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- "All I've known is war, and that's all I'll ever know."
- ―Aylla-G021
Aylla-G021 is a Spartan III from Gamma Company, former member of Team Glaive, and current member of Fireteam Iblis. She would be among the many Spartan III's to serve in the Human Covenant War, the subsequent Post-War Conflicts, and the Created Crisis.
Background[]
Early Life[]
- "I wish something exciting would happen here once"
- ―Aylla Tamsen
Aylla was born on Halloran V to Amadeus Tamsen and Fatimah Tamsen in the outskirts of Madina Tamatim. Her family, as with may others on Halloran, were farmers, albeit unsuccessful ones. Aylla herself was one of three children the Tamsen's had, all of them equally loved by their parents. While growing up, Aylla often found herself thinking about space in particular, and what sorts of things were out there.
Having started school at age 5, she proved to be a mostly average student, quickly learning the basics in the few classes she had a chance to take. She gained a minor reputation for being rather quick to anger, beating another student who was bullying her twin brother to a near pulp. While she was scheduled for some form of anger management, this would ultimately never come to pass.
On July 10, 2546, a small Covenant fleet arrived on Halloran V, massacring most of the planet's population. What few survivors there were only escaped by through the sacrifice of Captain Fitzgerald's vessel and the subsequent operation to evacuate as much of the population as possible. In spite of this, significant portions of the population was left behind as the Covenant pressed the assault. Aylla herself would be evacuated via refugee ships offworld.
In its stead would come the endless nightmare she witnessed, the world around her literally melting as if it was made of wax. This would be the biggest memory she would retain of her family and Halloran itself, slowly but surely stamped out later in life.
Regardless, she ended up on one of many refugee ships, her family gone and her life destroyed in front of her. With no one to turn towards, she was simply left with many of the other orphaned children onboard the ship. Quickly establishing an unofficial pecking order among each other, Aylla's new trauma combined with her combative nature put her rather high on their totem pole, leaving few willing to start any troubles with her. This caught the attention of a mysterious woman, often looking at the children with a cigar in one hand and a lighter in the next.
One day, Aylla was asked by a mysterious woman to talk in private with her. The mysterious woman poked and prodded at her mind, ultimately asking her if she wished to avenge what had happened to her family. Without a moment of hesitation, Aylla responded with a yes and a tearful, hateful desire to rid the galaxy of the Covenant. A small, wicked smile left the other woman's face, soon disappearing alongside Aylla from the ship entirely, the young girl now enlisted into Gamma Company.
Becoming The Soldier Humanity Needed[]
- "Fuck no, you're gonna have to pay me extra to get back in there, not with that crazy fucking kid in there."
- ―Unknown Drill Instructor
On the world of Onyx, Aylla would go through the same motions as every other child dragged to Camp Curahee. Slowly but surely, she would be conditioned into one of hundreds of warriors, every step along the way filled with plenty of pain and stress from the strict, almost self destructive nature of the training inflicted upon them.
As said training progressed into various wargames and physical exercises, she was noted for her unusually aggressive, yet calm demeanour, remaining calm even as she was forced far beyond her limits. However, after one particular incident, it was revealed that once sufficiently pushed into a hopeless situation, she would react with a far more animalistic, vicious nature. After nearly mauling a DI during a training exercise that required multiple stitches and therapeutic support, some arguing ensued over whether should immediately be terminated from further service. Ultimately they would come to the conclusion that in many simulated missions against Covenant forces, the ability to inflict casualties and possible morale loss on enemy forces in an otherwise hopeless situation might ultimately come to the benefit of other Spartans in an operation, at the potential expense of her own life. Aylla would nonetheless receive several additional classes and medication to keep that destructive mindset in check.
During both training sessions and in her own spare time, Aylla showed a strange affinity with explosives, often capable of building several crude IED's and grenades with whatever she could find. This would cause another reprimanding after she proceeded to accidentally incinerate Camp Curahee's mess hall through a forgotten incendiary IED detonated at midnight through accidental detonation, causing no casualties but resulting in several bruises dealt to Aylla shortly afterwards by several disgruntled Gammas who were now left with only basic rations to eat for three weeks. Instead of pressing the threat of termination, she would instead be granted further explosives training to both further her skill and ensure that she wouldn't proceed to harm any other trainees through negligence.
