User:LowBudgetKnight/Sandbox

"In my life I have learned one thing, following orders will not be the only way you will survive, but a passion to fight off your enemies, a will to defend your family and home, and the courage to face your enemy even when you know you are outgunned."

- Blake Karmyn

Blake Jast Karmyn (Service Number: 79811-56632-BK)(Callsign: Howl-Two) (Codename: Schütze) was a man who came from troubled beginnings and later became a sniper for the. Blake was born on May 17th, 2526 in Gronau, Germany on Earth. Blake first joined as a scout sniper for the UNSC Marine Corps, later on joining the 103rd ODST Drop Jet Platoon and the 111th Shock Trooper Battalion as a scout sniper, and finally joining the Spartan-IV program as a sniper for Fireteam Howl. A hard-working and excellent shooter, Blake earned the respect of his fellow teammates through his marksmanship earning him the nickname "Schütze" or "Marksman" in German. Blake joined basic training on August 9th, 2544 and graduated second best in his class on November 6th, 2544. Blake was a marine for nearly three years until at the age of twenty-one he joined the s. He focused heavily on his job, very rarely accepting any shore leave. It wasn't until the end of the Human-Covenant War he would begin to focus less on his job and more on his personal life. For two years, Blake had dealt with insurrectionist forces until on December 7th, 2554 he was offered a spot in the Spartan-IV program.

Childhood
Born on May 17th, 2526 at St. Antonius Hospital in, Germany on Earth. Blake is the son of Andrew Jast Karmyn, an ODST captain who died during a raid on an insurrectionist camp a month before Blake was born. His mother Mia Jast Karmyn was left a widow and would have to raise two children on her own. She was a hardworking woman who worked as an accountant for a local business. She raised Blake and his older sister, Kaitlynn, in a middle-class apartment for a short amount of time, until she fell ill from a disease called ITB-1, which was caused by a minor outbreak of the disease in Germany. With no other family to look after the two Mia had decided that they would be sent to live with a family friend until she could recover. Sadly, she passed away five months later from her illness leaving the two to be adopted by the family friend, Abel Arbeitern.

Abel Arbeitern was an older man in his late 50's who knew Mia when she was a little girl. Abel was best friends with her father when she was growing up. He owned a bar in downtown Gronau, a place known for its crime rate, called the "Arbeiter Rückzug" (Workers Retreat). The bar was known to be the best place to get a drink, but Abel didn't want it to be just a bar. He owned a small two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment above the bar and did the best he could to make it feel like home for the two children he had taken under his wing. Blake never discussed his parents, because he had no memories of them, except for one of his mothers who would sing him lullabies at night to help him sleep. That was the only thing he could remember of her. Blake had no motherly figure growing up. Abel was the only father figure he had in life. He taught him many things, but there were four lessons Blake always remembered. How to hunt, survive, shoot, and how to fight. Blake saw Abel as his father and planned to look after the bar once Blake was old enough, but things would change as they got older. Blake became a troubled child, he was easy to anger and was labeled a social outcast by his peers because of his anger issues, he only had three friends all the way from elementary to high school. Blake became interested in history and art at a very early age, the only classes he would show promise in, everything else he struggled with. His elementary years were the easiest part of growing up, while high school was almost a living hell for him. Apart from the bullying and struggling in school, the family was beginning to struggle with bills. Abel was starting to fall behind on his taxes and payments. Blake felt heavy guilt in his chest and joined his sister into looking for a job, they had picked up odd jobs here and there but couldn't find a permanent one. While Kaitlynn kept looking Blake turned into a small-time criminal with his friends. "I was a small-time thief for a while, broke into cars and homes and stole whatever I could pawn or sell off for cash...I thought I was doing the right thing, instead, I was just being a fool."

- Blake comment on being a thief

They would break into cars and small houses, Blake stole to make a profit while his friends stole for personal gain. It lasted for at least a year until Blake had one last idea. One day at school, a recruiter had stopped by during lunch. Blake had no interest in the military, but instead of trying his best to have a barely passing grade he thought long and hard about what he wanted to do. He decided that if one less person lived under the roof of his home they could catch up. So, Blake talked with the recruiter and went behind his father and sisters back. He began to plan everything out, he was going to run away to join the Marine Corps. It didn't take long to get everything he needed. "Granted I was young, but I couldn't bear the thought of my family struggling, I knew we had to make sacrifices, but I decided that if I was going to run away I would make it count, I gave up everything...and I don't regret it."

- Blake thoughts on running away

Finally, on August 9th, 2544 Blake was on his way to the Army Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany for training, he snuck out the day he was to leave and left a note in his room about what he was doing. Blake was in basic training for 12 weeks. The training was intense for him, never having experienced such treatment, but he refused to let it kick him down. He tried the best he could in every week of training. Blake excelled with flying colors to the point he graduated second best in his class. Finally, it was time to deploy. Blake had completed training and became an automatic rifleman for the UNSC and it was time to go to give his part in the war.

Battle of Adonis VI
"I remember that day. The adrenaline, the smell of bullets, the sight of the covenant approaching our position...the feeling of fear as the covenant slaughtered us like cattle."

- Blake recalling his first day of combat.

Blake first met the life of combat during the battle of Adonis VI. Assigned to Charlie Company, of the 23rd Battalion. The Covenant had invaded the small colony, the 23rd Battalion had been assigned to Fort Lorex during the invasion and was the first to respond to the action. Blake was cleaning his rifle the moment they showed up, he finally felt the first rush of adrenaline and fear rush over him as he was about to face the covenant for the first time. He armored up and prepared his. His company rushed to the front line and engaged the covenant forces head-on. It would take an hour before reinforcements could arrive leaving them to fend for themselves. The battle was a gruesome event and the first time Blake would see the true face of war. He landed his first kill when he shot a grunt charging at his team trying to commit suicide with. Forty-five minutes into the battle a retreat was ordered when it became clear the covenant would overrun their position. Blake followed orders and began to retreat when he took a round to his left leg, it was the first time he would feel the burning sensation of plasma, he was dragged to safety by another marine whose name he would never learn. When Charlie Company was pushed back towards the fort, Blake was dragged inside and tended to. The battle seemed to be at a loss until committed a bombing run over Fort Lorex, the covenant took heavy casualties in the bombardment which allowed UNSC reinforcements to push them back. The first battle of Adonis VI was won. Later, the UNSC Navy engaged them in space and barely won the fight. The colony had been saved, but not before parts of the small planet could be glassed. Blake spent three days in the local medical wing recovering from his wounds.

