CAS-class assault carrier

"Do not misuse my generosity, Shipmaster. An assault carrier is a tool of destruction, capable of beating even fleets of ships unaided. If you abuse it or my trust for anything beyond the mission I've gifted you, you will not only bring shame upon your house or your entire planet, but I will personally decapitate your skull and hang it above the door to it's command centre as a lesson to all who disobey me."

- Minister of Abnegation, on the importance of misusing an assault carrier, to Xytan 'Wattinree.

The CAS-class assault carrier is one of the most powerful models of ever deployed by the. Characterised by it's immense center hangar and hook-like prow, the assault carrier's awe-inspiring capabilities are well-documented. It is designed to lead the Covenant fleet into known enemy strongholds, punching through enemy lines and offloading a large complement of ground troops to wage war on the planet's surface. They accomplish this with line-after-line of shield generators, plasma torpedo silos and pulse lasers, with an expansive hangar capable of carrying thousands of strikecraft, dropships and troops. Add to this a number of powerful plasma lances and stripping out the usual warship needs for more weapon, troop and reactor space, and it becomes unnervingly easy to see why these ships are often called invincible combatants by personnel on the front lines.

Human-Covenant War
The CAS-class assault carrier was first deployed against humanity during the. Contrary to popular belief, the five assault carriers here were only supported by a massive fleet consisting of dozens of, and. They overwhelmed the planet's meagre defence fleet and proceeded to instantly glass the defenceless colony. Within four hours, all five hundred million colonists were burned to ash and glass; this was the first in a cycle of losses that would contribute to the CAS becoming among the most feared ships in the Covenant fleet.

Fortunately for humanity, the UNSC would gain a much-needed morale boost when they proved the assault carrier could be beaten. In, Vice Admiral would lure the Covenant fleet from  into a trap within the  during the. He maneouvered four particularly-large asteroids, each measuring at least six kilometres in length, with weapons fire to direct them towards the Covenant fleet. His ships followed closely behind, and when they were in effective range they sprung out, firing on the two closest carriers, destroying one and crippling the other. While none of the asteroids hit their intended targets, it left the Covenant in sufficient confusion to allow Cole's fleet to speed past the Covenant, before turning around and unleashing a MAC barrage, destroying the other two carriers. In the end, Cole lost thirty-seven ships to this risky tactic, but the fact he destroyed three of the largest ships encountered to date did reinstall the public's faith in the UNSC's ability to win the war.

Despite isolated cases where these ships were destroyed, CAS 's use as flagships saw them becoming signals of the Covenant's inevitable victory. Throughout the early war, entire armadas of even modern UNSC ships were destroyed by being charged by a single assault carrier. The fact that they often carried skilled military commanders, like Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree, and were escorted by particularly-massive fleets only made it worse for those tasked with fighting them.

Esgem-pattern assault carrier
Easily the most common pattern of assault carrier encountered throughout the war, the Esgem-pattern assault carrier is as standard as you could get. Equipped with a mere forty-metre hull of nanolaminate, the Esgem-pattern also features the lightest shielding and weapons output among the class, and a fleet coordination suite useful for only commanding battle groups smaller than a dozen ships. As a result, when given the option many fleet masters request reassignment onto a different pattern when available.

Fortunately for the Esgem, it is not completely useless. It is still a formidable warship, capable of easily beating fleets of even smaller Covenant vessels with ease, and provides a number of incredible opportunities for shipmasters to exploit in combat. The first is it's speed; the Esgem is actually far lighter than other patterns of assault carrier, and this allows it to pull off manoeuvres that would be impossible in another subclass of carrier. This made it extremely-effective at assaults, where it can effortlessly punch through the defensive net and begin landing ground troops. This led to the carrier's next advantage. Because it did not have as many weapons, the Esgem could carry about twenty percent more soldiers and material, allowing it to either instantly deploy more troops at once or sustain them for longer periods of time. Another advantage lies in it's adaptability; the Esgem 's reactor is just as powerful as any other subclass yet the demands on it have been greatly reduced. This ensures that power can be redistributed to other systems in combat, usually weapons, or support additional external upgrades to it's hull. In fact, the age of an Esgem can sometimes be told on based on how extensively it's internal systems are upgraded. Finally, as it's ultimate trump card, the Esgem usually supports a Hiranum-pattern slipspace stabilisation beacon. This tool allows for a tactical advantage by manipulating the local space-time fabric to allow it's fleet to reach higher speeds, or more usually to call in reinforcements to jump into it's immediate vicinity. It has been seen that the beacon can defeat slipspace inhibitors, allowing for travel in places where it should not be able to jump in theory.

