User:TheLostJedi/Gold Team (TheLostJedi)

Gold Team was a  military infantry element.

Overview
Originally in when the unit was created,, Elizabeth-011, , Callum-026, Maria-062, Graham-089, Jack-099 and  were conscripted to Gold Team. Jai and Adriana were later reassigned to form however and to replenish lost ranks, Robert-028 from  and Neoklis-128 from  were subsequently transferred to Gold. As a result of augmentation, Gold Team, like others suffered a downsize at the loss of squad members. Minor reorganisation followed and another previous Blue Team member, James-077 was transferred to the squad. Following plentiful engagements in the, Gold Team eventually disbanded after the Spartan supersoldiers slowly became either , or.

Long-term Members

 * Graham-089 (Gold One)
 * Robert-028 (Gold Two) - Transferred from Red Team, 2518.
 * James-077 (Gold Three) - Transferred from Blue Team, 2525.
 * Maria-062 (Gold Four)
 * Neoklis-128 (Gold Five) - Transferred from Blue Team, 2518.
 * Callum-026 (Gold Six)

Former Members

 * Jai-006 (previous Gold Two) - Transferred to Grey Team, 2518.
 * Kirk-018 (previous Gold Three) - Discharged after unsuccessful augmentation, 2525.
 * Adriana-111 (previous Gold Five) - Transferred to Grey Team, 2518.
 * Elizabeth-011 (previous Gold Seven) - Died after unsuccessful augmentation, 2525.
 * Jack-099 (previous Gold Eight) - Died after unsuccessful augmentation, 2525.

Conception and Training
By 2517, of the  Section III received sufficient funding to induct 75 out of the 150 identified SPARTAN-II Program candidates. On the 24th September, the candidates were abducted and taken to the Spartan training facility on, where after the first week of their training, they were grouped into more permanent teams. For Gold Team, the Spartan children, Jai-006, Elizabeth-011, Kirk-018, Callum-026, Maria-062, Graham-089, Jack-099 and Adriana-111 were selected. Over the next year however, a minority of Spartans had repeatedly attempted to escape the facility. At the suggestion of, Jai and Adriana would be transferred to form a new team with.

To reconcile the numbers in the other units, two Spartans, Robert-028 and Neoklis-128, from Red and Blue Teams respectively, were reassigned to Gold. Although they were already fond of their current squads, Robert and Neoklis complied without hesitation to Mendez' orders. However the CPO intended to use scheduled training sessions at the on  as a way to bond the reformed Gold Team members together. In the training facilities there, the SPARTAN-IIs learned how to use specialist micro-gravity equipment and martial arts, skills which James-077 and Callum-026 keenly developed.

Robert's talent for reconnaissance became invaluable during field exercises, providing Gold Team with advantageous intelligence. Whilst the rest of the team's assault strength had grown from their Mars experiences. Neoklis soon became known for his use of diversion and outwitting the enemy. During one scenario on Reach's surface, Neoklis and Robert were paired by Graham and sent to scout for the opposition's base. They were ambushed but Neoklis evaded capture and covertly followed Robert after he was taken by. At their outpost Robert relayed intel back to Neoklis, and Graham planned Gold Team's strike. By exploiting a drainage line running under the base, they consequently shattered Green Team's unbeatable reputation in July 2520.

Upon on the 9th March, only 33 Spartans survived the process. It affected Gold Team severely, with Elizabeth and Kirk crippled and discharged from active service, in addition to the death of Jack. Misfortune continued to besiege the squad as Robert suffered an ill reaction to the procedures and his service tag was moved across from those who had survived, to becomming the 31st Spartan to have died in the process. Perchance for revival, he was cryogenically frozen by Halsey's scientists, although the projection for survival was grim. Gold Team's size depleted to four members, yet only one more member, James-077, was reassigned from another squad due to the loss of Spartans across the program.

Early Career
To the avail of Dr. Halsey and her scientists, Robert was brought back to life and was present for the Spartan funeral ceremony held aboard the. However by the 12th September 2525, he was still in recovery and although allowed to attend the briefing, could not be included in the Spartans' first real assignments. Upon the success of Blue Team's, the capture of former , Gold Team were chosen for Operation: KILL SWITCH. Following days of illicit methods of questioning, Colonel Watts had reluctantly exposed David Byrne, a UNSC and  informant, whom had been using The Lux Casino in New Assyria,  as a means to decrypt files and leak information back to the rebellion.

