UNSC Twenty-First Fleet

The Twenty-First Fleet is an active UNSC Navy Fleet that saw action against the Covenant during the Human-Covenant War and the subsequent Post-Covenant War Conflicts. The fleet was formed in 2526 as an ad-hoc force formed around a force of United Nations Space Command naval vessels as well as ships from the Colonial Military Administration Navy. Formed as an Expeditionary Fleet, the Twenty-First was initially sent out to counter-attack a Covenant offensive in the Deltus Ghari System led by the Fleet of Unyielding Faith. Following that, the Twenty-First Fleet primarily fell under FLEETCOM Sector 16 until 2538 where it sustained heavy casualties during the Battle of Florus which saw the destruction of the fleet’s capital ship, the UNSC Midnight Justice, as well as the destruction of FLEETCOM Sector 16. After this, the fleet was transferred to FLEETCOM Sector 5 where it would remain for the rest of the war apart from a small period in 2552 where it, along with the rest of the UNSC Navy, was recalled to Earth to form part of the UNSC Home Fleet whereupon it was designated Battle Group Felldrake.
After the Human-Covenant War, the Twenty-First Fleet was tasked with leading part of the UNSC counter-offensive that took place after the end of the Battle of Earth under the command of FLEETCOM Sector 3 where it came into conflict with Bavo 'Lasum’s Covenant Remnants during Operation: BLACK PHOENIX, multiple secessionist planetary governments and the mutinous 43rd Fleet. As of August 23rd 2558, the Twenty-First Fleet is currently deployed to Eurota V combatting both forces from Bavo ‘Lasum’s Covenant Remnants as well as the secessionist Eurota V government which has aligned itself with the New Colonial Alliance. 
=History=
==Origins==
The Twenty-First Fleet was created in response to the Covenant advance across the Outer Colonies. Formed as an Expeditionary Fleet, the core of the fleet was built around Battle Group Yankee-Zulu from the Tenth Fleet with reinforcements from the CMA’s 3rd Fleet. This force reached initial complications when the commander of the CMA’s component, Rear Admiral Clifton Montague, had major disagreements with Vice Admiral Mohammad Basur over the command structure due to the lack of clear instructions over the mandate of Basur's command over CMA forces. This argument over the command structure led to a delay in the deployment of the fleet and serious vocal disagreements between both Admirals. This was only resolved after clear orders given from FLEETCOM HQ resolved the dispute and firmly put the CMA directly under the command of Basur. On June 15th the fleet’s new flagship, the Epoch-class Heavy Carrier UNSC ‘’Midnight Justice’’, arrived to serve as the fleet’s flagship whilst the last of the UNSC and CMA troops were loaded into the fleet after extensive pre-deployment training between the two forces to improve interoperability amongst the force. The original ground component of the Twenty-First Fleet was nicknamed Task Force Rose and was primarily formed from 4th Battalion, 33rd Marines, the 46th Colonial Marine Battalion and elements of 2nd Battalion, 174th Infantry Regiment along with supporting elements from the Army, Marines and the Colonial Military Administration. This ground component came under the overall command of Marine Colonel Nehru Barha. 
The fleet was originally headquartered at Ophelia Station for the first few months, before the arrival of UNSC Midnight Justice, whereupon it was moved to the Epoch-class Carrier for the rest of the Human Covenant War. The Twenty-First fleet left Ophelia Station on July 1st, 2526 to link up with the remnants of Battle Group Papa Delta, a pair of Paris-class Frigates (UNSC Black Dragon and Forthright) and a Halberd-class Destroyer (UNSC Dace) over Vekhert V. Upon linking up with the remnants of Battle Group Papa Delta, the Twenty-First Fleet moved to rendezvous with the Ninth Fleet. Along the way, damage sustained by UNSC Black Dragon caused their Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine to malfunction, rendering the frigate useless and requiring the Hillsborough-class Light Destroyer UNSC Antrim to remain behind to watch over repairs whilst the rest of the fleet moved on to link up with the Ninth Fleet. The pair remained around Vekhert V for 5 days until a Covenant task force comprising 7 Corvettes led by 2 CAR-class Frigates arrived all over the world. With the support of local CMA ships, the pair of escorts took on the small Covenant fleet. UNSC Black Dragon was able to destroy 1 Corvette with its Light MAC, UNSC Antrim was also able to take out a further Corvette as well as heavily damaging a CAR-class Frigate whilst the Berlin-class light frigate CMA Yangzu destroyed another with support from CMA Golden Head and Popya before all ships were destroyed by the Covenant.
