Frederic-104

Lieutenant, Junior Grade Frederic-104 is a Spartan-II Commando and is one of the few surviving SPARTAN-II. Historically, Frederic-104 has held the highest rank among any of the active Spartan-IIs (i.e. excluding those who were reassigned following failed augmentation, e.g. Fhajad) except for Kurt. He has been known to become greatly affected with his injured teammates. He has also had a close working relationship with John-117. He is now active in the Shield World and is probably presumed MIA.

Personality and description

Fred has displayed many similarities, both physical and mental, with the Master Chief. He is an exceptional leader and a quick thinker. John remarked; however, that Fred sometimes takes the responsibility of his command too seriously, empathizing too deeply with any wounded member of his team. He, like many of the other Spartans was an introvert and didn't like to be called by his full name. He never really began to stand out among the Spartans until the death of Samuel-034.

As of 2552, he had fought in more than 120 campaigns. He was the Spartans' second best sniper and best spotter, although Linda-058 outdid him in these categories by far. In fact, John once said that Fred came in 2nd place in all of the contests the Spartans had as children, John thought he could have come out on top but didn't like the attention. He was well known for his abilities with the combat knife. Fred had black hair which was shot with streaks of silver after his augmentation, and he was not too short or tall (Little shorter than John-117) and neither too muscular, nor too slim. In fact it was commented by John-117 that "if any SPARTAN had to blend in to a crowd it was Fred"

Biography

Early Childhood

He was abducted from his home in 2517 at age six after he was observed by Dr. Catherine Halsey and marked as a possible exceptional soldier. He was trained with the other Spartans at Reach by Déjà and Chief Petty Officer Mendez but was never mentioned until the Spartans' mission to the Military Wilderness Training Preserve.

Early Career

Fred was part of the Spartans' first mission to Eridanus Secundus to abduct Colonel Robert Watts in 2525. It is probable that he was present at Jericho VII in 2535, but he was never mentioned by name during the engagement. He was also a part of the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV in 2552, designated Blue-Three and part of John's team that destroyed the Covenant forces at Côte d'Azur.

Battle of Reach

Fred was on the UNSC Pillar of Autumn briefly while it was above Reach, but when the Battle of Reach began, Fred was designated Red-One, leader of the Spartans sent to land on the ground and protect the power generators for the Orbital MAC stations. As his Pelican, Bravo 001, descended to the surface of the planet, it was hit by plasma fire and dove uncontrollably towards the ground. He ordered his Spartans to jump from the single ship, four of them died in the process, but if they had not jumped they would have all died as Bravo 001 exploded. When the group met up again, they went to ODG Facility A-331 where they met what was left of the nearly destroyed Charlie Company, and received a distress call from Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb.

Fred then divided his Spartans into four teams: Himself, Kelly-087 and Joshua-029 (Team Alpha) went to destroy a nearby Covenant landing zone, while Team Gamma, led by Anton-044 with 2 other Spartans would rescue Admiral Whitcomb. The third team, Team Delta, led by William-043 and consisting of the wounded Spartans would secure a fall back position at CASTLE Base and the fourth team, Team Beta, consisting of the rest of the Spartans, would defend the ODG Facility. Fred's team successfully destroyed the landing zone using Banshees and Fury Tactical Nukes, however Joshua was killed and the team at the ODG facility appeared to be wiped out by a Covenant plasma bombardment. Fred bitterly thought that he would rather trade 10,000 Covenant lives for that of Joshua's.

Fred and Kelly then retreated to the fallback position, which was surrounded by the Covenant. They were forced to commandeer Wraith tanks but they successfully ended up at Team Delta's position thanks to Jackhammer Support from Team Delta. They were then able to enter the base by whistling Oly Oly Oxen Free into the speakers. It turned out that Dr. Halsey was still in the facility. Fred had suffered a torn Achilles tendon, three cracked ribs and moderate contusions in both kidneys while making his way towards CASTLE Base. For a Spartan, these injuries were nothing, so she sent him and William-043 on a supply run. The Spartans received upgrades to their MJOLNIR armor and new weapons, including HE Magnums and Battle Rifles. Under attack from Covenant, the five Spartans and Dr. Halsey were forced to destroy CASTLE Base with "Operation: WHITE GLOVE". They found themselves trapped underground in the old mining caverns beneath the base for several days, until they came across a Forerunner installation, where they discovered the Forerunner Crystal artifact. The artifact created a spike in radiation that allowed the Covenant to triangulate their position. They were immediately besieged by a Gravity Lift sending groups of Jackals, Elites and Grunts to their location in the underground base. They then ran into a cavern and blew up the entrance. The Cavern was a dead end and for two days Fred, Kelly, Will and Dr. Halsey were trapped in the cavern as the Covenant tried to dig them out.

OPERATION: First Strike

Fred, Kelly, Will, and Dr. Halsey were rescued when John, Anton, and Admiral Whitcomb found them in old titanium mines after finding a Forerunner crystal and took them away to the captured Ascendant Justice. Fred's injuries were finally treated aboard the Gettysburg, which had been fused to the Ascendant Justice. He then took part in an extravehicular mission to repair a plasma conduit on the ship, holding his own against camouflaged Elites as well as the dangerous rampant plasma bolts floating around the Slipspace bubble the ships were trapped in.

Fred then accompanied John into Eridanus Secundus a second time when Admiral Whitcomb and Dr. Halsey demanded repairs from the Eridanus Rebels, under the leadership of Governor Jacob Jiles. Fred then manned a station of the Gettysburg when Covenant cruisers appeared in the system.

