UNSC Arunta

The UNSC Arunta (hull number DD-130) was a of the that served during the . Acting as a flotilla leader for a hunter-killer group of UNSC frigates and destroyers, she would serve admirably during the Insurrection. Upon the onset of the Covenant's arrival, the Arunta would be redeployed to convoy defence and picket duties, before being assigned to Cole's Battlegroup X-Ray, and later Battlegroup India. Taking part in Operation: FLY SWATTER, the Arunta would then desperately spend the later days of the war fighting losing battles against Covenant forces, before making her final stand at the Battle of Valoria in 2547.
==Operational History==
=== Insurrection Service, 2514 - 2524===
Ordered in 2514 as part of the first flight of Halberd-class destroyers, the UNSC Arunta was named in direct reference to the Australian Tribal-class destroyer that served in the Second World War. The Arunta would be first laid down at SinoViet Heavy Machinery's yards around the planet Concord, along with three other Halberds, all named after other Commonwealth Second World War destroyers (Nestor, Inglefield and Haida). Spending the next two years in the slipways, she would be launched to much fanfare along with her slipway sister ships in January 2516, before fitting out for another seven months. She would be commissioned on the 19th of August 2516.
The Arunta, along with the Nestor, would be dispatched to Reach to join the Epsilon Eridani Fleet, and undergo trials for another two months with the fleet before being reassigned. She, along with the Nestor, seven Charon-class frigates and five Gladius-class corvettes would form the nucleus of Task Force 112, under the command of Captain Richard J. Brawne. Task Force 112 would be deployed to the Outer Colonies to act as a quick-reaction force, ambushing Insurrectionist privateers and protecting UNSC convoys in the midst of the chaotic warzones that made up most of humanity's remotest worlds.
The Arunta would act as the flagship for the squadron, which proved very adept at its hunter-killer role, thanks to the adaptability and flexibility of the ships in the task force, and Commodore Brawne's unconventional tactics. In 2517, the task force would anchor themselves to asteroids in the rings of the planet Geronimo III to ambush an Insurrectionist flotilla on its way to reinforce rebel forces at Eridanus II, wiping out the squadron for no losses. The Arunta would lead this task force for five years, until in 2521 the flotilla was disbanded and the forces redeployed to the Epsilon Eridani Fleet, with Captain Evans given a promotion to Commodore and the Arunta assigned to the UNSC's prestigious 1st Destroyer Squadron.
The next three years of service life were quiet for the Arunta, operating as a wing commander within 1st DESRON in basic patrols and training exercises around Reach and Tantalus. In 2524, as one of the older Halberd-class, she was sent into refit in October and didn't return to service until June of the next year. She would immediately be deployed to the Outer Colonies, in a formation identical in doctrine to Task Force 112. Led by the UNSC Dresden, a Marathon-class cruiser, the 35th Offensive Squadron would conduct patrols in the Outer Colonies over the next six months. They would not be told what prompted the large show of force until January 2526, when the discovery of the Covenant was announced, along with the destruction of Harvest, Second Base, Green Hills and other colonies.
===Outer Colonies Defence, 2525 - 2535===
The 35th Offensive Squadron would be around Biko in March 2526 with the majority of Admiral Preston Cole's Battlegroup X-Ray, helping to police a local rebellion, when a small Covenant flotilla jumped in-system. Racing to intercept, they were surprised when the small group of corvettes chose to focus on the moon of Seoba. As they moved to engage, they were told to return to Biko by Commander Hector Nyeto of ONI's Prowler Corps, otherwise they would be interfering with an ONI Section III operation. Obliging the request, the 35th Offensive Flotilla would withdraw back to the planet, until they realised another Covenant fleet had exited slipspace, one much larger than the corvettes that had been either destroyed or forced to withdraw over Seoba. 
Putting up a valiant defence, the 35th Offensive Squadron would suffer heavy casualties, however gave enough time for thousands of civilians to escape the eventual glassing. The Arunta would survive the engagement, having notched her first Covenant kill by destroying a SDV-class heavy corvette with several MAC salvoes and the use of all her Archer pods. She would flee the system with 600 refugees aboard, including several orphans who would enlist in the SPARTAN-III Program.
