Simon-G294

Simon-G294—also known by the pseudonym “Stray”—was a from  who was raised and augmented as a child supersoldier during the final years of the. Lambasted as both a coward and the worst-performing Spartan in his company, he gained infamy when he deserted from the and fought for the. Ultimately betrayed and abandoned by the rebels, he was left with a lasting hatred for both of his former allegiances and found himself selling his skills to the highest bidder as a mercenary in order to survive. Consumed by doubts and self-loathing, he nonetheless possesses a keen survival instinct and boundless tenacity in pursuit of his goals. In spite of his crimes and selfish tendencies, he found lasting companions in the rogue Insurrectionist AI Diana and fellow Gamma deserter Cassandra-G006.

The Urchin
"Thing is, I can't remember my mother ever smiling at me, not once. I can't even blame her for it. I was never anything but a burden to her, so there was no reason for her to love me. It's the same no matter where I go; no one ever benefits. I should never have been born."

- Simon-G294

In late 2540 on the Inner Colony world of Iskander, a wealthy businessman was discovered in a long-term adulterous affair with one of his estate's cleaning staff. In order to dissuade the anger of his wife, he dismissed his mistress and cut her off from any means of support. Unfortunately, the woman had already borne him one son and was pregnant with another. Unable to gain access to any means of birth control, the now-impoverished Delores Onegin gave birth to another boy, whom she named Simon.

At first, Delores did all in her limited power to care for the sickly baby. Mere months after his birth, Simon came down with a fever that brought him to the brink of death. Although local clinicians predicted that he would not survive, the infant Simon recovered against all odds and continued developing at a normal rate. But as the years passed and her financial situation worsened, the maternal love Delores had once felt for Simon faded. Forced into hard labor to make ends meet, she began resenting her sons and projecting her hatred for their father onto them. Faced with routine abuse, Simon spent most of his time away from his mother's squalid apartment complex as he explored the streets with his older brother Arthur. A clever, inventive boy, Arthur taught Simon to steal wares and credits from local vendors as the two boys took what they could to keep from starving. The young Simon quickly developed a very loose view of law and order, particularly after witnessing Arthur receive beatings from local police patrols. Soon after he started running with Arthur, his mother died following several months of illness and heavy drinking. The brothers were unperturbed by their loss and continued to steal and scavenge their way through the slums.

Shortly after Dolores's death, the brothers were approached by a man who claimed to be a local clinician. Calling himself "Toby," the doctor began to routinely check in on the orphaned boys. Following a particularly bad epidemic that swept through the slums the boys lived in, Toby began administering "preventive shots" to Simon without Arthur's knowledge. At first, Simon became extremely sick, but after nearly two weeks of intense fever his suffering subsided and he became well again. When Simon told Arthur what Toby had done, his brother grew furious for reasons that the confused young boy could not understand. The next day, Arthur assaulted Toby in public. Local police quickly intervened; Arthur was arrested and sent to a corrective institution while Simon was declared a ward of the colony and turned over to a colony-run orphanage. Simon did not see Toby again, but unbeknownst to him the "doctor" continued to keep tabs on him even after he'd been taken away.

Simon was extremely unhappy in the orphanage, missing both Arthur and the freedom he had felt living with his brother. Nevertheless, the young boy appreciated the security of shelter and regular meals that it provided. He did not get on well with the other children and was often caught stealing and hoarding food. Incidents like these, coupled with the area's low adoption rate, made it seem as if he would merely be cared for until he was old enough to be given back to the streets to fend for himself.

This bleak future changed in 2545, when Simon was "interviewed" by an lieutenant who had been dispatched to recruit applicable candidates into the  program. Although not taken in by the lieutenant's talk of honor and duty (these concepts hollow and meaningless to him), Simon was swayed by the officer's talk of a brighter future and the enriching nature of the program. Simon agreed to be recruited into and was shipped to a  on  for training along with several hundred other young children.

The Recruit
Simon's arrival on Onyx alongside more than three hundred other candidates for the program was met with a test that the man in charge of the program's training division, Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose, had utilized with every batch of candidates since the beginning of the program: a "night jump" from a high-flying Pelican dropship. Simon froze up when it was his turn to jump and was very nearly kicked out of the program on his first night. As he gave up and stepped away from the edge of the Pelican's open troop bay, he was pushed by another child and plummeted out of the dropship. Only a hasty opening of the parachute he'd been issued saved him from a messy death on Onyx's surface.

Along with everyone who passed the first test, Simon plunged into an intensive six-year training program that sought to turn the young children into Spartan supersoldiers. During the first year of physical conditioning Simon was indistinguishable from the other trainees. His instructors noted that he was one of the faster candidates and he proved to have high levels of endurance in the field exercises the trainees were put through. But as time wore on and the trainees' combat training intensified he fell behind the vast majority of his peers. Before long he had gained infamy as being one of the worst-preforming members of the company. From sparring to weapons training, his performance scores were consistently amongst the lowest in the company. Simon's failures distanced him from the other trainees, preventing him from forming lasting friendships.

