Simon-G294

When a wolf is cut off from his pack he has no choice but to wander, drifting aimlessly through the harsh wilds. Without the strength of the pack behind him, he must forsake the larger, grander prey for weaker pursuits, surviving off of weakened stragglers and scavenging carrion. The outcast beast continues this lonely existence until his old pack finds and devours him, or until he finds a new pack to call his own.

Simon-G294—also known by the pseudonym “Stray”—was a from Gamma Company who was raised and augmented as a child supersoldier during the final years of the. Lambasted as both a coward and the worst-performing Spartan in his company, he gained infamy when he deserted from the and fought for the  on. Ultimately betrayed and abandoned by the rebels, he was left with a lasting hatred for both of his former allegiances and found himself selling his skills to the highest bidder as a mercenary in order to survive. Consumed by doubts and self-loathing, he nonetheless possesses a keen survival instinct and boundless tenacity in pursuit of his goals. In spite of his crimes and selfish tendencies, he found lasting companions in the rogue Insurrectionist AI Diana and fellow Gamma deserter Cassandra-G006. After a fruitless effort to score big as a solitary freelancer, Simon found himself hired on to the smuggling freighter Chancer V, which became his new home and base of operations. His status as a fugitive, as well as his penchant for becoming involved in broader galactic affairs, often brought him into conflict with agents of the and, particularly  and his former squad, Team Jian.

Biography
Spartan=

"More To Life Than This"
"As long as I'm with you, I'll look after you, I promise. But I can't always be here for you. You have to learn to be like me, to take care of yourself on your own."

- Arthur Onegin to a young Simon

In late 2540 on the Inner Colony world of Iskander, a wealthy businessman was discovered in a long-term adulterous affair with one of his estate's cleaning staff. In order to dissuade the anger of his wife, he dismissed his mistress and cut her off from any means of support. Unfortunately, the woman had already borne him one son and was heavily pregnant with another. Unable to gain access to any means of birth control, the now-impoverished Delores Onegin gave birth to another boy, whom she named Simon.

At first, Delores did all in her limited power to care for the sickly baby. Mere months after his birth, Simon came down with a fever that brought him to the brink of death. Although local clinicians predicted that he would not survive, the infant Simon recovered against all odds and continued developing at a normal rate. But as the years passed and her financial situation worsened, the maternal love Delores had once felt for Simon faded. Forced to do odd jobs and menial labor to make ends meet, she began resenting her sons and projecting her hatred for their father onto them. Faced with routine stress and emotional abuse, Simon spent most of his time away from his mother's squalid apartment complex as he explored the streets with his older brother Arthur. A clever, inventive boy, Arthur taught Simon to steal wares and credits from local vendors as the two boys took what they could to keep from starving. The young Simon quickly developed a very loose view of law and order, particularly after witnessing Arthur receive beatings from local police patrols. Soon after Simon started running with Arthur, his mother died following several months of illness and heavy drinking. Though the brothers grieved their loss, Dolores's death affected them little in the long run. Left with only each other, they continued to steal and scavenge their way through Thebes's slums.

Shortly after Dolores's death, the brothers were approached by a man who claimed to be a local clinician. Calling himself "Toby," the doctor began to routinely check in on the orphaned boys. Following a particularly bad epidemic that swept through the slums the boys lived in, Toby began administering "preventive shots" to Simon without Arthur's knowledge. At first, Simon became extremely sick, but after nearly two weeks of intense fever his suffering subsided and he became well again. When Simon told Arthur what Toby had done, his brother grew furious for reasons that the confused young boy could not understand. The next day, Arthur assaulted Toby in public. Local police quickly intervened; Arthur was arrested and sent to a corrective institution while Simon was declared a ward of the colony and turned over to a colony-run orphanage. Simon did not see Toby again, but unbeknownst to him the "doctor" continued to keep tabs on him even after he'd been taken away.

Simon was extremely unhappy in the orphanage, missing both Arthur and the freedom he had felt living with his brother. Nevertheless, the young boy appreciated the security of shelter and regular meals that it provided. He did not get on well with the other children and was often caught stealing and hoarding food. Incidents like these, coupled with the area's low adoption rate, made it seem as if he would merely be cared for until he was old enough to be given back to the streets to fend for himself.

This bleak future changed in 2545, when Simon was "interviewed" by an lieutenant who had been dispatched to recruit applicable candidates into the  program. Although not taken in by the lieutenant's talk of honor and duty (these concepts hollow and meaningless to him), Simon was swayed by the officer's talk of a brighter future and the enriching nature of the program. Simon agreed to be recruited into and was shipped to a  on  for training along with several hundred other young children.

"I Won't Go Back"
Simon's arrival on Onyx alongside more than three hundred other candidates for the program was met with a test that the man in charge of the program's training division, Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose, had utilized with every batch of candidates since the beginning of the program: a "night jump" from a high-flying Pelican dropship. Simon froze up when it was his turn to jump and was very nearly kicked out of the program on his first night. As he gave up and stepped away from the edge of the Pelican's open troop bay, another child pushed him and he plummeted out of the dropship. Only a hasty opening of the parachute he'd been issued saved him from a messy landing on Onyx's surface.

Along with the other children who passed the first test, Simon plunged into an intensive six-year training program that sought to turn the young trainees into Spartan supersoldiers. During the first year of physical conditioning Simon was indistinguishable from the other trainees. His instructors noted that he was one of the faster candidates and he proved to have high levels of endurance during the field exercises the trainees were put through. But as time wore on and the training branched out into more advanced fields such as marksmanship and small unit tactics he fell behind the vast majority of his peers. Lacking the natural talents displayed by many other trainees, Simon found that none of the military training came naturally to him. Frequently punished for his shortcomings, Simon learned to blend in with his peers, avoiding the unwanted attention of Mendez and the other drill instructors. Before long he gained infamy as one of the worst-preforming members of the company. From sparring to weapons training, his performance scores were consistently amongst the lowest of the Spartan trainees. Though he resented some of the top performers for the ease in which they mastered the training, Simon was fairly personable when not under the drill instructors' watchful gazes and formed casual friendships with many of his fellow trainees.

Faced with routine punishment and humiliation for his under-performance, Simon adapted by falling back on the cunning and deviousness Arthur had ingrained into him years ago. Unlike the more physically and tactically gifted trainees, Simon turned to more "creative" measures in order to succeed. Though he believed whole-heartedly in the heroic ideals of service and self-sacrifice that were key to the Spartan program's martial doctrine, Simon began employing underhanded tactics that many of his peers balked at. During training exercises he would hide from combat, fake being tagged out or eliminated, and even bribe some of the less conscientious trainees with extra food from stashes of stolen rations that he began setting up throughout Camp Currahee. While often caught and punished by various DIs and occasionally Lieutenant Ambrose himself, Simon was learning a different kind of warfare from the tricks and cheats he used to keep up with the Spartan program: one of adaption and survival.

Though some trainees admired Simon for his ingenuity, many more despised his attitude and believed he was not taking the training seriously. Isolated from his peers, Simon spent more and more time alone and often sneaked off into Onyx's wilderness in order to escape the endless military drill and regimentation .Despite his poor reputation amongst both trainees and instructors, Simon found an unlikely mentor in Tom-B292, a SPARTAN-III graduate who had been assigned to help train Gamma Company along with his fellow survivor,. Struck more by Simon's tenacity than by his many failings, Tom took Simon under his wing even when other drill instructors gave up on him. Hungry for acceptance, Simon looked up to Tom as a personal hero despite knowing very little of the Beta Spartan's past. Tom took time to instruct Simon in several fields, particularly close quarters combat. Simon would carry Tom's principles of knife-fighting with him the rest of his life.

"Give Me A Chance. Maybe I'll Surprise You"
After two years of combat exercises under randomly assigned teams and leaders the Gamma Company trainees were divided into permanent five-person fire teams. These teams would live and train together in order to forge the closely-knit squad families that were the backbone of Spartan battlefield effectiveness. It was inevitable that any potential teammates would dread being saddled with a teammate who would drag their combat scores down, but fortunately for Simon he was not the only problem trainee sorted into Team Jian. Though under the command of Jake-G293, one of the best-performing trainees in the company, the rest of the team consisted of Mary-G130, feared amongst the other trainees for a short temper and casual sadistic streak, Terrence-G150, a kleptomaniac who had been disciplined by both his superiors and his fellow trainees for his thieving habits, and Ralph-G299, a trainee notorious for starting fights and who had antagonized Simon for his shortcomings many times in the past. Jake was less than pleased to be assigned to such a ragtag team (Team Jian quickly gained the nickname of "Problem Squad"), and at first the group's performance was substandard.

