Leonid-144

"There is something deeply unsettling about him. Hard to characterize; perhaps undefinable. I feel a deep, gnawing sense of trepidation when I think of the times I have spoken to him. A man as tightly bound by orders as any I have ever met, yet chillingly terrifying.  In your mind, you know he will listen to what you say and follow without question.  But in your soul, you feel as if you are staring at death himself."

- Codename: SUBMARINE.

Early Life
Born on the Frieden settled planet Arizona III, Leonid had his roots in the country of Germany in the Sol system. His mother was of Russian descent however, and she persuaded his father to name him Leonid after her ancestors. Leonid's parents were not a happy couple, and Leonid's father abused his mother. This prompted Leonid to become cold and isolated from his parents, which saddened his mother. This also caused Leonid to lose most ties to normal society.

During his early life, he was often shunned by the other children at the school, as he was antisocial and prone to burst of abrupt anger. He was no bigger than any other child, but he was far stronger, vicious, and intelligent. During Dr. Catherine Halsey's study of children for her SPARTAN-II program, he was noted in her original study for being an excellent specimen. He was scouted and observed by the office of naval intelligence, who were put under pressure from Halsey to keep a steady stream of up-to-date information. Halsey realized how fast children developed, which she had noted that the ONI did not, after getting a four month old picture of John-117.

Having been noted as an excellent potential subject, Halsey personally met with him at his school. This was a process that had been repeated with many other children, and he was one of the last to be inspected. During her inquiry, she found him to be of stunning intellect, and to have a very analytical mind. When she asked him the common question about if he liked to play games, he told her no, that he didn't, but he told her that he would humor her.

A month after the meeting, Leonid was quietly kidnapped in the night and replaced with a Flash Clone by ONI Section III operatives. He was unaware of what was happening until he was too far to do anything about it, and he gave in without a fight, more for curiosity then lack of willpower. After being rushed through slipspace, Leonid was escorted to a secure briefing room where he was told of what his new life would be like as a member of the SPARTAN-II program. Leonid was shocked, but was one of the few that took it in stride. Due to his cold and antisocial nature, he had never developed a strong or warm relationship with his parents, who were harsh and strict, and did not grieve losing them. Instead, he was intrigued with the possibility of a new, and more exciting life.

Leonid was as shocked and confused as the other children the next morning, and attempted to stand up to his instructors during the morning workout. However, all this did was earn him a jab in the gut with a stun baton, and he quickly realized he would be better off to lay low. Leonid was intrigued greatly by the Spartans at Thermoplayae, similar to the other trainees. During the time at the playground, Leonid was one of those who were fooled by the exercises. He was never very much of a team player, and abandoned his team at first time. However, due to a string of bad luck, he fell into the water below the playground. Leonid's team came in second to last however, just barely beating the team composed of John-117, Kelly-087, and Sam-034.

However, Leonid learned his lesson, and made great lengths to work less selfishly. However, he was never any less independent. Leonid trained as hard as anyone during the years, but his cold manner and short temper isolated him from the other trainees. He never made any friends, and he never let anyone get close to him. During training, Leonid became a proficient marksman and sniper, but his real skills were in tracking, assassination, ambushes, and an uncanny awareness of where the enemy would deploy and how they would fight. During training, he was occasionally given command of Red team, because on the rare occasions where he was given a command he successfully anticipated how well the enemy would fight. He risked his entire team on a maneuver that could have been a disaster, but turned out to be a stunning victory.

During training, the only person he allowed himself to like was their trainer, Chief Petty Officer Mendez. He respected his silence, his manner, and most of all his ruthlessness. Leonid grew especially ruthless as training progressed. However, despite his uniqueness, Leonid was no more important than any other Spartan, and didn't ever gain notoriety among his fellows. However, his isolation from the others did come to the attention of ONI Section 0. Leonid was often assigned to missions where he was alone, which focsued on survival skills. Leonid became an excellent ranger from this training, though it came at expense of bonding with his squadmates.

During a combat excersise where three SPARTAN-II teams were pitted against each other in free-ranged combat, Leonid was sent as a lure for Green Team. His team leader, Joshua-029, had laid an ambush, and Leonid was ordered to entice Green into this attack. The operation worked, and Green Team was eliminated, but a fight broke out between the SPARTAN Edward-077 and Leonid. Leonid severely wounded Edward, angering their team. Indeed, the injuries were extensive; Edward was knocked out cold, had his arms and nose broken, and had to briefly put in rehabilitation. After this, Leonid was banished from his team, and was labelled as losing the excersise.

Augmentation, and a Cover up
In March of 2525, the trainees of the SPARTAN-II program were augmented to with the following procedures to become stronger, faster, and better able to achieve victory.

1. Carbide ceramic ossification: advanced material: special metal and ceramic layers, grafting onto skeletal structure to make bones virtually unbreakable. Recommended coverage not to exceed 3 percent total bone mass because of significant white blood cell necrosis. Specific risk for pre- and near-post pubescent adolescents: skeletal growth spurts may cause irreparable bone pulverization.

2. Muscular enhancement injections: protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactase recovery time. Risk: 5 percent of test subjects experience a fatal cardiac volume increase.

3. Catalytic thyroid implant: platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues. Risk: rare instances of elephantiasis. Suppressed sexual drive.

