Bravo 029

Bravo 029 was a United Nations Space Command D77-TC (later refitted as a D77H-TCI), that played major roles throughout the early-mid Human Covenant War. Bravo 029 also sported the longest operational history of any other UNSC dropship utilized up until the end of the war. A great many years after the Human-Covenant War, Bravo 029 was transferred to the , where it would remain on display for decades; a final testament to its many years of service.
==Operational History==
===Commissioning===
===Insurrection===
Bravo 029 was originally captained by Lieutenant Emmanuel Galvan, of the United Nations Space Command Navy. For four years, Bravo 029 and its crew would play the minor role of ferrying special operations teams to and from the through Operation: TREBUCHET. After his twelve years of service on the corvette, Lieutenant Galvan retired from the Navy, leaving Ensign Angel Yasunaka to be promoted to Lieutenant, Junior Grade in his stead. Command saw fit to transfer Bravo 029 and its crew to the UNSC Spirit of Fire, which was just being refit for military service at the time.
===Human-Covenant War===
====Liberation of Harvest (February, 2531)====
thumb|left|300px|Bravo 029 early in the Human-Covenant War.
When the Spirit of Fire responded to a call for help from the UNSC Prophecy, Bravo 29 acted in the first wave of relief transports to make for the ship. The dropship functioned as a decoy, drawing off Jackal-piloted Banshee Interceptors to make an opening for to evacuate the surviving crew. They were successful, however the Prophecy's crew had been exposed to too much radiation to survive, and 029's crew would spend several days comforting them before death.
For the ground campaign of the Spirit's forces, Angel flew escort for a pair of Albatrosses to set down pieces of a prefabricated firebase which was designated Alpha Base. Dropping extra reinforcements to a landing pad outside their perimeter, she stayed on-station long enough to evacuate Sergeant and Professor Anders to the Spirit.
====First Battle of Arcadia (February, 2531)====
Immediately following a revision of Anders’ findings, the Spirit of Fire made a slipspace jump to the Procyon system to find Arcadia under siege. Captain Cutter 
skimmed the planet’s atmosphere and allowed Bravo 029 and a number of Hornets to insert reinforcements to Pirth City to aid evacuation. But their job lay in assisting the three damaged ships (UNSC Texas, UNSC Belfast, UNSC Armstrong) to get their crews safely aboard the fourth and least damaged UNSC Pillar of Autumn. Tragedy nearly struck when a compartment of the Belfast suffered explosive decompression, leaving three marines and a Navy technician in danger of asphyxiation. Ramming them backwards against the Belfast's hull, Yasunaka enabled Ensign Gossard and SSgt. Wheatley to seal Bravo 029’s troop bay door around the gap with welding torches. They would later be recognized for heroism and each awarded the for their quick willingness to endanger their lives for their fellow servicemen.
Once separated from Belfast 's hull, Angel received a request from the AI to ferry several expirimental Rhino tanks from the Pillar of Autumn to the surface. With their firepower, a shield dome was taken down and allowed UNSC Marines to take the Covenant controlled zone. However, as Bravo 29 returned for yet another Rhino, the Spirit of Fire broke orbit and gave chase to a Covenant Destroyer.
For months after, Yasunaka wondered what had prompted the Spirit to leave without giving them or the rest of the fleet a heads-up, and what became of them. In the aftermath of the battle, Bravo 29 and her crew were transferred to the Pillar of Autumn and flew as wingman for 's .
====Battle of Reach (August, 2552)====
Though many millions of civilians were still trapped on Reach's surface, UNSC High Command finally gave the order to abandon Winter Contingency to prevent military losses. Unwilling to leave so many behind, GySgt. Pete Stacker disobeyed orders and called for all willing units to assist continued evacuation efforts. This included Bravo 029 and her crew, which led to them being separated from the Autumn and missing an assured death during the Battle of Installation 04. After a Spartan cleared the top of a skyscraper, Yasunaka was one of the dropships to evacuate an ODST SHVA unit known as the Bullfrogs to the cruiser UNSC Eternal Peacekeeper, which gave chase to a Covenant fleet en route to Hope.
====Battle of Hope (September, 2552)====
After exiting slipspace, Bravo 029 departed immediately and sought refuge on Hades with a number of other UNSC forces. Without supplies or fuel, the group did battle with a small Covenant force present until a day later the remaining Navy ships, led by the UNSC Grapes of Wrath, came to their rescue. While preparing to take off, Angel caught a distress call from another unit, and scrambled to respond. With Private Eirikur Quinn as a tail gunner, they engaged a flight of Banshee fighters to clear the way for a pair of Albatross and Pelican dropships, but got into their own trouble. Luckily, 1st Lieutenant Justin DeLucus came to their aide, brushing the enemy aircraft off their tail. They had taken several plasma hits, and had to bug out to the UNSC Beowulf.
After a struggle to get the damaged dropship aboard in one piece, Wheatley had a chance to make repairs while the other crew rested or caught up with old friends. With the flotilla regrouping with Battlegroup Roadtown, Bravo 029 and a number of other dropships from the Wrath and destroyed UNSC Whitewash descended to land troops on a recently captured airstrip. The LZ was cleared in the nick of time by the leader of Baselard Team and a variety of other SPARTANs and ground troops, including Insurrectionists aiding in civilian evacuation led by Li Gorka. Soon after, a call for help came from a Henry Standish claiming to have wounded, and 029 transported an odd band made up of Rear Admiral Nikolai Torkamentov, Matthew-123 and Tron, Eirikur Quinn, and Turok 'Moramee to help, staying on-station to evacuate a wounded Quinn, Torkamentov, Lieutenant Colonel Lorrie Stops, and Henry-231.
For a short time, they hovered around assisting where needed, until actions deep underground set off the Shield World, opening a slipspace rift. Pulling a number of guerrilla forces off the surface, SCPO James Morales took control and piloted the ship back to the Grapes of Wrath, barely escaping the rift's pull, though the ship was heavily strained by the forces and was, once again, in need of repair.
====Battle of the Zenith Complex====
====Battle of Earth====
After a safe return to Earth, the damaged dropship would undergo a major repair and refit to become a D77H-TCI model dropship. This took a large amount of time, but the crew was flying again by the time of the Battle of Earth. SSgt. Wheatley would be separated from the crew, after voluntarily staying in Thebes, Greece to help protect a pair of refugee children who couldn't get aboard any of the packed evacuation ships, Reo Colter and Henri LeFevbre. After the initial attack, the remaining crew was picked up for Operation: TRICERION, a three-front offensive to reclaim and defend several locations the Covenant had invaded. They collected Ion Team, a trio of untested SPARTAN-III Gammas by the names of Kodiak-G114, Dyne-G217, and Sepia-G330, and dropped them off by heavy cargo parachutes over Izu Oshima to protect the entrance to Tokyo Bay.
Over the next week, they supported all three fronts by delivering ammunition to Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of Task Force Oscar fighting their way through Sydney and supplies to the forces regrouped to assault all of Covenant-controlled Greece at Olympus Base. Finally, they returned to Japan and were recruited by Lieutenant Erin Coney to lead a desperate all-dropship raid on a Covenant Supercarrier threatening to glass the city. With Dyne and Sepia piloting a Pelican as their wingmen, they engaged Banshees and survived by staying low over the ship's large gun emplacements. All seemed lost when the ship carrying the FENRIS nuclear weapon and Kodiak was shot down, only for him to reappear with the bomb on the ship's hull, detonating it and destroying the carrier.
Category:Loosing Hope
Category:Gaining Faith