The CSO Class Supercarrier is the single largest warship ever constructed by the Covenant,
as well as the largest vessel to participate in the Human-Covenant War.
The colossal vessels are primarily used as flagships for vast armadas, as well as serving
to coordinate planetary invasions, and supporting military actions across entire star systems
with their huge fighter complements.
At a length of 28,960 meters, the CSO Class is simply colossal, it’s frame is a direct
adaptation of the far-smaller CAS-Class Assault carrier, but drastically increased in scale,
and refitted with improved weapons, engines and shields, as well as a layer of advanced
nanolaminate armor over 30 meters thick, and able to absorb massive damage before breaching.
The CSO’s crew complement numbers in the tens of thousands, including personnel from
the entire spectrum of covenant races, and the ship’s internal security is so extensive
that any attempted boarding action would be nothing short of suicidal.
Though the CSO is technically a support vessel, it’s enormous mass is more than adequate
to mount a host of powerful weapons.
The ship is covered in pulse laser turrets, used both for point-defence and for attacking
lighter warships, these pulse turrets are supplemented by larger plasma cannons, as
well as guided plasma torpedoes, allowing the supercarrier to effectively engage vessels
of any size.
Much like the smaller CAS Class, the CSO sports enormous energy projectors along its ventral
hull; these terrifying weapons are used to glass the surface of planets, thereby rendering
them uninhabitable, and in some instances the beams have been used to vaporise hostile
warships at a range of 100,000 kilometres.
Being a supercarrier, the CSO’s complement of auxiliary craft is naturally large and
varied.
The ship carries hundreds of squadrons of Seraph-Class Multi-Role fighters, as well
as thousands of Banshees and Space Banshees, in addition to a large number of Spirit and
Phantom dropships.
The supercarrier is also loaded with a number of Type-28 Lich boarding craft for use in
spaceborne assault, as well as hundreds of infantry drop pods and an extensive mechanised
ground force.
When participating in system-wide attacks, a CSO is able supply and direct a planetary
invasion with ease, as well as providing powerful surface reinforcements in the form of Scarab
Walkers and Shadow Assault Transports.
Perhaps the most famous example of a CSO Class Supercarrier was the Long Night of Solace,
flagship of the Fleet of Valiant Prudence.
The Solace and its flotilla served as the advance invasion force during the Fall of
Reach in 2552, during the invasion the ship was captained by Supreme Commander Rho ‘Barutamee,
and served as the primary target of the UNSC’s Operation: UPPERCUT.
During the engagement, a contingent of Sabre Class Planetary Defence Fighters, accompanied
by the UNSC Savannah, were able to deploy an improvised slipspace bomb aboard a Covenant
Corvette attempting to dock with the Long Night of Solace.
The resulting blast tore the supercarrier in half, leading the UNSC to believe they
had driven the Covenant away from Reach, but their celebration was quickly cut short by
the arrival of the Fleet of Particular Justice, whose intervention led to a Covenant victory.
Easily one of the most imposing and powerful spaceframes constructed by the Covenant, the
CSO Class Supercarrier served as terrifying symbol of the Covenant’s military might,
and even years after the conclusion of the Human-Covenant War, the supercarrier remains
one of the largest and most strategically valuable starships ever encountered by humanity.