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- "Highly intelligent and possesses a keen eyesight, exhibits acute hand-eye coordination and dexterity."
- ―Doctor Catherine Halsey's notes on Joseph-122, prior to his conscription.
Chief Warrant Officer Joseph-122, born Joseph William Stuart, is a Spartan-II supersoldier of the United Nations Space Command's Naval Special Warfare Command. Joseph spent much of his early combat service as a part of Green Team, followed by a nearly 10-year period in Gold Team, after which he would move between multiple teams until the Battle of Reach|style=color:paleblue}} where he would be attached to Fred-104's Red Team, then separated into Beta-Red Team|style=color:paleblue}} under August-099.
A skilled marksman, Joseph wasn't known as a leader until after the Fall of Reach, having only prior commanded the temporary Omega Team whilst the rest of his team was participating in Operations: BLACKBEARD, ICE DANCE and SILENT STORM. When he was forced to take command of Carris-137 and James-005, the only known, active Spartans immediately after the battle (until the reappearance of Blue Team after Operation: FIRST STRIKE), in a reformed Green Team, later being joined by the long believed dead Zoe-014 during the Battle of Earth.
Biography[]
Early life and conscription[]
Joseph Stuart was born on the human Inner Colony of Camber on January 19th, 2511 to Jonathan and Elise Stuart, becoming their eldest child of three and their only son. Joseph was described as a caring older sibling to his twin sisters, Amanda and Lauren (born 2514) by his parents, often being trusted to care for the pair when their parents were at work. When he was only 5, Joseph would rescue Lauren when she fell through thin ice whilst the three siblings were playing. Joseph, without thinking for his own safety, immediately dived into the icy water as Amanda summoned their parents for assistance, who arrived just as Joseph broke the surface carrying an unconscious Lauren. Both were quickly hauled from the water and rushed to a hospital for treatment, where Joseph was both commended for his bravery and criticized for leaping into the icy water. Joseph responded to this by explaining that as the older brother, it was his 'job' to protect his younger siblings, however, he did acknowledge the brashness of his actions, and promised to be more careful in future. Joseph would be quickly discharged due to suffering no effects from his actions, with Lauren remaining in hospital, suffering from hypothermia, but made a full recovery and was discharged a week later.
Early in 2517, Joseph, due to the ice incident and the following extensive examination and lab tests, was identified as fitting the criteria for Doctor Catherine Halsey's SPARTAN-II program. His supporting school results which included a basic intelligence test identified him as an extremely talented child, further qualifying him as a candidate. Later, during a personal visit to Camber to observe him, Halsey noted how Joseph seemed to pay close attention to her and Lt. Jacob Keyes, despite the pair not interacting with him directly, something which she later noted as possibly requiring further observation after his conscription.
On September 17, 2517, Joseph was abducted by the Office of Naval Intelligence at the age of six to be conscripted into the SPARTAN-II program. He was then replaced with a flash clone and sent to Reach with the other Spartans. The flash clone who replaced Joseph would live for a further nine years after his abduction, succumbing to a debilitating lung disease in late 2526. The clone's death triggered a period of deep depression for his sisters and led to his parents to blame Camber's poor air quality. The family then relocated to Gannick 22.
Training[]
Like the other Spartan-II candidates, Joseph was trained on Reach by "dumb" AI Déjà and Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez, and participated in numerous training exercises. In training, Joseph immediately showed promise as a marksman, at one point briefly competing with Linda-058 for the position of the best sniper. Joseph was also found to be an adept pathfinder, due to his keen eyesight allowing him to spot distant or concealed targets that others might have missed. During one training exercise, Joseph and the other Spartans travelled to Emerald Cove for an underwater mission, where along with Fred-104 and Anton-044, stole Mendez's tanks and substituted them for the ones he had sabotaged, forcing Mendez to separate from the Spartan-II candidates, allowing them to live on their own for a few days before the latter returned with a small contingent of Tango company to 'recover them'.
During this time, he would form close friendships with Daisy-023, Alec-073, Ralph-103, Oscar-129, and Daniela-089, all of whom fostered a desire to escape and return to their families. Also during this time, he would develop a grudge against, Jai-006, Adriana-111, and Mike-120, who's multiple failed escape attempts he saw as a threat to his plans for escape, as despite his military indoctrination, he still subconsciously sought to 'protect' his sisters.
In 2525, he and the other candidates underwent a series of augmentations to improve their abilities aboard the ONI Medical Facility Endurance, later describing the experience as 'hellish' due to the invasive and painful nature of the procedures. Joseph was among the ones that survived and were not crippled or killed by the procedure, but upon learning of the death of Alec-073 and the crippling or death of countless more, he and his remaining close friends decided to make an escape attempt in response.
Escape[]
- "Of the five escapees from the facility, only subject Joseph-122 has been captured."
- ―UNSC radio transmission after Joseph's capture.