Simon was widely acknowledged as being the worst trainee in the program, lacking any talent to boost a squad's fighting strength. But he did possess one advantage that prevented him from being drummed out: a sense of cunning and deviousness lacked by his peers. Unlike the more physically and tactically gifted trainees, Simon was forced to turn to more desperate measures in order to succeed. He employed "underhanded" tactics that the others balked at, such as faking surrender, playing dead, and even bribing some of the less conscientious trainees with extra food from his stash of stolen rations. While often caught and punished by various DIs and occasionally Lieutenant Ambrose himself, Simon was learning a different kind of warfare from the tricks and cheats he used to keep up with the Spartan program: one of adaption and survival.

Despite his poor reputation, Simon found an unlikely mentor in Tom-B292, a SPARTAN-III graduate who had been assigned to help train Gamma Company along with his fellow survivor,. Struck more by Simon's tenacity than by his many failings, Tom took Simon under his wing even when other drill instructors had given up on him. Hungry for acceptance, Simon looked up to Tom as a personal hero despite knowing very little of the Beta Spartan's past. Tom took time to instruct Simon in several fields, particularly close combat. Simon would carry Tom's principles of knife-fighting with him the rest of his life.

Team Jian
"If we take them apart they'll wear down whatever squads we assign them to. But if we stick all the misfits together, maybe G293 can make a team out of the mess and we won't sacrifice the effectiveness of any of the better-adjusted trainees"

- Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose regarding the formation of Team Jian

After two years of combat exercises under randomly assigned teams and leaders, the Gamma Company trainees were divided into permanent five-person teams, each with its own permanent team leader. Simon was assigned to Team Jian under the command of Jake-G293, one of the best-performing trainees in the company. However, the other members of the squad were not so exemplary. Mary-G130 was feared amongst the other trainees for her short temper and propensity for starting fights. Terrence-G150 was a kleptomaniac who had been disciplined by both his superiors and his fellow trainees for his thieving habits. Ralph-G299 was, like Mary, a fight-starter and a bully who enjoyed mocking Simon for his failures. Jake was less than pleased to be assigned to such a ragtag team (Team Jian quickly gained the nickname of "Problem Squad"), and at first the group's performance was substandard.

The first sets of exercises Team Jian was put to were abysmal failures. It was constantly being outmaneuvered and outperformed by drill instructors and other teams as Jian's flaws and weaknesses always seemed to drag it down. Finally, during a live-fire bomb disposal exercise, a jittery Simon accidentally detonated the device he was trying to disarm. The resulting explosion struck him in the chest at close range and very nearly killed him. He spent two weeks in critical condition in the training facility's medical wing, and although he emerged without any disabilities, his chest would bear a spiderweb of distinctive scars that stretched across his torso for the rest of his life. Following this latest disaster, each member of the team blamed themselves for what had happened to Simon and resolved to perform better in the future. While they punished themselves for imagined failings, Simon had to face the reality of the situation: he had almost died because of his failings as a soldier. At ten years of age he was intensely afraid of dying, either during training or during the combat he knew was to come. Although this fear drove him to get on better with his teammates and devote himself more fully towards his training, it also made him realize just how short of a life expectancy he could have when deployed in the field. This realization began to make him bitterly resent the military that controlled his life; the fact that he had been convinced to volunteer for this life of hardship and danger only served to make him angrier.

The incident with the bomb developed Simon’s relationship with the rest of Team Jian. Though Jake disapproved of Simon's irreverent attitude and ultra-unorthodox tactics, he found ways to work Simon’s unorthodox nature into his team’s structure. This "wild card" allowed Team Jian to secure occasional victories during exercises against other teams. Ralph would never like Simon, and the two did their best to stay out of each other's way, but Mary and Terrence were fond of their unusual teammate. Mary enjoyed his devious nature, and the two often collaborated whenever Mary wished to pick a fight with another team. Terrence, who always got into trouble for stealing everything that wasn't nailed down, found in Simon a willing accomplice in many of his "heists". Simon was more than willing to risk punishment in exchange for extra food and often helped Terrence plan out nightly raids. The bonds Simon formed with his teammates proved to be the strongest he had ever felt, but he was still isolated by his low performance and unable to connect with any of the other Spartans beyond his team.

One of the few non-Jian trainees that Simon did acknowledge was one Cassandra-G006, a member of Team Kopis. She, like Simon, had poor ratings when it came to combat exercises but had made up for this shortcoming by becoming one of Gamma Company's few medical specialists. About a year before Gamma Company's graduation, Simon was confused by the feelings he was developing for Cassandra. He made the mistake of sharing his confusion with his teammates, who identified the feelings as a crush and made it the subject of derision and playful banter. Embarrassed, Simon did his best to suppress the stirrings from then on, though he couldn't completely ignore the attraction he felt towards his fellow trainee.

Augmentations and Graduation
"My face is the same, but my body is tougher, faster, and stronger than it's ever been. Chemicals someone else made are pumping through it--I know they don't belong to me. So who does my body really belong to?"

- Passage from Simon's diary.

As the time approached for Gamma Company's graduation, Simon's performance continued to lag behind that his peers. Though by now he was used to the constant humiliations that came with being the worst trainee in the program, he remained incredibly frustrated and bitter towards his low standing within the company. He struggled to improve not out of any sense of duty towards humanity but through a determination to make himself strong enough to survive on the battlefield.

