Vigil-057

"You say that War can die? War never dies."

- Justin, After the Human-Covenant War.

SPARTAN-057 was a SPARTAN-II Commando that served the UNSC before and after the Human-Covenant War. Number-057 was known as Justin Orenji Corvinus by birth, and Justin Corvinus after his conscription, The Poetic Spartan by his comrades, or Justinian by his closest friends. SPARTAN-057 specialized in Long Range and Close Quarters Combat and Tactical Strikes, often using his strategic prowess to good effect. However, Justin preferred to be a Lone Wolf on his missions due to having lost his closest friends while being their teammate. 057 often lended his support to many outer colonies, even though he face certain death being there. He participated in many operations involving insurrectionists and fought in countless battles during the Great War, reported to be more than 100. Also, he participated in many exploration missions into deep space to search for suitable planets for the UNSC to inhabit if they ever lost Earth. However, during his last search mission, SPARTAN-057 lost all forms of contact with the UNSC and ONI and never came back, prompting the military designation, MIA. He would remain missing throughout the years before being discovered during the Saulosian Campaign. It turned out that he was captured by the Saulosians after he and his vessel had a minor skirmish with a Saulosian Patrol Ship. Their ship was disabled and was subsequently boarded. Him and the crew put a good fight, killing several dozen boarders before being stunned or overwhelmed. This fact would later be proven after the UNSC had discovered a derelict vessel that bore the markings of 057's ship. Inside were dozens of alien bodies as well as former crew. But no signs of him were apparent. After his capture, he Saulosians had placed him in suspended animation and was often reawakened to be tortured for information. When they found and rescued him, Justin was different.

Justin was born on March 23, 2512 to a well loving family. He went to school and had many companions, including a pet retriever, named Shadow. Unlike his friends, Justin had a love for school and by his urging, his parents taught him how to read at an early age. This, coupled with several others, drew Dr. Halsey to continually observe him for the SPARTAN-II program. However, his happy life was cut short after his parents died in a car accident. This prompted Halsey to come to Justin and recruit him, which he hastily complied. But when she saw Justin several years later, she felt sorrow and regret for what she had done to a young, grieving boy. "I used Justin, a boy whose parents had died. What am I, for doing such a thing?"

- Dr. Halsey, After seeing Justin after Augments

Justin was one of the few to survive the augments and have no ill effects. However, his hair turned white as result, either directly from it, or by his own body. Right after augments, he and most of his team, went on to perform several classified missions, all of which ended in success. SPARTAN-057 was in preparation on another classified mission but was recalled back to Earth after the Covenant had declared war on the Humans after the events that pertained on Harvest. He would face further tragedy during the defense of his homeworld, where one of his closest friends was mercilessly slaughtered by an Elite. He would be deeply affected by this, causing him to go into brief but severe depression. During this, he requested a transfer to another unit, being the lone SPARTAN assigned. He also requested that his surviving comrade be transferred to another SPARTAN team, believing that his friend would do better without Justin. The true reason for this transfer, however, was that Justin couldn't face another death of his closest friend, having witnessed the deaths of his comrades via augments as well as the slaughter of another.

SPARTAN-057 would take on a Lone Wolf like nature, often isolating himself from the Marines and ODSTs. This earned him the discontent and ridicule of the ODSTS, who were known to have a form of rivalry and disdain for the SPARTANs, often calling them "freaks" or "abominations". But their thoughts of him soon lightened after he bravely fought off several groups of Covenant while the pinned down ODSTs and Marines could escape. As a result, he was gravely injured and was out of commission for several weeks. After this, his Lone Wolf nature started to wane, with him opening up to several Marines. There he took the time to share his writings with them, with his comrades jokingly calling him the Poetic Spartan, a nickname that Justin took pride in. Many of the Marines and ODSTs would become loyal to Justin, with him forming his own unit and the men transferring to his.

