UNSC Resurgence (FFG-3014)

UNSC Resurgence (FFG-3014) was a Remembrance-class frigate in service with the United Nations Space Command Navy during the Human-Covenant War. Resurgence was constructed above between November 2546 and her commission in March 2549, and was the second vessel of the class's Group II production (the first being UNSC Reunion), which featured several improvements including the addition of twelve dual  turrets. UNSC Resurgence inherited three battle honours from previous ships of the name:  (2166), Durisdeer (2531) and  (2535). Resurgence saw a long and distinguished serving career, beginning with service in the  until its dissolution in late 2552. With the fleet, Resurgence participated in the battles of and, being severely damaged during the latter. Resurgence fled the battle having lost large sections of armour plating, vented most of her atmosphere through several hull breaches, without operational weapon or sensor systems, and with one of her two reactors completely offline.

After miraculously escaping to via three random slipspace jumps, powered by the remaining, critically damaged reactor, Resurgence was moored at a repair yard orbiting the world. Here she was scheduled to be repaired and returned to service, but was involved in the when this had barely commenced. In desperation during the battle, the ship's guns were armed and manned against forces assaulting the world. Later, the semi-intact vessel was the setting of a firefight between of the 28th Shock Troops Battalion and, who were attempting to retrieve navigation data to locate other Human colonies. In actual fact, Resurgence's central navigation unit had been wiped of all data. While the vessel's internal structure took heavy damage during the firefight, she remained otherwise largely intact following the conclusion of the battle.

After, Resurgence was quickly repaired and returned to active duty; the UNSC was drastically short of operational ships, and repairing damaged ones was less resource-demanding than building them from scratch. Following this, she served in the Remnant War, participating in Operation: KEY HOLE and Operation: REAR GUARD in April and May 2553 respectively. Resurgence later conducted a combat patrol near the UNSC's border in support of Operation: PRIMROSE, and was present for the Battle of Korll, in which she took minor damage.

In 2561, Resurgence underwent a refit which fitted her with the latest Human technology, including advanced weaponry, armour, sensors and shielding systems. Resurgence later served through some of the last battles of the war, being involved in Operation: GRAVE DIGGER, as well as present at the Oriana Campaign and the Battle of Glorious Salvation, the last engagement of the war. Along with the rest of the Remembrance-class, Resurgence was due to be retired from front line service and placed in reserve in 2620. However, she continued to serve as a result of the outbreak of the Galactic War; her retirement was later postponed indefinitely as a result of the emerging Swarm War in 2633.

Operational history
There were two previous UNSC warships named Resurgence. The first, D-24, was a destroyer that served during the, and won a battle honour at the. The second, DDG-409, was a guided missile destroyer that fought at the battles of Durisdeer in 2531 and in 2535, and was scrapped following battle damage during the latter.

Construction began on the third vessel to be named Resurgence at the Reach Orbital Shipyard in November 2546. The ship was launched on 2 February 2548, the day after her two fusion reactors were brought online. The following month Resurgence sailed on her first set of 'sea' trials, successfully completing them 4 weeks later in mid-April 2548. As the first complete ship of her class under the Group 2 refit (Reunion's construction was delayed and would not be completed until July) some structural areas needed to be tested, including the stress that the 4.1 inch Mark 22 naval guns exerted on the ship while underway. During these trials, Resurgence reached and exceeded her designed maximum acceleration and fully tested her navigations and communications equipment. Her second stage of trials were moved forward to September in an attempt to rush the ship into service. Stage 2 included trials on the long range radar and navigation system, medium calibre gun blast trials, weapon alignment tests and endurance tests. Stage 3, which took place in November 2548, aimed to familiarise the ship's company in preparation for the transfer of the vessel to the UNSC Navy in December 2548. Stage 4 trials took place in 2549, once the ship had been handed over to the Navy and involved a full range of functions including complex orbital manoeuvres and three atmospheric entries. Resurgence was formally commissioned on March 3, 2549, immediately joining on a training exercise.

Fall of New Carthage
was an inner colony located in the Wolf 424 system.

