Editing Hieu Dinh

{{Status|Canon}}{{Status|Featured}}

|hair=Black{{Ref/YouTube|Id=S3LaunchTrailer|a3K-SCCkWBQ|HALO|Season 3: Echoes Within Launch Trailer <nowiki>|</nowiki> Halo Infinite|D=04|M=03|Y=2023}}{{Ref/Game|Id=EM|HI|Mindfall|Detail=Enemy Mind cinematic}}

Shortly after the war in early [[2553]], Dinh took part in a recon mission to a desolate [[Natural satellite|moon]] that ONI had dubbed [[Operation: INTERIOR EXILE]].{{Ref/Site|Id=CFEchoes|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/canon-fodder-echoes-with-dinh|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Echoes With-Dinh|D=24|M=03|Y=2023}}{{Ref/Site|Id=S3Intel|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/echoes-within-intel|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Halo Infinite - Echoes Within Intel|D=10|M=03|Y=2023|LocalArchive=Halo Infinite Story & Intel}} The goal of this mission was to set up a research facility to examine a dormant [[Forerunner]] [[Lifeworker terraforming vessel|terraforming vessel]] embedded in the moon's rocky terrain.{{Ref/Reuse|CFEchoes}} After his initial recon assessment, Dinh recommend that the three squads of ONI personnel travel by air under the cover of night to minimize risk of contact with local enemy forces.{{Ref/Game|Id=echoesintro|HI|Season 03: Echoes Within Intro Cinematic}}{{Ref/Reuse|CFEchoes}} However, conflicting assessments resulted in a daytime insertion involving the use of an [[M12B Warthog]].{{Ref/Reuse|echoesintro}}{{Ref/Reuse|S3Intel}} The insertion run resulted in disaster and agents Dinh and [[Padraig]] were among the few survivors. After the failed operation, ONI agent [[Codename: BAYLEAF|BAYLEAF]] communicated to fellow agent [[Codename: FLYBALL|FLYBALL]] that it seemed that they should have listened to Dinh's recommendations and suggested that they consider accelerating other avenues to put him in a position where he could have a greater impact in planning these sorts of operations.{{Ref/Reuse|CFEchoes}}{{Ref/Reuse|S3Intel}}

===SPARTAN-IV service===

Dinh would be recruited into the [[SPARTAN-IV program]] later in 2553, carrying the weight of the losses on the previous mission with him.{{Ref/Reuse|CFEchoes}} At some point after becoming a Spartan, he received a prototype suit of [[Mirage IIC]] armor within an ONI laboratory beneath the [[Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science]].{{Ref/Game|Id=Unbound|HI|Site Unseen|Detail=Unbound cinematic}} While still a new recruit, his [[fireteam]] was assigned a mission that had them breach and raid a fledgling [[Yanme'e]] hive inside of a derelict Forerunner structure. The raid was ultimately a disaster as well; Dinh escaped with severe wounds, but the rest of his team perished.{{Ref/Site|Id=S2StoryHub|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/halo-infinite|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Halo Infinite|D=06|M=05|Y=2022|LocalArchive=Halo Infinite Story & Intel|Detail=Defunct page; available on linked archive only}}{{Ref/Site|Id=S2Intel|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/halo-infinite-lone-wolves-intel|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Halo Infinite - Lone Wolves Intel|D=03|M=11|Y=2022|LocalArchive=Halo Infinite Story & Intel}} Dinh was left scarred by this experience in the Yanme'e hive, though his close call with death left him resilient in similarly-perilous scenarios.{{Ref/Reuse|CFEchoes}} Later on, he would work alongside [[Laurette Agryna]] as they both earned experience as Spartans.{{Ref/Reuse|HIInter}}{{Ref/Reuse|S2StoryHub}}{{Ref/Reuse|S2Intel}} After the [[The Reclamation|rise]] of the [[Created]], Dinh fought against the [[Banished]] in several close-quarters engagements, including [[Naval boarding|boarding]] actions.

 

At some point, he met Spartan [[Sigrid Eklund]] during the [[Vihar collapse]].{{Ref/Game|HI|Alpha Pack}} Elsewhen, he also fought against rogue Spartan [[Ilsa Zane]], who would memorize his name on a revenge list.{{Ref/Book|Halo: The Third Life}}