Justin was present at the meeting of Reach but didn't partake in the battle after. Due to underlying circumstances, Justin was ordered to go on on space exploration. When he returned, he was immediately ordered to return to Earth, therefore, he fought in the Battle of Earth. It was during this time, he faced another brush with death, almost dying to save his unit during the Retaking of New Mombasa. Sadly, his unit faced many casualties, many of whom, Justin had gotten close with. After the retaking, he and his unit were sent to multiple locations, each stop replenishing their numbers. It was also during this that the Great Schism had happened, with the Elites and their allies joining the Humans. Now, Justin and his unit found themselves fighting along side their long time enemies against their common foe. They had a shaky alliance at best, each distrusting the other. But an unlikely thing happened. An Elite Ultra named Cotoal' Turlikee had saved Justin's life. He saved Cotoal' in return and after many times, a unique friendship started to take place. Soon, the other Elites and his unit started to work with each other, breaking down walls of distrust. With the agreement of their superiors, they formed the first unit of Humans and Elites, called GROUP: Alliance with SPARTAN-057 and Cotoal' Turlikee as the head officers.

Background:
"I remember it just like yesterday. I was at school playing with my friends when my teacher and Grandma came. They were both crying, especally Grandma. They told me to come and when I was there, my teacher hugged me and said, I'm so sorry Justin. Then Grandma looked at me straight in the eyes and said, "Justin, your mom and dad died." When I heared that I didn't believe it. "No, no! You're lying! Mommy can't be gone! She can't! She cant! I said." Then Dr. Hasley came up to me as I was crying. She knelt down next to me and said that I was going to be alright. She said that they would take me away for a better life if I accepted. I said yes"''"

- Justin remembering the passing of his parents

Beginning
SPARTAN-057, or Justin, was born in Romulon in the Emperial Systen, to a Police Sergeant and a stay-at-home wife. While his father was out on duty, his mother taught Justin how to read and write. With this, he and his mother grew extremely close. They always went out on trips and hikes. But on a faithful day, as his parents were driving to visit relations, a drunk driver swirved in front of them and they collided, which in turn caused a massive pile-up. Justin, who was staying at his Grandparent's home was given the news a day later while he was at school. When Justin heared those fateful words, he screamed and ran out of the school, with tears in his eyes. Dr. Hasley witnessed this taking place and as he was grieving, she came to him and comforted him. She told him that he would have a better life if she went to him. Wanting to leave this place he accepted. During the night, Justin was expecting them and when they came, he had his things packed already. To make sure nothing was amiss, he was replaced with a flash clone, that would die later as its death would be deemed by severe depression.

Training
"When I was first brought, I was merely ready for anything but I was wrong."

''"I earned the name "Justinian" because when we were playing a strategy game on conquering each other. I expanded my territories and I  was able to hold them the longest. And since the King did the same, I was given that name." ''

On the first day, Justin was ready anything or so he thought. He was introduced to all of the Spartans and to one of his later heroes-Mendez. On his first excercise, he was placed on a team with SPARTAN-02 (Emmalyn) and SPARTAN-113 (Jasper) and was told to go on the giant "Playground" and ring the bell. The team of three performed extremely on the first run, placing third on completing it. After other excercises, him and the other became the best of friends. This trio would later be formed into Silver Team. During the training, Justin was brought into the world of history. He was simply fascinated with the cultures and battles that Deja was teaching them. Later on, Deja would tell Justin that his name is another version of Justinian. Curious, Justin asked Deja who he was and she told that he was a great king who expanded his lands and kept it in order his death.

Augumentations
After 7 years passed, Justin became a well defined soldier. But during those years, he developed some traits that his fellow comrades enjoyed and admired. He wrote poetry but most preferably about nature and romance. After he was done writing he should show and read it to all of his friends. Then it was time for augumentations. They were all brought in one by one and were treated. After the treatement, he was one of the few to recover quickly but it wasn't the same for his comrades. One his teammates Emmalyn-02 died from the augumentations, it deeply hurt him but Justin was able to put himself back into shape. A side effect of the augumentation had caused his hair to turn white.

OPERATION SNAKE
This was their "official" graduation mission. After the death of Emmalyn, Justin and Jasper was paired with Zack-022 to go with the mission. The objective of the mission was infiltrate a rebel base and download all information of the whereabouts of the rebels and sympathizers. After the download was completed they were to destroy the base. The infilration of the base was fairly easy but when they were in the control of the base, a passing patrol caught sight of them. The team immediately dispatched them as they continued all the computers contents into their pad.Just as the download was completed, an unseen alarm was tripped and the whole base was alerted. The team knew they had little time and they quickly set the explosives. As they made their way into the hangar bay, the team had small firefights. Silver team was able to highjack a freighter and leave. Before they went into Slipspace Justin detonated the explosives and saw the explosions ripple across the base.

