Editing Elijah Vaughan

{{Status|Canon}}
{{Character infobox
|variant=Human
|name=Elijah "Eli" Vaughan
|image=[[File:HW2 Vaughn Artwork.png|300px]]
|homeworld=[[Earth]]{{Ref/Site|Id=CFFrosty|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/stay-frosty|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Stay Frosty|D=17|M=06|Y=2018}}{{Ref/Game|Id=PL|HW2|Phoenix Logs|Detail=Major Vaughan}}
|birth=Circa or before [[2502]]
|death=
|causeofdeath=
|parents=
|siblings=
|spouses=
|children=
|species=[[Human]]{{Ref/Reuse|CFFrosty}}{{Ref/Reuse|PL}}
|gender=Male{{Ref/Reuse|CFFrosty}}{{Ref/Reuse|PL}}
|height=
|mass=
|hair=
|eyes=
|affiliation=*[[UNSC Marine Corps]]{{Ref/Reuse|CFFrosty}}{{Ref/Reuse|PL}}
**[[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]]{{Ref/Reuse|CFFrosty}}{{Ref/Reuse|PL}}
|rank=[[Major (UNICOM)|Major]]{{Ref/Reuse|CFFrosty}}{{Ref/Reuse|PL}}
|sn=
|notable=
}}
[[Major (UNICOM)|Major]] '''Elijah "Eli" Vaughan''',{{Ref/Novel|Id=Fireside|Halo: Fireside}} nicknamed '''the Mustang''', is a [[human]] officer of the [[UNSC Marine Corps]] and a [[company commander]] within the [[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]]. He is the [[commanding officer]] of [[Boomerang Company]], an element of the [[9th Shock Troops Battalion]] assigned to {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}}, and personally leads the company's command squad [[Sunray 1-1]].{{Ref/Reuse|CFFrosty}}{{Ref/Reuse|PL}}

==Biography==
===Early life and career===
Vaughan was born to a family of politicians and corporate executives on [[Earth]], and lived his early life in luxury and privilege in some of Earth's most prestigious arcologies. He was rebellious in his youth, and an escalated family argument led to Vaughan enlisting in the [[UNSC Marine Corps]]. After being accelerated through [[Unified Combined Military Boot Camp|boot camp]] during the height of the [[Insurrection]], Vaughan had no time to regret his decision before being deployed in combat against [[Terrorism|terrorists]] and [[Insurrectionist|insurgent]] movements throughout the [[Outer Colonies]].{{Ref/Reuse|CFFrosty}}{{Ref/Reuse|PL}}

His first duty station as a fresh recruit was aboard {{UNSCShip|Spirit of Fire}}, an old [[colony ship]] retasked with transporting UNSC military and police forces to colonies it once helped establish. Vaughan found his first assignment rather ironic, given the role his own family played in exacerbating tensions across the colonies.{{Ref/Reuse|CFFrosty}}{{Ref/Reuse|PL}}

===Human-Covenant War===
In the early years of the [[Human-Covenant War]], Vaughn had become a [[commissioned officer]] within the Marines' [[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]]. He soon found himself stationed aboard ''Spirit of Fire'' again assigned to the [[9th Shock Troops Battalion]], serving as the [[commanding officer]] of the unit's [[Boomerang Company]].{{Ref/Reuse|CFFrosty}}{{Ref/Reuse|PL}}

Aboard ''Spirit of Fire'', Vaughn served in several campaigns against the [[Covenant]] throughout the Outer Colonies, namely the [[Harvest campaign]] in [[2531|February 2531]]. His assignment aboard ''Spirit of Fire'' later led to Vaughn participating in the [[Battle for Arcadia]], and finally [[Battle of the Trove|a battle]] over the [[Forerunner]] [[shield world]], [[Trove]]. During the battle, ''Spirit of Fire'' had sacrificed her [[slipspace drive]] to prevent the shield world from falling into the Covenant's hands, and Vaughn was forced to enter [[Cryonics|cryosleep]] alongside the rest of the crew while they awaited rescue drifting through space.{{Ref/Book|Enc22|Page=59}}

===Installation 00===
On [[2559]], Vaughan woke up from cryosleep after 28 years of drifting in space, arriving at the [[Forerunner]] [[Installation 00]], where he fought against the [[Banished]] during the [[Second Ark Conflict|battle for the Ark]]. Vaughan partook in [[Operation: SPEARBREAKER]] in [[2559#May|May 2559]], deploying onto the Ark's North Spire at 0247 hours via an [[M8900 drop pod|M8900 Human Entry Vehicle]] alongside [[Warrant Officer]] [[Alannah Quinn]], [[Petty Officer]] [[Helena Gruss]], [[Corporal]] [[Chloe Turpin]], and [[Lance Corporal]] [[Devon Sparks]], and tasked with halting Colony's plan. Vaughan led Sunray in the field, frequently conversing with WO Quinn and reporting back to ''Spirit of Fire'' command. Sunray 1-1 were ultimately able to capture a number of the [[Forerunner]] control towers projecting a cloaking field around the target site and destroy a Banished [[Outpost]] and a Retriever Sentinel, with the collapse of the cloaking field revealing the target of Colony's operation - a dormant {{Class|Despair|fighter}} currently [[Design seed|being assembled]] inside a subsurface dock.{{Ref/Level|HW2|Section=Halo Wars 2: Operation: SPEARBREAKER|SectionLinkText=Operation: SPEARBREAKER|Gatecrashers}} 