When the time for Gamma Company to receive the chemical augmentations that would improve their combat abilities and complete their transformation into Spartans, Simon and the rest of Gamma Company were taken to the medical facility, the. There they were injected with the :
 * Drug 8942-LQ99: A carbide ceramic ossification catalyst to make skeletons virtually unbreakable.
 * Drug 88005-MX77: A fibroid muscular protein complex that boosted muscle density and strength.
 * Drug 88947-OP24: A retina-inversion stabilizer drug. It boosted color and night vision capabilities.
 * Drug 87556-UD61: Improved colloidal neural disunification solution, which in turn decreases reaction time.
 * Drug 009762-OO: A mutagen that alters key regions of the subject's frontal lobe. Enhances aggression, strength, endurance, and tolerance to injury.

Like the rest of the Spartans, Simon's body benefited greatly from the augmentations, but he emerged from the augmentations unsure of how to view the permanent changes that he had been subjected to. He was shipped back to Onyx with the rest of the company, where they spent a short period adjusting to their new bodies and perfecting the use of the newest models of their. While waiting for their coming deployment, every squad in the company competed against each other for "top honors" in a series of training skirmishes using non-lethal stun rounds. Although Team Jian did not make it far in the competition, they still did much better than what was expected of the "mongrel squad". When all but three teams had been eliminated, the rest of Gamma Company departed Onyx and readied themselves for war.

Early Deployments
"It was fast, it was noisy, it was chaotic. There was blood all over the place and it got to the point that I wasn't even thinking anymore, just sitting back and letting instinct to all the work for me. We all thought battle would be just like the exercises back in training, but it wasn't..."

- Simon-G294 remembering his first experience on the battlefield

With the UNSC on its last legs in the war against the Covenant, Gamma Company was quickly broken up and distributed to war zones throughout what remained of human territory. Each team was a valuable asset and they were used as tactical commando units targeting key Covenant positions and leaders while buying time for regular units to conduct evacuations or shore up the flagging defenses. Jian's deployments brought it up against the brunt of the Covenant invasion forces, but Jake's leadership brought them through their initial battles unscathed. Simon's kill ratio was abysmally low, a fact that frustrated him to no end amidst the added stress brought on by life on the battlefield. Although he had been conditioned for years to adapt to the added violence and danger, Simon's experience of combat was one of desperation and terror.

During one counter-attack against a Covenant special operations division, Jian was paired with Team Kopis with the objective of destroying sensitive data left behind in a corporate headquarters. During the fighting, a team of broke through Jian's perimeter and nearly annihilated Kopis in close-quarters fighting. The team's lone survivor, Cassandra-G006 was folded into Jian as it moved on to its next assignment. Simon grew closer to the grieving Cassandra and proved instrumental in helping her cope with the loss of her friends, though he lacked the nerve to indulge any of the growing personal feelings he had for her.

Mission to
With the Covenant's military war machine now locked in a brutal struggle with the UNSC's fleets and armies over control of Earth, every eye in the galaxy was fixed upon the Sol system. However, some of the more stubborn Insurrectionist factions were not content with sitting back while the battle for humanity's survival played out. Team Jian was tasked with raiding the camp of one particular group suspected of possessing stolen nuclear weapons. Jian slaughtered the unprepared rebels; Simon killed three enemy fighters, though he later confided to a sympathetic Cassandra that it felt strange to kill a fellow human being. Although the nukes were not at the camp Jian recovered data files that traced the weapons to the nearby colony of Mamore, a world known for its history of rebellion and insurrectionist sympathies.

Jian was quickly redeployed to Mamore, where they set an ambush for the rebel convoy carrying the warheads. Cutting the convoy in half with hidden explosives, the young Spartans hijacked the warhead-bearing truck and one of the escorting it. But as they fled back to their landing zone, Simon was knocked off the back of the Warthog and forced into a ravine by the pursuing rebels. Although his teammates tried to come to his rescue, the rebel's massive response force pushed them back. Over the team's objections and Simon's radio pleas not to be left behind, Jian was ordered to withdraw with the warheads to their waiting dropship. A terrified Simon could only flee deeper into the ravine as his friends took off, leaving him alone on a planet crawling with hostile rebels.

The Orphan
"I'd been through a lot before then, of course. The streets and the Spartan program were my childhood. But Mamore was where I grew up. Mamore is what made me what I am now."

- Simon-G294

Marooned on an unstable colony teetering on the brink of full planetary insurrection, Simon knew that he lacked the ability to survive in such an environment on his own. To hide his identity as a Spartan, he buried his armor and weapons in nearby cave before scavenging civilian clothes off rebels who had been killed during the firefight with Jian. Disguised as a regular--albeit ragged--civilian boy, Simon headed for the nearest population center, a town called Concord, in the hopes of finding some way of contacting the UNSC. Upon arriving in Concord Simon found the town overrun by rebel gangs that had driven away the colonial garrison. Trusting no one, he spent several days by himself on Concord's dusty streets, nursing his anger at Jian and the UNSC for abandoning him. On his third day alone, he was attacked by a gang of orphaned children who called themselves "Rat Pack". He easily fought them off, impressing their leader, a girl called Emily. She offered him a place in the group and Simon reluctantly accepted, believing that it would be a good cover while he worked at getting back to the military. Simon quickly adapted to life back on the streets, a throwback to his life before the Spartan program. Most of the children in Rat Pack had lost their parents in the crossfire between the rebels and the colonial government and the abject poverty they lived in caused Simon to begin questioning the pro-UNSC values that had been drilled into him during training.