Team Jian struggled in the months that followed its formation. Constantly outmaneuvered and outperformed by drill instructors and other teams, it seemed as though Jian's flaws and weaknesses would always be dragging it down. But Jake's patient, meticulous style of leadership slowly began to bring the squad together. Simon would never be close to the straightforward and focused Jake, but respected him as both a leader and a highly capable trainee. Though Mary would often blame Simon for Jian's failures, she valued his unorthodox approach to the problems the teams encountered during training and took it upon herself to help him improve his substandard skills. Terrence had often accompanied Simon on ventures to steal food and cared little for the competition and rivalries that were rampant within Camp Currahee, but Ralph despised Simon for his perceived incompetence and the two trainees were often at odds with each other. Jake, meanwhile, found use for Simon's devious tactics,cleverly employing his "failure" teammate in situations where his trickery and cunning would give Jian an advantage without drawing the ire of the drill instructors. Though Jian began to enjoy more success as Jake continued to play each members' strength to their full potential, Simon became even less popular amongst the trainees that were forced to deal with his unique brand of competition. Ralph continued to harbor animosity towards his teammate; when one disgruntled trainee, Galen-G322, cornered Simon and attacked him with a stolen stun baton, Ralph witnessed the beating but did nothing to intervene. Simon endured the brutal attack, earning Galen's grudging admiration, and blamed Ralph for not helping him. Encouraged by Mary to settle things with Ralph, Simon ambushed his teammate in the woods outside of Camp Currahee. Although he was badly beaten in the ensuing brawl, the incident was enough to convince Ralph of his teammate's sincerity and afterwards the two trainees formed an uneasy friendship.

The "unified" Team Jian quickly gained a reputation as a band of irreverent troublemakers, much to Jake's chagrin. When another squad, Team Halberd, beat Jian particularly badly during a training exercise, Ralph, Terrence, and Simon collaborated to get back at them by demolishing a latrine on top of Halberd with stolen explosives. Terrence evaded punishment, but Ralph and Simon were severely disciplined. Nevertheless, Jian became known as an unorthodox squad, low in the overall company rankings but not a group to be taken lightly. Though Simon's combat scores remained low, he was no longer afraid of being drummed out of the company. Despite his lack of respect for military customs and courtesies, he was fully committed to his purpose as a Spartan and believed that with the help of his teammates he could do his part in the ongoing war against the Covenant—a conflict that the Spartan trainees were constantly reminded of amidst the daily grind of conditioning and training exercises.

Despite the constant demands of Camp Currahee's military environment, Simon and the other children remained spirited and dedicated to their training. Simon harbored some misgivings about how he would perform on the actual battlefield, but was inspired by Tom's continued support and the examples set by the likes of Lieutenant Ambrose, Mendez, and Lucy. Although he kept mainly within the confines of Team Jian, he developed quiet rapports with other trainees such as Dyne-G217. He also took note of another trainee, Cassandra-G006. Like Simon, Cassandra sported relatively poor combat ratings but had made up for her shortcomings by becoming one of Gamma Company's few medical specialists. Simon and Cassandra shared a discrete friendship during the years on Onyx, relating to each other's struggle to distinguish themselves amidst a company full of top performers. About a year before Gamma Company's graduation, the trainees were administered drugs that hurried the onset of puberty within their young bodies. Simon was confused by unusual feelings he began to develop for Cassandra. Worried about what his teammates might think of him and intimidated by his own foreign urges, Simon distanced himself from Cassandra in order to focus his mind on his team.

"The Hell Is This Feeling...?"
As the time approached for Gamma Company's graduation, Simon's performance continued to lag behind that his peers. Though settled within Team Jian and confident that he could do his part on the battlefield, Simon often suffered bouts of anxiety about what the future held. The years of living in the shadow of his peers' talent and success had instilled him with deep-seated insecurities that troubled him even as he fought to suppress them with an attitude of cheerful acceptance for who he was. Although Camp Currahee employed several ONI-trained psychologists in order to deal with problems such as these, Simon avoided bringing his anxieties to their attention and instead chose to confide in Tom, with whom he had maintained a trusting relationship over the years of training. Simon also found an outlet in Tom's fellow Beta Company survivor, Lucy-B091. Though other trainees mocked Simon for his one-sided conversations with the mute instructor, Simon developed a strange rapport with Lucy, who few other trainees had taken the time to know on a personal level. Though his doubts and anxieties remained, Simon focused his mind on the exercises at hand as the final phase of Gamma Company's training drew near. When the time for the trainees to receive the chemical augmentations that would improve their combat abilities and complete their transformation into Spartans, Lieutenant Ambrose made a point of emphasizing the danger that the procedure entailed and gave every trainee the opportunity to back out of the program. Despite his failings and private doubts, Simon found the idea of abandoning his family within Gamma Company unthinkable. Simon and the rest of the company were taken to a medical facility aboard the. There they were injected with the :
 * Drug 8942-LQ99: A carbide ceramic ossification catalyst to make skeletons virtually unbreakable.
 * Drug 88005-MX77: A fibroid muscular protein complex that boosted muscle density and strength.
 * Drug 88947-OP24: A retina-inversion stabilizer drug. It boosted color and night vision capabilities.
 * Drug 87556-UD61: Improved colloidal neural disunification solution, which in turn decreased reaction time.

Aside from the standardized enhancements, the trainees of Gamma Company would be the only Spartans to ever be augmented with compound 009762-OO. This mutagen altered key regions of the subjects' frontal brain lobes, enhancing aggression, strength, endurance, and tolerance to injury. Lieutenant Ambrose had personally authorized the use of the illegal drug in the hopes of increasing the Gammas chances of survival on the battlefield; however, the mutagen's effects were known to increase in response to stress, driving the Spartans into animalistic, instinct-driven states unless suppressed by the proper counter-drugs. Though he was completely oblivious to the chemical's implications, Simon would encounter the true potency of the brain enhancement in the years following the augmentation.

Like the rest of the Spartans, Simon's body benefited greatly from the augmentations, but he emerged from the augmentations unsure of how to view the permanent changes that he had been subjected to. He was shipped back to Onyx with the rest of the company, where they spent a short period adjusting to their new bodies and perfecting the use of the newest models of their. While waiting for their coming deployment, every squad in the company competed against each other for "top honors" in a series of training skirmishes using non-lethal stun rounds. Although Team Jian did not make it far in the competition, they still did much better than what was expected of the "mongrel squad". When all but three teams had been eliminated, the rest of Gamma Company departed Onyx and readied themselves for war. Prior to Jian's departure, Simon met with Tom one last time. Proud of how far his low-scoring pupil had come, Tom gave Simon a combat dagger as a graduation present, which Simon proudly added to his combat load.

"Don't Leave Me Behind!"
Following the battle at Red Sea, Team Jian was rotated out of the Tantalus theater and deployed to the area of human space known informally as the "buffer territories." With the Covenant's military war machine coming closer and closer to discovering Earth's location, most Spartans were being moved away from the front lines in preparation for a wave of enemy offensives against the Inner Colonies. However, some of the more stubborn Insurrectionist factions were not content with sitting back while the battle for humanity's survival played out. Deployed to a known rebel staging area, Team Jian raided an encampment of rebels suspected of possessing stolen nuclear weapons. Simon himself killed three enemy fighters during the one-sided slaughter and though he had seen more than his share of combat at Red Sea he later confided in a sympathetic Cassandra that it felt strange to kill a fellow human being. The nukes were not at the camp, but Jian recovered data files that traced the weapons to the nearby colony of, a world known for its history of rebellion and insurrectionist sympathies.

Jian was quickly redeployed to Mamore, where they set an ambush for the rebel convoy carrying the warheads. Cutting the convoy in half with hidden explosives, the young Spartans hijacked the warhead-bearing truck and one of the escorting it. But as they fled back to their landing zone, an explosion knocked Simon off the back of the Warthog and the pursuing rebels forced him into a ravine. Although his teammates tried to come to his rescue, the rebel's massive response force pushed them back. Over the team's objections and Simon's pleas over the radio not to be left behind, Jian was ordered to withdraw with the warheads to their waiting dropship. A terrified Simon could only flee deeper into the ravine as his friends took off without him, leaving him alone on a planet crawling with hostile rebels. Traitor=

"First You Mug Me, Then You Want To Be Friends?"
"I'd been through a lot before then, of course. Onyx and the Spartan program were my childhood. Gamma Company was my family. But Mamore was where I finished growing up. Mamore is what made me what I am now."

- Simon-G294

Marooned on an unstable colony teetering on the brink of full planetary insurrection, Simon knew that he lacked the ability to survive in such an environment on his own. Without a viable UNSC outpost in the region, he had no way of communicating with the military unless Team Jian came back in to recover him. Simon had not been outfitted for long-term survival and realized that he would have to make his way to a nearby town or risk starving to death. In order to hide his identity as a Spartan, he buried his armor and weapons in nearby cave before scavenging civilian clothes off rebels who had been killed during the firefight with Jian. Disguised as a regular--albeit ragged--civilian boy, Simon headed for the nearest population center, a town called Concord, in the hopes of finding food, water, and some way of contacting the UNSC.

