User:Spartan 075/Matt-075





"When I lost this arm.....I lost a part of myself. But now.....I think I just found it again....thank you."

- Matt's last words to an ODST medic

Matt-075 was a Class 1 SPARTAN-II, of the UNSC Navy Special Warfare Group. He also recieved advanced training in orbital insertion techniques via HEVs that were taught to all ODSTs at the time. He perished during the Fall of Reach.

Physical Description
Matt-075 had short blonde hair and blue eyes. His face was lightly tanned, with a small scar on his cheek. His right arm was replaced by a prosthetic one after taking a mangling swipe from a covenant energy sword when engaging an elite zealot at close quarters during his campaign in the First Battle for Arcadia.

Childhood
Matt was taken from his homeworld of New Harmony at a young age and indoctrinated into the SPARTAN-II program at the age of Seven. Like many of the other children in the program, his parents were none the wiser about his disappearence and raised his flash clone as though nothing had changed until it's eventual death due to metabolic cascade failure years later.

SPARTAN Training
Matt was regarded as a brilliant tactition, it was noted by Dr. Halsey that he was quote, "Very prudent in his actions, he is able to take any tactical advantage no matter the size and use it to it's fullest potential to turn the tides of a battle." When paired up into teams, Matt took heartily to the task of outwitting the many instructors that tested the cunning of he and the other indoctrinated children. SCPO Mendez came to doctor Halsey on a personal note and told her that he quote, "Didn't like the way that boy looked at him." he explained that there was always this hint of skepticism in the boy's face.....but every time he confronted Matt, he only showed the senior officer the utmost respect.

During the period of augmentation Matt seemed to be restless after being drugged, while this wasn't uncommon he would talk in his sleep and call out to his parents. Mendez knew that even though the spartans showed no sign of it, they truly did miss their old lives. The old instructor walked over to Matt and sat down next to him, he held the boy's hand and slowly Matt drifted off to a quiet slumber. Although Mendez still gave Matt a gruff look every once in a while, he occasionally smiled when he watched Mattt run courses thinking to himself what a fine soldier the boy was turning out to be. When time for his coronation came, SCPO Mendez personally pinned the SPARTAN insignia on the boy's chest and told him, "You've done well son, I expect a lot out of you from now on." Matt snapped a salute and gave Mendez a small, almost unnoticable smirk before joining his fellow Spartans once more.

Later on in his years he was commended for completing training with ODST helljumpers from the 105th Marine Expeditionary Unit (SOC) in HEV usage for orbital entry scenarios. After the training he kept his ODST variant helmet and donned it when in combat as a show of pride which earned him much respect from the ODSTs he fought alongside. He was also awarded the nickname "Hopelessly Romantic" by many ODST's due to a fraternization code violation which was given to him by Dr.Halsey when she discovered his "friendly visits" to a female ODST's quarters during his off-duty time. (Of course, if asked Dr.Halsey would deny such violations by her SPARTAN-IIs entirely.)

First Battle for Arcadia
Matt had a substantially long service record with the UNSC before his abduction by ONI. Long before the covenant had turned their armies towards Reach, Matt had served aboard the UNSC vessal Armstrong when the covenant had attacked Arcadia. He was tasked with civilian evacuation, as well as countermeasure operations against the invading covenant along with spartans Jerome-092, Alice-130, and Douglas-042. It was during the civilian evacuation that he and the small squad of spartans engaged a covenant strike team attempting to destroy civilian evac transports. Matt was caught off guard by an elite zealot who had active camoflague and consequentially lost his arm for it. He survived the encounter only because of Alice-130 who had seen the elite ambush Matt and prevented the killing blow by blocking the energy sword with her AIE 486H Heavy Machine Gun, followed by a burst of rounds into the Sangheili's torso.