The Omens Hill Crisis
Omens Hill was a backwater colony that was under the threat of insurrectionist leadership. The UNSC would have ignored the colony if it didn't house a UNSC shipping yard. The 6th Marine Brigade along with a fleet of UNSC ships was stationed to guard the plan. They knew the insurrectionist would come fighting hard. Blake was stationed to defend the shipping yard when the Insurrectionists arrived. Finally, the Insurrectionist fleet arrived at Omens Hill and immediately deployed ships to the surface. Both fleets were engaged in space while the real battle took place on the surface, Charlie Company were one of the first to engage into battle. They met the insurrectionists in a small town near the shipping yard, Blake and another marine Private Garrison were ordered to help evacuate a small group of civilians that were stuck in the firefight. The two fought their way through the town and towards a safer area for the civilians. While the rest of Charlie Company engaged the enemy, sadly it was only a distraction while the main forces overran the shipping yard, the battle was at a lost as orders came in to evacuate the planet. Blake and the remaining forces of Charlie Company evacuated the planet, letting the insurrectionist forces take the planet, something that was a hard blow to the UNSC and allowed the Insurrectionist access to both ships and supplies, within hours the planet was under Insurrectionist control. "We fought so hard, only to figure out we lost the shipping yard. It was the first time I tasted defeat."

- Blake comment on the aftermath of Omens Hill

Sniper Training
A year into his service as a marine, he was finally qualified to join the UNSC Marine Corps snipers. Blake signed up for the required classes and prepared to train for what he considered the deadliest group an army could ever have. "You know what makes snipers the most horrifying enemy on the battlefield, they can kill you at ranges that would seem impossible, pull off shots you could only dream of."

- Blake comment on snipers

Blake attended his classes and show major promises. He was the best marksman in his class, he dedicated every second he could to get better at handling a sniper rifle. He trained every moment he could, he was determined to become one of the best of his class. Finally, on March 18th, 2545. He graduated at the top of his class in Long Range Marksmanship. He was given permission to finally become a scout sniper in combat. He felt proud of the moment he graduated, finally, he felt like he had a purpose in life. Blake first sniper was a He nicknamed "Schmerzlos" (Painless).

Assassination of Korrak 'Movumai
On March 29th, 2545 there was an intense battle on the colony of Wheat, the UNSC and Covenant were fighting tooth and nail on the surface. After realizing they would lose the battle, the UNSC made a desperate move to turn the tides the general of the assault upon Wheat, Korrak 'Movumai, was stationed on the surface to lead the final assault upon the UNSC forces. The plan was to assassinate the general, lower morale, and possibly buy time for reinforcements to arrive. Seeing that the ODSTs were too busy with other assignments, a group of Marine snipers was given the job, Blake was one of them. The team was deployed near the base of the covenant forces and were given a certain amount of time to get the job done. A cliff was overlooking the base, giving them the perfect advantage to snipe the general. The small team waited for nearly 13 hours until they could have a shot. It was early in the morning of March 30th, 2545 when the snipers finally saw their target, they had to combine their shots to take him down. They followed the general every move for two hours, waiting for the right moment. Finally, it came. The general was inspecting his latest batch of to arrive on the planet when he stopped to inspect one minor they fired upon him. Three bullets hit the target, two destroying his shields while the third ripped through his neck, killing him quickly. Now it was time to evacuate. The three marines ran to their evac point, already banshees were following close behind them. When the banshees were close they opened fire, killing both snipers, but missing Blake. "I don't know how I survived...I should have died with the others, but I didn't and at that moment in time I realized, My guardian angel is busting his ass to save mine."

- Blakes idea on how he survived the banshee run

He quickly made it to the evac pelican and barely escaped with his life, the mission was a success and Blake was the sole survivor of the mission for his work he was promoted from private first class to lance corporal and what the UNSC had hoped for work, the covenant lost its general and time was bought, reinforcements had arrived later that day and strengthened the UNSC forces, allowing them to push the covenant back and severely damage their fleet. Though the UNSC knew the covenant would come back, they accepted the victory and prepared for the second wave, the colony of Wheat was invaded a second time and glassed on May 31st, 2545.

Training
After three years of serving in the Marine Corps Blake racked up a total of 450+ confirmed kills, but it wasn't enough. Blake knew he had potential and decided it was time to join the ODST's Blake did the required paperwork and volunteered to join, he finally prepared himself for the long months to come, but he couldn't prepare for the physical training it would push on him, but he first had to pass his screenings which he prayed that he would, desperate to become more than just a marine. "I knew it would be tough, but when I got there it was nothing I thought of, the screenings were the only easy part of joining the ODSTs, after that, it was almost hell."

- Blake comment on the ODST training

Training would finally begin for him once he passed his screenings which he felt thankful for once he did. After passing all three screenings, Blake was sent to training on for a total of 6 months. During those 6 months, Blake would be pushed past his limits in order to succeed, he faced two near-death experiences during training, one during a crawl session where a bullet was fired too close to his head and nearly hit him in the back of the head, a second time was during a climb to the top of the mountain where he was shot in the leg with a and nearly fell to his death, but he still carried on in the end. At the end of the training, he was one of the best in his class, just like when he joined the marine corps. His old sniper was traded out for a. He kept the old name of his sniper, along with using an SRS99D-S2 AM. He also was returned his in close quarters combat situations. He would name his newly returned assault rifle "Zerreißen" (Tear Apart). After graduating from the ODST's he was assigned to Fireteam Hunter of the 103rd Drop Jet Platoon, as a scout sniper for the team. Blake would encounter more dangerous missions and near suicidal drops as an ODST, but the adrenaline he would feel made it all feel worth it. "I loved that feeling, of dropping from the pods straight into the battle. It felt right. I loved it when the enemy was caught off guard...it felt like payback to slaughter them like they did to us. They wanted a fight, and we sure as hell gave them one!"

- Blake comment on dropping into battle.

The assassination of General Matherson
During the time of Blakes training, a string of terror attacks had occurred on the inner colonies, the attacks ranged from shootings to car bombings and it had to be stopped. had discovered who was behind these attacks thanks to a captured prisoner who failed to detonate a car bomb. A man named Timothy Matherson who was an insurrectionist general camped on the desert planet of Sadus III, the planet was a backwater planet that failed to be colonized, which made it the perfect cover for an insurrectionist base. The 103rd Drop Jet platoon was assigned to the mission of dealing with the general and take out the camp. There wasn't enough information to launch a full-scale assault, Fireteam hunter was assigned to scout the camp out first and report back to the 103rd Drop Jet Platoon. Fireteam Hunter was deployed June 16th, 2548 in the desert of Sadus III, it was a day-long walk to the camp's location. They had an overview of the base and began to take notes of important areas that were worth the notice. It took them over three hours to get the info they needed, once they were done the scouting team began to relay information to the 103rd Drop Jet Platoon. Finally, it was time to strike.

