Andra-D054

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"I've suffered a lot, I recognize that now. Without you or our Team, I can't imagine how I would have kept this all together. I've thought about how things turned out - I'd change things in my life, but I admit, I'd do it all again if it's with you guys."

- Andra-D054 reflecting on her past during a chat with Merlin-D032.

Andra-D054, better known as Andra Kearsarge to her assosiates and born Andra Kearsarge Bradford, is a commando recruited and trained by the conspiring  program, the DELTA Initiative. Under their tutelage, Andra became part of SPARTAN-III Delta Company and was assigned to Team Boson, a Delta Company training unit that would become her new family and home.

Originally born on in, Andra escaped death by mere months through her Spartan recruitment when her home planet was caught up in a  that decimated its population centers in. Before joining Delta Company however, Andra was emotionally-crushed by the physical torment and abuse from her suicidal, late father who was impaired by mind-altering drugs and alcohol following the death of his wife at the. Orphaned and broken in, Andra entered training and was immiedately beset by obstacles including unyielding instructors, distant peers, and persistant depression. Andra struggled in her new environment, nearly washing-out of Delta Company on several occasions; considerable responsibility for her abismal performance was attributed to the selective mutism she developed after her father's abuse. Assisted by a group of supporting figures, including a particularly close friendship with Merlin-D032, she began a slow recovery. By, Andra was an unmatched sharpshooter and showing a beginner's knack for explosives-handling. Even though she was a partial-mute, Andra had bounced back, and following graduation, was transferred to the for further training with the rest of Team Boson, now being groomed to be a  under Kyser Duceppe, sanctioned by  with assistance from SPARTAN-III Gamma Company special, VIOLET-III.

After qualifying, Ferret Team Boson mostly handled missions, staying close to the heart of the and the  which was very unusual compared to their fellow Delta Company graduates who were kept to expeditionary roles in the. In late, Team Boson fractured for unseemly reasons and sent rogue members running for deep space. With only a and only Merlin-D032 at her side, Andra was reassigned to the Headhunter unit, Team Massachusetts. The in full swing, Andra and Merlin now struggle to find the purpose and drive to fight  that has already won their war.

Biography
"SPARTAN-D054, I'll be straightforward with you. Your talents are withering away with your current fireteam. VIOLET-III can help you achieve ONI and I believe you're capable of."

- Joshua-G024 pitching to Andra-D054 a possible transfer into VIOLET-III.

The Military Brat
"Umm. My dad was in Signals Intelligence. My mom served in the as a combat medic. I think our family went back several generations on but I don’t know much beyond that."

- Andra-D054 describing her past to Merlin-D032.

Spartan Evaluation
"She's like a fragile little doll. She's got talent but that shit-poor motivation is going to wash her out. Maybe she'll make it through, dunno. That's for her to decide."

- A grilling assessment of Andra-D054 by one of her drill instructors on Argus V.


 * FULL NAME: BRADFORD, ANDRA KEARSARGE
 * SERVICE #: D054
 * UNIT: NAVSPECWAR/SPARTAN-III DELTA COMPANY/CABIN 005
 * ENLISTMENT DATE: 04/24/2552
 * LOCATION: JADE HOPE YOUTH TREATMENT CENTER
 * STATUS: ACQUIRED
 * GENDER: FEMALE
 * BIRTPLACE: ENFIELD, SIGMA OCTANUS IV
 * BIRTH DATE: 11/06/2545

Physical Appearance
"And you're sure she's a Spartan? She looks like a skeleton."

- Major Kyser Ducepte commenting on Andra-D054's physique.

A little below average stature for a graduate of SPARTAN-III Delta Company, Andra-D054 is not a giant like that of other Spartan generations or even a giant in comparison to her fellow graduates of Delta. She's far taller than the average female among humans, however, her six-foot-flat height makes her stand out less and allows her to blend in better among regular people. She is one of those Spartans that is better prepared to participate in undercover operations. Andra is also traditionally light for a soldier, just like many other Spartan. Her body is lengthy and while lined by muscle, is also very thin - almost to the degree of being concerning. However, given her augmentations, abnormal appearances like having a boney appearance is not unheard of. Her augmentations on that note also did not improve Andra's regular stature. Without bodily augmentations, she was expected to be around five foot, seven inches - only a half foot difference from her actual size.