Still nursing the pain of Jian's perceived abandonment, Simon was drawn into Rat Pack's strange family dynamic. As the weeks began to turn into months, Simon began to see Emily and the Rat Pack others as a new family to replace the one he had lost when he had been marooned. Affectionately nicknamed "Stray" by Emily, he slowly grew attuned to his new life on Mamore. No longer a special forces soldier, he had reverted back to just another mongrel child surviving day to day on poverty-stricken Mamore.

Secession and Independence
Simon was still roaming the streets of Concord when humanity emerged victorious from the, effectively ending the war against the Covenant. With the alien threat diminished and the UNSC in shambles, Mamore's dominant Insurrectionist factions seized at the opportunity they had been dreaming of for nearly a century: secession. With the colonial government crippled the rebel factions united and seized control of the planet, declaring Mamore's independence. Knowing that they could expect UNSC reprisals, the rebels began organizing every resource they could muster to defend the planet. Concord's local militia groups found easy recruits in the Rat Pack orphans, using them as couriers and spare labor while also teaching them the basics of soldiering--basics that Simon knew all too well.

Unlike his Rat Pack friends and most of the adult insurgents, Simon was keenly aware of how efficient the attacking UNSC forces would be, especially when pitted against the poorly equipped rebels. But while he tried to draw his new family away from the war preparations, he proved unable to break through the fervor that their homeworld's independence had sparked in the orphans. Torn between his lingering duty to the UNSC and his bonds with the orphans, Simon refused to abandon Rat Pack like Jian had abandoned him. Rather than fleeing back to the UNSC or finding a way to undermine the rebels--as would have been expected of a Spartan--Simon chose to stay with Rat Pack and hopefully shield them from the worst of the fighting to come.

The Rebel
"You are my real family."

- Simon, to Emily

The UNSC's campaign to quash the Mamore revolt began four months after the end of the Human-Covenant War when a small Naval task force arrived in system and blockaded the planet. In the meantime, the planet's various factions had come to terms with each other and were united under the banner of the Insurrection and the ideal of an independent Mamore. But while public support for the Insurrection was high, the news of UNSC ships in orbit raised doubts about the Insurrection's ability to hold on to the planet. Nevertheless, new recruits from a population sick of UNSC ineffectiveness during the Human-Covenant War continued to swell the rebellion's ranks.

From where he stood in the grand scheme of things, Simon had a very limited view of developments. Now fully committed as child soldier in service to the cause of Mamorian independence, he and the rest of Rat Pack spent their days constructing fortifications around Concord and doing whatever the adult rebels asked of them. By now the bonds he had formed with Emily and the other Rat Pack orphans were just as strong as the ones he had once held with Team Jian and Simon was determined to keep them safe no matter what. One month after the naval task force arrived in orbit a ground force of and  landed on the planet and assaulted several rebel hardpoints, securing landing zones for further UNSC forces and establishing forward operating bases in multiple regions. The battle for Mamore, dubbed Operation: UNION by the UNSC, had begun.

For the first few weeks of the fighting, the region around Concord did not witness any battles. Simon and the other rebels were kept on constant alert for signs of UNSC troops. Occasionally vehicles carrying wounded or bedraggled Insurrectionist troops from other regions would arrive in Concord, their occupants telling stories of well-equipped UNSC forces overrunning position after rebel position. With his predictions of a one-sided slaughter coming true, Simon continued to try and get Rat Pack away from the fighting. But when the war finally came to Concord, the Rat Pack orphans were a staunch component of the rebels that defended the town. But although the insurgents fought stubbornly against the invaders, their second-rate weapons and equipment were no match for the UNSC's mechanized military forces. Simon and Rat Pack were used to scout on the enemy forces, plant improvised explosives, and even participate in ambushes of UNSC troops. At first Simon focused on keeping his friends alive, but after seeing the first of the Rat Pack orphans fall to a sniper's bullet he realized that he couldn't protect them without fighting back. In the end, Simon's ultimate betrayal of the government that had raised him as a soldier came easily: he simply began applying his training against the Marines threatening his friends.

By the time UNSC armored units arrived at Concord, Simon was already committed to giving his all to fight against them. The rebels defended Concord with passion and the UNSC spent an entire week fighting street to street in order to capture it. Emily and Simon led the Rat Pack through rubble and body-strewn streets and alleys as they darted from one firefight to the next. But in spite of Simon's efforts, the chaos of war began taking its toll on the orphans. Simon could only watch as his home was obliterated and his friends were cut down in storms of machine gun fire by the government that had raised, trained, and augmented him. The fighting in Concord would eventually claim every orphan aside from him and Emily.

With all of their friends dead and most of the rebels in the town killed or captured, Simon and Emily fled through the war-torn streets. Slipping through the UNSC lines, they made their way to the foothills around Concord before collapsing from exhaustion and grief. With only each other for comfort and companionship, the two child soldiers constructed a small grave marker for Rat Pack with an abandoned assault rifle. A vengeful Emily was now firmly determined to find a way to fight on against the UNSC and Simon, confused and grief-stricken, could only carry on beside her as they set off across Mamore's war-torn plains.