The planet would be retaken by UNSC forces during Operation: FROZEN GHOST in 2543 and the wreckages of the vessels recovered by the Marathon-class heavy cruiser UNSC Into The Breach upon which the vessel’s black box was recovered. As a result of the information gathered from the salvaging of the vessels present over the planet, both Commander Miya Shitaki and Lieutenant Commander Frances Vashitya of the UNSC Antrim and Black Dragon respectively were awarded the Silver Star for their heroic last stands against the Covenant
==Operation: SILENT THUNDER==
The Twenty-First Fleet arrived along with the Ninth Fleet over Furiawa III on July 3rd, 2526 to launch a counter-offensive to dislodge the Covenant fleet over the planet. The fleet, under the command of Vice Admiral Basur, deployed his force into 4 Battle groups with the escorts under the command of Captain Willy Bretner in Battle Group Sword, the light cruisers under Rear Admiral Clifton Montague in Battle Group Zeta, the battleships and heavy cruisers directly under Vice Admiral Basur in Battle Group Maul and the carriers under Rear Admiral Soong Chae-In in Battle Group Shield. Adopting a line formation with Battle Group Sword advancing at the head of the fleet, the Twenty-First Fleet surprised the large Covenant force comprising 21 vessels led by a DDS-class light carrier with 3 CPV-class heavy destroyers. The Paris-class heavy frigate UNSC Tyler H. Shikaru, the lead vessel of the formation, was hit on its stern by a plasma beam emitter which caused the destroyer to rapidly break up under the pressure of the beam. None of the 372 crew and embarked marines survived the destruction of the frigate.
Losses quickly started to mount up amongst the Battle Group as Vice Admiral Basur, who did not have previous experience fighting the Covenant, rapidly realized the scope of the threat as he ordered his vessels to cancel the planned deployment of marines to the surface and instead get the embarked troops to prepare defences for possible boarders. Shikaru was quickly followed by the loss of the destroyer CMA Hypervein. Embarked fighters from UNSC Midnight Justice as well as the carrier UNSC Broadsword quickly began launching a counterattack on the enemy carrier. The Longswords from 16th, 27th and 195th Naval Air Squadrons quickly became engaged by intercepting Seraphs whilst a pair of squadrons from UNSC Morning Star initiated attack runs on the DDS-class. Though the bombs failed to do any external damage, they quickly began to deplete the carriers' shields which allowed a salvo of Shiva nuclear missiles from CMA Great White to destroy the carrier. 
Having read the intelligence briefings compiled after the Battle of Chi Ceti IV, Vice Admiral Basur ordered Battle Group Maul to focus on the nearest CPV-class destroyer whilst ordering the escorts and light cruisers to accelerate forward and engage the enemy in close quarters whilst the rest of the fleet adopted a more conservative speed. Their concentrated fire was quickly responded to with devastating enemy plasma fire as the enemy destroyers and frigates quickly began to disintegrate the UNSC forces. The Ninth Fleet saw the loss of their capital ship, UNSC Iron Drake, along with 13 Frigates and 6 Destroyers. The Twenty-First saw similar casualties as the destroyers UNSC Xiaoling Yin, Nebula Sentinel and Astral Triumph as well as the CMA Radiant Vanguard were all destroyed by the enemy along with 3 of the fleet's frigates. The fleet's advance remained constant as Battle Group Sword and Zeta came into close range with the enemy fleet whilst Battle Group Maul and Shield provided cover from afar. The Twenty-First's light cruisers and destroyers, with support from the CMA Navy's Furiawa III Squadron, began to engage in close-range gun battles with the enemy's frigates and corvettes which saw the destruction of most of the enemy escorts in exchange for almost the entirety of the Furiawa III Defense Squadron. Thanks to the concentrated fire from Battle Group Maul, led to the weakening of the shields on the nearest enemy destroyer allowing it to be destroyed by the Paris-class heavy frigate UNSC Orbital Guardian who launched a pair of Shiva missiles at the destroyer which caused it to explode under the power of the nuclear detonation. 