Andra spent more time outside armor than in and thus lacks the signature bleached-look of Spartans. Even with her oddish appearance, Andra is able to disappear into crowded areas - for most people, they just assume she's an indoor-social recluse. Her verbal and personal shyness also play a part in her ability to disappear in the open. She has long brown hair that can appear black or brown depending on the light of the area she is in, however, it is more often described as black. During training, she cut it to chin length and let it fall to the sides of her head to meet training regulations, however, after graduating as a Spartan operator, she allowed herself to grow her hair out, even though she often deals with helmet-hair from sweat and dirt sticking to her body and leaving her hair dangling in all sorts of directions. Andra has adopted some civilian social customs including a slight fashion sense - rolling her hair, putting it in a ponytail, and cutting it in ways that are popular with civilian youth.

Like her fellow Spartans, she's not one for service uniforms and prefers civilian clothes instead, a characteristic dating back to her childhood and having a dislike for formal clothing. She's often seen dressed in tighter, form-hugging clothes but also displaying some retention to military sensibilities - wearing fire-retardant materials among other factors. Because of her sharpshooter background, she is not typically involved in close quarter combat - she is significantly less scarred or marked from combat than her teammates. Andra, like other Spartans, has bodily and facial features descriptively older and yet younger at the same time, creating a sort of "Spartan-baby face paradox" as its something that most Spartans experience after being augmented where their appearance achieves a sort of.

Personality Assessment
"I'm fucking done...no more of this shit; I'm sick of it all. I can't fit in anywhere! All because...these assholes...!"

- Andra-D054's releasing her pent-up rage before Dr. Reyna Romero.

Growing up in a military household, Andra's early years were not too different from other military children living in the era – her mother was often away for years on end, serving on battlefields far from home as a combat medic. Her father worked in Naval Intelligence's SIGINT division and took many long business trips with Andra often being left at home to be raised by government caretakers. The death of Andra's mother during the Battle of Minab shook her family's dynamic and brought out the ugly side of her father. The sudden loss of his wife drove him to the bottle and mood-altering drugs to avoid the onset of a deep depression, however, the mix of psychoactive drugs and alcohol made for a nasty combination. With no self-control, his drunken spells turned violent leading to collateral damage including Andra on occasion; it wasn't long before their family fell apart. Andra got into fights at school to cover the bruises from domestic-abuse and grew increasing quiet as time went on – developing into a case of Selective mutism.

The day Andra returned from school to find her father dead by a self-inflicted gunshot was one of the worst days of her life and would become engraved in her memory. Without friends or close family to turn to, Andra disappeared into the UEG's over-taxed foster care system only to be identified by the Office of Naval Intelligence as a potential candidate for the SPARTAN-III Program. The loss of her parents put Andra on a dark path, one that might have led to suicide if her own depression and trauma reached a breaking point. However, joining the Spartans ended up as her salvation, giving her the friends and mentors she needed to begin down a path towards recovery.

Andra struggled in the first few years of her training with SPARTAN-III Delta Company, constantly failing to find a place in the company. The environment and stimulation from training to become a Spartan helped her minimize her post-traumatic stress and seek to become the warrior she wished herself to be. Andra's transformation was a product of her pent-up emotions warping into a fierce dedication to persevere – getting beaten down so many times finally got the better of her. To many of her instructors, Andra was an overnight, unexpected success – displaying herself as a talented and intelligent young woman with a fiery personality intent on seeing herself succeed. This new Andra was bombastic and vocal with her thoughts, at least with her instructors and those she's felt a familial comradery toward. Outside of her comfort zone, however, she remains a quiet and fickle girl who avoided interaction with others. As quickly as she could become loud and expressive, Andra's voice and attitude could be drowned out by silence when approached by someone she does not know.

While she mellowed back into a quiet individual after her initial Spartan training, Andra retained that fiery personality below her personality and is often display during training or in combat. Andra is at her best under fire and in combat, she has a sharp eye for detail and a quick-witted mind built for snap decisions that make her a talented sharpshooter, one of the best of Delta Company maybe. She takes orders and suggestions well and managed to compartmentalize her past trauma enough that it rarely affects her daily routine. While her personality can vary wildly, she is an introverted individual at heart. She's slow to trust others and since losing most of the people she cared for, she has come to close herself off to just about everyone outside her bubble. The dissolution of her original Spartan team and subsequent tragedies in her post-training life have continued to shrink that bubble of trust. The one consistent figure in her life has been Merlin-D032, someone she considers her significant other, however, her concept of their relationship is complicated due to her Spartan upbringing. The two Spartans have proven inseparable to a fault and care for one another deeply.

Merlin-D032
"We’re best friends. I’ll always have your back."

- Merlin-D032 reassuring Andra-D054 that he'd stand by her.