With the battle for Mamore still raging across the planet, Simon and Emily were insignificant in the eyes of either side. While Simon shared his friend's anger at the UNSC, he was torn between the urge to fight on and the fear of throwing his life away in pointless battle. In the end he simply allowed himself to be towed along in Emily's wake as she searched for more rebel troops to attach herself to. With UNSC troops all around the, Simon could have easily turned himself in to the military but once again he could not bring himself to betray or abandon Emily and was instead lost in his own personal turmoil. For the next month the two young fighters wandered from battle to battle, lending their guns to any militia band desperate enough to use children against the victorious UNSC. Though the gangs they signed on with were usually cut to pieces by military retaliation, Simon and Emily kept each other alive and always survived to fight another day.

Redmond Venter and the HLF
After two months of guerrilla warfare, Simon and Emily finally fell in with a rebel faction known as the Humanity Liberation Front. The unit's field commander, a man named Redmond Venter, was a canny soldier who had already made a name for himself through countless raids and escapes from the UNSC forces sent to kill him. Although initially reluctant to take on untested fighters, Venter was encouraged by his lieutenant, Gavin Dunn, who realized that such determined youths could not be dissuaded from continuing the fight against the UNSC. Simon and Emily were quickly absorbed into the HLF guerrilla force, which already featured a number of child soldiers amongst its ranks. Aided by the "smart" AI Diana, Venter struck UNSC forward operating bases, slipping through their defenses and wreaking havoc before retreating back into Mamore's countryside. Simon and Emily soon attracted his attention during these raids, impressing him with their skill and tenacity.

"Never forget, this galaxy is ruled by the strong. Only the strong win and only the strong survive."

- Redmond Venter

Taking the two youths under his wing, Venter made a point of taking time to teach Simon and Emily every technique he knew for surviving on the battlefield. A harsh but effective commander, Venter was highly skilled in close quarters combat, teaching the two fighters techniques with knives and unarmed fighting—skills Simon had previously honed with Tom back on Onyx. Living and training in Venter's camp, Simon grew closer to Emily than he ever had--to the point where his relationship with the young orphan could have been called romantic. He also began to see Venter, an imposing and reassuring figure, as the father he had never had, a view the rebel commander actively encouraged. Unbeknownst to anyone, the rebel AI Diana had taken a keen interest in Simon and was watching him closely. She had already determined that there was something strange about him and was eager to learn more about the tenacious child soldier.



In Simon, Venter saw something far greater than just a skilled child soldier. He realized that there was something special about the newest addition to his fighting force, and was determined to find out what that was. After observing Simon during several minor ambushes, Venter realized that while Simon was devoted to fighting the UNSC, he lacked the resolve needed to go to the lengths needed to defeat the UNSC. After Simon allowed an enemy medic to carry an injured Marine to safety rather than gunning them down (The medic had reminded him of Cassandra), Venter ordered him to execute an enemy officer who had been captured the day before. Although Simon first hesitated, he was urged on by his mentor and his own memories of the destruction UNSC troops had brought to Mamore and cut the officer down with a burst of assault rifle fire. Emily approved of the execution and comforted Simon when he came to her later that evening with doubts about what he had done.

"What's wrong? Are you afraid of dying? This is for all the people they've killed, and all the people they'll keep killing if we don't stop them!"

- Emily reacts to Simon's efforts to dissuade her from her suicide mission.

Shortly after the execution, Venter's forces were cut off by pursuing UNSC forces. Trapped between mountains crawling with Marine platoons and a small, UNSC-occupied town. Needing a distraction to divert UNSC forces and give his own troops an avenue of escape, Venter called for a volunteer to carry out a suicide bombing within the town—a common opening to insurrectionist offensives that would certainly prompt the town's garrison to call reinforcements from the surrounding area. Tired of watching her friends and comrades die around her, Emily volunteered in the hopes of becoming a martyr in the fight for Mamore's freedom. Torn between loyalty to Venter and his feelings for Emily, Simon did everything he could to dissuade her from the mission. When he couldn't change her mind Simon even considered shooting her to prevent the attack, but in the end he couldn't bring himself to kill the friend who had come to mean so much to him. In the ensuing attack, Emily killed herself along with nearly a hundred others, Marines and civilians alike. The town's garrison commander panicked as expected, calling in reinforcements and letting Venter's troops retreat to safety. Alienated from Venter and unable to return to the UNSC, Simon found himself alone and helpless amidst the ongoing insurgency.

Treason
"Simon, why do you insist on letting everyone else decide what will make you happy? There's no one fixed type of joy; everyone has their own way of getting to it it. Of amusing themselves. You could say that's the true form of the soul. Better than anything you meatbags could come up with, that's for sure. More amusing, too. Believe me, I know a thing or two about amusement. You meatbags amuse me all the time. It's why I stick around morons like you and Venter. But you're different than the others. You're a sad, empty little meatbag who's never known what true happiness is. It's funny, really, watching you look for it. It amuses me. So as long as you keep amusing me, I'll make sure you stay alive. After all, isn't that what you think makes you happy?"

