Editing Grace-093

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'''Grace-093''' was a [[SPARTAN-II Program|SPARTAN-II supersoldier]]. She was the SPARTAN-IIs' principal explosives expert.

Grace-093 was a genetically, intellectually, and physically gifted child chosen for the [[SPARTAN-II]] project. She was abducted by the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] and replaced with a [[flash clone]] when she was around six years old. She and seventy-four other children were taken to [[Reach]] in the Epsilon Eridani system. There, she was trained by the [[dumb AI|"dumb"AI]],[[Déjà]] and [[Chief Petty Officer]] [[Franklin Mendez]], with the two serving as the Spartans' teacher and drill instructor, respectively. In [[2519]], she was taken alongside her fellow trainees to a [[Military Wilderness Training Preserve]] for a mission that required each trainee to be left alone in the woods with a only a single piece of a map. It was up to them to find one another so that they could piece the map together and locate the designated extraction point. The mission was ultimately a success. At another point during training, Grace and the others traveled to [[Emerald Cove]] for an underwater mission. There, they abandoned Mendez and lived on their own on an island for a few days. By July 14, [[2523]], Grace and her fellow Spartan-IIs had begun facing the formidable and ruthless UNSC Marine Corps' [[Tango Company]] in simulated war games. On March 9, 2525, Grace and the rest of the Spartan-II candidates underwent their [[augmentation]] procedures at [[Medical Facility Endurance]] orbiting Reach. After successfully enduring the procedures, Grace later attended a military funeral aboard the carrier, the [[UNSC Atlas]], in the [[Lambda Serpentis]] system for the Spartans who died during the process. Afterwards, they all returned to Reach for their final training phase in the [[Highland Mountains]].

By early [[2526]], Grace had been assigned to [[Gold Team]], led by [[Joshua-029]]. On [[2526#March|March 5]], Grace, her teammates, and eight other Spartans were organized into an assault squad led by [[John-117]] with orders to board and capture a [[Covenant frigate]], ''[[Radiant Arrow]]'', orbiting the planet [[Netherop]]. To accomplish this, they were all deployed from the [[prowler]] {{UNSCShip|Starry Night}} for an [[Extra-vehicular activity|EVA]] [[Boarding|boarding action]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS1|HSS|Chapter=1}} Using a flight of [[Type-27 Banshee]]s for cover, the Spartans stealthily approached the alien vessel.{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS2|HSS|Chapter=2}} They [[Skirmish over Netherop|boarded]] the frigate via its underslung hangar and eliminated the Covenant forces stationed there without the rest of crew realizing they had been boarded. As [[Blue Team|Blue]] and [[Green Team]]s pushed further into the alien vessel, John instructed Gold Team  to collect weapons and corpses to be piled into the Banshees, which would then be pushed out into space for ONI to recover later on for study. Once that task was completed, Grace and her team acted as support for Blue and Green, watching their backs. As the two forward teams continued on, a sensor operator aboard one of the prowlers "accidentally" broadcast a transmission on the Spartans' [[COM|SQUADCOM]], revealing their presence to the frigate's crew. Unbeknownst to them, the crewman's apparent mistake was part of an [[insurrectionist]] plot designed by [[Hector Nyeto]], who intended to get the Spartans killed. With their presence known, Blue and Green Teams split up, with John leading his team to the bridge. John was unable to prevent the frigate's [[shipmaster]] from activating a [[self-destruct]] sequence, forcing him to order all of his teammates to abandon ship immediately. All of the Spartans—including Grace—made it to safety before the ''Radiant Arrow'' detonated.{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS3|HSS|Chapter=3}}

