CNFS Ned Kelly

The CNFS Ned Kelly (hull number DD-33) is a Redgum-class frigate of the Commonwealth Naval Forces, currently on special assignment to the Bureau of Military Intelligence & Security. Commissioned in 2557, the ship saw combat in the first phase of Operation: MANDATE with the annexation of the world of New Corinth. Fighting against Cortana's forces with the scattered remnants of a multinational naval force, she would serve with distinction until word was received that Cortana's empire had fractured in 2560. She then saw a tour of duty in Phase 2 of MANDATE, fighting rebel and NCA forces in the constant naval and ground battle around New Zanzibar, until she was withdrawn in 2561 to aid in Operation: CRYSTAL BALL. 
__TOC__
== History ==
=== Construction & Early Service, 2556 - 2558 ===
The Ned Kelly was ordered for the CNF as a Redgum-class frigate of the Striker light destroyer subclass. Laid down in April 2556, she was the second Striker to be built, although she would be the third to be commissioned, as her stablemate in the dockyards, the CNFS Barossa, would be completed just three days before her. As a Striker subclass, she had three primary fusion drives rather than the Redgum's two, however she was heavier, carried more coilguns and point defence guns, and her ground support hangar was removed in favour of doubling her amount of Archer pods.
The Ned Kelly would be commissioned on the 9th of October 2557, whereupon she would undergo trials and her maiden voyage, along with the Barossa. From there, they would be assigned to Battlegroup Alpha, which contained the flagship of the Commonwealth, the CNFS Kosciusko. From there, they would begin the Commonwealth's first expansionist action in history: Operation: MANDATE, and the annexation of the world of New Corinth.
New Corinth was a small, independent world that had been bypassed by Covenant forces in their sweeping offensive actions early in the war. As such, they had lost contact with the UNSC and had begun to govern themselves, assuming there to be no more UNSC left. However, once contact had been established between New Corinth and the Commonwealth in early 2558, the citizens were content to join a larger nation-state that offered protection from the Covenant remnant warbands that roamed throughout the ex-Outer Colonies. As such, Battlegroup Alpha would not see any action, instead acting as a protective barrier as CNSW soldiers, bureaucrats and migrants came in. New Corinth was a peaceful expansion of New South Wales' borders that would be echoed in the other three planets annexed in the first phase of Operation: MANDATE.
=== The Created Crisis, 2558-2560 ===
Withdrawn from New Corinth's defensive squadron in early 2558, she would then be deployed with Battlegroup Bravo, operating near the edge of Commonwealth space. In October of the same year, whilst ending a patrol of neutral space near territory of the Theban Commonwealth, the Marathon-class heavy cruiser CNFS Vulture Street would experience engine trouble, and the Ned Kelly would remain behind with the cruiser as it repaired its fusion drives. As the rest of Battlegroup Bravo jumped to slipspace, the two ships were left isolated, and as the cruiser would finish repairs and the two would prepare to jump to Commonwealth space, they learned of the Created Crisis. Alerted to the attacks on hundreds of UNSC and human worlds by Forerunner Guardians, and the beginning of the attack on New South Wales proper, the two ships feared the worst, and conducted several random jumps lest they were ambushed by forces of the Created. 
At the last blind jump, they would accidentally run into forces of the Theban Navy, having fled the Kadanga System. Whilst nominally enemies, the two sides were in no shape to fight, with the Ned Kelly and Vulture Street outnumbered by the Theban force, which in turn were exhausted after the Kadangan campaign. As such, not knowing the fate of either of their capital worlds, the CNF ships would forge an impromptu alliance with the Theban vessels for the time being. Fate would be in luck for the force, as both the Vulture Street and Ned Kelly were carrying the 1st Battalion of the CDF's Z Special Unit, under the command of Colonel Daniel Reinhardt.