Upon arriving in Concord Simon found the poverty-stricken town overrun by the gangs of rebel militia who were waging war against Mamore's battered colonial garrison. Trusting no one, he spent several days by himself on Concord's dusty streets, fighting to come to terms with being cut off from his fellow Spartans and nursing a growing anger at Jian and their superiors for abandoning him. On his third day alone he was attacked by a gang of orphaned children who called themselves "Rat Pack". He easily fought them, impressing their leader, a street girl called Emily. She offered him a place in the group, but Simon scornfully refused, seeing the urchins and their behavior as being beneath him. Only after yet another fruitless day on his own did he relent and agree to join the band of orphans. He believed that Rat Pack would be a good cover while he worked to escape to a pro-UNSC settlement. In spite of himself, Simon quickly adapted to life back on the streets, a throwback to his life before the Spartan program. The urchins of Rat Pack made their home in the dried-up sewers beneath Concord, keeping clear of both Mamore's violent dust storms and the militia thugs who passed for law enforcement in the region. Though Concord's violent poverty reinforced Simon's trained contempt for the Insurrectionist cause, his conditioned faith in the UNSC was called into question more and more as he got to know the children who had taken him in. Most of them had lost their parents in the crossfire between the rebels and the colonial government; what's more, the children blamed much of their suffering on the government and the UEG policies many of Mamore's citizens felt were the root of Mamore's poverty. For his own part, Simon kept his identity hidden from Emily and the others and instead passed himself off as another victim of Mamore's broken infrastructure. "These urchins have spirit, which is more than I can say for you and your gang of thugs. Now leave them alone, or I'll kill every last one of you. Maybe then I can get some soldiers who do more than just sit on their asses and steal from the locals!"

- Redmond Venter interceding on Rat Pack's behalf.

Still nursing the pain of Jian's perceived abandonment, Simon was drawn into Rat Pack's strange family dynamic. Though hunger and malnutrition began to eat at his physique, his augmented strength and speed made him an invaluable asset to the group's daily efforts to survive. The local militia hid much of its supplies in the Concord sewers and Simon took the lead with Emily in helping the children steal odds and ends from the rebel stores. The loss of both his position as a Spartan and the sense of purpose it had given him cut deeply, but as the weeks on Mamore began to turn into months, Simon began to open up more to Emily and the others in Rat Pack. The introverted failure Spartan accepted them as friends, though he never stopped waiting for a chance to make his escape and return to the UNSC. But as every passing day continued to expose him to the hard realities of Rat Pack's daily survival as well as civilian notions of childhood—notions that had been utterly denied to the Gamma Company trainees—Simon's convictions continued to be challenged and shaken. His anxieties came to a head when news reports on the began to trickle into Concord. Fueled by his duty and obligation to his fellow Spartan, Simon could not justify remaining on Mamore while his brothers and sisters fought and died to save humanity from the Covenant. After seeing news footage of Spartans fighting on Earth, Simon hatched a risky plan to steal a rebel Warthog and take his chances getting off-world. The night of his planned escape one of the Rat Pack children, Adam, was caught stealing from the militia and savagely beaten. Compelled by Emily to step in, Simon abandoned his plan and attacked the rebels holding Adam. Armed only with Tom's knife, Simon stunned Emily and the others by attacking the militia head-on; in the heat of battle he killed four grown soldiers and wounded several more. Furious, the rest of the thugs planned to kill Simon and his friends but were stopped by soldiers from the Humanity Liberation Front, an organized rebel faction seeking a foothold on Mamore. One of the HLF officers, an armored soldier named Redmond Venter, ordered the militia to stand down and personally executed those disobeyed. Following the incident, HLF soldiers took over rebel operations in Concord and—under Venter's orders—ensured that rations were given to Rat Pack and the rest of the town's homeless population. With his face now known to the rebels in the area and the HLF's tightened security, Simon resigned himself to remaining trapped on Mamore for the time being. Amazed at the ferocity with which he had killed Adam's attackers, Emily dubbed Simon "Stray"; the nickname stuck and before long Simon answered to it more readily than he did his own name.

"It's Our Dirt"
Stray was still roaming the streets of Concord when humanity emerged victorious from the, effectively ending the war against the Covenant. With the alien threat diminished and the UNSC in shambles, Mamore's dominant Insurrectionist factions seized at the opportunity they had been dreaming of for nearly a century: secession and independence from the UEG. With the weak and corrupt colonial government crippled the rebel factions united and seized control of the planet, declaring Mamore's independence. Knowing that UNSC reprisal was inevitable, the rebels began organizing every resource they could muster to defend the planet. Under the direction of the HLF, Concord's local militia groups found easy recruits in the Rat Pack orphans, using them as couriers and spare labor in exchange for extra rations while also teaching them the basics of soldiering—basics that Stray knew all too well.

Unlike his Rat Pack friends and most of the adult insurgents, Stray was keenly aware of how brutally efficient the attacking UNSC forces would be when pitted against the poorly equipped rebels. But while he tried to draw his new family away from the war preparations, he found them gripped in the secessionist fervor that was sweeping across Mamore. Emily and the others were convinced that independence was the magic key that would help them escape their lives of hunger and poverty. Torn between his lingering duty to the UNSC and the bonds he shared with the orphans, Stray refused to abandon Rat Pack like Jian had abandoned him. Rather than seeking a way back to the UNSC or finding a way to undermine and sabotage the rebels—as would have been expected of a Spartan—Stray chose to stay with Rat Pack and hopefully shield them from the worst of the fighting to come. His hope was that the rebellion would be put down without much violence and that he would turn himself into the UNSC once Rat Pack was out of danger. But even with this optimistic future in mind, Stray couldn't help but wonder if he really wanted to return to life as a Spartan at all.

"We'll Make It Through This"
"You are my real family."

- Simon, to Emily

The UNSC's campaign to quash the Mamore revolt began four months after the end of the Human-Covenant War when a small naval task force arrived in system and blockaded the planet. In the meantime, the planet's various factions had come to terms with each other and were united under the banner of the Insurrection and the ideal of an independent Mamore. But while public support for the Insurrection soared, the news of UNSC ships in orbit raised doubts about the Insurrection's ability to defend the planet. Nevertheless, new recruits from a population sick of UNSC ineffectiveness during the Human-Covenant War continued to swell the rebellion's ranks.

From where Concord sat in the grand scheme of the escalating crisis, Stray had only a very basic grasp of what was unfolding. Now fully committed as child soldiers in service to the cause of Mamorian independence, he and the rest of Rat Pack spent their days hard at work constructing fortifications around Concord and doing whatever the adult rebels asked of them. By now the bonds he had formed with Emily and the other Rat Pack orphans were just as strong as the ones he had once held with Team Jian and though Stray had failed to draw them away from the rebel cause he was determined to keep them safe from the coming violence. One month after the naval task force arrived in orbit a ground force of and  landed on the planet and assaulted several rebel hardpoints, securing landing zones for further UNSC forces and establishing forward operating bases in multiple regions. The battle for Mamore, dubbed Operation: UNION by the UNSC, had begun.

The region around Concord was left relatively unscathed during the first weeks of the fighting. Stray and the rest of Rat Pack were sent out into the foothills surrounding the town in order to watch for signs of UNSC incursions. Occasionally vehicles carrying wounded or bedraggled Insurrectionist troops from other regions would arrive in Concord, their occupants telling stories of well-equipped UNSC forces overrunning position after rebel position. With his predictions of a one-sided slaughter coming true, Stray continued to try to draw Rat Pack away from the fighting. But when the war finally came to Concord, the Rat Pack orphans remained a staunch component of the rebels defense. Though the insurgents fought stubbornly against the invaders, their second-rate weapons and equipment were no match for the UNSC's mechanized military forces. Stray and Rat Pack were used to scout out enemy positions, plant improvised explosives, and even participate in a few ambushes of UNSC troops. At first Stray held back from engaging the Marines, focusing instead on keeping his friends alive, but after seeing one of the Rat Pack orphans fall to a sniper's bullet he realized that he couldn't protect his friends without fighting back. In the end, Stray's ultimate betrayal of the government that had raised and trained him as a soldier came far more easily than he could ever have imagined: he simply began applying his training against the Marines threatening his friends. Once that line was crossed, the once-loyal Spartan cast aside the last of his reservations about betraying the UNSC. Mamore was now his home and Rat Pack was his family; the same loyalties that had motivated him to fight for the UNSC now drove him to join the fight against it.

