    
The majority of B042's service was marked by tragedy, loss, and ultimately failure. Tenures spent alongside his company team, a MJOLNIR equipped CAT-II squad, as part of a Headhunter unit, among the ranks of a clandestine ONI kill team, and in command of his own fireteam all ended with the near if not complete eradication of all members beyond himself. Having bloodied his hands terribly in the name of humanity and revenge in equal measure, it would take the shattering of the galaxy during the Created Crisis and the events of Stray's War to put him on a path beyond simple self destruction. In the time after his involuntary exile, Callum would be established as the acting commanding officer for the numerous Delta Company Spartans at the Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science, thus implictly tasked with ensuring they would grow into something better than himself. Career Service Vitae[]
Biography[]
Early Life[]Prior to the Covenant attack in 2537, Callum lived a normal life on the outer colony Eirene. Born to farmers the boy was the only child for most of his normal life, with his younger brother being born mere months before the Covenant invasion. As a child he was unremarkable, preforming no feats that truly set him apart from his peers aside from historical knowledge. In every aspect, the young Callum Owens was seemingly anything but Spartan material. Often struggling with social situations, not for lack of trying as children largely found his demeanor annoying or awkward, the boy often kept to himself or a small group. However, the child remained kindhearted and dedicated to the idea of simply being 'good'. Such aspirations would mean little in the fall of 2537 when Covenant forces arrived over Eirene.   Callum (seen bottom right), with other children playing King of the Hill on Eirene. Like many children across human colonies, when the aliens came, he lost everything. Both of his parents would be killed by Covenant infantry during their attempts to evacuate, leaving Callum all but catatonic as he clutched his infant brother. Only the intervention and sacrifice of a pair of troopers from the local garrison would save him from death as the two doubled back to rescue the boys, costing both their lives in the end. Packed onto an evacuation transport for nearly three weeks, the boys ended up in an orphanage on New Constantinople. Almost instantly his brother was taken away, adopted by another refugee who had lost her children in the attack and had nursed the infant for the weeks that followed. Losing his brother would leave Callum distraught, and the boy would isolate himself from the world around him as best as he could. Around the orphanage Callum was met with equal parts disdain and acceptance, the former coming from orphanage staff who saw him and the other children as little more than more mouths to feed, and the latter from his fellow traumatized orphans who all quickly learned it was better to stick together. Frequently Callum would give up bits of his own meals to children whom were sick, and taking beatings in place of those who might not have been able to withstand it. Despite his perceived unimportance, the four-year-old's genetic makeup was of great interest to certain parties within the Office of Naval Intellegence. With the loosened parameters of the SPARTAN-III program, Callum was an ideal candidate for the second company of expendable Spartans. Approached by an ONI recruiter two months after arriving in the orphanage, the boy was offered a chance at revenge against the Covenant. Without so much as a moment’s hesitation the boy accepted the man’s offer, eager to make the Covenant pay for what it had taken from him. Training[]
Whisked away from the orphanage and into a cryotube, Callum awoke from the cold sleep surrounded by hundreds of other children, all of them packed onto Pelican dropships and flown down to the planet known as Onyx. After they were all gathered together, a man, identifying himself as Lieutenant Commander Ambrose, came before them and gave them a speech about how they had volunteered to fight the Covenant, offered them a chance to leave, and then promptly began the first of many tests to come over the following years. Loaded back into the dropships, each of the children were given an oddly bulky backpack, which they were then strapped into and told the nature of. They were parachutes, and if the children wished to stay and have the chance to fight back against the Covenant, they were going to have to jump. Many were hesitant, Callum was not. They boy, now being referred to by the large bellowing men as Trainee B042, had dreamed of joining the infamous ODSTs before his home was glassed, he aspired to be like those heroes, and that wouldn’t be possible with a fear of heights. In one of the few times he would stand out in early training, Callum jumped first into the cold Onyx night. After landing, B042 and all others who found the courage to jump were given a meal and sent to the barracks of the massive training facility. The children mingled amongst themselves, exchanging names, and their stories of how they’d ended up here, and who they had lost to the alien scourge. As the children discovered, all of their stories were more or less the same, and they were all here for the same reason; revenge. Over the next few days the children were began the grueling training regimen that they would endure for the next six years, and Callum found himself either dragging behind or somewhere in the middle of his peers in terms of his ability to keep up. As time went on this would change, with B042 working his way into the middle of the pack in PT, however not without consequences. From the very day after training began, B042 attracted the ire of one Abraham-B138. Abraham was a massive child with an ego, both fast, strong, smart, and incredibly arrogant. When Callum fell behind during one of the runs on the first day, B138 singled him out as a target. Throughout the next several years, B042 was routinely beaten, humiliated, and teased by the larger child whom met all B042’s attempts to stand up to him with brutal retaliation. However, once teams were assigned this lessened, but it was not halted completely by any means.   Fireteam Bravo on their first night together as a team. From left to right (in the foreground): Callum, Abdul, Deiter, and Marcella B042 was assigned to Fireteam Bravo, which consisted of three other children: Deiter-B204, Marcella-B029, and Abdul-B213. Instantly Callum became the black sheep, not due to dislike of him, but rather his tendency to mess up seemingly menial tasks, despite this the team never once retaliated against him in anything other than verbal reprimanding and even that was a rare occurrence. As the Spartan trainees progressed, their training began to incorporate more and more combat exercises. As predicted by Ambrose and the head DI Franklin Mendez, B042 lagged behind his team, dragging them down in the rankings. Callum was perhaps harder on himself than any of the Drill Instructors or other trainees, and was on the edge of giving up until the day the children began training for close quarters. It began when Deiter, whom had rose to become Bravo’s de facto leader, pushed Callum to try the close quarters exercise they were participating in one final time. Urged by his leader to try push on and reassured by his team, B042 proceeded to best the next two opponents he would face before finally being beaten. As hand-to-hand combat exercises became more intense and close-quarters drills became more frequent, for once in his short life Callum began to show promise. However, all was not well. Abraham, who had only become more menacing over the years also showed remarkable talent in close quarters, had renewed his efforts against the smaller boy. Once again B138 began to humiliate and harass Callum in full force. While Abraham and most other trainees adopted more graceful and acrobatic fighting styles, B042 would come to adopt a more brutal approach that oddly worked well for him in spite of his more frail build, as against B138 any attempts to match him in his own fighting style ended disastrously. But with each defeat, Callum only learned more. Thanks to the discovery of his “hidden” talent, Callum finally filled a niche within Bravo. Like all of the teams, each member of Bravo filled a certain role: Deiter lead and was their rifleman, Marcella became the expert on explosives and guerilla warfare, Abdul found a gift for long range warfare, and Callum filled the gap with close quarters. Despite the good fortune of the boy becoming competent, there were unintended consequences. Callum gained an unsavory reputation among most of Beta, mostly kept in hushed whispers after his brutal beating of Danica-B263. B263, a close friend of Abraham as well as harboring a crush on him, became the first, and by far most brutalized individual in Callum’s vendetta against B138. When in a routine sparring match, B042 bested B263, but instead of halting his attack, persisted with greater ferocity, eventually having to be pried off of the girl. While B042 was disciplined, the incident was largely disregarded as it was well known Danica routinely had tormented B042 to impress B138, but it was quite clear the assault and numerous other beatings and cruel pranks were orchestrated by Callum to hurt those close to B138, since Callum could not beat him, yet.   Fireteam Bravo following a failed training exercise. In 2545, after years of training, Beta Company was finally underwent augmentations, and arose from the procedures as Spartans. Bravo, along with the rest of the company were given time to acclimate to their now enhanced bodies before being put into a series of competitions prior to their deployment. In team based combat exercises, Bravo faired averagely as usual, losing to Fireteam Yankee after the latter executed a brilliant ambush. Surprisingly Bravo as a whole fared extremely well during the hand-to-hand competitions, most surprising of all was B042’s performance. Despite taking a beating Callum managed to win several rounds against the other Beta’s however he eventually came up against Abraham-B138 to settle the two’s long overdue grudge match. The fight began with Abraham taking the upper hand, relentlessly striking the other Spartan and evading his strikes with ease all whilst verbally harassing B042. However, as B138 became cocky, he became more brutal in his attacks, and sloppier. In doing so he made two errors which B042 would exploit fully, for one his sloppiness allowed B042 plenty of opportunities to finally land several hits, but more importantly, he began to fight Callum in B042’s own, more brutal style, which the target of B138’s harassment had far more experience. Batting away a lazy uppercut, Callum retaliated with a brutality only years of pent up anger could produce. Quickly B042 drove Abraham to the mat and proceeded to beat the other soldier unconscious and was stopped just short of causing serious injury by Chief Mendez himself. The entire company was still taken aback at Callum’s display of brutality, Bravo included, and though he was shortly eliminated by one SPARTAN-B312 the following round, he had distinguished himself as the stronger Spartan, and completed the vendetta he’d harbored for so long. Days later, Beta would ship out from Onyx to engage in whatever operations ONI deemed necessary of them.
Operation: CARTWHEEL[]
Briefly after the completion of the completion, Beta Company was assembled to raid a Covenant facility on a remote moon. Eager for their first taste of combat, all of Beta, Callum included were on edge. The soldiers could see the parallels to the fateful mission of their predecessors, and were determined to not the same mistakes.   Bravo prior to the operation. Deploying via SOIEV, Beta Company would catch the Covenant by surprise. Callum himself landed slightly off course, placing him a kilometer away from the rest of his team. Armed with an MA5K and a M90 CAWS the SPARTAN made his way towards his comrades, clinging to the foliage and keeping himself focused on moving forward rather than butchering the grunt and jackal patrols. Upon reaching his team, they were remarkably surprised their friend had stayed his hand and Deiter commended him for doing so. Moving with his team they made their way to one of the many Covenant communication relays around the central depot. The majority of Beta would storm the depot, while several fireteams including Bravo were assigned to strike the Covenant’s communications and sever their ability to call for help. As the moon's depot was crucial to the Covenant war effort, the Spartans knew that even with the ability to call for help taken away, their alien foes would take notice of their base suddenly going silent, and as such they would need to move quickly with a single well-coordinated attack. With the importance of the task at hand weighing down on him, Callum was notably stressed, but maintained his composure. When the time came and the signal was given, Bravo launched their strike. Abdul cut down the snipers that would’ve halted their advance, Marcella moved to and destroyed the ghosts and revenant which offered means of escape, Deiter ran as a distraction to draw out the majority of the defense garrison, and as the garrison moved to strike the Spartan, B042 would retreat. Opening up with a barrage from his carbine the Spartan III made short work of the grunt infantry and an Elite Minor before being forced into cover as the garrison shifted its attention towards him, only for Abdul and Deiter to utilize the diversion to tear into the aliens. Quickly storming the entrance of the structure alongside Marcella, Callum and his teammate laid into the remainder of the defensive force. B042, after running out of ammunition for his carbine and despite Deiter’s commands, drew his M90 and began to advance further. Blowing chunks of alien across the interior of the facility, B042 began to indulge his anger, and subsequently was hit by plasma rifle fire from one of four Elites who happened to be inspecting the outpost at the time of their attack. Dragged into cover and berated by his team, Callum was consumed with shame and was hampered by his humiliation. As the firefight prolonged due to the skill of the Ultra leading the Sangheili’s tactical prowess, a blast of plasma destroyed Callum’s shotgun, and a grenade wounded Abdul and Marcella. Now panicking, Callum made a gamble and rushed the aliens collecting Abdul's combat knife before drawing his own in addition to his sidearm. First eliminating the elite minor with his M6, Callum would then bring both blades to bear in order to draw the Ultra into single combat, utilizing his lessons on the saurian's culture to good effect.   Finally in the field, Callum began to fully come into his own as a warrior. Though unable to best the hardened Covenant veteran in hand-to-hand combat, and suffering a deep gash along his chest for his efforts, Callum was able to hold his foe's attention. Capitalizing on the distraction, Dieter would execute their assialant with a series of bursts from his battle rifle. Despite the risk of such an impulsive move which Deiter relentlessly reprimanded him for, Bravo commended their formerly weak link for his skill. In the aftermath of the operation, the story of his actions would be one of the more popular ones passed around the young Spartans. The praise brought validation and seeming acceptance from most all of Beta Company, which B042 had craved more than anything since he could remember. While being treated for his injuries, he was surprised that Deiter made a point of visiting him as well as Abdul and Marcella, not sleeping while they were being treated, and sleeping on the floor near their cots once the team was placed together. He refused to abandon Bravo in its entirety, something which B042 had convinced himself would not be true for him personally out of insecurity. Genuinely surprised, and for the first time he could remember since the loss of his home, happy, Callum’s will to preserve the team was amplified tenfold. Finally, he felt he wasn’t an outsider.
Operation: TORPEDO[]
Later on in 2545, Callum and all others of his company were called together and briefed on their next assignment, a daring raid on the Covenant refineries on Pegasi Delta. The mission was to overload the reactors and destroy the shipyards. As the company split off for their individual fire team assignments, Bravo found themselves as one of the several teams tasked with placing the EMP charges on the reactor. B042 was well aware the assignment was one of the most dangerous in the mission, and that casualties were expected. Aboard the All Under Heaven Callum and Bravo would spend their time going over their objectives, and do their best to reassure one another. Deiter would do his best to rouse the team, and would largely succeed, though B042 harbored doubts about his capability to do his part. When deployment time came, the company would load into their pods without incident. For the six hours following, Bravo and the rest of the company would be confined to the pod with nothing but their own thoughts as they neared their target. As they exited the slipspace rupture and entered the atmosphere the Covenant opened up with anti-aircraft fire.   Beta Company would fight fiercely in spite of mounting casualties as more and more Covenant forces arrived Upon landing conflict instantly found B042, who was barely able to blow the door on his pod before coming under fire. Taking cover, Callum would utilize the Semi-Powered Infiltration armor’s camouflage systems to flank the patrol of jackals and grunts then tear into them with a barrage of gunfire. Rallying up with Bravo and the rest of Beta Company, Callum charged the facility. When Seraph fighters screamed overhead, Callum watched helplessly as dozens of his brethren were annihilated in an instant, but there was no time to process the loss as the tide of Spartans slammed into the facility. Bravo quickly took up position alongside Fireteam Kilo. For several minutes the Spartan exchanged fire with the Covenant forces, spraying wildly at the aliens and felling several. The battle was heavily in Beta's favor until multiple Covenant warships uncloaked. Within seconds the Omega Three order followed, and retreat was ordered. With the enemy surrounding them, choices were made. Bravo, Foxtrot, and Golf entered the facility to destroy the generators. As the teams rushed in, Callum would watch three members of Kilo be gunned down within seconds. With the teams splitting up Bravo neared their target alone, Callum tearing through several Sangheili and numerous other Covenant soldiers who attempted to intercept the team within the narrow confines of the facility. Arriving at the generator, Marcella would attempt to plant the EMP charge, only for her arms to be incinerated, and her torso scorched as they were bathed in plasma as a stupidly brazen grunt fired a fuel rod cannon within the generator area. As Deiter scrambled towards his subordinate a volley of plasma would tear through the screaming Marcella, silencing the young soldier. Suddenly a trio of Elites were converging on the team, and an enraged Callum sprinted towards them with Abdul in tow whilst Deiter moved to reactivate the charge, firing off round after round from his sniper rifle which the Elites seemed to evade with ease, and as the gap between the two groups closed, Callum engaged his foes. Instead of blowing through the trio as he was used to, B042 would find himself incredibly outmatched, barely landing a blow as an energy sword cleaved through his chestplate and he was tossed aside and Abdul was beheaded after a short scuffle. Further angered, B042 tackled one of the three as they neared Deiter, each attempting to mimic a human smile as the closed in on what they perceived to be the last of their prey. As he took the one to the ground, Callum managed to bury his knife in its throat, only to be hurled off of the Elite once again. Quickly scooping up Abdul's fallen combat knife B042 charged again, bounding over the fallen enemy and rushing to aid Deiter who was trying in vain to hold his own against the duo of experienced warriors. Joining his leader in the vicious melee, a signal indicated that Foxtrot had successfully planted their charge, which prompted B204 to shove Callum out of the fight and urge him to flee. Defiant as ever, Callum refused and made to rejoin Deiter in the last brawl of Bravo, but as Deiter was impaled he would freeze up. With all his comrades dead, Callum felt the same since of dread he'd felt as a child on Eirene, and in his fear, turned and ran as ordered, tearfully cursing to himself as Deiter was beheaded. Rushing towards the sea, plasma bolt after plasma bolt struck B042 in the back, the intensive pain nothing compared to the fear propelling him forward. Reaching the cliff over the ocean, B042 diveded into the sea, the immense blast washing over the surface as the mangled Spartan made his escape. Desperately shedding his armor and swimming towards the extraction point, the pain of his extensive injuries finally hit him as he dragged himself onto the sandy beach, Abdul's knife still in hand. B042 ended up collapsing from the exhaustion and trauma, and had Kyle-B115 not found him, he likely would have died along with the others. B115 moved Callum onto a nearby CALYPSO along with several other survivors, and shortly thereafter B042 slipped into unconsciousness.