Following their augmentations procedures, Joseph along with Daisy, Ralph, Oscar, and Daniela moved to put their plan into action. After they had been released from the stations surgical wing, but before the rest of the surviving Spartan-II's had been reassembled, Joseph and the other four Spartans rebelled against their trainers, holding them at gunpoint in front of Dr Halsey, in order to escape. Halsey granted them freedom, which allowed them to escape into the stations hanger and steal a pelican. However shortly after exiting the Stations perimeter, they were engaged by ONI Baselard fighters under orders to disable the Spartans craft for their 'reacquisition'. Fortunatly Daisy was able to evade most of the attacks and enter Reach's atmosphere, but due to damage was forced to perform a crash landing. After fleeing the crash site, the quintet rested during the night, the group split up and headed towards the nearest starports.
Unknown to Joseph, one of the other escapee's had planted a tracking chip on Joseph as he slept, using him as sacrificial bait. Due to being able to track Joseph, Mendez concentrated his forces on capturing the errant Spartan. Despite this advantage, Joseph put up a considerable struggle before his recapture, requiring the use of stun rounds to bring him down. Due to the difficulty in his recapture, his pursuers knocked him unconscious before brutally beating him. Intervening upon arrival, Mendez sent Joseph back to the complex to receive urgent medical care. Joseph fell coma for the next four days, waking up in the complex’s medical wing.
Punishment and Investigation[]
Joseph was punished the harshest out of the three returned escapees, being confined to solitary for two months on reduced rations, under the guise of being under observation for augmentation side-effects. After he was released from his punishment he was ordered to only repeat the official cover story. However, aware that he had been betrayed, Joseph was determined to find the truth. After a week of plotting and recuperation, Joseph sprang into action, setting a fire in a rarely used area of the complex and disabling the fire suppression system as a diversion. He was able to enter the medical wing unnoticed as the guards and Déjà were busy dealing with the fire. Upon searching, he located Oscar and Daniela's corpse's in the morgue, the attached reports, revealing they had committed suicide instead of causes that he had been told. Further investigation resulted in him locating Ralph, very much alive undergoing a psych evaluation. After some discussion and threatening on his part, Ralph divulged the truth. That Daisy had been the one who had betrayed him, in addition to which he told him of the existence of the flash-clones, and the true nature of their 'conscription'.
Soon after Mendez entered due to Joseph having been spotted on a camera concealed in Ralph's room, whereupon Joseph was escorted to Dr. Halsey's office. However, using the information Ralph had provided, which she confirmed, the two struck a deal. With Joseph not divulging the truth in return for his actions going unpunished and that he be allowed to speak with Daisy, who was being also being kept in solitary at that time. In her cell, Joseph initially acted calm before revealing to Daisy that he knew of her betrayal. He proceeded to verbally bombard his 'former' friend for her actions, who attempted to justify herself. Joseph then attacked her, using his superior physical condition to gain the upper hand, delivering a substantial beating, before Mendez and several guards restrained him. Mendez verbally warned Joseph for his actions, before released him. Indicating that he agreed with Joseph’s reasoning for his actions.
As a result of this, Joseph refused to interact with Daisy after her release, despite Daisy's attempts to do so. This resulted in speculation by the other Spartan-II's, the popular theory being that the pair, like Margret-053 and Otto-031, had been engaged in a secret relationship. However, this could not be proved.
Spartan Service[]
Following his return to the surviving Spartan-II's, Joseph after some discussions with John-117 was assigned to a restructured Green Team under Kurt-051 by John, with his new teammates being Solomon-069, Malcolm-059, Anton-044 and Carris-137. Due to Kurt being the most charismatic of the Spartan-II's, influenced John's decision, as he saw Joseph as being in a 'bad way'.
At first, Joseph had a hard time adjusting to his new team having never been personally close to any of his new teammates. As a result, he kept to himself. As time passed, Joseph formed a budding friendship with Carris, who had genuinely lost her friends as a result of her augmentations. The two kept each other company in the early days of the reformated Green Team. The new friendship helped both Spartans integrate better with their new team-mates and drew Joseph out of the 'slump' he fell into after the failed escape.
Operation: CERBERUS[]
- Main article: Operation: CERBERUS
In late September of 2525, Joseph would participate in Operation: CERBERUS, a strike mission to kill or capture a second high ranking member of the United Rebel Front, Major Leonard Klein, Watts' designated second-in-command and his natural successor, who's location had been gathered during Operation: TALON a few weeks prior. The operation would be on the planet Eridanus II, in the Luxor Spaceport, where Klein and a small but well-equipped team of infiltrators had made plans to leave the planet, having waited out the search teams following the Bombing of Elysium City a few months prior. Due to the public nature of the operation, Green Team were assigned ODST armour for the mission, instead of their normal stealth suits. As the team marksman, Joseph, under the callsign of Green Five, was located on top of the spaceports control tower, the highest position on hand. Primarily being tasked with providing observation and, if necessary, overwatch fire to the other members of Green Team, who were waiting in ambush within the terminal complex, ready to intercept Klein and his team as they made their way to their private ship.