4. Occipital capillary reversal: submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of subject’s retina. Produces a marked visual perception increase. Risk: retinal rejection and detachment. Permanent blindness.

5. Superconducting fabrication of neural dendrites: alteration of bioelectrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. Three hundred percent increase in subject’s reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity. Risk: significant instances of Parkinson’s disease and Fletcher’s syndrome.

However, as noted, these procedures were extremely risky. With a mortality rate of over half, the procedures heavily dented the SPARTANs ranks. Only thirty three came out well enough to fight; twelve were too injured to continue active duty, and thirty more were killed outright. In a seemingly anti-climactic flash of light, Leonid-144, a promising candidate, was among those who did not survive.

However, that was not the full truth. Official records stated that he was killed in augmentation when his bones grew so large that they ruptured the veins in his body. He was among thirty potential SPARTANs to die from augmentation, and was not a special case in the slightest. However, this was a lie. ONI Section 0, shadowy and mostly unknown, created a cover-up that he had been killed. They kidnapped him and replaced his body with a cloned one, and he was drafted into an ONI special project known as DAGGER. In Operation: DAGGER, he would become Section 0's private SPARTAN-II, able to be used to assassinate potential threats, and deal with traitors and informants within the UNSC's ranks.

He received little explanation for the event, but due to his extremely intelligent nature, he quickly began to grasp a glimpse of their plan. In the years ahead, he would fully uncover what they meant to do with him. Leonid was spirited to the ONI Section 0 Prowler Obscure Shade, where he was transported to one of ONI's deep space space stations, Deep Space Station #045191. He was fully trained in all UNSC space and ground vehicles, as well as those employed by the Insurrection, whom he would possibly be fighting. He soon became incredibly skilled as an assassin, and would be the perfect tool for Section 0 to use.

In 2527, after finishing his second wave of training given to him by Section 0, he was given a mission: hunt down a Section III officer that had gone rogue and was leaking funds to the insurrection. The man, due to considerable intelligence capability, caught whiff of the fact that Section 0 would soon eliminate him, and fled with few of his belongings, leaving behind a surprise for Leonid; dozens of Insurrectionist soldiers. However, Leonid was able to dispatch these enemies, and from files left behind, he captured vital intelligence on the movement of rebels in UNSC space. Interesting more was the fact that the evidence from the files suggested that three children were being trained as private SPARTAN-IIs by the rogue agent, in order to be his own personal soldiers and guardians. Finally, several documents confirmed that he had fled with them in tow.

Following a lead given to them by evidence in the house, Section 0 ordered Leonid to capture the governor of Eridanus II, who was suspected to be a rebel sympathizer. The evidence in the estate confirmed ONI suspicions, and an attack was planned. Leonid snuck into the house of the man and interrogated him, then brought him back to the command staff at Section 0. The man gave away valuable information, but not the location of their rogue agent. However, he did expose a dozen ONI agents who were supplying Intel to the Insurrection, and one even to the Covenant.

Over the course of six years, Leonid, at orders from Section 0, hunted down almost three dozen rogue agents, allies of the fugitive, and those who provided shelter for him. In 2533, a final lead to the rogue agent was found, and Leonid descended on the man. After being on the run for six years, the chase finally came to an end, and Leonid killed him in cold blood.

However, there was an unexpected side effect of the mission. Leonid confirmed the existence of the three children SPARTAN-IIs, trained and augmented in ways similar to the original SPARTANs, who had been tricked by the rogue agent into giving him protection. These children were brought back to the office of naval intelligence, who retrained them, and gave them the designation numbers of SPARTAN-458, 459, and 500. The reason for the choosing of these numbers is unknown. After this was over, Leonid continued to perform small sleuth, assassination, and kidnapping missions for Section 0. Through him, several illegal operations were shut down, including a bio-weapon capable of destroying entire species.

On one incident, Leonid was placed on a mission to assassinate a UNSC officer who had sold information to a group of rebels about troop movements. This information allowed the rebels to eliminate almost 50 marines with a series of explosive charges planted in a spaceport, also killing over 300 civilians. Section 0, furious, ordered Leonid to move in and kill the officer, who, intelligence indicated, was meeting with the rebels once again to discuss another transaction. Leonid tracked the officer to a city nightclub on the planet of Tribute, in the Epsilon Erindani System. After several days of formulating a plan, Leonid infiltrated the nightclub and set to work.

Once he located the traitor, who was meeting with the rebels, he called in a group of law enforcement officers who were highly trained. The police thought they were conducting a drug bust with the help of a Section III spook, and had no awareness of Leonid's plan. Leonid was able to, in the confusion, eliminate three rebel bodyguards and track down the officer, before he killed him. In the end, law enforcement suspected nothing (29 members of the nightclub were convicted of possession) and Section 0 eliminated the traitor effortelessly.

Triad
In early 2544, ONI Section 0 began to catch whiff of a sinister plot to up throw the UNSC. More distressing however, was the fact that this plot was reportedly coming from inside the Office of Naval Intelligence itself. Without a doubt, these conspirators had to be silenced. In late 2544, Section 0 began investigating members of Sections I, II, and III, to discover where these rumors came from. Around the same time, funds began being diverted from crucial projects to unnamed and unknown programs. Section 0 investigated this thoroughly, finding soon enough that these funds were being embezzled by members of Section Three, Subsection Gamma-Eight. Agents tracked these funds to Lacerta system, on Alpha Lacerta Alpha, a backwater swamp world just barely within the undestroyed range.