When Captain James Cutter of the UNSC Spirit of Fire gave the order to give chase to the crippled Covenant strike force that had began to withdraw from the planet, Matt hesitantly stayed behind with the remaining UNSC forces to retrieve immediate medical attention while the Spirit of Fire and her crew pursued the retreating covenant forces to a >CONFIDENTIAL< outside of known UNSC space. This near-death encounter changed Matt's attitude drastically, he lost his gentle idealistic views on the war and adopted a more crude personality that pushed him to do nothing more than live to see the end of it.

Battle of Onyx
It was after being reassigned to a secret station on Onyx that Matt had learned of the situation of the war, and of the UNSC's needs for expendable super-soldiers. During this time period Matt and Kurt vigorously trained the many new indoctrinated children who were sent to Onyx under the authorization of Colonel Ackerson. Matt had his thoughts on the new "mass produced suicide spartans" but he kept such sentiments between he and Kurt. When Matt's mental state of health came into question by Ackerson, Kurt spoke in his favor saying: "Sometimes soldiers can get emotional scars from a war, it's a sad fact that Spartan-075 is one such soldier. But I know that Matt has attained a strong will to survive from his encounters, and he can pass this ability off to these new children so that they can live long enough to get the job done.".

In his time as an instructor Matt had seen many impressive children undergo the SPARTAN-III regimen, but none more so than Kat. Many times he vouched for her when she got the urge to hack into the occassional ONI database and was given a violation for insubordination. He saw her potential as a soldier and allowed her a few more pardons than most of the other children in her training group. One thing Matt did for her that she particularly enjoyed was hearing the stories he'd tell her before bed about his encounters with the covenant. To Kat, he was the closest thing she had to family after indoctrination. Matt was also present for the battle of Onyx years later, but unlike Kurt he kept on his preferred ODST variant Mjolnir armor rather than don SPI armor which in the long run, saved his life many times. He was one of the lucky few to make it off the planet along with Dr. Halsey, Blue Team, Team Saber, in stasis Team Katana, and SCPO Mendez when the situation with the sentinels erupted into pure chaos, and the AI "Endless Summer" was lost.

Fall of Reach
After a psychological evaluation Matt was reassigned years later to Reach along with the original Noble Team. It was during this time period that Matt grieved over the loss of his good friend Kurt, as well as many of the SPARTAN-III's he had come to know and care for that were lost on suicide missions. During the Covenant invasion on the planet Reach, Matt had assisted Kat and the rest of Noble Team in many of their operations to undermine the covenant strike force. In his final hours Spartan-075 played a large role in the city of New Alexandria. When the order was given by Colonel Holland to evacuate the city prior to it's inevitable glassing, Spartan-075 Joined up with a defense force comprised of a platoon of the 105th, as well as many marines that were assigned to city wide evacuation. His task force was to halt the covenant ground forces from reaching the city and taking out key defenseve points.

Although the covenant had done so successfully with troops dropped in via phantoms & spirits, Spartan-075's task force held off a surmountable enemy force. After a long and ferocious battle, Matt was left fighting a Sangheili Field Marshal who had joined the fray due to his countless loss of troops. In the ensuing fight, Spartan-075 was cut in the torso by the Field Marshal's Energy Sword when his shotgun had jammed after being fired constantly in the battle prior to the duel. He survived the blow only because of the ODST chest plating he kept under his HP/Parafoil gear. Though the chest piece had been cut clean in half, it had managed to stop enough of the blade as to prevent any fatal injuries. Finally, using his prosthetic hand Spartan-075 broke the battered Field Marshal's wrist and plunged the astounded Sangheili with it's own blade. After retreating to a ruined structure nearby, Spartan-075 activated his distress transponder and treated himself with some Bio foam.

