Anton-044

Anton-044
Biographical information
Born:	c. 2511
Died:	September 7, 2552 (presumed)
Personal details
Species:	Human
Gender:	Male
Height:	7 feet (210 cm)
Political and military information
Affiliation:	UNSC Navy Naval Special Warfare Command SPARTAN-II program
Rank:	At least Petty Officer, Second Class
Service number:	S-044

Anton-044 was a Spartan-II supersoldier. He was considered to be one of the Spartans' most skilled scouts. During Operation: SILENT STORM in early 2526, he served as part of Green Team, led by Kurt-051. He was one of the few Spartan-IIs to survive the Fall of Reach in summer 2552, though he was killed shortly after escaping the planet.

Biography

Conscription and training

Anton was conscripted into the SPARTAN-II Program in 2517, when he was singled out as a physically and intellectually superior child by Dr. Catherine Halsey. He was replaced by a flash clone after being abducted by the Office of Naval Intelligence. He was then taken to Reach where he was trained along with the rest of the Spartan candidates by Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and the AI Déjà. During one training exercise on the tropical colony of Emerald Cove, he and the other Spartans were able to live on their own for a few days. As he was fond of beaches, Anton found this experience to be particularly enjoyable. When the Spartans were augmented in 2525, Anton was among those who made it through with no long-term ill effects.

The war begins

Main article: Human-Covenant War

Months after the Human-Covenant War began with the attack on Harvest in early 2525, Anton-044 and the other Spartan-IIs were brought to the Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex, where Rear Admiral Michael Stanforth briefed them on the emerging Covenant threat. In response, the training of the Spartan-IIs was accelerated, and in November 2525 they were sent to Chi Ceti IV to receive their new MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor from the Damascus Materials Testing Facility. While en route to Chi Ceti IV aboard the UNSC Commonwealth, they were attacked by the Unrelenting, a Covenant warship. The Commonwealth was able to ward off the Unrelenting and the Spartans were deployed to Chi Ceti IV with Halsey, where they each received a set of armor. While the Spartans were returning to the Commonwealth via Pelican dropship, the Unrelenting re-engaged the frigate. To save the Commonwealth, John had Anton and the other Spartan-IIs use thruster packs in an attempt to board the alien vessel, and destroy it with Anvil-II AS missiles. However, only John-117, Kelly-087, and Samuel-034 made it aboard. Anton and the others missed the Unrelenting, but were picked up after the battle.

Radiant Arrow

Main article: Skirmish over Netherop

By early 2526, Anton, Malcolm-059, and Solomon-069 had been assigned to Green Team, which was then led by Kurt-051. On March 5 of that year, Anton and eleven other Spartans were organized into an assault squad 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 UNSC Starry Night for an EVA boarding action, with John-117 in charge of the mission. Using a flight of Elsedda-pattern Banshees for cover, the Spartans stealthily approached the alien vessel. They boarded the frigate via its underslung hangar and eliminated the Covenant forces within, preparing to move deeper into the frigate without the rest of crew realizing they had been boarded. Blue Team spearheaded the assault, clearing rooms along the ship's main corridor as Anton and the rest of Green Team secured these chambers and any intersections they encountered. As the two teams continued on, a sensor operator aboard one of the prowlers "accidentally" broadcast a transmission on the Spartans' 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. Green Team would make their way to the engineering section until John informed them of the ship's imminent self-destruction at the hands of its shipmaster, and ordered them to evacuate. All of the Spartans—including Anton—made it to safety before the Radiant Arrow detonated.

SILENT STORM

Main article: Operation: SILENT STORM

On March 8, 2526, Anton, Green Team, and the others that had participated in the pervious mission were given a new assignment as part of Operation: SILENT STORM. They and the UNSC Marine Corps' 21st Space Assault Battalion would board and destroy Covenant vessels and stations in an attempt to slow their destructive advance through humanity's Outer Colonies. For the duration of this mission, the Spartans would be assigned to Task Force Yama, a small fleet of prowlers that would serve as both transport and support. As a Covenant fleet was currently glassing the colony of Etalan, the nearby world of Biko was chosen as the theater for the task force to launch its first attack. Specifically, an abandoned ice quarry on its third moon of Seoba was selected to house the prowlers until the moment presented itself.