Kerel-pattern assault carrier
"A well-disciplined crew are more valuable than even the most powerful Kerel."

- An old Sangheili proverb.

A mutation of the base Syfon-pattern, the Kerel-pattern assault carrier is among the strongest warships in the Covenant fleet, and feature the closest imitations to the Forerunner technology ever created by Huragok craftsmen. In fact, the Kerel is so valuable that only shipyards blessed by the Hierarchs themselves are allowed to construct these, and only Sangheili given special permissions by the High Council are permitted to crew them, and a special ceremony is held transferring these ships under the command of a new ship. In fact, it's possible for centuries to go by before these valuable warships are crewed.

Medural-pattern assault carrier
Unique in that it was secretly fabricated by the on the  orders, the Medural-pattern assault carrier, despite being a Sangheili-named craft, is a less-elegant and more raw variation of the CAS-class assault carrier. More thickly-armoured and less elegant in favour of using raw construction methods, the Medural relies on cruder, more reliable and easier to maintain technology to function. As a result of it's unnecessary overmassing and raw architecture, these carriers are favoured by Jiralhanae shipmasters and are generally avoided by Sangheili for fear of being judged by their own kind.

The first major deviation from other assault carriers is it's well-greebled hull, which seats some additional light plasma cannons and external components. The hull can be up to fifty metres thick in places, and is made in an ablative blend of Nanolaminate, a strange form of ceramic and metal, making it stronger, lighter and more flexible. This is further supported by electromagnetic plates, which give off variable light seen on the carrier. The internal corridors are very feudal in their look, with much more angular paneling, with sword-like locks on doors. Even the colours tend to be muted down to shades of grey, though during the Great Schism they were coloured purple to reflect their new position. This was all more comfortable to the Jiralhanae, who preferred the rugged, industrial style.

Syfon-pattern assault carrier
Unlike any other pattern of assault carrier, the Syfon-pattern is designed first as a civilian vessel, being a luxurious cruiseliner for th e Covenant's political elite. Built above and below it's beautifully-crafted silver hull is an entire city containing thousands of individuals, and entire clans of Sangheili can forever be raised on the back of these ships. As a result, the Syfon is seen as the crowning jewel of a San'Shyuum's career, and as most of these carriers are privately-owned, being assigned to one represents that an individual has shown a great amount of loyalty to the San'Shyuum that owns it.

However, as it was also designed by a Sangheili shipwright, the Syfon does have it's military applications. As it contains a larger reactor and large hunting paddocks to sustain the indulges of it's inhabitants, these assault carriers can only carry forty percent of the ground assets a regular carrier can, so it is forced to make it up in other areas. The Fib-pattern shield generators are three times as strong as the shields on other assault carriers. However, with large agricultural spheres and an internal fabricator capable of creating the latest fads in technology, the Syfon is designed for long-distance military deployments and sees extensive use as a heavy explorer. When a new relic is discovered in unknown space, the Syfon is usually at the forefront of the fleet sent to secure it.

The Syfon-pattern carrier has only been infrequently-seen during the Human-Covenant War, as Sangheili commanders preferred to serve on more purpose-built warships. However, these ships have been seen as flagships, with politically-savvy Fleet Masters carrying promising families and their home clans in an attempt to climb the societal ladder.