Rehabilitation and Operation: LONG WAY GONE[]Thanks to the serious nature of Callum’s injuries, including but not limited to a number of plasma burns, fractured and broken bones, deep lacerations, and severe contusions, the young Spartan was kept unconscious for nearly a month in a medically induced coma. Medical personnel were baffled as to how he had managed to swim the distance he had with such injuries, and his survival period, but despite an initially grim prognosis, Callum would begin to recover. When he finally was roused, Callum almost instantly began to suffer from a psychological breakdown. Survivors’ guilt compounded the massive shock of the outcome of the operation, and evaluators feared that in the end he would need to be chalked up another loss and left to Commander Ambrose as they had with Lucy-B091. However, a young Beta-5 officer, under the codename MAGICIAN would, after a deal of convincing, be allowed to converse with the traumatized supersoldier alone. Rather than lambast Callum with drivel and attempts at clinically addressing the issue, the ONI Agent instead presented the situation to Callum as it pertained to his future. Two paths lay ahead of him, one took him back to Onyx where he would train the next generation of Spartans so that they too could throw themselves into battle to protect humankind as Beta Company had, or he could return to the field and fight to prevent the need for such a deployment from ever arising. Of course, nothing Callum could feasibly accomplish would forestall the Covenant onslaught enough to do such a thing, but in his vulnerable state, the Spartan took the proposition to heart. And, with a reminder that he had yet another family to avenge upon the alien hegemony, Callum agreed to return to the field. Though it would take another week to see him approved for deployment in the field, and another month for his injuries to fully heal, Callum was eventually released and assigned to none other than MAGICIAN himself. Though the enigmatic officer had petitioned for Callum to be equipped with a set of MJOLNIR, or at least an upgraded suit of SPI as were issued to Headhunters, however, both requests were denied. MAGICIAN had been entrusted with a Spartan, but one that his superiors did not believe would be worth an investment beyond what had already been spent thanks to Callum’s roughly average company ranking. Nevertheless, MAGICIAN made plans for Callum’s first operation, whilst the Spartan busied himself with continued rehabilitation and rather extensive personalization of his newly issued set of SPI armor. Though Callum found the activity therapeutic, the aesthetic he had chosen for himself, including the addition of ‘teeth’ on his visor, mimicking aircraft nose art, betrayed the underlying rashness and anger within the young commando. Having been trained extensively to operate in a team environment as a result of Beta Company’s altered training doctrine, in addition to being comparatively underequipped for a single Spartan operator, MAGICIAN made the choice to embed B042 within an existing special forces unit. The 36th Space Assault Battalion under Colonel Aparajita Thakkar, more commonly called the Void Vultures, were the first and only option available to him.   The 36th Space Assault Battalion had seen action against the Covenant nearly 30 times by 2546. Being veteran Space Assault ODSTs, the battalion was less than enthused with the introduction of a single Spartan, who by their estimates could’ve been no older than eighteen. Having long since learned the lessons of Operation SILENT STORM, Callum’s records were thankfully fabricated with a deal more believability, and the fact he was only 13 would remain a secret. However, the unit’s disdain for him would not be so well hidden. Already embittered toward Callum as a result of the brewing rivalry between ODST and Spartan, his apparent age, and MAGICIAN’s insistence he be given command of his own fireteam despite a distinct lack of leadership experience, their first deployment together would only further cement the unit’s distaste for him. Dubbed Operation LONG WAY GONE, the 36th would be split into multiple elements during the orbital defense of Sargasso. Though Spartan assets were already groundside, the deployment of Callum and a platoon of the Vultures under Lieutenant Grisham Aberdeen to the orbital station Columbo was deemed crucial enough to justify his deployment in the field, which had been deemed a last resort by Colonel Thakkar. The Columbo, though advertised as orbital retreat for the board and shareholders of the Gideon-Zhang Corporation, was in fact an ONI black site. The Gideon-Zhang corporation was, in truth, entirely fictitious, and rather than boasting numerous amenities for relaxation, the station instead held not only several nuclear warheads, scores of prisoners both human and alien, but also a large amount of incredibly vital intelligence ranging from scouting reports to potential targets for precision strikes. Normally such sites evacuations, transfer of data, and purging would be carried out by the personnel stationed there, however, one of the captives held, a brute, had somehow managed to ingest a device of some sort which allowed his pack to locate him in the system using the signal emitted. Thus, a strike force of vengeful, bloodthirsty Jiralhanae had boarded the station and all but eradicated the site’s personnel to the last. Tasked with the destruction of the station, and if possible, the recovery of several assets, the Spartan and ODST platoon inserted into the station via dropship. Entering into what had been the facility’s holding cells, the platoon found more carnage than resistance. Leading the breach despite the insistence of the platoon’s lieutenant, Callum would make quick work of the grunts who had lingered behind to feast on the corpses of humans both prisoner and personnel alike.   Callum breaching the station. Traversal of the station was largely the same, with little hostile contact until the platoon, now split into multiple squads, began nearing the bridge. As they grew closer, the presence of hostels did also, with more and more brutes engaging the human forces and inflicting more casualties with each encounter. In bitter corridor to corridor fighting, the platoon was cut down to only ten troopers by the time they had fought their way to the access point to the bridge. Taking a less obvious entry point than the primary doors, which the pack of brutes were laying siege too, the survivors were alarmed to find a number of survivors within the bridge, as no response had come from any attempts to make contact, even more, alarming was when one of the Columbo’s crew shot and killed Lieutenant Aberdeen having believed him to be a Covenant intruder. In the subsequent chaos, the surviving humans nearly engaged one another in spite of Callum’s efforts, and it was only the news that the brutes were on the verge of breaching which reconciled them. Working quickly to purge the systems of the station, all notions of asset recovery were thrown aside, and destruction of the facility would require external action as well, as the self-destruct function of the station had been damaged, and thus could only detonate immediately. Though orders demanded the use of the self-destruct regardless, MAGICIAN was able to see the command rescinded through the use of nothing short of outright blackmail of his own commanding officer, refusing to lose his Spartan asset on such a trivial operation. As the purge completed, the brutes breached the command bridge and set upon the assembled humans. Against direct orders from MAGICIAN and the remaining Vultures, Callum directly engaged the brute’s chieftain, intent on exacting the revenge he had been promised, and protecting the surviving station personnel. Rather than triumph, the young Spartan, still subconsciously reliant on a team of fellow supersoldiers to assist in the effort of killing such a foe, was soundly beaten. Grievously injured, Callum would’ve died had the Vultures, content to leave him to his chosen fate, not been forced to intervene. In the ensuing firefight, the ODSTs were slaughtered to the last, with the last three surviving personnel of the Columbo being left with the task of carrying the Spartan to the evacuation point. Once safely away, a nearby pair of frigates would destroy the Columbo, and the brutes aboard with it. Colonel Thrakkar, furious with MAGICIAN for leading to the deaths of her men in the defense of an overeager Spartan, conspired with the slighted commander of MAGICIAN himself in order to strip the agent of his prized Spartan, and in the end, succeeded. When informed that Callum was to be transferred out from his command, MAGICIAN again resorted to underhanded tactics, securing his hold over B042 at least temporarily by volunteering the still recovering Spartan for an experimental procedure on Onyx itself. However, in doing so he would all but cement Callum’s removal from his command in the aftermath, burning numerous bridges within the office in his efforts to maintain his hold on a Spartan of his own. Testbed[]Returning ‘home’ to Onyx, Callum would be greeted by Lieutenant Commander Ambrose, who had dug through several layers of classification to discover his survival. Before telling him the details, Kurt urged Callum to take several days to rest and see Gamma Company train as well as meet several members. During his time back on the world he’d been trained, he did his best to reconnect with the other members of Beta Company on Onyx, trying to reconnect with the others who had managed to escape the massacre. Brushing off the fact ONI had informed him he was the only survivor as typical of the organization, Callum attempted to find some peace. Reconciling with his fellow TORPEDO survivors on world, Tom and Lucy, the Spartan would at least somewhat ease his mind's troubles. Both B292 and B091 were relieved to see another survivor and the trio were quick to catch up. Callum was also greeted by another familiar face, Aspen-B145, who had opted out of augmentations and taken up a position instructing the future medics among Gamma Company. For a short period he would help Tom and Lucy in training Gamma, instructing many trainees including his younger brother, though both were oblivious to their relation. Callum provided valuable insight into solo operations and how to adapt after so long in a team-oriented environment.   Returning to Onyx was bittersweet at best, but overall beneficial to B042. After one week’s time, Section III was eager to have their operative returned to them. Knowing they would have Callum back out in the field within days and away from the safety of Onyx, Ambrose finally made his request to B042. Ambrose planned to add compound 009762-OO, which would alter augmentee’s brains in the frontal lobe, increasing their injury tolerance, strength, endurance, and most importantly aggression within the SPARTANs. But the substance was illegal, and Kurt was unsure about using the drug without already having tested it on SPARTANs. Before the SPARTAN-II could finish explaining Callum volunteered to undergo the procedure, returning once again to the UNSC Hopeful above Onyx. With none other than Aspen-B145 at the head of the procedure Callum was injected with the experimental drugs by a fellow Beta. In the aftermath B042 would run through a series of tests under Aspen’s supervision which all had nominal results and Callum assured both Kurt and B145 that he would routinely have them updated on his condition. Saying his goodbyes to the only family he had left, Callum departed the birthplace of the SPARTAN-III program and returned to his Section III handlers, ready to once again to join the fray and bring death to the Covenant. Operation: LYNCH MOB[]Operation: LYNCH MOB marked the beginning of a new chapter in Callum’s life. With the formation of numerous SpecWarCom SPARTAN teams Section III began to take interest in the teams activities. Callum was attached to one such team, FEUDAL, as an ONI liaison. Joining the team en route to their next mission, the Section III operative did his best to integrate into the team with little luck. With the exception of Hastings-B206, whom Callum had befriended in training, FEUDAL regarded the ONI attaché with disdain, feeling he was present to see if they were up to par and therefore insinuating they were not at present. The operation they were to undertake was to be Callum’s first counter-insurgency operation, the likes of which the rest of FEUDAL had been carrying out for the entirety of their careers. Frustrated with their unwelcome newcomer’s lack of experience in the field, FEUDAL 1, Dan-A010 would begrudgingly attempt to explain how operations like this required a more delicate approach than the missions he’d been supposedly tasked with prior.   The raid marked the end of Mamore's most recent insurrection. Heading towards the Insurrectionist hub of Mamore the team would finish what Alpha Company had started nearly a decade prior, and finish off the crippled rebel movement on the world. Deployed by a stolen freighter, the team were all clad in SPI due to the nature of the mission rather than their MJOLNIR Mark IV, Callum excluded as he was not issued anything other than the semi-powered armor. The second dock workers opened up the hold of the vessel, Callum moved to incapacitate them only to see them cut down by his new teammates. Angered by the taking of innocent lives, Hastings explained to Callum that if word got out of a UNSC Special Forces presence on the planet during the UNSC’s relief effort, the outrage could potentially spark more conflict. Though upset by the idea, Callum understood. Moving through the shipyard the team made quick work of any who crossed their path as they worked their way to the offices of port. In a blur of speed and lethality FEUDAL tore through the building’s armed defenders which included several child soldiers, one of whom was Callum’s first human kill and would have a deep impact on the young SPARTAN. As they cleared the building’s first floor, one insurrectionist managed to get the drop on the team and made to sound the alarm and potentially doom the team, but an astoundingly quick reaction accomplished thanks to additional augmentation by Callum eliminated the threat. At this point, FEUDAL became open to the idea of Callum not being a completely bad person to have on the team. Proceeding through the base, the team eliminated the rebel presence entirely after acquiring the location of the surviving leadership elements of the now splintered rebel groups on the world. With Eric-B298 providing a scapegoat in the form of a borderline artistic use of explosives, the team pushed the already high tensions between the surviving rebel groups over the edge. In the massive infighting that occurred in the wake, ONI marked off the world, considering its rebel presence destroyed and the image of the insurrectionist on world destroyed due to the brutal results of said infighting. ONI was wrong, but this would not be seen until the days and months after the end of the devastating Human-Covenant war. Callum, though still on the outside looking in with FEUDAL, was no longer actively disliked by the team who began to take what he said with some measure of belief, accepting that he was not with them for any reason regarding their skill. However in the weeks that followed, his skills would become crucial to the team’s success as the Beta Company SPARTANs of the team would finally be granted what they’d longed so deeply for, action against the Covenant, and vengeance.