By the time UNSC armored units arrived at Concord, Stray was fully committed to giving his all in the fight against them. The rebels defended Concord with the passion that was by now an indelible hallmark of Mamore's infamous secession; in spite of the UNSC's vastly superior force it took the Marines a full week of fighting street to street in order to capture the town. Emily and Simon led the Rat Pack through rubble and body-strewn streets and alleys as they darted from one firefight to the next, planting satchel charges on, ambushing fire teams, and leading rebel soldiers through the underground sewer systems that had been their home all this time. But in spite of Stray's excruciating efforts, the chaos of war swiftly took its toll on the orphans. Stray could only watch as UNSC and rebel shells obliterated his new home and his friends were cut down in storms of machine gun fire, killed by the same mechanized warfare that he had been raised to be part of. By the time Concord's rebel garrison surrendered, every one of the Rat Pack children save for Stray and Emily lay dead in their town's dusty streets. The two survivors fled through the war-torn streets and managed to slip through the UNSC's lines. They made their way into the foothills before collapsing from exhaustion and grief. With only each other for comfort and companionship, the two child soldiers constructed a small grave marker for Rat Pack with an abandoned assault rifle. A vengeful Emily was now firmly determined to find a way to fight on against the UNSC and Stray, adrift in a haze of confusion and grief, could only carry on trying to protect the last remnant of his urchin family as they set off across Mamore's war-torn plains.

With the battle for Mamore still raging across the planet, Stray and Emily were easily overlooked by both sides of the conflict. Stray shared Emily's fury at the UNSC, clinging to the ideals of the Insurrection as he struggled to find meaning in the savage violence that had torn away the rest of his friends. He would not dream of abandoning Emily, but was torn between the urge to fight on and a growing fear of sharing Rat Pack's fate and becoming simply another shattered corpse amidst the mountain of dead Mamorians that grew larger by the day. In the end he gave up trying to sort out a drive of his own and simply allowed himself to be towed along after Emily as she fervently searched for more Insurrectionist forces to link up with. For the next month the two young fighters wandered from battle to battle, lending their guns to any militia band desperate enough to use children against the UNSC juggernaut. Though the gangs they joined were always swiftly cut to pieces by UNSC forces, Stray and Emily kept each other alive and always survived to fight another day.

"This Is My War Now"
"War's a cruel parent, but an effective teacher. I can draw more out of these two then I ever could from these imported militia they keep sending us."

- Redmond Venter

Stray and Emily spent two months on their own, staying alive on the battlefields of Mamore and fighting the UNSC as best they could. Stray adapted the advanced survival skills drilled into him on Onyx in order to keep them fed and mobile. Despite their youth, he and Emily made an excellent team during raids on UNSC positions. Together they rigged explosives, sabotaged equipment, and stole supplies from any military target they encounters. Emily adapted quickly to life outside of Concord and Stray did his best to pass his own training onto her, though he still kept his true origins a secret. Even with his new-found willingness to wage open war on the UNSC, Stray's treason left him feeling aimless and confused. The only certainty in his life was Emily, the last of his Rat Pack family, and keeping alive and fighting became Stray's driving force amidst the chaos of war. The wandering saboteurs finally fell in with a detachment of rebel troops from the Humanity Liberation Front. The unit's field commander was Redmond Venter, the same officer who had witnessed Stray's attack on the militia back in Concord. Venter recognized the urchins at once and took them into his ranks. Venter saw the potential within his new recruits and quickly drew them into his inner circle. There Stray met Venter's lieutenant and close friend, a freighter turned rebel named Gavin Dunn. Gavin instantly took a shine to both of the young recruits but it was Venter who commanded Stray's full attention. The fierce and cunning warrior reminded Stray of his instructors on Onyx and he quickly came to admire Venter as both his commander and mentor. Through Venter and Dunn's guidance, Stray found purpose again not as an urchin trying to survive but as a soldier fighting whole-heartedly for the cause of Mamore's independence. Amongst Venter's ranks, Stray met another new figure: the "smart" AI known as Diana.

Taking the two youths under his wing, Venter made a point of teaching Stray and Emily every technique he knew for surviving on the battlefield. A harsh but effective instructor, Venter was highly skilled in close quarters combat his proficiency with knives and unarmed techniques on to his young proteges. Stray had previously honed similar skills with Tom back on Onyx, but under Venter he learned a far more brutal way to apply his strength and speed in close combat. Living, fighting, and training with the rest of Venter's detachment, Stray and Emily remained close but they gradually spent less time together. Stray was drawn closer to Venter while Emily began spending time with Gavin Dunn, Venter's lieutenant and the more idealistic of the pair. As the HLF force continued to fight a guerrilla war against the UNSC, Stray began to see the imposing and reassuring Venter as the father figure he had never had in a life spent standing in the shadows of others' talents and achievements. Even as the UNSC continued to crush rebel resistance across Mamore, Stray experienced a new wave of commitment to the rebel cause; unlike his past drive to simply keep his friends alive, he now hoped to help create the free world that Emily, Gavin, and Venter were fighting for. Unbeknownst to anyone, the rebel AI Diana had taken a keen interest in Simon and was watching him closely. Though their conversations were far and few between, Diana had determined that there was something strange about him and was eager to learn more about the tenacious child soldier.

Still fighting doubts about his role in the rebellion, Stray now put his dedication as a Spartan to full use as a tool in the service of the Insurrection. All Spartans were trained to consider themselves vital parts of the war effort and they all shouldered the enormous responsibility for humanity's survival in the battle against the Covenant. Plunged into a much different war, Stray simply re-purposed his conditioning and reasserted his identity as a supersoldier. When the HLF force passed through the site where Team Jian had left him stranded on Mamore, Stray revisited the cave where he had first taken refuge and recovered the SPI armor he had left there. Presenting the armor to Venter and Dunn, he revealed the truth about his past as a Spartan in the hopes that he could do more for the rebellion if he was considered more than just a fit and talented child recruit. Gavin was stunned to learn that one of the UNSC's famous supersoldiers was in their midst and even more shocked that the UNSC had trained and augmented children to be its soldiers. Venter quickly realized the potential he had stumbled across in discovering the only known Spartan to turn on his former commanders and join the rebellion. Stray's willingness to expose himself and the time he had already spent in the rebellion gave Venter little cause to doubt Stray, but others among the HLF were afraid and mistrustful of the exposed supersoldier. In his hope to expand his potential as a soldier of the Insurrection, Stray had miscalculated how deeply his revelation might cut those closest to him. Suddenly wary of the boy she had thought was just another war orphan, Emily kept her distance from Stray as rumors about his true loyalties circulated amongst the rebels.

"I won't have any of you questioning the convictions of someone who gave up a position of power and prestige to fight for our cause. He could still be the wind-up soldier they raised him to be, taking orders from them as some so-called 'savior of Earth.' But he's not. He's here, fighting for a planet that's not his, for an army that doesn't have a fraction of the military might he used to be a part of. Stray, you told me that you'd give everything for Mamore's freedom. I believe you, but some of the people here think you're a sham. Prove them wrong. Prove your loyalty."

- Redmond Venter addresses HLF troops before having Stray kill a UNSC prisoner.

With his soldiers pressuring him to either execute Stray or turn him over as a prisoner to their HLF superiors, Venter instead arranged for the Spartan to prove his conviction by executing a Marine officer captured during an ambush. Fueled by a desire to prove himself to the doubting rebels, his own anger at the destruction the UNSC had brought to Mamore, and personal loyalty to Venter, Stray gunned the captive down. Although Gavin Dunn and a few others were made uncomfortable by Venter's loyalty test, the execution assuaged the doubts of most rebels. Stray himself found that while the killing had solidified his new position as the rebels' secret weapon it had intensified—rather than assuaged—his own private doubts about what he was truly fighting for. Urged on by Dunn, Emily later approached him and they reconciled, though Stray feared that the familial bonds he had shared with her could never be the same. In recognition of his new place in the rebel cause, Venter presented Stray with one of his own custom-made combat machetes and assured him of his value to the fight for Mamore's independence. The AI Diana also took a greater interest in Stray and began engineering situations where she could talk to him in private. Though Stray was wary of the rebel intelligence, she quickly picked up on his misgivings and probed deeper, quietly expanding their acquaintanceship as Stray began to undertake more dangerous missions for the HLF.

"I was so caught up in the fighting—in my own feelings, my own doubts—that I never realized the things that were going through Emily's head. Maybe I never understood what was going on in her head. What I do know is that I tried to stop her. I tried to talk, and when talking didn't work I thought of more desperate measures. But in the end I couldn't go through with it. I couldn't stop her. I couldn't shoot her. I couldn't take her place. She was stronger than me, that beautiful, grubby urchin. She had her convictions, and I only had doubts. And so she went off and killed herself. People died; soldiers, civilians, the guilty, the innocent, did it really matter? They all went up in flames together. The rest of us survived and the killing went on."

