John-A222

"Spartans don't fight to survive. They survive to fight."

- John-A222

John-A222 is a of the. He served extensively throughout the, becoming a decorated veteran and an advanced tactician. John specializes in reconaissance and leadership. In addition, he is proficient in close-quarters combat and small-scale capabilities. John is the leader of NOVA Team, an elite squad of that was deployed numerous times since its creation in. John's call sign in the team is Nova One. He serves directly with the UNSC Navy but with unspecified collaboration with the.

Childhood and SPARTAN-III training
"There were only a handful of my Threes that I felt could even come close to the incredible standards of their predecessors...                and A222 was one of them."

- referring to John John was born in on the human colony of  to a family of Greek descent. As a child, John was thin with dark brown hair and eyes. From early on, he displayed a superior intelligence to that of his peers which benefited him greatly in his later career as a soldier. John was conscripted into the SPARTAN-III Program in as part of the program's. He trained along with the other Spartans of Alpha Company at on  under , a. In training, John exhibited advanced reflexes and natural leadership ability, proving himself to be one of the top candidates. He and were recognized as two of the emerging leaders of Alpha Company. John successfully underwent all of the augmentations and emerged a supersoldier.

Alpha Company was declared active in November of. Equipped with Mark I, John and the rest of Alpha Company were initially deployed during the. For this counter-insurgency operation, the Spartans were divided into fireteams in order to quell the uprising. John was placed in charge of one such team and led a covert raid on an insurrectionist armory. Shortly thereafter, the Spartans openly engaged insurrectionist forces in a series of intense firefights. At one point, John managed to tackle one of his squadmates out of the way of hostile turretfire, saving her. As the fighting continued, UNSC forces gained the upper hand and eventually emerged victorious. It was at this time that John truly distinguished himself as a skilled soldier and leader. Alpha Company also participated in the, fought in the , , and in several other early engagements. John's actions in this series of deployments earned him the rank of. "John is advanced, even among his peers. He's a and I don't want to see that wasted."

- to SCPO Franklin Mendez He was immediately pulled from his unit, along with an unknown number of other candidates such as Carter-A259,, Josh-A124, and , by and  before  in. John and the other reassigned Spartans received more advanced equipment, including in order to make their combat ability comparable to that of the SPARTAN-IIs.

Early military career
"You know as well as I do that we wind up with some that would have chosen—not just kids unlucky enough to survive a . Orders are still being followed and those Spartans are in the field, but they are armed as SPARTANs—and they are making a difference."

- LCDR Kurt Ambrose to SCPO Franklin Mendez John lived up to the expectations of the Alpha Company instructors. He was assigned to a group consisting of two other SPARTAN-IIIs that would be tasked with a variety of assignments. By, each of these Spartans would either be killed in action or reassigned. Deployment after deployment, John continued to prove his worth as a Spartan. His impressive service record began to catch the eye of some of the most seasoned officers in the UNSC. "...highly deserving of hyper-lethal status,"

- John's personnel file

He was deployed several times from to  for unknown reasons, but received a promotion to  during this period. These and several later deployments are suspected to involve ONI and are listed as classified on John's official service record. John engaged in defensive operations during the, in which was taken hostage and later rescued by a team of SPARTAN-IIs led by. With the reassignment of selected SPARTAN-IIIs from in 2545, NOVA Team was created as a special operations Spartan team. John was assigned as its leader and took pride in the team, stating that it was an "effective unit". His battlefield actions and strategic command quickly earned him the respect of his squadmates. In 2546, when was attacked by the, John-A222 and his team were deployed to aid in its defense. It was at this battle that forces first encountered the. Nova Team managed to acquire significant intelligence regarding the vehicle and subsequently received commendations, John being given the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the UNSC Navy. Unfortunately, the UNSC efforts failed as Sargasso was later.

In the next few years, John's team fought in the and the. The Spartans aided in defensive and evacuation efforts on both fronts and John received a promotion to Commander sometime thereafter in for his valiant efforts. Later in, he and the remaining Spartans were issued the first generation of the improved , known as , for active duty.

During July of 2552, Nova Team was deployed on a high priority mission to  with the objective of material retrieval or destruction in the cities of Caracas and Enfield. It is unknown what objects were recovered, although they were likely some of the various artifacts located on the planet. Concurrently, SPARTAN-IIs were on the surface, with John-117 and engaging Covenant forces at the. With the detonation of a, the SPARTAN-IIs destroyed the museum and the Covenant forces in the area. In early August, John-A222 and his team were deployed along with multiple other Spartan fireteams to during the  where they engaged in counter-assault operations. One of the other fireteams remained planetside to hold off Covenant assault forces but were eventually overrun and killed.