Unfortunately, things would go awry from the start, Klein and his men had been tipped off regarding the Spartans presence at the spaceport, but due to the information identifying the Spartans as an 'unknown commando force', Klein chose to instead attack the Spartans preemptively, attempting to avenge Watts' capture or secure bargaining chips he could use for his superiors freedom. To this effort, he endeavoured to position members of a local insurrectionist cell at the spaceport and would use himself and his team as bait to draw the Spartans into a trap, planning to strike and capture the Spartans before they could react.
Joseph would at first find himself pinned down by Insurrectionist counter-snipers, which he dealt with as quickly as he could. However, Joseph would then find himself under direct attack from the team of Insurrectionist soldiers who had been sent to capture him. Outnumbered, with more Insurrectionists on the way and lacking a suitable weapon for a CQC fight, Joseph instead leapt off the control tower onto the adjoining terminal roof, a jump of around 30 meters, a feat which would have injured most men, but thanks to his augmentations and training, Joseph avoided serious injury as a result of this action.
Joseph would then provide supporting fire for Green Team who had been pinned down when they attempted to capture Klein. Klein, meanwhile, had realised the situation as hopeless and aware that local UNSC Forces had sealed a perimeter around the spaceport, attempted to escape in another shuttle located on the far side of the complex. However, Kurt would order Joseph to pursue Klein, citing he was the only member of the team who was free to do so. Within a span of a few minutes, Joseph would catch Klein and his bodyguards before they reached the shuttle. With the element of surprise, Joseph eliminated Klein's bodyguards, incapacitated Klein by shooting him in the leg, and apprehended with ease. Once Klein was secure, Green Team disengaged from the enemy and retreated to a waiting ONI Owl dropship moments before local UNSC forces moved to neutralise the remaining hostiles.
The mission would be considered a success as the information Klein possessed would lead to the successful aversion of multiple URF terrorist attacks. It would also earn Joseph some praise for his quick thinking in disengaging from an unfavourable fight in an 'unconventional manner' and for his skilful shooting which had protected the members of his team, and led to the capture of Klein. However, as a result of jumping off the roof and the chase that followed, Joseph would be restricted to light duties for the next few weeks due to damage incurred to his knees as a result of his actions.
Human-Covenant War[]
On November 2nd, the Spartan-IIs were briefed on the existence of the Covenant and the nature of this new and highly dangerous threat. Joseph would at first be sceptical of the validity of the reports, however, as Admiral Stanforth briefed them, he would begin to understand how dangerous a threat the Covenant actually posed, and that the war that he and the other Spartans had been conscripted to fight, was now but a distant memory.
Battle of Chi Ceti[]
In Late November, Joseph would be aboard the frigate, UNSC Commonwealth when the ship encountered the Covenant warship, Unrelenting beginning the Battle of Chi Ceti. During the battle, Joseph along with a handful of the other Spartans assisted the ship's damage control teams, battling several electrical fires which had broken out inside the ship, and helping rescue several crewmembers injured during the opening engagement.
After the Unrelenting disengaged from the Commonwealth, Joseph and the other Spartans would land at the Damascus Materials Testing Facility to collect their brand new MJOLNIR Mark IV Powered Assault Armour and after some time to acclimatise to the enhanced capabilities of the new armour, he along with the other Spartans would move to commence their EVA assault of the Unrelenting. Joseph, along with the rest of Green Team, would assault from the ship's starboard side in conjunction with Gold Team, whilst Red and Blue Teams assaulted the ship from the port side. This decision annoyed Joseph as it meant sharing the same Pelican dropship as Daisy, but in an effort to be co-operative under the circumstances of the mission, he tolerated her presence but refused to interact with her in any way.
Unfortunately, Joseph and all the other Spartans bar John-117, Kelly-087 and Samual-034, would fail to board the Unrelenting and so would be left to drift in space until they could be recovered following the destruction of the target ship. Joseph was at first calm with this situation, being confident in the abilities of John, Kelly and Samual to carry out the objective, and so was content to wait, even joking with Carris that he would 'try and get some sleep'. This had been his plan until he collided with an also drifting Daisy, who decided to take the opportunity to attempt to heal their relationship by communicating through the MJOLNIR's Private Com so that no one could hear them. Joseph stewed in silence as Daisy attempted to converse with him, before he angrily told her that he didn't want to speak with her again, unless it was mission-critical. This brought an end to Daisy's attempts to converse with him, just as the recovery Pelican arrived to pick up the floating Spartans.
After the battle, Joseph and the other Spartans held a private funeral service for Sam aboard the UNSC Persian Gate a few days after the battle. After, Joseph along with Kurt, would help John and Kelly come to terms with Sam's death, explaining that he was simply returning the favour that John had done for him after the augmentations.
Operation: WATCHTOWER[]
In Feburary of 2526, Joseph along with Carris was pulled from Green Teams roster in preparation for its participation in Operation: BLACKBEARD (later being extended due to Operations: ICE DANCE and SILENT STORM), joining Arthur-079, Vinh-030 and James-005, who had likewise been removed from their own teams. In response to twelve Spartans being unavailable for the immediate future, it was decided to group these five available Spartans into a 'scratch' team for deployment elsewhere, with Joseph being placed in command due to his handling of the situation during Operation: CERBERUS, under the callsign of Omega Team, a here until unused designation.