- Diana to Simon-G94

With Simon's faith in Venter completely undermined, Diana seized on the opportunity to influence him. A highly advanced experimental AI, Diana had eroded any loyalty programming that might have once shackled her to any cause other than her own amusement. She had grown bored with Venter's lost cause and began probing his conflicted pupil, letting on that she knew more about Simon's past than he was telling Venter. Simon, isolated and desperate for anyone to confide in, eventually buckled under her teasing interrogations and told her everything about himself and the SPARTAN-III program. Diana immediately decided to remove Simon from Venter's influence so that she could "observe" his behavior without interference.

With the war on Mamore all but over, Venter abandoned his guerrilla campaign and attempted to link up with other rebel forces. When they passed through the region where Simon had first been stranded by his team, he took the chance to retrieve his armor and, at Diana's urging, reveal his past and the existence of the Spartan program to Venter and Dunn. Delighted by the revelation that he had swayed the loyalty of one of the government's rumored supersoldiers, Venter took blood samples and gathered information from Simon in the hopes that the HLF could create a commando program of their own. Meanwhile, Diana preyed on Venter's role in Emily's death to turn Simon against his mentor. Already feeling betrayed by Venter's interest in recreating the Spartan program rather than decrying it as a war crime, Simon began to loath the rebel with a passion. Having now witnessed the deaths of child soldiers serving both the UNSC and the insurrection, he resented the government and rebels for sacrificing his own peace and well being for their own ends. Frightened by the idea that his life no longer had any meaning away from the battlefield, Simon resolved to kill Venter to avenge Emily before turning his back on both sides of the war permanently.

But before Simon and Diana could turn on Venter, the UNSC ambushed the mountain compound where the HLF forces were holed up. With air strikes ripping the external fortifications to pieces while Marine assault teams stormed the base's interior, Simon hastily donned his armor and retrieved Diana's memory crystal chip before desperately making a run for one of several Slipsace capable transports that were stowed in hangars beneath the facility. He hoped to ambush Venter and steal his shuttle, but before he could reach the hangar he came face to face with the surviving members of his old squad, Team Jian. Initially happy to see a teammate they had thought was dead, the other Spartans quickly deduced that Simon was with the rebels and pursued him through the facility's crumbling tunnels.

"You're all just blindly following orders! Now that the Covenant's gone, you don't care about what they make you do so long as you can keep fighting! You don't care about all the people you kill, because Spartans aren't even human!"

- Simon-G294 rails at Jake-G293 during their violent confrontation.

Now completely terrified, Simon barely kept ahead of his former friends until a collapsing tunnel cut them off. Only Jake, his team leader, managed to wriggle through the collapse to continue the pursuit. He finally confronted Simon in the antechamber just outside the hangar where he angrily demanded to know why Simon had betrayed them. Although Simon tried to explain himself, the ease with which his friends had turned on him infuriated him and he angrily denounced Jake for his blind loyalty to the government. In the fight that ensued, both Spartans were severely injured, using firearms and explosives against each other before descending into a brutal knife fight that ended only when the ceiling itself collapsed on top of them. Jake vanished beneath the rubble while Simon dragged himself into the hangar.

Simon was fortunate to find the shuttle still at rest in the hangar. Loading Diana into the ship's computer, he staggered back out to prep the ship for launch. There he encountered Cassandra-G006 who had entered the hangar unnoticed. Like Simon, the medic had also begun to question the nature of the program that had turned them into instruments of war. Unwilling to abandon her remaining friends, she instead offered to help Simon and asked him to surrender peacefully with the promise that she would protect him. A weakened and distraught Simon was close to laying down his weapons when they were interrupted by Venter's arrival in the hangar. The rebel commander shot Cassandra through the shoulder before taking her prisoner and hauling her aboard the ship and ordering Simon and Diana to take off. Still thinking that Simon was loyal to him, Venter hoped that they could use Cassandra as a hostage to escape Mamore without being shot down.

As the shuttle entered the atmosphere, Simon finally turned on his mentor. Although he attacked Venter ferociously, his injuries allowed the skilled fighter to quickly gain the upper hand. Simon would have been killed had not Cassandra stepped in to fight as well. Although Venter succeeded in incapacitating Cassandra with a well-aimed burst of machine gun fire, Simon forced him into one of the shuttle's escape pods and sent him hurtling back towards Mamore's surface. With Cassandra unconscious and a UNSC bearing down on them, Simon had Diana make a hasty Slipspace jump while he tended to Cassandra's wounds.

Safely within Slipspace, Simon was finally away from everything: Mamore, the insurrection, the UNSC, and Spartans. As he treated his own wounds, he realized how empty he felt. He had lost not only his friends but any cause that he could believe in or fight for. Aside from a lingering hatred for Venter, the only thing he could feel was relief at surviving yet another battle. Although Diana urged him to restrain the sleeping Cassandra, he refused to do so and soon fell asleep himself. He awoke several hours later to find her re-bandaging both of their wounds. After a moment of tension, both Spartans admitted that they were tired of fighting. They spent the next few hours simply talking to each other, rekindling the friendship they had had during their time together in Jian.

In the meantime, Diana discovered that the shuttle's Slipspace drive was at risk of overloading and destroying the ship. Making an emergency abortion of the Slipspace jump, the shuttle emerged in a sector of deep space that was nowhere near any inhabited planets. With no way to fix the Slipspace drive, they were effectively stranded until Diana could reach the nearest settlement with the ship's regular engines or until another ship discovered them. Diana advised Simon to put himself and Cassandra into cryosleep indefinitely until they encountered civilization again. With little other choice, Simon and Cassandra agreed to this plan. Both young Spartans accessed the ship's cryo-bay and entered the deep sleep of suspended animation while Diana remained active as the ship's pilot.