Fall of Reach

 * Main article:

After the discovery of a Covenant advance force by in late July 2552, many engagements followed, including the. When this battle ended with the uncloaking of a massive, sixty percent of the was recalled to  to aid in its defense. Nova Team was among the reinforcements scheduled to arrive by August 15 on the UNSC Supernova. Upon arrival, the Spartans were immediatiely deployed to where a Covenant assault was underway. Initially, Nova Team was assigned to slow the Covenant advance while evacuation efforts were organized. This task was left to ODSTs when a local ONI facility was attacked by a strike team. Most of the security forces, officials, and researchers present had already been killed before Nova Team arrived. John and his team soon found the remaining personnel being terrorized by a, a , and several spec ops units. The situation was resolved as John stabbed the Chieftain in the neck, and the team's primary sniper, Josh-A124, ended the Captain Major with a well-placed bullet. Concurrently, the rest of the team neutralized the remaining hostiles. The team continued special operations in Quezon but was later withdrawn before the city was glassed. Nova Team also assisted in the evacuation of along with  and  after the Covenant initiated an aggressive raid on the city. Here, Nathan-B136, of Nova Team, was injured by. As the metropolis was later glassed, John and his men escorted local civilians and military personnel to a public bunker near the city center, where they would wait for hours. In the aftermath of the glassing, the members of Nova Team lit distress flares to signal any nearby search and rescue forces. As the bunker was evacuated, John's team was picked up by a Pelican and helped responders sweep the city for survivors. At one point, the dropship pilots spotted the blue smoke of a signal flare rising from the ruins of. Here, John and the able members of Nova Team helped evacuate the survivors of Noble Team and other stranded personnel. During the remainder of its deployment to Reach, Nova Team engaged in numerous defensive and counter-assault operations throughout.

In the final days of the Battle of Reach, John's team was one of the several that defended the shipyard and pipelines in. The Spartans held off Covenant forces as the remnants of Noble Team transported a high priority package to the dry-docked. At this time, Tyler-B037 of Nova Team was killed by a, and Nathan-B136 perished by fire. As the UNSC defenses weakened, the Nova Team survivors were withdrawn along with some of the remaining UNSC forces. It was shortly after this that and Emile-A239 made their last stand against overwhelming Covenant forces at the shipyard.

Defense of Earth

 * Main article:

The remnants of John's team were deployed to  in September of 2552, where UNSC forces began to fortify for a final stand against the Covenant. The first Covenant force, led by the, arrived at Earth on October 20. Initially, Nova Team and other UNSC forces engaged in by means of intense urban warfare. John and his team engaged in defensive and counter-assault operations against the new Jiralhanae-led invasion force. The fighting was constant until the, , made a sudden slipspace jump above the city, devastating the ground below. In the aftermath, John was informed that UNSC contact had been lost with a team of ODSTs on a classified deployment. Nova Team was ordered to locate the team and recover their objective, a Forerunner artifact known as the. Arriving at the team's last known location, Nova Team found the ODSTs dead and the artifact missing. The Spartans reported their findings. With scant information regarding the artifact's whereabouts, the UNSC presumed the Conduit destroyed. The Spartans continued to help resist the Covenant ground forces even as hostile reinforcements arrived. After the loss in, Nova Team was divided into pairs in an effort to deploy Spartans on more fronts, John-A222 serving with Josh-A124. The pair was relocated, fighting across a variety of fronts in, Europe, and. From October 25 to November 17, they fought in Athens,, , and Geneva as the 's fleet arrived. During the, John and Nova Team persisted with the rest of the UNSC forces on Earth until the fighting relented.

Post-War
After the end of the Human-Covenant War, most Spartans were given the option to either supplement the newly-formed of the UNSC or to be assigned to a non-combat role. However, along with Spartan, Nova Team remained unintegrated from the Spartan Branch, serving in special operations for the UNSC Navy and ONI. Retaining the rank of Commander, John continues to lead his Spartan team on high-priority deployments.

In late 2552, Nova Team was provided with several upgrades and incorporations to their Mark V[B] armor to field test many features for the future. One such test involved the backwards compatibility of GEN1 MJOLNIR components on the experimental GEN2 suite. Ultimately, the results partially yielded the ability to use certain Mark V[B]-based variants with GEN2 systems by. Likewise, alternate hardware field tests were used to provide data that would eventually be used in the development of the enhanced sensory features of the newer GEN2 and the structure of remade Mark V[B] variants, such as and  MJOLNIR.

In March of 2553, Nova Team was assigned to, or "," along with several  fireteams. Deployment objectives were to reconnoiter the surface, quarantine areas of potential Flood contamination, and recover any notable Forerunner artifacts. John-A222 led Nova Team skillfully, being assigned the more hazardous objectives. The four SPARTAN-IIIs of Nova Team continued operations on the ring's surface, conducting reconaissance, providing military support, and retrieving artifacts, until late 2554.

By 2558, John-A222 was issued MJOLNIR GEN2 along with all other active Spartans.

Traits and personality
John is known to be a serious and intelligent Spartan, always thinking tactically on the battlefield. He has grown accustomed to his status and often exhibits his leadership. As a leader, he has a strong contempt for disrespect and mistreatment. John appreciates receiving due recognition but consistently holds a firm mannerism. Regardless, John shows great pride in being a Spartan. During the Human-Covenant War, he came to recognize the as formidable opponents and exhibits great respect of them. This being said, he never hesitated to kill during engagements. John also seems to be somewhat compassionate towards the given their passive nature, and shows disgust for Jiralhanae.

