Canon

Green Team

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Green Team
LindaSOIV.png

Active:

September 2517 - Disbanded by July 2552

Affiliation:

United Nations Space Command

Branch:

UNSC Navy

Size:

Varied by mission

Engagements:

Commanders:

 

Green Team was a semi-constant group of Spartan-IIs under operational command of Naval Special Warfare Command. The size of Green Team was fluid, depending on the mission's target. They actively participated in several battles, including the Battle of Jericho VII and the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV.

Known members[edit]

From time of the team's conception in September 2517 it was led by Kurt-051.

Former members:

Operational history[edit]

Training[edit]

Main article: SPARTAN-II training

Green Team, led by Spartan Kurt-051, often exercised against fellow SPARTAN-II Blue Team, led by John-117, and often won because of Kurt's superior "sixth sense."[1]

Arrival of the Covenant[edit]

In November 2525, members of Green Team were briefed on the massacre that took place on Harvest shortly after first contact with the Covenant. A short time later, the UNSC Commonwealth, under the command of Captain Wallace, brought the Spartans and Dr. Halsey to the Damascus Testing Facility at Chi Ceti IV, where they were to receive the MJOLNIR powered armor for the first time.[2] When a Covenant ship, the Unrelenting, attacked the Commonwealth, Green Team, as well as any other active Spartan-II, took part in their first engagement with the Covenant. The Spartans used thruster packs to launch themselves from a Pelican dropship. Each Spartan carried an ANVIL-II warhead to be used against the Covenant ship.[3] However, they missed the ship and only Blue Team managed to board the vessel through a puncture in its hull, caused by a MAC round from the Commonwealth. They succeeded in completing the mission and destroyed the Covenant ship.

Radiant Arrow[edit]

Main article: Skirmish over Netherop

On March 5, 2526, Green Team participated in a mission with Blue and Gold Teams to board and capture a Covenant frigate, Radiant Arrow, in orbit over the planet Netherop. John-117 was given operational command of the mission, which had the goal of recovering Covenant technology for the Office of Naval Intelligence to study. To accomplish this, they were deployed from the prowler UNSC Starry Night for an extra vehicular boarding action.[4] With a flight of Elsedda-pattern Banshees for cover, the Spartans stealthily approached the alien vessel.[5] They boarded the frigate via its underslung hangar and eliminated the forces within, all without the rest of crew noticing the incursion. As Blue Team and Green Team pushed further into the alien vessel, John instructed Gold Team to collect weapons and corpses to be piled into the Banshees, which were then pushed out into space for the prowlers to recover later. Blue Team continued carefully along the vessel's main corridor, with Green Team acting as cleanup and clearing side compartments of hostiles as they went. [6]

As the two forward 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 Lieutenant Commander 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 and Kurt-051 leading Green Team below in search of the engineering deck, where they would hopefully be able to disable the frigate. While on the way, they were met with resistance by Kig-Yar and Yanme'e warriors. By the time they reached the engineering deck, only the Yanme'e remained. However, John was unable to prevent the frigate's shipmaster from activating a self-destruct sequence, forcing him to order everyone to abandon ship immediately. All of the Spartans made it to safety before the Radiant Arrow detonated.[6]

SILENT STORM[edit]

Main article: Operation: SILENT STORM

A few days later, Green Team and the rest of the Spartans that had participated in the pervious mission were given a new assignment. Operation: SILENT STORM would have them and the ODSTs of the 21st Space Assault Battalion board and destroy Covenant vessels and stations in an attempt to slow their destructive advance through the Outer Colonies. For the duration of the operation, the Spartans would be assigned to Task Force Yama, a veritable 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 time was right.[7]

During the ten-day voyage through slipspace, the Spartans trained with the ODSTs in the UNSC Vanishing Point's mission preparation hold. In each exercise, the Spartan made short work of the veteran marines until Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson taught them unorthodox strategies that proved to be much more effective against the supersoldiers. After four days of training, Colonel Marmon Crowther had both his ODSTs and the Spartans gather in the vessel's drop hangar to be briefed on the specifics of the operation. Despite their exemplary performance against his ODSTs, Crowther decided that the Spartans would act more as support, rather than leading the operations in their own teams. His plan was to split up the Spartans, with each of the twelve carrying a nuke for a single platoon of Black Daggers. This way, they could destroy many targets in a single battle, but it severely diminished the effectiveness of the Spartans. John-117 and another Spartan expressed their disagreement with Crowther, but it was of no use.[7]

Seoba[edit]