However, the agents were abruptly silenced after arriving at the planet. Section 0 dispatched Leonid aboard the Prowler Nor Hell's a Fury to recon the system. Leonid was however, shot down by a flock of Skyrocket-Class Fighters, craft normally crewed by rebels, but that were widely available due to low cost. After crashing in the swamps of the planet, he continued to move towards the base. There, he found something no one had expected. The conspirators had created an army of soldiers much like the SPARTAN-IIs and IIIs with their siphoned funds, and were in the process of training them. Their plan was easy to discover; use the super soldiers, code named NIGHTs, and stage a bloody coup of the UNSC leadership. The illegal project was more than they had feared.

Leonid stealthed his way into the facility, and found the main commander of the group. He assassinated the man, and then attempted to escape. However, word leaked out quickly, and the rest of the conspirators mobilized. Their timetable rapidly accelerated, and the assassinations of Margaret O. Parangosky, Danforth Whitcomb, Michael Stanforth, Roland Freemont, H.T. Ward, and Terrence Hood were approved within 5 days. All mentioned would be in a single meeting on Reach to discuss tactics against the Covenant, and NIGHT agents were already in position. Leonid escaped the training center with this knowledge, and transmitted to Section 0. However, by the time the transmission reached them, they had already dispatched all of their forces to far away to do any good.

Leonid was forced to infiltrate the compound, and he killed the NIGHT agent’s moments before they detonated a small bomb that would have killed off all of the above. With their plot foiled, the members of the conspiracy attacked in full force, revealing themselves to the world. However, Leonid managed to escape the chaos as the Conspiracy members clashed in open combat with marines, and he located the leader of the conspiracy, who was trying to flee. Having found the man, he proceeded to slit his throat, ending the threat once and for all.

In the following years, the incident would be heavily classified, and paraded as a rebel attack against UNSC leadership figures. In Section 0 however, the conspiracy was soon called Triad, due to a trio of leaders, and the incident made Section 0 ever more watchful. They would not be nearly outwitted ever again. The remaining NIGHTs who had survived the battle were rounded up and executed quietly for treason, despite never being an official part of the UNSC military.

Later Service
After Leonid showed his competence in full fledged combat, he was put on loan to the Office of Naval Intelligence, Section III, but his existence was kept heavily classified, especially from those such as Catherine Halsey and James Ackerson, who would undoubtedly try to use him for their own ends if he was ever discovered. He was also used as a plant for Section 0, informing them of everything he saw and heard, giving them a good view of what was going on in the rest of ONI. Leonid was often dispatched to execute guerilla warfare against the Covenant, and was considered to be a highly good scout. During extended ground campaigns, he would often be dispatched to go ahead of larger assault forces and assassinate Covenant commanders, making invasions and assaults much easier. Leonid was on Reach when it fell in 2552, and when HIGHCOM was attacked, he was forced to find shelter.

Leonid snuck his way into a Covenant camp, and used the grav-lift to enter an overhead ship that was dispatching troops. He snuck aboard by hiding in a cargo container, then exited and killed any covenant he encountered. Leonid made his way to the bridge of the ship, then killed the command crew and locked down the auxiliary bridge and locked the doors. He made his way to the shuttle bay, as the ship began to crash without pilots. Leonid escaped aboard a Spirit dropship, and managed to mimic a Covenant transmission well enough to get clearance to land on one of the Covenant ships orbiting reach. Ironically enough, the Covenant managed to repair the damage, but it provided a large enough distraction that the covenant ship took its time to fire when Fredric-104, Kelly-087, and Joshua-029 flew banshees at it and dropped a Fury Tac Nuke into it's gravity beam, saving Kelly 087 and Fredric-104's lives. This finally destroyed the Covenant ship.

After landing in the other Covenant ship, he stowed away in the cargo hold, where he hid for the next few weeks. Unknown to him, the ship followed the Master Chief's captured Ascendant Justice in a hunt for the forerunner crystal. The ship engaged in combat while in slipspace, and ultimately destroyed the Eridanus Secundus Asteroid Colony. After this, the ship returned to the Unyielding Hierophant to refuel and refit, and then was put on outer patrol duty. The ship was severely damaged when the Unyielding exploded, and Leonid was forced to move or be killed when fires began to consume his hiding spot. After killing the bridge crew aside from a scant handful of Grunts and Engineers, he ordered them to pilot the ship to High Charity, which he had learned of after overhearing two Elites.

The ship departed for High Charity with all due speed, but unfortunately for Leonid, the space station had just moved to the remains of Installation 04. Instead, the ship jumped to Sanghelios, but due to the transit time, from the core of human space, to the core of Covenant space, the ship did not arrive until November 5th, after the beginning of the Covenant Civil War. Leonid was met with a scene that confused him; Covenant ships (controlled by Elites and Brutes) were battling each other, and sections of the planet had been glassed. Just upon entering the system, the Brute forces open fired on Leonid's ship, thinking it to be Elite reinforcements due to it's inbound vector.