John possesses a dry and often sarcastic sense of humor. He is known to remain calm under fire and almost always completes his tasks efficiently. His battlefield prowess is considerable, significantly outweighing most Spartans. John has exhibited an advanced proficiency with a combat knife, often using stealth or reflexes to neutralize targets. Regarding his fellow supersoldiers, John holds great respect and sees each of them as an incredible asset and beyond that, a person. He cares for his squadmates and does everything in his power to help keep them content. Upon hearing of the catastrophe that was Opertaion: PROMETHEUS, John was devastated. While he understood that it was strategically successful, he was mortified at the Spartan casualty reports. It became one of his personal desires to discover who of Alpha Company was still alive. This same impact was felt years later when took place with a similar result and when Nathan-B136 and Tyler-B037 were lost.

Given his heritage, John seems to be fluent in the Greek language. It is believed that his ancestors lived in the country of Greece on Earth. For this reason, the insignia of a Greek helmet is displayed on John's armor.

Equipment
John's preferred weapons are the /, /, and the although he has shown proficiency with the majority of. John is known to keep an / or an as a sidearm. He is also capable of using when the combat situation demands it. His MJOLNIR GEN1 armor was often supplemented with MJOLNIR.

Along with the rest of Alpha Company, John was issued cheap Semi-Powered Infiltration armor. After his removal from the company, John was granted a base set of advanced hardware armor. This was used in service until 2551 when MJOLNIR Mark V[B] was released into active duty. With his new armor, John utilized pieces of the new variant, such as his helmet, along with  variants. He admired several of the recently-developed pieces.

John's MJOLNIR Mark V is his most notable armor set. His RECON helmet was known to feature a Blast Shield, a golden visor, and a 3rd Generation External Hardened Uplink (HUL) for MILINT acquisition. The rest of his armor consists of a chestpiece,  right shoulder pauldron, RECON left shoulder pauldron, and  knee guards. His armor also features a on the left forearm and a  near the left shoulder. John is known to keep a as part of his utility. John's armor boasted a Sage (Olive) coloration with Steel (Charcoal) as a secondary color. The image of a Greek Spartan helmet is displayed on his chestpiece. MJOLNIR Mark V[B] was used by John and his team through the end of the war.

In late 2552, the remnants of Nova Team and Blue Team were issued experimental MJOLNIR upgrades, such firmware upgrades, operational updates, and hardware improvements. Such incorporations served as field tests for components and systems that would be incorporated into MJOLNIR GEN2. As of 2558, Nova Team, Blue Team, and most other active Spartans are assumed to have transitioned to the MJOLNIR GEN2 platform. At this point, John was issued the MJOLNIR variant with a RECON helmet rather than the standard. John's GEN2 armor displays his traditional color scheme of a Sage (Moss) primary color with a Coal (Steel) secondary.

NOVA Team

 * Main article: NOVA Team

NOVA Team was an elite squad of SPARTAN-IIIs that was formed by the UNSC Navy in the year 2545. Given his prior tactical experience, leadership, and combat skills, John-A222 was selected to lead the team. Nova Team was deployed on countless fronts throughout the Human-Covenant War such as Tribute and Reach. The squad consisted of six Spartans, comparable to Noble Team. The original members were John-A222, Josh-A124, Tyler-B037, Adam-B226, Timothy-A130, and Nathan-B136. The team call signs were Nova One, Nova Two, Nova Three, Nova Four, Nova Five, and Nova Six, respectively. Josh-A124 was an especially promising Spartan who specialized in marksmanship. John became close with Josh-A124 during training with Alpha Company which, in addition to his skills, eventually prompted the latter's assignment to the team as sniper. When commandeering an or an, the pair has a reputation of being especially deadly with Josh-A124 driving and John-A222 in the gunner position. Tyler-B037 and Nathan-B136 had known each other previously from training. The fact that both eventually were assigned to the same squad was purely coincidence. When not deployed, Nova Team operated out of the heavy cruiser, UNSC Supernova.

Trivia

 * John is currently one of the only Spartans to actually be of Greek descent.
 * John-A222 has only met John-117 a few times, but he stands in great admiration of the Spartan with whom he shares a name.
 * John was unique among the SPARTAN-IIIs, having the genetic specifications sought in SPARTAN-II candidates.
 * John-A222 actually trained alongside on numerous occasions. Coincidentally, the two would both rise to become notable UNSC Naval Commanders.
 * John's Spartan tag is a possible because given that "A" is the first letter of the alphabet, it can take an assumed value of "1". Therefore, 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 7.
 * The emblem located on John's armor bears similarity to the emblem displayed on 's shoulder pauldron. Given John-A222's reasoning for selecting his emblem, there is no correlation.
 * John is suspected to have been involved with ONI to an unknown extent. It is believed that he possesses and  clearance within ONI.