Paris IV[]In 2549 the UNSC fortress world Paris IV was besieged by the Covenant. Numerous SPARTAN assets were deployed to the world, ranging from SpecWarCom SPARTAN teams to legendary SPARTAN-II teams, one such instance of the former was FEUDAL team. Given a quick briefing, the team was assigned to defend one of the planet’s many UNSC bases, Fort Patton. Though the team was supposed to report to an ONI operative to receive information packets to refresh the team on fighting the Covenant after years of counter-insurgent, however the team failed to show, they’d been preparing for this moment for a long time with the exception of Dan, Tanya, and Callum. Gearing up within the armory of the Athens-Class Carrier Hornet, Callum along with the others prepared for war. Even A010, A116, and B042 had only seen action against the Covenant in a special operations role, this would be the first time any of them had been in a total-war scenario. Callum equipped himself with a notably heavier armament than prior deployments, taking a MA5B assault rifle with an under-slung grenade launcher, an M45 tactical shotgun, a pair of M7 SMGs, and for the first time equipped himself with a combat machete that he would make use of for the rest of the war. Once armed and ready the supersoldiers boarded a pelican and launched alongside the rest of the carriers dropship squadron. Inside the ‘blood tray’ of the dropship Callum and the rest of FEUDAL went over their mission in an attempt to distract themselves from the chaos outside the vessel. As their pelican and the other craft in the unit rushed towards the surface, two squadrons of Covenant fighters moved to intercept them. In a matter of seconds the Seraphs and Banshees were on the group, tearing through the transports downing five in their first pass. In the wake of the destruction the pilot of their pelican, ensign James Fitzpatrick made a dangerous move; as the hostiles came around for another pass the rookie pilot broke formation. Rolling out of the flight group and narrowly avoiding a collision with a banshee, the transport sped towards the surface as the remainder of the flight was cut to shreds. Breaking through the atmosphere the pilot’s quick thinking had saved them from death. Landing at Patton the SPARTANs reported to Major Thomas Wright who held command over the Army forces stationed there. With Dan quickly being filled in on the situation the team leader dived his forces, with himself, Eric, and Tanya taking up positions at the front gate, Hastings guarding Tomas as he got the perimeter defense turrets online, and Callum escorting Abigail as she laid into the Covenant from long range. With Callum taking point the two SPARTANs moved to high ground roughly half a kilometer from the base and set up a position. While B400 readied the SRS-99AM that she’d taken in addition to her usual loadout, Callum established a perimeter. For over an hour all was quiet, and command was on the verge of reassigning FEUDAL when a full lance began their assault on Patton. Suddenly swarmed by Covenant forces Abigail did her best to prioritize targets, but the weight of the moment, finally being able to exact revenge, sent the Beta on a killing spree where she began killing the aliens without distinction and in process signaled her location to the Covenant. The lance’s commander deployed several jackal snipers who would suppress the SIII while the Sangheili ultra personally led a team to eliminate the demon. However, the Covenant warrior was not aware of B042’s presence. As the alien squad rose up towards Abigail’s position an explosive was shot into the center of the formation, blowing apart the weaker members of the contingent. With the help of his armor’s active camouflage systems Callum had successfully flanked the attack group and now laid into them with his MA5B. Butchering the aliens with a hail of automatic gunfire Callum killed off all but the ultra, who rushed towards Callum with energy sword drawn. With his assault rifle empty B042 tossed aside the rifle momentarily and attempted to cut down the Elite with an SMG, but the warrior had already closed the gap. Forced into hand-to-hand combat Callum and the ultra duked it out for far longer than even the zealots he’d encountered during TORPEDO had. The difference between the crimson armored aliens and the white one he faced now was that the latter had fought a demon before. Exchanging blows the experienced Sangheili and SPARTAN fought relentlessly, however the odds were clearly tipped in the Elite’s favor.   B042 inside the base A quick jab of an energy dagger to the abdomen gave the alien an advantage to press, and press it he did. Slashing Callum across the torso with his sword the Elite forced the boy onto his back and moved in for the kill. However, once again the increased reflexes from his additional augmentations saved Callum, allowing him to draw the M45 from his back and pump a shell into the ultra’s now unshielded abdomen. As the warrior staggered back, Abigail finished it off with a shot to the head, and the two SPARTANs fell into retreat. With FEUDAL regrouping at the main entrance, Abigail and B042 quickly joined the others in holding the line. For the next four hours, the SPARTAN team held the area alone. At nearly ten o’clock in the evening the assault finally ended and the SPARTAN team was allowed to rest, or in Callum’s case, receive medical intensive treatment. Over the next week FEUDAL would participate in a variety of small skirmishes and large battles, notably spearheading the failed UNSC assault on the Covenant landing site, but inflicting massive casualties on the alien forces. Callum personally would develop an affinity for dual wielding larger weapons, notably his MA5B with a plasma repeater, putting the gifts of each to great use. Operation: SCREAMING EAGLE[]It was only on their seventh day of fighting the team received an official new assignment in the form of Operation: SCREAMING EAGLE, a nighttime drop behind Covenant lines with the goal of cutting the enemy’s supply lines. Paired with Army Airborne units the SIIIs equipped themselves with the already familiar drop gear, and deployed under the cover of night. Landing under fire alongside several paratroopers B042 was directly engaged by a pair of Hunters. Despite his effort B042 was unable to dispatch the hunters before they had killed four of the Army Special Forces operators, all but one of whom had been to busy trying to get out of their parachutes to fight back. After killing the titanic aliens Callum joined up with the nearby Tanya-A116 the two SPARTANs set up a rendezvous point and awaited the arrival of the rest if FEUDAL. While they waited it became evident that unlike the rest of FEUDAL was still not accepting of Callum’s presence, and still saw him as nothing more than an ONI spook. Despite the hostile attitude from A116 and B042’s response in the form of biting sarcasm, the two worked extremely well together as they mowed down Covenant forces who attempted to storm them as the rest of the team joined them. Once rallied, Daniel took command of the SPARTANs and led them towards the Covenant supply line. Periodically dispatching members of the team to separate from the main group and rally with squads of Army Airborne, then bringing them back, A010 increased his numbers from seven to roughly thirty five.   Callum during SCREAMING EAGLE With the now bolstered force the soldiers launched a guerrilla assault on the supply lines. Ambushing convoys and lacing the path with explosives the UNSC troops inflicted massive damage despite the fact that out of the 1000 Army Airborne troops deployed, only twenty eight survived the first night due to poor planning of the drop. Eventually however their dwindling numbers caught up to them as a series of Covenant counter-strikes cut down the Army operators, eventually claiming the lives of all of them without exception. With only themselves remaining, FEUDAL was recalled by command and were evacuated via UH-144 ‘Falcon’ and returned to the UNSC’s staging ground. Before the SPARTANs could rest they were once again thrown into the fray, tasked with defending the staging area while command elements intermixed with the wounded evacuated (with the exception of some officers who refused to leave until the mainline troops had as well). Engaging in grueling combat the team and all other defenders were forced into close quarters. B042 and B206 cut a bloody swathe through the alien horde, preforming astoundingly well as a pair as they fought until their weapons and those scavenged from the Covenant ran out of ammunition before relying solely on their blades. Despite the both of them sustaining serious injuries, both Callum and Hastings survived the three hours of continuous combat even as exhausted army troopers began to break down. On Daniel's command FEUDAL made their retreat, covering the defense force's rear as they all boarded evacuation transports and fled the now burning world after a nearly month long siege. At long last the Beta's of FEUDAL who'd craved Covenant blood had gotten it, as well as numerous injuries, as had the rest of the team. Callum personally would suffer four broken ribs, seven first degree burns, a broken ankle, a broken wrist, and innumerable sprains, pulled muscles and lacerations. Gamma Pavonis VII[]
In late 2549 the colony of Gamma Pavonis VII became the site of FEUDAL’s next deployment. For the six base members of the team, Pavonis would be a testing ground as all members were outfitted with early MJOLNIR Mark V, however Callum, who was not an exact match of Halsey’s parameters was not given such a suit, and was left in only his SPI. While the battle above the colony raged, with future heroes such as Miranda Keyes coming into the spotlight, below the colony burned in the wake of a rapid Covenant attack. Deployed via HEV, the NavSpecWar team was tasked with destruction of the data banks of the planet’s capital city in accordance with the Cole Protocol, the only issue was that the Covenant had an iron grip on the area. Tasked with a simple torch and burn op, FEUDAL packed light on weaponry, taking only small sidearms. They would regret this decision mere seconds after deployment. Upon landing Callum found himself in the middle of an intersection and came under heavy fire. Unwisely, Callum continued to fight conventionally against the Covenant, despite the innumerable injuries he had sustained in the past. Killing several with his MA5K, Callum was heavily injured when a jackal sniper shot him through the abdomen with a beam rifle. Collapsing in the street, B042 fought in vain to hold off Covenant forces, downing several more of the hegemony’s troops before they closed in on him. However, the timely intervention of an assorted group of UNSC personnel who’d been left behind saved Callum’s life, the soldiers mowing down the aliens while they were distracted by the injured demon. Remaining silent as the other humans crowded around, Callum treated his injury with biofoam to the best of his abilities and made contact with Daniel and provided his location and current condition. Despite some brief berating, Daniel and the rest of FEUDAL moved to Callum’s position. Recovering their teammate and the miscellaneous troops, Daniel sidelined Callum for the remainder of the mission. Left in a relatively undamaged building along with Abigail and the troops, B042 would sit in silence as he reevaluated his combat strategy. For an hour he remained in the building as with the others, however the mission clock hit an hour and thirty minutes, Daniel requested back up from Abigail, and despite her insistence to the contrary, Callum too came. Progressing through the Covenant-infested streets, Callum took a different approach. Hiding, striking, and re-positioning, the young SPARTAN utilized his knack for guerrilla warfare and ambushes. Twenty minutes after being called, the two Beta Spartans arrived at the rest of the team’s location. Fading into invisibility with the help of the photo-reactive panels of his armor, Callum and Abigail launched their attack on the Covenant forces who were pinning the rest of their team in the data storage facility. In the ensuing conflict Callum racked up numerous Covenant kills, however in the closing stages, a combination of his additional chemical augments paired with his own blind rage against the Covenant resulted in another injury, this time the form of an energy dagger, several inches into his ribs, and millimeters from his heart. As his body caught up to him and the adrenaline faded, Callum did what any SPARTAN would do; he pulled the dagger out, filled the wound with foam, and kept going. After destroying the data, FEUDAL was extracted from the city. Once out of system, Callum and Tomas began to modify B042’s SPI armor, the first order of business being the addition of several systems, seals, oxygen supplies, and an environmental suite to allow for EVA activity. Operation:DYNAMO[]Phase One[]In early 2550 as the Covenant poured into the middle and inner colonies the infamous Prowler Corps discovered choke point in the Covenant supply lines. Within the now destroyed outer colonies lay a gas giant known simply as GB-348 which had been simply passed over in humanity's rapid expansion, however the Covenant found 348 to be the perfect location for a supply junction. Seventy-five percent on the Covenant war machine's supplies passed through this junction, to cripple it would strike a blow against the Covenant the likes of which hadn't been seen since TORPEDO. As fate would have it, one of the three Spartan teams selected for the operation was FEUDAL. Having deployed several more times since Gamma Pavonis alongside the team, Callum had become fully integrated into the team dynamic, and as such, the thought of losing them all to another suicide mission caused B042 massive amounts of stress. Put on board a Prowler, FEUDAL and the three other teams shipped out to Minab with the objective of commandeering a Covenant vessel. However, upon boarding their assigned targets, Covenant 'Demon Hunters' revealed themselves to be lying in wait aboard the vessel. Outnumbered and caught in a trap, each SPARTAN team dug in and prepared for a fight.   FEUDAL closes in on their target Fighting intensely in close quarters, FEUDAL managed to fend off their ambushers. Both Callum and Hastings took full advantage of the tight halls to dispatch their supposed matches in close quarters, working in near perfect sync. With their respective ships taken, and the initial ambush foiled, the SPARTAN teams were met with the second face of the Covenant ambush. Almost instantly, the ships housing FEUDAL team, and the three man unit under Nathaniel-A143 came under fire, the third ship however was not fired upon. Thanks to a miscommunication between the Covenant forces, the third team was assumed dead and the ship was not fired upon. This presented the team with one, small chance to escape annihilation and continue the mission, a chance they took. Boarding the corvette housing the now three strong team who identified themselves as "Sage Team", the SPARTANs then made the jump towards Covenant space, the UNSC Pale Horse in tow. Once the jump was made, Callum made an effort to familiarize himself with the battered team, being all too familiar with the feeling of loss. The leader, who identified as Orson-426, appeared drastically younger, even younger than the SIIIs when they'd entered the field, and were in fact clad a twisted amalgamation of ODST and SPI armor. Fascinated and sympathetic, Callum was rebuffed as Orson put up a figurative wall; refusing to shed light on his origin. In fact he found out shockingly little aside from his name. The boy was disturbingly collected in B042's opinion who saw the lack of grief inhuman. Phase Two[]As the teams reached their destination, it became quite clear to all involved, including B042 that they were pushing their luck if an attempt was made to simply board and clear the station themselves. Conspiring with Nathaniel-A143, leader of Victor-Four, the two SPARTANs came up with a plan. Utilizing the AI Bradley to fool the Covenant and be granted permission to dock, the ship entered position and as it neared its docking point, opened fire and accelerated into the station. In the ensuing chaos, FEUDAL and the other teams entered the station via phantom. Dividing up once again, Sage and Victor-Four took the HAVOK nuclear device, while FEUDAL held off the brunt of the Covenant force. Bounding forward, once again B042 and B206 engaged the Covenant in brutal close quarters combat. Utilizing the SPI armor’s chameleon systems, B042 managed to get far closer to Covenant forces while Hastings kept them at bay. Once close, Callum made heavy use of his M45 tactical shotgun and blades. All progressed well up until a pair of Hunter’s entered the fray. After Erik-B298’s shield’s failed due to a fault in the prototype Mark V, a fuel rod blast detonated meters away, incinerating his right leg to the knee. Then, as Tomas moved to assist, providing cover by activating his prototype “drop shield” to provide cover. However the device failed, and merely dispersed the blast so that instead of suffering a direct hit, plasma instead washed over all of his body, causing severe burns in some areas. Acting quickly, Callum bolted forward, evading a strike from one of the hunter’s shields before sliding underneath it and cramming a grenade into its back. As it exploded its partner swung at B042, who ducked under the strike as a hail of bullets from an enraged Abigail’s battle rifle carved through the beasts back until it collapsed.   B042's combat style was ideal for the cramped corridors. Darting back towards his team, Callum bounded cover to cover, suppressing the oncoming Covenant forces with his MA5K. Despite several close calls the Spartan avoided injury as he rushed to regroup with his team. As Dan opened up a line to Victor-Four, he was met with the grisly news that Sage team, with the exception of Orson had fallen, and that Sierra 426 was remaining behind to detonate the nuke. As FEUDAL hauled back their wounded towards the hanger, they were intercepted by a team of zealots who cornered the Spartans. Attacking the crimson armored warriors with ferocity, Callum’s secondary augmentations kicked in providing the less armored III with the ability to hold his own against the Covenant’s best. During the ensuing brawl, Callum tackled a zealot to the ground after its shields were shattered with an overcharged burst from a plasma pistol courtesy of A010, and proceeded to stab it to death. However, not before the zealot sliced the B042’s supply of anti-psychotics, dubbed “smoothers” by the young Spartan. While at the present time, it was of little consequence as he bounded forward and continued battling the oncoming Covenant, during the trip back to UNSC space and the classified nature of his additional augmentations, it posed an issue. Continuing to fight with ferocity, Callum and Dan held back the Covenant forces as they and Victor-Four boarded a Phantom and rushed towards the prowler lying in wait for them. As the station exploded into a ball of fire behind them, FEUDAL finally was allowed to relax. However B042 was very much still on edge, secluding himself from the others, B042 instantly rushed for the cryo pods without warning and arousing suspicion from all involved. However, en route back to UNSC controlled space, B042 was woken and dosed with anti-psychotics by an unknown ONI agent, debriefed, and resupplied. Callum would remain out of cryo for the remainder of the trip, knowing full and well his actions at the close of the mention would certainly raise questions.
