Van-497

Petty Officer Second Class Van-497 is a supercommando who hails from Project HERACLES. Born on Circumstance to an unknown family, Van is an brash and immature Spartan who is sadly among the norm for HERACLES. Despite being a subpar combatant with a poor sense of situational awareness, the young Spartan would earn his place as his squad's maritime combat expert and marksman, with his talents of manipulating others to do his bidding being wasted in this unit.

After graduating from training in, Van would serve in the final conflicts of the , working alongside Hellspartan Nicole-458 in numerous supersoldier teams. Fighting in the bloodbaths of, and finally the , Van would be one of a handful of HERACLES Spartans to survive the war. With the war over and the threat of rising daily, he would be permanently reassigned into SPARTAN-II Silver Team. Barely tolerated in his unit and out-competed by his new peers as a sharpshooter, Van would be retooled as the team's unofficial scout, with combat being a rare opportunity he now savoured. He continued doing this until, when while supporting his team during the Battle of New Belgrade he was accidentally hit by a rebel anti-tank round.