On December 31, Kimura received orders from NAVCOM to undertake a small scale mission on the world of. Ariel was a distant colony world with a small population of civilian researchers and an ONI research facility. The distress call received by the UNSC reported no Covenant Navy forces and only a small land occupation force. The UNSC seized the opportunity to retaliate while Covenant forces were weak, and assigned the nearest two available frigates, Resurgence and Redoubtable, to destroy the enemy presence on Ariel's surface, in an action known by the UNSC as. After deploying to the planet's surface, Resurgence and Redoubtable remained on station for 72 hours at immediate readiness to provide orbital fire support should the ODSTs request it, however neither were able to due to the close proximity of captive civilians. Both frigates retrieved the ODSTs and waited for the arrival of a troopship and a prowler, which evacuated the planet's inhabitants and abandoned the planet.

Escape and
Resurgence returned to the Sol system on 12 September, having executed three slipspace jumps. The first jump took her on a random vector away from the colony world of Tribute, followed immediately after by a second random jump. Kimura waited a 'soak period' of seven hours before setting course for Earth to ascertain if their escape was compromised, even though the ship was heavily damaged and could ill afford this delay. Additionally, the ship's hull plating was severely damaged, and she was venting small quantities of atmosphere, reactor exhaust and coolant, adversely affecting her sensor profile and ability to remain undetected if they had indeed been followed. Despite the risks involved, Kimura was fully aware that the possibility they had been tracked was high, and readily accepted the reality that the price for Earth's security might be the destruction of Resurgence and her surviving crew.

Resurgence ' s thirteen-day journey was fraught with constant danger. Large portions of the ship were exposed to space or otherwise impassable, making damage control extremely challenging. Over one third of Resurgence ' s crew were either killed or missing, with an additional hundred crewmembers seriously injured, meaning the remaining crew were working in a state of exhaustion. Temperatures onboard were 35 degrees Celsius on average, higher in some areas, due to the need to divert coolant to the reactor. Fires onboard had been extinguished relatively quickly, however the ship's vital systems and equipment were extensively damaged. The biggest concern for Kimura was Resurgence's no. 2 reactor. The no. 1 reactor had been part-vaporised during the battle, immediately ceasing to function, and had been automatically sealed off. The no. 2 reactor remained in operation despite damage to its secondary systems, namely the coolant assembly and the exhaust propulsion array and thruster. Had the second reactor failed, Resurgence would have been stranded in interstellar space without communications or power. The shipboard AI, Rex, had no way of estimating how long the reactor would continue to function for, nor how long the vessel would retain hull integrity at slipspace speed. Resurgence could maintain no more than 35% her optimal slipspace speed. Kimura later remarked that both he and his command crew were almost constantly awake on the return journey, both manning the bridge and coordinating repair and maintenance duties. Morale onboard was described as 'non-existent', with no one mentioning Epsilon Eridani or anything beyond the ship's immediate situation.

Resurgence exited slipspace at 0217 local time, orienting herself toward Earth, and set course for the planet at a low sublight speed. Without long-range communication, the vessel was unable to report her position and state, however she was detected six minutes later and the destroyers Warsaw and Dragon were despatched to escort her. One hour and twelve minutes later, Resurgence lost all but emergency power as her no. 2 reactor finally failed and initiated emergency shut-down, and required towing by the two destroyers to Earth's orbit. At the earliest opportunity, Kimura informed the commander of Dragon, Commander Richard Powell, about the destruction of Reach and Tribute, having detected no other vessels escaping the Epsilon Eridani system. In actual fact, HIGHCOM had learned of these events eight days earlier from Lieutenant, commander of the prowler UNSC Andromeda. Resurgence was towed to an orbital berth to await damage assessment and repair, while her crew was medically examined and reassigned light duties, and Lt Cdr Kimura was debriefed at.