Reach[]
Operation: DEPTH CHARGE[]Battle at Szurdok Ridge[]Following his arrival in system, Callum was quickly sent to the surface of Reach to partake in defense efforts. Assigned to an element of the 19th Armored Division's 2nd Battalion, the Spartan Commando would join the unit as they mobilized to confront the Covenant invasion. As the engagement began the 2nd Battalion found themselves clashing with heavily entrenched Covenant infantry in addition to a pair Scarabs. B042 assisted the unit by entering and clearing out entrenched Covenant positions in close quarters combat, but as time went on the UNSC forces began to crumble as the marine element assigned to removing Covenant anti-aircraft positions was encountering stiff resistance which left the 2nd without air support.   B042 en route to the battle. Eventually Callum managed to board and destroy one of the Scarabs, but its partner pinned the Spartan down as the Covenant forces began to finish off the human infantry and vehicles. Soon Callum was surrounded and without a method of retreat, but unbeknownst to him the marine element had managed to eliminate the AA and reinforcements were speeding towards the 2nd. Seconds before the Scarab blasted Callum into nothing having finally knocked him out into the open, another Spartan intervened and deployed a drop shield to protect the two of them. Much to his surprise it was Hastings-B206 who informed Callum that after pulling some strings he was once again assigned to FEUDAL. Together with the rest of the team the Scarabs and Covenant infantry were quickly decimated and the 2nd avoided destruction.   The arrival of the Covenant supercarrier turned a decisive victory Pyrrhic. With little time for reunions, the team quickly were directed to eliminate one of the many Covenant Spires in the area. Taking the 2nd along with them FEUDAL made its way to the targeted Spire and began their assault. Seven Spartans along with the troops of the 2nd Battalion fought brutally through the defenders of the spire and destroyed the structure with high explosives rigged by a recovered Erik. However the victory was short lived, as a Covenant supercarrier uncloaked and in addition to destroying the UNSC Grafton, the vessel also managed to force the UNSC forces back despite the Covenant infantry being repelled. FEUDAL and the 2nd managed to retreat amidst a slew of air strikes and the utter chaos and return to UNSC controlled territory, despite the 2nd taking even more casualties in the process in the lengthy journey. Upon arriving back in friendly territory shortly after 0100 hours on August 14th, FEUDAL was assigned to another operation intended to destroy the Covenant ship mere hours later. Operation: UPPER CUT[]The brainchild of a fellow SPARTAN-III, Operation UPPER CUT saw FEUDAL Team split into three separate groups, one of three dubbed FEUDAL 1-1, and two of two, dubbed FEUDAL 1-2 and 1-3. Each was tasked with escorting pilots affiliated the highly classified Sabre Program to their respective launch sites. Callum was placed in FEUDAL 1-3 and deployed alongside Erik to Launch Site 4. Finding the site already under siege as they had suspected, the Spartans quickly sprung into action and began clearing a path up the shore for the pilot. Met with heavy resistance in the form of Covenant Drop troops, Seraph strafing runs, and additional troops being ferried in via Spirit Dropship. Utilizing explosives and suppressing fire from Erik to cut down the bulk of the alien infantry, Callum was able to acquire a flanking position and systematically eliminate the Covenant field commanders and any stragglers. In a span of about 10 minutes B042 and B298 brought down roughly two platoons of Covenant troops, and a Seraph fighter, providing the site's defenders with much needed relief.   Erik-B298 in the bowels of the facility. Once it was reported that some Covenant Elites had managed to breach the facility and were picking off troops one by one, the Spartans prepared to move in and flush out the warriors. However, several more Spirit dropships arrived, deploying troops and a Wraith. When B298 attempted to dispose of the tank with his M41, the weapon malfunctioned and was unable to fire. Acting on instinct, Callum jumped into action and managed to board the vehicle, killing the gunner and driver in short order, only to become embroiled an intense firefight with the counter-attacking Covenant troops. After some debate, Erik relented to B042's demands that he finish the mission and escort the pilot into the facility and kill any Sangheili who remained inside while he and the site's defense compliment held off the Covenant attack. As the Covenant forces continued to assault the site, the number of defenders began to dwindle while the Sabre continued to undergo the final preparations for launch. Using the SPI's stealth systems Callum kept the tide of enemies at bay, drawing them into the sights of the defending trooper's and their heavy ordinance, but despite the rising Covenant body count the alien menace continued its assault and killed more of the troopers with each successive wave. Just as the Sabre had launched, Covenant Seraphs launched a devastating bombing run, destroying the site's launch capabilities seconds too late to prevent the fighter's ascent. They did however, manage to cause significant casualties. As Erik lead survivors out of the now smoldering facility, Callum lead the push back down the beach to extraction, making full use of his Spartan abilities to eliminate several Jackal sniper teams in quick succession, killing one group in close quarters, then using their precision weaponry to kill the remaining unit.   Callum making his push back down the beachhead. Eventually B042 would make a stand near the extraction, fighting tooth and nail to prevent to Covenant from inflicting any more losses. Despite his efforts, the arrival of an additional Spirit's troop compliment nearly on top of B042's position would lead to the loss of several of the site's personnel, which Callum took exceptionally hard despite his ensuing brutal elimination of the unit exclusively with his knife and machete. Joined by Erik with the wounded that were able to be saved, FEUDAL 1-3 and the survivors were extracted from the launch site. Shortly thereafter, where in spite of the operation's success an entire Covenant fleet arrived, FEUDAL was mobilized for asset denial torch and burn operations, with the targets being a combination of civilian and military laboratories and data centers. Operation: SAVONAROLA[]Following the conclusion of UPPER CUT, FEUDAL regrouped and under orders from HIGHCOM were sent into Quezon in order to destroy several civilian research facilities which had been abandoned during the first attacks on the city. The research, containing the likes of navigational data as well as information of Forerunner sites had the potential to grant the Covenant a swift and brutal victory over humanity as a whole, a fact which all of FEUDAL was aware. Despite being exhausted from days of constant fighting, the Spartans inserted without incident under the cover of night with the team again divided into groups. Dan, Tomas, Tanya, and Callum himself took on the duty of leveling Gerion Industrial's facility, which as it turned out had been turned into a small Yanme'e hive. With the facility literally crawling with hostiles, the group were forced to move with caution and utter silence in fear of disturbing the hive. In the tight halls, B042's SPI and blade work were indispensable, serving as the most effective method of eliminating any wandering sentries without raising alarm.   FEUDAL's Falcon above a besieged Quezon. After nearly an hour of agonizingly slow infiltration, and numerous close calls, the Spartans managed to reach the facility's databanks, where Tomas promptly corrupted them with a virus of his own design. Unfortunately, doing so set off the building's security alarms, stirring the entire hive. Now caught in a frantic rush to escape, A010 maintained cohesion among the team and lead them through the swarm, personally shielding B042 with his own body to compensate for FEUDAL 7's inferior armor until the group managed to reach the 54th floor. From there, both Tanya and Callum provided covering fire whilst Tomas redirected a flight of F99's and Dan secured the team an extraction. Blowing out the window and jumping under fire to a waiting Falcon, the contingent of FEUDAL made a daring escape from Gerion's labs, getting clear of the building mere seconds before the Wombat drones reduced it to rubble. Even as they flew away, several drones attempted to board the Falcon, attempting to throw B042 among other to his death, however the close quarters expert made short work of the insectoids who managed to avoid the craft's machine guns.
Operation: SWORD 52[]
Quickly after SAVONAROLA, FEUDAL was re-tasked to assist with civilian evacuation in Quezon as most other teams on planet by that time. Deployed into the heart of the city, FEUDAL partook in vicious urban warfare over the course of five days. On the third day, B042 found himself cut off from the rest of the team and all other UNSC personnel inside the lobby of a skyscraper, along with a number of civilians. With the rest of FEUDAL either unable to leave their own position, or repelled when they attempted to reach Callum, FEUDAL 7 was forced to hold the building alone. Employing his guerilla warfare expertise, the Spartan fashioned a number of IED’s to compliment his dwindling supply of explosives and set a myriad of traps as well as making use of the tight spaces of the building for his brutal close quarters fighting style.   One of the many transports FEUDAL saw off. For several hours the building went unnoticed, however eventually a group of Kig-Yar would stumble onto the building while looking for a place to make camp and fell victim to one of Callum’s IEDs. The now alerted Covenant forces would attempt to storm the building, closing in on the panicked cries of the civilians. Instead of easy prey, the aliens found slaughter at the Spartan’s hand. For the next two hours B042 managed to fend off multiple incursions by groups of Jackals and Unggoy, slowly beginning to draw more and more unwanted attention to himself as the body count climbed higher. Thankfully, just as the Covenant began to mobilize armor to annihilate the building, Abigail and Tanya managed to break through the enemy ranks and evacuate the exhausted Spartan and terrified civilians. Even A116, who maintained a distaste for B042 despite the amount of time the Spartan had been with the team, was notably impressed that Callum managed to keep losses to a minimum. Two days afterwards, as the evacuation of non-combatants had mostly concluded and the beginning of military evacuation began, things took a sharp turn for the worst. Massive numbers of Covenant reinforcements arrived in Quezon, led by a vicious and skilled commander who began to systematically dismantle the UNSC’s defenses which had held fast over the past few days. FEUDAL collided directly with this commander, a Sangheili Field Marshal, at a major bridge leading directly to the primary evacuation sites. Despite the Spartan’s best efforts to hold the line, the Covenant forces quickly began to overtake them. In a desperate attempt to halt their advance, an injured Tomas-B400 broke ranks and attempted to detonate previously placed C12 charges for which remote detonation had proved impossible following Erik being injured and a large amount of his equipment being damaged. Despite his efforts, Tomas was only able to successfully detonate three of the charges before to the horror of FEUDAL, his sister Abigail in particular, he was killed by the Elite commander. The team, stifling their grief as best as they could, the Spartans continued to fight. In a horrifying display of skill and tactical genius, the Field Marshal was able to break through the UNSC line once again, personally ambushing Abigail and the injured Erik, killing both B401 and B298 while the rest of FEUDAL could only look on in horror. Soon after, as the UNSC line began to collapse, the Field Marshal and his entourage of Zealots fell upon Tanya-A116, and despite a fierce fight which claimed two of the Zealots, also fell to the blade of the Marshal. Increasingly distraught and enraged, Callum tore into whatever Covenant forces he could with unflinching brutality with Hastings close by his side. In spite of their pleas to go after the Elite, Daniel refused, ordering the Spartans to continue covering the retreat of the remainder of the UNSC forces to their transports. Begrudgingly the two followed their orders, the three Spartans holding out against the Covenant for a half hour before once again, the Field Marshal struck. Cornering Dan, A010 made his final order to his surviving subordinates, commanding them to fall back despite their defiance. This time however, the two refused to comply. As Daniel was promptly executed by the Field Marshal, the surviving two Spartans viciously engaged the Elites. Fueled by rage and grief, Callum managed to keep pace with Hastings in spite of his inferior armor, the experimental augmentations to his brain taking effect as B042 was repeatedly injured only for him to strike back harder. Practically tearing apart the remainder of the Zealot cadre, the two Spartans engaged the Field Marshal alone. Despite their numerical advantage, the two supersoldiers would find themselves on the losing end of the engagement. After Hastings managed to remove one of the Elite’s mandibles, it managed to kick away the Spartan and pounce onto B042, slashing deep into the Spartan from his stomach to his face. While not killed by the injury, even the additional augmentations struggled to keep Callum in the fight. Unwilling to see another one of his comrades die, Hastings shoved B042 into the streets below, knowing B042 would survive the drop and at least have a chance at survival. Seconds later, B206 would be killed by the Marshal as well, marking the death of FEUDAL Team’s last official member. In addition, Callum and Hasting’s refusal to comply with Daniel’s final orders would see the last of the UNSC personnel at the evacuation site to be slaughtered by Covenant forces. Hours would pass, and in spite of the efforts of the Field Marshal’s forces, they were unable to locate Callum in the decimated streets, leaving with the assumption that the ‘demon’ had simply crawled away to die.   Kilo 7-1, MAGICIAN's recovery team, searching for B042 in the streets. In actuality, B042 had simply been able to avoid the searchers, a level of fear he had not felt since TORPEDO driving him forward. With his grievous injuries, and the absence of all UNSC forces, Callum accepted that Quezon would be his grave, along with the rest of his comrades. He took this with a sense of near-relief, with the idea of being forced to live on without FEUDAL as he had been with Bravo mortified him far more than death. Struggling towards the wreckage of a Pelican where he could sit comfortable and look out over Quezon’s bay, the Spartan slipped into unconsciousness as he waited for the end to come. To his anguish however, Codename: MAGICIAN had no intent of losing his Spartan asset once again and dispatched one of his recovery teams to rescue the dying B042. Making their way to Callum, the team of highly skilled operators stabilized and evacuated Callum without raising any attention from the Covenant and successfully evacuated him and themselves shortly before the glassing of Quezon began. In spite of all the odds, Callum was the lone survivor of those he had come to see as family once again. For the next month, SPARTAN-B042 would be kept in a medically induced coma while undergoing intensive treatment, awakening weeks before the Covenant would arrive on Earth, closer to the brink than he ever had been before.
Earth[]Operation: BASTION[]B042 was awakened from his coma as the Covenant was descending onto humanity’s homeworld. Following a quick debrief, Codename: MAGICIAN saw to it that Callum was put in command of a small team of SPARTANs and sent to the URNA to defend against the Covenant onslaught. Arriving in the Greater Chicago Industrial Zone, Callum would be introduced to the young SPARTANS under his command. They wore battered hybrid SPI-ODST armor, had strangely high service tags, and even the oldest was several years his junior, he immediately pegged them as the same kind of Spartans that had made up Sage Team during DYNAMO. Well aware of the poor survival odds of these soldiers compared to the MJOLNIR clad FEUDAL, who had died in spite of their skill and equipment, Callum was furious. In his eyes, he felt that ONI was setting him up for failure and loss by saddling him with responsibility for the young Spartans. Before anything could come of this frustration the Covenant’s assault began and forcing the group, which simply continued to operate under the designation of ‘Khaki Team’, into action. Khaki’s first task in the defense of the massive population center was to assist in halting the Covenant’s advance into the Industrial Zone. The Covenant had first eradicated most resistance, and civilians, with drop troops at their landing site on the outskirts of the zone. Following that, heavy armor including four Protos Scarabs began the alien’s assault of the area. Khaki’s primary objective was the elimination of two Scarabs whilst the available UNSC armor engaged the other two, as taking them down from the air posed to great a risk to any surviving civilians. The team were inserted a few kilometers ahead of the Covenant’s spearhead, then went about preparing an ambush.   A single Protos was dangerous, five would be nearly unstoppable, at least that was the assumption. Callum ensured that they evaded the Covenant’s forward reconnaissance, keeping the team hidden even at the cost of allowing several fleeing civilians to be slaughtered. Though this caused a great deal of tension between B042 and Khaki’s Bashir-501, it in the end allowed them to successfully attack the first of the Scarabs. Boarding from above, Khaki wiped out the defenders of the massive machine. Callum in particular let loose with a violence that grew close to excessive, but maintained its efficiency. The group then utilized the walker to destroy the group of Wraiths ahead of the Protos’, and the duo of Locusts escorting the larger walker before destroying it as well. Immediately Khaki was picked up and ferried into the path of their next target, however in response to the loss of one Protos to Khaki and another to UNSC armor, the Covenant forces were on high alert and shot down the Pelican carrying the Spartan team. While Khaki survived the ensuing crash, they were were forced to quickly adapt. Hostile infantry quickly converged on the crash site with the hopes of killing a demon, only for the dropship to violently explode thanks Riley-434’s quick thinking. In retaliation, the Scarab and its escorts began firing randomly into the area near the crash bringing down numerous skyscrapers and kicking up a thick dust. Amidst the chaos, Khaki picked apart the Covenant forces. In the span of a fifteen minutes, all but the Protos itself and one of its escort Locusts were destroyed. Bewildered, the Covenant forces opted to retreat, likely with the intent of bombarding the area from the air to clear their path. Khaki refused to allow this to happen, utilizing the wreckage of the buildings to gain the altitude needed to board the Scarab. However, given that the Locust would prevent the team from boarding, B042 ordered the group to divide and conquer. Bashir-501 and Jamal-430 were tasked with the Locust, while Riley joined Callum in assaulting the larger walker. Descending onto the Protos, the two Spartans CQC specialists reduced most of the defenders to lifeless bodies in moments. That said, the commander of the Protos managed to protect the control room from the two Spartan’s for several minutes alone, keeping them at bay in hopes of continuing his mission. Eventually, the Elite General fell to the Spartans, and soon after the remainder of the crew perished as well. Rigging the walker to explode, Riley and Callum rejoined the rest of Khaki on the streets. Following a quick scuffle with the surviving Covenant personnel the team quickly moved to regroup with UNSC forces.   While the efforts of Khaki were crucial to BASTION's success, it was the sacrifice of the 19th Armored Division that would be remembered. BASTION was a resounding success, with the Scarab assault halted the Covenant were kept at bay a while longer, allowing for further evacuation of civilians to secure sites. After being dealt such a harsh defeat, the Covenant forces opted to refocus their efforts on more significant and less heavily defended areas, leaving Chicago untouched for the most part for the duration of the conflict. Less than a day later, Khaki would quickly be assigned to their next set of operations across, which would take them out of the URNA and into Europe. Operation: SANCTUM and the War’s Close[]
Quickly re-tasked following their success in Chicago, Khaki was redirected to the Swiss Alps in order to ensure the destruction of ONI Shadow Base, a black site that was under siege by Covenant forces. Given the site’s remote location far away from any significant human settlement, the oddly intense focus of the Covenant’s forces on the site lead to it being theorized that they had an interest in something inside the facility. Unsure of what this was, but unwilling to risk whatever it was falling into enemy hands, Khaki was tasked by HIGHCOM itself to destroy the facility, and to evacuate any personnel left standing if possible. Deploying alone via HALO jump, the Spartans arrived to find Shadow’s defenses all but overrun, and its defenders mostly dead. After establishing contact with the facility’s commanding officer, they were tasked with bolstering the defenses of the site while non-security personnel worked to wipe all on site databanks before proceeding to destroy several on site material caches.   Shadow Base, one of several ONI sites on Earth. All in all the Spartans were told they would need to hold off the Covenant assault for somewhere around an hour. Thankfully, given the site’s location Covenant armor was not able to deploy anything more than a small detachment of Wraith tanks which were all but destroyed by the site’s defenders prior to the arrival of Khaki, leaving them with only infantry and air support to deal with. Taking up positions alongside the defenders, Callum lead the team to victory against wave after wave of Covenant forces, and despite the remaining security personnel’s numbers steadily whittling away, Khaki managed to avoid sustaining even slight injuries. The team successfully held off the assault long enough for the site’s databanks, and for all but one of the material caches stored in Shadow to be destroyed. However, their communications with the site’s commander went dead shortly after she broadcasted that Sangheili special forces had somehow breached the facility. Despite Bashir’s urging, Callum forced the team to assume the worst and take up the responsibility of destroying the final cache themselves. Leaving the base’s defense to the remaining security forces, the Spartans entered into the bowels of the facility only to encounter the Elite’s that had no doubt wiped out any other humans that had been inside of the base. While B042 should have simply avoided the team and lead Khaki around them so that they could complete their objective, however at the head of the team was an Elite Zealot, one Callum recognized. It was the same Sangheili who had single handedly butchered FEUDAL Team on Reach. Callum, in spite of Khaki’s protests, ordered the team to continue without him and complete their objective. After they relented, B042 engaged the unit alone. Tearing through a number of the Zealot’s troops, the two finally came face to face after the alien opted to challenge the Spartan in single combat. Having secretly concocted a dosage of combat enhancing drugs solely for the possibility he ever encountered the Zealot again, Callum drugged himself and the two warriors engaged in a pitched duel. While the Zealot had been able to take down an entire Spartan team one by one on Reach, doing so had left him with some injuries, which combined with Callum’s drugged stated and unmatched fury made what would have once been a one sided beatdown into a savage brawl. Despite sustaining injury after injury, B042 continued to fight the Zealot, with the additional chemical augmentations to his brain coming into play as he became hurt. The dumping of adrenaline into his system paired with the rumbledrugs already in play made Callum become all the more dangerous the more wounds he sustained. Throughout the course of the fight Callum removed one of the Zealot’s mandibles, severed several ligaments in its legs, taken an eye, and slashed its stomach to ribbons, but in the end he was bested. The Zealot impaled B042 on his family’s ancestral energy sword and would have killed him if it were not for the intervention of Jamal-430.   Riley and Bashir retreat from the facility, dragging Callum with them. The Spartan, clad in MJOLNIR Mark IV that had apparently been a part of the material cache Khaki had been tasked with destroying, engaged the Zealot while Riley and Bashir extracted the heavily wounded SPARTAN-III. Callum pleaded with them to leave him behind and go, but to no avail. In spite of its injured state, the Zealot would best the inexperienced Jamal after several of its underlings rushed to its aid. Moments after exiting the facility, Jamal initiated the armors fail-safe detonation system, killing most of the Elite team and himself. Callum hoped in vain that the Zealot had perished in the blast, but unfortunately it had not. After getting clear of the site, Shadow was obliterated by an air strike, but due to a communication failure and irreparable damage to the equipment possessed by the Spartans, Khaki’s remnants were not extracted and thought dead. For the remainder of the Battle for Earth, Khaki desperately attempted to survive, and to keep Callum from succumbing to his wounds as they descended from the mountains. The group would briefly be engaged by a small group of Jiralhanae but other than that did not encounter any hostile forces. Once they finally were able to establish contact with the UNSC, the three were extracted and debriefed on the events that had taken place in their absence. Including the Great Schism, the Sangheili-human alliance, and the defeat of the Covenant. While Bashir and Riley expressed joy that the war had been won, Callum was consumed by a sense of betrayal thanks to the alliance with the hinge-headed aliens he hated so much. Shortly thereafter, Rile and Bashir parted ways with Callum, as ONI had different plans for both him and the set of SPARTAN-II Class IV’s. Due to the extreme extent of his injuries, B042 would spend several months in recovery before he was informed of his assignment to the Headhunters, and introduced to his partner, Jamison-G144.