The next day, [[Captain (NAVCOM)|Captain]] [[Halima Ascot]], commander of Task Force Yama and captain of the ''Starry Night'', held a meeting to discuss the events of the previous day's battle. John was reprimanded for his maverick actions at the start of the battle, and his Spartans' experience was called into question once more. Due to some of Nyeto's sly comments, the truth about their young ages was revealed to the few personnel present at the meeting. Learning this disturbing fact, Colonel Crowther refused to send the Spartans into battle again, instead ordering them to guard the insurrectionists captured during the fighting and prepare them to be sent to Biko to be processed. While this meeting was being held, a Covenant [[Bloodstar Flotilla|flotilla]] was detected as it arrived in-system and began heading for Seoba.{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS10|HSS|Chapter=10}} As the rest of Task Force Yama mobilized to meet the alien vessels, Grace and the other Spartans were sent to [[Subsurface Maintenance Grotto 6M430]] where they would direct the captured insurgents onto [[Emmeline|a transport]]. While the line of roughly 300 prisoners marched onto the vessel, John noticed that a group of them were hiding the presence of an officer, [[General]] [[Harper Garvin]] of the [[United Rebel Front]]. He ordered the officer to step forward, but [[Petora Zoyas|another rebel]] presented herself instead, clearly trying to stall for Garvin. To show that he meant business, John grabbed the woman by her tunic lapels and threatened her with summary execution for interfering with a guard while on the field of combat, as per the [[UNSC Military Code of Conduct]]. John's plan worked and General Garvin presented himself. He began trying to pry information out of John, but this effort was interrupted when a situation with Captain Ascot's [[flagship]] was relayed over the task force's command channel. The ''Starry Night'' had been shot down on takeoff, crash-landing back into the quarry. Crowther was unable to send a unit of his Black Daggers to search for survivors without putting more prowlers at risk. Since they were the only unit available to assist, John decided that he and his Spartans would go for the ''Starry Night'' once the transport was loaded. After sending Garvin back to his people and ordering the transport pilot to launch, John had his Spartans move out, much to the concern of Joshua-029 and [[Kurt-051]]. Not only would they be disobeying a direct order from Crowther, operating without the support of the task force in such a situation would be very risky.{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS13|HSS|Chapter=13}}

During the Covenant's [[Fall of Reach|invasion]] of Reach, she was designated Red-Twenty Three and assigned to [[Red Team]] under [[Frederic-104]] team by [[John-117]]. Their mission was to defend the [[Orbital defense generator|generators]] for the orbital [[Magnetic Accelerator Cannon|MAC]] guns around Reach. As their [[D77-TC Pelican|Pelican]], [[Bravo 001]] was descending to the surface, it was shot down by [[Covenant]] AA plasma fire, and their pilot [[Mitchell]] was killed. The Spartans were forced to jump to the surface of the planet, gaining many injuries and a few deaths.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page 11''</ref>

Grace was then assigned to [[Team Gamma|"Gamma" team]], along with [[Anton-044]] and [[Li-008]]. They were sent to evacuate [[Vice Admiral]] [[Danforth Whitcomb|Whitcomb]]. They found him but were unable to rally with the rest of the Spartans due to Covenant activity. They then retreated to [[Camp Independence]], where they broadcast ''[[Oly Oly Oxen Free]]'' and went on hit and run missions for three weeks until they were found by John who recognized the Oly Oly Oxen Free tune.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''pages 111-112''</ref> They then proceeded to rescue [[Team Alpha|"Alpha"]] and [[Team Delta|"Delta"]] teams from the [[Forerunner]] [[Menachite portal complex|caves]] beneath [[CASTLE Base]]. Grace then boarded a captured [[Type-28 Troop Carrier|Spirit]] and went to the captured ''[[Ascendant Justice]]'', under control of the AI [[Cortana]].

The vessel then became trapped and ensnared when it tried to jump into [[Slipstream space|Slipspace]]. The [[Forerunner crystal]] Dr. Halsey found warped Slipspace into an anomalous Slipspace bubble, and several [[Sangheili|Elite]] survivors of the ship sabotaged its main drive conduit. Grace was designated Blue-Six during this operation. Despite the rogue plasma and an ambush by the Elites, Grace managed to survive, as did [[John-117]], [[Frederic-104]], and [[William-043]]. However, [[Anton-044]], [[Li-008]], and [[Petty Officer Second Class]] [[Shiela Polaski|Polaski]] did not survive.

Grace then participated in [[Operation: FIRST STRIKE]], boarding the Covenant space station ''[[Unyielding Hierophant]]'' with the other Spartans. However, as they entered a temple, they were ambushed by [[Jiralhanae|Brutes]]. Three rounds from a [[Type-25 Grenade Launcher|Brute Shot]] hit Grace in the stomach, and blew her midsection apart, killing her. John was forced to activate the [[fail-safe detonation system]] on her [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor|MJOLNIR]] armor, and it self-destructed the armor's fusion pack. She took out four Elites and a dozen [[Unggoy|Grunts]] in her "funeral pyre". John thought Grace would have liked that.<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''pages 315-317''</ref>

Grace was the Spartan-IIs' explosives expert. She could shape a charge to cut into a single steel bolt with only a whisper of sound, or rig a hundred thousand litres of kerosene to blow into a "firestorm from hell". Ironically, her temper was nonexistent. It seems that she liked ''calamari'', a type of seafood, which she fondly remembered eating during one the Spartans' training missions on [[Emerald Cove]].<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page 220''</ref>