Human/Covenant War
"I remember this one Marine. He just came out of the field and was excited for some fighting. When we were fighting the Covenant, he was hit by some of the Needler projectiles. He was ripped open and his life was quickly ebbing away. I was the last one he talked to. All he said was, "I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die." Then he screamed, "Mommy!! Mommy!!" It was quiet after that."

- SPARTAN-057 recalling Death

'Battle For Romulon'
It was a few years after the War had started. Around the year 2528, SPARTAN-057's home planet, Romulon, was attacked. Even after abandoning his home, Justin still felt a kinship with the planet. Upon of hearing the attack, he voluntered his team to go groundside and help with the evacuations and provide fire support. The captain of Star's Treasure agreed and gave them a Pelican to fly. As the Pelican landed on the planet's surface, Justin saw that the marines were fighting a desparate battle to evacuate the civillians. Justin-057 and Zack-022 went out with the Marines to provide fire whille Jasper-113 went to help with evacuations. Wave after wave, the grunts came at them but they were able to push them back. But then, the Elites showed up. Along with the added firepower of them, the Marines and the two Spartans couldn't hold them for long. Not long after, they broke through and soon everyone was running for cover. But the ones that were too slow were massacred. Justin and Zack were forced to run away but before they fell back, he saw Jasper fall. Justin yelled in anger and angusih when he witnessd what he was seeing. Jasper was protecting the evacuation transports as they were leaving. Jasper was able to hold them off until he came face to face with 2 Elites. Jasper only had two pistols left and a combat knife. They came upon him and Jasper jumped from side to side, firing. He took one of them out but the other Elite got hold of him. Another Elite showed up and with it was a shining blade. He impaled Jasper with it and with his last dying breath, he looked at the shocked Justin and said through the comm, "Its been fun. Now go!!" But Justin didn't listen to him and instead he and Zack went to Jasper's body, killing the Elites in the process. They picked him up and they went into the Pelican where he recieved a transmission from command saying that the Covenant are about to glass the Planet. He reved up the engines and went up into space only to discover that 1/3 of the fleet still remained and they were about to retreat, having picked up the the evacuees and survivors. The SPARTANS docked with the nearest ship and the fleet retreated into Slipspace.

'Companion's Funeral/Before Reach'
Justin put himself into cryosleep to until they arrived back at Reach. Only he and Zack were there to see Jasper's funeral. All the other SPARTANs knew because he had broadcasted what had happened to them. During the mourning, Justin went to Zack to speak in private. He told him that he had Zack transferred into another unit whereas Justin had decided to go on his own. He transferred himself to a fleet that fought in the front lines. Justin had isolated himself from the SPARTANs because he wanted to have time to mourn the loss of his home planet and to think about the passing of Jasper and the others. During his time in the frontlines, Justin witnessed countless planets glassed, entire populations or squads massacred, and loyal comrades die. With this, he gained a stronger resolve to fight and preserve life. Every chance he got, SPARTAN-057 tried to save as many lives as possible. When he knew that they were about to be overrun, he told his unit and everyone else to fall back. With his directive, this cost a reduce in casulaties.

'Reach'
It would be many years later befoe Justin was recalled to go to Reach. He initally arrived a week before the Battle of Reach. While he was there, Justin took the time to look around the planet. When the SPARTANs started to arrive, he was one of the first people to greet them. Even though it was their reunion, the SPARTANs eventually learned that they were brought together to go on a misssion to capture a Covenant ship, find their homeworld and capture one of their leaders and use him to create a truce. However, Justin was not able to attend the meeting. He was called up by the higher ups to go on a a scouting mission to look for suitable planets to colonize in case if Eath fell. Before he left, Justin was given the MJOLNIR Mark V armor. Then the higher ups manipulated the computers saying that SPARTAN-057 was with the others whereas he was sent to go on another mission. It would be later that Justin would discover that after he left, a battle ensued on Reach, leaving many of his comrades dead or missing.