This decision would bear fruit when, in March, Omega Team was dispatched to participate in Operation: WATCHTOWER, to secure the wreck of a recently shot down DAV-class light corvette in the Theata-Ducaris system, helping to capture its wreck and its surviving important contents and later preventing its destruction by the use of a Covenant Anti-matter bomb. Following this Joseph and Omega Team were assigned to guard the site until ONI had completed salvage operations which extended into April, with only small skirmishes taking place between the Spartans and the ships surviving crew. Despite its success, Operation: WATCHTOWER was overshadowed by the success of Operation: Silent Storm which resulted in severe damage to the Covenants immediate strength in addition to boosting morale across the UNSC and yielding more useful captured equipment and data. Soon after, Omega Team was disbanded with Joseph and his temporary teammates returning to their respective original teams.
Battle of Albion[]
In 2530, Green Team would be dispatched along with Blue Team to the outer colony of Albion, being tasked with helping repulse the Covenant assault on the planet, and to assist in the evacuation efforts. Green Team would fight several defensive operations centred around the planet's capital city, New Dover, preventing the Covenant from overrunning the primary evacuation site. However, civilian casualties were still high, due to the presence of a CCS-class battlecruiser above the city (denying orbiting UNSC warships a clear shot to shoot the ship down) which would continuously bombard the city, whilst its compliment Type-26 Banshee fighters harassed the evacuation transports, shooting down the majority. Eventually, the UNSC was able to deal with this threat, using six Paris-class Frigates to drive the ship out over the bay that New Dover was situated on, allowing a pair of Marathon-class cruisers to shoot down the ship with a combined MAC barrage from orbit.
During the battle, Joseph would encounter a pair of children, a boy and a girl, whose parents had been killed by the Covenant earlier in the battle. Joseph, with no support available, personally escorted the two children to an evacuation point, having to engage in a firefight with a covenant patrol in the process. During which, he was surprisingly aided by the children who, despite either being no more than 8-years old, had picked up pistols from fallen police officers and in a stroke of good fortune, had been both trained by the girl's father in how to shoot them. Joseph succeeded in escorting the children to the evacuation point, and after relieving them of the pistols and genuinely wishing them good luck, placed the pair aboard a waiting transport, which thanks to the CCS having been destroyed the day prior, was able to escape the planet successfully.
Battle of Vodin[]
Following the Battle of Albion, Joseph would be sent to the colony of Vodin along with a reshuffled Green Team, now led by Joshua-029. Joseph spent much of the battle rotating between blunting Covenant attack, evacuating colonists and assisting in the destruction of key Covenant equipment and encampments. However, towards the end of the battle, Joseph, a qualified high-altitude combat operations specialist, was tasked to ascend Vodin's only orbital elevator to enforce the Cole protocol on an unmanned freighter docked there, which due to damage to the elevator, could not be remotely wiped.
Joseph, under the command of Randall-037, and along with James-005 would at first attempt to ascend the structure using one of the lift cars, due to a nearby Corvette making an insertion by Pelican unfeasible. However, the damage to the elevator had disabled the structures power system, thereby rendering the lifts unserviceable. Instead the three Spartans were forced to ascend the structure by hand, which, even with an experimental parafoil that each of them was carrying, was a dangerous endeavour. Fortunately, all of the Spartans successfully reached where the freighter was docked without incident, however, soon after a Covenant strike team would arrive, having been tasked with recovering the data the Spartans had been sent to destroy.
A vicious firefight broke out, with Joseph and Randall holding off the larger Covenant force, whilst James boarded the freighter to either wipe the data from its systems, or to destroy the entire the vessels data storage. However, the use of explosives by the covenant provided a far greater danger, causing the already damage elevator to begin to break apart, throwing Randall and several Elites from the structure when the skyhook they were fighting on collapsed suddenly. Alone and badly outnumbered, Joseph made a fighting retreat to the freighter, where he and James made a plan to escape the now collapsing elevator by using one of the ship's lifeboats to blast themselves clear of the structure. The pair would narrowly succeed in their plan, with Joseph narrowly avoiding a strike from an energy sword by the lifeboats door sealing behind him, moments before the craft launched, triggering a full collapse of the structure, which plunged into the planets atmosphere, along with the still attached freighter.
Battle of Jericho VII[]
In 2535, Joseph was deployed to Jericho VII in the Lambda Serpentis system for Operation: FALLEN WALLS. Now operating under the callsign, Green-Four, he and Green Team were assigned the task preventing the advance of Covenant ground forces on the planet, and to attempt to force the enemy to commit their reserves. So as to reduce the opposition to Red Teams attack on their staging area, once Blue Team had attacked and drawn away their rearguard, which consisted of their remaining units.
