User:Saberstorm/Nova-020

Early Childhood
"I grew up on the streets. That was hell."

Unlike most of the Spartan recruits, Sara was born on Earth. Orphaned at an early age, she lived on the streets before being conscripted. She has a juvinile record, an impressive IQ, a strong sence of morals, and an anti-authority streek.

The SPARTAN II Program
"How could you do this to us? Are we lab rats to you?" "Would you rather it was someone else, someone who doesn't care about your wellfare?"

Sara was one of the last Spartans to befriend 117 John, usually standing to the side and observing the others. She constantly fought with guards and instructors, sometimes ending up in solitary confinement five times a month. She was also the first to figure out some of the darker truths to the program, including the fact that they were flash cloned to hide their absence from the rest of Humanity. Confronting Dr. Hasley, Sara discovered that much of the SPARTAN II Program was orchestrated by ONI, including the abductions and cloning. She only shared her distrust for the Office of Naval Inteligence with John, who shared her misgivings, but also stated that as Spartans, they would have the knowlege and power to make a difference. While he had not chosen the life he now had, he couldn't walk away from it and live with himself. Sara agreed and they kept their suspisions about ONI to themselves.

During a training mission on Reach, Sara went missing for 3 days. While scouting out a cave for shelter for the other Spartans, the ground caved in beneath her and she ended up in a section of buried Forerunner ruins. Inside she found a what appeared to be a crystalized husk of some sort of insect. What she actually found was a Forerunner Extrasensory Infiltrator, a biotech device the Forerunner's used to eavesdrop on the Flood conciousness centuries before during their war with the parasite. Because she was human, the device recognized her as a 'Reclaimer' and activated at her touch, burrowing into her skin and molding itself to the top of her spine in the back of her skull. She told Dr. Hasley about the encounter, but no scans or exams were able to locate the well hidden device. Sara was released back into the program with a clean bill of health and never noticed anything different, aside from an occasional buzzing in her ears.

It's rumored that she struck ONI Colonel James Ackerson once, ending up in the brig for months before Dr. Hasley was able to convince an ONI Flag Admiral overseeing the Spartan II Program to have the charges revoked and Sara released. Due to his rivalry with Colonel Ackerson, the Flag Admiral did so, earning Sara's begrudging respect. He would loose all respect in her eyes during the Augmentations.

Augmentations
"Sara! What's wrong?"

"I can hear them, Dr. Hasley! I can hear you! I can hear your thoughts! Make it stop! It hurts!"

During the augmentation process, Ackerson secretly sabatoged the sugeries on Sara's nervous system that were meant to increase her reflexes. An unintentional shock nearly killed her, but doctors were able to revive her before she died. Comotose for a week, Dr. Hasley was visiting when when Sara woke up panicing. The direct shock to her nervous system had done far more than damage her nervous system, it had also caused the Forerunner biotech in her body to malfunction. Her reflexes were crippled to nearly half that of a normal human, she was suffering from both types of color synesthesia, and she could hear the thoughts of those arond her. Dr. Hasley tried to trace the sabatoge back to Ackerson, but he had covered his tracks.

Eventually, the synesthesia faded, but Sara's telepathy remained. Unable to control her new ability, she unintentionally found out that the same ONI Flag Admiral that saved her from the brig hoped to use the Spartans to escalate tensions between the Colonies and the UNSC, causing a Civil War and furthering his own political agenda. She tried to expose him, but he was able to disolve her charges and have her declared insane. Slated to be sent to a hospital on Earth -- in reality, she was being sent to her secret execution -- she was saved by John, who risked his life and his future career to smuggle her on a cargo ship bound for Harvest. With her gone, ONI had her listed as KIA. After Harvest was glassed, John blamed himself for sending her to her death, and swore to never let it happen again if he could help it.

Capture at Harvest
"This heretic is unique. We must be ready for others like her, therefore, we must study her. Bring her to us, alive."