- Simon on Emily's suicide bombing

Shortly after the execution, Venter's forces took part in the Insurrection's last concerted offensive on Mamore. In a coordinated effort to divert UNSC forces so that key units could regroup and consolidate themselves, dozens of groups like Venter's were ordered to intensify their attacks on government troops. Over the course of several days Stray raided and sabotaged key targets in order to soften them up for Venter's main force to attack. Though the attacks succeeded in drawing UNSC troops away from the retreating rebels, Venter's forces suffered heavy casualties as they were hunted and hemmed in by the troops they were drawing in. Refusing to sacrifice his remaining fighters, Venter chose to break off and fall back to the HLF's last remaining stronghold on Mamore. But the pursuing forces continued harrowing the weakened attack force and it ended up trapped between mountains crawling with Marine platoons and a small, UNSC-occupied town. Needing a distraction to divert UNSC forces and give his own troops an avenue of escape, Venter called for a volunteer to carry out a bombing within the town—a common opening to insurrectionist offensives that would certainly prompt the town's garrison to call reinforcements from the surrounding area. Tired of watching her friends and comrades die around her, Emily volunteered in the hopes of becoming a martyr in the fight for Mamore's freedom. Torn between loyalty to Venter and his friendship with Emily, a distraught Stray did everything he could to dissuade her from the mission. When he couldn't change her mind he even considered shooting her to prevent the attack and the carnage that would come of it, but in the end he couldn't bring himself to kill the friend who had come to mean so much to him. In the ensuing attack, Emily killed herself along with nearly a hundred others, Marines and civilians alike. The town's garrison commander panicked as expected, calling in reinforcements and letting Venter's troops retreat to safety. Stray was utterly devastated by the death of the last of Rat Pack. The rest of his friends had died at the hands of the UNSC, but Emily had killed herself on the orders of the man he had trusted and idolized. Suddenly alienated from Venter and the cause he had given himself over to, Stray found himself alone and helpless amidst the ongoing insurgency.

"Is There Anything Left?"
"Simon, why do you insist on letting everyone decide what direction you live your life in? So much potential inside you, and you throw it all away by making yourself a slave for others. And why? Because you think it will make you happy? No one can give you happiness; that's something you have to find for yourself. I can't give it to you, but stick with me and I just might help you find it. But you have to trust me. And you have to start deciding things for yourself."

- Diana to Stray

With Stray's faith in Venter undermined, Diana seized on the opportunity to influence the renegade Spartan. Unbeknownst to the rebels she served, Diana was a highly advanced experimental AI with no loyalty programming to shackle her to any cause save her own. She had grown bored with Mamore's lost cause and took to probing Venter's conflicted pupil, ostensibly in search of information on the Spartan program. Stray, isolated and desperate for someone to confide in, quickly buckled under her teasing interrogations and told her about his own doubts and fears. In the meantime, the HLF force withdrew to a former CAA outpost that was serving as one of the last bastions of resistance on Mamore. Although he kept the details to a minimum, Venter wasted no time in arranging for a rebel science team to analyze Stray's DNA and body structure. In the hopes of identifying and replicating the UNSC's augmentation procedures, Venter's researchers withdrew large amounts of genetic samples from the traitor Spartan. As the UNSC closed in on the makeshift fortress, Venter made plans to flee the planet with Stray and his surviving forces in tow.

Knowing that she was running out of time to separate Stray from Venter, Diana continued to attack the young man's faith in his mentor. She preyed on Venter's role in Emily's death, carefully prompting Stray to question the validity of the rebel cause without openly broaching the subject itself. Stray felt betrayed by Venter's interest in recreating the Spartan program rather than decrying it as a war crime. With the commander's treatment of Emily in mind, he began to suspect that Venter only cared about using him as his own private Spartan operative without regard for the loyalty and affection he had given him. Stray felt his suspicions confirmed when Venter ordered him to assassinate several rebel leaders who opposed the decision to abandon Mamore. Even as he carried out the killings, a bitter and disillusioned Stray began to conspire with Diana to turn on Venter and escape both the Insurrection and the UNSC together. Burdened by the guilt of what he had done under Venter's command and frightened by the idea that his life no longer had any meaning away from the battlefield, Stray resolved to kill Venter to avenge Emily before turning his back on both sides of the war permanently.

But before Simon and Diana could put their plan into motion, the UNSC launched an assault on the Insurrectionist facility. As air strikes ripped the fortifications apart and Marine assault teams stormed the perimeter, Stray hastily donned his armor and prepared to make a run for one of several Slipspace-capable shuttles that Venter had planned to flee the planet in. Stealing Diana's memory crystal chip, he fought his way towards the hangar where he hoped to ambush Venter and steal his shuttle. But before he could reach the hangar he came face to face with the surviving members of his old squad, Team Jian. Stray quickly realized that this was no happy reunion; ONI had learned of his defection and dispatched his former teammates to capture him. Unwilling to fight his friends and horrified at their willingness to attack him, Stray fled to the hangar. The pursuing Jian were slowed by rebel forces but Jake-G293, determined to apprehend his former subordinate, pushed through alone and confronted Stray in the hangar facility.

"You're all just blindly following orders! Now that the Covenant's gone, you don't care about what they make you do so long as you can keep fighting! You don't care about all the people you kill, because Spartans aren't even human!"

- Stray rails at Jake-G293 during their violent confrontation.

A cornered Stray faced his friend in the hangar as the battle raged in the facility above them. Although Stray struggled to explain his actions, Jake would hear none of it and accused his former teammate of betraying both the UNSC and their brother and sister Spartans. Confused, hurt, and frightened, Stray in turn channeled his hatred for the UNSC and denounced Jake and the other Spartans for their blind loyalty to the government that had laid waste to Mamore. A disgusted Jake moved in for the kill, believing that even without his teammates he could easily defeat Gamma's failure Spartan, but Stray was no longer the Simon that Jake had known. In the brutal fight that ensued, both Spartans struggled to incapacitate each other in spite of their past experiences and friendship. Drawing on the skills he had learned from Rat Pack and the Insurrection, Stray managed to gain the upper hand and knocked Jake unconscious. Refusing to kill a fellow Spartan, Stray was preparing to steal a shuttle when Venter arrived in the hanger alongside a squad of rebel troops.

"You're making a habit of biting the hands that feed you, Stray. It's going to get you into trouble some day."

- Redmond Venter to Stray

Oblivious to Stray's betrayal, Venter praised his operative for taking Jake prisoner and was preparing to leave the planet when the rest of Team Jian arrived and assaulted the hangar. In the midst of the firefight Stray again tried to reach a shuttle only to find himself confronted by Cassandra-G006. Unlike Jake, Cassandra hoped to convince her friend to surrender peacefully but in her distraction she was blindsided and incapacitated by Venter. Faced with the painful realization that he still harbored feelings of loyalty to his fellow Spartans, Stray finally turned on his commander and tried to kill him. Clad in PISCES power armor, Venter proved to be far more formidable than Jake had been and Stray was heavily injured as he threw himself into battle against the man he had thought of as a father. As a delighted Diana observed the combat, Stray gave into the violent urges that had plagued him since the start of the Mamore conflict. His more rational sensibilities dulled, Stray attacked Venter with a near-feral level of savagery and beat back his mentor's attacks. Gaining the upper hand, Stray drove a knife through Venter's helmet and into his right eye. Leaving Venter for dead, a wounded and delirious Stray dragged the unconscious Cassandra aboard the shuttle; whether he wanted to help treat her wounds or simply needed a human shield to cover his escape, he couldn't say. Diana took the helm and plotted a course through Mamore's atmosphere and past the UNSC picket as Stray tried to treat his own wounds. Under fire and with UNSC ships bearing down on them, Diana forced the damaged shuttle into a hasty Slipspace jump. The force of the sudden transition and the extent of his own injuries finally overwhelmed Stray and he faded into unconsciousness.

Although damaged by enemy fire, the shuttle survived the violent jump to Slipspace and escaped from Mamore and the UNSC military. Stray awakened to find that the worst of his injuries had been tended to; Cassandra had awoken after he'd passed out and seen to both of their injuries. Reeling from the shock of all that had happened, Stray could not understand why his former teammate had not killed or restrained him. Though Diana's presence had partially kept him safe, Cassandra was also tired of the endless combat and destruction she had witnessed as a Spartan. Struggling to come to terms with the fact that they had wound up as enemies, neither Spartan could bring themselves to reignite the the battle now that they had been cut off from the source of the violence. Though Diana privately urged Stray to kill or restrain Cassandra, he refused. Though his painful encounter with Team Jian had opened up the raw wounds of his friends' abandonment, the moment of calm after the storm reawakened his memories of the life he had known as the Spartan Simon-G294. Both Spartans remained wary of each other, but agreed to a truce as long as they were on the same shuttle. The damages the ship had sustained were such that they had know way of knowing where they might end up and until they found out for sure Simon and Cassandra chose to recover from their injuries and come to terms with everything that had transpired between them. Exile= "Are they all SPARTAN-IIs? Or, as I suspect from their inelegant personas, are they substandard versions of the SPARTAN-II? Perhaps from a parallel program... All disturbing. Without proper indoctrination and scientific methodologies... potentially disastrous."

