Michael Sullivan

This article is about the CAMS cadet. For the Marine who fought at New Mombasa, see Sullivan.

John-117: "Who's the best shot here?"

Sullivan: "You, probably?"

— John-117 and Michael Sullivan during the escape from Corbulo Academy.

Commander Michael "Sully" Sullivan (service number 26582-72839-MS)^[1] is the Senior Communications Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence.^[2] He was one of few survivors of the Covenant's invasion of Circinius IV in April 2526.^[3]

Biography

Childhood and education

Michael Sullivan was born on Emerald Cove on September 3, 2510, to Steven and Evelyn Sullivan.^[1] Michael grew up without his father, knowing little about him except that he was a researcher for one of the UNSC's intelligence divisions.^[1]^[4] As a result Michael and his two younger brothers were mostly raised by their mother. Steven insisted that Michael attend a military school, as he felt his son needed to learn proper discipline. Evelyn disagreed as it would mean sending her son away from home.^[1] Nevertheless, Michael enrolled at the Corbulo Academy of Military Science in 2526 as a freshman cadet and was assigned to Hastati Squad.^[5] He had a habit of 'dying' in combat exercises. Despite this, he never lost his enthusiasm and became friends with Thomas Lasky, though the rest of the squad was hostile to the perceived "Innie lover".^[3]

Convinced that the Office of Naval Intelligence was hiding something from the greater whole of humanity, Sullivan hacked mission recordings of UNSC personnel ostensibly combatting Insurrectionists.^[3] He soon discovered helmet camera footage of a Spartan (actually Fred-104) in a three-way battle among the UNSC, Insurrectionists, and the Covenant.^[3] Sullivan believed the Spartan was actually a new type of Orbital Drop Shock Trooper and bragged that soldier could decapitate a man with his bare hands. Sullivan's activities were interrupted when the communications terminal suddenly went offline, leading him to believe ONI had caught on to him.^[3]

Covenant attack

Sullivan covers the rest of the survivors as they advance through the ruins of Corbulo Academy.

Main article: Fall of Circinius IV

The communications blackout was actually the result of a far more serious threat. That evening, Circinius IV was attacked by the Covenant. Sullivan's roommate Dimah Tchakova was killed while the cadets attempted to evacuate, and Sullivan was pressed into the defense of the planet with the surviving cadets. As the battle at Corbulo Academy started, Hastati Squad retreated to the dormitory hiding in Lasky's room. Sullivan was visibly upset by Dimah's death. Sullivan attempted to activate Lasky's terminal; when nothing happened, he realized the comms were offline.

A Sangheili Zealot then appeared in the dormitory corridor, breaking into the rooms where cadets were hiding one by one. They decided they had to leave, Chen volunteering to take point. As they made a run for it Chen was impaled by the Zealot's energy sword. The rest of the squad then ran for the armory, shutting the door behind them. While Lasky sent a distress signal, the rest of the squad attempted to open the weapons locker with little success; eventually, Vickers attempted to bash it open. The Sangheili from earlier started to break down the door, causing the squad to hide. Vickers got separated hiding on the other side of the room. As the Sangheili neared the rest of the squad's position, Vickers, in order to give the squad a chance to escape, revealed his location to the Sangheili, being quickly shot and killed by his plasma rifle. The Sangheili then turned his attention back to the squad, slowly walking toward them until Spartan John-117 sneaked up behind him and stabbed him in the neck.

While preparing to leave, Sullivan questioned why John-117 came for them. John answered they were the only survivors; Sullivan assumed in the school, but John corrected him, stating they were the last on the planet. While waiting for the Master Chief to return, Sullivan began questioning what was going on, referring to the Chief as a "giant robot" and questioning whether he would even come back. When Master Chief asked who the best shot was, Sullivan said it was most likely the Chief. As they went outside, the squad saw their fellow cadets and soldiers dead all around them. During the escape, Sullivan was shot in the leg by a Kig-Yar sharpshooter, who attempted to kill him, but John-117 saved him. After Chyler and John killed the Kig-Yar, Orenski carried Sullivan to the Warthog to escape.

En route to the Pelican, the group's Warthog came under attack by a group of Kig-Yar and they were soon forced to stop. John administered biofoam to Sullivan's wound so that he could walk. Chyler Silva had also been hit, and the group carried her to a small shelter in the forest while John engaged a Mgalekgolo. As they were out of biofoam, they attempted to give first aid to Silva by using the contents of the tactical training rounds found in the shelter to numb the pain; however, she died shortly afterward. As another Hunter approached, Sullivan regretfully told Lasky that he would have to leave Chyler behind. Retreating through the woods, they eventually took cover in a ditch. Lasky distracted the Hunter, allowing John to kill it. As they evacuated in the Pelican, Sullivan took notice of how young Spartans Kelly-087 and Fred-104 looked as they removed their helmets; he asked them how old they were, to which Kelly merely responded that such information was "classified."^[3]

Later career

Sullivan later joined the UNSC Navy. He rose through the ranks, eventually becoming ONI's Senior Communications Director. In 2558 he contacted Benjamin Giraud (a roving civilian reporter and occasional ONI contractor) with a proposition: Giraud would be paid handsomely for conducting a series of interviews about the Master Chief, who had saved Sullivan's life decades prior.^[2]

Personality and traits

Generally energetic and cheerful, Sullivan tended to perform poorly in the academy's training exercises. However, he did not seem to take any particular pressure over his performance, and instead devoted most of his attention and spare time for hacking classified transmissions on his dorm room's computer terminal. He had not formed a clear opinion on the UNSC or the morality of the ongoing Insurrection, and stated that he was relying on his education to get a better understanding as to the reasons as to why they were fighting. When interviewed in 2526, he stated that he would be unlikely to ever be able to take a life; as a result, he aimed to follow in his father's footsteps and become a researcher for the UNSC instead of serving in a combat-oriented role.^[4] Although the other cadets were often mildly annoyed by his antics, he was not as unpopular as Thomas Lasky, who was vocal in his opposition of the UNSC's policies on ideological grounds.

After the Covenant attack, Sullivan began to show signs of breaking down, panicking over Dimah Tchakova's death and later questioning if the Chief would return; nevertheless, he retained his characteristic sense of humor and maintained his composure over the course of the battle.