From Biko, the Arunta would travel via an intermediary system to Cygnus II, depositing the refugees and entering drydock to conduct brief repairs on the hull, which had taken damage from a plasma torpedo. She would leave the repair yards in late November, before being dispatched to the 333rd Destroyer Squadron, under the command of Captain Danforth Whitcomb. 
Whitcomb's forces would act as a hunter-killer group in much the same vein as those operated during the Insurrection. Instead of targeting concentrations of enemy combat flotillas, however, the Arunta and her stable-mates in the 333rd would spend their time chasing and successfully ambushing convoys of Covenant support ships across the Outer Colonies, often-times escorted by a miniscule force of corvettes. 
Whitcomb's actions in these campaigns would see him promoted to Commodore, whilst the 333rd would participate in seven separate ambushes over the course of 2527-2531, often trailing Covenant supply ships for weeks if not months before striking. The tendency for Covenant convoys to halt in-system for several days before continuing on with their missions (an effect of utilising worn support vessels that had seen hundreds of years of continuous service) would aid UNSC hunter-killer groups severely in their operations, strangling Covenant supply operations in their crib in the early stages of the Ingress Charlie campaign and Covenant offensive buildup periods. 
The Arunta would be awarded seven total kills in the 333rd's period of operations in this format, including a vaunted CPV-class heavy destroyer, destroyed by the Arunta's clever usage of an asteroid belt to tank plasma torpedoes in the Rapshorun System. For this action she would earn a UNSC Unit Citation, presented to the crew and Commander Richard Aitkens upon their return to Reach in June 2531. Whilst in refit after the rough campaigning of what was now commonly being referred to as "Whitcomb's Wild Ride", the Arunta would receive the addition of a non-regulations paint-job - two Australian "woomera" spear-throwers would be painted on either side of the forward armour plating, along with the jagged "shark-teeth" pattern common on Second World War fighter planes. Over the latter course of the Arunta's career, dockyard commanders would order the markings removed, only to be rebuffed or outright ignored. 
===Battlegroup Juliet, 2535 - 2540===
Transferring to Battlegroup X-Ray in 2535 at the specific request of Captain Whitcomb, who had been promoted to Rear Admiral Lower Half and given command of X-Ray's destroyer forces, the Arunta alongside Whitcomb in several actions throughout the latter half of the 2530s, even after Whitcomb and the Arunta were detached from Battlegroup X-Ray in April 2536, as Whitcomb was given command of Battlegroup Juliet. Juliet, a composite force of several of the UNSC's heaviest capital ship assets, would be used "like a sledgehammer to perspex" as Whitcomb put it. Arunta, flagship of Juliet's 198th Destroyer Squadron, would be refitted to include more advanced command equipment and an expanded bridge to accommodate the squadron's command staff, resulting in the addition to the ship's complement of a single SKT-13 Bumblebee shuttle for the squadron commander's use. 
The Arunta's first action with Battlegroup Juliet would be the Battle of New Harmony. The 198th Destroyer Squadron would be used extensively in the fighting, engaging in hit-and-run tactics against the heavier Covenant warships. These continuous skirmishes would reduce the shields of several capital ships to a bare minimum, allowing the heavier assets of Battlegroup Juliet (including the battleship UNSC Arizona) to destroy a dozen Covenant vessels with ease. 
==Awards & Battle Honours==
===Awards===
*Meritorious Service Conduct Medal (Awarded 2521)
*RAN Association Warship Award (Awarded 2526)
*UNSC Unit Citation (Awarded 2530)
===Battle Honours===
*Geronimo III (2516)
*Engrad (2517)
*New Helixa (2519)
*Biko (2526)
*Perseus (2527)
*New Surigao (2527)
*Ol-Ph'antun (2528)
*Epsilon Tauri (2528)
*Quaraa (2529)
*Rapshorun (2530)
*Dange-Nir (2530)
===Campaign Ribbons===
*TREBUCHET (2513-2515)
*The Insurrection (2491-2525)
*Perseus Sustained Raiding Campaign (2527-2531)
==Notes==