This destruction was quickly followed by the destruction of the second heavy destroyer which was taken out by fire from the Ninth Fleet's UNSC Blue Moon which destroyed the vessel with its heavy MACs. The final heavy destroyer quickly became engaged in a close-range duel with the frigates UNSC Yellow Thunder and destroyers Ferrus Fox and Deadeye, managing to destroy the Deadeye and Yellow Thunder with its plasma torpedoes as well as crippling the Marathon-class heavy cruiser Iron Poseidon with a long distance plasma beam shot. However, the ship was destroyed by concentrated MAC fire from Battle Group Maul, supported by Battle Group Shield and remnants of the Ninth Fleet. The destruction of the 3 heavy destroyers and carrier was quickly followed by the remaining enemy frigates and corvettes which allowed for the deployment of Task Force Rose to land planetside to support UNSC, CMA and Colonial Militia forces on the ground. The Twenty-First Fleet saw the loss of 5 frigates, 3 destroyers and a light cruiser during Operation: SILENT THUNDER including the death of Rear Admiral Clifton Montague who was killed onboard CMA Radiant Vanguard. Whilst the Twenty-First Fleet made it out of the battle with almost a third of their vessels destroyed, the Ninth Fleet was nearly destroyed in the engagement with 1 battleship, 2 light carriers, 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers and 17 frigates destroyed in the engagement with only 4 frigates, 3 destroyers and the Dingyuan-class battlecruiser UNSC Macau remaining. The remnants of this force were quickly integrated into the Twenty-First Fleet.
Task Force Rose made landfall near the city of Valaocon, this initial landing site was set up by D Company, 44th Shock Troops Battalion who dropped from the UNSC Hand of Ulster and fought off a small party of hiding Insurrectionists who had been using the area as a hiding spot from the local UNSC and CMA forces who were otherwise engaged with the Covenant by the frontlines. D Company was quickly reinforced by 4/33 Marines who were airlifted from D82 Darters from the 63rd Airlift Squadron who established a forward operating base near the city with help from the local 157th Colonial Infantry Regiment. 4/33 Marines came into contact with the Covenant on July 5th, 2 days after they landed, as A Company's forward pickets spotted Covenant troops that were advancing on the city. This small skirmish between the forward elements of A Company and the Covenant quickly escalated as the forward pickets fell back to the entrenched positions of A Company who were quickly involved in the fight. They were rapidly joined by B and C Company as well as D Troop, 3rd Squadron, 155th Armored Cavalry Regiment who quickly engaged the Covenant armour in support of the Marines. A Company sustained heavy casualties as Covenant forces made constant assaults on their entrenched positions including the company commander, Captain Nasreen binti Noori, who was eviscerated when she was killed by an enemy plasma mortar along with her radio operator and her company gunnery sergeant. Task Force Rose remained in heavy contact with the enemy for 4 hours and there remained sporadic gunfire until evening set in.