'Wandering Spartan'
SPARTAN-057 was put on a classified mission to go out into space and look for unknown systems for the UNSC to fall back into just in case Earth fell. He was given command of a Laden-class freighter along with a small crew and enough supplies to last in space for a year. During the exploration, he took the time to write poetry about his history and the battles. Many of the crew reported that they saw Justin staring off into space and writing into a beat up notebook. So far all they discovered was several nebualas, and some asteroids that could be mined or be formed into a base. Everyone on board thought they wouldn't find anything but they eventually did. Roughly after 2 months, they had made a discovery. They caculated a random slipspace jump and they arrived in a system. The outskirts of this system was a ring of asteroids. Justin determined that they could establish several bases in this ring. He went further down the system and discovered 5 planets. He did a further analysis and foudn that 3 of th planets could be habital and 1 could be terraformed. They had just found their fallback system. They reported their discoveries to the UNSC and the UNSC was excited about it because back home, Earth was under attack. They told him to return immediately for debriefing and support. Everyone on the ship was happy that they were going back home. They went to cryo while the ships AI made a course for Earth. Mission complete.

'Battle for Earth/New Mombasa'
When SPARTAN-057 arrived at Earth, he saw that everything was at turmoil. Everywhere, he saw fights taking place between the numerous ships of the UNSC and the Covenant. Justin knew that if they didn't move, their small frieghter would be destroyed. He and the AI took evasive action and they flew down to the surface where he and the crew immediately reported their discovery. The UNSC took note of their findings and told Justin to go to New Mombassa and provide support.

When the Prophet of Regret left Earth and destroyed most of the City, Justin was out in the outskirts, trying to find a way in. Luckily, he was not hurt in the destruction. After that, Justin led the initial charge into New Mombassa to retake the city but they met heavy resistance. They made their base in an heavily demolished hotel. Only the first two floors were in good condition; the rest of the hotel was gone. Their first attack met heavy casualties. The Covenant had placed Jackal Snipers throughout the city and they were able to take out the attackers one by one until Justin called for a retreat. Justin found a way to eliminate the snipers. He simply used himself as a decoy and when they shot at him, Justin immediately returned fire, taking them out. After that, he led another foray into the city, meeting greater success then the first one. He and the ones under his command were able to take the city back block by block but during the last engagement, Justin was severely wounded when several plasma bolts struck him in the back as he was trying to drag 3 wounded marines to cover. The troops under his command noticed his fall and they did everything they could to recover him. Several of the marines propped him against the wall while the medic readioed for immediate pickup. All Justin could remember was that he fell down and that he was being picked up and put on a Pelican, after that, he blacked out. SPARTAN-057 would later awaken, unarmored, in the medical bay of landed Frigate Midsummers Dance. The doctors had performed surgery on him, along with large amounts of biofoam to keep him alive. He would remain out of commission for a some weeks while he recuperiates. During this time, he was awarded the Purple Heart for his actions in the Battle of New Mombasa. He later learned that when he fell, the Marines under his commanded protected him while they called for medical support. They had retaken the city but had lost half of their forces during the engagements.

'Second Battle For Earth'
It would be 4 and a half weeks before SPARTAN-057 would have been deemed worthy to fight again. But he was told to stay another week just in case any problems occured. The extra week was stopped short when Justin heard word that the 2nd Battle for Earth was taking place. He went over to the Captain of Midsummers Dance and asked to go to battle. The Captain readily complied, knowing that the SPARTAN was a valuabe asset to the UNSC and couldn't have denied him. The Captain deployed him to Africa, where most of the battles was taking place. He was told of recent events and eventually learned of the Alliance with the Elites. Initally, he wasn't surprised and he took the Alliance as a sign that the war will end.

Justin would find himself fighting with an Elite Ultra named Cotoal' Turlik and on many occassions they would save each other respectively. With this, a friendsip would form and Cotoal' would request to be transferred to Justin's unit but the request would be denied. Instead, Justin and a squad of Marines would be joined with Cotoal's group. when they were not at the battlefield, he would take the time teaching Cotoal' human history, poetry and philosophy. And Cotoal' would do likewise. Their group would be called GROUP: Alliance. While they were together, this group broke boundries, relying on each other for support. They had put their differences behind, befriended each other, and became a formidable figthing force.

They saw most of their action in Africa where they were to provide assistance to the Allied forces. Justin and group was not present during the Battle of Voi or the The Battle of Installation 00 due to them providing diversonary attacks. The group learned that the war had ended and they traveled to Voi to see the monuement that the UNSC had erected. Among them was one of Justin's comrades, John-117 but he knew that John was out there somewhere. Waiting to be found. It was time for goodbyes. The Elite forces were leaving, including Cotoal' and his group. After their farewells, Justin and Cotoal' stood in front of each other, and shook hands. Saying "We will meet again."