The team was ordered to stay put and provide overwatch for the coming assault, it would take six hours until the 103rd Drop Jet Platoon was ready to deploy onto the base. Finally, the time came as the pods were dropped from the both inside and around the camp. Fireteam Hunter assisted the troopers inside the base from their position by providing sniper support with the use of  and Blake's SRS99D-S2 AM. The ambush had caught the insurrectionists off guard and quickly chaos erupted throughout the base. General Matherson decided this was a lost cause and attempted to rush towards the hangar to escape in a. The general did not make it far out in open territory once Blake had caught him in his sights, it took 3 seconds for the bullet to travel to its intended target, Matherson was struck in the head. Matherson was killed before he even hit the floor. The aftermath of the chaos led to UNSC control over the base and the capture of over 57 insurrectionist terrorists, because of his job Blake was then promoted to Corporal.

Invasion of Sai sutāto
The Invasion of Sai sutāto was the covenant attempted invasion of the small outer colony, the covenant believed that the small colony was defenseless at the time and only sent three CCS carriers to commit the invasion, sadly that wasn't the case as a UNSC fleet was stationed at the planet at the time, when the covenant arrived they were caught off guard and fired upon, within 10 minutes their first CCS cruiser was destroyed, the other two attempted to retreat, but one of the ships lost their engines in a MAC shot, the "Wrath of the Holy Prayer" was unable to escape and forced to make a crash landing onto the planet. The ship broke apart during its entry into the atmosphere crashing into two different areas, the front half of the ship crashed into the grain fields while the other half crashed into the populated city of New, the damages to the city were minimum but the covenant was now in a populated area, and the UNSC had to respond fast, the 103rd Drop Jet Platoon along with two other ODST platoons, the team was ordered to eliminate the covenant presence and secure the remains of the ship.

Battle of New Yokohama
"New Yokohama, it was a beautiful place to look at from above, but we arrived down below...it was a horrifying sight, the covenant was on a massacre spree. local Police were engaging, but they weren't doing great...I even saw a child alone in the streets scared and crying, but that's the price of war. Even if it's bullshit."

- Blake view on the battle of New Yokohama

When the 103rd Drop Jet Platoon deployed at New Yokohama they were met with the first wave of resistance, a pack of were rampaging through the streets, they were quickly dealt with and the platoon moved on heading towards the city center. They linked up with the surviving New Yokohama police forces and cut a path straight towards the city. "I remember seeing the ODST arrive, it was like a sign telling us everything would be okay and that would be able to stop the aliens in their tracks."

- Officer Kiro Yaha, a first responder on the scene of the covenant invasion.

It soon became clear the covenant was more than prepared for a long fight. During the time they were on the surface they were loading off whatever they could to fight back. To even the odds, the UNSC deployed the 23rd Armored Battalion to engage the covenant armored infantry, the ODSTs and the NYPD helped to protect the armored vehicles as they rolled downtown. The fighting grew more and more intense as they advanced. The casualties began to rise on both sides, but the victory was close at hand. The 103rd Drop Jet Platoon had lost nearly a quarter of their men, while the NYPD was left with only three officers alive by the time they arrived at the crash site. The 23rd Armored Battalion set up a defensive position around the ship while the ODST stormed the remains of the ship, heading right for the bridge. By the time the covenant had retreated to their ship, most of the city was shut off, leaving its population crammed into small safe areas or trapping some inside the closed-off areas. The 23rd Armored Battalion began to become overran, leaving it a race against the clock to evacuate the soldiers, the ship was beyond damaged to recover anything leaving the ODST in a bad position. The Covenant began to swarm in, ready to give it all they had to kill off the remaining humans, orders had come in to evacuate so that the UNSC could bombard the area, but an area had to be cleared so that they could escape. The battle was as intense as it was bloody, with their backs against the wall, the 103rd refused to accept death and fought back with the same amount of intensity, leaving it a bloodbath on both sides. The fighting lasted for an hour and thirty minutes until finally, they could escape, the 103rd took heavy casualties, one of them being Sergeant Daniel Shards, who died taking a plasma round for Blake, something Blake never forgot and wishes he could find a way to repay him for his selfless sacrifice. The ODSTs evacuated, and the area was bombed by leaving no covenant to survive. Blake was never the same after the battle of New Yokohama, he decided he would do the same thing Daniel had done for him when the time came, he would give his life up for the men around him.

Battle of Reach
Years had passed for Blake as he fought with the ODST's. They had committed countless raids and defenses against both the Insurrectionist and the Covenant until finally, that fateful day came, the Covenant had found Reach, The 103rd Drop Jet Platoon was ordered to retreat from dealing with insurrectionist forces and head towards the planet and assist in repelling covenant attacks on the planet. The 103rd arrived a day later when the covenant had shown up, scans showed that they were attempting to set up a camp in the hegyvidéki lands, local farmers and their families had been taken prisoner and were going to be used as food for the local and. The ODST had been tasked with stopping the camp from forming and destroying whatever had been set up. This excited Blake as he enjoyed operations like this, loving to cause chaos within the covenant forces and tearing apart anything they would set up. The 103rd Drop Jet platoon deployed via SOEIV and straight into the camp to catch the enemy off guard, Blake and a few other troopers were deployed near the hills around the camp to provide sniper support.

Battle of the hegyvidéki lands
When Blake was deployed to his position he was already met with trouble, a covenant patrol had stumbled upon him and opened fire on his position, trapped and forced to wait for help, which he didn't have time for. Blake was on his own for this firefight. Armed with only an SRS99D-S2 AM and an M6C, Blake had to put every second of training he had into use or else he would die right there and possibly allow the patrol to slaughter the rest of the snipers. He prepared himself and engaged the enemy, his first shot was launched towards the leader of the patrol, a Sangheili major armed with a, the first shot broke his shield while the second one blasted through his chest, causing the Sangheili to fall to the ground, leaving only two Unggoy and a Sangheili minor. Deciding to save his ammo for when the small skirmish was over, Blake switched to his and returned fire, he had killed one of the Unggoy forcing the other to flee, but infuriating the minor, Blake saw the angry Sangheili charge at him and realized he would probably die here, but he would die fighting, Blake pulled out his combat knife and readied both his weapons as the Sangheili activated it's  and rushed him, Blake dodged the first few swings and returned the attack by stabbing the warrior in his side and firing his remaining clip into its gut, breaking it's shield and wounding it, Blake finished the Sangheili off by stabbing it straight into the throat. Blake had finished the patrol off and could now focus on why he was deployed. "I don't know how I did it, but I did...I took out a covenant patrol on my own, I am still amazed I survived to tell the tale."