Joseph would primarily focus his efforts on removing high ranking targets, primarily Elite Majors and officers, in order to sow chaos in the Covenant ranks, allowing the rest of Green Team and their allied Marine forces to engage the enemy more easily. However, his greatest achievement during the battle was scored when he assassinated the Elite General commanding the army, using an M99 Stanchion at a range of 9,714 meters (9.7km), which resulted in a total breakdown of the enemy command structure, forcing the Covenant to halt their advance until this could be restored.
Despite this critical blow, the UNSC Navy was unable to maintain control of the space around Jericho VII, forcing the UNSC to withdraw all remaining ground forces before abandoning the colony. However, due to the Covenant Army's lack of leadership, the Marines and Spartans were able to withdraw in good order with little harassment from the enemy.
Battle of Eirene[]
Later in late 2535, Joseph was sent to the outer colony of Eirene, as a part of a multi-team deployment to repel a Covenant attack on the planet's surface. He, along with Green Team, was assigned to defend evacuation points from Covenant attacks and to assist in the evacuation of civilians and wounded personnel. During this period, Joseph discovered Ralph-103, now known as Ralph Parish, serving as a Marine Sergeant under his adopted parent's surname. The pair quickly struck up a friendly rapport, though the other members of Green Team remained oblivious to this.
During the final day of the battle, Covenant forces broke through the overstretched UNSC defensive line. Joshua committed Green Team to plug the gaps in the line to cover the final UNSC evacuations. With Joseph working with engineers to delay Covenant advances by collapsing buildings to block their routes to the evacuation points. Forced them into kill zones set up by UNSC forces that were reinforced with rest of Green. During this, Ralph informed him that he had made contact with Daisy and the remnants of Gamma company and was attempting to evacuate them from behind Covenant lines. Despite Joseph's warnings of the extreme danger he was entering, Ralph refused to listen before losing contact. Soon after UNSC fully withdrew from the system, with the Spartans being the final unit to leave. Delayed only John, who had been sent to locate the still missing Daisy. Upon his return, only John disembarked, symbolically leaving Daisy's body lying the blood tray.
Burying the Hatchet[]
Following the battle, Joseph kept away from his fellow Spartans as they processed Daisy's death. Having lost any sympathy for her, only being affected by Ralph's loss, the last of his original friends, leaving him the only survivor of the escape attempt. However, whilst sorting through Daisy's few possessions, Sheila-065 discovered a data file addressed to Joseph in the event of her death. Which he begrudgingly listened to, after being pressured by his teammates. Predictably the file contained an apology from Daisy for her betrayal of him years earlier and a request that he 'forgive her'. This only frustrated Joseph and prompted him angrily to shout at the file.
However, this drew the attention of the nearby Carris, who came to investigate, being concerned for him. Asked Joseph to explain what had really happened to sour the pair relationship, with him remaining silent. Carris brought up the theory of them having a secret relationship. Listing of the variations in the theory. Which ranged from her dumping him and then trying to get him back. To her cheating on him with one of their mutual friends who had perished during augmentations. Eventually, Joseph's patience ran out, snapping at Carris, who continued to press him for details, with him accidentally stating, that Daisy had 'betrayed him'. Carris, continued to dig, eventually breaking through Joseph's attempts at dissuasion, finally revealing the truth. Much to her surprise at the reality. Though due to the indoctrination she had undergone, the weight of this information was lost on her.
However, after this, she asked him what he would have done had he escaped. With Joseph eventually replying that he would, most likely, would have shot himself, like Oscar and Daniela. Using this Carris was able to make him see that Daisy, despite her selfish intentions, had arguably saved his life. A fact he initially denied, before breaking down in tears. With Carris comforting him. After she agreed to not reveal the truth. The pair concocted a cover story to explain Joseph’s change of perspective. Deciding to embrace the popular theory, of the pair being in a relationship that turned sour. Though he insisted that the reason should not pin the blame on Daisy. Later, without Carris, Joseph visited Daisy's corpse, which had been placed in cryo storage by ONI. Apologising to her, finally burying the hatchet.
Gold Team[]
With the death of Daisy, Gold Team required a replacement Spartan to fill the vacancy left by her. Due to its larger size, it was decided that a member of Green Team would be transferred to Gold Team. Unexpectedly, Joseph volunteered to take the transfer. Prompting concern and surprise by the other Spartans, especially from Carris, as a result. However, the transfer was approved, with him taking the vacant position of Gold-Five.
Gold Team was at-first, not pleased with Joseph being Daisy’s replacement. Due to their close relationship to Daisy, they had formed a collective disliking of Joseph. With only his former teammate Solomon-069 offering a lukewarm reception. Though with time and effort, Gold Team began to warm to Joseph. Valuing his skills as a sniper and pathfinder, helped by his genuineness to apologise for his falling out with Daisy.
Battle of Bastion[]
In 2542, Joseph along with Gold Team deployed to the besieged colony of Bastion, a major inner colony transit hub. Due to Covenant air cover, the Team was forced to deploy to the planet in SOEIV Drop pods, from the Carrier UNSC Randolph. During the drop, the pod carrying Gold-Three, Maria-062, malfunctioned causing it to spin violently out of control, before crashing at high speed into a building two kilometres from the planned drop point.