After ascertaining the direction of advance that the Covenant was taking, Task Force Rose's Commander Colonel Nehru Barha, decided to make a surprise attack on the enemy whilst they were still recovering from the previous night's fighting. C, D and Weapons Company from 4/33 Marines along with D Troop and the 46th Colonial Marine Battalion launched a lightning counter-offensive using vehicles from the 147th Infantry Regiment which hadn't fully been transported to the surface. The surprise offensive caught the Covenant flat-footed as they had not been expecting a UNSC counterattack after such brutal fighting the previous day, Colonel Barha's attack quickly swept through multiple Covenant War Hosts and caused heavy enemy casualties including the destruction of 34 armoured vehicles. The rapid counter-attack put Valaocon at risk from enemy attack and helped put pressure off of the 22nd Colonial Infantry Brigade which was involved in heavy fighting towards the west of Task Force Rose. Colonel Barha's well-executed attack would earn him the Navy and Marine Corps Medal as well as a promotion to Brigadier.
After this event, Task Force Rose would remain on the world for only a short period as the Covenant ground forces suffered from a lack of supplies after the loss of their orbiting fleet. After 3 weeks of deployment on the surface, the Covenant force had largely dwindled to a few hundred. Their small numbers were compounded by a lack of coordination as a transorbital support interdiction from D Company, 18th Shock Troops Battalion hit the last Covenant HQ. The ODSTs conducted a breakneck assault from their SOEIVs with support from Longswords of 27th Naval Air Squadron. The shock and surprise of the ODSTs caught the Covenant flat-footed as the Covenant forces, including the commander of all Covenant forces on Furiawa III, were killed with their headquarters destroyed. After the destruction of the Covenant headquarters and the major destabilization of the Covenant command structure, Task Force Rose pulled out of Furiawa III as the remnants of the Covenant invasion force were mopped up by the troops from the Colonial Militia and the Colonial Military Administration. Task Force Rose suffered 76 killed and 238 wounded with a further 3 missing in action, Task Force Rose partially made up for this number by absorbing the remnants of the B Company, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment which had been advising the local Colonial Militia and had suffered heavy casualties during the initial battles for the planet.
==Julianus V Campaign==
After significant refit and repair as well as the arrival of major reinforcements for the Fleet at Reach after their stunning victory against the Covenant during Operation: SILENT THUNDER, the Twenty-First Fleet was deployed to Julianus V. The Outer Colony world had recently revolted against the weakened UNSC after the withdrawal of the local UNSC Army Brigade, this revolt had largely toppled the local government and installed a local insurrectionist stronghold around the planet. The Twenty-First Fleet was the first major force to respond, arriving over the world on October 12th 2526. The initial force consisted of the escorts UNSC Orbital Guardian, Blue Moon, Red Tide, Drake's Knife and Forward Into Death led by the Marathon-class heavy cruiser UNSC Dauntless Sword who arrived on the earth a few hours before the main force to conduct reconnaissance and dispatch of the local insurrectionist naval forces. The force, labelled Battle Group Fox, met contact with a pair of captured Charon-class frigates Ghost Night and Sang Chun-Ji. Ghost Night was quickly destroyed by the Dauntless Sword which destroyed the small frigate with a single shot from its MAC which scythed through the ship's prow and split the escort into two. Sang Chun-Ji was quickly crippled by the combined fire from Drake's Knife, Red Tide and Blue Moon before being boarded by Marines from the 46th Colonial Marine Battalion embarked on the UNSC Dauntless Sword, a quick firefight erupted on the vessel as the Colonial Marines seized the vessel from the insurrectionists. The insurrectionists suffered full casualties with over 104 being taken prisoner whilst the rest of the 341 crew was either killed by the Marines or during the engagement with Battle Group Fox. The 46th only suffered 6 killed with a further 18 being wounded.
After the destruction of the Ghost Night and the capture of the Sang Chun-Li, the remainder of the small insurrectionist force retreated to the other side of the planet. This force of 4 frigates and over 43 patrol craft and other small warships coalesced around a previously abandoned CMA Orbital Base which had been termed "The Festung" by the local insurrectionists. This large force was far too powerful for Battle Group Fox to engage as they awaited for the rest of the Twenty-First Fleet to arrive. 
