Gladius-class heavy corvette

"We had four corvettes go up against a lone cruiser once, which caught us in a raid near Green Hills. But they clearly chose the wrong fish to catch - we ran rings around them, taking pot shots at every opportunity. And the best part is, they couldn't hit us at all."

- Anonymous Insurrectionist captain.

The Gladius-class heavy corvette (: FS), sometimes misclassified as a fast attack craft, is a line of small, heavily-armed warships used by a number of military factions during and after the. Developed in response to the limited effectiveness of Insurrection-era designs, the Gladius is notable as it possesses an unusually-large MAC, powerful engines and a small crew with no complement. These qualities mean that the corvette, while not engaging in as many roles as more traditional models, is an exceptional combat ship, inflicting a disproportionate level of damage against larger opponents. This sees the Gladius deployed in low-priority escorts, patrols and interdictions. The only flaw of these vessels is their lightly-reinforced frame left them susceptible to more powerful weapons.

Seeing field testing in, a year after knowledge of the Covenant was made public, the Gladius was not an immediately adopted by the. Instead, these corvettes saw early service with planetary defence groups, who needed a more capable defender fight off larger, more threatening pirate raids. In this it excelled, either outright routing them or keeping them tied up until a better-equipped fleet could arrive. This proof of capability would inspire the UNSC to accept it into their fleets, phasing out the older yet still capable with the more useful Gladius. Fighting in dozens of battles, they would provide invaluable preparation for successful operations behind enemy lines, which would see these corvettes being updated after the war to help reestablish humanity's dominion.

Layout
"It's like flying half a ship."

- Anonymous sailor.

Unlike most smaller warships like it's predecessor, the, the Gladius does not appear encased within a large armoured shell; instead, the hull follows a basic, almost skeletal profile around the ship's MAC, reactor and engines. This design is inspired from modern frigates constructed by, although it followed this trend to minimise construction time and materials rather then for modularity purposes. Indeed, unlike those vessels, the armoured prow is not split in half but instead one large block, with the MAC running down the centre of this structure rather than at the top or bottom.

At the very top of the prow is the corvette's small bridge, which is only just wide enough to have the pilot and navigation officer sit side-by-side at the front. The captain sits behind them in a command chair, where they have the best view in front and to their sides. Because the bridge is so small compared to other UNSC vessels, there are only three display screens that are designed to fold up when given the order from the captain's neural interface. Instead, the command chair connects with the captain's neural interface and beams the information directly onto their eyes, allowing the captain to see statistics without a holographic projector. Behind him on the sides are the weapons and the sensors/communications officers, which sit in dedicated stations in the back corner of the bridge. Unlike most UNSC ships, there is no holotable to plan the next course of action - instead, that's housed in the room right behind the bridge, before the main armoury.