On Watts' account, Byrne maintained communiqué with the rest of the informants, therefore intercepting the Lieutenant and his data streams became an eminent priority. KILL SWITCH would serve as the imperative assignment to expose and eliminate any remaining defectors within the UNSC. Gold Team's objective: to acquire intelligence via the immediate interrogation and extraction of David Byrne. The Lux Hotel's Naval suite, exclusively occupied by UNSC personnel, would be the staging point for Gold Team to implement their capture of the traitorous Lieutenant. After briefing on the 17th September, the Durden, which was built from the mind of Jack-099 was attached to the squad and they embarked upon their mission.

Using an unconventionally black, Maria-062 piloted the team onto the rooftop of an adjacent building and the other Spartans zip-lined down to The Lux. After breaking into the top stairwell, Gold Team covertly made their way down to Byrne's suite and proceeded to wait for his arrival. In the meantime New Assyria Law Enforcement had noticed their suspiciously parked Pelican and sent two officers to investigate. When the policemen approached the dropship, they saw no markings to identify the vessel as belonging to the UNSC or NALE and automatically assumed it was stolen. Entering through the troop bay door, the officers ordered Maria to raise her hands in an attempt to arrest her, however Durden interrupted with other ideas.

By distracting them with sealling the bay door and then switching off the Pelican's lights, it provided Maria with the opportunity to counter the officers, rendering both unconscious. Roughly two hours after Gold Team checked in, Byrne finally appeared, turned on his database and poured himself a glass of whisky at the room's open balcony. His next moments followed falling to the floor, after Neoklis-128 sent a tranquilizer dart piercing into the Lieutenant's neck. Graham-089 issued his squad to sweep the area and prepared Byrne for interrogation, removing the on his body. Callum-026 found a storage of and James-077 began investigating the officer's electronic activities.

He awoke tied to a chair with hands firmly locked behind his back. Graham questioned him but was refused any answer. There wasn't any doubt whether Gold Team would attain access to the Lieutenant's system. It was a race between James with the latest intrusion software and Graham with a more old fashioned technique; pain. Thirty electric minutes of torture passed with frayed wires of a hotel lamp before the Lieutenant yielded, relinquishing his password. With Byrne secured and their objectives complete, Graham called for transport on the hotel's rooftoop and they left as quietly as they came, albeit with Maria's extra cargo. The ONI were responsible for later debriefing and returning the New Assyria Law Enforcement policemen, but the mission was a success.

Battle of Chi Ceti
Robert returned to Gold Team for active duty on the 2nd November 2525, just in time for the SPARTAN-IIs' most serious briefing. addressed them upon a new threat to humanity, the genocidal alien alliance known as the. CPO Mendez then departed with the AI Déjà to train a new group of supersoldiers, but informed the squads of the graduation that followed the next day. All Spartans received the rank of and were sent onboard the  with Dr. Halsey to initiate the final stage of the SPARTAN-II Program at the  on. Before arriving at the facility however, the Commonwealth was attacked by a Covenant cruiser, the and the  begun.

Pulse laser fire from the Unrelenting destroyed the frigate's communications dish and disabled the ship-board AI. Commonwealth returned fire with 180 and a direct strike from its heavy, causing some internal fires. As the Commonwealth prepared another heavy round, the Unrelenting charged a and both sides fired simultaneously. To prevent the torpedo from causing catastrophic damage, the Commonwealth vented atmosphere, although at the cost of disabling its MAC. The Unrelenting also survived the exchange of fire, but the second MAC strike had dissipated its shields and pierced a hole straight through the vessel. Only after a final did it retreat temporarily.

When the Covenant cruiser came back to face the UNSC again, the Spartans had already landed on the planet surface and equiped the  armour system waiting for them at Damascus. John-117 gave the order to board the Unrelenting and destroy it from the inside, using the penetration caused by previous MAC fire as their entry point. Pelican transports were used to reach the cruiser, before Graham gave the order for Gold Team to eject from their dropship. were deployed to battle, yet a successful counterstrike allowed John's team to approach the breached hull, make it inside and plant their. All Spartans returned to Chi Ceti IV, albeit for the casualty of, who remained behind and ensured the missiles' detonation.