During the voyage through slipspace, Anton and the others trained with the ODSTs in the UNSC Vanishing Point's mission preparation hold. The Spartans made short work of the veteran marines in each exercise until Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson taught them some unorthodox strategies that proved to be much more effective against the supersoldiers. After four days of training, Colonel Marmon Crowther had them all gather in the ship's drop hangar to be briefed on the specifics of the operation. Despite their exemplary performance against his ODSTs, Crowther was still skeptical about deploying the Spartans to the front lines due to their inexperience on the battlefield, as well as their apparent young age, much to their frustration.

Seoba

Main article: Battle of Seoba

Upon the task force's arrival at Seoba on March 18, 2526, Colonel Crowther planned to practice the mass deployment of the Spartans and ODSTs into the ice quarry, in an exercise dubbed Operation: ICE DANCE. However, insurrectionist forces were detected in the quarry, preparing to stage a coup against Biko's chancellor. Crowther decided that ICE DANCE would proceed as planned, but now with the objective of taking the quarry from the rebels. An intense battle ensued, with the Spartans leading the way. Blue Team focused on destroying a convoy of Civets moving to repair the rebels' damaged communications relay as the other Spartans—including Anton and Green Team—were engaged elsewhere in the quarry. Ultimately, the insurgents were soon defeated and the quarry fell under UNSC control.

The next day, 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 flotilla was detected as it arrived in-system and began heading for Seoba. As the rest of Task Force Yama mobilized to meet the alien vessels, Anton and the other Spartans were sent to Subsurface Maintenance Grotto 6M430 where they would direct the captured insurgents onto 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 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 Kurt-051 and Joshua-029. 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.

Anton and the other Spartans proceeded to the grotto's access vestibule and entered its airlock, sealing the inner hatch. With that, they stepped out into the dense sublimation fog coating the quarry floor. Visibility was so poor that each of them could barely even see the ends of their rifles, but the flashes of plasma bolts could be seen dancing through the clouds above. John accessed the command channel and requested that he and his teammates receive a waypoint leading to the downed prowler. Crowther quickly responded by asking what he thought he was doing. John stated that they were checking on the status of the Starry Night as they were the only unit that could do so at the moment, carefully choosing his words so that Crowther could deflect blame onto the Spartan if need be. This would make it more likely for Crowther to not stand in the way of their self-assigned mission. While John waited for a response, he signaled Kurt and Joshua to spread out their teams in a hundred-meter-wide search line. Anton and the rest of Green Team spaced out on the left of the more tightly-gathered Blue Team, as Gold Team spaced out on the right. Doing this, the Spartans would be more likely to find any debris from the Starry Night that might have otherwise been missed in the fog. John also ordered them to advance at a trotting speed, leading them away from the dockyards where Blue Team had engaged insurgents the day before. When Crowther still had not responded, John added over the command channel that they would simply take a look at the crash site and report what they found.

Finally, Crowther acknowledged John's plan, but ordered him to not take action unless immediately warranted. He also informed the Spartans of Biko's naval response to the alien bombardment of Seoba and that Nyeto believed that the small Covenant flotilla would either be in full retreat or destroyed within the hour by the approaching overwhelming force. An inexact waypoint was placed on each of the Spartans' HUDs and John had them all adjust course to match the new trajectory. With the fog still as dense as ever, John ordered them to advance at a full run while keeping their eyes on their feet, since that was all they could see anyway. As they ran, the Emmeline departed the grotto and flew over the Spartans, churning up the fog and allowing a brief moment of visibility. Through the haze, they could see five Covenant vessels fire towards the transport as it crested the horizon.

As the twelve Spartans neared the provided waypoint, the fog had lowered to shoulder-height, allowing the Spartans to discover that the Starry Night was indeed seemingly intact, but sat atop a large avalanche about seven hundred meters up the quarry wall. Frederic-104 spotted a Covenant intrusion corvette sliding over the rim of the quarry and descending over the prowler. Kelly-087 theorized that they may be trying to recover the Starry Night themselves. Realizing the danger, John declared to his teammates that the mission was no longer a rescue mission. Their primary objective was now to deny the Covenant from recovering the prowler and the data stored within. Opening the command channel again, John relayed this information to Crowther, who echoed his concerns and insisted that they could not let the Covenant take possession of the Starry Night. The vessel's navigation computer and other onboard data devices could reveal the locations of UNSC outposts, entire force deployments, or worse. Crowther asked Nyeto if there was any way to remotely activate the prowler's nuclear self-destruct system, to which the lieutenant commander responded in the affirmative. However, there were only three positions that had access to that ability. The first two were the flight commander and wing commander, both of which were roles held by Captain Ascot, who was either dead or unable to be reached aboard the Starry Night. The final person with the ability to remotely detonate the prowler was the captain of the Vanishing Point, which was holding station two planetary orbits out from Seoba. At that distance, it would take nearly an hour for the request to be sent to the cruiser and for the return signal to arrive. By then, the Covenant might already have retrieved sensitive data from the wrecked prowler. Crowther began to reluctantly order the Spartans to prevent the Starry Night's capture, but John cut him off, assuring him that they would not fail. The Spartan requested that Task Force Yama assist them by keeping the assaulting corvettes off their backs. Nyeto began to say that their prowlers were not designed for ship-to-ship combat when Crowther interrupted him, promising that they would find a way. Crowther started to tell John to standby for instructions on how to manually activate the prowler's self-destruct, but he reassured the colonel that his Spartans already knew how to activate a Fury nuke.