- Blake comment on the engagement with the covenant patrol

Finally, Blake could focus on sniping without interruptions, he went to his designated spot and deployed his sniper, having a clear look of the camp, he could see the 103rd engaging down below, but Blake had other plans, seeing the civilians were in bigger danger, he left it to his teammates, to cover the ODSTs while he focused on the civilians who were scared for their lives, realizing the ODST's were here for the civilians they began to attempt to slaughter them, Blake stopped what he could, but he couldn't save them all. nine civilians died in the process, luckily it wasn't long until the others arrived and saved the rest of them and extract the civilians, now it was time for cleanup. Blake returned his focus on the surviving covenant forces and began to execute the retreating survivors, the battle resulted in the captured of a Sangheili Ultra and an Unggoy Major, which would give them a chance to extract Intel. Sadly, the Sangheili Ultra killed himself while in prison but the Unggoy Major, due to fear and threats, spilled intel about a coming attack to clear a path to the UNSC Shipyards.

Operation: Single Slice
What the Unggoy had spilled became valuable information for the UNSC, the Unggoy spoke about a large armored convoy moving in from where the base was, something the Unggoy refused to speak about no matter how many threats were made. with the intel acquired the UNSC planned an ambush in the path of the covenant convoy by using along with the mines, the 23rd Armored Battalion was called back to work with the 103rd Drop Jet Platoon and commit the ambush on the covenant forces. The operation was called Operation: Single Slice, believing that the ambush would be done within minutes. "We waited for hours for the covenant to show up, and finally right when nighttime came, so did they. Those grunts made it obvious thanks to their bright shells. When those mines went off, it was like a half-assed firework show that leads to the fireworks exploding right in our faces."

- Blake's memory of the ambush.

The plan soon went south as only half the mines detonated, killing a minor amount of the covenant forces, and barely damaging any of the vehicles. The 23rd Armored Battalion engaged first and revealed themselves from their hiding position. The Covenant retreated and focused fire on the destroying half of the battalions tanks. Soon the 103rd Drop Jet Platoon began engaging the enemy from their hiding position, but the plan was failing as the covenant began to bombard the area's the 103rd Drop Jet Platoon was hiding in, a full retreat soon called, and pelicans were required to retrieve the surviving ODSTs. "Everyone! Run like fucking hell!"

- Sargent Kenny Yulo ordering a full retreat

It soon became a run for life or death for everyone, as the covenant pushed forward and began slaughtering the retreating Troopers with ease, laughing at them as they were pushed back. Blake was hit in the back of the shoulder by a, he kept on running even with the burning pain of plasma eating at his shoulder. As the pelicans arrived to extract the troopers, they were fired upon again by the Wraiths, destroying three of the pelicans in the process, in the end only two pelicans escaped the chaos, Blake was one of the lucky ones to escape the chaos. Operation: Single Slice ended in a disastrous failure on the UNSCs end and allowed the covenant to push closer to the UNSC shipyards.

Evacuation of New Alexandria
After the disastrous attempt that was Operation: Single Slice, Fireteam Hunter was reassigned to the 111th Shock Troopers Platoon and was assigned to the evacuation of New Alexandria, the 111th Shock Troopers Platoon was responsible for rounding up civilians and escorting them to extraction zones, so pelicans could get them to the spaceport for evacuation off Reach. Blake was assigned near the river terraces, where reports had shown that a large group of civilians was trapped by covenant forces and the was losing the fight to protect them. The 111th Shock Troopers quickly deployed all throughout their designated areas and prepared for the long day ahead of them. Blake was deployed to provide sniper support for the Army and to provide overwatch.

Immediately after reaching his designated area, Blake rushed to find a clear spot, finding one on a restaurant patio that overlooked a major area of the firefight. With a good view of the battle, Blake had a major advantage in his play. The Covenant became unaware that the ODSTs had landed near them, allowing for an ambush to occur. Blake was the first of the ODSTs to engage, he took aim at a brute minor who was exposed out in the open and fired, killing the brute instantly with a headshot. Once the covenant had been alerted to the ODST's presence, it was too late. They were slaughtered within minutes, allowing the Army and their civilians to escape the area and hook up with the ODST forces. "I remember getting pinned down by Covenant forces, we seemed doomed for sure, then all the sudden. Bang...Bang...Bang! Some sniper starts taking down covenant bastards. And before we know it, we're suddenly overpowering the dumb apes and their little henchmen."

- Pvt. James T. Wyatt during the Evacuation of New Alexandria

Blake then moved along the upper levels of the city to provide overwatch for the evacuation team. They began running into covenant patrols every step of the way, Blake continued to lay down support, racking up his kill count, he would take out the bigger enemies and leave the smaller and weaker Covenant forces for the ODST to pick off.

Finally, they reached the first evacuation zone while the civilians began to load up a phantom flew by and opened fire, killing six civilians in the process and three soldiers. Still, the evacuation was a success as the first pelican flew off to head for the spaceport.

The 111th was then ordered to head towards the shopping area of the city. Where it was one of the few areas the covenant hadn't attacked yet and civilians were hiding in the area. Believing that the covenant had yet to reach the area pelicans could land near the area and get them out quickly. Realizing he was running low on Ammo, Blake scavenged a off a fallen soldier and joined the troopers on foot. Once meeting up with the group, they began their movement towards the shopping area. Once they arrived, they came to a scene where New Alexandria police forces setting up a small defensive position. They soon came to learn that covenant patrols had been spotted not too far from the shopping center. It wasn't soon after the covenant launched an assault on the shopping center. The ODST used what little cover they had to fight back, luckily it was a small covenant unit, mostly made up of Jackals and Brutes. The fighting only lasted for fifteen minutes, and the ODSTs only took one casualty.

Finally, it was time to evacuate the civilians. The Pelicans were called in near the shopping center, this time learning from their first mistake. An armored gunship supervised the evacuation in case the Covenant decided to try and take another shot at the evac ships. This time it was a successful evacuation without any civilian casualties. Finally, after hours of nonstop evacuations, they evacuated themselves and escaped New Alexandria, after realizing the city and the planet was done for, they left Reach and returned to Earth, where Blake was sent to deal with minor insurrectionist skirmishes, until finally...the Covenant arrived at Earth. Blake felt the feeling of true fear for the first time in years when he saw the covenant fleet right at Earths doorstep.

Battle of Earth
"When we saw the covenant on our doorstep, everyone was thinking about one thing. 'Kicking their fucking ass and sending them back home."

