NOBLE Team

NOBLE Team
Active:	Prior to 2552 - Disbanded by September 2552
Affiliation:	United Nations Space Command
Branch:	UNSC Army Special Warfare Group Three (Joint operations unit); ;
Type:	Special operations
Size:	Six operators
Engagements:	Defense of Concord; Battle of Fumirole; Fall of Reach Battle of Visegrád; Battle of Sword Base; Mission to Szurdok Ridge; Battle at Szurdok Ridge; Operation: UPPER CUT; Siege of New Alexandria; Operation: WHITE GLOVE; Battle of Asźod;
Commanders:	Colonel Urban Holland ; Commander Carter-A259

This article is about the SPARTAN fireteam. For other uses of the term "Noble", see Noble (disambiguation).

"You know as well as I do that we wind up with some that she would have chosen—not just kids unlucky enough to survive a glassing. Orders are still being followed and those Spartans are in the field, but they are armed as SPARTANs—and they are making a difference."

— LCDR Kurt Ambrose to SCPO Franklin Mendez^[1]

Noble Team,^[2] more formally styled as NOBLE Team^[3] and sometimes referred to as Team Noble or simply NOBLE, was a fireteam-sized unit composed mostly of Cat-2 Spartan-III supersoldiers and one Spartan-II commando as of 2552. Unlike most Spartan teams which are subordinate to Naval Special Weapons,^[4]^[5] Noble Team was under the operational control of the UNSC Army's Special Warfare Group Three, although as Spartans, its members were still part of the Navy.^[5]

Overview[edit]

Noble Team was primarily composed of SPARTAN-IIIs pulled out of their main companies by Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose and Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez before large-scale operations where the companies were mostly wiped out, Operation: PROMETHEUS in the case of Alpha Company and Operation: TORPEDO with Beta Company.^[1]

Prior to the Fall of Reach, Noble Team had managed to survive countless battles, always coming back from suicide assignments, but not without a cost.^[6] Only two original members of the team were still living by 2552: Carter-A259 and Catherine-B320.^[7]

Noble Team also operated with non-Spartan military personnel more extensively than other Spartan teams. To grant them more operational freedom when interacting with regular military personnel, the member of Noble Team had been given higher ranks than most of the Spartans by their CO.^[8] In 2552, the team was under the command of Colonel Urban Holland of the UNSC Army.^[9]

The Spartan-IIIs of Noble Team were issued with equipment on par with the Spartan-IIs, such as the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor, which is far more advanced than the cheaper SPI armor worn by the majority of the Spartan-IIIs. The team was issued with the Mark V MJOLNIR armor on November 24, 2551. Unlike the mainline Spartan-IIs whose armor was fairly uniform in coloration, the members of Noble Team sported a variety of color schemes and field-customized armor variants.

Composition[edit]

Latest composition.

Latest composition[edit]

CDR Carter-A259 (Noble One) (MIA 08/30/2552) - A no-nonsense soldier, Carter served as the leader of Noble Team.^[9] Confirmed KIA during the Fall of Reach by crashing his Pelican into a Scarab.^[10]
LCDR Catherine-B320 (Noble Two) (MIA 08/23/2552) - Carter's second-in-command, Kat served as the intelligence and communications specialist.^[9] Confirmed KIA by a Needle Rifle during the Fall of Reach.^[11]
WO Jun-A266 (Noble Three) (Status unknown) - A thoughtful and taciturn soldier, Jun served as the sniper and scout of Noble Team.^[9] Retired from active service and currently serves as the acting Chief of Staff of the Spartan branch as of March 2558.^[12]
WO Emile-A239 (Noble Four) (MIA 08/30/2552) - A bold and aggressive Spartan, Emile was the assault specialist of the team.^[9] Confirmed KIA by Sangheili warriors during the Fall of Reach.^[10]
WO-2 Jorge-052 (Noble Five) (MIA 08/14/2552) - The only Spartan-II on the team, Jorge served as the team's heavy weapons specialist.^[9] Confirmed KIA during Operation: UPPER CUT.^[13]
LT SPARTAN-B312 (Noble Six) (MIA 08/30/2552) - The latest addition to the team, this SPARTAN's background is highly classified due to his involvement with ONI's operations. Confirmed KIA by Sangheili warriors during the Fall of Reach.^[9]^[14]