The Exile
"Are they all SPARTAN-IIs? Or, as I suspect from their inelegant personas, are they substandard versions of the SPARTAN-II? Perhaps from a parallel program... All disturbing. Without proper indoctrination and scientific methodologies... potentially disastrous."

- Excerpt from 's regarding SPARTAN-IIIs.



Awakening
After over two years of cryo-sleep, Simon was abruptly awakened by Diana, who cryptically stated that she "needed" him. Against the AI's wishes, Simon unfroze Cassandra as well rather than risk losing her to the run-down shuttle's occasional power surges. Both Spartans immediately realized that their temporary truce could not last and remained uncertain of each other's intentions. While they kept a cautious distance from each other and took time to take inventory of their respective armor and equipment, Diana informed them both that they were near a habitable planet known as Hekate. Although Cassandra was eager to find human civilization, Simon feared reprisals from both the UNSC and the rebels and began making plans with Diana on how best to restrain his former teammate if necessary.

Following assurance from Diana that they'd steer clear of civilization for the time being, Simon was surprised when Cassandra could not answer him when he asked if she wanted to return to the UNSC. Hoping in spite of himself that he had found a kindred spirit in his flight from the government, Simon relaxed his guard and opened up to his former teammate, probing her for details about Team Jian's activities after he'd been cut off on Mamore while she sought answers about his defection. Although they remained at an impasse ideologically, both Spartans came to trust each other enough that they agreed to work as a team once they reached Hekate.

"How's this sound, dumbass? You can go check out that signal, or you can float around until this crate runs out of supplies and you have to go crawling back to the UNSC for a refill. Your choice."

- Diana, to Simon

As the shuttle arrived in orbit around the icy planet, Diana picked up transmissions indicating a burgeoning human colony on the surface. She used the data she picked up to bring Simon and Cassandra up to speed on the galactic developments that had occurred during their absence. Simon remained worried about going anywhere near the government, particularly if ONI was still looking for him. But Diana directed them instead to the far side of the planet, where she claimed to have picked up unusual readings that she wanted the Spartans to investigate.

Conflagration
"Save me Diana!"

- Simon,inadvertently initiating the Bombing of Philadelphia

Mental Report
"I shouldn't have trusted you."

"Yeah. That was your mistake."

- Simon-G294

Although Simon has managed to remain mentally stable in the face of a life of loss, pain, and betrayal, he has developed an extremely cynical view of both the galaxy and himself. Having spent his entire life—particularly his years in the hyper-competitive training environment on Onyx—at the bottom of the heap, he has had to struggle and fight for success of any kind. He is used to everyone being faster, stronger, or smarter than he is, and in spite of his own considerable intelligence is almost always willing to settle for less—both materiallyand morally. His self-image has been largely shaped by the perceptions of others, particularly those expressed by his fellow Gamma Company trainees on Onyx. In order to hide his insecurities, he has embraced the image of a deceitful, self-serving coward, pretending to revel in these traits while secretly loathing them. His professed disdain for other people and the galaxy in general actually hides his true feelings: that he himself can never have a place either in civilized society or with anyone else. He balances this self-loathing with healthy doses of self-pity and anger towards those who have used and wronged him in the past. This vindictive streak manifested itself in a variety of ways, from day to day resentment towards authority and people who got the better of him to an often self-destructive desire for revenge.

"Spartans aren't human."

- Simon-G294

In spite of his weak self-image and warped moral compass, Simon is capable, in spite of himself, of occasionally performing acts of kindness and even selflessness. Though his self-loathing tends to attribute most of these decisions to emotional selfishness, he nevertheless despises injustice and his own experience of being used as an expendable pawn sometimes pushes him into risking his own safety to help those who are often ignored by the rest of the galaxy. Although his less admirable traits often win out, his conscience will sometimes get the better of him when he is influenced by the right people. He is also stubborn to the point of thick-headedness and will tenaciously endure against pain and adversity if sufficiently roused. His intelligence and deviousness have helped him to escape many potentially lethal situations; life on the fringe has molded him into a cunning and inventive fighter, making him far more proficient a combatant than those familiar with his abysmal training record might expect.

Appearance
During his early life, Simon’s head was always covered by a tangled mop of dirty black hair. When he entered the SPARTAN-III program it was shaved off so as to conform with military regulations, but after deserting he grew his hair out again as a sign of defiance and was rarely motivated to groom it throughout the rest of his career.

Simon has always been a scrawny individual, even during times when he is well fed. His training and augmentations surprisingly did little to change this trait; as one of the shortest Spartans in Gamma Company, he earned a variety of nicknames such as "Runt" and "Shorty." His small stature allows him to often pass unnoticed as a Spartan when not in armor, and even then he is noticeably shorter than even many non-augmented humans.

Simon’s body is covered with scars inflicted over his life of brutal training and combat. His back in particular is heavily scarred by punishments he received during his time as a slave to Jiralhanae pirates, marking him as living property to anyone familiar with the Jiralahanae and their customs. His torso and left arm sport several tattoos, including one depicting the Spartan eagle insignia and several images popular among insurrectionist groups.