During the [[Created conflict]], between [[2559]] and [[2560]], Spartans Dinh and Eklund were deployed to one of several Banished shipbreaking yards in the [[Chiltift Basin]] on [[Camber]].{{Ref/Reuse|CFLore}}{{Ref/Reuse|S2StoryHub}}{{Ref/Reuse|S2Intel}} This particular facility was a former UNSC fleet depot housing the hull of [[FFG-201 (Breaker)|FFG-201]] and taken under Banished control.{{Ref/Reuse|CFLore}} Eklund and Dinh began scouting out the location, using intermittent dust storms as cover. At some point, the two Spartans spilt up, but planned to regroup and move deeper into the facility under the cover of the next dust storm.{{Ref/Reuse|S2StoryHub}}{{Ref/Reuse|S2Intel}} After watching the operation for two days, both Spartans discovered [[Iratus]], the first Banished AI in existence, alongside an archive detailing all Banished operations on the moon. Eklund and Dinh were discovered by Banished forces and managed to hijack an [[Eklon'Dal Workshop Phantom]], but Iratus followed them into their hijacked Phantom, threatening their escape. To have a chance to escape, Dinh allowed Iratus to infect his [[neural interface]], threatening his life.{{Ref/Game|HI|Season 02: Lone Wolves}}

Both Spartans managed to bring their Phantom into the [[Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science]], where Eklund informed Spartan Commander [[Laurette Agryna]] about their operation on Camber. In an effort to pull Iratus out of Dinh's neural interface, Agryna uploaded a [[Breaker|simulation]] of the Banished facility on Camber into the Academy's combat simulator, and assigned Spartans to participate in the simulation to act as bait, and trap Iratus into an ONI server. The plan was a success, and Iratus was trapped, saving Dinh's life.{{Ref/Game|id=HIInter|HI|Interference}}

 

Following his recovery, Dinh met with Spartan Eklund at the firing range to talk about Iratus and the traumatic memories that he forced Dinh to relive. Eklund comforted him and urged him to ignore Iratus's words. She then introduced Dinh to one of the Spartan recruits who helped save his life. As she walked away, Dinh told Eklund to let Agryna know that he head is as good as ever, to which Eklund responded jokingly saying that maybe that's what she is worried about. After Eklund left the firing range, Dinh talked to the recruit and offered them his personal [[M392 DMR#Variants|M392 Bandit]] as thanks, telling them to come find him once they get good with it. Before he walked away, Dinh told the recruit that the academy is old like him and that it has memories too.{{Ref/Reuse|EM}}

 

At a later date, the Spartan recruit found Dinh attempting to open a locked door within the [[Live Fire]] training space at the academy. The door had been damaged revealing an ONI logo beneath the top layer of paint, and strange sounds could be heard coming from behind it. Dinh and the recruit opened the door together, revealing a darkened elevator shaft. After lighting a [[Signal flare|flare]], Dinh peered down the shaft and stated that ONI always did like to bury their secrets. He then invited the recruit to join him at the bottom before jumping down the shaft.{{Ref/Game|Id=Vault|HI|Site Unseen|Detail=Vault Lines cinematic}} The recruit followed and the two began exploring the abandoned subterranean facility. Dinh revealed that ONI had built the place at the start of the Human-Covenant War and that he had received his armor at that very facility. As the two came upon a set of empty Mirage IIC armor supported by an [[Brokkr Armor Mechanism]], Dinh realized that if he knew about this place, then so would Iratus. Sure enough, Iratus could be heard chuckling as server stacks and other equipment around the room began to spark and display the logo of the Banished. The AI then revealed that he has recovered the entire history of the [[Spartan]] program, including its weaknesses and failures, and that it now belongs to the Banished. Dinh gives the recruit a worried look as the empty Mirage IIC suit displays [[Holography|holographic]] projections in the likeness of Iratus.{{Ref/Reuse|Unbound}}

During the mission to the Yanme'e hive as a new Spartan-IV recruit, Hieu Dinh wore a prototype [[MIRAGE-class Mjolnir|Mirage IIC]] armor. As of 2560, Dinh now employs the [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor|Mjolnir]] [[RAKSHASA-class Mjolnir|Rakshasa]] armor, shaped by his experiences against the Banished and surviving for long periods alone in the field in the wake of the [[The Reclamation|rise of the Created]]. He wears an [[Artaius]] helmet taken from a small run of prototypes intended for a new classification of [[powered exoskeleton]].{{Ref/Reuse|CFLore}} The helmet is equipped with a [[TAS/PATTON]] module. He wears the UTIL/TECCNIQE IOTA-12 shoulder pad on his left shoulder and a Banished war-trophy, the shoulder pad of a [[Special Operations Officer|Spec Ops Sangheili's]] [[infiltration harness]], on his right shoulder. He also wears the AAP/HEARTPLATE chest attachment and the UA/Type MEP[B] knee pads. Dinh is known to regularly wield an M392 Bandit rifle in combat.{{Ref/Reuse|echoesintro}}{{Ref/Reuse|EM}}

===Screenshots and renders===