It was also during training that Aylla met Mike-G008, future sniper of Team Glaive. Their first real encounter went poorly, neither Spartan particularly synergizing their skills well together. Indeed, by their second week of working together, both had come to blows, unintentionally making those very hostilities slowly fade away. By the end of their fight, both came to initially begrudgingly respect eachother, and soon began to synchronize their skills together. This combined effort proved so effective that after multiple successful games against both DIs and other Gammas, they became something of an inseparable duo, complementing one another's strengths and weaknesses rather tightly.
Battle of Mars[]
- "I met one of the Spartans there, called herself Aylla, she was awfully quiet when we weren't shooting at covies, not that I minded, something about her seemed like she just wanted to rip something's skull out of its body. "
- ―- Irene Blake
Aylla's career during the Human Covenant War would begin, and subsequently end, at the Battle of Mars. Part of the ONI diversion, Team Glaive, alongside other Spartan teams, would ensure that a Covenant battle group would remain tied down on the planet and fail to regroup with Truth's own fleet. On top of that, Glaive also had the additional order to search for Colonel Ackerson under the order of Admiral Parangosky, considering him a high value asset under threat of death or capture in Covenant hands.
Their diversion would prove successful, as the Jiralhanae forces beneath would find themselves tangled with UNSC Army forces, of which portions were conscripted from the local population, as well as their supporting Spartan teams.
By contrast, Glaive's hunt for Ackerson would prove fruitless, the Colonel having seemingly disappeared. Fearing the worst, Parangosky nearly ordered them to abandon Mars entirely, preparing to exfiltrate them with Prowler support back to Earth as part of a boarding operation against the suspected vessel housing him. The sudden attack on Cleveland and reinforcements from more Covenant Loyalists, as well as the arrival of another Destroyer to Mars, would ultimately end those plans, however.
In the blood and violence of the conflict below, Team Glaive, as well as what few surviving elements of the UNSC Army battalions remained, stood their ground for several bloody days. Maintaining only minimal damage and scavenging enough supplies to remain battle ready, the Covenant would only step up their offensive in return, ravaging much of Mars in the process, much of the attackers' strength whittled down by sheer attrition.
It was here that her friendship with Mike was further solidified as well, as they often worked together to kill particularly tough Jiralhanae forces, her explosives often dealing with whatever his sniper rifle couldn't.
However, before too long, the Covenant forces, having already outnumbered the Army ten to one, found themselves at a violent and bloody skirmish to try and wipe out what few remained, the tactics and skills of the survivors causing untold casualties on the Jiralhanae forces. Aylla's explosives training in particular would come in handy during the final days of the conflict, wreaking havoc on the final Covenant push.
By the time reinforcements, a mixture of Separatist and UNSC forces, could finally relieve the defenders, their numbers were all but decimated. A mere platoon sized group of fifty, as well as a few Spartans, would survive the bloodbath that became the Battle of Mars. When bullets ran out, bayonets were mounted and knives thrust into the hearts of the Brutes, all in a wild effort to survive the carnage of the red planet.
Aylla herself in the thick of it as she was nearly felled by multiple shots making their mark, the combination of her vicious actions and their sheer determination routing and destroying most of the Brutes by the time most of Glaive was at death's door, the final resting place of many of the fallen being one of the final battles of the Covenant war to be waged.
End of the War[]
Aylla however, would suffer several severe injuries as a result of the fighting on Mars. Thus, she immediately spent most of the aftermath on-board the UNSC vessel Therapia, sent to treat broken ribs and a now completely burst spleen. Various other internal organs suffered enough damage to require their cloning and subsequent replacement shortly after. However, her extremities remained intact, and did not require replacement besides the mending of a few dislocated bones. With the war now over, she grew contemplative, if outright depressed, at the notion of a world without a war left for her to fight.
Mike had fared slightly better physically, but would find himself in a medically induced coma, leaving her alone for the time being. She would never admit to anyone, but she had feared that he would never wake up again from his current state. This contributed further to her growing depression and anxiety, and did not go unnoticed by the person who would soon become her new handler.
Integration and Operation KINGMAKER[]
Now without a Team of her own, Aylla would be integrated into the SIV program once she was finally considered physically capable to return to service. Despite this, she would ultimately be kept away from the majority of the force, instead shuffled off for other ONI operations to keep the nature of Gamma Company secret.