Joseph along with the rest of Gold Team rushed to their teammate's aid, fighting through covenant resistance. Arriving at Maria's position, he along with Sheila held off the covenant that had perused them, whilst Arthur and Solomon searched for Maria. They reported on her discovery, that her helmet had been cracked open by the impact, and required urgent medical treatment.
With a badly wounded member and under fire from Banshee fighters, the team carried the comatose Maria to the nearest medical post for life-saving surgery with Joseph taking point. After discharging Maria to the care of the combat surgeons, he and Gold Team attacked and destroyed the main Covenant AA Battery. Longsword fighters clearing the skies shortly after, allowing Maria and other critically wounded UNSC personnel to be evacuated to the orbiting UNSC Hopeful where she could be properly treated for her injuries
After the battle, Joseph learned that Maria had been diagnosed with trauma to the frontal lobe. This had radically affected her personality, and more alarmingly, had left her with an inability to cause harm to another living being. As a result of these injuries, the UNSC deemed her no longer fit for combat service and withdrew her from deployments indefinitely. Following a restructure of Gold Team, Arthur took Maria's callsign of Gold-Three, whilst he took Arthur's vacant callsign of Gold-Four.
Battle of Miridem[]
In mid 2544 Joseph was deployed to the planet Miridem along with Blue Team to support UNSC operations groundside. During Operation: DREADNAUGHT he and Gold Team worked as a diversionary force to allow Blue Team to infiltrate and destroy a Covenant Forward Operating Base, in addition to a crippled CCS-Battlecruiser that had been docked there.
Shortly afterwards, Gold Team was ordered to ensure the enforcement of the Cole Protocol at ONI Base Citadel, and to evacuate a priority one package, dubbed 'Charlie Hotel'. Upon arrival it was discovered that Charlie Hotel was in fact Doctor Halsey, who had been conducting research at the facility prior to the attack on Miridem. Joseph along with Sheila would serve as escort for the doctor, whilst Solomon and Arthur completed the mission at Citadel base, a decision which Joseph privately resented, due to his knowledge of some of the Spartan programs dirty laundry, preferring instead to remain at Citadel.
However, whilst enroute to the designated evacuation site, Joseph was incapacitated when an enemy sniper shot him through his left knee with a Type-31 needle rifle, destroying the joint. Sheila, after neutralising the hostile, dragged Joseph into cover where she and Halsey applied first aid to the best of their abilities. However, due to the proximity of an artery the pair could not fully stop the bleeding in an attempt to prevent cutting circulation to the limb. As a result of blood loss, Joseph began hallucinating whilst phasing in and out of consciousness before Kelly arrived and was able to administer additional aid to stop the blood loss. After being stabilized, Kelly transported Joseph back to Citadel Base where he could be given a blood transfusion before being evacuated to the orbiting prowler UNSC Sphinx along with the other Spartan-II’s along with Sheila’s body, who had fallen in combat after leaving Joseph, whilst ensuring Halsey’s escape from the planet.
Due to requiring specialised surgery not available on a Prowler, Joseph was unable to participate in the following Operation: WARM BLANKET, despite his protests that he was fit for combat. As a result he was forced to remain aboard the Sphinx, observing the operation from the vessel's bridge in addition to the deaths of both Solomon and Arthur, leaving him the sole member of Gold Team. Following the recovery of John, Kelly and Fred, Joseph was transferred to Blue Teams quarters for the rest of the campaign and the voyage back, as due to his history of losing all his teammates, it was decided to keep him under observation. This proved to be a wise move as Joseph's mental state began to degrade noticeably as he stopped sleeping entirely, instead seeking to isolate himself from his fellow Spartan's, a move which the members of Blue Team, under the direction of Doctor Halsey, sought to prevent, presumably to avert a repeat of Oscar and Daniella, 19-years prior.
Rehabilitation[]
Personality and traits[]
Joseph speaks with a dialect which hints at him having a Northern British ancestry, although this is unconfirmed. He prefers to be called by his full name, "Joseph" refusing to be called by shortened versions such as "Joe" or "Joey" perceiving them to be childish.
Joseph is noted for his dislike of cold weather environments, specifically ice and snow. This is due to retaining his childhood memories and experiences, owing to having to dive into icy water to rescue his sister. A sentiment that was added to after his knee injury on Miridem, which despite his suits environmental systems, would often ache when in cold weather.
Relationships[]
During his early life as a Spartan, Joseph tended to interact with only those within his close circle of friends, which consisted, of Daisy-023, Alec-073, Ralph-103, Oscar-129 and Daniela-089. However, after the deaths of Alec, Oscar and Daniela, Ralph's discharge, and Daisy's betrayal, Joseph would become a loner for the following few months, until he was assigned to Green Team by John-117, who was concerned for Joseph's mental well being, having assumed his change in personality to be a result of him losing 4 of his friends due to augmentations, with his 'falling out' with Daisy to be a symptom of this.
This move would prove fruitful as, overtime, Joseph would begin to pull himself out of the slump he had fallen into, forming new friendships with the other Spartan-IIs, specifically in Carris-137, who like him had lost all of her friends due to the augmentation procedures.
