Bravo 029 (AAO)

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 it's many years of service.

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.

Liberation of Harvest (February, 2531)
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 seperated 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 seperated 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.

Battle of Earth
"Command structure's FUBAR; if your unit gets rounded up by guys with a higher tier objective than you do, you go where they tell you."

- LTJG Angel Yasunaka

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.

Angela Yasunaka
"That's our motto: out, but never down."

- LTJG 'Angel' Yasunaka

Mikail Gossard
"Whaddya know? I guess this proves there is life after death."

- Ensign Gossard after repairing a downed Bravo 029 in the field.