Main article: Battle of Seoba

When Task Force Yama arrived in the Kolaqoa system on March 18, Colonel Crowther planned to practice the mass deployment of the Spartans and his ODSTs into the Seoban quarry, in an exercise dubbed Operation: ICE DANCE. However, insurrectionist forces were detected in the very same quarry, preparing to stage a coup against Biko's chancellor. Face with a tough decision, Crowther decided that ICE DANCE would proceed as planned, but now with the objective of taking the quarry.[8] An intense battle ensued, with John taking the initiative and 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 Green Team—were engaged elsewhere.[9] Ultimately, the resident insurgents were defeated and the quarry fell under UNSC control.[10]

On March 19, 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 Lieutenant Commander Nyeto's loose lips, the truth about their young ages was revealed to the small group of key personnel present at the meeting. Because of this, Colonel Crowther refused to send the Spartans into battle again, instead ordering them to guard the roughly 300 insurrectionist prisoners that had been captured during the fighting, and prepare them to be sent to Biko to be processed. While this meeting was being held, a Covenant flotilla arrived in-system and began heading for Seoba.[11]

As the task force mobilized to meet the alien vessels, Green Team and the other Spartans were sent to Subsurface Maintenance Grotto 6M430 where they would direct the captured insurgents onto the Emmeline, a seized Banta-class transport. While the line of 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 had the line halt and called Garvin forward. However, another rebel tried to stall for him, prompting John to threaten her with summary execution to lure Garvin out. Seeing this, Kurt asked John if he needed assistance, saying that he did not see a threat. Nevertheless, the tactic worked and Garvin stepped forward, allowing John to secure the general so that ONI could interrogate him later. 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 UNSC Starry Night had been shot down on takeoff, crash-landing back into the quarry some distance away. 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 and Joshua-029, Gold Team's leader. Not only would they be disobeying a direct order from Crowther, but operating without the support of the task force in such a situation would be risky, to say the least.[12]

The twelve 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 the Spartans 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 Joshua and Kurt to spread out their teams in a hundred-meter-wide search line. Kurt had Green Team space 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.[13]

With that, 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 adjust course to match the new trajectory. With the fog still as dense as ever, John ordered them all 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 from 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 fled toward the horizon.[13]

As they neared the waypoint's location, 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. Joshua acknowledged the directive in an almost cheerful manner and asked John what the plan was. He said he was open to ideas, but that he needed to check with command first. Opening the command channel again, he relayed this information to Crowther, who echoed John's 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 that the prowler's nuclear self-destruct system could be remotely activated, 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 nuke.[13]

Just then, a Covenant Ghost appeared out of the fog and began firing at John, who easily killed its Jiralhanae driver with his MA5B's underbarrel grenade launcher. Shortly after that was handled, more Ghosts entered the quarry, so John ordered Green and Gold Teams to deal with them as Blue Team went with him to the prowler. At this point, the looming intrusion corvette had begun deploying EVA-equipped Sangheili, Jiralhanae, and Kig-Yar warriors via 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. He 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.[13]

Six of the Spartans became buried under the ice, with Solomon becoming completely incapacitated. John-117 was among those 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. Malcolm had avoided being swallowed by the ice flow, and joined Fred and Linda-058 as they boarded the prowler. Other members of Green Team coordinated attacks with Gold Team on the seemingly endless stream of Covenant ground vehicles, supported by at least three corvettes. Malcolm, Fred, and Linda boarded the Starry Night via a massive breach in its bow, finding five survivors of the crash: four ODSTs and Staff Sergeant Johnson, who had received a bad concussion. Linda got to work manually arming the prowler's Fury tactical nuclear weapon as Fred reported the situation to John, who told Linda to take her time, but warned of an enemy squad preparing to board. Acknowledging this information, Fred told him that once the nuke was armed, they would flee in the prowler's escape pod. Hearing that a team of Covenant boarders was inbound, Johnson requested his assignment. Fred had him "guard" the escape pod to keep him out of harm's way. In his disoriented state, Johnson eagerly accepted the mission, but required some help from Malcolm to find the pod. Meanwhile, Nyeto's support finally arrived the form of strafing runs that destroyed two of the intrusion corvettes assaulting Green and Gold 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. Malcolm and the others boarded the prowler's escape pod and launched through Seoba's low gravity while under fire from the corvette's surprised gunners. 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, which destroyed both the prowler and the Covenant vessel above. All of the Spartans made it to safety and Colonel Crowther had them extracted after the nuke's electromagnetic pulse had dissipated.[14] Some of the Spartans assisted in the recovery of a starholo from the corvette's wreckage. Green Team, the other Spartans, and the starholo were all transported back to the Vanishing Point afterward.[15]

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.[15]

Etalan[edit]