Spartan-II[]
James-005[]
Zoe-014
- "You know, with his personality he'd have been one hell of a spook."
- ―Zoe-014 on Joseph's personality.
During their basic training, Zoe and Joseph interacted on a minimum level, limited only to joint exercises, prior to her 'death'. However, with Zoe's re-emergence following the Battle of Reach, the pair began to interact more directly, with Joseph initially serving as a mediator between her and her former best-friend Carris-137, eventually allowing the pair to mend their friendship. As ONI liaison officer, Joseph, as Green Team's leader, would often consult with her on matters of intelligence related to missions and strategy.
Zoe is noted to have expressed that with his ability to hold grudges, his analytical mind, and a penchant for being a puppet master, he would have made for a fearsome ONI agent.
Daisy-023[]
- "You stabbed me in the back! and for what? I know about the clones, Ralph told me everything!"
- ―Joseph berating Daisy after her betrayal.
Joseph and Daisy had a positive relationship during training, this was due to a mutual desire to escape and return to their homes and families. However, their relationship soured after the escape attempt, where Daisy used Joseph as bait, by placing a chip on him so that the ONI recovery teams could find him, in order to give herself and the other escapees a better chance at successfully escaping Reach. After learning of her betrayal, Joseph would confront her in her cell, angrily berating her what she had done to him. However, when Daisy tried to defend herself and justify her actions, Joseph attacked her and beat her severely, before being restrained by Chief Mendez and several guards.
After this point, Joseph would refuse to interact with Daisy except in a professional manner and would ignore any attempts by Daisy to heal their relationship, and would refuse to comment on 'what had happened' when asked by any other Spartans. However, after Daisy's death in 2535, Joseph found that she had left him a data file, and after some persuasion by John-117 and Kelly-087, he eventually watched the file, finding it to be an apology by Daisy, where she admitted that she had been wrong to do what she had done and asked for his forgiveness. This only served to annoy him further, as he still refused to forgive her and caused him to verbally abuse his dead ex-friend. However, his teammate Carris-137 would overhear his ranting, and after making Joseph reveal the real reason behind their falling out (in the process confiding in her the secret of the flash clones, the real causes Oscar and Daniela's deaths and Ralph's removal from the program). She would point out that Daisy's actions had likely saved his life, and advised him to finally bury the hatchet, which with his newfound clarity, he was able to do. Afterwards, Joseph would try to carry on her legacy by volunteering to transfer to a now understaffed Gold Team, the team Daisy had been attached to for her entire Spartan service.
Alec-073[]
Joseph and Alec were close during training, often sharing jokes when in their free time, his death during augmentations would hit Joseph hard and would serve as a contributing factor in the breakout a few weeks later.
Daniela-089[]
Joseph and Daniela had a positive relationship during training, this was due to a mutual desire to escape and return to their homes and families. Following the breakout, Joseph would be told that Daniela had been killed in a firefight with agents sent to 'reacquire' her. However, when Joseph was looking for evidence to tell him who had betrayed him, he found Daniela's corpse in the morgue, and after reading the autopsy report, found that death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Kelly-087[]
Ralph-103[]
Joseph and Ralph had a positive relationship during training, this was due to a mutual desire to escape and return to their homes and families. Following the breakout, Joseph would be told that Ralph had been killed after a fight with agents sent to 'reacquire' him. However, when Joseph was looking for evidence to tell him who had betrayed him, he found Ralph in the medical wing undergoing a psychological evaluation, this would cause their relationship to become briefly stressed due to Joseph, at the time, not knowing who had betrayed him. However, after learning that it had been Daisy who had been responsible, they would eventually part on good terms when Ralph was discharged on psychological grounds. Joseph was one of only two Spartans that knew Ralph was alive after Doctor Halsey had him marked as having died from augmentation complications in order to cover his removal from the program.
In 2535, the two would meet once again during the Battle of Eirene, where Ralph was serving as a Marine Sergeant under the name Ralph Parish, and upon learning of Ralph's death near the end of the battle (under his new identity), Joseph would become saddened at the news of the last of his few 'original' friends from training.
Fred-104[]
John-117[]
Oscar-129[]
Joseph and Oscar had a positive relationship during training, this was due to a mutual desire to escape and return to their homes and families. Following the breakout, Joseph would be told that Oscar had been killed in a firefight with agents sent to 'reacquire' him. However, when Joseph was looking for evidence to tell him who had betrayed him, he found Oscar's corpse in the morgue, and after reading the autopsy report, found that death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Carris-137[]
During the early part of their service with the Spartan-II Program, Joseph and Carris interacted very little, limited to only joint exercises. After augmentations and reassignment to Green Team, the pair began to communicate more frequently bonding over the mutual losses both had incurred either during or after augmentations, eventually becoming close friends. Carris became Josephs sole confidant to the escape attempt he had made in 2525 and helped him to process the residual effects of that incident, eventually leading to his forgiveness of the recently deceased Daisy-023, and indirectly led to his voluntary reassignment to Gold Team soon afterwards.