As the ship was so heavily damaged, its AI, Rex, was left behind as the UNSC's sole presence onboard. Here he monitored its systems, performed diagnostics and remained in contact with. Unknown to ORBCOM at the time, Rex began exhibiting early signs of, partly due to his age, and partly the damage sustained to his vessel and his subsequent time in solitude. As a result, when the Covenant attacked Earth on October 20, instead of obeying orders to cut Resurgence ' s backup generators and erase himself from the ship's computer core, Rex opened fire on the first Covenant vessels to enter his range. In doing so he destroyed a flight of four, which mistakenly believed the ship to be inactive. These boarding craft had been bound for defence station Bogotá (ODP-59), which Rex presumably saved from destruction. Resurgence was now a target, and with minimal weapons, no propulsion and an unpredictable AI disobeying orders, ORBCOM dispatched four platoons of ODSTs of the 28th Shock Troops Battalion to destroy the vessel's AI. Although Resurgence ' s navigation core had been wiped, Rex had refused to delete himself and ONI had no idea what kind of information he would reveal to the Covenant, intentionally or not. In reality, in his rampant state Rex's logic had been overcome by his hatred of the Covenant, but ONI had no way of knowing this, and in any case were not in the habit of taking chances.

By the time the ODSTs had arrived at Resurgence ' s repair cradle, she had already been boarded by a platoon-strength force of. Rex had himself killed eight of the boarders by both flooding compartments with reactor coolant and opening them to space, inducing lethal amounts of radiation or jettisoning them into space, neither of which their microgravity harnesses protected them from. The Rangers quickly located and destroyed Resurgence ' s three backup generators, preventing the AI from inflicting further casualties but also making it much more difficult for them to retrieve it. The ODSTs assaulted, fighting in microgravity conditions with adapted weapons and zero-G equipment. Outnumbered, unfamiliar with the ship's layout and preoccupied with physically removing Resurgence ' s computer core, the Rangers were quickly destroyed by the ODSTs and the ship secured once more. With the ship dark and powerless, the ODSTs returned via Pelican to UNSC Absolution, but not before First Sergeant Michael Robson removed Rex's data crystal and took it with him. Rex would later play a crucial role in the Battle of Sydney, despite his increasingly unstable state. Resurgence remained in her orbital berth and played no further part in the battle. Later, when Commander sought vessels to accompany the  on, Resurgence was dismissed in favour of the operational vessels Forward Unto Dawn, Death's Head and Aegis Fate.

Operation: KEY HOLE (2553)
Following the Battle of Earth, the UNSC found itself unexpectedly victorious, with both the and the leadership of the Covenant eliminated. However, this came at a a heavy cost. A significant portion of the, the largest UNSC Navy unit active, was destroyed, and the majority of the Sol system's shipbuilding infrastructure lost. The earlier loss of Reach in August only compounded the problem. The obvious short term solution was to cannibalise the abundance of severely damaged vessels to repair those that were salvagable. Resurgence, although heavily damaged and without power, was structurally in one piece and a prime candidate for rapid repair. She, along with Revelation and Reliant Warrior, was restored to operational capacity using parts from several irreparable frigates, including.

After the war's end, the Sangheili made repair of the Portal between Earth and one of the priorities of its presence on Earth. The Ark's actual location outside the galaxy was not known, and even if it had been, it was too far from the galactic edge to travel quickly to. Despite this, the Sangheili saw it as imperative to secure the installation to obtain technology and to secure its vast databases, and ensure that no one else did the same. A crucial part of this was to obtain information on the locations of the rest of the and prevent any Covenant factions, of which several had already established themselves, from getting this information. They thus initiated Operation: KEY HOLE to repair the Portal, and lead a joint Human-Sangheili expedition to secure the Ark and recover sensitive items and information. Humanity, interested enough in securing the Ark as a result of these reasons, also had a further aim; to investigate the disappearance of the John-117, the hero of Humanity instrumental in ending the war.

The operation was conducted by a joint Human-Sangheili task force assembled in the days preceding the operation. The UNSC's element consisted of three Remembrance-class frigates; UNSC Aegis Fate and UNSC Death ' s Head, returning to the Ark for a second time, and UNSC Resurgence, in the place of the destroyed Forward Unto Dawn. Additionally, the UNSC's force included two Hope-class destroyers, UNSC Destiny's Child and UNSC Drake, and the, from where Admiral  commanded. These ships had been drawn from the UNSC Home Fleet, which had been bolstered with ships from other colonies since its mauling during the Battle of Earth. The ships of the Sangheili Defence Force, military arm of the newly formed Alliance of Sangheili Clans, were formed of the Fleet of Retribution, which had been renumerated since its involvement in Operation: BLIND FAITH, and had experience with the Ark and operating alongside Human ships. Command of the operation was jointly provided by Fleet Master and Admiral Terrence Hood.