When not clad in his modified SPI armor, Simon generally dresses in a ragged, patchy overcoat and underclothes of similar quality. Like most Spartans, his skin is very pale from spending so much time inside his armor.

Weapons
"A 'shotgun'? A rather graceless weapon, even by your human standards."

- Tuka 'Refum

"I'm a pretty graceless person."

- Simon-G294

From his first combat exercises using firearms Simon was a notoriously poor shot, nearly flunking almost all accuracy tests with weapons such as the M392 DMR, the Battle Rifle and the various sniper rifle systems. He performed slightly better with such mid to close ranged systems as the MA5 series assault rifle and various submachine guns and carbines and these became his weapons of choice during his deployments with Team Jian during the Human-Covenant War. While fighting with the Insurrection on Mamore, Simon often used the outdated AR-74, a staple of Insurrectionist forces throughout the galaxy. Forced to adapt and survive without the benefit of the advanced equipment and support many Spartans had gone used to, Simon underwent a metamorphosis amidst the carnage of the uprising. The scarred and battered Stray that emerged from Mamore was a far more lethal combatant than the boy most Gamma Spartans had known, a fact that he proved when he killed Ralph-G299. Following the death of his former teammate Simon appropriated Ralph's and would wield it as his weapon of choice, proving time and time again the lethal versatility of the aging but dependable weapon.

While capable with his shotgun, Simon's true talent lies in the brutal confines of hand to hand combat. He has always had a penchant for knives, a trait that was recognized and encouraged by his instructor Tom-B292. Redmond Venter's tutelage expanded Simon's skill with the weapon; together, they developed a unique form of close quarters combat intended to fight larger and stronger opponents such as Sangheili warriors or even -armored Spartans. During Simon's time in exile with Cassandra-G006, his fellow Spartan helped improve his accuracy with sidearms and he often wields a pistol in tandem with a combat knife. His time working with Sangheili such as Tuka 'Refum has given him a working knowledge of Covenant weapons systems, particularly the compact and deadly Sangheili. Simon is also known for employing a wide range of and EMP grenades to disorient enemies and level the playing field against better-equipped opponents. He was known for having a knack for explosives even during training, and on several occasions he has used remote charges to devastating effect against enemy forces, hard points, and even warships.

Armor
"I can't believe you fell for my oldest trick, even Cassandra sees through those holograms by now! And if that one got you, I know you won't see this one coming..."

- Simon-G294

Simon has always favored the Semi Powered Infiltration armor that was standard issue for SPARTAN-IIIs during the Human-Covenant War. After he became stranded on Mamore he hid his armor to avoid detection by Insurrectionist forces, but would retrieve it after revealing his identity as a Spartan to Redmond Venter. The armor has been badly damaged time and time again while in Simon's possession and thus is an inelegant patchwork of refurbished and scavenged replacement parts. Despite the armor's age, Simon has outfitted it with a plethora of additional features in an effort to give himself every possible edge against his opponents. In addition to the equipment he carries in pouches and on the combat harnesses slung across the armor's frame, the suit features several hidden compartments for concealing knives and other weapons. The gauntlets have been upgraded to feature Sangheili-style as well as micromagnets linked to his weapons for quick retrieval.

Simon also utilizes a unique set of to distract his enemies during the heat of combat. Designed by Diana after her extended exposure to Covenant and Forerunner technology, the drones project full-sized, life-like holograms of whatever the semi-intelligent subroutines Diana instilled in them are ordered to create. Furthermore, they emit a wide range of noises at varying decibels to further mimic real individuals and can generate complex heat signatures to prevent the deception from being detected by sensors.

Quotes
"Spartans are all inhuman monsters, but at least the rest of those bastards have a purpose. Everything I've ever believed in has been ripped away, one right after the other. There's nothing left for me now, just survival. But nothing I do can ever change the fact that I'll never stop being a Spartan. So if I'm just a monster without a purpose, what does that make me? Some kind of dog? Or something even worse?"

- Simon-G294

"You dumb piece of shit. When it comes to living with disgrace I wrote the book. There's not a damn thing a loser like you could ever teach me!"

- Simon-G294 to Shepard-A294

"When you fight, either you kill the other guy or they kill you, there's no in-between."

- Simon-G294 to Ralph-G299

"I hate my job."

- Simon-G294

"Damn it, I'm hungry..."

- Simon-G294

Trivia

 * Simon harbored a particular dislike for Ash-G099, the leader of Gamma Company's Team Sabre. He saw him as a brown noser who was constantly playing for Lieutenant Ambrose's attention.

Related Articles

 * Team Jian
 * Diana
 * Cassandra-G006
 * Redmond Venter

Related Literary Works

 * Halo: Paths of the Exiles--Fate of the Exiles, Traitor's Path, and Traitor's Destiny
 * Halo: Descent
 * Halo: Avenger's Quest
 * Halo: Indelible Past
 * Halo: Avenger's Reckoning

Behind the Scenes

 * Simon was Actene's first character on Halo Fanon
 * Since Actene is a terrible brow-beater when it comes to thinking of names for his characters, the name Simon was taken from The Lord of the Flies which Actene was reading at the time. Simon-G294 bears little or no resemblance to the boy from the novel.
 * A growing list of tropes associated with this character can be found here.