The opening salvo disabled the ship, and it crashed into the surface of the planet. The crater was immediately swarmed by elites, who believed it to be a Brute craft. However, Leonid evaded their strike teams, and then stole a banshee fighter to make his way to the HQ for the elite forces. Leonid infiltrated the command post and killed the leader of the resistance, prompting a head-hunt by Separatist forces. However, a Loyalist attack stalled the headhunt. Similar to John-117's actions on High Charity, Leonid fought both sides, before making his way to the center of the city where the HQ had been established and overloading a power supplying reactor. After escaping the city, he watched from a distance on a mountain top as the reactor exploded and destroyed both sides battling.

Leonid then hid in the mountains, hitting both sides from afar with sniper fire from his M99 Stanchion Gauss Sniper, taking out troops from both sides. In the meantime, the Elite forces were overrun and annhilated by the Brutes, and forced back to the same mountain where Leonid was hiding. Leonid was overrun by elite forces who strangely did not attempt to kill him, but rather take him alive. Leonid was captured, but to his surprise, he was not executed, and was rather informed of the shaky truce between the UNSC and the Separatists. Following this, he informed his captors-made-allies of his skills at assassination. They told him that most of the planet had been overrun by Jiralhanae forces, and that a San 'Shyuum priest, the Minister of Elegance, was orchestrating a religious campaign to kill the remaining Sangheili that had taken refuge in the mountains.

The Sangheili proposed a deal; kill off Elegance, and they would provide him with transportation off world. Leonid happily agreed, as he felt he needed to report back to Section 0 urgently. After being given weaponry by the Sangheili, as well as transportation past the Jiralhanae perimeter, he moved through the rocky and rough countryside of the mountains, avoiding combat, and sinking into his best areas of expertise. Elegance, a Minister, had taken refuge in a large city named Helios after the planet's special guards. A palace once owned by a wealthy Sangheili merchant, served as his thrown room, and was easily breach able. While Elegance was away from his guards, Leonid slit his throat, and escaped after planting an anti-matter bomb charge given to him by Sangheili soldiers.

The Loyalists, confused and disoriented with the death or Elegance, were easy prey for a Sangheili assault. The Separatists staged a lightning-fast surprise assault, using captured Wraiths to bombard Jiralhanae positions from afar, and ghosts and banshees to kill the brutal soldiers at closer range. Despite their fewer numbers, the Sangheili's good use of mechanized infantry proved extremely effective, and the Brutes were routed. Once the first stronghold was down, the Separatists were able to free enslaved and imprisoned allies, and lead a successful purging of the rest of the planet.

Peace...and new missions
After the planet was retaken, the Sangheili fulfilled their promise and gave him a Seraph modified with a slipspace drive. Using this ship, Leonid was able to return to UNSC controlled space, and find out what had happened since he had been gone. After returning to Earth and contacting one of the surviving Section 0 controllers, he was returned from his loan to Section 0, to work once again as their private SPARTAN. Leonid was debriefed by Section 0 on the events after Reach, and was sent out once again on different missions. In the wake of the Great War, as it was soon known as, humanity had a lot of rebuilding to do, and with much of its economic base destroyed with the lost colonies, it had little time to recover before the entire economy collapsed.

For this, many more colonies were created, with an emphasis on getting development of goods and other things back on track. The UNSC leased to dozens of private companies, and sent out dozens of colony ships with government funding for new factories, corporations, and businesses, effectively jump-starting the economy within a few short years, as well as making juggernauts out of former little known companies. The economic growth was a godsend; instead of economic collapse, there was instead unprecedented growth. In addition, limited Sangheili trade and intervention helped the UNSC stay on it's feet, a vital turn for humanity.

However, the years following the Great War were not all vast economic growth and the creation of new colonies. Rebellion, which had been a major problem for the UNSC before the start of the war but had been stalled by a shared enemy, flourished once more, and dozens of insurrectionist factions began popping up, screaming for independence, in most case violently. In addition to scattered rebels and pirates, several false companies backstabbed the UNSC, stealing the government funds that had been given to them to start their businesses and running to contested space. These were all factors in the assassinations of more than three hundred assorted men and women in the first fourteen years after the end of the war.

During these years, Leonid (once again on loan to Section III, after several requests) was dispatched hundreds of times to assassinate outspoken rebel leaders, backstabbing merchants, black-market weapons dealers looking to supply rebellions, and even corrupt CAA officials seeking to play both sides of rebellions. Leonid 's existence was once again kept classified from almost everyone within ONI and the UNSC. Even most of the people who issued him orders were unaware of his background or where he came from, and usually neglected to investigate, having already felt to have pushed their own luck with their receiving of a genuine SPARTAN-II.

In 2564, Leonid was called in by ONI Section III to assassinate outspoken rebel leader Eric Sylvina,who was the leader of the shield corporation. During the battle, Leonid infiltrated a rebel orbital station and killed the traitor, doing the UNSC a significant favor.

Leonid was involved in the assassinations of dozens of rebel leaders, and worked in joint cooperation with the 112th Naval Squadron during several campaigns against rebels, many of which are still highly classified under the ONI X-RAY DIRECTIVE. While the fighter pilots of the 112th flew bombing runs and distraction flights to draw attention, he would often infiltrate rebel bases and safe houses to kill important officials. The joint force between the 112th and Leonid was highly successful, but soon became impractical because the 112th's fame was endangering Leonid s secrecy. Despite this, Leonid would continue to work with them on isolated occasions’, most specifically in large scale battles where many different troops were involved and where he could stay in the shadows.