Before this discussion came to an end, a Covenant Ghost appeared out of the fog and began firing at John, who managed to kill its Jiralhanae driver with his MA5B's underbarrel grenade launcher. Shortly after that was handled, he noticed more Ghosts entering the quarry, so John ordered Green and Gold Teams to deal with them as Blue Team went to handle the prowler. At this point, the looming intrusion corvette had begun deploying EVA-equipped Sangheili, Jiralhanae, and Kig-Yar warriors via its gravity lift, with the first already looking for a way inside the ship. Another corvette crested the edge of the quarry, firing its main cannon on the Spartans. With the situation quickly deteriorating and Nyeto's support still setting up, John realized that immediate action was necessary. While Anton and the others were still dealing with the Ghosts, John ordered Blue Team to simultaneously fire on the avalanche just below the Starry Night with their grenade launchers to cause the vessel to fall to quarry floor and prevent the Covenant from gaining entrance. Despite Fred and Kelly's warnings that such an action could bring the whole slope down on top of them, each member of the team acknowledged and followed his order. As they has feared, the volley of grenades worked a bit too well, bringing the avalanche down on top of all twelve Spartans, but successfully delaying the Covenant in their boarding attempt.

Six of the Spartans became buried under the ice, with Anton's teammate, Solomon-069, becoming completely incapacitated. John-117 was also buried, but not totally immobilized. While he worked on freeing himself, John gave Fred command of the mission to board and destroy the Starry Night. Fred-104, Malcolm-059, and Linda-058 boarded the prowler as members of Green and Gold Teams coordinated attacks on the seemingly endless stream of enemy ground vehicles, supported by at least three Covenant corvettes. John freed himself from the ice flow and began helping repel would-be boarders while Fred's team prepared the vessel's Fury tactical nuclear weapon. Meanwhile, Nyeto's support finally arrived the form of strafing runs that destroyed two of the intrusion corvettes assaulting Gold and Green Teams. At this point, Anton and Joshua decided to assist John, who had just killed two bloodblade-wielding Sangheili. As soon as he dispatched them, two Kig-Yar began firing on him, landing a hit that breached John's armor. Anton provided cover fire and asked if he was okay. When John informed them of his armor's pressure leak, Joshua assured him that he had a patching kit to fix the breach. Just as the nuke was finished arming, the looming Covenant corvette finally made its move and began lifting the Starry Night up into its hold using its gravity lift. John ordered Fred's team to activate the nuke and flee from the prowler with the survivors, which they did via escape pod. After ordering everyone to clear the blast radius, John led Anton and Joshua away from the prowler, taking cover behind a wrecked Ghost just before the detonation. All of the Spartans made it to safety, but John wanted to check on each of them personally, once he had Joshua patch up the breach in his back armor. Colonel Crowther had the Spartans extracted after the nuke's electromagnetic pulse had dissipated. The blast also destroyed the intrusion corvette, and some of the Spartans assisted in the recovery of a starholo from its wreckage. They and the starholo were transported back to the Vanishing Point.

On March 20, the six Spartans that had not been confined to the infirmary attended a funeral service for the two-hundred-and-three men and women who lost their lives at Seoba. Held in the command hangar of the Vanishing Point as it sat in a high parabolic orbit around Biko, the ceremony included an honor company of a hundred-and-one enlisted personnel in their dress blues, including the six Spartans and Avery Johnson. After the service, Lieutenant Commander Nyeto—now the de facto commander of Task Force Yama after Ascot's death—approached John-117, who asked if he'd reconsider sidelining them. Nyeto promised that the Spartans would be seeing all the action they could handle for the rest of the operation. However, Crowther again contested this on the basis of them being too young, forcing the lieutenant commander to back down by threatening him with a report to a UNSC board of inquiry. The Black Daggers would board the incoming fleet alone. As everyone left the hangar, Crowther revealed to Johnson that he did not trust Nyeto. He believed that the Spartans were combat-ready, and he was instead sending them on a mission to disrupt Covenant supply lines at Etalan.