Gilgamesh[]
Callum, now assigned to the BINARY Headhunter Team Hotel-II alongside the younger Jamison-G144 was deployed on a covert mission to the Gilgamesh Free State. Tasked with a variety of objectives, the most clearly defined was for the two Spartans to wreak absolute havoc among the anti-UEG settlements armed forces. Also assigned to the operation was the ONI agent Zachary Rayne, Aleksandra Zaytseva, Daniel Funderburg, and small team of SABER operatives under the callsign ‘Valor’. This grab bag of special forces operators were all that Callum and Jamison had in terms of support spare a few undercover operatives here and there. Not long after their deployment Zaytseva, who was meant to be their ferrier of supplies, was shot down by the Gilgameshi Air Force, and kicked off a series of events that sent the operation into jeopardy. Valor, in addition to rescuing Aleksandra, also eliminated an officer of the Gilgameshi Army and captured a low ranking enlisted by the name of Popov. Popov, a young private, was fiercely resistant to Rayne’s interrogation, which required Callum’s intervention via torture to coax him into talking. Unfortunately for them, Gilgameshi forces were in the area and for reasons unknown opted to begin searching house to house, leading to a pitched firefight. Promptly executing Popov, B042 and G144 shepherded Aleksandra and Rayne out of the safehouse before the group was attacked by Jonathan Ulan an insurrectionist supersoldier. In the ensuing brawl, B042 and Ulan clashed blow for blow, and Ulan managed to kill Valor 1-1 before his duel with Callum was brought to a close by his retreat and the arrival of Baal Defense Solutions contractors. Fleeing the small town, the group would continue to carry out a series of small operations, including assisting in Aleksandra’s rescue following her brief capture. Over the weeks, tension between Callum and Jamison began to rise, with the letter objecting to the former’s amoral and sometimes outright cruel treatment of the enemy, and due to Callum’s unwillingness to treat his partner as an equal.   Valor 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4, elite operators who would prove indispensable throughout the deployment. This came to a head with a heated argument inside Funderburg’s safehouse, wherein both Spartans unwittingly came to a better understanding of one another. Jamison learned through Callum’s ranting of the staggering amount of losses he had suffered throughout the war, and concluded his treatment of Jamison as something of a child was born out of begrudging concern. Callum on the other hand, learned that G144 was not as naive as he’d believed, and was in fact struggling with guilt over the deaths of the majority of his team on Earth, something B042 had not realized given G144’s sociable nature. The argument itself did not resolve tensions, and instead lead to Callum leaving the safehouse in order to destroy one of Rayne’s safehouses which was in danger of being compromised. Following this, Callum learned the danger of compromise came from the fact that BDS contractors were destroying a nearby settlement suspected of harboring UNSC sympathies and executing the populous. Against orders Callum entered the town and engaged the platoon of contractors with some small support from Valor. When the smoke cleared, the BDS mercenaries had been utterly eliminated, with several having been disemboweled by the Spartan in a fit of anger. Rather than take Callum at face value when he claimed that he’d simply been killing the enemy, Jamison pressed B042 until the elder Spartan relented. Callum had intervened because he couldn’t stomach the idea of letting the atrocity simply take place, and had been disgusted with the contractors.   Augmentees from Project APOLLYON, one of which would engage Hotel-II After this, the two Spartans began to work together smoothly and Callum assumed the role of mentor to the younger Spartan. The two would spend the rest of their time largely separate from the rest of the operators, ambushing Gilgameshi military forces on numerous occasions. The operation would come to an end not long after they were counter-ambushed by a member of BDS’ Project APOLLYON who engaged an unarmored Callum in hand to hand combat and being augmented and clad in power armor, nearly killed B042. Luckily, Jamison was able to intervene at the last second and kill the corporate super soldier. Heavily injured from the affair, Hotel-II joined the rest of the team in evacuating, have successfully disrupted numerous operations and put the world in the sights of the UNSC for future invasion. The Billides Conflict[]
After some time recovering, Callum and Jamison would immediately be dispatched to the frontier of known space under the orders of Codename: MAGICIAN, Callum’s longtime handler who now had command over Hotel-II. The world they arrived at was small colony known as Billides, the planet was split between two distinct biomes, a temperate region, and dense jungle the former of which held the planets government and large settlements while the latter and the mining operations within it brought the planet its income. Billides had been embroiled in a brutal civil conflict prior to the Human-Covenant War between UNSC loyalists and pro-Independence factions. Fighting largely subsided during the conflict for humanitiy's survival, but would begin again mere weeks after the war's close, and a UNSC peacekeeping force had been dispatched. The force sent however was woefully undermanned and underequipped, and Billides would grow into a hotbed for insurrectionist activity, notably providing arms and soldiers for the Second Mamore Insurrection. With some UEG officials unwilling to commit more to quelling the rebels in the system thanks a massive amount of negative press revolving around the UNSC’s recent responses to independence movements, Hotel was dispatched to Billides with the simple objective to escalate the conflict further in order to justify a full invasion. Section I agents had already been on world for some time sowing the seeds of aggression, but Hotel was deployed alongside a small contingent of Special Forces under the guise of being a humanitarian aid force for the sole pro-UEG settlement on the world. In addition to being given free reign to do whatever they deemed necessary to ensure that the multiple HVT’s they were tasked with eliminating were indeed eliminated, the Spartans of Hotel-II were also presented with their very one sets of MJOLNIR GEN2 Powered Assault Armor. The acquisition of the armor was something of an important moment to B042, throughout the previous war he had not been equipped with the armor because of his genetic makeup and ONI’s belief that it was likely he would not survive whatever his next assignment was. Though the armor was now given to him because of decreased price and increased availability, it was still important to him.   Having spent the war without it alongside those with it, B042 was keenly aware of the edge MJOLNIR would provide. Dropped onto the planet, Hotel quickly began their work, quietly assassinating key personnel in Billides’ defense force and rigging the generators for the planet's orbital defenses with EMP devices for when the invasion began all whilst the planetary government was manipulated along the war path. After weeks of prodding, the planetary government snapped and attacked the lone UEG settlement. In addition to having scores of its inexperienced defense force be slaughtered and defeated by the drastically smaller contingent of ODSTs and Force Recon who had been tasked with defending the settlement, the UNSC quickly arrived with an invasion force. With their orbital defenses utterly crippled, and their troops being quickly crushed, the government quickly ordered its forces and loyalists into the jungles and called for help. Shortly thereafter, Hotel and bulk of the UNSC’s forces followed them in. However, as the history of war suggests, this did not go as planned. Rather than finishing off the remaining hostiles, the UNSC found itself bogged down fighting the defenders in terrain only they knew in addition to facing reinforcement in the form of hardened insurrectionists and even ex-Covenant mercenaries. Quickly what was meant to be an operation lasting a few weeks at most began to drag on for months. Callum and Jamison, being the only Spartans on world, spearheaded the UNSC’s efforts often venturing deep into enemy territory to remove deeply entrenched enemies. While insurrectionist forces often posed little individual threat to the MJOLNIR-clad Spartans, on several occasions attempts were made to ambush Hotel, one of which nearly succeeded in getting the drop on the Spartans.   B042 and G144 en route to yet another raid. The only individual battle that proved to be a challenge was an ambush of Hotel and a platoon of Force Reconnaissance marines by some of the Covenant mercenaries backed by some insurrectionist veterans. Pinned down and assaulted by Sangheili and Jiralhanae while Kig-Yar and human sharpshooters picked off marines, Jamison was injured after one of the Sangheili bested him in close quarters and managed to remove G144’s hand at the wrist. Rather than recoil in agony, Callum watched in surprise as G144, mimicking Callum’s style proceeded to kill the Elite with only his knife before killing two more in a similar fashion. For once, B042 was able to observe the effects of the additional augmentations he’d tested on behalf of Gamma from a perspective other than his own. After clearing the ambush, Callum forced G144 to medivac in order to seek treatment while he continued on. In the day it took Jamison to receive a proper replacement in the form of a flash-cloned hand, Callum lead a squad of Hellbringers on a raid which would become known as the “March Massacre” among media circles. After a fierce fight and heavy losses, the UNSC pushed the rebels back into the cave system they’d been using as a holdout. Following the refusal of surrender, B042 ordered the Hellbringers to ignite a blaze and burn out the rebels. They did so, only to discover that after the flames died down that there had been a host of non-combatants alongside the rebel fighters, including young children. Despite the efforts to suppress the spread of information about the incident, it would be reported across the chatternet within days. While many drastic measures that could be chalked up as atrocities took place on Billides, the March Massacre stood out and drastically hurt support for the conflict among the public. Callum was notably scarred by the incident according to Jamison’s debriefing, however in a psychological evaluation following the deployment, B042 did not express those feelings and instead put on a facade of indifference.   B042 saw the SPARTAN-IVs as something a slap to the face, devaluing the sacrfices of his fallen comrades. After Hotel was reunited, they conducted several more raids before being relieved by a contingent of the new SPARTAN-IV’s. Almost instantly Callum came to dislike the new Spartans, not due to some arrogant behavior on their part or inefficiency in combat, but because they represented the further erasure of the sacrifices of his brothers and sisters. The SPARTAN-II’s were lauded as the saviors of humanity, the SPARTAN-IV’s were touted as those meant to take up the torch, the III’s were all but forgotten, a simple footnote in any piece on the Spartans usually described as ‘reinforcements’, if they were ever mentioned at all. The complete classification of every one of their sacrifices was only made worse by these new Spartans becoming media darlings in Callum’s eyes. After being relieved, Jamison informed Callum of The Missing Wall’s existence, and the two promised that at some point they would make the voyage there and pay their respects to their fallen. However, any such expedition was put on the back burner as MAGICIAN instantly whisked Hotel-II away for another operation, while the conflict on Billides would rage on until early 2556. Operation: RISING TIDE[]
Shortly after their involvement in the Billides Conflict, Hotel-II was assigned to Operation: RISING TIDE. Brought in to Task Force Tsunami, a group formed in response to increased raiding activity from various Jiralhanae raiders in what remained of the outer colonies, Hotel-II was tasked with the elimination of a band of pirates under the leadership of a brute known as Iranatox. His pirates had only recently begun their raiding, but had wrought serious damage in that short time, having plundered and enslaved the occupants of four developed settlements in the span of a few months, and stolen a UNSC Paris-class frigate the First Star to the Right.   Iranatox, the young leader of a band of ruthless raiders. Thankfully, some of those they’d taken to sell into forced labor had managed to escape briefly and had gotten out a distress signal which revealed the location of the raider’s holdfast. Hotel-II was dispatched ahead of Task Force Tsunami’s main strike force aboard the Winter-class prowler UNSC Howling Moon tasked with disrupting the defenses of the outlaws. Covertly deployed onto the habitable moon that Iranatox had made his base of operations, Hotel-II set to work against their first purely alien adversary. Their first target was the communications array which conveniently managed not only their connection to the frigate and sloop that hung in orbit, but all of their communication groundside. The two struck in the dead of night, killing anything living remotely close to the facility and neutralizing it. Not wasting time the Headhunters took out the facility’s primary power generator before disappearing into the darkness. Iranatox though an effective leader was young, and a stranger to being dealt such a harsh blow and reacted rashly. The bulk of his forces followed him out into the wastes to hunt their attackers leaving their facility largely unprotected. Callum and Jamison of course took advantage of this and snuck into the raider’s hold. In the dank and didapilated halls they bore witness to many grotesque “trophies” mounted on the walls and found clear evidence of humans being used as food. While both were disgusted and enraged, Callum’s mind shifted from completing the mission to revenge. Meanwhile Task Force Tsunami arrived in orbit, smashing the raider’s meager fleet and deploying their forces onto the moon to annihilate Iranatox’s hunting party as they prowled the wastes. Inside the facility which quickly began to seem more charnel house than base of operations for a seemingly organized force of raiders, B042 tore into every Jiralhanae he could find, throwing caution to the wind as he ensured each and every one wielding a weapon died screaming. Had it not been for G144, he would have killed far more than those who fought. The pair came upon a section of the facility where after killing a pair of adolescent brute’s attempting to stop them, they found the cubs of the pack. Still too young to fight, and some too small to even comprehend what was happening, the children of the aliens cowered before the demons they had been raised to hate and fear. Callum was unflinching and meant to simply roll a pair of grenades into the young, but Jamison fiercely protested and was able to just barely convince Callum to spare them. The younger Spartan’s idealism haunted Callum, eerily reminding him of the naïve notions of Spartanhood that their training had instilled the both of them with.   The cruelty of the wastes on the moon was only surpassed by that of Iranatox's raiders. Begrudgingly the two took the young captive and soon liberated the slaves held in the base, with B042 again having to be coaxed into liberating the non-human captives. Soon a company of marines arrived to claim the base as well as extract the liberated slaves, child prisoners, and Spartans alike. Iranatox had been cut down ingloriously after the operator of a Warthog’s Gauss Cannon removed his head with a single shot, and the remainder of his pack had fallen into chaos and were easily slaughtered by the human forces. The marines seemed confused on what to do with the young detainees, but several suggested executing them after viewing the interior of the facility, including the commanding officer. Again Jamison intervened, and the conflict almost came to blows as transports arrived to the Spartan’s and the non-combatants away. Aboard the flagship of the small fleet that comprised Tsunami, the UNSC Krakatoa, the Spartans were debriefed and received praise from the commander of the unit which both of them were unfamiliar with. Colonel Yilli Agnessa did not regard the Spartans as tools as the handlers they were familiar with often did, and was complimentary in a way neither were used to. Chief among her praise was that for their taking of prisoners, which she was rightly speculated Section II would have a field day with. As the two Spartans retired to their newly assigned quarters to await their next mission, the story Spartans destroying a band of ruthless marauders, liberating slaves, and sparing the innocent where the enemy never had was already being constructed. It would provide a needed distraction from the brutality of the Billides Conflict which continued to dominate the news cycle, and quickly did just that. Of course, Hotel-II were made out to be SPARTAN-IV’s, much to Callum’s irritation as his fear of the erasure of his comrades continued to grow. Operation: PRECIOUS DAY[]After a period of a few months, another target would come into Task Force Tsunami’s sights; the Pious Crusaders of the Righteous Path. A Covenant remnant group led by the brothers Kal and Fel Doram active in the frontier. While the group was poised to join Jul ‘Mdama’s Storm Covenant, and half of its forces already had, an opportunity had arisen to prevent the remainder of their forces from joining the conglomerate. The Doram brothers, having recently visited their family keep on Shinogoro to receive the blessing of their family’s Kadion. However, their Kadion denied them and urged his nephews to not waste the era of peace they had been fortunate enough to live to see. The rejection left the two not only bitter with their uncle, but also with one another. Eventually, Kal would take his half of their forces and leave to join ‘Mdama while Fel swore to show his Kadion how false the supposed peace was. Fel planned to expose an ONI operation he had learned of where the water of Sangheili settlements on the world known to the humans as ‘New Harmony’ was being poisoned so that humans alone could claim the world. The young warrior hoped that by exposing the dishonorable way their own kind were being killed would sway his Kadion who expressed doubt at the idea. Determined to prove that their cause was just, Fel took his force towards the glassed colony.   Of the two brothers, Fel Doram was undeniably more charismatic, and dangerously more pious. Undermanned, and on the cusp of exposing a highly illegal operation, ONI was quick to inform Tsunami of the opportunity to eradicate Fel. Hotel-II of course was immediately prepped and slated to spearhead the operation. In conjunction with the UNSC Timberwolf, a prowler that had been covertly trailing the Crusader’s small fleet, Tsunami prepared to spring a trap on the group. Eventually, the Timberwolf relayed that the fleet had stopped to refuel and resupply at a Jackal pirate holdout in an asteroid field, keen to strike while their guard was down Tsunami quickly mobilized. Callum and Jamison were tasked with boarding the heavy destroyer Holy Invocation that served as Fel’s flagship and assassinating the Elite before he could make some kind of escape. In order to ensure their successful boarding the two were deployed via Long Range Stealth Orbital Insertion Pods ahead of the task force. Prior to their deployment, the two Spartans opened up about their respective traumas. Callum, spurred by the concept of being deployed in the same fashion he had been in TORPEDO finally told his partner of the fateful operation. Jamison had of course studied it intensely, but hearing it in such visceral detail, in addition to more in depth detail of Callum’s experiences with FEDUAL and Khaki had a profound impact on the younger Spartan. In the same manner, Jamison recounted how exactly his team had fallen on Earth, going into particular detail about the death of Margreet-G321 with whom it became clear Jamison had been extremely close with. This marked an even more considerable change in their dynamic, as the two came to further rely on one another for support from that point onward, and saw B042’s overall grim demeanor partially recede.   