Main article: Battle over Etalan

Green, Blue, and Gold Teams, Staff Sergeant Johnson, and Dr. Halsey left the Kolaqoa system aboard the Vanishing Point later that day, with two prowlers serving as escort. On March 22, the 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 and other materials used to keep the Fleet of Inexorable Obedience fully 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, 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 extremely high risk inherent with performing such maneuvers, Kurt-051 was given strict orders to pull Green Team out if it became apparent that they would not reach their targets safely. Joshua-029 was given the same orders regarding Gold Team.[16]

Shortly after Blue Team launched from the Vanishing Point in the Banshees they had captured from the Radiant Arrow and infiltrated the Covenant fighter screen, Kurt had Green Team eject from their Baselards as Gold Team did the same. The eight Spartans successfully boarded the equipment freighters, planted their nukes, and fled the vessels before they detonated. Each team destroyed two freighters. The fourth detonation disabled the Banshee formation that Blue Team had infiltrated, forcing them to abandon their fighters and go EV. Afterwards, when the prowler escorts moved in to extract Green and Gold Teams from orbit over Etalan, their retrieval created an unintentional diversion that drew attention away from Blue Team as they destroyed the logistics fleet’s "air-skimmers," vessels that Dr. Halsey had identified as key targets.[17]

Zhoist[edit]

Main article: Battle of Zhoist

After an attack on the Covenant supply lines that resulted in the destruction of several support vessels, the Spartans eventually acquired the location of Zhoist, a world used by the Covenant as a forward operating base due to its proximity to humanity's Outer Colonies. With a distraction planned by the remaining prowlers of Task Force Yama, the twelve Spartans of Green, Blue, and Gold Teams descended to the planet aboard four of the prowlers. Green and Blue Teams managed to successfully deploy upon an orbital elevator, which carried supplies to the construction ring high above the planet. They proceeded to destabilize the orbital ring by destroying a dozen of its constituent facilities with octanitrocubane explosives. Although most of the ODSTs died during the assault, all of the Spartans survived.[18]

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Jericho VII[edit]

Main article: Battle of Jericho VII

In 2535, Green Team was deployed to Jericho VII to assist in its defense. The team's mission was to prevent a Covenant ground force advance on the planet. Meanwhile, Blue Team were drawing out the Covenant rear guard, while Red Team slipped behind Covenant lines and planted a HAVOK tactical nuke, hoping to destroy the next Covenant ship that landed and dropped its shields. All of the Spartan teams accomplished their missions and returned safely to the remaining fleet in a Pelican dropship.[19]

Sigma Octanus IV[edit]

Main article: Battle of Sigma Octanus IV
Spartan Blue, Red, and Green teams deployed on Sigma Octanus IV.

In July 2552, during Operation: OCEAN BREAKER on Sigma Octanus IV, Green Team was led by Linda-058. Deployed to Côte d'Azur, Green Team scouted out the residential section of the city and found no survivors.[20] Spartans helped escort the twenty civilian survivors that Red Team (led by Joshua-029) had found and was able to successfully evacuate them before Blue Team detonated a HAVOK nuclear warhead in the heart of the city, destroying tens of thousands of Covenant forces stationed there. Linda was given strategic control of the evacuation.[21] Green team then dusted off in a D77-TC Pelican which docked with the UNSC Leviathan and returned to Reach for debriefing.[22]

Reach[edit]

Main article: Fall of Reach

During the Fall of Reach members of Green Team joined Blue Team, led by John-117, and Red Team, led by Fred-104.[citation needed]

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Non-canon and dubious canon appearances[edit]

Silver Timeline[edit]

HTV-SilverTeam logo.png
This article contains information about the Silver Timeline, and is not a part of the established Halo canon.

Green Team and Blue Team participated in Operation: HORIZON.[23]

List of appearances[edit]

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
  2. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 141 (2010)
  3. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, pages 147-150 (2010)
  4. ^ Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 1
  5. ^ Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 2
  6. ^ a b Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 3
  7. ^ a b Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 5
  8. ^ Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 7
  9. ^ Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 8
  10. ^ Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 10
  11. ^ Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 11
  12. ^ Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 13
  13. ^ a b c d Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 14
  14. ^ Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 15
  15. ^ a b Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 16
  16. ^ Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 19
  17. ^ Halo: Silent Storm, chapter 20
  18. ^ Halo: Silent Storm
  19. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 20 (2010 edition)
  20. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 212 (2010 edition)
  21. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 213 (2010 edition)
  22. ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 240 (2010 edition)
  23. ^ Halo: The Series, Dr. Catherine Halsey's Computer (Retrieved on Mar 25, 2022) [local archive] [external archive]