'After the War'
"I was recruited or was "placed" into another secret Exploration expedition."

"It was funny. I made friends with an AI. Its good, she has a nice singing voice."

"During the 1st expedition, we made first contact."

OPERATION DISCOVERY
Several months after the completion of the war (June 28, 2553) SPARTAN-057 was given orders to board UNSC Frigate Dove's Flight. There, in the command bridge of the frigate, he was debriefed by an Unknown Admiral to go forth beyond UNSC territories to look for suitable planets to mark for colonization and explore space. He will assist the Captain by acting as his second in command and engaging in scouting operations when they go planetside. Along with him, the Ships AI Jasmine will help with further operations. Along with Dove's Flight, UNSC Frigate Feathered Wings will accompany them to provide added support. 3 days after debrief, the two frigates launched, setting their cordinates to the system that SPARTAN-057 had discovered and going on from there. 4 months had passed and they had found nothing.

Friendship with Jasmine
During the 4 months, Jasmine would come to him and try to befriend him. Justin would be relecutant at first but eventually opened himself up to her. He later found out about the experimental projector and was startled when she popped out at him when he was leaning against a railing looking out into space. He understood and told her that he liked the dress that she was "wearing". After that, they started to talk about more things and they grew closer. The Crew reported in their logs saying that they saw SPARTAN-057 walking with the AI. It was also reported that they heard the AI singing.

First Contact
7 months had passed and for some reason, they experienced a mild turbelence when they passed an asteroid. Unknown to them, something was looming around the corner. Suddenly they recieved a transmission from Feathered Wings. It said if they experienced a mild turbelence. Something was wrong and the Captain knew. He told the crew to be on full alert just in case something happpens. His feeling was right. Out of nowhere, Feathered Wings was hit. The enemy showed themselves, the ship looking like a frigate. Their ship was fired upon, but they narrowly avoided it. However, the other was not so lucky; it was hit again. They recieved a transmission from the frigate saying that that they had taken massive damage and they think that they wouldn't make it unless they immediately retreat or it went away from battle. Both him and the Captain told the frigate to stay in the back while they tried to handle things. Both ships launched their Longswords while the frigate readied its MAC gun. The enemy ship did the same except dozens were launched. With the MAC ready, they fired along with a salvo of Archer Missles. The MAC hit causing a red hue to flicker. The missles hit causing further damage. The enemy fired 3 consecutive shots but only two hit the frigate. The first was effective but the the second was minimal. The Captain told Jasmine to fire a nuke once they unload a MAC round unto it. When the red hue flickered a nuke was shot and when it exploded, it tore the front out of it.

With the ship seemingly destroyed, Dove's Flight went over to Feathered Wings and told everyone to board the ship, bringing any supplies and equipment that were deemed okay. The remaining Longswords were than told to come back. The true exent of the damage became apparent. Over half of the crew had died, either from the breaches or injuries. Only some of the equipment were okay and some of the food was salvageable. Suddenly, the ship recieved a transmission from the destroyed ship:

'''////'''

Hearing the transmission, the Captain of Feathered Wings gave the AI an order to arm one of their nukes and ram the enemy ship, detonating and vaporizing it. Fearing to face another encounter with this race, it was deemed that they return to Earth. but Justin said that they must continue for another month to explore. The Captain obliged, saying that they must hurry before they are discovered. Justin then changed his mind, instead he chose to explore by himself. He boarded a Longsword and requested that the AI accompany him. He told the Captain to return to the nearest UNSC held planet and report in and telling them that he went off alone. The Captain nodded as Justin flew off. He never SPARTAN-057 again.

Quotes
"I've been used but I still follow"

- After his betrayal

"Sometimes, you don't know what's precious to you even if its right in front of you."

- After his homeworld had fallen

"I have to choose: write my poetry or fight. I chose both."

- He jokingly said to Jasmine

Trivia

 * Justin is comes from the latin term Justinus or Justus which means the Just or the Fair.
 * Corvinus stands for Little Raven. Thus, the whole meaning of the name is Fair Little Raven.
 * SPARTAN-057's appearance is based on the Devil May Cry 4 Character Nero.