Known former and potential members[edit]

Thom-A293 (Former Noble Six) (MIA 04/22/2552) - Confirmed KIA during the Battle of Fumirole and replaced with SPARTAN-B312 immediately prior to the Fall of Reach.^[15]
Rosenda-A344 (Former Noble Four) (Status unknown) - Emile-A239's replacement if another anti-insurrectionist operation emerges.^[9] Reassigned from Noble Team after Operation: OFFSET EYE in December 2551.^[16]

Other SPARTANs were constantly kept on rotation for the team. When one member fell in the line of duty, a new SPARTAN would be brought in as a replacement.

History[edit]

"Wouldn't be a Noble mission if it were easy."

— Carter about Noble team's operations^[17]

Noble Team during the Fall of Reach.

Origins[edit]

Noble Team was formed sometime after SPARTAN-III Beta Company graduated, with Catherine-B320 being pulled from the company shortly before Operation: TORPEDO in July 2545.^[18] Eventually, she would become a founding member of Noble Team, along with Carter-A259—the leader of this new unit—and several other Spartans.^[7]

Concord[edit]

Noble Team was deployed to the colony of Concord for the Defense of Concord, taking part in Operation: OFFSET EYE. Following their success in fighting the Covenant, Rosenda-A344 was rotated out of the team. NOBLE Team would then prep for deployment to the Volanus system due to suspicions that the Covenant would attack Fumirole.^[16]

2552[edit]

By 2552, NOBLE Team was aiding UNSC Army teams in operations throughout the Inner Colonies.^[19] On April 22, 2552, the team partook in an operation to destroy a Covenant battlecruiser during the Battle of Fumirole.^[20] The operation was successful, but at the cost of Thom-A293. Following Thom's death, Noble Team was assigned to the Inner Colony of Reach to hunt down an off-world rebel leader.^[19]

Fall of Reach[edit]

Some time after their arrival on Reach, the team received a replacement for Thom-A293 in the form of SPARTAN-B312.

During the Fall of Reach on July 24, 2552, Noble Team was among the first human forces to engage the Covenant on the planet after they were sent to investigate a communications disruption at the Visegrad Relay. Two days later, they were sent to defend ONI's Sword Base, and were debriefed by Dr. Halsey afterward. In the following weeks, Noble Team split up several times, forming smaller splinter teams.

Two and a half weeks later, Noble Team conducted a night-time reconnaissance mission in Covenant-occupied territory, assessing the Covenant's deployments on the planet. The next day, they partook in the Battle of Viery along with numerous other UNSC units. After the supercarrier Long Night of Solace revealed itself, Noble Team came up with an operation to destroy the ship. The mission was a success, at the cost of Jorge-052 who sacrificed himself to destroy the supercarrier.^[13]

On August 23, Noble Team fought in the Siege of New Alexandria and eventually regrouped in the ruins of the Olympic Tower. The Covenant soon began glassing the area, and Kat-B320 was killed by sniper fire before the team could reach a fallout bunker.^[11] On August 29, the team was sent to demolish Sword Base to prevent the sensitive data within from falling into Covenant hands. After fighting their way inside, the team's mission was changed by Halsey, who assigned them to deliver a high priority package to the UNSC Pillar of Autumn to ensure that humanity would have a fighting chance against the Covenant and future enemies.

Jun left to escort Halsey to CASTLE Base, while the rest of the team headed for the ship-breaking yards in Asźod to deliver the package.^[17] Once there, Carter sacrificed his life by ramming his Pelican into a Scarab preparing to fire on Emile and Six. Noble Six eventually managed to deliver the package to Captain Keyes, while Emile was killed by a team of Sangheili Zealots. Noble Six stayed behind, and ensured the Pillar of Autumn's successful escape by using a mass driver to destroy an approaching Covenant cruiser.^[10] Not long after, Six was eventually overwhelmed and killed by Sangheili warriors, leaving Jun as the only surviving member.^[14]

Legacy[edit]

Spartan-IVs wearing GEN2 Mjolnir based on NOBLE Team's armor.

