Black Flight

Black Flight was a flight of four attached to the Navy's Battlegroup Churchill acting as intelligence assets for naval operations, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Aren Grant who commanded the flight from the UNSC Black Watch.
In 2537, the Black Joke was detached from the flight in order to serve as transport for three Spartan-III teams to the planet designated by the Office of Naval Intelligence as NX-583 as a part of Operation: SILENT HAMMER. The Black Joke would remain in system to provide intelligence to Battlegroup Churchill for the subsequent Battle of NX-583.
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==History==
===Battle of New Harmony===
Earlier in 2537 the Black Watch participated in the Battle of New Harmony in support of Battlegroup Churchill, for which she required repairs to the ships stealth coating and realignment of the Fusions engines baffle plates.
===Operation: SILENT HAMMER===
In August of 2537, the Office of Naval Intelligence authorised Operation: MORBID OMEN, a mission to investigate a planet designated by ONI as NX-583 which had been identified from data captured by Spartan-III Team Grizzly during the Battle of Vision as a part of Operation: SILVER CROWN.
Due to emphasis on stealth it was decided to conduct the operation using one of the prowlers of Black Flight, rather than an element of Battlegroup Churchill. Black Watch being still under repairs, and with the Black Parade and Black Death being unavailable for recall from operations, the Black Joke, then undergoing replenishment, was selected for the operation which required the offloading of its Marine compliment in order to make room for the Twelve Spartan-III's assigned to the mission. Due to expedite the ships departure, the prowler was forced to depart without its compliment of Hornet Naval Mines, a decision that was not questioned due to the risk of Čerenkov radiation to the ships stealth capabilities.
Upon arrival in the vicinity of NX-583 and finding the system devoid of Covenant presence, the Black Joke's Captain, Lieutenant Commander Nikoleta Maier planned to conduct orbital reconnaissance of the planet before deploying the Spartan-III's to the planets surface. However, this plan was curtailed by the arrival of the Covenant's Flotilla of Supplication which forced Maier to deploy the Spartan force before withdrawing to the edge of the system to monitor the Covenant operations and await the following Battlegroup Churchill, which had been dispatched after the departure of the Black Joke.
===Battle of NX-583===
Five days after the Arrival of the Flotilla of Supplication, the 21-ship strong Battlegroup Churchill arrived just outside of the system, alloweing the prowler to resupply itself with Hornet Mines, which Lieutenant Commander Maier proceeded to lay on either side of the Flotilla of Supplication in order to trap the enemy vessels between the planets surface and the approaching UNSC Battlegroup.
However, before this task could be completed the Covenant detected the approach of the UNSC Warships and began to form up for battle, whilst the Mjern-pattern support ship Conveyor of the Faithful which conducted the storage and study of Forerunner artifact's recovered by the flotilla, was ordered to withdraw, managing to escape the planned kill box before the last of the Mines could be laid. Unable to damage the larger vessel, the Black Joke proceeded to follow the Support ship until it left the system in order to both gather information on the vessel and to unsuccessfully attempt to attach a tracker to the enemy ships hull.
==Composition==
Four Eclipse-class prowlers
* UNSC Black Watch (Flagship)
* UNSC Black Parade
* UNSC Black Death
* UNSC Black Joke
==Personnel==
* Commander Aren Grant (Flight Commander)
* Lieutenant Commander Nikoleta Maier (Captain of UNSC Black Joke)
==Trivia==
Each ship in the flight is named after organisations, popular culture and ships beginning with the word 'Black':
*Black Watch is named after the famous British Army Regiment, 'The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)'.
*Black Parade is named after the song 'Welcome To The Black Parade' by My Chemical Romance.
*Black Death is named after the the infamous pandemic between 1346 to 1353, which became the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history.
*Black Joke is named after the famous anti-slavery ship HMS Black Joke which served as a part of the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron.
Category:UNSC Units