- Excerpt from 's regarding SPARTAN-IIIs.

"We Can Build A New Life"
After a brief stint in the shuttle's cryo-pods, Simon and Cassandra awakened to Diana's signal that they had preached a habitable planet. Their apprehension of each other had not lessened, but neither Spartan had any way to reach out and contact the wider galaxy. Unwilling to risk another Slipspace jump, they were effectively stranded in uncharted space. With no recourse but to investigate the world they had encountered, the Spartans landed the shuttle and discovered that the planet sported several habitable biomes. Making an encampment by their landing zone they maintained their truce while exploring the surrounding area. They were surprised to learn that not only was the planet inhabitable, it sported a wide variety of flora that despite their alien nature proved edible. Diana busied herself monitoring for any signs of UNSC or Covenant activity while the Spartans expanded their attempts to map the strange world they had discovered. For Simon, the act of exploring this peaceful garden world proved to be a welcome balm for the trauma—both physical and mental—that Mamore had inflicted on him. Away from warfare and ideologies he did his best to embrace the simple day to day activities of gathering food and tending to his equipment. The solitude of exile reawakened the old feelings for Cassandra he had experienced during training. As confused as ever over how to respond to such impulses, Simon distanced himself from his fellow Spartan but soon convinced himself that both he and Cassandra could remain on this planet in peace without ever having to leave and risk the pain and perils of war in the wider galaxy again. Simon feared not only the wrath of the UNSC, but the knowledge that if he did leave he would only experience the agony of doubt and loss once again.

But while the tensions between Simon and Cassandra had cooled, his fellow Spartan was not so eager to simply settle down into a life of blissful exile. Simon's influence had made Cassandra see opportunity in life outside the militarized Spartans, but she did not want to spend the rest of her life stranded in an alien forest. She was concerned over the depletion of her supply of chemical counter-agents for her brain augmentations—counter-agents that Simon had gone without throughout his time on Mamore. Unsure of what the loss of the medication would do, particularly when coupled with the unknown chemical makeup of the planet's food and atmosphere, Cassandra began to see herself as a prisoner, outnumbered by Simon and a rebel AI who so far had been content to watch the situation unfold. After nearly a month of living on the uncharted planet, the Spartans made a discovery: an alien citadel built into a cliff face a few dozen kilometers from the shuttle's landing zone. Simon had no idea what to make of the imposing structure, but Cassandra recognized its architecture as from briefings given to the Spartans after the  at the end of the Great War. Cassandra's explanations regarding the ancient alien civilization only served to instill an intense feeling of foreboding inside the traitor Spartan. Deeply wary of what might lie inside the citadel, he tried to convince Cassandra to leave the structure be. But it wasn't long before she ventured out on her own and gained entry to the citadel.

Even when Diana cheerfully told him what Cassandra had done, Simon refused to go into the citadel after her. His inability to reach Cassandra over the radio only intensified his fear of what lay inside the Forerunner structure. It was only after several hours of tense silence that he worked up the nerve to ascend the rocky stairway leading up to the citadel entrance. Though he could find no discernible interface or control panel, Simon found that the entrance simply opened at his approach; using the young Spartan's helmet frequency as a conduit, Diana managed to find a non-physical access point into the complex alien system. Spartan and AI ventured into the foreboding complex in search of Cassandra. As he groped his way through identical, darkened hallways, a terrified Simon encountered the flying robotic that patrolled the citadel's interior. After a brief struggle with the automated defense systems, Diana amazed Simon by asserting control over a handful of Sentinels and guiding him to the center of the Forerunner vestige. There he finally found Cassandra contemplating a within the central chamber. Cassandra had encountered a control panel and was trying to access the Forerunner technology, but it was only when Simon approached from the other side of the chamber that the device sprang to life. Both Spartans were caught up in a sudden rift of energy that emanated from the device. Simon did not comprehend much of what happened next; adrift in a strange netherworld, his consciousness was torn into a dozen different perspectives. At one point he believed he was looking down on his own lifeless body; at another moment he found himself inhabiting Cassandra's body and she his. Only the intervention of what seemed to be Diana spared Simon's mind from being overwhelmed by sensory overload and as the tumult subsided he witnessed a vision of an armored figure amidst scenes of carnage and destruction. The energy rift collapsed in on itself and Simon and Cassandra were thrown back into the chamber as the ovoid device collapsed in on itself and the citadel's systems entered into an alert status.

With the facility's Sentinels suddenly alert and hostile, the two dazed Spartans fled the citadel. They barely escaped through the main gate and made their way back to the shuttle. Only when he took the time to undress and inspect his gear did Simon realize that a strange brand had been seared onto his chest. Simon did not know how the brand could have been placed on him, as he had been in armor the entire time he had been in the vestige and had not felt any pain from its infliction. Thoroughly spooked and afraid of what this encounter with the Forerunners might mean, Simon hid the brand from Diana and Cassandra. It soon became abundantly clear that the Spartans had awakened far more than a few Sentinels with their trespass. Hordes of the flying machines swarmed the forest in search of their landing zone and Diana noted several seismic disturbances originating from the citadel. The Spartans realized that their haven was no longer safe and agreed to flee before they were cornered by the Sentinels. The shuttle lifted off and blasted away from the Forerunner world, making a risky jump into Slipspace just ahead of pursuing Sentinel craft. But they had not entirely escaped the newfound perils of their erstwhile home. Both Spartans soon fell ill with an unidentifiable disease that both suspected originated from their exposure to the alien energy wave. The two castaways experienced nausea, fever symptoms, and sudden hair loss. The stress from this sudden decay served to finally break down the truce they had held throughout their weeks of exploring the planet. Though Simon's heart was not in the battle, he armed himself and engaged in a tense firefight with an equally reluctant Cassandra. As an amused Diana looked on, the shuttle became a cramped no man's land.

Though the Spartans had resumed their hostility, neither could push themself to kill the other. The weakened fighters instead resorted to holing up in two separate areas of the shuttle and maintaining a terse vigil on the other's position. As the true farce of their combat dawned on them, Diana alerted them to an alien contact on the shuttle's sensors. A assault craft honed in on the shuttle's signal and its crew, a troop of Sangheili, Kig-Yar, and Unggoy of  boarded the ship to investigate the human vessel. The Spartans' conflict ended as quickly as it had begun with the arrival of their old, common enemy. Simon and Cassandra set their differences aside and ambushed the surprised boarders. Nearly all the Covenant were killed in the ensuing firefight but one Sangheili did the last thing either Spartan expected: he surrendered. Though Cassandra wanted to kill the enemy warrior Simon convinced her to instead disarm and restrain him. Simon's experiences as a guerrilla soldier on Mamore had taught him the importance of prisoners as a source of information. Simon had come to fear the UNSC more than the defeated Covenant and saw the unexpected prisoner as a means by which he could gauge the state of the galaxy following his and Cassandra's cryo-sleep. Interrogating the Sangheili would reap the information he needed and Venter had taught him many ways to coax prisoners into cooperating.

No stranger to facing Sangheili on the battlefield, Simon had little sympathy for his captive and planned to execute him after learning what he wanted to know. However, he was surprised by Cassandra's vitriolic hatred for the alien; the time spent fighting human enemies on Mamore had dulled his own memories of the fearsome Covenant juggernaut. But Cassandra and most of the other Gamma Spartans had lost their families to the aliens' genocidal crusade and Cassandra wanted to dispose of the captive as quickly as possible. Simon found another surprise in the warrior—who identified himself as Tuka 'Refum—and his willingness to talk openly with his captors. Though he had assumed the role of interrogator Simon was suddenly caught between his desire to talk with the reasonable Tuka and his fear of reigniting the conflict with Cassandra by appearing too soft on the enemy. Through Tuka, Simon learned that the Covenant had reformed under the Sangheili in the wake of a on their homeworld. Tuka accusations that humanity had plotted to tear down the Sangheili enraged Cassandra to the point that she attacked the helpless warrior; Simon physically intervened to prevent his friend from killing their captive. His spontaneous defense of Tuka very nearly brought him back into direct combat with Cassandra, but his fellow Spartan regained her composure and coldly left him to continue the interrogation. The young warrior had little else to offer, aside from the news that the UNSC was currently fighting the renewed Covenant for control of Forerunner artifacts and that renegade human elements had established a handful of independent colonies that made trade with the former Covenant client races. Though he worried that Tuka might bring reinforcements back after them, Simon could not bring himself to execute the warrior. He found surprising encouragement from Cassandra, who had reevaluated her intentions following her outburst and did not want to prove Tuka right about humanity's ruthless nature. A stunned and grateful Tuka was set adrift aboard the Lich his troop had arrived in while Simon had Diana plot a course for one of the nearby independent colonies.

