Chyler Silva
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
| Chyler Silva | |
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Homeworld: |
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Born: |
c. 2510 |
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Died: |
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Gender: |
Female |
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Hair color: |
Brown |
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Eye color: |
Blue |
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Rank: |
Officer Cadet |
- "As soon as I lose a bruise, another one appears. And that's the way it should be. They're like little purple merit badges that mean you're doing a good job. Because it shouldn't be easy to be a soldier. It should be difficult. And that's what makes it such a great job. That's what makes me proud to be training to do this. It's because it is hard. And that means that the end result is gonna be something to be proud of."
- — Chyler Silva on her training at Corbulo Academy[2]
Chyler Silva was an officer cadet of the United Nations Space Command armed forces. She attended Corbulo Academy of Military Science during the early years of the Human-Covenant War as part of the class of 2529.
Biography[edit]
Early life and education[edit]
Chyler Silva grew up on Cygnus. Chyler and her family later moved to Mamore,[3] a colony world where violence between Insurrectionists and UNSC supporters was a common occurrence.[4] As a result, even civilians like herself were forced to learn how to protect themselves from a young age. For example, Chyler's mother taught her how to hold a rifle when she was ten years of age. In preparation for emergencies, her father would often race Chyler and her brother Grayson to a local bomb shelter and he would allow them to stay up half an hour past bedtime if they beat him. Her cousin's school became the target of a rebel bombing when she was around ten years of age, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of children.[2] Both of her parents were UNSC military and eventually died in battle against rebels.[5]
Developing a strong personal sense of duty to the UNSC, Silva intended to become a soldier like her parents and she attended Corbulo Academy as a freshman cadet of the class of 2529. Assigned to Hastati Squad under the leadership of Senior Cadet April Orenski, she took her education with particular enthusiasm, scoring top marks in training exercises. Although most other members of Hastati Squad berated Thomas Lasky for his poor performance in combat exercises and not taking his training seriously, Silva continuously attempted to encourage him to become a better soldier. As a result of her background, she was not convinced by Lasky's pacifism, maintaining that military action by the UNSC was the only way to end the war. Silva's efforts eventually paid off, with Lasky volunteering to lead the squad during a Capture the Flag exercise and devising an ingenious tactical maneuver which allowed Hastati Squad to catch Zuma Squad completely by surprise. While Hastati Squad was victorious, with Silva playing a major part in the assault on the opposing team's flag, Lasky passed out before the exercise was over.
Concerned for Lasky's condition, Silva later came to check on him. After a brief conversation between the two, Cadet Michael Sullivan called them over to view a classified recording displaying UNSC troops joining forces with insurrectionists to fight unknown hostiles. Silva was greatly bewildered by this revelation and she later retreated outside the academy to ponder on its implications. While there, she was joined by Thomas, who revealed that he had been offered the choice to be discharged from the academy on medical grounds. Visibly distraught, Silva told Lasky that she would miss him if he chose to leave and the two shared a kiss.
Covenant attack[edit]
- Main article: Battle of Circinius IV
When the Covenant invaded Corbulo Academy, Hastati Squad was to be evacuated via the Academy's space elevator. However, after the Covenant's destruction of the tether, the squad was caught in the battle between UNSC Marines and Covenant forces. The squad attempted to escape to the Academy's armory, which resulted in the deaths of cadets Junjie Chen and Walter Vickers at the hands of an active camouflaged Sangheili Zealot. However, the Zealot was killed by SPARTAN Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. John, who had arrived with SPARTAN-II Blue Team to assist in the evacuation of Corbulo Academy, revealed that the surviving members of Hastati Squad - Silva, Lasky, Orenski and Sullivan - were only surviving humans left on the entire planet.
As the Spartan led them to an evacuation point, Silva began to break down under the stress of combat. However, when the Master Chief asked who in the squad was the best marksman, Lasky recommended Silva. John-117 escorted them outside and ordered Silva and Orenski to cover Lasky as he commandeered General Black's Warthog to allow them to escape to the extraction zone. During the engagement, Silva ran out of ammunition and had to make use of a discarded Covenant Type-51 Carbine, and proved to be quite proficient with the weapon.[6]
Death[edit]
- "It's okay, Tom. I'm sorry."
- — Silva's last words.
During the squad's escape from the Academy in Black's Warthog, Silva provided cover fire for the rest of the squad from the Warthog's side seat. Using short controlled bursts from her assault rifle, she killed two Kig-Yar. However, just as the Warthog had cleared the combat zone, they crashed into a lone Kig-Yar and were forced to stop. It was during this lull in the fighting that Silva realized she'd been hit in the stomach by a Needler shard (possibly when the vehicle crashed into the Kig-Yar, causing it to randomly discharge its Needler). The other cadets carried Silva to a small UNSC field depot in the forest while the Chief remained behind to fight a Hunter. Having spent the last of their biofoam on Sullivan's injury, they attempted to numb Silva's pain with the contents of a tactical training round; however, this proved ineffective. Before dying, she removed her dog tags and gave them to Lasky, before reassuring and apologizing to him. Lasky stayed beside her until another Hunter approached and the squad was forced to leave her corpse behind. Distraught over her death, Lasky volunteered to bait the Hunter, allowing the Chief to kill the creature. Lasky was strongly affected by her death and kept her dog tags with him for over thirty years afterwards.[7] Before a major operation against the Created in December 2559, Lasky looked at his keepsake collection of dog tags attached to a shard of the Hunter's armor. The collection of dog tags was those of Chyler, Cadmon Lasky, Dimah Tchakova, Junjie Chen, Walter Vickers and at least a dozen others Lasky had lost along the way.[8]
Personality and traits[edit]
A resolute and highly competent cadet, Chyler Silva maintained a modest, collected outlook and took a serious approach to her training. Both her upbringing and her firsthand experience of the harsh reality of the Insurrection had led her to becoming wholly loyal to the UNSC, whilst despising the Insurrectionists, who she maintained were the ones