Daniele-D003

Daniele-D003 is an SPARTAN-III commando of the breakaway Beta-5 Division project, referred to as the DELTA Initiative. The Initiative sought to establish a fourth company-size force of SPARTAN-IIIs, called Delta Company. Daniele, among the Delta Spartans, was the leader of the frontline Spartan unit called Team Boson. First recruited in 2553, Daniele would not graduate from the SPARTAN-III Program till 2557, four years following the Human-Covenant War.

During his tenure as a Delta Company Spartan, Daniele acted as the in-house talent for close quarters, stealth, and assassination. His talent for killing was unprecedented, marking him a early standout during training.

He would be the first to turn rogue from the UNSC among Team Boson, acting as a catalyst for the team's desertion. Becoming a national security threat to the UNSC, he retreated to the edge of colonized space and began building an empire of wealth for himself, even if his attempts were short-lived when the new threat of the Created arrived.

Biography
"Child of unknown origin found living on the streets of San Diego as a thief. Shows great intelligence and quick wit, concerns have been noted of his existing criminal record. Further inquiry suggests a latent leadership capacity and already has experience in close quarters combat with knives. For a young boy, he's unusually quiet but talks enough to make himself known. While only one of first considerations for the Company, he is setting a high bar for recruitment. While premature, I do think it's possible he could be designated: Hyper-Lethal at some point in the near future."

- Remarks about Daniele-D003. Circa. 2552.

CASTLE OF GLASS
"Little is known as Daniele Veracruz's past but what little is known, and what little he reveals - he's from Skopje, and he saw the world fall. Not that he remembers much. A three year old, alone; I can't even imagine it."

- Dr.Reyna Zhou-Romero looking over Delta Company dossiers. 2553.

Under the Castle Guard
Daniele Veracruz was born on the colony world of Skopje in 2544 to parents, Marie and Stefan Veracruz. Living in the planet's capital city, Port Kale, the Veracruz family came from a lower-middle class background. Marie and Stefan, like their son were born and raised on Skopje, never leaving beyond their star system - only traveling relatively short distances to work. Both parents were employed as low-level corporate managers for local asteroid-mining corporations.

While his parents' employment kept them afloat, put a roof over their heads, and put food on the table - it provided little in terms of a spectacular upbringing in Daniele's formative years and plenty lacking in materialistic distractions like toys.

Daniele remembered little from his childhood, only remembering traces of his hometown. A castle atop a hill at their city center was among the most striking. His few memories of the planet would go on to influence some of his future choices.

Fallen Skies of Blood
"Pwetty..."

- Daniele-003 witnessing his first glassing, not able to comprehend the event's circumstances. 2547.

Three years after his birth, in 2547, ships of alien make arrived in orbit over Skopje, the Covenant Empire had arrived on the colony - finally bringing the everlasting, 22 years of bloodshed - the Human-Covenant War, to Skopje's shores.

Daniele was three years old at the timr and just developing a long-term memory. His first glassing would be among his first recallable memories, as he would tell the Office of Naval Intelligence later on.

The Covenant entered the atmosphere, deploying landing craft and lowering cruisers over population center. While the UNSC fleet and garrison attempted to hold the city, the fight was ultimately futile. The last holdout on the world would ultimately be the castle at the center of Port Kale, its stone walls managed to withstand the Covenant's energy weapons compared to more modern construction materials.

Daniele's mother, Marie was killed during the Covenant's opening assault - the skyscraper she worked at was toppled when a Covenant battlecruiser collided into it. Her death went unnoticed in the chaos, likely becoming among the many poor souls that fell to their deaths or were blasted to death by Covenant energy weapons in the downtown area.

At home, the rest of the Veracruz family was only signaled of the impending attack when the warning sirens began to echo across the city. Evacuated by city bus, Daniele and his father were unable to contact Marie. Told to make their way to the city castle after a number of other evacuation sites became compromised, Daniele and his father made it to the last transports going offworld before the Covenant envelope over the planet closed in completely.

The city castle, the UNSC garrison's last hardpoint on the ground was evacuated minutes before a Covenant carrier moved in to glass the position when ground assault proved ineffective.