The Twenty-First Fleet arrived 7 hours after Battle Group Fox's arrival. Immediately, Vice Admiral Basur went on the offensive, ordering Rear Admiral Phillipe Montaine to take command of the Battlecruiser and lead a Battle Group with the Halcyon-class light cruisers UNSC Ebon Order and Martyr as well as the escorts UNSC Red Moon, Drake's Knife, Triton's Blade, Lightman, Hadrian's Spear and CMA Great White in a pincer manoeuvre moving opposite of the planet's rotational spin. Montaine's force, named Battle Group Scorpion, was meant to chase the enemy towards the main part of the fleet where the numbers advantage in escorts and cruisers could be used to overwhelm the small force. Even if this failed, Battle Group Scorpion had sufficient firepower to handle the rest of the insurrectionist force by themselves. Montaine led his force around the planet with the escorts UNSC Lightman and Hadrian's Spear at the head of an arrowhead formation. Around 23:12 Military Time, they made contact with the enemy. The initial MAC shots from UNSC Hadrian's Spear missed one of the captured Stalwarts, the Harper's Port, but a shot from UNSC Ebon Order sliced through the captured Hillsborough Under The Sun and hit a Minotaur-class patrol vessel that was manoeuvring behind it. As the two fleets closed in on each other, the larger guns of the Dingyuan-class battlecruiser UNSC Macau, Shenzhen' and Shanghai could be brought to bear on the small fleet. Macau savaged a pair of frigates with its Breakwater and Spitfire Batteries that tore through the small escorts easily. This was followed by Shenzhen which devastated multiple patrol craft with its naval cannons and crippled the last frigate, a captured Paris class known as the Sunset Triumph. The destruction of the last frigates forced the rest of the Insurrectionist fleet to retreat to The Festung. Montaine, confident in the easy destruction of the enemy's frigates, was quickly surprised to find The Festung opening up at his fleet with a trio of Spitfire batteries which were hidden by large titanium doors. The Spitfires quickly shredded through the UNSC Hadrian's Spear which came under withering fire from The Festung. Hadrian's Spear broke up under heavy fire which prompted a massive retaliation from the rest of Battle Group Scorpion. The Spitfire Batteries were forced to button up with the massive titanium doors being shut to protect them from the guns of the UNSC's vessels. This could do little against the 11B3A2 MAC Batteries of the Dingyuans which easily punched through the titanium doors and destroyed the Spitfire Batteries. 
The destruction of the Spitfire Batteries prompted a total withdrawal of the rest of the insurrectionist fleet, the corvettes capable of FTL travel made slipspace jumps to escape whilst the remaining vessels either made suicidal last-ditch attacks against Battle Group Scorpion, leading to their easy destruction, or surrendered immediately. The Festung remained defiant, prompting Montaine to launch a boarding force to secure the large orbital station from the enemy. The boarding force, led by troops from 4/33 Marines, deployed after the Martyr connected with one of the station's airlocks to use as an entry point for the Marines to clear out the station. Thanks largely to the damage caused by the Battle Group, most of the station was not sealed. The Marines in their vacuum suits quickly cleared out the resistance in the station, The majority of the Insurrectionists who had taken refuge in the station had died from exposure to space during the battle, however, the Marines killed a further 43 and captured 13 during their clearing of the station.