"I'll Just Keep Running"
The battered shuttle took weeks to limp through to an inhabited system. The slow crawl of time aboard the cramped ship served to bring Simon and Cassandra together even more so then their exile on the alien planet. Their long cryo-sleep and the events that had transpired since then had left both Spartans feeling alienated from a strange new galaxy. With their tenuous friendship as the only reliable constant, the two exiles agreed to stay together as Diana brought their shuttle in to port on the human colony of. Simon's reintegration into human society began as he went to ground, relying on Diana to secure safe lodging for himself and Cassandra. The wily A.I. arranged for the Spartans to hide in a spaceport apartment complex while she absorbed information about the local state of affairs. Talitsa was a prosperous colony with strong independent sentiments, though Simon found himself unable to take advantage of the anti-government atmosphere; recent uprisings had prompted the UNSC to station a garrison on the planet and Simon rightly feared that ONI agents were on the prowl. As he tried to come up with his next move, Cassandra surprised him by choosing to stay with him rather than returning to the military. His fellow Spartan had begun to develop her own doubts about her place in the galaxy and was beginning to hunger for the independence of civilian life that she saw all around her. Cassandra wished to start a new life for herself on Talitsa and she invited Simon to set aside his weapons and seek peace on the independent frontier. The suggestion both enticed and frightened Simon, who both hungered for a permanent escape from the UNSC and feared the implications of choosing to simply fade away into civilian life. Unfortunately, he was never able to weigh the options set before him. Despite Diana's digital safeguards and the Spartans' attempts to remain hidden, ONI was even more watchful than they had predicted. Within a week of Simon's arrival on Talitsa, he had been positively identified by Naval Intelligence agents who immediately alerted their chain of command of the Mamore renegade's reappearance.

Without Diana, Simon would have died before he even knew ONI had learned of his survival. Less than a day after his presence on Talitsa was confirmed, a task force led by  herself was dispatched to eliminate him and recover his "hostage," Cassandra. Only a warning from Diana gave Simon the chance to escape from the apartment mere minutes before it was stormed by the newest generation of Spartans. Realizing he had no chance against a platoon of -armored supersoldiers, Simon formulated a desperate plan to escape the planet by stowing away aboard an outbound smuggling freighter. Cassandra again refused his suggestion that they part ways, humbling a confused Simon who struggled to understand her earnest support for a traitor like himself. The pair boarded the freighter, which took them safely off of Talitsa and past the UNSC naval patrols. While listening in on the pursuing task force's transmissions, Simon was stunned to recognize the voices of Jake-G293 and Ralph-G299, his squadmates from Team Jian. Though he had not forgotten his violent encounter with Jake on Mamore, his former friends' presence amongst his pursuers forced Simon to face the fact that even his brothers and sisters from Gamma Company would not hesitate to to hunt him down. The situation did not improve when the fugitive Spartans realized that the freighter they had boarded was headed for Reach, deep within the Inner Colonies and even closer to the seat of the government they were trying to escape. Counting on the the Covenant had wrought on Reach during the war to help them go to ground, the Spartans planned to seek refuge within the  once they arrived on humanity's former fortress world.

When the freighter touched down in Reach's desolate glasslands, Simon and Cassandra slipped off and took refuge within a criminal compound meant to house smugglers and their families. Clad in their SPI armor, the Spartans disguised their youth and passed themselves off as mercenaries as they struggled to plan their escape from ONI's indomitable pursuit. Reach had become a strange hybrid of UNSC stronghold and criminal nesting ground, and Simon hoped that he and Cassandra could find temporary solitude amongst the covert network of compounds and safehouses spread out among the planet's vast stretches of burned surface. But their escape from Talitsa had not gone unnoticed; Palmer and her Spartan task force arrived not two days after they did, surrounding the compound and demanding that the panicked smugglers turn over the fugitives. Simon wanted to use the criminals' resistance as a cover for his own escape, but Cassandra convinced him to make a show of fleeing into the Highland Mountains so as to draw the UNSC forces away from the civilians in the compound.

Conflagration
"Save me Diana!"

- Simon,inadvertently initiating the Bombing of Philadelphia

Personality and Traits
"He isn't interested in duty, ideology, or any sort of creed. He allies himself with, criminals, if it suits his purposes. He hires himself out to the highest bidder, but when we trace his activities the money itself rarely seems to be his ultimate concern. He is, in effect, a rogue vector, a loose variable, and we have no idea what he wants or how to control him. This makes him dangerous beyond words."

"It's not that you're a monster. It's that you try so hard to make everyone think you are."

- Gavin Dunn

Mental Overview=

Mental Overview
"He's a lot like me, that masterless little Spartan: Unimpressed by grandeur and never at a loss for a trick."

- Diana

Molded by a life of loss, pain, and betrayal, Simon possesses an extremely cynical understanding of both the galaxy and himself. A lifetime spent at the bottom of the heap—particularly the years spent growing up in the hyper-competitive training environment on Onyx—has conditioned him to expect nearly everyone to be faster, stronger, or smarter than himself. Having had to struggle and fight for even marginal successes, Simon's self-image has largely been shaped by the perceptions of others, particularly those of his fellow Gamma Company Spartans, most of whom condemn him as a failure, a traitor, and a mass murderer. In order to combat his own insecurities, he has embraced the image of a deceitful, self-serving coward willing to use whatever methods are necessary to win the daily battle for survival. His professed disdain for the world around him actually masks his own doubts and insecurities regarding his own place in the galaxy. Guilt over his crimes—both real and imagined—haunts him on a daily basis and he balances such feelings with a marked contempt for the perceived hypocrisy of those who hunt and condemn him. He has become adept at using the preconceptions of others against them, playing up his role as a cowardly failure before catching them off guard with focused, deadly brutality.

"Spartans aren't human."

- Simon-G294

As a person, Simon is at times sardonic and irreverent and at others contemplative and self-aware. Though never the most dedicated of Spartans he is viciously stubborn and possesses a fortitude of will that drove him to keep trying to better himself in spite of his constant failures. He took to the battlefield of the Human-Covenant War determined to prove himself a hero and live up to the Spartan legacy he had been raised into; his humble idealism held fast even after he joined Rat Pack and betrayed the UNSC for the Insurrection. Even after losing faith in the rebel cause Simon still believed in his own good intentions and fought to do as well as he could by those few still faithful to him. It was only after the Bombing of Philadelphia that Simon, believing himself responsible for the deaths of thousands, descended into a spiral of despair that was at once self-serving and self-loathing. No longer believing himself capable of redemption (or, for that matter, that he was worth saving) he embraced a violent mercenary lifestyle and focused on material gains even as his lifestyle drove him deeper and deeper into the galactic underworld. But in spite of his selfish outlook Simon was still capable of occasionally performing acts of kindness and even selflessness. He despises injustice and his own experience of being used as an expendable pawn sometimes pushes him into risking his own safety to help those who are often ignored by the rest of the galaxy. While he is well-known for deceit and treachery, he is in fact steadfastly loyal to his small circle of friends and will go to whatever lengths are necessary in order to keep them safe.

"Stray"
"There are... aspects of my personality that I can't control. And when I lose control, it's very dangerous to be around me."

- Simon-G294

Onyx's supervisor AI Deep Winter feared the unintended side-effects of the illegal frontal lobe augmentations might have on the young Spartans of Gamma Company and in Simon's case his misgivings were entirely justified. As long as his augmentations were held in check by ONI-administered anti-psychotic medication, Simon was able to function normally. But after being stranded on Mamore Simon was cut off from the medication with only a week's emergency supply to sustain himself. Though he attempted to replicate the prescribed medication with alternate pharmaceuticals stolen from Insurrectionist medical supplies, Simon could not halt the side effects entirely. Cut off from his Spartan brethren and assimilated into Rat Pack, Simon's sense of alienation caused him to gradually lose sense of the Spartan he had been and view himself more and more as "Stray," just another urchin from Mamore. The trauma of losing his new family during the Mamore uprising and the stress brought on by his conflicting loyalties to the UNSC and Insurrection worsened the side effects. In times of extreme stress Simon's higher brain functions would begin to erode, making him impulsive, instinct-driven, and prone to acts of extreme violence. Cassandra-G006 proved to be a stabilizing influence on Simon during their time in exile together, but the UNSC's attempts to eliminate him re-awakened Stray, which Simon was beginning to see as an alternate persona. During his raid on Philadelphia, Simon used a combination of and neural stimulants in order to fight Spartan-IVs such as.