A short time later Pelican dropship Kilo 812 that was headed for the nearby dry dock had picked up Spartan-075s distress beacon and came to investigate. The soldiers onboard found Matt propped up against a wall and immediately assisted him in getting aboard the Pelican. They wasted no time in departing for the dry dock which held the last UNSC frigate Aegis Fate that was awaiting clearance of a Covenant corvette that was raining plasma down upon any ships attempting to flee the city. En route to the docks, the Pelican was hit by anti-air Shade turrets positioned upon the rooftops of nearby skyscrapers. The dropship was able to limp a few more miles before going down about 10 klicks away from the Aegis Fate, with a wounded pilot and only a few soldiers still alive after the crash Spartan-075 had realized that holding out for rienforcements at the crashsite was impossible. Radio contact with the frigate wasn't an option due to Covenant jamming devices that revented any small scale transmissions from getting through. Due to a severe gash in his leg from some of the Pelican's debris upon impact, Matt was unable to walk. He ordered the troopers still able to stand to make their way toward the dry dock on foot while he defended the wounded pilot.

Roughly an hour later the troopers arrived at the Aegis Fate, they relayed their story to the frigate's captain Valerie Rouge who personally knew Spartan-075. She dispatched a group of ODSTs in an attempt to retrieve what was possibly one of the last remaining Spartan assets on Reach. The ODSTs took a Falcon and proceeded to make their way to the crashsite where Spartan-075 was found lying in critical condition. He was able to fight off a small squad of jackals from a nearby building with some frag grenades, and a plasma pistol he had scavenged off of a dead grunt. The ODST's helped Matt into the passengers seat of the Guass Warthog and made a hasty retreat back to the frigate. With her patient going into cardiac arrest and equipped with only a few bio foam canisters the squad medic tried valiantly to resuscitate the bleeding Spartan. Unfortunately a wing and a prayer weren't able to substitute for proper medical equipment, just two miles from the dry dock Spartan-075 let out his last breath on Reach and flatlined. With heavy hearts The helljumpers landed their Falcon aboard the Aegis Fate and watched as the city Spartan-075 died trying to protect burned until it was nothing more than a memory. In her post-op report the medic told Captain Valerie Rouge that in his final moments, Spartan-075 smiled and had told her that he'd finally found it again after a long time. When the Captain thought upon this she smiled and remembered what Matt had lost so long ago, she wept knowing he found it once again......the will to fight and die for others.

Memorial
While many spartans were listed officially on the Earth Memorial for their unyielding fight for humanity, the battalion of ODSTs from the 105th who served aboard the Aegis Fate during the Fall of Reach honored Spartan-075 in their own way. The battalion adopted a new emblem that represented Matt's courage, as well as his dutiful defense of so many civilians seeking refuge in escape from worlds facing inevitable glassing. The troopers thought that it was only proper that he be remembered aboard the Aegis Fate, who's name means: one who is doomed to protect.

Quotes
''"Take a look around you gentlemen, we're all that the UNSC can afford to protect the millions of innocent people that live here. Which means that each one of you is worth at least a thousand or more lives.......keep that in mind when you think about being a hero on my battlefield." -Matt's briefing to his troops before his final battle.''

''"In war......making a mistake can cost you dearly. I learned that lesson the hard way, the day I lost my right arm was the day I realized that our reputation as invincible soldiers is just that......a reputation, made to give common soldiers some small hope of humanity's survival as a race. The outlook of this war is grim I know, were professionally trained soldiers.........but we're spread few and far between, we're also only human. So if you take anything out of what I just told you, let it be to overcome the urge to be a hero, if you do so then you might just live to see the end of this war." -Matt's lesson to Kat during her training through one of his many stories.''

''"Gunny, you had me at twelve gauge." -Matt's thoughts on his preferred M45 TS Shotgun during weapon selections.''

''"You're joking right? Sir, with all due respect do you know the life expectancy of a UNSC pilot? I can tell you right now it's not very long. I'll grab a seat in the back though thanks, I think that female trooper over there has been sending me some fun looks, and i'd hate to miss an invitation like that!" -Matt's reply on being asked to fly a pelican dropship full of Marines on their way to a beseiged Arcadia from orbit.''