- Blake seeing the covenant fleet at Earth

Defense of the Highland
When the covenant had arrived at Earth, Blake was stationed onboard one of the MAC platforms called Highland Station. When the Covenant had arrived, the station was put on high alert and all units were to report to battle stations when were spotted heading towards Highland. Blake was stationed to the hangar of the platform, armed with an MA5C, Blake prepared to fight harder than he ever would. He vowed to not let the covenant stop him while Earth was under an invasion. Finally, the covenant busted into the hangar and a firefight broke out. Blake was stationed on one of the catwalks hiding behind a crate delivering a burst of gunfire towards the boarding forces. The Covenant had begun to overrun the hangar and a retreat to the had been called where  were set up from the  to gun down the enemy forces believing the Covenant would chase the retreating marines. They soon came to the commons room with the Covenant forces close on their heels, finally as they entered the room the Covenant forces were gunned down by the dual M247 machine guns set up. It was a minor victory but reports soon came in about that the Covenant was heading towards area. Blake and a handful of ODST and marines quickly rushed to assist the soldiers at the recreation area. When they arrived, the Covenant was already engaged with the soldiers in the recreation area. Luckily, they had the element of surprise and attack the Covenant from behind. By the time the Covenant in the recreation area was dealt with, word of bombs being stationed on the platforms got out. Blake was assigned to one of the many search parties to check to see if the Covenant had brought a bomb on board. "When word got around bombs had been going off on multiple stations, some of us when into a panic state, others began to pray, while the rest of us pulled our shit together and tried to think of a plan. Finally, we decided to send out search parties all over the station. We got lucky though, we couldn't find the bomb, only more Covies."

- Blake after discovering bombs had been planted on multiple stations.

Finally, after an hour of cleaning up stragglers and reinforcements, Highland station was safe, but the Covenant had broken through and was invading Earth. Blake and the other ODST were ordered to prepare to drop. The Covenant had invaded multiple cities and one of their targets was Essen, Germany. Most importantly, the.

Battle of Essen,Germany
After word had gotten to Highland about the Covenant-breaking through the defensive line and invading Earth, the 111th was ordered to prepare for deployment, their assigned area was Essen, Germany was it was believed the Covenant was heading towards the, which was an important area for weapons and armor research. "I remember the fury Blake had on his face when the reports came in that the Covenant had landed in Germany. He was ready to go to war with the Covenant by himself if he had too."

- Sergeant Kenny Yulo on Blake's reaction to the Covenant invasion of Essen.

When the 111th was finally ready for deployment, no time was wasted to get them to the surface. later detected that a civilian resistance force was forming all over the city, but they were barely doing any good keeping the covenant at bay. even with police support. The 111th was quickly deployed three miles away from the Beweglichkeitsrüstungsysteme. After arriving in Essen, the 111th was split up around the designated area and were ordered to meet at the rally point, which was the entrance to the bridge that led to the weapon facility, but trouble would follow the 111th as the Covenant had already pushed near their location and engaged the scattered Troopers. Fireteam Hunter would receive the worst of the Covenant's attack as they barely had cover to fight them, meaning they engaged the hostile forces out in open and head on. Fireteam Hunter would have perished in the fighting if local civilian resistance fighters had not rushed to support the team, even though a majority on Fireteam Hunter showed major disapproval for civilian assistance, believing they could have handled it on their own. Blake, however, was proud to see the people revolt against the threat, happy to join alongside them in battle. "I still remember all those faces of fellow Germans who came to the defense of the Vaterland. it was their home, and no one wants their home invaded and torn apart."

- Blake applauding the civilians who refused to hide and came to fight the invading Covenant.

Finally, they reunited with the surviving forces of the 111th, a total of thirty-six casualties had been counted for once a headcount was called for. They soon received orders to hold the bridge until reinforcements could arrive, which would take time something the 111th did not have as Covenant reinforcements began to arrive, this time they had armored infantry with them. It didn't take long for the 111th and the civilians to be pushed back to the Beweglichkeitsrüstungsysteme itself, to slow the covenant forces, charges had been ordered to be set on the bridge which would cause the bridge to collapse and hopefully slow the attacking forces. It took some time, but they succeeded in their objective at the cost of six ODSTs and fourteen civilians. Still, it worked as it gave time for reinforcements to deploy on the remains of the bridge that connected to the facility. A defensive perimeter was prepared all around the facility, it would be a long night of fighting at the Beweglichkeitsrüstungsysteme, but the UNSC would refuse to let it fall.

Defending the Beweglichkeitsrüstungsysteme
After setting up multiple defensive positions inside and outside the base. It was time to prepare for the coming attack that could have occurred any second. The 111th, alongside a company of Marines and a handful of civilian resistance fighters, who were ordered to be a last line of defense in case the marines and ODST failed to protect the area, were finally ready to defend the building. The first line of defense was set up in the courtyard, using cars and barricades as cover along with setting up multiple vantage points from inside the building that overlooked the courtyard. "Many of us wanted to be on the front lines, but they ordered us into the building to become a last line of defense, even though we argued about it. In the end, we sat inside and waited for the action to come to us."

- Rudolf Gollwitzer, one of the many civilians who fought back during the covenant invasion and participated in the defense of the Beweglichkeitsrüstungsysteme.

Finally, the invasion came. Wraiths moved in towards the end of the bridge and began to attempt to bombard the area, having no success as they were too far out to do any damage. Realizing the Wraiths had no effect, the Covenant sent in to protect the  which were met with heavy gunfire, mostly from the heavy infantry part of the group who were wielding. The rockets quickly tore apart the Banshees but were unable to deal with the Phantoms in time. Covenant forces quickly deployed into the courtyard, the first wave making up, Kig-Yar, and Unggoy forces. They were easy to deal with it, until the second wave came in, this time they arrived in both greater numbers and ranks. Blake had been stationed at a snipers advantage and could see the battle was starting to turn in the Covenants favor. After an hour of fighting in the courtyard, the third wave of Covenant forces over ran them, and everyone was ordered to retreat inside, where the Covenant followed close behind. This time a more reinforced defensive perimeter had been set up, where three were set up in the receptionist area. As the forces made it inside the turrets provided cover support, ripping apart the third wave of Covenant forces as they entered. The battle grew more intense inside as it became more narrow and close-quartered, Blake quickly traded his sniper for a and began laying down fire on the incoming Covenant forces as they kept trying to overrun the building. The receptionist area was barely holding back the Covenant as ammo began to soon run dry. Realizing they had no choice, they fell back deeper into the building, leaving less and less room to fight in, it was showing to be a Covenant victory.

Finally, they were pushed back towards the laboratories, where the civilians had been waiting patiently to join the fight. When the time came they rushed in to support the dwindling ODST and marine forces, it was barely enough to keep a good fight going, but it was still supporting the military could use. The Covenant kept their push slowly going until finally, the tables began turning, after an intense shootout, the Covenant had lost a good amount of their leaders, leaving the smaller ranks confused and unable to think an attack plan out. With confusion among the ranks, the civilians broke off away from the fight and repositioned to flank the Covenant forces, which proved successful as the UNSC began pushing them back, after running out of ammo for most of their weapons, they began to scavenge weapons off the covenant, but Blake had saved his sniper's ammo and began using his to take out the bigger targets. Once they got out to the open, the civilians had created before the arrival of UNSC forces, and began firebombing the courtyard, many of them hitting their intended targets.

"The moment we hit the courtyard, fire began erupting everywhere, the civilians had Molotov cocktails in hand and were throwing them everywhere, burning the area and even lighting the covenant forces on fire. Now that, that felt like a way to properly repay the Covenant. Even asked some teen who was fighting back to let me borrow one, which he thankfully agreed to."