In Jamison, Callum found what he assumed it would've been like had he known his own brother. Shortly thereafter the two would be deployed, leaving them isolated to their pods for several hours in transit. Upon exiting slipspace, the two Spartans maneuvered their insertion vehicles onto an asteroid close by to their quarry, then proceeded to move to the Invocation via EVA to avoid detection. Landing on the surface of the destroyer’s hull, they found it was not currently docked, leaving them with a much smaller window of time to accomplish their mission as it could cut and run at any second. Moving quickly, the two silently eliminated a team Yan’me conducting external maintenance and their Sangheili guards before entering the vessel. Utilizing improved active camouflage, the two Spartans remained undetected and eventually located a long abandoned storage room in order to map out their plan of action. They were faced with a difficult choice, they could either make their move on Fel immediately and risk the destroyer jumping before they could kill him thus stranding them far from any reinforcements. Or, alternatively they could first move to sabotage the slipspace engine at the opposite end of the vessel, and risk Fel escaping to another vessel before they could reach him and fleeing. Jamison floated the idea that they split up in order to do both, but Callum quickly shut this down. He argued that in such tight quarters the risk of detection even with their skill and equipment was incredibly high, and that with such a large concentration of enemies they’d almost certainly be killed without the other there to watch their backs. Jamison would make a passing remark about dying to complete the mission was what they were trained to do, which prompted an emotional response from B042, urging his young partner not to devalue himself for the sake of those he had lost. Reluctantly Jamison gave way to his mentor’s urging and the two ultimately decided to move on the slipspace drive first, reasoning that even if Fel were to escape, he would be capable of far less damage without his flagship. The two would slip past any and all aliens they happened upon and successfully infiltrated the area housing the slipspace drive, rigging it an EMP device in order to disable it without atomizing themselves.   Fel Doram planned to exact bloody revenge on the colonists. With the drive taken care of, the two began to work their way back up the destroyer just as Tsunami entered the area and attacked. Amidst the chaos, they triggered the EMP and disabled the destroyer’s ability to run. Having patched in to the Covenant’s communications, the two discovered that Fel was rushing to a Lich and ordering some of his forces to stand and fight while ordering the rest to follow him and continue their holy mission. The two Spartans ceased their efforts at being covert and engaged, cutting a bloody swathe through the halls of the destroyer. Jamison, having taken well to the close quarters training Callum had been providing, soon proved himself to be near as deadly as his mentor, wiping out one Covenant squad singlehandedly in the span of a few seconds. The two easily made their way into the hangar just as Fel boarded his Lich, and responded by taking two Banshees out after him. Rushing to catch up with the leader of the Covenant sect, Callum and Jamison evaded fire not only from the Covenant, but from Tsunami as well who could not identify them in the chaos. In spite of that, they successfully made it aboard and engaged the crew in a pitched battle. In the fighting, Fel managed to severely wound Jamison with a blow from his energy sword, prompting B042 to inject himself with a cocktail of combat stimulants he’d kept on hand since Earth. Flying into a rage, both Callum and Jamison, who’s additional augmentations had kicked in as a response to the injury, were to distracted with disemboweling Fel that they failed to stop one of the dying members of the Elite’s crew trigger the slipspace jump. With Jamison injured, the navigation system too damaged to halt their transit, and both of them in a drug induced stupor, there was little either could do but savagely beat the one responsible for triggering the jump to death. As they came down, the two were exhausted, and having been unprepared for anything longer than a day long deployment, short on smoothers. Callum did his best to stabilize Jamison’s wounds as they were stranded for several days in slipspace, but the two of them were growing weak.   Once again, B042 found himself under the enigmatic MAGICIAN. As a last resort, the two opted to eat one of the fallen Sangheili in a desperate attempt to regain their strength. Thankfully, the need to partake in such barbarity again was prevented when the ship exited slipspace over New Harmony where they found not Tsunami, but a small flotilla of ONI vessels lying in wait. The two were subsequently rescued and given treatment for any and all injuries, as well as dosed with smoothers almost immediately. The two would spend several weeks between the both of them recovering before they were finally given an explanation for why ONI had been waiting for them rather than the task force. Met by none other than Codename: MAGICIAN, Callum’s former handler, the two were introduced to Marcus-226 and Jason-243, Class II Spartan-II’s and informed that they had been folded into the newly christened Fireteam Anubis. This team had been specially formed at MAGICIAN’s request in order to combat a singular threat in the form of Lancaster-205, thus beginning Operation: EPHIALTES. Kholo Glasslands Skirmish[]Though the two were perplexed at their selection for what appeared to be an in-house extermination mission for a program they weren’t aware existed, Callum and Jamison would take to their new assignment well enough. Well aware of the threat Lancaster posed, as the SPARTAN-II had killed the crew of an entire prowler including a SPARTAN-IV fireteam single handedly, the two Headhunters focused themselves on preparing for their eventual encounter with the rogue Spartan. Their new teammates proved to be of little help being particularly unsociable, and outright refusing to share what Callum would grow to suspect as a greater knowledge of Lancaster with the two SPARTAN-III’s. In spite of his suspicion, B042 said nothing of it to MAGICIAN and instead intensified his efforts on training Jamison.   The dispassionate yet almost horrifyingly ruthless nature of his new teammates gave even Callum pause. The Gamma Company Spartan was unlike Callum in that he had never particularly struggled in training and had often excelled, making it easy for the younger supersoldier to absorb the lessons from his mentor. While he would not surpass B042 in the time prior to their first encounter with Lancaster, Jamison rapidly began to close the gap between his own abilities and Callum’s. His partner’s skill, and mindfulness gave Callum a great deal of confidence in their ability to complete the mission at hand, and became a source of something resembling pride in the elder Spartan. The lull period would come to an end when Lancaster was finally located on his homeworld of Kholo. A series of outposts manned by a UEG-sponsored corporation tasked to recover resources and other things of value from glassed planets had long been feuding with a large population of independent, potentially insurrectionist-aligned, resettlement group largely comprised of surviving Kholo natives. The dispute was born out of the resettlement group’s view that the corporation was stealing what was rightly theirs and the corporations heavy handed, often violent, treatment of the group when protests had begun. The situation had been rapidly deteriorating for quite some time, with the corporation hiring Baal Defense Solutions to provide security, and a steady stream of suspected New Colonial Alliance operatives entering the resettlement group. Three days prior to Anubis’ being briefed, BDS operatives had opened fire on a group of protesters after one seemingly produced a firearm, amidst the carnage Lancaster emerged and completely eradicated all inside the corporate outpost civilian and mercenary alike. The I Am Your Father jumped to Kholo the instant it received the news, and the members of Fireteam Anubis were briefed in transit. What intelligence they had on the particular group Lancaster intervened on behalf of placed them in a large tent city built around a glassing shelter. Anubis was tasked with entering the makeshift settlement and securing any information on where Lancaster might’ve gone, and the eradication of any insurrectionists who attempted to stop them. It was a simple enough operation, however SPARTAN-226 insisted that the SPARTAN-IIIs be tasked with exfil prevention rather than participating directly in the raid. In essence, Marcus-226 wanted them removed them from the picture for some reason. Callum raised his concerns with the choice, and the two supersoldiers quickly began to butt heads with MAGICIAN being forced to intervene and defer to 226 much to Callum’s chagrin, claiming that that 226 had a better understanding of 205. When asked by Callum what he meant by that, and how that justified sidelining the two of them MAGICIAN simply ordered him to comply. With the relations between the newly formed Fireteam Anubis already strained, the team was deployed onto Kholo’s battered surface armed to the teeth to hunt to rogue Spartan. Jamison and Callum were dropped several kilometers away from the settlement and utilizing MQ-96 Drones to locate the settlement’s vehicle depot and singular launch pad where the settlements lone spacecraft, a Darter lay dormant. Advancing quickly, Hotel-II wiped out several patrols of armed guards en route to their targets, finding the forces far better equipped than a supposedly impoverished settlement should have, adding more credence to reports of NCA involvement. As they neared the launch pad, NCA involvement was all but confirmed when a team of commandos clad in top of the line battle armor bearing insurrectionist markings were spotted by the duo, before they could engage however, things inside the settlement kicked off. With gunfire and explosions emanating from within the tent city, the former Headhunter team knew they’d need to act fast before their target was able to make a run for it. Making their way to the Darter as quickly as they could after the commandos rushed to address the conflict inside the city, the two rigged the craft with explosives. Rather than blow it then and there however, they opted to leave them undetonated as to serve as one final trap should their teammates fail, at Jamison’s suggestion. Moving next to the vehicle depot, the two were forced into open conflict as a squad-sized element of the well equipped commandos and several other individuals clad in gear not dissimilar to UNSC tankers arrived amidst their planting of charges. The tankers were no doubt planning to utilize the pair of Mastodon’s the pair had found hidden inside two storage containers nearby the depot, coated in a substance that had prevented their MQ-96’s from viewing their contents originally.   Unbeknownst to the Spartans at the time, the commandos they faced off against were members of the NCA's fledgling Special Warfare division. Engaging in a fierce firefight, the Spartans whittled down the enemy’s numbers to nothing following a maneuver by Jamison which drew the bulk of the hostiles in close to B042’s position, allowing his elder to ruthlessly dispatch them in close quarters while he picked off the rest. Vacating the depot the two made their way into the settlement to assist the other half of Fireteam Anubis, they detonated the depot. Fighting through several groups of defenders, they received a nearly incoherent transmission from Marcus that Lancaster was escaping, mere seconds before Spartan-243’s life signs flatlined. Moving back towards the launch pad, Callum and Jamison readied to finish the job as they watched Lancaster be ushered onboard the Darter, however, before they could detonate their charges Marcus emerged from the settlement and began firing EMP rounds from a dismounted M460 Grenade Launcher. Likely intending to stop the craft from taking off, 226 instead merely did light damage to the dropship and disabled the transmitters on the explosives allowing remote detonation, thus allowing 205 to escape. Utterly enraged, Marcus demanded to know why the ship had not been destroyed, and when informed of the trap he had unintentionally dismantled, became violent. The Spartan-II attacked Jamison, prompting a fierce response from Callum, who following several minutes of grappling moved to finish the fight lethally, only for MAGICIAN to arrive in time to initiate the armor lockdown on all three of the commandos while expressing his shame. They had failed, resulting in a valuable asset being killed thanks to their poor coordination, and to the surprise of Jamison and Callum, Marcus and Jason’s failed attempt to bring Lancaster in alive. When Callum demanded to know why they’d do such a thing, the enigmatic ONI officer informed them that it likely had to do with the fact Lancaster-205 had been their teammate during their training years, and that the two must’ve foolishly believed they could reason with the mad Spartan. In reality, while certainly unhinged, Lancaster’s killing of Jason-243 was not prompted by insanity, but instead because of 243’s casual slaughter of several non-combatants without any provocation. The act served as a trigger to Lancaster’s instabilities, leading him to fly into an altered state and kill his former comrade without hesitation. Though of course this version of events was stricken from the record, with Jamison and Callum being left to believe Lancaster had simply snapped for the rest of their lives. Waiting Game[]For nearly a month, Fireteam Anubis was left to lick its wounds whilst there was a drought of information on their target. Despite constant chatternet probing, and untold numbers of agents embedded in the New Colonial Alliance reporting constantly, no word came on the rogue Spartan. Tensions between both Callum and Jamison towards Marcus only grew as their forced time together in briefings and War Games grew, with 226 taking a particular interest in dressing down B042’s remaining inkling of morality. Though the number of physical altercations between the two was kept to a single other incident, MAGICIAN was deeply concerned on Anubis’ ability to operate as a unit. However, in spite of his concerns he refused to seek aid, as it would paint him in a light that would be unfavorable for furthering his career and ability to conduct further operations. Just as the ONI officer debated caving, a report came in. A team of Asymmetrical Actions Unit operators, Indigo 4-9, had been butchered to the last man during a raid on a stolen Stalwart-class frigate.   The small fleet vessels from which Operation: EPHIALTES was based. Supposedly the team had been wiped out by ‘rebel Spartans’, and the helmet camera footage corroborated this claim. The fact that the footage and accompanying report mentioned multiple potentially augmented rebels meant nothing to MAGICIAN, who was confident this was the lead they’d been looking for. Despite Indigo being wiped out, they were able to discreetly place a tracker on the frigate, allowing the I Am Your Father and it’s escorts to track it to the remote JYN-211 colony, a small mining outpost on the fourth moon of a gas giant and the only habitable location in its local solar system. Founded in 2526 by a corporation at the time unaware of the Covenant and subsequently abandoned following the hegemony’s onslaught becoming common knowledge, JYN-211 was a backwater in every sense of the word. A hub for human trafficking prior to a sting conducted by Colonial Ranger Bureau, only to become a hotbed for insurrectionists and rumoredly even rogue scientists, it was the perfect place to host Lancaster and potentially spawn the insurrections answer to Spartans. All that in mind, MAGICIAN saw this clearly for what it was; a trap. Knowing this MAGICIAN was more than confident in his ability to outplay the NCA, and with good reason, he’d done it nearly a dozen times since the group had risen to prominence. The small flotilla set a course for a nearby system and the pieces were put into place. The Spartans of Anubis were placed aboard the UNSC Shivering Sea, the Winter-class prowler under to the I Am Your Father’s command, and made the jump into the target system. Assuredly undetected thanks to the prowler’s stealth systems, the vessel set down on the colony. En route to JYN Callum had encountered the prowler’s helmsman, a now Lieutenant James Fitzpatrick, the same man who’d flown FEUDAL to Paris IV’s surface and saved their lives in the process. At Jamison’s urging the two caught up, and Callum was able to find some small measure of closure in befriending the man. Once on the surface Anubis easily was able to locate the insurrectionist stronghold, as they’d made no effort to conceal the stolen frigate in dry dock, or the sprawling facility they’d erected in the area around it. Reconnaissance conducted by the Spartans themselves and by the Shivering Sea’s compliment of drones reveal the facility to be extremely densely populated with insurrectionist personnel. The massive amount of troops present more or less ruled out the prospect of the facility being rigged to blow upon their insertion, as the NCA wasn’t prone to making sacrificial plays given their low numbers. Confident a nuclear warhead wouldn’t be detonated should they be detected, an assumption further backed up as scans revealed no nukes at the site at all, Anubis planned their infiltration. Staggeringly outnumbered, something each of the Spartan’s was well used to, they based their strategy around crippling the internal communications of the facility and eliminating portions of the bases’ defenders in the confusion. They’d whittle away until there wasn’t a single soul left, and Lancaster, if he was in fact there, lay dead. Waiting for darkness to fall, the three Spartans pushed a single entry point, a stretch of defensive wall that was lightly guarded, poorly monitored by surveillance, and easily passed if one jumped over from above. For those not in MJOLNIR or the like such a fall would’ve been fatal, for Anubis it was no more dangerous than falling back to earth from a simple hop. What guards that were present were quickly and silently killed by the team and their bodies concealed as the Spartans ventured into the base. Marcus opted to venture out on his own, not wanting either of the S-III’s to hinder his work, both of whom were all too glad to comply and be rid of him. B042 and G144 made their way through the facility carrying out several quick attacks, in the process discovering several anti-Spartan countermeasures, from enhanced sensors to antigravity plates. Thankfully, both had been trained by Kurt Ambrose, who’s experience during the raid on Camp New Hope had been passed on to his students, and left the duo prepared to detect, avoid, and disable these snares. Marcus however did not have the same knowledge. As it became clear to the two that they were indeed in a trap, a multitude of alarms sounded and chaos erupted. Both knew that their teammate was undoubtedly compromised and after brief debate Jamison was able to sway Callum to assist their fellow Spartan. Going loud the the two cut a swathe through the rebel outpost. While Spartan-226 had been discovered, they’re having not been gave them the element of surprise as they butchered numerous enemy squads moving to ensnare their erstwhile comrade.   