In reality, Sara had not died on Harvest. Fighting against the Covenant as a maverik, Sara refined her new telepathic abilities in the heat of battle, attacking Covenant troops mentally as well as firing any weapon she could find. Eventually, the Covenant connected her presence with several 'Grenade-happy Grunt' incidents, and the Prophet of Regret ordered that she be captured for study. On the Covenant carrier Wrath of the Prophets, she tricked Grunts into sabatoging the ship, causing it to fall out of Slipspace and crash on a Halo Installation. Stranded and unable to call for help, the Covenant were forced to fight against her on the ring world, unintentionally unleashing the Flood.

Infected
"We are life. You cannot escape us."

"You are a false life, enslaved to your desires, unable to see your true potential. I can do nothing more than pity your futile existance."

When the Flood were first released, they were weak minded and Sara was able to manipulate them, using them as a weapon against the Covenant. In their ferral stage, the only thing the Flood would think about was 'Food', allowing her to manipulate them by suggesting that the Covenant were food and she was not. This turned out to work against her as the Flood grew stronger, eventually starting to form a Proto-Gravemind and turning against her. Infected, Sara was forced to fight an intense mental battle against the Flood that lasted several months. As she battled against them internally, she also continued to seek out and destroy every Flood form she could find. To early in its development to start making Pure Forms, the Proto-Gravemind was unable to stop her from slowly destroying any Flood biomass capable of sustaining the Flood intelect. Needing some sort of mental anchor, the focus of the Flood mind shifted to her, the only surviving Flood host.

The Antis'Grafen Hive Collective
"I am the victim who will never find justice, the evidence of corruption, the corpse that never dies... I am the monument of your sins... You have wronged me; I am the evidence of your crimes... and yet... I forgive you, always."

Forever marked by the scars and deformations of infection, Sara was initially sickened by the idea that the Flood now relied on her to survive. That horror disolved as she realized she had unintentionally jump started their next stage of evolution. No longer parasites, the small group formed the Antis'Grafen Hive Collective, surviving and thriving on photosynthetics (artificial photosynthisis). Even more surprising was the change in their mentality. Each sporelike Hatchling or bipedal Adult (Infection and Tank forms respectively) was their own individual, but they were all mentally connected to each other through Sara, their Queen. Under her guidence and leadership, they began to develop wepons and bioships based on various marine lifeforms. They pushed back the Sentinals, making the Halo Installation their home.

The Dreadnaught
"We've been locked in a stalemate for 20 years, John. I know I'm asking a lot, but you and Cortana are our one chance at tipping the scales in our favor and saving Earth."

Eventually, Sara ended up meeting her old foe once again. The same ONI officer who tried to have her killed in the past reappeared with a fleet of UNSC Insurrectionists and Deserters that he had been slowly building since he had been removed from power and the Covenant began glassing worlds. Raiding the nearby planet for materials, they managed to gain the aid of the Sentinals to build a massive Dreadnaught to be used against the Covenant and the UNSC. Thinking they could use Halo as a power sourse, the Insurrectionists were forced into a stalemate by the Hive for years until a half of a UNSC starship entered the system. Recovering the Master Chief and Cortana from the wreck, Sara was reunited with her old friend and teammate and was able to obtain his help in destroying the Dreadnaught. In return, she helped him and Cortana back to Earth, and also helped Cortana become the first metastable AI in the UNSC.

Quest for the Grail
"We are immune to the Flood. Let us even the odds."

Sara hoped to keep her existance and that of the Hive secret, but the remains of the Covenant forced them to the fore. Taking a leaf out of her book, the Covenant began puposfully seeding UNSC and Elite worlds and colonies with Flood spores. Immune to infection, the Hive quickly took over the front lines against the Flood. After finding the metastable -- and sarcastic -- Forrunner Monitor 543 Humble Matrix, the Hive, the Elites, and the UNSC learned that the Flood outbreak was a distraction while the Covenant searched for the Grail, an incomplete Forrunner Artifact that could fine tune the signal of the Halo Array to target individual species. Allied together, the three groups raced against time to find the Grail before the Covenant, and barely succeeded.