Eventually, near the 2570s, the civil unrest and economic backstabbing began to stop. By 2576, increased contact with the Remnant near the outer colonies made them ONI's biggest priority. At first, Section III seemed oblivious to the lesson learned during the Great War and deployed Leonid to the do recon and small surprise stealth attacks against the enemy, instead of using him for high profile assassinations. Despite the less than ideal missions, Leonid performed admirably, but did often fight worse when paired with other soldiers.

In 2577, at the approximate age of 45, Leonid was withdrawn from the Remnant front to work with the Covenant Separatists on training a new assassin soldier. The joint UNSC/Separatist project, codenamed HIRED GUN, was a project to train new Sangheili soldiers for the job of high profile assassination, recon, and ambush. Due to Leonid's experience in the field, ONI put him on loan to the Separatist SpecOpComm, or Special Operations Command, the detachment in charge of commando operations. These new soldiers, known during training and deployment as SOARs, for Special Operatives for Assassination and Reconaissance, were not augmented in any way, but received much more intensive training and much better equipment. Many aspects of the SOARs were modeled after Leonid, from tactics and strategies to equipment and weaponry.

After the training of the SOARs finished in 2585, Leonid was put back in the frontlines of the war, except this time, he was in charge of a squad of a dozen SOARs. Leonid had a disliking for the SOARs, and had always been hesitant about training them, but had accepted due to duty. Disregarding his personal anti-social nature however, the combined SOAR/ Leonid force proved to be highly effective. In battle, Leonid and his squadron would often go ahead of main offensives, and soften up the forces ahead by killing generals, squad leaders, and sometimes even religious figures.

However, this wasn't the only threat to the UNSC. A group known as the Covenant Rebels, a group of Sangheili who still hated the UNSC, began to attack, and Leonid was forced to let his SOARs take the battle to the Remnant and fight the Covenant Rebels instead. He was used similar as he was used in earlier conflicts; he would soften up enemy groups ahead by eliminating commanders and generals, as well as scouting and destroying key points for the UNSC.

After five years of fighting against the Covenant rebels, in 2600, the head of Section 0, who had pioneered Leonid's obduction, was retired by ONI. His replacement was somewhat less bent on secrecy, and he authorized Section 0 members to release classified files about Leonid to Section III. In addition, he abolished a rule Alick had established, and allowed Leonid to meet other SPARTAN-IIs and identify himself to them, if he had the chance. Howevever, other matters of secrecy were not lifted, and Leonid did not have the chance to meet other SPARTAN-IIs until much, much later.

The SPARTAN-IVs
In 2603, Leonid departed from the field of combat against the Remnant after receiving a cryptic note from a ONI operative on the world of Acturas, used commonly as a UNSC training and proving ground. After arriving, he was greeted by people from his long dead past--fellow SPARTANs.

On Acturas, Leonid was invited to take part in the training of the candidates for the SPARTAN-IV program. Once he was briefed by his fellow SPARTANs, he began to prepare to train the new recruits. He was put in charge of the training of the candidates in the manner of covert attack, stealth recon, covert sabotage, and even high profile elimination, becoming the effective "stealth schoolmaster" as christened by some young SPARTAN-IVs.

As a trainer, Leonid initially took the name of Egor, but soon abandoned it, as rumors of his true identity had quickly circulated among the young SPARTANs (his identity was also further revealed after The Battle of Kanna.) Leonid used his earlier training of the Special Operatives for Assassination and Recon (titled SOARs) as a base to work off of. During training, Leonid strived to replicate the work, manner, and training methods of the one person in his SPARTAN training who he had valued: Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendoza.

During training, Leonid was tough and sometimes cruel to the recruits, gaining a reputation as a hard, take no shit instructor, much as Mendez had with the SPARTAN-IIs. He did this to prepare the troops for the ultimate rigors of warfare—the pain, the hurt, the loss, the sheer terror experienced in combat. He taught his troops, and training them to be unbreakable, or as near as a human being could become. He would torture them for days at a time to make pain their best friend, to make them comfortable with agony beyond endurance. He would make his recruits face their worst fears, and more--he would discover what made his recruits tick, and break them down, and reform them. Leonid would search for their weaknesses and destroy them, and he would search for their strengths and test them, grind them down, and learn their limits, and push these past the SPARTAN-IV's endurance. Leonid would also humiliate and embarrass the SPARTANs, drawing flak from his fellows as he did so—but to make sure that they would be afraid of nothing, not even their peers.

Over the course of the seven years he was training them, Leonid trained recruits in all manners of covert warfare, from outright attack to observance to high value target elimination. Leonid trained them with every facet of fighting he knew of, in every way he could imagine, and tested his own limits with their training, improved on his own skills. Leonid had great respect for his recruits, but he almost never allowed it to show, and was further hampered by poor social skills borne out of years of isolation. Though not "close" with his fellow SPARTAN-IIs, Leonid did maintain a solid working relationship with most of them, and shared mutual respect.

Time to time during training, Leonid would depart Acturas to fight against the Remnant. SPARTANs were urgently needed at some battles, and while most of the SPARTAN-IIs had to stay behind and train the SPARTAN-IV's, who were needed in the war, Leonid was occasionally able to escape training. On these occasions, Leonid would be temporarily replaced (usually) by SPARTAN-038, Melanie, who was also skilled in methods of covert warfare.