The so called 'rebel Spartans' found themselves drastically outmatched by their legitimate counterparts. Decimating numerous heavy weapons teams and two separate units of the commandos they’d encountered on Kholo, the Spartans opted to take a path through a seemingly unremarkable logistics building. Instead of simply breezing through, they were instead ambushed by three hostiles wearing powered armor in close quarters. The three were undoubtedly part of the element of rebel supersoldiers whose presence had drawn them to the moon in the first place. However the lethality they displayed against the Indigo 4-9 was no match for full Spartans. The crucial mistake made by the rebel commandos seemed to be their insistence on engaging the duo in excessively close combat instead of a proper ambush. Their powered armor did allow them to compete with the pair in terms of strength, but did nothing to make them fast enough to compete in hand to hand. Their lack of energy shielding allowed one to be cut down by Jamison before they could even properly engage the Spartans. The other two commandos were swiftly put down in their attempts to avenge their comrade in an exchange that was more execution than a brawl. Each of the SPARTAN-III’s dismantled their respective opponents and killed them in short order before continuing on their way to assist Marcus. Meanwhile in orbit, a duo of stolen Halberd-class destroyers, missing since 2554, would emerge from the far side of one of the neighboring moons, and begin moving towards JYN-211. Each destroyer was housing a quick response force of their own intended to overwhelm the Spartans groundside whilst the two warships denied them escape. This plan however relied on the idea that the Spartans had been inserted covertly, and were lacking the sort of backup Anbuis had in the form of the I Am Your Father and its escorts. As the first elements of the rebel reinforcements left the destroyers, the flotilla of ONI moved in to strike. The destroyer’s crews, unprepared for such a turn of events found their vessels torn to shreds, ensnared in MAGICIAN’s trap as they had attempted to spring their own. Groundside, B042 and G144 managed to locate and rescue SPARTAN-226, who had been left largely immobilized due to an armor restraining bolt. Though the device had malfunctioned and allowed Marcus to somewhat move his body above the waist, which he used to drag himself to cover and return fire, which undoubtedly save his life, he was nonetheless repeatedly injured. As the few dropships that had managed to launch from the destroyers witnessed their destruction, the pair of Condors equipped with slipspace drives opted to flee, while those remaining, a trio of Pelicans, were shot down by a pair of Broadswords launched from one of the I Am Your Father’s escort frigates, the Eye of Agamotto. Not long after, the Shivering Sea returned for the Spartans, along with a compliment of ODSTs who would make short work of any remaining insurgent fighters. Though they had failed to find Lancaster, Fireteam Anubis did encounter the first of the NCA’s own ‘supersoldiers’, the idea of which would grow into something of an obsession for MAGICIAN. Additionally, after a thorough sweep of the husks of the rebel destroyers, some intelligence was recovered confirming Lancaster was indeed with the rebels, though there was nothing to suggest where he might be, or what their plans were for the rogue Spartan. Unfortunately for the UNSC at large, said plans would soon be revealed. Confrontation[]Across the colonies in the weeks following the strike on JYN-211, multiple precise strikes would be carried out by unknown assailants clad in the same experimental armor by Anubis in their previous operation. Intercepting weapons and equipment shipments, including a prototype HRUNTING/YGDRASSIL Mk. II armor system, and numerous MJOLNIR components from across the fourth, fifth, and six generation platforms, these attackers instantly rocketed to the top of terror lists galaxy-wide. In addition to theft, numerous UNSC military installations were attacked and suffered heavy losses, and multiple high-ranking military personnel, influential pro-Earth political figures, and corporate executives were assassinated. This series of well executed, surgically precise attacks threw human space into chaos, with news outlets, the net, and multiple intelligence apparatuses scrambling to discover the culprit. All the while, ONI Section I became all too aware of the group responsible. Compiling information gathered by EPHIALTES and an expansive network of informants, the NCA was deemed to be the perpetrator. Furthermore, at the head of these rebel strike teams, was none other than Lancaster-205, based on comparisons between combat footage of the Spartan in UNSC service and additional records. More than that, a mole within the NCA managed to pass along information that Section I operatives were able to discern the location of the next attack, and while unable to stop the assault on a UNSC deep space reconnaissance station, they were able to successfully track the assailants. This information would be quickly pipelined to HIGHCOM and EPIHALTES, with the latter mobilizing immediately to engage their quarry. Perhaps blinded by the chance to end the hunt, or simply too eager to terminate 205, MAGICAN and his task force would jump directly into what had always been a rebel trap. Coming out of slipspace in orbit of the glassed colony Harlan, the fleet would be instantly set upon. Attacked with barrages from a host of rebel ships, the ONI vessels frantically attempted to organize a defense, and though able to ward off the insurrectionist’s ships, being far older and more poorly armed than their own, they were not prepared for an assault launched using the HRUNTING/YGDRASSIL Mk. II suit. Using tactical nuclear weapons, and his relatively small size in the vacuum of space the exosuit’s pilot had been able to plant and detonate warheads on several of the fleet’s vessels, crippling them as he then made a beeline for the I Am Your Father. However, by that point, Anubis was lying in wait to greet their attacker. Tensions between the three Spartans had remained high in the time since their last field operation, but Callum and Marcus had since resolved the worst of it. As a result, when the ambush began, the three fully armed and armored Spartans were together, and once made aware of the threat, able to properly mount a counteroffensive. Entering the vacuum armed with heavy weaponry, the three Spartans would meet the exosuit clad insurrectionist with multiple blasts from repeating Gauss cannons and ‘Spartan Lasers’. Though the suit would be able to withstand these attacks, the assault was successful in preventing the immediate planting of a warhead as the rebel instead turned his attention to them. The ensuing clash was vicious with the Spartans relying heavily on teamwork and the exploitation of the I Am Your Father’s external defense turrets in order to combat the incredibly dangerous weapons platform. Though able to avoid injury themselves, and eventually disable the exosuit through a well-placed shot from Jamison’s railgun, Anubis was unable to prevent the rebel from doing serious structural damage to the cruiser. Damaged heavily, and burning from several sites, the I Am Your Father was vulnerable, and the NCA would strike again, catching the remainder of the UNSC vessels in low orbit over Harlan as they attempted to make repairs. Rather than simply destroy the hunters, the NCA instead disabled and began to board the I Am Your Father, intent on seizing what they correctly speculated would be a treasure trove of equipment, information, and valuable prisoners. For the Spartans, the rebels had sent their best. Multiple teams equipped with the rebel’s own power armor, and at the front, Lancaster himself. They had not anticipated as fierce of resistance from the rest of the crew, and so found themselves caught off guard by the sheer tenacity and precision of the defense mounted against them. Briefed using what information was available to them, and operating on the assumption that those fielding the rebel’s armor were likely ex-UNSC special forces, the specialized marine and ODST garrison aboard the I Am Your Father had been training for eventual combat with the insurgent’s finest for months. What might’ve been an easy victory for the rebels instead turned into a vicious battle with mounting casualties on both sides. The Spartans of Anbuis, to Callum and Jamison’s chagrin, were held back, kept away from the fighting long enough for Lancaster to reveal himself. Finally, their target did. Tearing his way through the ship’s defenders, Lancaster and a seemingly elite unit of the rebel commandos were making their way to the I Am Your Father’s armor bay, no doubt intent on securing whatever they could to eventually advance their own systems. Anubis was set loose and raced through the heavy cruiser to meet their prey, eliminating a team of rebel commandos en route. The delaying action of those commandos deaths had served a purpose, however, with Lancaster’s team successfully uploading a dangerous program into the cruiser’s mainframe, cutting off the ship’s Smart AI from control over various systems across the vessel. Using this, the rebels were able to successfully split the Spartans from one another, cutting off both Jamison and Callum from Marcus by sealing the bulkhead between the two as the Spartan-III’s were dispatching the last of the commandos to engage them. Confined to a singular hallway, B042 would furiously bicker with the ship’s AI whilst it and Jamison attempted to find a way to restore control to the intelligence. Cut off from his teammates, Marcus would proceed into the armor bay to engage Lancaster and his team alone. Though capable, the unaugmented commandos were wholly outmatched by the Spartan-II. Despite the employment of heavy explosives, and their own M6 G/GNR laser, the rebels managed to do little but further compromise the hull of the I Am Your Father as they attempted to take down their assailant, with Marcus casually eliminating those he came into contact with as he entered the armor bay. It was then Lancaster sprung his trap, utilizing active camouflage the remaining commandos sprung a trap, managing to wound 226 with a series of explosives and precision fire. In spite of his injuries though, Marcus would continue fighting, killing two more hostiles before being directly engaged by Lancaster himself. The pitched clash between former allies and friends quickly devolved into a ferocious brawl after Marcus, low on ammunition, blitzed Lancaster’s position and engaged him in hand-to-hand combat. During their years in training, 226 had always outmatched 205, especially in close quarters, but given his injuries, emotionally volatile state, and Lancaster’s own growth, the clash was much less one-sided than anticipated. Using the struggle as a distraction, the three surviving commandos set to work retrieving valuable data from the armor bay’s equipment, whilst Lancaster and Marcus continued to batter one another. Eventually, in an attempt to overpower the rebel Spartan, Marcus would overextend himself and give Lancaster the chance he needed to grab a fallen sidearm and fatally shoot his once-comrade. With the last of Cobalt Team dead bar himself, Lancaster and the remnants of his strike team made their way back towards the rebel’s docked ship, in the process releasing much of the control they had over the ship’s systems. Taking the advantage, MAGICIAN had Callum slot Wayne into his helmet, then tasked the AI to make a path for Callum and Jamison to one of the boarding sites, which the two Spartans pushed heavily, making their way onboard the NCA ship as Lancaster and his own comrades returned via another boarding point. Left with too much ground to cover together, MAGICIAN ordered the partnered Spartans to split up, Jamison would be tasked with making his way to the ship’s bridge to disable the ship and kill its commander, whilst Callum would be left with the task of finishing what Marcus had started, and finishing off the battered traitor. The two exchanged words of assurance and parted without protest. Given Callum’s specialization in close quarters combat of all manners, MAGICIAN had wagered that once he intercepted Lancaster in his current state, B042 would be able to finish off their quarry without much issue. However the plan of action fell apart on two accounts, the first being that Lancaster was a deal less hindered by his injuries than MAGICIAN had thought, and the second and most crucial being that Callum would not be the one to find Lancaster. Fighting his way through the corridors of the aging rebel vessel, Callum would kill scores of rebels as he hunted, but his prey had in truth eluded him. Instead, it would be Jamison that came upon Lancaster and his team as they were making their way to the ship’s bridge to deposit the prized data to their commander. Callum demanded Jamison not engage until he was with him, but MAGICIAN overruled the Beta Company Spartan and commanded the younger of the duo to engage as he had wished. Jamison would give Callum assurance that he had prepared him for this and that he would not fail. Pursuing their target, Jamison mowed down the rebel forces who attempted to intercept him, breaching the bridge before Lancaster could transmit the captured information and cutting down a large number of the bridge crew. As the command deck of the rebel warship went into chaos, Lancaster fled, rushing for the ship’s communications in hopes he might still get what they had come for to the other rebels, however, Jamison remained in hot pursuit. At the same time, Callum was desperately attempting to catch up to his partner, whilst Wayne now turned the tables and breached the systems of the rebel ship. Whilst disorienting, dividing, otherwise hampering the capabilities of Lancaster’s team to advance, the AI enabled Jamison to eradicate the remaining members of Lancaster’s personal detail and left only the rogue Spartan remaining to face off with the Gamma. Eventually, Lancaster ceased his running, having reached the ship’s communications, and confronted Jamison. The clash was vicious, with Lancaster utilizing black-market plasma weapons to take Jamison off guard and break his shielding before blitzing the younger Spartan. Massive even by Spartan standards in comparison to Jamison, Lancaster used his superior strength to batter Jamison. However, before any sort of killing blow could be delivered Jamison, using teachings passed onto him by Callum, turned the tide. Just barely outmaneuvering the larger Spartan, Jamison turned back his opponent’s blows and dealt several vicious blows to the rebel. With time running out for the rebels to claim any kind of victory, Lancaster became desperate to complete his mission and abandoned his attempt to claim another of his kind’s life in order to succeed. Breaking from their brawl, Lancaster blasted G144 with a shotgun scavenged from a corpse the Spartan-III had created, then made the last dash towards communications. Injured and stunned, Jamison cursed fervently to Callum, apologizing and assuring him he would not let Lancaster escape or transmit any of the data. Callum begged his partner to fall back to the I Am Your Father, swearing he would finish the fight himself and that all would be well. An instant later, several of the rebel’s archer missile batteries detonated. The official explanation was that in an attempt at final defiance, members of the rebel ship’s crew attempted to fire into the I Am Your Father at point-blank but had accidentally detonated several batteries instead when one Archer did not fire properly. There was truth to the claim, in the seconds prior, three Archers had fired into the I Am Your Father, ripping through several decks and killing nearly three hundred crew members, but they’d not been fired by desperate rebels. Instead, MAGICIAN had secretly tasked Wayne to carry out the attack, launching the missiles to cover up what in the eyes of Section III, was the greater of the losses suffered in that instant. In the blink of an eye, the section of the rebel warship which Jamison and Lancaster were inside erupted, tearing violently through the ship. Callum broke into fervent screaming as Jamison’s life signs winked out of existence and desperately attempted to open the bulkheads which had sealed him out of the void of space. The gamble MAGICIAN had taken would, in the end, have been for naught, as while Jamison was gone, Lancaster had seemingly survived, and though he had not managed to make a transmission, a damaged rebel dropship was already pulling in the rogue Spartan from the void. Callum was beyond caring, demanding Wayne get him outside so that he could find Jamison, or whatever remained of him. Though Spartan-G144’s life signs had vanished, there was still the possibility his armor had simply been heavily damaged and ceased broadcasting it, however small. In the end though, in the eyes of MAGICIAN, Wayne, and the Office of Naval Intelligence, this was secondary in importance to securing the stolen data and eliminating Lancaster. As such, Wayne took to lying. Fabricating data on the fly confirming Jamison’s death, and furthermore that Lancaster had likely been responsible for the detonation himself, the AI and MAGICIAN himself manipulated the Spartan’s grief with ease. Within moments, they had stirred Callum into a vengeful rage. Redirecting him to the nearest hangar, awaiting him was a single Pelican. At that same moment, UNSC reinforcements arrived in the system, and what had been for a moment and even fight quickly turned into a massacre. Lancaster’s dropship, already damaged and with no hope of making it to a friendly, slipspace capable, vessel, instead darted towards Harlan’s surface. B042 was, of course, hot on their tail. The insurrectionists were able to land atop one of the many ruined skyscrapers of the planet’s capital city, their dropship having barely held together during their descent through the atmosphere. Spotting the stragglers running from one ruined superstructure to the next, B042 leaped from the Pelican and dove down to confront the insurgents. Utilizing his MJOLNIR’s thruster systems and a repossessed DMR, Callum slowed his descent long enough to cut down two of the rebels as he fell, before marking his landing with the detonation of a well-placed frag at the feet of Lancaster’s comrades, as well as landing directly atop on of the insurgents, crushing her underfoot. In a stark reversal of his borderline animalistic behavior in the last of his vengeance-fueled confrontations, Callum was cold and largely silent. Dispatching the two survivors of Lancaster’s team still standing, and leaving the last to die from his wounds, B042 promptly shot Lancaster multiple times before the rebel Spartan closed the gap between them.   The final Spartan on Spartan engagement would bring the disastrous operation in, in a spectacularly brutal fashion. Capitalizing on Wayne’s capabilities to override limiters within his armor, the enhanced mobility provided by his armor’s thrusters, and his over a decade clashing with opponents both larger, stronger, and more naturally skilled than himself, Callum picked Lancaster apart. Quickly stripping away and destroying the data storage device housing the data Lancaster had fought so hard for, both MAGICIAN and Wayne insisted that B042 finish the rogue with haste. Instead, he prolonged the engagement, grievously injuring Lancaster with a combination of blades and his own hands. The rebel Spartan, again and again, was at Callum’s mercy, but in his rage, the Spartan-III was not content to let things end so simply. Lancaster, seeing an advantage, goaded B042, drawing out a more open rage more characteristic of Callum. As B042’s attacks became sloppy with his fury, Lancaster was able to secure the assault rifle of one of his fallen allies and rake an unshielded B042 with gunfire. Rather than relent, Callum instead became even more ferocious as the additional augmentations he’d served as the testbed for all those years ago, and in addition to a number of other grievous injuries, he took out the rebel’s eye. The clash came to its end as Lancaster was all but defeated, but rather than shoot Lancaster with the loaded sidearm well within his reach, Callum instead tried to once again close the gap between them so that he could kill the supposed murderer of his partner with his own hands. Before Callum could reach him, Lancaster allowed himself to fall from the skyscraper into the abyss of the twisted cityscape below, assumedly to his death. Callum move to pursue, but as the effects of the adrenal boost faded, drastic blood loss took its toll, and he collapsed. With the rogue Spartan written off as terminated, the rebel strike force that had been plaguing the UEG’s colonies decimated, and the NCA’s fledgling supersoldier program by and large destroyed, Operation: EPHIALTES was regarded as a complete success. The massive loss of UNSC personnel, including three Spartans, were written off as acceptable losses in comparison to what might’ve followed if the insurgents had been successful. MAGICIAN would find himself promoted for his success, and moved under the umbrella of the Office of Naval Intelligence’s Special Activities Division. In this new position, he would serve as one of several heads of the infamous and officially non-existent ‘Hangman’ unit, who he of course ensured that B042 was inducted to as well.