The NOBLE, Intruder, Vigilant, Wrath, and Indomitable-classes of the GEN2 MJOLNIR line were created and named in honor of them.^[21]

Sometime after humanity returned to Reach, a memorial for Noble Team was erected in Hősök tere in New Alexandria.

On January 15, 2610 a replica of the Reach War Memorial statue made by Big M Studio was sent from a former ONI agent to his cousin to be given to the curator of the Museum of Humanity, Ms. Bjarne.^[22]

Production notes[edit]

Noble Team was originally supposed to have two more members in Halo: Reach: the "sassy" Rosenda-A344 and the "cowboy-like" Thom-A293.^[23] McFarlane Toys created an action figure known as Noble Seven for Comic Con 2010. Although no such member canonically exists, McFarlane Toys representatives claim Bungie allowed them to create the unique figure.^[24]

In Halo 4, all members of NOBLE are hidden in the game files for Spartan Ops, on the desert map, but missing Jorge-052 because he's a separate biped. The reason is: Halo 4's SPARTAN-IVs are based on Halo Reach's. They're all variants of the same biped. The things that are different are: They don't have any AI, armor color or dialogue. They also have their own tags, and are called "Midnight Spartans". ^[25]

Trivia[edit]

The flag in the Capture The Flag multiplayer mode in Halo: Reach bears the emblem of Noble.
The voice of every Noble Team member is usable in Halo: Reach's Firefight mode.
While the player's appearance is customizable, none of the members of Noble Team are able to be fully imitated in terms of appearance, in order to limit confusion. This is done by allowing Noble to have exclusive configurations the player can not have, such as Emile's red security shoulder, or Kat's exclusive blue color and ability to have a prosthetic arm with the default Mark V[B] chest.
Though the player must pick up armor abilities to utilize them, the rest of Noble Team does not possess visible equipment on their armor to activate them. For example, in Winter Contingency, they are able to sprint for longer periods of time without the armor ability visible on their back. In all the levels, they will also use armor lock to avoid danger, such as grenades or vehicles. They could also use evade, an armor ability exclusive to multiplayer, to avoid heavy projectiles, though it is more common with Tough Luck skull activated. It is also worth noting that Jorge is able to use armor lock with his machine gun turret, despite the player not being able to do so while wielding a detached turret.
During gameplay, every member of Noble Team other than the player is invincible. However, their shields are breakable, and they will seek cover if they are popped.
On the cover of Halo: Reach and on the Noble Team statue in the Halo: Reach Legendary Edition, the team is lined up left to right in the order of their deaths. Jun is last, as he does not die in the game. Noble Six is not included on the statue.
Each Spartan-III's numeric tag is accompanied by a letter indicating their company of origin. Though the Spartan tags of the Spartan-III members of Noble Team were stylized in this fashion,^[26] the letters are not displayed in Halo: Reach and its promotional material; instead, their tags are shown with only three numbers without a preceding company tag. The only exception to this is in Birth of a Spartan, where Carter's full tag is shown, though it is rendered as "a-259" rather than "A259". The letters were likely excised for the sake of brevity, both from an in-universe perspective and for the player's convenience.

Gallery[edit]

Concept art and illustrations[edit]

One of the first concept explorations of Noble Team, depicting them in a UNSC shipyard alongside UNSC Army Rangers.
Concept art of Noble Team with final and cut members, including their portraits, for Halo: Reach.
Concept art of the team.
Concept art of the team.
Concept art of the team.
Concept art of the team.
Concept art of the team with civilians and army troopers.
A sketch of Noble Team for a promotional poster.
Concept art of Noble team, featuring their final designs.
A full-size wallpaper of Noble Team, comprised of the six individual pieces of artwork produced by Isaac Hannaford for the Halo Legendary Crate Series 3.