- Blake seeing Molotov cocktails being used.

The Covenant was unable to take the building, within the final hour of fighting UNSC reinforcements arrived and began to push the Covenant away from the building, a make shift bridge was put up once the area was safe, and the 111th was quickly assigned to help retake the city. The civilian resistance began their own version of taking the city by cleaning up the remaining forces left over by the UNSC, this led to city wide executions of covenant prisoners who had survived skirmishes and firefights with the UNSC. The fighting in the city lasted only a week, while it was only a minor victory for the UNSC, to the people it was a sign they could resist the covenant onslaught. After a long battle, a group of civilian hackers broke into the cities PA system and played the German national anthem over the PA system. It was a welcoming sound to the many civilians who had lost many things during the battle, it gave them hope that the UNSC would secure a tomorrow.

Returning Home
"it was over...it was finally over, the war, the fighting, the bloodshed, all of it. I survived it. All I had left to do now was go home. I hadn't been home or contacted home in years. I wonder if they would even recognize me."

- Blake realizing that he would return home from the war.

Blake and the rest of the 111th had been stationed to stay behind on Earth to help clean up Covenant forces on the planet, while the UNSC fought the Covenant during the end of the war. Finally, word had gotten out the war was over, and that Humanity had won the war. Blake was at a loss for words when the news had come, he felt a sense of pride and thankfulness he had lived to see the end. Blake began making plans for what to do now, seeing he had completed his main objective. There was one thing he kept thinking of, going back home to Gronau. Once he had the chance he did so immediately, returning to Germany and to Arbeiter Rückzug. His childhood home.

Returning to Gronau
Finally, on December 10th, 2552. Blake arrived in Gronau, Germany. He explored the city he used to roam before returning home, deciding to see how things had changed since he was gone. It had remained the same old city he knew growing up, almost like nothing for the past eight years. He could remember many different things from his childhood. After visiting the city, it was time to go home. Blake arrived late at night and finally after a few seconds of standing in front of the bar, building up the courage, he finally came home.

Abel was the first to welcome Blake home with open arms. both couldn't help but to shed a tear to be reunited again, the two would later share a drink and catch up with each other. Soon Blake reunited with sister, Kaitlynn, after she returned home from her shift at the St. Antonius Hospital. She was at a loss for words and could only hug her younger brother, alongside smacking him for running away. Finally, they were a family again. Something all three of them dreamed about, but it wouldn't last long as Blake would soon have to return to duty to help keep order and stability among the colonies, but he would enjoy the time he would have.

Meeting Erika
"I remember that day I met her, there was this big event going on down at my father's bar and this girl walks in. Real pretty one and my sister notices and goes. "I see how you're looking at her. You got two choices to go say hi and hopefully get lucky or stay here and pass the opportunity up." Well, I guess fate picked for me because she walked over and sat next to me. So, I had only one choice to pick now."

- Blake when he first saw Erika.

Erika Avösh, now Erika Karmyn, was a retired UNSC army rifleman who hailed from a small town on Europa called Tobel. Erika found herself in Gronau, Germany after deciding to visit Germany as a little gift to herself for retiring from the Army and was on her way to but stopped in Gronau after her car experienced transmission issues and she was forced to stay in Gronau until her car could be fixed.

"I stopped in Gronau because of some bad luck or so I thought. Instead, it was some good luck."

- Erika remembering why she was in Gronau

After seeing she had nothing better to do she began searching for a bar to enjoy a night out. She found herself at Arbeiter Rückzug soon after and entered the already busy bar since it was the closest one to her hotel. As she walked in and found herself a seat, she was soon pulled into a conversation with Blake. It was small talk at first, but as time went on and with the help of a few beers, they began to hit it off. Erika had stayed at the bar till closing time talking with Blake. After realizing it was the last call she decided to give Blake her number, which was something that he didn't expect to receive, and it had caught him off guard.

Blake would keep in touch with Erika once she left Gronau, the two had gotten to know each other and it became clear they were dating a few days after meeting. They would have to keep it as a long-distance relationship for most of the time due to Blake still being in service for the UNSC. He would visit her on Tobel whenever he had shore leave, which was a rare case for him as insurrectionist activity began to increase once the Human-Covenant War was over.

Blake would later go on to marry Erika in the spring of '54.

Returning to Duty
Blake returned to service on December 24th, 2552. He was stationed aboard the UNSC -War Hungry when he returned to active duty. It felt strange to him to not fight against the Covenant anymore, but it gave him a sense of safety knowing he had a better chance of survival in his service towards the UNSC. Blake would deal with mostly raiding Insurrectionist hideouts and capturing dangerous High-Value Targets. It was a change of pace he welcomed.

"I didn't mind fighting the Insurrectionist, it was better than worrying about the Covenant in all honesty, but they're still a threat none the less, doesn't mean I can lower my guard when I'm deployed."

- Blake preferring the idea of fighting the Insurrectionists than the Covenant.

The Atlantis Hostage Crisis
The Atlantis Hostage Crisis was when on December 31st, 2552 a group of Insurrectionist terrorist known as "The Last Hope" attacked and took hostages from a luxury hotel on the resort colony of Atlantis. They were led by Mia Volkotz, who was a ruthless insurrectionist captain and was one of ONI's most wanted due to her participation in multiple bombings of UEG civilian transports and the multiple assassinations of important UEG civilians.

Mia led a small team to the resort, where an inside man had snuck in equipment and weapons to start the terror attack. After successfully getting onto the hotels ground, it was time to commence the operation. The attack started at the pool where they opened fire on the people, killing sixteen civilians in the process as they forced their way into the receptionist area and rounded up the remaining civilians who escaped the pool area and staff. They were soon forced into the dining area, the area was quickly evacuated by hotel security, security attempted to rescue the civilians but was quickly taken hostages themselves.

The UNSC quickly responded to the attack by deploying ODST's to apprehend Mia and her co-conspirators along with rescuing the civilians. Fireteam Hunter was assigned to the job, where they wasted no time to deploy. Hunter was deployed via Pelican near the entrance to the hotel where local police forces were preparing to bust in, once they busted down the door a bomb had detonated killing the unfortunate police officers and sending shrapnel all over the place, wounding a few other officers and nearly killing Blake.

After the bomb had gone off, three of Mia's men engaged Fireteam Hunter and the local police force, mostly as a distraction for Mia to set up more traps. The fight didn't last long as they were quickly wounded and taken into custody, but Mia was the main target of this assignment. And they couldn't afford for her to escape. Hunter moved in through the receptionist area and swept the main floor. When they found the civilians, a bomb had been set up to level the hotel, a bomb defusal squad was called in quickly while Hunter continued to sweep the hotel for Mia.