Daniele watched from the open doorway of the transport he was on as the castle atop the hill was glassed to oblivion. Having managed to escape his father for a rare momentary glimpse of a Covenant glassing, he did not understand what the event curtailed and what it meant for his homeworld, only that it glowed in an interesting way. He was a child but one day he would understand the context and the death that it brought with it.

After six months of Slipspace transit and jumps between colonies, Daniele and his father would be left to Earth to find a new way to live out their lives as refugees. Their misfortune, however, was only beginning.

SAN DIEGO'S SLUMS
"San Diego has always had problems with young urchins. It's kind of a Californian thing, especially southern LA, but when we finally snuffed them out, we got them all and every little secret they had. He was one of them, one of their best kept secrets. This kid, I don't even know where to begin with him."

- Anonymous SDPD Officer. 2552.

The Know-Nothing Runt
"Where did he come from? Why is he covered in blood?"

- Orphan upon seeing a bloody Daniele Veracruz arrive at the orphanage. 2548.

THE DELTA INITIATIVE
"Have you heard of the Spartans?"

- Question used during Delta Company's recruitment phase.

Individual Evaluation
PETTY OFFICER FIRST CLASS D032
 * FULL NAME: VERACRUZ, DANIELE
 * SERVICE #: D003
 * UNIT: NAVSPECWAR/SPARTAN-III DELTA COMPANY/TEAM BOSON
 * ENLISTMENT DATE: CLASSIFIED
 * LOCATION: UNKNOWN
 * STATUS: ROGUE
 * GENDER: M
 * BIRTPLACE: PORT KALE, VALLEJO
 * BIRTH DATE: 02/26/2544

Physical Appearance
Daniele-D003 weighs 108 kilograms (238.10 lbs) and stands at a height of 177 centimeters (5 ft 9.6 in). Of typical size for a SPARTAN-III, Daniele was one of the highest rated Delta Company Spartans during and after training.

Born on Skopje, he is of Afro-Hispanic descent but his ancestry can be traced back to the United Republic of North America.

With his chemical augmentations from Delta Company, he is clearly well built with defining muscles and a lack of any visible fat or stretched skin. Due to the augmentations, his puberty phase was artifically accelerated and still shows signs of his youth, especially his face.

Still in his teens, he fits the description of "agelessness" well, appearing as if in his mid-twenties at best and an older teenager at worst. His physical description has made it an issue of national security to keep him, like other Deltas, away from integration with the Spartan Branch as his existence may cause concern in the public that ONI may actually be employing augmented child soldiers - a fact the Office of Naval Intelligence would prefer buried.

Mostly lacking scars from his higher healing factor, his lack of injuries can be mostly assosiated to his skill as a soldier and the lack of deployments after Team Boson got benched by ONI for insubordination concerns. While in civilian garb, he can blend in well with the rest of society. He is often seen in his civilian clothes as much as his combat armor - both powered armor and ballistic plates.

Personality & Traits
Growing up an orphan in San Diego's slums and left in an orphanage greatly shaped Daniele's worldview. He developed a disrespect and an underlying hatred for his fellow orphans and gave little regard for the adults in his life, following the passing of both his mother and father.

The death of his father, only months after the destruction of Skopje also made him ill-opinionated on city officials and law enforcement, and a dislike for rules and the law altogether. The only respect he could muster in his time as a child refugee was for those that could prove their intelligence to him and a respect for the men and women of the UNSC, as they saved his life when the Covenant destroyed his home, and from a young age he was able to comprehend that they were the last line of defense against the alien threat, seeking the wholesome genocide of Mankind. It was this respect for the military that made him more open toward ONI and his interest to become a Spartan was realized.

A born leader honed and sharpened in hardship, Daniele grew up fast under the urchin life he lived. Not treated well by regular civilians and always in proximity of the crime-ridden community of the refugees, Daniele picked up a number of basic skills to survive. His life as a thief, especially a good one grew him prestige among the orphan children of San Diego and he would eventually rise to become a lieutenant among the theiving child ring, Children's Crusaders. This growth to the age of seven would define most of his life.

Built from the difficulties of the street, Daniele was quiet.

Fictional Appearances

 * Delta's Path