Tier 0?
"It's your choice, Sara. Whatever you choose, I'll support you."

"It is better for one race to die and save all the others, than for us to sacrifice all life in exchange for our existance."

Deciding to end the Flood threat once and for all, Sara and the Hive chose unanimously to use the Grail to destroy the Flood, knowing full well that the Grail might not be able to seperate the Hive's evolved state from that of the Flood. After the Array was fired and the Flood destroyed, Cortana, the Master Chief, 543 Humble Matrix, Sara, and the Hive vanished. Some said that the Hive died with the Flood, while others claimed to have seen Hive bioships in deep space. Furthermore, two observations by 534 Humble Matrix suggest they survived:

-- "Ever since I became metastable, I began to wonder if perhaps the Flood were perhaps simply on the threshold of becoming a powerful new sentient species similar to Percusors, Forrunners, and Humans, and here I see the evidence before me!" --

-- "Cortana, I am concerned." "About what, Matrix?" "Your friend, the Chief. I fear his feelings for the one called Sara will be his undoing. She and the Hive are evolving at an accelerated rate. The only thing preventing them from reaching the same Tier as my creators or the Percusors is the fact that they are small in number. I fear he cannot follow her where she will undoubtably eventually tread." "Then we go with them, Matrix. They need our help now more than ever." "Agreed." --

Did the Hive and the others asend to Transsentience? We may never know, but sightings of Hive vessels have become omens of good luck to any spacefaring race that knows their history.

Dr. Halsey
"She's becoming a problem."

"Which is why she stays."

- Dr. Hasley defends her possition on ignoring Sara's insubordinate attitude.

The relationship between Sara and Dr. Hasley was strained at best. Sara often felt that Dr. Hasley was too compliant with ONI in regard to the SPARTAN Program. Sara does begrudgingly admit that the older woman's hands were tied more often than not, but still felt that more could have been done. Dr. Hasley was one of the few reasons why Sara never dared try to sabatoge and expose the Program, even though she actually had a plan that would have worked had she implimented it.

Master Chief Sierra 117 John
"So, Chief... what's going on between you and Sara?"

"Nothing."

"So how come the tendrils coming out her wrist wrap up your arm every time you hold her hand?"

"..."

"Chief? Is that your heart rate going up? Are you blushing?"

"Cortana..."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

- Cortana teases John over his secret feelings for Sara.

The boy who would later become the Master Chief and unofficial leader of all the Spartans was the main reason why Sara never exposed the SPARTAN Program. Though she was the last to befriend him, her outside observations allowed her more insight and understanding as to who he was. He also never teased her nor reprimanded her for her constant stints to the brig. Though attracted to him, she never revealed her feelings to him until the night he smuggled her to Harvest, fearing that others would use her attraction to him against her. The next time she met him she was the Queen of the Antis'Grafen Hive, and feared that his past experience with the Flood would turn him against her. While initially suspicious, John was quick to accept the reality that she was -- contrary to what he previously believed -- alive. The two of them spearheaded the search for the Grail, during which he revealed that he returned her feelings. Though they never had a chance to truly become romantically involved before the Grail was activated, he stayed by her side till the very end. Those that believe the Hive asended to Tier 0 also say that John's love for Sara allowed him to asend with her, even though he wasn't a member of the Hive. Others say that it doesn't matter whether the Hive survived or not, but that whatever happened, John refused to believe that staying with Sara was beyond his reach, and that he's still out there looking for her and the Hive.

UNSC AI Cortana
"I can't overcome Rampancy! That's Impossible!"

"Excuse me? If I can override the Flood mind and jump start their evolution then you, Cortana, can as sure as hell beat Rampancy."

- Cortana tries to convince Sara to shut her down.