Andra and Merlin first became acquaintances during the days following the arrival of Delta Company's initial batch of recruits on Argus V. Compared to their future partnership, their introduction did not begin on a positive note and escalated into a wrestling brawl triggered by Merlin's naive and overbearing curiosity. While the first of many fights between Delta Company recruits, the duo's clash would help mellow out their misunderstandings and establish a friendship to last. When Andra arrived on Argus V, she was plagued by the lasting nightmares of her father's abuse and eventual suicide. Merlin's friendship played a healing role for Andra, providing her with a friend she could steadily rely on for comfort and support.

Merlin and Andra struggled together through the training of SPARTAN-III Delta Company, nearly washing out on several occasions. While Merlin was a decent recruit among the Spartan hopefuls, his continued friendship with Andra-D054 cost Merlin his chance to stand out among his peers. The drill instructors took special note of the two's budding relationship and tried to divide them up in hopes of shaking their overreliance of one another. As time went on, Merlin started to rely on Andra in his own way, using her as a voice of reason and calm away from the hostilities he encountered on all sides. Even when briefly split between Spartan training teams Boson and Anion, the separation did little to break their habitual co-dependency of one another.

Even after being assigned permanently together to Team Boson, Merlin, and Andra were exceptionally close, having a friendship even more privy within to their "new family." Their close proximity over four years of training helped to cement their friendship while also building on it further in more unorthodox ways. Merlin's relationship with Andra is one based on mutual trust and commitment to each other's well being; vocally, they've described each other as their "best friend." Even as best friends, Merlin and Andra's relationship is not quite platonic as hints of romantic feelings have surfaced between them. The lack of social maturation as Spartans previously prevented deeper ties though exposure to civilian life has certainly changed that.

While on combat assignment, Andra is assisted by Merlin as her spotter in their hunter-killer marksman team. She shoots, Merlin spots targets. Merlin's talents for land navigation and scouting further augments Andras's capabilities to eliminate targets. Together, they received some of the highest shooting marks in the entirety of Camp Ambrose and SPARTAN-III Delta Company. When their team fractured towards the end of, Andra, and Merlin stuck fast to one another and began training to become a Headhunter team.

Joshua-G024
"Josh? Uhh...what can I say about him? He's a great Spartan, a great teacher...he's an ass to Merlin. I think he's a good guy but...I think he might be more messed up in the head than I've ever been..."

- Andra-D054 describing Joshua-G024 to Major Kyser Duceppe.

The relationship between mentor and student has always been strained in the case of Joshua-G024 and Andra-D054. First meeting aboard the in late, Joshua-G024 was the leader of Fireteam Xiphos and a member of the , VIOLET-III. In contrast, Andra just graduated from SPARTAN-III Delta Company weeks before and was only beginning to learn how the galaxy had changed since she became a Spartan. Josh would be one of the first individuals to introduce her to.

Joshua was from the bloodied SPARTAN-III Gamma Company and experienced his, becoming disillusioned with. That said, there were a number of similarities between the two Spartans that caught Josh's attention enough that he took the young girl under his wing. Upon reading Andra's declassified personnel file, he found striking similarities to his own experiences before becoming a Spartan including losing his parents at an early age to drug addiction. Also detecting the same latent talents seen by ONI during her recruitment into Delta Company, Josh saw Andra as a kindred soul and a Spartan with wasted opportunities.

Imparting his knowledge and experience to Andra, Josh applied a greater focus on combat tactics, close-quarters fighting, and expanding on her insurgent-like fighting style in an attempt to cover up her shortcomings. Andra greatly flourished and enjoyed the tutoring she was provided, however, her opinion of Josh was one of apprehensive appreciation. On one side, he greatly improved and expanded on her combat prowess and intelligence, on the other, his blunt attempts to pass on his worldview and recruit her into VIOLET-III continued to frustrate Andra. His vocal dislike of Andra's best friend, Merlin-D032, and his continued cynicism about the life of a Spartan did not earn him goodwill with her.

Even divided by an age difference of eight years, the two Spartans were relatively close, like that of close friends. To Andra, Joshua played a brief but positive and lasting role in her life, teaching her the skills needed to survive in the post-Covenant War era and the that followed. Upon learning of his death in late from his teammate, Amy-G094, Andra mourned his passing and wished she had the chance to tell him how much his lessons and friendship meant to her. She continued to feel a mild regret toward his death, having missed an opportunity to at least say goodbye.

Reyna Zhou-Romero
"You were selected for a reason, Andra. You may not believe yourself to be strong, but you are. I believe you are. You just don't know it for yourself yet. Let us show you – join our program and become a Spartan."