Harvest Campaign
Despite Admiral 's pyrrhic victory, the Covenant were determined to retake control of. Additional ships were sent there and engaged UNSC forces on the surface as well as in space. The Covenant were clearly looking for something on the planet, and would stop at nothing to find it. During these years of the, multiple SPARTAN-IIs were sent to reinforce the defence of the planet. Among them were Gold Team. And together the Spartans provided the UNSC with an upper hand in the ground battles that were fought. Victory was assumed to be inevitable, yet with the arrival of even more Covenant ships, it quickly became short lived. An indomitable Covenant armada forced all units to retreat, resulting in the immediate withdrawal and reassignment of the Spartan teams from Harvest.

Battle of Arcadia
As of early February, Office of Naval Intelligence satellites had detected slipspace ruptures in the , and Section I responded with an immediate notification to any nearby ships of the UNSC fleet to assist in the evacuation of its colony worlds. Arriving to reinforce the defenses of were the ships; the, the , the  and the , of which vessel the SPARTAN-II supersoldiers were currently touring aboard. On the 9th February, two ; the and the  exited slipspace in range of Arcadia, provoking the subsequent  above the planet. Caught with its shields down, the Sorrow was subjected to a barrage of MAC rounds from the UNSC, resulting in its instantaneous destruction. However the Stolen Promise retaliated with full force.

The Belfast and Texas were obliterated and had been sent at the Armstrong. In response, the SPARTAN-IIs would be deployed to battle. However the Pillar of Autumn was quickly overwhelmed by Covenant, causing the delay of its countermeasures. As the space battle continued, Red, Blue and Green teams prepared an assault on the remaining Covenant cruiser, whilst Gold Team were to make haste and assist the Armstrong after heavy fighter squadrons had finally been cleared. By the time Gold Team arrived on the Armstrong, it was already overrun with Covenant boarders. Graham made locating the captain their primary objective and James tapped into the ship's local systems. Distressingly the captain's neural transponder placed him outside of the vessel. Robert suggested checking the bridge in case of a mistake, though James was certain.

So Gold Team separated with Neoklis, Callum and Maria left to evacuate survivors as Graham, Robert and James forced their way towards the bridge. The Promise launched another wave of boarders before moving planetside, causing Spartans aboard the Autumn to miss their opportunity to engage the battlecruiser. Instead Red, Blue and Green teams were repurposed with the defence of major cities, now under threat by the Covenant. On the bridge meanwhile, Robert found the captain, or rather what was left of him. All of the crew were dead and the bow windows, now sealed by blast shields, had been blown. Graham advised caution. With fatal plasma scoring at the neck, the captain's neural trasponder must have been lost to the vacuum of space.

Just as James noticed that the Navigational Data Core had been tampered with,  exited  and ambushed their sub-team. It was Gold Team's first face to face encounter with Elites, but they managed to overcome the assault and resume communication with the other half of their squad. Surviving personnel had been escorted to whilst marines had been mobilised in the hangar bays. Realising that the boarders must have came for the navigational data and unable to secure it without the captain's interface, Graham decided to destroy the bridge, with Gold Team's next priority to acquire demolitions. Maria, Neoklis and Callum were ordered to rendezvous at the hangar bays and bring a Pelican round to the front of the ship, meanwhile LFDDs were being retrieved from a local armoury to be armed around the Core.

By now hands were declared lost on all decks; the Armstrong had been ravaged by the Covenant. Robert returned to the bridge with explosives and one minute was provided for evacuation. Following initial difficulty, James re-opened the bridge's blast shields, creating an exit as Maria awaited for the remainder of Gold Team in space. Moments later they were en route back to the Pillar of Autumn as the LFDDs detonated. The Armstrong was venting Arcadia's atmosphere when the arrived. On the ground, the Covenant were eventually defeated with the assistance of Spartans and the Spirit of Fire, but the battle had resulted in severe casualties to the UNSC side. Yet reports gathered from Gold Team's participation aboard the UNSC Armstrong would serve to support the creation of.

Fall of Nireus II
(To be continued...)