Upon realization that the dead Spartans of Glaive would be forgotten under this action, Aylla's depression only spiraled further, the deaths of those she fought alongside to be forgotten, their sacrifices buried by those that made them. Only the heavy protests by the 'Lucky 50', the surviving Army soldiers of the battle, ensured that the Spartans that had fallen there would receive the recognition they deserved, as well as the construction of the Hidden Wall would prove to Aylla that humanity as a whole was worth defending, maintaining her loyalty even as she grew to detest the very organizations that turned her into what she became.
Onboard a ONI Prowler, she would soon find herself attached to a handler by the name of Hoxworth, an ONI agent with a long and storied record during the war. Focused primarily on making sure she was an effective soldier, and also a functional enough human being, Hoxworth immediately made sure that Aylla would receive as much psychiatric care as she needed, even if it ultimately boiled down to adding an additional antidepressant to her smoothers and making sure she'd recieve some therapeutic talk onboard the prowler.
Alongside Hoxworth, she would also meet Boudicca, a Spartan II that had been assigned towards a slowly developing joint operation between the Office of Naval Intelligence and Separatist forces loyal to Thel 'Vadam. They would be the first three members of Fireteam Iblis.
One of her initial deployments afterwards was to the beleaguered planet of Wako, now contested heavily between the newly established Swords of Sangheilios and significant Jiralhanae and Kig-Yar forces still loyal to the Prophets. Placed in the newly created Fireteam Iblis, they would provide covert support for the forces of Sangheili General Zakl 'Lunjasee, ultimately resulting in victory for the young General.
Fighting on Wako was significantly less claustrophobic and hopeless, though no less chaotic, for Aylla. Combat now commonly took place past 300 meters, compared to the snubnosed brawls of Mars, placing a greater emphasis on her marksman skills. She would witness several atrocities across the planet, including the infamous Massacre of Varan Keep.
KINGMAKER, the initially top secret UNSC operation built around ensuring the military success of the Swords of Sanghelios against Covenant loyalists as well as ensuring that Thel 'Vadam would remain its overall ruler, would bring Aylla far closer than she initially liked to the Sangheili, her general distrust of all Covenant bringing her to at best coldly receive them. Only the notion of fighting Brutes and keeping quite far from most of the local Sangheili forces on their first assignment kept her from disliking the assignment further.
OPERATION: LINEBACKER[]
(TBH)
A New Insurrection[]
Aylla would soon adopt Noble armor after the near total breakdown of her armor following the end of LINEBACKER
Personality and Traits[]
- "It's not worth getting to know me, just look at it that way."
- ―Aylla-G021
Aylla was usually quiet, often with a grim demeanor. She rarely opens up about herself, only really letting those she trusts outright earn that privilege.
Aylla began to develop a seemingly fatalistic approach to life, believing that she would die in combat at some point before the war was over. As a result, this transpired in her seeming disregard for her own safety, often taking risky or highly dangerous decisions during combat. Despite her disregard for her own life, she highly valued the lives of others around her, often taking the utmost care in making sure that they survive. However, this fatalism would also easily become a fatal flaw, as Aylla would suffer from a low self-esteem for most of her early life, believing that she herself was worth little in comparison to that for which she fought.
Aylla has a burning hatred for the Covenant, Brutes in particular, born from the death of her family and the subsequent loss of Joachim at Mars. As a result, she often finds it easy to engage them, thinking of them as little more than beasts that must be stomped to defend the less powerful. This hatred continued well into her later years, though interaction with the Sangheili, in particular during peacekeeping missions, led to her gaining a begrudging respect for them, even if she still found much of their culture to be backwards.
In spite of her self-destructive nature, Aylla nonetheless held a few curious trinkets and desires in her life. Her most temporary 'trinkets' are usually any number of explosives, built in increasingly effective ways out of mundane or exotic materials scavenged from wherever possible. Initially starting off as crude firecrackers, Aylla would soon put together explosive ordinance that could flip over a Scorpion and cause serious damage with the right components.
More permanently, she kept Joachim's combat knife as a memento, always keeping it holstered as a last resort weapon. Maintained and slightly rebuilt with a newer, stronger blade after Mars, she would use it heavily in more close quarters environments, often stained with the blood of many Covenant warriors after certain operations.
Trivia[]
- Unbeknownst to Aylla, she was briefly considered to become a Headhunter, especially after the IED incident, but ultimately this was decided against.