They soon found her heading for the rooftop where a corrupt cop inside the force had been able to get her an evac off the planet. They chased her down through the hotel and engaged her bodyguards to slow Hunter down while she escaped. They soon were able to eliminate her bodyguards and chase her to the roof where she escaped on a but was quickly shot down by the Atlantis police force where she was captured from the wreckage and soon sent to Midnight Facility. The bomb was unable to be defused, and the area was quickly evacuated, and the bomb detonated causing the hotel to be leveled. The crisis made headlines all over the UEG colonies and it became clear the Insurrectionist threat was more dangerous than the UEG had expected and a call for increase in security had been declared.

The Attempted Assassination of
On January 2nd, 2553 during the elections for the new President of the United Earth Government, Doctor Ruth Charet was to have a rally in Washington D.C. and a security team was needed after threats towards the doctor appeared. The UEG decided to create a security team of active UNSC personnel who would volunteer to help protect Ruth, Blake was one of the many who volunteered for the job and one of the few to be accepted for the assignment. Once picked for the job Blake showed excitement and prepared to do the best he could. "I paid attention to our politics, even the really shit parts of it, and I will say Ruth Charet was my favorite. I agreed with a lot of her ideas and views and thought she was the president the UEG needed."

- Blake showing praise towards Doctor Ruth Charet.

Blake was soon sent to Washington D.C. to meet his temporary new teammates and to get a view of the entire rally, which wasn't too difficult to him as he was assigned to be a sniper and provide overwatch for the rally. Armed with a Blake was assigned to one of the office buildings near the rally. Finally, the rally began as a large crowd formed all around to hear Ruth speak, the security team had blended in with the crowd and began looking out for any suspicious activity as they moved around in the crowds. Blake kept on the lookout till he spotted a civilian cutting through the crowd moving forward at a rapid speed, he zoomed in and called the civilian out to his teammate over the radio where they quickly moved to contain the unknown target. The target kept at their pace until they got to the front of the crowd, the potential threat pulled out a 3-D printed handgun and aimed at Ruth. Blake quickly fired, the shot rang out and hit the designated target in the back. The crowd soon panicked and dispurst from the scene while Ruth Charet was escorted off the premises and towards safety, the would-be assassin was Michael Targy, a man with mental issues who believed Ruth was the actual devil. He was paralyzed from the waist down from Blake's shot and later died from his wound after it became infected. Blake was given minor praise for his success in taking down the would-be assassin, but it did not last long. The rally was re-scheduled for the 4th and things went smoothly the second time around, going off greatly without any issues occurring. Ruth would later go on to win the election on January 8th, 2553 and become President of the United Earth Government.

Birth of Ada Karmyn
"I remember when she was born, and I held her for the first time. It felt so comforting to hold her in my arms, never in my life did I feel such a sense of peace and happiness until the day I met my little Ada."

- Blake describing the feeling he had when he met Ada.

Two years into his service had taken a toll on Blake, he began thinking about retirement after he had married Erika and soon learned they had a child on the way. This began to put more pressure on Blake to retire, but he soon realized what could he even do once he retired he had no experience in any other field than the military and he was already making good enough money, so he decided that he would stay in the ODST's for a few more years then retire seeing it was the best option he had so far.

Blake was away from home for eight and a half months until he was given shore leave to be with his wife for the arrival of their daughter. On November 3rd, 2554 The two welcomed Ada Karmyn into their lives.

Joining the
Joining the Spartan was not only a hard decision for Blake but for his family as well. Erika at first didn't want him to join, believing he was only putting himself in more danger and didn't want their child to grow up without a father. While Blake agreed, he believed this was what his life had to lead up too. After a small argument, Erika accepted he would join the Spartan-IV program but still wished he wouldn't have joined. Abel and Kaitlynn felt the same way but didn't stand in the way of his decision even trying their best to support his idea. On December 10th, 2554 Blake departed to head for the Spartan-IV training facility on Mars, a new chapter of his life had begun, and this would be both his proudest and hardest part of his life.

Training
Blake arrived at Mars for his augmentations procedures on December 11th, 2554. During this time, he would meet Amanda Calhoun who would soon later become his best friend. The two met during the trip to the facility. They would kick off their relationship with the common like of Doctor Ruth Charet, later going on to see they had a few more things in common. The two didn't expect the friendship to last once training was done, but they enjoyed the time they would have together.

Augmentations began soon after arriving at the Mars facility. This was the first step toward becoming a Spartan for the UNSC, something he didn't know how to fully feel about. Once augmentations were finished, Blake had to learn how to adjust to his new body, once seeing these effects he felt out of place again in the world, he wasn't any ordinary human being anymore. "My body ached when I awoke from augmentations, but that was the only normal thing about it. I was stronger, faster, and taller and I wondered to myself 'How am I even live a normal life anymore?' Then I realized...I never would."

- Blake showing some minor regrets in becoming a Spartan. After learning to get used to his newly formed body, Blake was sent off to the orbiting a forgotten dwarf star. This is where the real training began, Blake experiencing training regiments that were twice as hard as his day's training in the ODSTs. He still picked himself up and continued with the training seeing it was too late to turn back, there were times he was ready to call it quits, that was until Amanda would convince him or encourage him to continue. After two months of intense training, Blake had graduated and was officially seen as a Spartan-IV within the UNSC ranks, Blake was quickly assigned to Fireteam Howl, led by a first-class Spartan-IV named Kelsey Shinn. He would soon come to find out Amanda was assigned to the same fire team.

Operation:Swordbreaker
After being assigned to Fireteam Howl, the team was quickly deployed to deal with a minor covenant splinter faction that was starting to build up. The team was assigned to assassinate the leader of the faction, Cyg 'Vosum. The Covenant faction was luckily just a single CAS carrier, but they had to be dealt with before they could expand. ONI drones had discovered they were hiding out on a glassed colony. Howl was joined alongside Fireteam Shield in the attack on the CAS, it was a minor job compared to what would come ahead in the future.

"It was our first time in the field, we didn't know what to expect. We had to take on an entire Covenant ship by ourselves, but we were Spartans now and this wasn't anything we were used too back in the older days"

- Blake describing how he felt during Operation: Swordbreaker

The squad was deployed via and was expected to be picked up after the success of the mission. The eight-man team soon landed on the colony of Yule and were met with the barren wastelands. They wasted no time to hurry to the CAS carrier and to get the job done. Once arriving a plan had been formed to hit them from both sides, Howl would take left and Shield would take right. The two squads then split up and went to attack from the sides. Blake was assigned to supply sniper support which he did so happily. He was the first to engage when he took down a Sangheili ranger with a bullet to the skull. During this time, Blake and Ashton, the team’s heavy specialist, a friendship began forming after a bet was made of who could get the most kills and so far, Ashton was winning.