One such occurrence was the Battle of Kanna, in which Leonid helped defend the planet as part of the decisive relief force—and which allowed him to bring back plenty of combat tape to show his recruits. During the battle, Leonid was attached to Taskforce Arrow's flagship, the UNSC New York. He dropped out of the ship towards Danels city via an HEV, and in mid-air, bailed out. He attacked and killed the Brute forces manning their primary HQ, then beat back a counterattack, which destroyed the building. He then met up with other UNSC personnel and destroyed the barracks of the covenant forces, but then recieved orders from a ONI Section III controller that the Brute Chieftain Barabus, who had led the failed assault on Aleph city, was fleeing. Leonid took a captured Seraph fighter in an attempt to assassinate him, but was unable to do so, and Barabus fled (though not before a close call with Leonid's knife). Leonid then was picked up by UNSC forces and transported back to Acturas.

However, the battle had a unforeseen consequence. During the battle, Leonid worked with several SCU troopers from Sierra Team. Sierra Team reported to a different branch than Section III, and news of Leonid’s existence and origins spread like wildfire through UNSC high command. Many were angered that his existence had been so long hidden, and demanded further information, but Section III outmaneuvered them, and managed to keep Leonid for the SPARTAN-IV training.

In 2610, the SPARTAN-IVs were augmented with bio and cybernetic enhancements. Only one trainee was killed in the augmentations--and even hardened Leonid missed him slightly. After augmentations and a brief after training period, Leonid took command of his own company, christened Lambda Company. Despite the fact that he held the official title as CO, his XO, a SPARTAN-II Class III, Connor-338, aided him very heavily in commanding the company. Though they're very different personalities and styles would initially lead to tension between them, they eventually found a stable working balance, though not without the occassional incident. Leonid's behavior and styles would heavily affect how his company functioned on the battlefield and how they approached combat, though their off-duty behavior was a thorough departure from him that was much more similar to his XO.

Baptism by Fire
In later 2610, the SPARTAN-IVs saw their first taste of combat against a cluster of Kig-Yar pirate bases. They were deployed, as part of OPERATION: DEVIANT to a asteroid field containing a single habitable planet and eighteen Kig-Yar/Remnant smuggling bases. Leonid’s Lambda Company was instrumental in taking out three of the asteroid bases, and his emphasis on stealth allowed them to do things quietly and quickly, without much open combat. Then, the SPARTAN-IVs, after destroying the asteroid bases, attacked the planet. Leonid’s company was part of the half that went in as an advance force, and they were instructed to provide vital stealth recon, and then sabotage. In addition, members of Lambda were able to assassinate a prominent Kig-Yar leader with a M99C Stanchion Sniper Rifle, helping speed the destruction and desertions of the Kig-Yar forces. With an incredible zero SPARTAN casualties, the mission was an unheard of success.

After Deviant, the SPARTAN-IVs were deployed to Hannibal III, for OPERATION: WARDOG. The planet had been recently invaded by Remnant forces, and the SPARTAN-IVs had the idea of a guerilla campaign, which was being produced even before HIGHCOMM decided to send in the SPARTANs. As per the SPARTAN force’s bold plans, each platoon was dropped in individually with light vehicles and the necessary materials to start up a base.

Once on the ground, the campaign began. Leonid’s platoon performed dozens of raids and attacks, forming a default strategy during the time they spent fighting. Normally, Lambda armored units would cause a distraction, while stealth units, usually led by Leonid himself, would infiltrate and attack enemy critical systems. In addition, they were known for targeting enemy leaders specifically—taking several injuries in the process. Because of their frequent use of active camouflage during this operation, Lambda was soon christened the “ghost” platoon of the SPARTAN-IVs.

Finally, the UNSC fleet arrived in system. When they did so, each SPARTAN battalion mobilized for a specific task. As part of 4th Battalion, which included Joker, Kilo, and Lambda Platoons, they were assigned to take out the enemy leadership, destroy a primary enemy command post, obtain intel from base computers on high value targets, and generally be a distraction for the Remnant forces, so they didn’t think about the other battalions’ attacks. Because of Lambdas now well known liking of assassination, they were deployed to take down the leader of the Brutes on the planet, a High Chieftain by the name of Omnipotus. In addition, they were assigned to take out half a dozen minor prophets, and almost thirty armor and normal chieftains.

Lambda performed extremely well. Using small squads, they were able to assassinate enemy forces with no losses. When the UNSC forces attacked in full swing, they found the Brute forces mostly leaderless, with only a handful of lower ranking Chieftains running the entire show. Leonid was known to have helped personally kill a minor prophet with a combat knife, unlike most of the assassinations, which were done with sniper fire or ambushes. Joker and Kilo fulfilled both of their mission directives, actually bailing out Lambda once the assassinations were done. In addition, Joker and Kilo discovered in the enemy computer system the location of a Covenant Prophet, who would be the target of OPERATION: FIRE and OPERATION: HELLFIRE.

However, before those missions were even planned, the SPARTAN-IV battalions were deployed as part of a new mission: to crush rebellion before it could start up again en masse. As part of OPERATION: REAPER, which consisted of a system wide media blackout of the Harmal system and the immediate deployment of the SPARTAN-IVs, to crush the rebels before they could spread. This operation marked one of the few were Lambda was joined completely by other stealth forces. During this battle, the SPARTAN-IVs all performed assassinations, and Lambda had a significant advantage over the other companies, as they had already performed significant high profile target elimination missions. During the mission, Lambda was responsible for the capture of several rebel commanders, as were all the platoons, and the operation gained them new respect from the other SPARTAN-IVs for their skill at assignation (even though they were also quite skilled in other tasks).