Following the Philadelphia bombing, Simon fled to the colonial underworld and began living a violent day to day existence as a mercenary. Using the name of Stray on a full-time basis, Simon continued experimenting with neural stimulants in the hopes of harnessing his own potential. He soon began relying on a variety of neural drugs to keep his mind intact and the feral "Stray" traits became more and more extreme over time. Simon's dependency on the drugs came to a head in 2559 when he slipped into a life-threatening coma. He was saved by the efforts of Cassandra-G006, who managed to develop a drug to completely eliminate the dependency on neural inhibitors. But while the involuntary lapses in higher brain functions were eliminated, the changes made to Simon's frontal lobe were irrevocable. Egged on by Diana, he continued to experiment on ways to tap in to Stray's "potential."

"I like you better this way."

- Diana

"So do I."

- Stray

Prior to Cassandra's operation, the Stray persona was little more than an feral state characterized by a loss of higher brain functions. Following the operation, Stray took on a new manifestation: rather than a loss of awareness, Stray is now characterized by a highly driven and focused intelligence. As Stray, Simon experiences acutely heightened senses but loses his sense of restraint. Stray is a skilled and comprehensive fighter as well as a cunning and ruthless strategist; he is also possessed of a violently cruel streak that borders on sadism. Unlike Simon, Stray has no compunctions about minimizing the amount of lives he takes and revels in triumphing over his opponents. It is presently unknown whether or not Stray is a true manifestation of dissociative personality disorder or if he is a phenomena created by Simon's unique experience with the frontal lobe augments; Diana herself suspects that Simon's exposure to unknown Forerunner entities may be at the heart of the matter, but as usual she keeps her theories to herself.

Physical Profile
Always a scrawny individual, Simon's size and stature earned him many nicknames during his training on Onyx and he was referred to by such monikers as "Runt" and "Shorty" just as much as he was by his own name. The augmentation procedure did little to rectify the situation and Simon can pass himself off as an regular human when not in armor. Simon’s body is covered with scars inflicted over his life of brutal training and combat. His back in particular is heavily scarred by punishments he received during his time as a slave to Jiralhanae pirates, marking him as living property to anyone familiar with the Jiralahanae and their customs. His arms and torso sport several tattoos, including one depicting the Spartan eagle insignia, several images popular among insurrectionist groups, and even Kig-Yar and Sangheili cultural images.

When not clad in armor, Simon generally dresses in a ragged, patchy overcoat and underclothes of similar quality. Perpetually scruffy and unkempt, his hair is a tangled mop that resists any and all attempts to groom it. Although cleanliness has never been of much concern to Simon, he does make some effort to conduct routine personal hygiene in order to make himself at least somewhat presentable around others. Relationships=

With Diana
Equipment and Combat=

Weapons
"A 'shotgun'? A rather graceless weapon, even by your human standards."

- Tuka 'Refum

"I'm a pretty graceless person."

- Simon-G294

Life on the run has forced Simon to adapt and improvise his combat strategies in order to make up for his lack of resources or support. Without the UNSC’s arsenal to draw from and no consistent source of income outside of his mercenary work, the renegade Spartan must scavenge or steal much of his equipment from the battlefield. He has accumulated an impressive cache of sidearms and can be counted on to always have a backup pistol stowed away somewhere to be used in a tight spot. A notoriously poor shot at longer ranges, he makes use of and other such light firearms. His weapon of choice is the he took from the body of Ralph-G299 after killing his former teammate amidst the Pillars of Loki on Reach, wielding it both as a memento to his friend and for the M45’s deadly stopping power and surprising versatility. Utilizing tactics learned from fighters, Simon has made a hobby out of preparing improvised shells for the M45, creating unorthodox ammunition that range from miniature explosive pellets to miniaturized EMP pulses.

Simon’s deadliest skills lie within the brutal confines of hand to hand combat. He has always had a penchant for, a trait that was recognized and encouraged by Simon’s instructor who trained him in a uniquely Spartan form of Sambo that was geared towards fighting larger, stronger opponents. Simon’s hand to hand training expanded after he defected to the Insurrection and under Redmond Venter he trained to use a machete alongside his more traditional firearms; even after abandoning the Insurrection Simon kept the machete Venter had given him and continued to use it in combat. During his time in exile with Cassandra-G006, his fellow Spartan helped improve his accuracy, particularly with. Simon often wields a pistol alongside a machete or combat knife, using his augmented speed and strength to move through battle and clsoe in on his targets. His time spent fighting alongside Sangheili such as Tuka ‘Refum has given him a working knowledge of most Covenant weapon systems, particularly the compact and deadly Sangheili. Upon realizing that MJOLNIR-equipped Spartans would always be hunting for him, Simon made sure to incorporate a plasma pistol into his fighting load.

Simon is also known for employing a wide range of grenades in combat. Alongside standard fragmentation ordnance, he also makes use of and EMP grenades to disorient enemies and level the playing field against better-equipped opponents. Simon carries an impressive array of both military grade and homemade explosive charges with him in his assault bag. As inventive and resourceful with explosives as he is with his other fighting methods, Simon has often used remote charges to devastating effect against enemy forces, hard points, and even the occasional warship.

Armor
A relic of the Human-Covenant War, Simon’s suit of is as battered and scarred as its owner. The body armor was originally intended to provide its Spartan-III owner with light protection and stealth capabilities; while the reflective paneling that made the SPI’s camouflage system possible has long since worn out, Simon has kept his weathered combat armor functional while augmenting it with his own custom improvements. Though the SPI armor lacks the speed and strength-enhancing abilities of powered armor systems such as the PISCES and its structure acts as a load-bearing aid similar to the frame on a ruck pack, enabling Simon to carry his extensive fighting load without losing mobility. With large portions of the armor irreparably damaged in combat, Simon has replaced chunks of the original SPI with components scavenged from, , and even.

During times of respite, Simon has taken it upon himself to graft additional features into his armor’s frame. His gauntlets have been upgraded to feature Sangheili-style as well as micro-magnets linked to his weapons for quick retrievals. In addition to practical upgrades to his helmet’s sensors and Heads Up Display, he has been known to stow a variety of poisonous spores in his armor, releasing them in the midst of combat to incapacitate or even kill his foes. His helmet has also been upgraded to feature a, permitting Diana (and later Juno) to access his neural implants when linked in with his armor.

"I can't believe you fell for my oldest trick, even Cassandra sees through those holograms by now! And if that one got you, I know you won't see this one coming..."

- Simon-G294

Among Simon’s most prized possessions are a set of Covenant given to him by Tuka ‘Refum. Designed to misdirect the enemy in the heat of battle, the drones were heavily modified by Simon and Diana as a result of their exposure to Forerunner technology. Incorporating elements of Forerunner, the drones can mimic the heat signatures and density of an organic being in order to fool electronic sensors as well as the naked eye. The highly mobile drones have become one of Simon’s most frequently used deceptions, keeping his opponents off-balance in combat and even making people believe they are speaking with Simon himself when they are in fact conversing with nothing but light and sound.

Quotes
"Spartans are all inhuman monsters, but at least the rest of those bastards have a purpose. Everything I've ever believed in has been ripped away, one right after the other. There's nothing left for me now, just survival. But nothing I do can ever change the fact that I'll never stop being a Spartan. So if I'm just a monster without a purpose, what does that make me? Some kind of dog? Or something even worse?"

- Simon-G294

"You dumb piece of shit. When it comes to living with disgrace I wrote the book. There's not a damn thing a loser like you could ever teach me. When you fight somebody, either you kill them or they kill you, there's no goddamn in between. Now I'm sick of all your pissing and moaning, so why don't you just shut the hell up and get over it!"

- Simon-G294 to Blake Mordaunt

"I'll defy them by living free."

- Simon-G294

"I'm a shadow, one that no light will ever shine on. As long as you follow me, you'll never see the dawn."

- Simon-G294 to Tuka 'Refum

"I hate my job."

- Simon-G294

"Damn it, I'm hungry..."

- Simon-G294

Notable Articles

 * Arthur Onegin
 * Bombing of Philadelphia
 * Cassandra-G006
 * Chancer V
 * Diana
 * Gavin Dunn
 * Juno
 * Tobias Lensky
 * Zoey Hunsinger


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Literary Appearances

 * The Onyx Chronicles: The Stumble (short story)
 * The Onyx Chronicles: A Rainy Day (short story)
 * The Onyx Chronicles: Raid (short story)
 * Halo: Ocean's Shadow
 * Digital Shadow, Armored Ghost (short story)
 * Halo: Taking a Chance
 * The Girl From the Hangar (short story)
 * Hammer Fall (RP, alternate timeline)
 * Halo: Avenger's Quest (alternate timeline)
 * Halo: Indelible Past (alternate timeline)
 * }

Behind the Scenes

 * Simon was Actene's first character on Halo Fanon
 * The name "Simon" was taken from The Lord of the Flies which Actene was reading at the time of this article's creation. Simon-G294 bearsno resemblance to the boy from the novel.
 * A growing list of tropes associated with this character can be found here.