Etalan

Main article: Battle over Etalan

Later that day, Anton-044, the other Spartans, Staff Sergeant Johnson, and Dr. Halsey left the Kolaqoa system aboard the Vanishing Point, with two prowlers serving as escort. On March 22, the three ships dropped out of slipspace near Etalan and the Vanishing Point's analysts spent the next four days observing the logistics fleet's movements, trying to discern which vessels would be the best to target. By March 26, they felt confident that four of the fleet's fifteen vessels were equipment freighters that carried spare parts used to keep the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience operational. At this point, the logistics fleet appeared to be preparing to break from orbit, evidenced by the fact that they had begun syncing their orbits and bringing their fusion reactors to full power. As time was running out, Anton, the rest of Green Team, and Gold Team were deployed in four S-14 Baselards with orders to destroy the equipment freighters while Blue Team stayed on the Vanishing Point and prepared for their phase of the attack. The Spartans' Baselards flew at the center of a formation of twenty total Baselards, and the plan was for the squadron to pierce through the logistics vessels' fighter screen of Banshees and Seraphs. Then, the eight Spartans would go EV after faking the destruction of their Baselards. To camouflage their approach, their fighters were equipped with pods of chain-linked debris that would deploy upon the crafts' destruction. The Spartans would then board the target vessels and plant HAVOK nukes before fleeing. Due to the high risk involved with performing such maneuvers, both teams were given strict orders to abort the mission if it became apparent that they would not reach their targets safely.

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Zhoist

Main article: Attack on Zhoist

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Fall of Reach

Main article: Fall of Reach

Anton was among the 25 Spartan-IIs assembled on Reach for Operation: RED FLAG in August 2552. Like the other Spartans, Anton was deliberately kept uninformed of the Covenant's ongoing invasion of the planet. Anton and the other Spartans were embarked on the cruiser UNSC Pillar of Autumn (which was set to leave the system) when the Covenant's Fleet of Particular Justice arrived at Reach. He was assigned to Red Team and given the callsign "Red-Twenty One". Red Team, under the command of Fred-104, was tasked with traveling to the planet's surface to defend the generators that powered the planet's network of 20 orbital defense platforms.

As the team descended to the surface of Reach, their Pelican, Bravo 001, was shot down. The Spartans were forced to jump from the vessel before it crashed. Anton then rendezvoused with the rest of the Spartans at ODG Facility A-331. There, Anton was given command of Team Gamma, which also included Li-008 and Grace-093. Fred sent the trio to evacuate Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb. Though they were successful in picking up the Admiral, they were unable to meet up with Delta and Alpha teams due to Covenant activity.

Escape from Reach

Main article: Raid on Reach

Anton and Team Gamma then retreated to Camp Independence for three weeks where they broadcast the Spartan's "all clear" signal (Oly Oly Oxen Free) on the UNSC E-Band until it was picked up by John-117 and Cortana aboard the captured Covenant carrier Ascendant Justice. Cortana then sent a return signal. Anton then went out to meet John, being the first Spartan the latter had seen since his escape from Reach. Anton then listened to John's story of the events at Halo Installation 04.

Anton assisted John when they rescued the survivors of Delta and Alpha Teams, in the Forerunner complex beneath the remains of CASTLE Base. Together, they all retreated to the Ascendant Justice (which had been tethered to the UNSC frigate Gettysburg) aboard a captured Spirit dropship. The group tried to initiate a slipspace jump but the Forerunner crystal artifact found by Fred's team created an anomalous slipspace bubble in which the ship was trapped. In the rift a group of Sangheili who had survived Cortana's takeover of Ascendant Justice sabotaged the main power conduit.

Anton (under the callsign Blue Four) took part in the extravehicular mission to repair the ship. He, John, Fred, Li, Grace, and Will, along with PO2 Shiela Polaski, took the dropship out to the site. There they were ambushed by several Sangheili. Anton posted on top of the dropship to provide cover. As the conduit was repaired, a large globule of stray plasma struck the dropship, destroying its cockpit. Anton, Li, and Polaski went missing in this event. While he and the others were most likely flash-vaporized by the extreme heat, Anton was listed as missing in action in accordance with protocol.

List of appearances

• Halo: First Strike (First appearance)
• Halo: Silent Storm