Operation: KEY HOLE commenced on April 14 at 08:17, with three RQ-117 Clarions being sent through. Telemetry from the drones indicated approximately thirty unidentified vessels at The Ark, conducting search patterns across the construct. 'Vadum and Hood concurred that the vessels were most likely or  in origin, prompting both to give the order to advance through the Portal. The fourteen vessels, Once through, quickly determined that the unidentified ships were not like anything ever encountered before. The subsequent encounter, codenamed TOUCAN BLUE by ONI, marked Humanity's first contact with not one but two previously unknown species, the Therans and the Ve'nek.

2562 Refit
The Remembrance-class frigate underwent an extensive refit from 2561 onwards, which was an application of knowledge the UNSC had acquired from the Covenant Separatists' Sangheili and Huragok, as well as the Therans and Ve'nek, over the previous decade. Resurgence was recalled from operations for refit in early October 2562, spending the next eleven months in refit, which was followed by three months of post-refit training to acquaint the crew with the ship's new systems. The frigate's refit replaced most of her integral systems, weaponry and defensive technology, meaning Resurgence for the first time in her service achieved approximate parity with enemy vessels of a similar tonnage. Resurgence received the following upgrades:


 * Replacement of 1 with 1 Mark III Light Magnetic Accelerator Cannon
 * Replacement of 12 dual 4.1 inch Mark 22 naval gun turrets with 12 dual Mark XII 155mm naval gun turrets
 * Replacement of 30 quad Mark XII 50mm turrets with 30 quad M502 50mm railgun turrets
 * Replacement of missiles with RSGM-16 Mark IV Archer missiles and modification of missile pods to accommodate the new type
 * Expansion of RSM-19 Shiva complement from three to six
 * Replacement of twin linked with twin linked Mark XVI TEMPEST advanced fusion reactors
 * Replacement of titanium/ceramic armour with advanced material regenerative armour
 * Installation of six linked Mark XVI AURORA Projected Energy Barrier Systems
 * Addition of one AN/SLE-311 decoy launcher
 * Complete replacement and upgrade of computer systems and electronics

Armament
UNSC Resurgence was equipped with a range of anti-ship, anti-air and anti-surface weaponry, supporting its key functions as a multi-role frigate. Inkeeping with its guided missile frigate designation, Resurgence was equipped with a range of missile armaments.

In its last configuration, after its 2561 refit, Resurgence's armament consisted of the following:


 * 1x Mark III Light Magnetic Accelerator Cannon
 * 1200x RSGM-16 Archers in 40 missile pods
 * 800x RIM-109 Medusas in 800 vertical-launching cells
 * 24x BSGM-14 Harpoons in 12 vertical launchers
 * 6x RSM-19 Shivas in 1 forward launcher
 * 12x dual Mark XII 155mm naval gun turrets
 * 30x quad M502 50mm railgun turrets

Air Group
During the Human-Covenant War, Resurgence operated a small number of unmanned vehicles in both combat and support roles. Though ships of the Remembrance-class possessed aviation facilities, these were insufficient to accommodate the UNSC's primary strike fighter, the, which was 75 metres wide. Instead, Resurgence operated a squadron of, a short range interceptor with an atmospheric and exoatmospheric capability. These were operated by 96 Naval Air Squadron, which maintained and oversaw the aircraft, although actual flight was controlled by the Wombat's onboard CPU, with direction from the shipboard AI. Though the Wombat was ineffective in combat against Covenant single ships, such as the, its unmanned nature meant that even heavy airframe losses were not necessarily reflected in fatalities. Resurgence also carried three RQ-117 Clarions, low-observability unmanned vehicles used for long range reconnaissance, and eight D-77 Pelicans, trans-atmospheric dropships used for troop transport.