Hangman[]
Placed in the covert strike team dubbed ‘Executioner 2’, Callum would be little time to recuperate from the losses and injuries sustained against Lancaster. His new team, compromised of one near-mute, obscenely violent, ONI one-off known simply as Codename: DANTE, Estella Petrov, a borderline sociopathic Spartan-IV Headhunter, and Leela Patel, another Spartan-IV whose defining trait was how disturbingly well adjusted she was whilst simultaneously being the most dangerous. Among these three, Callum found little cause for camaraderie, let alone trust. But, luckily for him, he didn’t need to trust any of them, only to do his job. The missions they were dispatched upon were highly classified strikes on targets that otherwise would’ve caused no small amount of problems if they were dispatched more openly. However, these would not be human political dissidents as he had expected, but instead former Covenant species, often non-military. Where Jamison might’ve curtailed his more violent impulses before, and had him follow his conscious and demand a transfer, Callum alone agreed all too easily. Angrier than he had been in a long time, the Spartan had no objections with his being loosed against any and every alien threat ONI so decided.   The assortment of killers that made up Executioner 2 could scarcely be considered a team, let alone friends. Over the course of a year, dozens of attacks blamed on infighting, or the actions of xenophobic terror groups would be carried out by Executioner 2. Attempts at settlements on former human colonies would be bombed into nothing, outspoken kadions and packmasters would be violently assassinated, and scores of false flag attacks maintained the chaotic infighting plaguing many of the ex-Covenant species. Throughout the endeavor, Callum struggled to fully embrace the nature of the work. Routinely failing to complete assignments that required him to take a direct hand in the killing of the youngest of their targets. The adults, armed or not, were of no issue to the rampaging Spartan, but what threads of morality still held in his mind stopped him from fully giving in. It became quickly apparent that he was not suited to the task at hand, and that black operations were no longer suited him. However, for a Spartan with a record like his, imprisonment was more likely than retirement. Whilst failing to become more violent in the field, the emotional fallout of the loss of his partner, paired with the ever-growing frustration with the mission made the Spartan increasingly irritable, culminating in a violent encounter with Spartan Patel, who readily incapacitated him. With the reassignment of Callum impending, MAGICIAN became desperate to keep B042 on hand in order to secure him as a personal enforcer in the near future. Fate would seemingly cut the agent a break when the next operation to be brought before Executioner 2 would guarantee Callum’s commitment to not only the mission but MAGICIAN himself. Operation HOKUM was set to be a false flag operation targeting a prominent Sangheili family on the colony Shinogoro. The powerful kadion of the family had finally made his choice between ‘Mdama and ‘Vadam, with all reports agreeing he intended to swear his strength to the former. This kadion was Teka ‘Doram, the very same zealot who personally saw to the deaths FEUDAL Team, and Jamal-430. Exploiting the Spartan's need for revenge, MAGICIAN needed only to show Callum the dossier on ‘Doram for him to volunteer to spearhead the operation. Of course, given that the objective of their strike would be to falsely lay blame for the attack at the feet of the rivals of the ‘Doram, Callum would not be allowed to directly interfere, only to coordinate the assault itself from the ground. Alongside him, Spartan Patel would be deployed to provide backup should the operation go sideways, but Callum was well aware she was meant to keep him in check and prepared accordingly. The agents meant to conduct the attack, a mixture of elite sellswords and warriors of Doram’s many rivals were an unsavory bunch, however, they were more than willing to embrace the brutal nature of the assignment, the wholesale slaughter of their foes far from unheard of in their politics. For two days the Spartans carried out intense reconnaissance and evaluation of the keep’s defenses before laying out their plan for their strike force, having constructed a detailed plan for the attack. As the sun fell and their mercenaries moved into position, Patel readied to move to their exfiltration and made ready to ensure Callum would follow her there. However before the Spartan could take any actions to force Callum’s compliance, he had fastened an armor restraining bolt to her, leaving her trapped within her armor for the next two hours when the timed activation of the device would cease. Despite her vocal warnings and threats, Callum left her as she was and joined the band of bloodthirsty killers on their approach to Doram keep. Taking his place at the head of the cutthroats, the raid began in earnest. From all sides the keep was attacked, precision strikes piercing their defenses at every vulnerable point imaginable, and within the hour the fortress had been breached and swarmed with the butchers. In the ancient halls of the alien’s home, Callum was cold, efficient, and utterly ruthless. Gone were the days of a berserkers rage, and instead Callum was everything a Spartan was meant to be, much to the horror of every single being who crossed his path that night.   All it took to remove Callum's moral compunctions was that his victims be dear to those who'd wronged him, so it seemed. Just as the Sangheili they had contracted, Callum spared nothing and no one within the walls that crossed his path. Young, old, male or female, warrior or innocent, plasma fire would engulf them all the same as it had so many billions of humans before them. Deep within the keep, Callum would find two warriors guardian an elderly female and a number of young Sangheili, recognizing the female’s garb to mean she was the kadion’s mate. Callum wasted no time in striking down the two warriors, and every other soul in the hallway without exception, and as he’d hoped, the kadion came running. Face to face with Teka ‘Doram once again, the now MJOLNIR-clad Callum was quick to stir the warrior’s memory, reminding him how he had sworn to find him years ago. Drawing the ancestral energy blade that Teka had so generously left embedded in his abdomen on Earth, the Spartan and ‘Doram clashed for the final time. Already injured in the fighting, and overwhelmed with grief and rage at the murder of his mate, children, and subjects, the once feared blademaster was all but picked apart by the Spartan who he had not once but twice readily bested. The bout ended when Callum ran Teka through and finally avenged his dead. But as Teka faded away, so too did the righteous anger that had allowed the Spartan to sink to such depths. Alone in the burning keep, he became overwhelmed by the enormity of all he had done, and blindly wanded towards the ‘Doram’s meager vehicle yard, and sluggish fought his way through the keep’s Lich as the ‘Doram warriors attempted to put the aircraft to use in the defense of their home. Instead, Callum hijacked the massive dropship and made for orbit, lost in a silent haze. Patel, now free of her restraints, attempted to pursue him in their exfiltration craft, calling out to Callum over their line and attempting to sway him into stopping. Having nearly convinced the Spartan to surrender himself, she made a crucial error in attempting to console him by stating that what took place at the keep would not be held against him and that he shouldn’t be ashamed of being who he truly was. Something in her words struck Callum, and without any further response, he used every bit of knowledge he had gleaned about Covenant spacecraft and entered slipspace. Though MAGICIAN would frantically search for the now AWOL Spartan, he would fail to come up with a single lead, whilst Callum ventured to the former colony of Merken. There, he would finally visit The Missing Wall, a secret SPARTAN-III memorial that Jamison had once informed him of. There, he would carve his partner’s name onto the monument alongside so many others, including those of both Fireteam Bravo and FEUDAL Team, who had long ago been etched there by Spartans unknown. Callum remained in the cave housing the monument for nearly two days, contemplating his next move. He considered simply fleeing into the frontier, carving a life out for himself on the frontier as a mercenary, or something less violent as if he could ever do such a thing. In the end, Callum would leave the cave and return to UNSC space and surrender himself without resistance. Though MAGICIAN and a dozen other parties argued over what to do with the Spartan, in the end, Callum’s otherwise spotless record and highly accomplished performance record in the years following the war spared him a cell. Instead, Callum’s fate was one of his own choosing, assignment to Spartan Operations, as part of the UNSC Infinity’s compliment. On the Line[]
Personality[]
Early in life B042 was meek, nervous, and fearful, though ever kind. These traits made him a friend to many and as a target to more than a few, such as Abraham-B138. Though as time went on within Beta Company's training Callum would learn to harbor a grudge, against the Covenant as well as his tormentors that would dominate his mindset. The latter of which of course, began to suffer the consequences of this far sooner than the former. Early examples were his brutal assault of Spartan-B263 and his conscious plan to murder B138 on numerous occasions. Beyond his so-called allies, Callum’s wrath was at its most vicious when turned loose on the Covenant, with the Spartan displaying a high level of satisfaction in dispatching the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. This loathing would follow him into adulthood, compounded by the guilt and desire to avenge the ever-growing number of comrades who perished in his stead. By the time of the Human-Covenant War’s end, Callum’s intense xenophobia was more than enough to push him to carry out the orders of ONI Special Activities Division without hesitation until it was far too late. Beyond anger, guilt held strong sway over B042. Survivor’s guilt by far the most dominant, but guilt for his failure to stop the training of Delta Company, as well as for his failure to protect his brother from conscription into Gamma Company plagued him. In regards to more positive traits, Callum has shown on numerous occasions that he is fiercely protective of his comrades, especially of those younger than himself. Beyond his obvious desire to safeguard G043 upon their reunion, his relationship with G144 was perhaps an even more genuinely fraternal bond. In the cases of Merlin-D032 the dynamic became more parental with Callum’s eventual adoption of Andra-D054 being the ultimate fulfillment of that trait. When surrounded by the much younger Spartans of Delta Company, B042 began to consciously shift his outward personality, reshaping his demeanor based on a blend of SCPO Mendez, and Kurt Trevalyn himself. Though initially convinced it was nothing but a hollow veneer, the imitation grew to be a reality, and allowed Callum to overcome a number of his demons, and even eventually fall in love. Though warped by his experiences, and guilty of actions describable only as indefensible, Callum-B042 would grow from orphan to monster, to loving father in the span of a single lifetime, though he would be forever haunted by his sins and failings until the end of his days. Self-forgiveness, of course, has never been a Spartan trait. Relationships[]Fireteam Bravo[]
  Bravo gathered together. Fireteam Bravo was the first of many units Callum would come to see as his ‘family’. In the early days Callum lived in fear that his impulsivity, anxiety, and overall mediocrity would turn his teammates on him. Instead, they provided constructive criticism and helped B042 transform from a potential washout into a capable soldier all his own. However, the relationship was mutually beneficial, the four orphans supported and protected each other as if they were flesh and blood almost from the start. Where Abdul helped Callum become a more competent marksman, Callum helped him with his fear of abandonment and refused to let him ever face a punishment alone. Marcella, despite feeding the rage that would grow to define Callum ensured that he was always protected from his usual entourage of bullies, while Callum became the only person Marcella felt comfortable putting aside the ferocious façade she wore and opened up about the guilt she felt for surviving when her family did not. Finally, Deiter refused to allow B042’s self-loathing to consume him never allowed the young Spartan to give up, and Callum became B214’s greatest supporter when he doubted his own leadership. Each member helped the other in a dozen other ways, creating an incredibly strong bond between the Spartans. When they were picked apart in front of Callum during TORPEDO, the pain of his loss and guilt for surviving nearly drove him to suicide multiple times as late as 2551. Feudal Team[]Callum was assigned to FEUDAL at a crucial point in his life, following the trauma of TORPEDO and LONG WAY GONE, it became clear that if Callum was going to continue to be of use it would be best to have him in a team environment. It just so happened that Section III was in need of an operator to keep tabs on how SPECWARCOM was handling its Spartans, and Callum fit the bill. His relationship with each individual member of the unit was different, but all were of great importance to him. Their deaths combined with the manner in which the Human-Covenant War ended made Callum question his entire outlook on Spartanhood and service, nearly leading to his desertion. Daniel-A010[]
Jamison-G144[]
Jamison was in Callum’s eyes, his last hope. Though their relationship began on a sour note with their harsh deployment on the Gilgamesh colony, the two Spartans quickly began to bond over their situation and shared trauma. Jamison's relentless hope for a better galaxy, and light demeanor served as something of an anchor for the elder Spartan whilst his experience and firm hand helped the younger grow as a Spartan. Callum would form a strong emotional attachment to his partner, projecting the feelings of what he thought he had lost in his own younger brother onto G144, and became reliant on the younger Spartan for stability as well as fiercely protective of him. His apparent death during the hunt for Lancaster-205 devastated Callum, and made him far easier to push towards drastic action in the time afterwards prior to his reassignment to the Spartan Branch proper. Additionally, the fallout from Jamison's supposed death would have a dramatic impact on the B042's later relationships with his own brother, Jacob-G043, as well as with the likes of Merlin-D032 and later Andra-D054. G144's eventual reemergence as an agent of The Created, set on killing Callum also became the source of great mental strife for the Spartan, long after the conflict's resolution. Fireteam Stallion[]
Bridgette Keller[]
Armor[]
Weapons[]With a skill set focused on close quarters combat and prolonged brawls, Callum has a notable preference towards weaponry with high reliability and close range stopping power. Throughout the Human-Covenant War, Callum would carry a small armory's worth of firearms, blades, explosives, and other tools, constantly relying on the extra firepower to compensate for his lack of MJOLNIR which in turn lead to his increasingly more aggressive combat style.   Callum's typical loadout during the war Notably Callum made use of a MA5K carbine which he preferred for his familiarity with the weapon and its combination of reliability and versatility. Another trademark of the Spartan's was for a time, the Army-issued M45 Tactical Shotgun, but over time, Callum came to favor the M90 CAWS model once sported by Hastings-B206. Aside from the two firearms, the other mainstays of his arsenal are a pair of combat knives, one in particular having belonged to Abdul-B213 which he shows a particular attachment to. In addition, Callum would utilize a number of mission specific tools. Gallery[]
Trivia[]Literary Appearances[]
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