With the path to the ''Despair'' fighter clear, Sunray proceeded to advance to the target. ''Spirit of Fire'' command noted that their reconnaissance [[D81 Condor]] had imaged several [[charging column]]s feeding energy into the fighter, leading Sunray to begin targeting the columns to buy time for their assault force to reach the construction site. The team were ultimately successful in cutting off the fighter's power feed, allowing a flight of [[AV-14B Hornet]]s to attack the site with an air strike.{{Ref/Level|HW2|Section=Halo Wars 2: Operation: SPEARBREAKER|SectionLinkText=Operation: SPEARBREAKER|Not on My Watch}}

Upon returning from their successful mission, Sunray wasted no time in moving on to meet additional challenges. Deployed into some of the most hostile, Banished-occupied areas of Installation 00, Sunray has encountered hostile resistance from Warlords, Sentinels, and Forerunner [[armiger]] contingents alike.{{Ref/Site|Id=CF100|URL=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/sweet-centennial|Site=Halo Waypoint|Page=Canon Fodder - Sweet Centennial|D=24|M=09|Y=2021}} Sunray's most recent missions involve the elimination of Banished commanders identified by Isabel as being critical to Atriox's attempts to harness the Ark's power. Shortly after SPEARBREAKER, Major Vaughan led Sunray on a successful clandestine assassination of a Jiralhanae captain.{{Ref/Reuse|CF100}}

On May 21, 2559, Sunray were stationed at [[Quebec Base]] on the Ark, following the assassination. During the mission, they had cleared the base and looted several strips of [[thorn beast]] meat - leading to a cookout and some downtime for an evening.{{Ref/Reuse|Fireside}}

==Personality and traits==
[[File:HW2 MajorVaughan Lightsticks.png|thumb|250px|Vaughan's chemical light stick pack and dog tags.]]
As the [[commanding officer]] of [[Boomerang Company]], Vaughn and his [[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]] consider the unit to be the most elite force of ODSTs within the entire [[United Nations Space Command]], a common sentiment held by all ODSTs for their respective units. Rebellious in his youth, Vaughan considers his enlistment with the [[UNSC Marine Corps]] to be both the best and worst decision he made in his life. Vaughan takes solace in the fact that his military career is definitely not the course his family had pre-charted for him.{{Ref/Reuse|CFFrosty}}{{Ref/Reuse|PL}} He rarely speaks of the [[dog tag]]s he carries with him, and his fellow ODSTs know not to ask about them.{{Ref/Reuse|CF100}} Vaughan has a long history of service together on ''Spirit of Fire'' with [[Warrant Officer]] [[Alannah Quinn]].{{Ref/Reuse|CFFrosty}}{{Ref/Reuse|PL}}

Although currently one of the highest ranking officers aboard ''Spirit of Fire'', Vaughn avoids strategy and high-level operational planning, preferring to leave it to the "experts". As an ODST, he considers his place to be in a [[drop pod]] headed into battle.{{Ref/Reuse|PL}}

==Equipment==
Major Vaughan arms himself with a [[M41 SPNKR]] [[rocket launcher]], stylized with a hand-painted mustang, emblematic of his early career as an enlisted [[UNSC Marine Corps|Marine]].{{Ref/Reuse|CF100}} He occasionally uses the rocket launcher as a blunt teaching instrument to knock sense into younger [[Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]].{{Ref/Reuse|PL}} Vaughan always keeps spare [[chemical light stick]]s on hand for situations where other methods of signaling are unusable or unsafe.{{Ref/Reuse|CF100}}

==In-game information==
===''Halo Wars 2''===
In ''[[Halo Wars 2: Operation: SPEARBREAKER]]''{{'}}s campaign, Vaughan is one of the ODSTs present in the Sunray 1-1 hero unit. For gameplay information on Sunray 1-1, see [[Vaughan/Gameplay|here]].

====Phoenix Log====
{| class="wikitable": style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none; width: 45%"
|+ '''[[Phoenix Logs|Phoenix Log]] - Major Vaughan'''
|-
|{{:Phoenix Logs/UNSC Units/Major Vaughan}}
|}

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Vaughan Portrait.png|A portrait of Vaughan.
File:ODST-Vaughan Model.png|Vaughan's in-game model in ''Halo Wars 2''.
File:HW2_MajorVaughan_RocketLauncher.png|Vaughan's customised rocket launcher with the "Mustang" emblem.
</gallery>

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo Wars 2]]''
**''[[Halo Wars 2: Operation: SPEARBREAKER]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: Fireside]]''

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources}}
{{Sunray 1-1}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Elijah}}
[[Category:Human characters]]
[[Category:UNSC Marine Corps officers]]
[[Category:Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]]