- Dr. Reyna Zhou-Romero recruiting Andra-D054 into Delta Company.

In analyzing surveillance data of Andra Bradford and her personnel file as the child of a employee, it was found that Andra's emotional state was far more fractured than most Spartan candidates considered by the DELTA Initiative, the ONI sub-organization created to form SPARTAN-III Delta Company in secret. Doctor Zhou-Romero, the Initiative's lead psychiatrist and departmental head on recruitment, decided to personally investigate Andra's case to guarantee proper recruitment and an assessment of the young girl's character.

Doctor Romero found a girl broken by her recent past: the loss of her mother on, the abuse and eventual suicide of her father, and a state of self-imposed quarantine from other orphans and foster children. Though shaped by the horrors of her youth, Andra agreed to become a Spartan after coaxing and reassurance on Andra's strengths from Doctor Romero. Andra, becoming Andra-D054, would go on to prove her hidden strength to Doctor Romero and others after suffering many intensive training hardships.

During that time with Delta Company, Andra was able to escape her self-imposed isolation to build new relationships with others, including a distant but positive friendship with Doctor Romero who took a special interest in assessing Andra-D054's mental state and making sure she stayed afloat in training. Doctor Romero became something of a maternal figure in Andra's life, meeting consistently through her stay at Camp Ambrose to discuss Andra's daily life, training, and other topics of relevance for a growing Spartan. Andra enjoyed her encounters with Doctor Romero as it was a time away from harsh drill instructors and the sometimes overwhelming interactions with her fellow Spartan recruits.

Even after training, Andra would remember and appreciate the positive, bolstering effect that Doctor Romero had on her time in. Andra ended up building a small but strong network of friends and compatriots among her fellow Spartans, however, she believes that it would not have been possible without the support of Doctor Romero. In her eyes, the psychiatrist was the first person to believe after her parents died. Even though she did not meet again with Doctor Romero after graduating from Delta Company, the doctor has continued to collect tabs on Delta Company Spartans including Andra as part of her continued work in analyzing the children of SPARTAN-III Delta Company.

Team Boson
"If I cannot bend the will of Heaven, I will move Hell."

- English translation of Virgil's Aeneid, book VII.312, quoting Hera, queen of Mt. Olympus. Unit Motto of Team Boson.

Quotes
"I trusted someone once. He...my dad; he broke me and left me for an easy death."

- Andra-D054 vaguely describing her strained relationship with her late father.

"Alright, Merlin. To War, I guess?"

- Andra-D054 off-quoting a late UNSC officer before heading out to her new combat assignment with Merlin-D032.

"Now...now this is the law of the jungle, as true and as old as the sky...the wolf that keeps it shall prosper, the wolf that shall break it must die."

- Andra-D054, misquoting "The Law for the Wolves" by Rudyard Kipling.

"Andra Kearsarge Bradford. Nice to meet you."

- Andra-D054 properly greeting Merlin-D032 for the first time.

Trivia

 * Andra-D054's real middle name, "Kearsarge" follows the same thematic convention employed by some Japanese Light Novel writers with naming female protagonists after famous warships as it is believed to make the character more powerful and interesting. Kearsarge is a reference to the USS Kearsarge, an Mohican-class Sloop-of-War that served during the American Civil War on the Union side. Andra's use of "Kearsarge" over her real surname, "Bradford" is based on her narrative dislike for her deceased father.


 * Andra-D054's portrayal by her creator, , is a mixed bag including images from multiple sources. Most prominent include British actress Kaya Scodelario and her portrayal as Teresa Agnes from the Maze Runner series, the character Jess Black from the video game Far Cry 5, the character Rita Vrataski from the manga All You Need is Kill, a younger Mikasa Ackerman from the anime Attack on Titan, and the female Division agent from promotional artwork for the video game Tom Clancy's The Division.


 * Andra-D054 had her name chosen by Distant Tide after playing with alternate spellings of the name Andrea.


 * After Ferret Team Boson collapsed, Andra-D054 was paired permanently with her teammate, Merlin-D032, in a new two-man called "Team Massachusetts", named after the state of the same name. The decision to go with this was taken from placing the first initial of each Spartans' name and producing the two-letter acronym that the is shared with the state. Team M-A, or better known as Team Massachusetts.

Appearances

 * Delta's Path
 * Distant Tide's Weekly Submissions
 * Halo: Corporeal Delta
 * CBrando's Atlanta RP
 * RP:Imperium