Kodiak-G114

"Because of him, I chose a course of life in which I’ve had to watch people I loved die and then let a chance to bring them back slip away. I hate him for that. But if not for him, I would have never had the chance to become a Spartan. And for that I will forever owe him one."

- Dyne G217

SPARTAN-III Gamma One-One-Four, better known as Kodiak G114, was a member of Spartan III Gamma Company and one of three Spartans in Ion Team, designated ION-1. Born under the name Kodiak Meriadoc Jacques, he was recruited at age five to Gamma Company by SSgt. Pete Stacker. Within the Gammas, he would be deployed just in time to see the close of the Human-Covenant War, after which he would be assigned to military exploration and serve in dozens of minor covert operations throughout the Rebuild Era, only after roughly twenty-five years, four of which spent MIA, would he return to combat operations under the Codename: GUILDENSTERN.

Born on New Constantinople, Kodiak was saved during the battle between UNSC and Covenant forces by a member of Spartan-III Alpha Company, though it cost the Spartan his life. It was because of this that when Pete Stacker found him and offered him the chance to be one of these heroes, he accepted without a second thought. Taken to Onyx with the rest of the Gamma candidates, he became part of training Team Machete. When the team leader was listed KIA to become a Headhunter, Kodiak became leader of the reformed Ion Team.

Conscription as a Spartan
"Of course he lived, kid. Spartans never die."

- Pete Stacker, to Kodiak when he was recruited

SSgt. Pete Stacker found Kodiak in a hospital bed on Sigma Octanus IV. Stacker offered him the chance to be a Spartan, which Kodiak eagerly accepted after hearing his stories of their exploits. He would be reported succumbing to sickness, while really taken out of system aboard the Themistocles . As the sole occupant of a two-bunk room, he quickly grew bored of his surroundings. After observing how Stacker went down aboard Pelicans to the surface, he made a plan to escape and have an adventure, and return before he was missed.

While the ship orbited Reach, Kodiak snuck down aboard the dropship carrying Pete Stacker, planning to adventure all night and sneak back aboard before it went back up. During his wanderings, he and his future teammate Dyne met each other in the back alleys while spying on a gang of older kids, and were caught by the bullies. In their first fight together, the pair held off three kids much larger than them, proving their potential as Spartans. The pair split up, only to meet again lying low. Becoming fast friends, the pair agreed to stick together. As Dyne believed he needed to flee the planet, Kodiak agreed to smuggle him aboard the Themistocles .

Stacker downheartedly prepared to leave Reach that morning. The ODST was quite surprised to find both Dyne and Kodiak trying to hide in one of the crates onboard his dropship. From that moment, the Drill Instructor for the Betas knew that the pair was going to give him trouble.

Spartan Training and Augmentations
"I’m actually not all that concerned about the mongooses, not even my Warthog. I’m a little curious about the rest of the Warthogs, and I’d love to know why the generator building is a crater, but what I really want to know is WHERE ARE MY GODDAMN TANKS!?!"

- Sergeant Pete Stacker, yelling at Dyne and Kodiak after a particularly large shenanigan

His suspicions would prove all too true, with Dyne and Kodiak wreaking general havoc on a regular basis around the training facilities. While their escapades never actually resulted in human casualties, material damage estimates have never been fully tallied up. Within the first three months, Dyne and Kodiak had accounted for the destruction of eight Warthogs, a dozen Mongooses, two Scorpion MBTs, three storage sheds, and an unknown quantity of explosives, food supplies, and miscellaneous equipment. Kodiak was all too eager to follow Dyne’s lead, and while sometimes equally responsible, was never seen as guilty in Stacker’s eyes. Nonetheless, he would join Dyne in plenty of missed meals and manual labor to make up for the damages.

Kodiak found himself in Team Machete with Sam-G019, Marcus-G228, Dyne-G217, and Sepia-G330, and got along well with them. Machete as a whole couldn't match well organized Saber, Katana, or Gladius, but its individuals were talented at what they did, and for Kodiak, it was assault. Taking extra time to scope out a building and consider what its layout was, and then how best to breach it was a favorite pastime for him.

Visit to Earth (October 2552)
Though no Gamma was killed by the augmentations, many were listed as such to join the Headhunters, two of which were Sam and Marcus. Despite that he had a hard time coping with the loss, Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose tested him relentlessly. He was desperate to make sure the three remaining would have a leader, instead of having to be accepted into new and unfamiliar teams. Kodiak passed with flying colors, and was given command of Ion Team.