[Warning! You are attempting to access a classified history directive! Attempting to access this currently classified file will resort in a court martial under UNSC code of conduct article seventeen]

In 2625, Leonid was forcibly retired by Section 0. Leonid however, did not leave ONI altogether, but became a mission planner for ONI Section III for ten years for the SOARs, as well as new UNSC created commando units coming into service. After ten years of serving as a planner, Section 0 finally force Leonid to retire to civilian life under a false name. Leonid was angered greatly by this, and actually attacked a Section 0 officer, but in the end retired.

Civilian Life
As a civilian, and one at the approximate physical age of 86 (the chronological age of 114) and with a large UNSC pension, he had little trouble living off of UNSC money and elderly care funds. Leonid adopted the name of Egor Fleischer, after learning of his original surname from a Section 0 officer. Egor, as he was called, retired to one of the few remaining inner colonies, to live out his remaining days in peace. Due to Egor's antisocial tendencies, he became a recluse, a hermit of sorts, rarely interacting with others and living off of crops he farmed himself. He became somewhat of an urban legend among the people near his abode, due to his isolation, age, and the mystery surrounding him. He became a very popular attraction to young children, but after he broke the arm of a young teenager attempting to prank his hovel, he became less popular with those of an older age. In 2662, at the chronological age of 151, with the body of a 129 year old man, he died while attending to his crops, as he had occasionally expressed he wished to go.

After Death
When ONI heard of Leonid's death, they immediately dispatched a team to the colony. The team buried Leonid but took none of his possessions, and questioned the locals about what kind of life he had lived. After obtaining an unknown goal, the team departed, leaving behind even more mystery. Over the years, local legend continued to blur the story of Leonid, becoming a popular folktale. In the later tellings, he was a powerful and wise old man who came from space, to live in isolation and pray for forgiveness for crimes he had committed against god and man. He was the subject of much mystique and wonder, and tales were told of how he had fought the Covenant in his youth and angered people to secretive and powerful to be spoken of, in some ways coincidentally accurate. Almost 150 years after his death, Leonid's tale was published as a children’s book, a bestseller, named "The Soldier of Solitude".

Though ONI never publicly declassified Leonid’s tale, there were numerous leaks from inside Section 0 that emerged into public. An eyes only classified service record, detailing Leonid's entire history, was leaked in 2798, and ONI was unable to ever fully contain the leak. In 2852, when a large statue was built to commemorate all of the SPARTAN-IIs, including those killed or wounded in augmentation, there was a supposed "error"; the statue portrayed 34 SPARTANs in MJOLNIR armor, 29 without armor as children, and 12 mangled and disabled. This was the only acknowledgement from ONI of Leonid’s existence, and the 34th SPARTAN-II in the statue was entitled "Egor", in reference to his civilian name.

Personality
Leonid personality was a not much of a maze. He was harsh and brutal, prone to dangerous outbursts and unpredictable rages; in the first few years of training, a fight broke out between another trainee and him, and Leonid not only knocked the child out cold, but also broke both of his arms and his nose, when he stomped down on the trainee's face. However, he was also cold and uncompassionate, and he had no trouble killing civilians, helpless, or even fellow soldiers. He was extremely ruthless, never taking prisoners unless ordered to, and he was almost never ordered to. Leonid was extremely antisocial and self-absorbed; he never made any friends, and preferred to not only be by himself, but be isolated completely from the outside world. Strangely, opposite to his brutal and vicious nature, he had an odd love of nature. Some of the best years of his life in his opinion were those he had spent on long ops in the forests of Reach, tracking or learning stealth. Leonid's anti-social nature was a sort of mental defense mechanism he created to control his fiery temper, and in his later years, he perfected the art of controlling himself. Leonid had poor social skills, which contributed to his anti-social behavior, though they eventually would end up fueling each other. Leonid was known to be extremely determined, and never gave up. Leonid, far from the ideal leader, was nevertheless put in charge of a company of SPARTAN-IVs. Not perfect, he offered little help to them in anything other than combat skills, leaving most of the morale work up to his subordinates. Ultimately, this produced a somewhat unstable, if extremely effective force.

Physical and Mental Characteristics
Leonid was not at all handsome. Despite surviving augmentation, he had several scars all over his face, and he was permanently atrophied. He had rough chiseled features, which were accented by his bronze brown hair. His blue eyes were said to be full of malice and anger by some, but others said they were cold, calculating, and deep down, filled with pain. Leonid was not large, especially by SPARTAN standards, but he was devastatingly strong and incredibly tough. Even after having his left arm blown off, he still strangled his target with his remaining limb. Leonid was highly intelligent, and was an expert at reading people's intentions and body language. Even at the age of six, he identified that Lieutenant Keyes was uncomfortable (this was due to him being in civilian clothes and not a uniform) and that Halsey was much smarter than most adults he knew as well as not being what she said she was. Leonid, due to his Frieden background, had a noticeable German accent, though he spoke English fluently. Leonid did not remember much of German by age eight, as he lost much memory of the language when he did not speak it for several years at a time.