Following the capture of The Festung, the Twenty-First Fleet made landfall on October 13th with an initial seizure of the Al-Magrabi Spaceport located near San Dalgarno, one of the planet's largest cities. This seizure of the spaceport was carried out by Yellow Team led by Cheol-108, the Spartan-II Team conducted a transorbital support interdiction directly on the suspected insurrectionist headquarters building to draw out a heavy insurrectionist response against the Marines. From there, Yellow Team began carrying out a violent assault on the insurrectionists in the headquarters. This initial Spartan assault killed 32 insurrectionists and wounded a further 21 as the distracted majority of the insurrectionists in the spaceport rapidly began moving to contain the threat posed by the Spartans. This distraction allowed for a virtually unopposed assault launched by the 44th Shock Troops Battalion who dropped on the other side of the spaceport, this mixed assault came as a shock to the insurrectionists who were unable to move quickly enough to organize a counter-attack against the newly arrived ODSTs. This sudden appearance of reinforcements prompted a full withdrawal of all the insurrectionist forces stationed at the Al-Magrabi Spaceport which permitted the Twenty-First Fleet to deploy Task Force Rose in force using the spaceport as a staging area. Shortly after the initial deployment of Task Force Rose, B Company, 2/147 Infantry fought off an attack made by the remnants of the insurrectionists who were guarding the spaceport. Though in force, with approximately 200 insurrectionists taking part in the attack, the attack was disorganized and the poorly trained insurrectionists were quickly dispatched by B Company with support from the 46th Colonial Marine Battalion who provided mortar support and heavy machine gun teams from its weapons company.
Task Force Rose initially concentrated on creating a tight defensive perimeter around the spaceport as troops from the 3rd Engineer Battalion began work to bring the spaceport, which had been in serious disrepair when the insurrectionists initially seized it, to full operation. Until then, the Twenty-First Fleet began to ferry heavy cargo and provisions to the ground troops over the next 3 days including deploying Naval Construction Battalion 1817 who worked on constructing the Al-Maghrabi Spaceport into a full military base for future operations. Vice Admiral Basur, upon consultation with Barha, planned for a long-term military campaign to dislodge the numerically superior insurrectionists as well as the local army which had built up since overthrowing the old colonial administration. Preparations for the first major offensive, to be conducted on the 27th, by a mixed force consisting mostly of the UNSC Army units in Task Force Force, was disrupted on the 26th when one of the major supply depots, nicknamed "The Pot" was destroyed by commandos of the 12th Commando Company, a defected Colonial Marine special forces unit. The explosion killed 43 marines and 19 soldiers whilst the 12th Commando Company slipped away undetected, only engaging with pickets from C Company, 46th Colonial Marine Battalion during their exfiltration from the area.
The destruction of "The Pot" prompted increased security and the deployment of shipboard MPs to the surface to act as guards, replacing the Seabees who had originally been providing security along with constructing parts of the new base. The destruction of the "Pot" destroyed the majority of the ammunition, fuel and food supplies which had been allocated for Task Force Rose's offensive that was meant to occur the next day. This delay would later have severe implications for the campaign as local army troops reinforced existing insurrectionist forces before the UNSC was able to gain the initiative with their offensive. On 29th October, Barha ordered the 44th Shock Troops Battalion's recon platoon to conduct a recon patrol into the Yantani Forest which it believed was the staging area for a major insurrectionist attack to take place on November 3rd. Callsign "Roma", the platoon conducted a deep reconnaissance into the forest in search of the reported insurrectionist presence, codenamed "Operation: DEEP STRIKE". Roma eventually located a major build-up in the forest but was located by the insurrectionists which led to the platoon quickly being pinned down around the forest as they desperately tried to escape from the insurrectionist forces. Captain Tord Holum, commanding UNSC Hand of Ulster organized his Longsword Squadrons to deploy in close support of Roma as well as to conduct a mass bombing raid over the staging area. They were joined by Marine Attack Squadron 428 who deployed its D-77TC Pelicans to act as gunships in support of Roma due to the lack of an area to establish a landing zone making aerial extraction impossible. Despite this fearsome display of aerial dominance over the insurrectionists, Roma suffered 7 casualties including Master Gunnery Sergeant Olivier Delgado who conducted a fearsome rearguard action against a pursuing enemy platoon for which he would later be awarded the Colonial Medal of Honor. Eventually, Roma was extracted by Marines from A Company, 4/33 Marines who picked up the remnants of the platoons with their Warthogs. Operation: DEEP STRIKE destroyed much of the staging area used by the insurrectionists, an estimated 1600 insurrectionists were killed by airpower alone with an estimated 30 tanks to be amongst the wrecks. This virtually eliminated the insurrectionist threat from the Yatani Forest and paved the way for Task Force Rose to make its attack on San Dalgorno. 