To Sara, Cortana was like the long-lost sister she never knew. Both of them found they had a great deal in common, among them being similar experiences with the Flood, and a certain liking for a certain Spartan. While Cortana's feelings for John were more that of brother-sister, her knowledge of the undeclared and often denied feelings between Sara and John were a source of constant teasing Cortana directed to the pair on a constant basis. Sara also helped Cortana through Rampancy, telling the AI that it was not a matter of 'if' or 'when', but a matter of 'want'. Simply put, if Cortana didn't want to go Rampant, then she could -- and most likely would -- beat it. Though Cortana did allow herself to go Rampant for a short amount of time in order to destroy the Insurrectionist Dreadnaught, she took Sara's advice and managed to beat Rampancy through sheer force of will. Cortana's fate since the activation of the Grail is unknown.

Forrunner Monitor 543 Humble Matrix
"I must be dead."

"Why's that?"

"I specifically remember my Forrunner Creators saying that the Flood would stop being parisites when hell freezes over, and this planet is far too cold to be heaven."

- 543 Humble Matrix being his usual, sarcastic self spouting off some dry humor.

543 Humble Matrix was estatic when he was found by the Hive, having long believed that the Flood were simply an underevolved species that the Forrunners encountered far too early. Acting as their guide, he was pivitol to helping Sara, John, and Cortana in locating the Grail. He also tried to ensure that the Grail would target only the Flood and not the Hive, but admitted to his own uncertanty as to whether or not he was successful. Though sarcastic, Matrix quickly took a liking to the trio, forming a unique and special friendship. 543 Humble Matrix vanished after the activation of the Grail.

The Hive
"Are you afraid of dying, Sara?"

"Every time one of them falls, I die all over again, and I don't mean that metaphorically."

- Sara explains the parasitic/symbiotic bond between her and the Hive.

Though many UNSC marines thought that Sara was the ultimate supersoldier, they quickly learned how wrong that assumtion was. Having literally replaced the Gravemind for a small group of Flood, Sara was pivitol to their continued existance as a seperate species. Much like how the Flood tried to rebuild Gravemind on the Ark, the Hive would refuse to allow Sara to die. Whenever she was fatally wounded, they would shift their focus into retrieving and regenerating her body to revive her. This is because without her, they would revert back to their basic instincts as Flood, becoming parasites once more. This did not mean Sara was immortal either. Far from it in fact. She was the Achillies Heal to the Hive.

Even more painful was that many aspects of the bond were only one way. While Keepers could relieve some of the strain of maintaining the Hive mental communications off of her, every time a Hive member was wounded or died, she would feel it as if it had happened to her. This put her in constant agony during long battles, leaving her more vunerable as time wore on, and causing the Hive to be less effective. More than once she would end up unconcious in an infirmery, unable to handle the pain, but also unable to escape it.

Pre-Infection
Sara was born with desert-colored skin, blue eyes and rusty brown hair. There was very little to distinguish her from the other Spartans, other than the fact that living on the streets helped her adapt to millitary routine quicker. Living on the streets also left her with nearly two dozen promenant scars. Her anti-authority streak would cause that number to raise to 60, two of them being gunshot wounds.

Post-Infection
"You think I don't look that bad? I look like a living corpse!"

- Sara's description of herself, post-infection. While she managed to retain her humanoid form after infection, the Flood managed to do a number on her physically. Every Spartan augmentation was further enhanced by the Flood Genome, and some of her organs - such as her liver - and muscle mass was replaced entirely. Her skin gained a greenish blush, her right eye became completely bloodshot. A whole quarter of her hair was lost, replaced by tendrils, and green streaks grew in what was left of her hair, a testement to her mutated genetics.

Bulging under her skin like veins are other Flood-like tendrils and mutations, some of which have breached her skin and are surrounded by scar tissue. The internal tentrils are more prominent on her back, where the rope-like mutations connect directly to her spine. Places her skin have been breached include spore-like mutations on her left shoulder, extending across her back, down the right side of her torso and hip, and ending halfway down her thigh. Sets of three tendrils extend from the mutated areas on her shoulder and thigh, as well as extruding from both wrists.