During Resurgence ' s 2562 refit, her aviation facilities were significantly expanded, as was the range of aircraft available to her. As of 2574, her Air Group consisted of the following:


 * 12 F-371 Halberds, 791 Naval Air Squadron: 791 NAS provided Resurgence ' s primary force projection, and operated the F-371 Halberd spatial superiority starfighter. The Halberd was a high performance starfighter with exceptional range, weaponry, agility, speed and protection. Due to its relatively small size, Resurgence was able to carry twelve Halberds embarked in its lateral hanger bays. When deployed in battle, the twelve fighters would defend Resurgence from starfighter attack, providing an additional layer of defence to the frigate's existing weapon systems. The Halberd did not possess any kind of anti-ship capability.


 * 1 E-221 Warden, A Flight, 1209 NAS: Resurgence also possessed a single AWACS aircraft, an E-221 Warden, operated by A Flight, 1209 Naval Air Squadron. The Warden was a large, six-engined, long range support craft used to provide surveillance, control and communications functions to UNSC forces. The Warden demanded a large crew and a significant maintenance crew to remain operational, and at 64 metres long its presence in Resurgence ' s hangar reduced her capacity for the Marine Corps onboard.


 * 12 FQ-99B Darts, 96 NAS: The FQ-99B Dart was a transatmospheric-capable, twin-engine unmanned combat drone which, together with the RQ-117 Clarion, was opeated by 96 (Drone) Naval Air Squadron. The Dart was a modernised variant of the Great War-era and featured several advancements over its predecessor including a vastly improved central processor, which allowed it to match and exceed the performance of most sentient pilots, as well as be remotely operated by an AI. This was in addition to advanced variable geometry three-stage hybrid engines, which could function as turbofans, scramjets or rocket engines, and a threefold increase in payload capacity. The Dart was a short range interceptor craft, intended primarily to defend Resurgence from enemy single ships. Its small size and low maintenance and support requirements meant that it could be embarked aboard smaller warships, such as Resurgence, that would not traditionally be capable of operating fighter craft in numbers.


 * 3 RQ-117 Clarions, 96 NAS: Resurgence possessed three RQ-117 Clarion unmanned surveillance aircraft, also operated by 96 Squadron. The Clarion was designed for low observability, long range reconnaissance missions, meaning Resurgence could reconnoitre enemy positions or vulnerable points without exposing herself to detection. The Clarion therefore featured extensive stealth technologies as well as an array of sensory equipment.

In addition to these combat and support craft, Resurgence also carried sixty Mark 4 lifeboats. Commonly referred to as the Bumblebee, the Mark 4 was an eleven-person, short range escape pod in service from 2570 onwards. The Mark 4 provided a means of escape in the event of a emergency, and had sufficient onboard food, water, fuel and atmosphere-recycling facilities to support its eleven passengers for fifteen days. The Mark 4 was developed directly from its predecessor, the Mark 3 lifeboat, with improvements in avionics, materials and operating procedure.

Marine Force
Resurgence had capacity to embark a Marine Shipboard Unit, which was essentially a Marine Expeditionary Unit though on a much smaller scale, and used specifically to equip frigate-type vessels. This unit comprised the frigate's onboard defence force as well as its deployable ground force. The MSU was made up of a Ground Combat Element, an Air Combat Element and a joint Command/Logistics Element. The MSU overall consisted of 770 personnel and 57 vehicles. As Resurgence was not equipped nor required to regularly participate in ground combat, some of this hangar space was instead devoted to the highly useful E-221, and the Marine Corps onboard presence instead comprised a drawn down force.


 * 1 Marine rifle company (200 men)
 * 1 airlift/starlift squadron (8 D-77 Pelicans)
 * 1 light VTOL flight (6 MV-14B Hornets)

Commanding Officers

 * 2549-2552: Lieutenant Commander Daiichi Kimura UNSCN
 * 2552-2555: Commander James Tseng UNSCN
 * 2555-2562: Commander Kathrin Grunwald UNSCN