Task Force Rose launched its offensive on San Dalgorno 2 days after Operation: DEEP STRIKE had ended, defended by a substantial insurrectionist force along with a division from the local army. Though the UNSC force was much smaller than the defending forces, a disagreement between the insurrectionists and local authorities led to the army garrison commander negotiating with the UNSC to take the city in exchange for retaining power over the city. These negotiations, overseen by Lieutenant Commander Alisha Gabu of ONI Section One, led to a tenuous agreement between the 2 forces which culminated in Yellow Team and D Company, 44th Shock Troops Battalion being infiltrated into the city at 12:30 AM with help from the local garrison to take out the insurrectionist strongholds in the city. Yellow Team burst into the insurrectionist command centre and eliminated all 46 insurrectionist occupants, which included the insurrectionist commander, whilst D Company stormed insurrectionist barracks and living spaces where they killed most of the 742 insurrectionists who were sleeping or resting whilst taking the others as prisoners. The 2 raids were completed by 4:50 AM as elements of 4th Battalion, 33rd Marines entered into the eastern quarter as the local army garrison began to disarm their former insurrectionist allies. Though many of the insurrectionists surrendered, a force of 600 insurrectionists from the northern quarter resisted and engaged local army elements who were trying to disarm them. This force was pushed back by elements of 2nd Battalion, 147th Infantry into the High Justice Court House where they were put under siege by Task Force Rose and the local army for 6 days until heavy artillery from Battery H, 6th Battalion, 194th Marine Regiment was brought up to blast the High Justice Court House at short range, allowing for the 46th Colonial Marine Battalion to storm the building and flush out the insurrectionists.
Following the seizure of San Dalgorno, Task Force Rose was heavily reinforced by troops from the UNSC Army's 53rd Infantry Division who arrived in theatre 3 days after the seizure of San Dalgorno.
Increased UNSC ground presence allowed for further counter-insurgency operations to be conducted by Task Force Rose who became attached to the 53rd Infantry Division. Task Force Rose acted as the 53rd Infantry Division's forward element, based around FOB Halim around 10 miles from San Dalgorno on the Al-Ittiya Highway. From there, Task Force Rose spent 9 months conducting raids on insurrectionist forces in the area whilst awaiting further reinforcements. During this period, Task Force Rose conducted 266 raids, killing 482 insurrectionists and destroying over 1,000 weapons and 2 million rounds of ammunition. During these operations, named Operation: FREEFALL, Task Force sustained 36 killed in action and 200 wounded in action.
On July 22nd, the 53rd Infantry Division was reinforced by elements of 19th Corps including the 197th Armored Division and the 195th Shock Troops Battalion which led to the creation of Joint Expeditionary Command 77 under Lieutenant General Ogabo Harika. Task Force Rose, under the direct command of JEC 77, operated as the Command's forward screening force during Operation: NIGHT LINK. During Operation: NIGHT LINK, Task Force Rose was tasked with intercepting and delaying the local army's 3rd Division whilst the 197th Armored Division entered Khalid-Dal, the planet's last major city and the main hub of enemy resistance. Task Force Rose first engaged forward elements of the enemy's 3rd Division at 22:18 on July 22nd when Company Team Alpha under Major Mike Lurman, composed of elements of 4/33 Marines and 155th Armored Cavalry, engaged enemy recon elements about 20 kilometres west from the 197th's main column. Eventually, this would escalate as Company Team Alpha was quickly reinforced by further elements from the rest of 4/33 Marines. As the battle developed, Brigadier Barha began slowly giving ground to the enemy, controlling the rate of the enemy's advance to allow more time for the 197th to reach their objective. However, at 7:01 on July 23rd, a visit to 4/33 Marines Battalion Headquarters coincided with an enemy artillery strike on the position using drone-coordinated artillery. The attack killed Brigadier Barha as well as severely wounded his second-in-command, Colonel Alphonso Del Piero. The decapitation of Task Force Rose's command caused a lack of coordination amongst its elements which led to a breakthrough when elements of the enemy's mechanised infantry punched through a thin screen held by troops from the 147th. The disaster was only averted by a series of desperate airstrikes conducted by aircraft from the Midnight Justice along with the deployment of D/44 Shock Troops who were acting as the Task Force's immediate reserve.