Ion Team, made up of Dyne G217, Sepia G330, and Kodiak, were chosen to be the test group. Arriving in Seongnam, Korea, they were able to meet several other Spartans of various classes, and witnessed Maria-062’s test of the Mark VI’s sub-orbital jump capabilities. A few days later, the morning of October 20th, Ion Team left Earth to head back to their training site. As their ship left the system, Dyne, Sepia, and Kodiak were able to catch a broadcast of John-117’s award ceremony, and jumped into slipspace minutes before the Prophet of Regret’s fleet arrived in-system.

Second Battle of Earth (October 2552)
Less than an hour after returning, the news reached them of Earth being attacked, and the Gammas were to be deployed. Now armed with suits of Semi-Powered Infiltration Armor, the UNSC Themistocles left for Earth with Gamma Company aboard. It would be the one battle of the Human-Covenant War he saw.

Sometime during the fighting, Ion Team met with Vinh-030, whom, though the Gammas did not know it, was Dyne's mother. Engaged by Covenant forces, Vinh and Ion Team held out with the use of a Warthog chaingun operated by Sepia. Vinh was wounded during the skirmish, and Kodiak called for a medivac Pelican.

TGL-49 Expedition (2574)
More than twenty years after the Human-Covenant War came to a close, Ion Team, now composed of only Kodiak and Dyne, were launched to map and record a life-sustaining planet numbered TGL-49, as part of a compliment from the UNSC Themistocles. Using Mongooses to get around, the team was called upon to go after Golem Team Three, who had broken off communications. They discovered a bloodied Spartan helmet, and immediately unlocked weapons. Inside a dormant lava tube, they found Aspen G145, and two other Spartans. Returning outside to find their mongooses destroyed, Dyne did his best to commandeer the Golem crawler and return to base. En route, Erin Coney reached them over radios and warned that Flood had been encountered, and the exploration teams were to evac immediately. In a battle over Checkpoint One, Mirage Team and most of the marine force made it aboard an Albatross Dropship, but Coney, Kodiak, and Dyne were left behind.

After waking up the next morning, having been knocked out after being thrown from a tower, he grabbed some supplies and found the other two survivors. The three of them then made for Checkpoint Two onboard a derelict Cougar AFV to find a means of faster transport. Kodiak drove, with Erin navigating, and were able to escape the Flood horde.

Inside the checkpoint, Coney sent the other two to complete separate tasks, with Dyne responsible for fueling the Pelican. He never got the chance, as Flood entered the base and engaged him. Linking up with Kodiak, the pair made to grab onto the rising dropship, but the Pelican rose up and left them behind. Coney contacted them on a video feed, and said that she regretted leaving them behind, but it was necessary. She wouldn’t make it far without fuel, and the two of Ion Team quickly caught up to her after escaping the base in a Warthog. Dyne opted to watch the Flood kill her, but Kodiak forced him to help save her, as she was the only one who could get the prowler, the UNSC Nightshade, off the ground. Making it to the Nightshade’s hangar, they barely escaped the clutches of a Proto-Gravemind, leaving behind an active Shiva nuclear warhead.

Demon Hunting
[[Dialogue2|Lt. Erin Coney|In my short life I have been known as different people by different people. A girl’s got to have a few secrets|Kodiak|Pretty damn big secret.|You've got a few repressed memories yourself if I'm not mistaken.|Discussing their course of action in a Covenant citadel abandoned on an unnamed planet.}} Rather than killing Coney after she'd left them to die, Dyne and Kodiak agreed to follow and assist her when needed, both out of interest in ONI secrets and the fact she still outranked them. Only after landing the Nightshade on an uncharted planet and infiltrating an abandoned Covenant Citadel did she explain her task: going after covered-up and highly sensitive breaches in the Cole Protocol. These included captured UNSC AI units, and unaccounted for subjects of supersoldier programs.

With Dyne taking the Nightshade on a seperate objective, Coney and Kodiak made their way deeper into the Citadel, avoiding the nest created by Yanme'e workers that had been left there and survived. Within, they encountered a man that had had his DNA modified and coupled with alien physiology, resulting in a disgusting hybrid. After the creature made several hit-and-run strikes at them, Erin was able to kill it by bringing down a pillar using a plasma grenade. The encounter left Kodiak with only more questions for Erin, but they would have to wait. When Dyne returned, they left in search of another target.

En route, however, they intercepted a distress beacon from the UNSC Themistocles. Arriving at the coordinates, they found only a field of ship wreckage. The only surviviors were some members of Mirage Team:P Branwyn G160, Morgan G018, and Aspen G145. They were told they were attacked by a Sangheili vessel, but without time to investigate, they moved on with Mirage accompanying them.

