter a planet's atmosphere, due to lack of vertical thrust necessary to keep it in the air. No evidence of lift systems can be seen on Spirit of Fire, or indeed several of the frigates and destroyers seen in some of the Halo games e.g. Forward Unto Dawn.
 * The Spirit of Fire's origin as a colony starter makes its ability to hover in atmosphere logical as it would need to land in order to offload the colonists and their supplies.
 * In addition to the normal UNSC ship armament, the Spirit of Fire also sports "heavy deck guns", a weapons systems not discussed in any of the Halo novels. From appearance, they are heavy duty artillery platforms designed for fleet engagements or destroying approaching dropships and Seraph class fighters, as demonstrated in game. They may, however, be a relic of earlier UNSC technology that is unused by other fleet vessels. In addition, the Spirit of Fire's hull has Base Turret build sites which you can use to repel Covenant forces. These are possibly oversized point-defense guns, which are used to protect UNSC vessels from single-ships such as the Seraph. This is especially likely given the massive size of the Spirit of Fire, which could possibly need more firepower than that provided by standard point defense guns.
 * The UNSC Spirit of Fire was the first known ship to collide with a Covenant Destroyer, the second being the at Sigma Octanus IV when performing the Keyes Loop, The third also during the battle of Sigma Octanus IV, when UNSC Fair Weather rammed into a Covenant Destroyer but it was destroyed when both ships fired all weapons at point blank range.
 * The Spirit of Fire bears some resemblance to the Battlestar Galactica as well as the carrier ships from Starship Troopers.
 * The story of the UNSC Spirit of Fire can be compared to the story of Odysseus from Homer's The Odyssey. In the story, Odysseus and his crew fight at the battle of Troy and are taken to several different locations before their return home. While the Spirit of Fire has not yet returned to human-controlled space, they did fight during the five year long Harvest Campaign (Troy), and subsequently embark on a journey to several other locations, such as Arcadia and the Unknown Flood-Controlled Shield World.

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars
 * Halo Wars: Genesis
 * Dr. Halsey's personal journal