I believe it’s confirmed that Thel 'Vadam did not have any brutes in his fleet, the Fleet of Particular Justice. If he was in command of the attack on Reach, where did the brutes that raided New Alexandria come from? I know other fleets were present during the Fall of Reach, so if it wasn’t Arby, who sent the brutes?
If I’m not mistaken, I don’t think we ever go any clarification on this in the lore. It could be that they were part of the reinforcement fleet that arrived after the Long Night of Solace got slipspace’d (since they appear directly after this event). Or it could just be that Bungie just wanted to add some Brutes and that’s it.
Unless something has changed, it is my understanding that Thel’s fleet is the one that shows up immediately after you take out the supercarrier.
Beyond that, probably a retcon, or they were the ones in command of the Corvettes attacking the city, since Brutes were allowed to command ships. Brutes were the shock troopers and heavy infantry of the Covenant, and while it is a little strange that we don’t see them until New Alexandria, it does make sense. Noble Team was largely involved with small scale operations or special combat zones on the fringes of larger conflicts (such as Tip of the Spear). New Alexandria is essentially the only time Noble Team was the direct frontlines of the conflict and would see the full spread of Covenant army forces. All other Covenant operations we fight against are small scale or high importance special operations where Elites were in direct command of the situation.
I disagree. If I recall, the Fleet of Particular Justice was the fleet in the novel The Fall of Reach. And didn’t they show up via a giant simultaneous slipspace emergence of over 400 ships…on August 29th?
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> I disagree. If I recall, the Fleet of Particular Justice was the fleet in the novel The Fall of Reach. And didn’t they show up via a giant simultaneous slipspace emergence of over 400 ships…on August 29th?
Turns out I was right. The fleet that had the CSO Supercarrier was the Fleet of Valiant Prudence, and after it’s destruction several other fleets arrived at Reach, with the Fleet of Particular Justice arriving at some point during that time period. From Halopedia:
> During the Fall of Reach in summer 2552, multiple Covenant fleets were dispatched to invade the planet,[7][8] among them the Fleet of Particular Justice which arrived on August 30.[9][10]Before the initial battle, the Covenant sent a smaller advance fleet, the Fleet of Valiant Prudence, to Reach;[11] after Valiant Prudence’s flagship, the CSO-class supercarrier Long Night of Solace was destroyed, another Covenant fleet, possibly the Fleet of Righteous Vigilance or the Fleet of Holy Respite, arrived and began attacking the planet in earnest.[12] Over the coming weeks, the Covenant continued to whittle away at the UNSC’s defenses until, on August 30, an armada consisting of 315 ships, among them the Fleet of Particular Justice, arrived. Over two-thirds of the combined fleet was destroyed, mainly because of the planet’s defending “Super” MAC-equipped orbital defense platforms[13] and an intervening nuclear minefield,[14] though the defenders were soon overrun. After the Covenant ships began to glass the planet,[9] the Fleets of Particular Justice and Holy Respite moved to the system’s perimeter to form a blockade and prevent remaining human vessels from escaping. When the UNSC Pillar of Autumn jumped in the system, Supreme Commander 'Vadamee and the Fleet of Particular Justice, composed of around 12 warships during this time, pursued the ship.
Righteous Vigilance and Holy Respite. One of those had the Jiralhanae.
There were several fleets so one of the ones not commanded by thel vadam then.
I thought they were several fleets, and brutes could command small corvetes