Brigadier Barha was succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel Pallavi Sarala who commanded 4/33 Marines, she oversaw the remainder of Task Force Rose's action during Operation: NIGHT LINK. By 9:27, the 197th Armored Division had entered Khalid-Dal and Task Force Rose pulled out from the area to form a defensive line around the 197th's main supply route whilst the 53rd Infantry Division moved in to destroy the enemy's 3rd Division. Task Force Rose saw no further action during Operation: NIGHT LINK. In total, Task Force took 153 KIA, 227 WIA and 5 MIA during Operation: NIGHT LINK including Brigadier Nehru Barha, Colonel Alphonso Del Piero and Command Sergeant Major Sul Jyung-Min. 
After the success of Operation: NIGHT LINK, JEC 77 was largely disbanded as the UNSC moved from a conventional footing to a counter-insurgency operation. As a result, the Twenty-First Fleet was pulled out of the area to resupply and reinforce their battered units.
==Deltus Ghari Campaign==
==Operation: STEEL VORTEX==
==Battle for Earth==
==Operation: ICE SERENADE==
=Organisation=
=Current Operations=
=Component Units=
==UNSC/CMA Navy==
===2526===
Carriers
*1 Epoch-class heavy carriers
**UNSC Midnight Justice
*1 Orion-class assault carrier
**UNSC Broadsword
Cruisers
*2 Marathon-class heavy cruisers
**UNSC Iron Poseidon, Morningstar
*1 Atlantis-class light cruisers
**CMA Radiant Vanguard
Destroyers
*2 Hillsborough-class light destroyers
**CMA Federation, Hypervein
*5 Halberd-class destroyers
**UNSC Ferrus Fox, Deadeye, Xiaoling Yin, Nebula Sentinel, Astral Triumph
Frigates
*7 Paris-class heavy frigates
**UNSC Orbital Guardian, Red Tide, Spear of Destiny, Tyler H. Shikaru, Yellow Thunderer, Point of Aim, Light of Night 
*4 Berlin-class light frigates
**UNSC Depth of Fire, CMA Great White, Ophelia's Light, Chao De Lin
*Naval Construction Battalion 1817
==UNSC/CMA Marine Corps==
===2526===
*4th Battalion, 33rd Marine Regiment
*46th Colonial Marine Battalion
*Combat Logistics Battalion 134
*A Company, 5th Medical Battalion
*D Company, 44th Shock Troops Battalion
*Recon Platoon, 44th Shock Troops Battalion 	
*Battery H, 3rd Battalion, 194th Marine Regiment
==UNSC Air Force==
===2526===
*63rd Airlift Squadron
==UNSC Army==
===2526===
*B Company, 2nd Battalion, 147th Infantry Regiment
*C Company, 2nd Battalion, 147th Infantry Regiment
*D Troop, 3rd Squadron, 155th Armored Cavalry Regiment
*B Company, 3rd Engineer Battalion
=Battle Groups=
==Battle Group Phi==
==Battle Group Victoria==
==Battle Group Victrix==
==Battle Group Templar==
=Task Forces=
=List of Commanders=
Vice Admiral Basur 
==Human-Covenant War==
==Post-War Conflicts==