Quotes
"Get out of the way, I'm going up." -to Kelly-087 on the second day of SPARTAN training on the "Playground"

"Mercy? Why, I don't even know why I'm doing this painlessly..." -to unnamed leader of Triad

"They say that I don't have a soul, and sometimes, I actually agree." -to ONI Section 0 controller after a mission

"Stop asking me about my accent, or I'll beat your face in, meat." -to an Edward-077

"Get out of my way, or I'll kill you too." -to a UNSC serviceman protesting Leonid's actions when killing NIGHTs

"That was fun." -said privately to Sam-034 after kicking in the face of one of the men guarding the dropship in Reach's mountains

"DON'T. MAKE. ME. KILL. YOU." –to another trainee moments before a fight breaks out

"Who are you!" "Me? I'm ONI's resident sociopath." -Leonid and a member of the Triad NIGHTs

"Remeber this trainees: While you all think your the best of the best because your SPARTANs, your never invincible. You will die." -During a speach to SPARTAN-IV candidates after augmentation

"Move, or die, whelp."-SPARTAN-IV training session

"How about a little less questioning and a bit more shut the hell up." - During an argument during SPARTAN-IV training

Weapons Used
Due to his role as an assassin, Leonid often made use of silenced weaponry. Among his favorites were the M7S submachine gun, the BR55CW SA Battle Rifle, a silenced MA5K Assault Carbine, a silenced S2-AM Sniper Rifle with a higher ammunition caliber, a silenced M6D, a pair of silenced M6Cs, a silenced M6G, and a non silenced but extremely long ranged M99 Stanchion Gauss Rifle. In addition, Leonid often made use of chemical and gas bio agents and poisons, combat knives with varying lengths and blades, and a small unnamed pistol smaller than his thumb that was silenced and an ideal weapon for insertions.

Armor
During training, Leonid used the same kinds of light jumpsuits as the other trainees, not much of armor. However, once he was stolen by Section 0, he made use of LWAJs or Light Weight Armored Jumpsuits, and the same jumpsuits that John-117's team used when securing Colonel Robert Watts. In 2531 to 2535, Leonid made use of Semi-Powered-Infiltration Armor, which was also used by the SPARTAN-IIIs. In 2536, he was given a new prototype armor, the Mk. IV MJOLNIR Infiltration Armor, a cross between the SPI armor and traditional MJOLNIR armor. It featured all features of the Mk. IV, save for the coating on the armor panels that reduced plasma impacts, and had the same camo panels as used on the SPI armor. This armor was painted matte black and also had several radar jamming and stealth suites that were used to make it undetectable to the outside. In addition, when the SPARTAN-IIIs received the Mk. 2 SPI armor the panels were also upgraded on Leonid's armor, and in 2552 his armor was given shield capacity by Section 0. Overall, his armor was weaker than MJOLNIR but stronger than SPI armor. The shields had a lower power due to the fact that they had to share the generator with the camo-panels, and due to the camo-panels replacing most of the armor plating, it could stand up to less direct fire as well. When Leonid joined up with the SPARTAN-IV program in 2603, he was given MJOLNIR Mk. VII, which he continued to use in the remainder of his career.

Transportation
To make his way across long distances, Leonid was trained in a wide variety of vehicles and spacecraft. For travel between systems, Leonid was issued a modified Section 0 C709/B Gladius-class Stealthfighter with a rechargeable slipspace drive. He was proficient in flying the fighter, and was well able to dogfight, though he was not an incredible pilot. Leonid had his Gladius modified for a smaller weapons space and had a vehicle bay implemented, a single M12 LRV Warthog. Occasionally, the C709/B, nicknamed the Sleuth by Leonid, would hitch rides with ONI Prowlers, and it would often be docked with them and use them to travel through slipspace if its drive hadn't recharged. On the ground, Leonid made use of a camo paneled warthog with a suppressed engine and a radar suite.

Basic Training Honor Graduate Ribbon

 * Why: Completion of SPARTAN-II Training
 * When: 2525

Purple Heart

 * Why: Being wounded in the events of the Triad Conspiracy
 * When: 2544

Colonial Cross

 * Why: Bravery under fire during the Invasion of Sanghelios
 * When: 2552

Red Legion of Honor

 * Why: Jumping into the energy bolt of a Remnant hunter to save a group of SOARs who were planting explosives
 * When: 2606

The Silver Star

 * Why: The assassination of the Minister of Elegance
 * When: 2552

The Story of SPARTAN-144
Leonid's story was portrayed in *A Life Stolen, the tale of SPARTAN-144. This story is currently a work in progress.

Trivia

 * Leonid’s name in Russian means "Lion's Son"
 * Operation: HIRED GUN is a reference to Hired Gun, the team that brought Halo 2 to windows vista
 * Leonid was officially killed in augmentation, making him among the thirty that died, instead of the 12 that were disabled or the 33 that went on to active duty
 * Leonid was the only SPARTAN-II who's true tale was never publicly declassified by ONI
 * Leonid has a Russian first name but a German surname, which is due to shared ethnicity
 * This article, as of June 2009, is the sixth longest on the site (not counting stories and RPs). Ahead of it, in order, are: Acumen Science Laboratories, Ares Facility Archives, UNSC Ordnance, Kimberly Ivy Blackburn, and the longest article, Myrmidon Detachment.