Arriving in the polar regions of an otherwise tropical world, they entered a pair of Covenant research outposts, which were built upon structures made to study. Almost as soon as they came upon them, a troop of Elites led by Vract 'Aeramee attacked them, forcing the the other Spartans into a firefight as Kodiak entered the complex. Inside, he was confronted by a woman he believed might be insane. Without explaining anything, she approached, removed his helmet, and entered his mind.

Through the Forerunner technology or possibly a form of telepathy, the entity referring to itself as Laura showed him that this grandfather civilization was working on a way to recreate the Big Bang and in doing so, predict every event in the universe. Kodiak was unsure if it was the woman speaking, or if she was some sort of mouthpiece for the entire installation. However, implanted in his mind were the events surrounding his mission, which were for the most part locked until the right time for them to be revealed. He had only time to ask one question: the whereabouts of. Laura told him John was alive, but did not reveal his location.

Kodiak was jarred from the mental contact by a pair of blades sticking through the woman's torso, the Energy Sword of Vract Aeramee. The Sangheili then attacked and wounded Kodiak, leaving to attack Dyne and Morgan, who were separated from the rest. Kodiak was able to stand and rejoin Mirage and Coney, fighting until a remote-operated Pelican was able to extract them. Dyne returned with Morgan, fatally wounded, who died as the Pelican broke orbit. Dyne told Kodiak that it was Sepia G330 who had killed her. Kodiak felt some of the information he'd been given unlock, and ordered them to set a course for the colony of Jericho VII.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Kodiak was once described as being 'too human' by Commander Kurt Ambrose, who felt he had too much emotional feeling left in him and that it might cloud his judgement in the field. All the same, when Sam and Marcus were chosen as Headhunters, he promoted Kodiak to team leader, hoping real action would make him into what he'd need to be. Kodiak did feel objectives not only could be, but had to be, sacrificed in the event of allies in danger. The risk of him taking his team and abandoning an important objective for the lives of a frontline unit was one reason Ion Team was reassigned to exploration. Those who knew him only believed it was a stength, a reason he had to keep hope and keep fighting in any situation. Put into a command position, he often felt conflicted between the success of the mission and the lives of fellow soldiers, and doubted himself constantly.

Hobbies
"Look up."

- Kodiak to his teammates, during the Battle of Tokyo

After several dull, sleepless nights in the hopital bed on Sigma Octanus, Kodiak looked out of a window and noticed that the constellations were much different than those of New Constantinople. Since then, he has had a questing mind when it came to astronomy, and has memorized the constellation layouts from a myriad of worlds. He would long remember his first look at Earth's night sky, during Operation: ETERNAL SPIRIT.

Armor
Though originally trained to use Mark III Semi-Powered Infiltration and Mark IV Mjolnir Suits, by his first experience in the field Kodiak had been given a Mjolnir Mark V Recon Suit, though by choice adopted a CQC helmet painted white and blue to aid in snowy or icy terrain camoflage. The suit was heavily customized with help from Vinh-030 during his time assigned to exploration missions, the Spartan-II being an expert in tinkering with the suits. Concealed within his armor was a multitude of knives, strapped to his chest, hidden under shoulderpads, and spring-loaded in his boots. Vinh also worked with him to create the ASSAULT/A3 Wrist Knife, essentially an answer to the Sangheili Energy Dagger.

Weapons
Exceptional with the array of short blades he kept on him, Kodiak was also an expert with the Marine Corps' MA5 Series Assault Rifles, particularly the B and C variants. The MA5 is more durably designed than its Army, Navy, and Air Corps counterparts, having to be able to withstand the heat and shock of an ODST orbital insertion. He made the most of muzzle attachments to up its versatility, including flashlights, bayonets, and grenade launcher tubes.

He was also capable of wielding shotguns with proficiency and was a competent shot with any sidearm. Occasionally he carried an Army Designated Marksman's Rifle or S2 model Sniper Rifle when spotting for his teammate Dyne, but as team leader these were infrequent. With long study under Vinh's tutelage, he learned to use both a Human longsword and Covenant Energy Sword.

Vehicles
With nearly twenty years of experience travelling long distances over planets they were first surveying, Kodiak became a skilled driver with nearly every piece of UNSC mechanized equipment, from Warthog Jeeps and Mongoose ATVs to Elephant Troop Transports.

Stories

 * Halo: AvS: A Worthy Foe
 * A Simple Objective
 * Following Orders