Fred then took part in Operation: FIRST STRIKE along with John-117, Will-043, Linda-058, and Grace-093. He boarded the Unyielding Hierophant with the Spartans and their copy of Cortana, then followed John to the reactors and covered their exit. Fred then escaped with John, Will, and Linda, (Grace was killed by Jiralhanae using Brute Shots), to the Gettysburg, where they, together with Cortana and Sergeant Johnson, finally returned to Earth. In order to forestall the invasion of Earth, Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and Lieutenant Elias Haverson lured the Covenant Fleet close to the station with a holographic image of a Forerunner relic. The detonation caught almost the entire Fleet in the explosion, with all but twelve ships being destroyed in the blast.

The Battle of Onyx

In Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, Fred-104 leads Linda-058 and Will-043 to defend Earth for two weeks shortly after In Amber Clad's journey to Delta Halo. The missions given were in the Antarctic area and Cuba. Shortly after the last operation in Cuba, Fred was given a transmission from Lord Hood to have his team travel to Onyx to aid Dr. Halsey. He led his team to hijack a Covenant Destroyer and destroyed another one with FURY Nukes. After narrowly escaping fire from Covenant and Sentinel forces, Fred eventually met up with Kurt-051, with the long-lost friend assuming command of the mission. Shortly before his demise Kurt-051 gave Fred the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade and gave him command of the rest of the Onyx operation. Along with Kelly-087, Linda-058 and SPARTAN-III members Ash, Olivia, Mark, Tom and Lucy. The newly-strengthened Blue Team is now active and trapped in the Dyson Sphere that is Onyx's core.

Controversial Argument

There is major speculation regarding Spartan-104 Frederic, especially regarding what has been stated in Halo: The Fall of Reach.

"He always came second in all of the contests. John thought he could have come in first, but he just didn't like the attention."

There is controversy among the Halo community over who is a better leader, Fred or John, and whether evidence supports either of the two sides. For example, in Halo: First Strike, Fred commanded his team after taking heavy casualties in their landing, defeated 10,000 enemies with only 3 Spartans (himself, Kelly, and Joshua) and a Fury tactical nuclear warhead, saved casualties, ordered his SPARTANS to rescue a Vice Admiral, escaped the Covenant glassing of Reach, and protected Dr. Catherine Halsey against a battalion or more of Covenant troops while securing a very dangerous object.

Spartan-104 has fought in more than 120 ground engagements. He is also one of the few Spartans to survive the events detailed in Halo: First Strike. In Halo: The Fall of Reach, he was one of the few members that John chose for the Spartans' first real assignment, and the one that John most often depends on for large-scale engagements.

In Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, Fred was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade, making him the highest-ranking known Spartan-II still alive and the second-highest ranking Spartan-II in the unit's history after Kurt-051. John remains a Master Chief Petty Officer, one of the highest enlisted ranks, but wields more respect and authority than a junior officer. Both Spartans have the same amount of combat experience, though John became team leader earlier. Fred has led Red Team, a separate group from Blue Team, and accumulated his own leadership experience.

However John has more leadership experience. When he was seven he became the leader of all of the Spartans and was their de facto leader no matter if they were separated into teams. He was skilled enough that Dr. Halsey and Chief Mendez recognized his leadership abilities and made him a Squad Leader at the age of 8, promoting him to Petty Officer Third Class at 14 with him eventually ascending to his current rank while Fred ascended only to Senior Chief Petty Officer before Kurt promoted him. John was also able to rally and lead Marines and various non-Spartan personnel while Fred hasn't had much experience with that aside from leading the remnants of Charlie Company and his current command in the shield world. Under John's leadership, the Covenant were defeated on many fields of battle, at least on the ground as well and John was also able to take a Covenant flagship with just Sergeant Johnson, Corporal Locklear, Petty Officer Polaski, Lieutenant Haverson and Cortana to back him up, armed only with a Pelican, a Longsword fighter, the weapons his makeshift crew had and Cortana's abilities. No one had ever succeeded in capturing a Covenant ship, not even the Spartans and John was able to do it leading a team where the only Spartan was him (the ODSTs temporarily took the Truth and Reconciliation, but the crew was badly weakened from all the fighting on Halo, the raid to rescue Captain Keyes and the Flood. John's one-man raid to rescue Captain Keyes allowing the coordinated attack the ODSTs launched to take 80% of the ship from them including Engineering and the Bridge). Fred, Linda and Will did capture a destroyer later, but they had a much easier time of it due to what was learned from John's experience. Fred was able to lead the capture of that ship, but it was easier as his team was able to sneak aboard using stealth, were Spartans and had John's previous experience to rely on despite the lack of an AI. John had to lead a mismatched group of non-Spartans, including someone who technically outranked him but gave him command for what he wanted to do (another example of his leadership abilities: an ONI Lieutenant gave up command to him despite his lower rank, at least for that time) and he was able to lead them against a superior Covenant force, despite one of them being just a dropship pilot with likely very little combat experience outside of what she experienced flying dropships into battle. Fred was never really put into that situation however, so how he'd react is unknown. Also John, aided by only Marines, the Arbiter, the Flood (for a short period of time) and the Monitor was able to take down the Covenant by assassinating their leaders when no one else seemed to believe that the war could be won. He was also able to help convince the Arbiter, an enemy soldier (at the time) of the truth about Halo with the help of the Gravemind and ultimately the Monitor.

However, while John was able to lead the Spartans just by his leadership abilities, much of what he accomplished after most of the Spartans deaths on Reach was accomplished with the help of an AI, Cortana, who assisted him heavily during the events of Installation 04, the First Battle of Earth, the events of Installation 05, the events of High Charity and ultimately his final defeat of the Flood.