Gray Team

Gray Team
Active:	2525 - present
Affiliation:	United Nations Space Command
Branch:	UNSC Navy
Role:	Deep ground surveillance and long range reconnaissance
Size:	Three SPARTAN-IIs
Engagements:	Battle of the Rubble Battle of Metisette
Commanders:	Jai-006

Commander Hadley: "It doesn't get any easier, and you'll be even farther from our lines."

Jai-006: "That's the way we like it, sir."

— Commander Hadley assigned Gray Team to a new mission.

Gray Team is a group of SPARTAN-II commandos of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Group. It consists of Adriana-111, Jai-006, and Mike-120, the most independent and individualistic of the SPARTAN-IIs. These qualities were used to create a unit trained to operate for extended periods with minimal supervision and support. Their Mark IV MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor is likewise colored gray.

Compared to the other SPARTAN-IIs, such as the conceptually similar Black Team, Gray Team's training placed additional emphasis on individual thought and action. This made them suitable to execute and survive covert missions deep behind enemy lines with no support from friendly units. Their assignments focused on disruption of enemy operations followed by a stealthy extraction.

History

Formation

Gray Team was formed from the three SPARTAN-II candidates who were the most difficult to control during training. This manifested in resistance to indoctrination, numerous escape attempts, and a lack of social integration with other personnel. This disruptive behavior was costly, resulted in injuries to trainers, and the theft and destruction of at least one Pelican dropship. Being unconventional recruits in an unconventional project, the decision was made to train the trio separately from the others and form them into their own unit. Together, these Spartans would come together to form Gray Team, with Jai as the leader.

Battle of the Rubble

Main article: Battle of the Rubble

During the Human-Covenant War, Gray Team operated behind enemy lines, wreaking havoc on both the Covenant and the remaining rebels. They flew through Covenant and Insurrectionist-held space, looking for targets of opportunity, in their ship and base, the freighter Petya.

In 2535, Gray Team was sent behind enemy lines in order to destroy the navigation data held by the survivors of Madrigal, a world in the 23 Librae system that had been glassed by the Covenant not long after Harvest. The survivors were living in the Rubble, an asteroid space station built by the insurrectionists orbiting Hesiod. A small fleet of Kig-Yar, lead by Reth, had created an alliance with the insurrectionists to trade weapons and slipspace drives. However, these Kig-Yar were ordered by the Prophet of Truth to steal data from the humans that would lead the Covenant to other human colonies and Earth.

Later, Adriana returned to the Petya with Ignatio Delgado, a resident of the Rubble that was attempting to find information about the Kestrel. Unlike Jai, Mike did not care about Adriana's apparent favoritism of Delgado, whom Jai believed was an Insurrectionist. While aboard the Petya, the Spartans were contacted by the Rubble's artificial intelligence, Juliana. Despite their attempts to originally prevent her from communicating, the Spartans eventually agreed to hear Juliana out. In exchange for defending the Rubble from the Covenant, Juliana agreed to give the Spartans the data they wanted.

When the UNSC Midsummer Night arrived in the system, it was under attack by multiple Insurrectionists. The Spartans correctly came to the conclusion that they could not save the Midsummer Night from all the ships. Shortly afterward Juliana informed Gray Team that the Midsummer Night's crew would survive if the Spartans aided the Rubble. She sent the coordinates of Ignatio Delgado's location to Mike, and ordered them to keep Delgado protected and she would help free the Midsummer Night crew. While Delgado and Jai aided the Midsummer Night and her crew, Adriana and Mike pursued smuggler Peter Bonifacio to prevent him from giving the navigation data to the Kig-Yar. The two Spartans encountered the insurgent leaving the Rubble aboard his freighter, Distancia. Mike quickly disabled his ship and Adriana boarded the freighter. Bonifacio promised that he would tell the Spartans where he hid the data if they allowed him to escape, which the reluctantly agreed to. After retrieving the navigation data, Adriana returned to the Petya and the Spartans agreed to let the Kig-Yar betray and kill Bonifacio in time.

Battle of Metisette

Main article: Battle of Metisette

Jai and Thel engaged in combat

As Kig-Yar ships closed in on the mass drivers, Rubble ships flew in and fired missiles to prevent the destruction of the mass drivers. Meanwhile, more and more asteroids emptied as the thousands of citizens of the Rubble evacuated. Although the AI Juliana lost some asteroids to both the Sangheili and Kig-Yar, she managed to move several more asteroids to meet with the UNSC forces moving in on Metisette.

While over Metisette, the UNSC Midsummer Night performed a high-speed SOEIV deployment, down to the Redoubt on the surface of Metisette. The Midsummer Night came under fire from Kig-Yar anti-aircraft guns, and slowed down, to allow the pods to drop, before speeding off out the atmosphere again. The pods landed in the Redoubt's plaza, where Unggoy were waiting in buildings. There were two main forces of ODSTs that landed; one with Jai-006, and one with Adriana-111. Unfortunately, Adriana landed among a large group of Unggoy. She fought them off using a variety of methods and was eventually able to regroup with the ODSTs. Jai's men landed with the Shiva-class nuclear missile, and planted it in the sensor hub and set a 2-hour timer.

Eventually, the Spartans were picked up by Delgado in a Pelican and they returned to the remains of the Rubble. All remaining UNSC and insurgent personnel were lead to the Exodus asteroid or aboard the Midsummer Night. The asteroid, powered by slipspace drives, and the frigate escaped into slipspace to escape a large Covenant fleet entering the system.

The Exodus asteroid and the Midsummer Night safely arrived at the 18 Scorpii system. The asteroid's inhabitants are safely evacuated before the asteroid shakes itself to pieces while in orbit around the human colony of Falaknuma. After, Gray Team meet with Admiral Preston Cole and Commander Hadley who grants them the use of a UNSC Prowler, as the Petya was abandoned in the 23 Librae system. Hadley gave the Spartans new orders to venture even further into enemy lines, much to the satisfaction of the Spartans.

Later operations

In 2551, Gray Team was deployed on a mission against a Covenant facility within humanity's former territory and were deemed too inaccessible to be recalled to Reach. They were not present when the Covenant invaded the planet, having been out of contact for about a year. This was not cause for undue concern, as many of Gray Team's missions had been executed in a similar fashion. Gray Team, Black Team, and Jorge-052 were the only operational SPARTAN-IIs not present at the briefing for Operation: RED FLAG.

Personnel

• Jai-006 – Team leader
• Adriana-111 – Infiltration specialist
• Mike-120 – Technical expert

List of appearances

• Halo: The Fall of Reach (First mentioned)
• Halo: Ghosts of Onyx (Mentioned only)
• Halo: The Cole Protocol (First appearance)
• Halo 2: Anniversary
  • Terminals