Howl was the first to clear their area and secure their side of the gravity well, Shield soon met up with them and quickly cleared incoming reinforcements that attempted to clear out the Spartans from boarding the CAS carrier, they were wiped out within minutes and the Spartans moved on to board the ship. When Cyg was alerted to their presence inside the ship he ordered his greatest warriors to engage them in the hangar.

The Spartans quickly set up a defensive perimeter after they were locked inside, Cyg attempted to create a kill area for the Spartans by trapping them in the hangar, but they had come prepared, Kelsey Shinn began attempting to disable one of the doors to let the other seven through. While she did so, Cyg greatest Zealots attacked Shield and Howl from above resulting in a minor firefight between the two forces, during the attack one of the Spartans from fireteam shield took a plasma round to the shoulder after the shielding broke, leaving both them and Amanda unable to fight while she tended to the Spartans wound.

Finally, Kelsey was able to hack the door and get the Spartans out of the hangar and into a temporary safer area. This gave them time to help the wounded Spartan and prepare to cut through the ship to make it to Cyg. Amanda finally finished patching up the wounded Spartan and the fireteams continued onward, being met with minor resistance at first from Kig-Yars and Unggoy. Though as they fought deeper into the ship, the harder it was to fight to Cyg, eventually they finally got to the bridge of the ship. Armed with Covenant weaponry after running out of ammo for their weapons they found Cyg and killed him instantly with an overcharged plasma pistol shot and a carbine shot to the head. Orders had soon come in that allied Sangheili forces would take the ship over once Fireteam Shield and Howl had evacuated which they did so quickly, the mission ended up a success and a Covenant splinter faction had been eliminated, this would be the first out of many successful missions.

Personality and Traits
Blake has two different personalities when it comes to being himself. One for when he is in service and the other for when he is back home and is not on active duty. Blake does not believe in still holding onto his military lifestyle when he is with his family, wanting to be more of a father to his daughter rather than a soldier. However, sometimes his military personality slips out once and a while, but very rarely does it ever happen.

Civilian personality
When at home, Blake is described as a loving and caring family man with a somewhat peaceful attitude as he still suffers from anger issues and can easily get worked up over things if he is provoked with a hostile or annoying tone or attitude aimed towards him...or if his favorite grifball team/fighter in sports is doing a poor job or is losing badly. He tries to avoid letting Erika or Ada see him in a bad mood as he grows worried he will take his anger out on them by mistake without even noticing until it is too late. Blake puts Ada above everything else as he cares very deeply about her. he can be found near her engaging in activities with her whenever he can. He can also be overprotective at times with her, even though he tries not to. "My real parents weren't around when I grew up, and I don't want Ada to have that same experience. I usually spend any time I can with her while I'm at home. Granted I still make time for Erika and myself, but Ada doesn't need to know what it feels like to grow up with very few memories of me."

- Blake shows that he wants to be there for Ada whenever he can be.

Blake is somewhat of a drinker, while he isn't an alcoholic, is one of his many coping mechanisms in dealing with his PTSD. He only drinks at his father's bar or when he is home alone. He tries not to drink as often with the fear he will become an alcoholic and possibly ruin both his and his family’s life. Still, he relies on it to help suppress certain memories from his years in the Human-Covenant war whenever none of his other coping mechanism doesn't work or isn't available. Blake can only recall one time his military personality showed. One night while on leave a group of intruders attempted to break into their home and rob them. Seeing his family was in extreme danger of possibly being harmed or at worse killed Blake acted quickly and sprang into action and engaged the hostiles with no mercy and with a bloodthirsty attitude, killing two of them and crippling the third one below the neck. Blake can't fully recall what happened that night, but all he could remember was jumping out of bed, grabbing his knife and a handgun he had bought for Erika not too long ago and rushing into the living room. After that Blake can't remember anything after that night, except for the police arriving at their home with a look of shock on their faces.

Military Personality
When it comes to serving for the UNSC, Blake personality completely changes. He becomes a man who is focused, serious, and lethal. While Blake keeps somewhat of a friendly personality among allies and friends he still shows that he has little room for sarcasm and goofing off. Blake becomes focused on surviving so that he can go home to his family. He also shows to become protective of his fireteam and does his best to help them any way he can in any situation which his fireteam shows gratitude for.

Blake becomes a merciless killing machine when deployed into battle, he focused on delivering as much death and chaos upon his enemies as he can so that they can lose both morale and focus when fighting against his team. His accuracy is focused on kill shots rather than wounding unless given orders to wound a certain target. He relies mostly on his sniper rifle to do most of the damage at long range but will switch to his assault rifle when the situation calls for it. His accuracy is known to be at around 85-90%, making him a very lethal soldier on the battlefield. However, he is known to become less focused when he becomes angry and becomes less tactical and prefers to engage his enemy head-on when in this state of anger.

Another trait of his is his lack of "funny bone". He doesn't joke around often over anything and prefers to stay quiet most of the time when outside of combat when it comes to friendly banter, granted he can take a sarcastic comment. He isn't one to throw one right back but to instead shrug it off and continue with his duties. He does, however, make the occasional friendly insult towards his fellow teammate, Ashton DeWicky as he is the only other soldier Blake jokes and makes friendly banter with during combat or training. He is also very strict. He sticks to a daily routine of training and practice while he is waiting for deployment for a mission.

One trait he also has is that he can easily become homesick, he keeps a small sketchbook that his daughter draws in when he is home and gives to him before he returns to service. He occasionally looks through it to help him cope with the homesickness. He also keeps very few photos of his wife and daughter on him or in his locker, except for one photo that he always keeps with him, even in combat. This photo is of Erika and Ada during Ada's first birthday. He calls this his lucky charm and keeps it tucked in his helmet or keeps it in his pants pocket, he very rarely leaves it behind and is one of his favorite photos of the two.

Minor traits
Blake is a metalhead, preferring the classic genres of 21st-century music that is metal and rock 'n roll. He also enjoys the modern genre of music called though he doesn't listen to it as much as he does metal. He also enjoys both classical German military marching songs and volksfest music, his top favorite military songs being Erika, Drei Lilien(Three Lilies), and Wenn Die Soldaten(When the soldiers). His top favorite Volksfest songs are In Himmel gibt's kein Bier(In Heaven there is no Beer) and Muss' i denn(I have to).

Blake also enjoys the works of art, he enjoys classical works of art over anything. He is also somewhat of an artist himself preferring to draw sketches and works of imagination, portraits, or still lifes. He also enjoys drawing or painting with Ada as she also shows an interest in art and teaches her everything he knows, encouraging her to pursue a career in art when she is older.

Trivia
The reason Blake has an English name was that he was named after his grandfather on his father side, who hailed from the.

Blake's total sniper kill count is 850+.

When nervous Blake softly sings the old German military song, Erika, to help soothe his nerves. Which has helped him plenty of times during times of extreme stress as it reminds him of his wife back home.