During the final days of the Human-Covenant war, Joseph and Carris would return to working together in the same team, being attached to August-099's Beta-Red Team during the Fall of Reach in 2552. Following which the pair continued to work together in a reformed Green Team and would ironically play reverse rolls during the fallout of the re-emergence of the long thought dead Zoe-014, with Joseph acting as a calming voice of reason. This influence would cool tensions between the two, eventually allowing for Zoe's integration into the team for the rest of the war.
Often at times Joseph and Carris can be found having private conversations, not privy to any of their fellow Spartans. Additionally, Joseph is one of the few people Carris trusts to help apply her distinctive Blue hair-dye streak.
Spartan-III[]
Skills and abilities[]
Joseph is regarded as one of the top Spartan-II marksmen, although not as skilled as Linda-058, many trusted his shooting prowess and deadly aim when the situation required it. Joseph is also known as an adept pathfinder, with a keen eye for identifying enemy ambushes and high-value units. The combination of skills led to him being primarily responsible for stalling the Covenant advance during the Battle of Jericho VII when he identified and subsequently eliminated the Elite General commanding the army, forcing them to halt until a replacement could be found.
Joseph has also shown to possess leadership skills which until after the Fall of Reach had remained undiscovered until Joseph was assigned command of the reformed Green Team by Ayrton-A384. Despite his lack of experience as a Team Leader, he is considered by many to be SpecWarfare Group 3's third-in-command, often serving as the voice of logic.
Physical description[]
Joseph has green eyes and blonde hair and stands at 207 centimetres (6 feet 9.5 inches) and weighs 129.4 kilograms (285.3 pounds) out of armour. Joseph is described as having a rugged face with watchful eyes and keeps his hair in a long crew cut, paired with a well-trimmed full beard, both of which drew some ire from more 'by the book' Spartans.
Like many of his fellow Spartan-IIs, Josephs skin is covered in surgical scars from the augmentation procedures and from combat wounds, but unlike most, his skin is noticeably less pale due to having to spend significant periods out of his MJOLNIR armour. Originally this was due to having serious knee surgery as a result of his injuries from the Battle of Miradem in 2544, which kept him out of action until months after the battle and would require him to have additional physical fitness exams, which would also require him to be out of his armour.
Equipment[]
Like most Spartan-II's Joseph wore a standard olive-green set of MJOLNIR armour, wearing the Mark IV model for the majority of his service career. During this time, he wore a variety of Mjolnir armour variants, with him taking a preference to the Commando helmet variant, adding the UA/FC-I[2] package to better suit his needs as a sniper and pathfinder. This was worn with a standard set of MJOLNIR, with the only other addition being a Tactical/Patrol chest rig.
In 2552 his worn-out Mark IV was replaced with a set of Mark V armour in preparation for Operation: Red Flag. He retained this set of armour for the rest of the Human-Covenant War, fighting with it during the Battle of Reach, which caused severe but repairable damage, and later the Sol Campaign. Following the battle of Reach, Joseph along with the other surviving Spartan-II's was meant to have been reissued with brand-new Mark VI armour, but when the Battle of Earth commenced ONI Materials group had not manufactured him a set. Instead of taking a set meant for one of his deceased comrades, he chose to retain his battered but operational Mark V armour, which was repaired and retrofitted into Mark VI by Ayrton-A384 and ONI technicians.
Post-war Joseph as one of the few operational Spartans at that time was reassigned to SPECWAR Group 3 as the team leader of Green Team, with his armour becoming more 'personalised' in a reflection of the more diverse sets of Armour that the surviving Spartan-III Commando's operated.
Joseph would primarily operate either an SRS99-AM sniper rifle, modified with an expanded 8-round magazine or an M392 DMR with an extended barrel, both of which were threaded to mount an optional silencer. As a backup, he would operate an M6G Magnum pistol, which was also able to mount a silencer and a standard-issue combat knife which he carried on the left side of his torso.
Battle Honours[]
- Operation: CERBERUS (2525) - Green Team
- Battle of Chi Ceti (2525) - Green Team
- Operation: WATCHTOWER (2526) - Omega Team
- Battle of Albion (2530) - Green Team
- Battle of Vodin (2532) - Green Team
- Battle of Jericho VII (2535) - Green Team
- Battle of Eirene (2535) - Green Team
- Battle of Bastion (2542) - Gold Team
- Battle of Miridem (2544) - Gold Team
- Battle of Skopje (2547) - Blue Team
- Operation: SIDEWINDER (2550) - Blue Team
- Battle of Reach (2552) - Red Team/Beta-Red Team
- Battle of Sol (2552) - Green Team
Service Career[]
Promotions[]
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
- Halo Legends - Homecoming (First appearance)
- Halo: Fall of Reach - Boot Camp
- A Merry Spartan Christmas (Non-Canon)
- Left
Trivia[]
- Joseph-122 was the authors first attempt at a cannon expansion character.
- Joseph is a playable character in the game Halo: Stolen Gauntlet.
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