William Lovell

Ensign William Lovell was a Junior Officer in the UNSC Navy. He was a member of the command crew of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. During his eventful career, he developed a Career Service Vitae that was at least twice as long as Jacob Keyes' . He had been awarded the Bronze Star award three times.

Biography

Early Military Career

Lovell enlisted voluntarily, and was immediately enrolled at the Luna Officer Candidate School, due to his high grades. During a training flight he demonstrated heroism by saving the entire crew, and this helped him to graduate from the academy after only two years.

Upon being commissioned he took the first outbound corvette headed into battle . Within three years he had been promoted to Lieutenant . He also amassed three Bronze Stars, a Silver Star, and two Purple Hearts, and served aboard the UNSC Gorgon for a period of four years.

Trouble

A promising career was rocked by a series of mishaps: four reports of insubordination and two transfers. Ultimately, his demotion back to Ensign may have been caused by an "incident" involving Anna Gerov, a civilian and daughter of Vice Admiral Gerov .

Lovell was reassigned to Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes on the fringes of the Sigma Octanus System. He was there for a year, an unheard of duration for such a remote facility . This was partially his own choice, due to his judgment that he had broken under pressure and having seen so much death, was content with the isolation and relative safety of the outpost.

Later Military Career

In 2552, while on Archimedes, he detected the silhouette of Covenant ships headed for the Sigma Octanus. While he did not positively identify the silhouette as such , his report allowed UNSC forces to converge in defense of the system in time to win the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV. Lovell was reassigned to the UNSC Iroquois under Captain Jacob Keyes, replacing Lieutenant Jaggers as navigation officer. There he participated more actively in the battle .

File:Lovell salute.JPG

Lovell salutes a troubled Captain Keyes on board the Pillar of Autumn.

Shortly afterward, Lovell was transferred with the rest of the command crew to Keyes' new ship, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn and participated in the Battle of Reach. Despite his low rank, and the surprise it caused among the bridge crew, Lovell performed skillfully, even under pressure. He and Cortana successfully extracted the ship from the disaster. When the ship was abandoned during the Battle of Installation 04, Lovell piloted and landed his Bumblebee lifepod (Kilo Tango Victor 17) containing Keyes, the command crew, and the Covenant spy Isna 'Nosolee.

Death

After landing he and the rest of the lifepod group attempted to escape the Covenant, successfully for some time. Because they were wanted alive, the small group manage to inflict heavy damage on the Covenant, who could not harm them. Ultimately, they were captured by the Covenant after being betrayed by Ensign Ellen Dowski. In an attempt to avoid execution, he made a desperate dive for a M6D Sidearm, but was shot in the face and killed by a Sangheili Minor with a Plasma Pistol.