Hector Nyeto

Hector Nyeto
Biographical information
Homeworld:	Gao
Personal details
Species:	Human
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Black
Political and military information
Affiliation:	UNSC Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Prowler Corps (formerly) Gao Republic Ministry of War
Rank:	Lieutenant commander (formerly) President of the Gao Republic

"If General Nyeto had been afraid to fight when he faced the same odds, Gao wouldn't be a free world today."

— Minister Arlo Casille

Hector Nyeto was a human politician and general on the Outer Colony of Gao, notably serving as a President of the Gao Republic. A hero of the Insurrection, Nyeto served as a lieutenant commander in the Office of Naval Intelligence's Prowler Corps, before defecting to aid his homeworld in rebelling against the Unified Earth Government.

Biography

Insurrectionist spy

At some point during the Insurrection, Hector Nyeto enlisted in the UNSC Navy. Early in his career, Nyeto served in a number of missions with Robert Watts. It was theorized that either Watts or Nyeto radicalized the other to fight on the side of the insurrectionists instead. By 2526, Hector Nyeto was a lieutenant commander in the Office of Naval Intelligence's Prowler Corps, and held command of a unit of four Razor-class prowlers called Ghost Flight. Over the estimated course of years or even decades, Nyeto quietly replaced the crewmen of all four ships with insurrectionist personnel.

Sabotaging the Spartans

Main article: Skirmish over Netherop

At least one of Nyeto's prowlers was present during the SPARTAN-IIs' daring mission on March 5, 2526 to board and capture a Covenant frigate as it orbited Netherop. After the Spartans stealthily infiltrated the vessel and made their way to the bridge, one of Nyeto's sensor operators deliberately transmitted over an open communications channel in an effort to kill the Spartans by alerting the Covenant crew, playing it off as an accident. With their cover blown, John-117's Spartans had a much harder time capturing the frigate. When John made it to the bridge, the vessel's shipmaster had already prepared a self-destruct sequence. Despite the Spartan's best efforts, the sequence was activated, forcing him and his compatriots to abandon ship. Although the frigate was destroyed, each of the Spartans were able to escape safely.

SILENT STORM

Main article: Operation: SILENT STORM

A few days later, Lieutenant Commander Nyeto and his flight were assigned to Task Force Yama—a splinter group of Battle Group X-Ray—for the duration of Operation: SILENT STORM, a daring UNSC operation that would see the SPARTAN-IIs and the ODSTs of the 21st Space Assault Battalion boarding Covenant vessels to destroy them from the inside using nuclear weapons. The hope was that this would slow down the Covenant's advance enough that the UNSC would have time to formulate an effective defensive strategy. Upon learning that Dr. Catherine Halsey, mastermind of the SPARTAN-II program, would be assigned to the unit, Nyeto or one of his subordinates outfitted her temporary lab on the UNSC Vanishing Point with hidden surveillance equipment and software, in an effort to learn crucial information about her supersoldiers. Ghost Flight and the rest of Task Force Yama soon left for the Kolaqoa system and Biko, which was theorized to be the Covenant's next target. An ice quarry on Seoba, one of Biko's three moons, was selected as the staging point for the UNSC's operation there.

Battle of Seoba

Main article: Battle of Seoba

Arriving in the Kolaqoa system, Task Force Yama approached Seoba, and Colonel Marmon Crowther of the Black Daggers—the nickname for the 21st Space Assault Battalion—decided that it would be a great time to practice the mass deployment of the Spartans and his ODSTs. However, it was soon discovered that insurgent forces were occupying the quarry. Operation: ICE DANCE was no longer a drill. As the battle began, Nyeto's flagship, the UNSC Ghost Song, was assigned to drop off First Platoon from the Black Daggers' Alpha Company, along with John-117, above the ice quarry. Prior to their deployment, the lieutenant commander confronted John and pulled him into a secluded passageway next to the troop bay. Nyeto apologized to John for the "mistake" made by one of his sensor operators during the Spartans' raid on the Radiant Arrow. Then, he furtively steered their conversation toward a rumor he had apparently heard from an associate that the Spartans were trained as children on Reach, and that they were still only in their mid-teens. Although John denied this, his defensiveness only confirmed that Nyeto's information was accurate. Soon after, he ordered his ship to begin the insertion run and launch a missile strike on the insurrectionist relay station when the Ghost Song was fired upon by rebel anti-aircraft bunkers. The missiles damaged but ultimately missed a direct hit on the transmitter, which left it open to be repaired. He ordered his flight to abort the drop, but after John exited the prowler and took out all the hostile emplacements, he was forced to continue with the deployment. His flagship and the other prowlers in Ghost Flight delivered the remnants of Alpha Company to the field, and launched a final salvo against the rebels before pulling out when the UNSC Ghost Star was shot down.

After the battle concluded and the UNSC had taken the ice quarry, he was summoned by Captain Halima Ascot for a debriefing in the quarry's Assembly Chamber 4L430. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss what went wrong during the operation and what led to Alpha Company's unusually-high casualties. Ultimately, the conversation turned to the Spartans and their qualifications, which led to a discussion about their true ages. With some careful hinting from Nyeto, Colonel Crowther became curious about John's age. As Nyeto began sharing the rumors and evidence he had to suggest that the Spartans were only about fifteen years old, Dr. Halsey all but confirmed the assertion. Now that he had a good reason to do so, Crowther refused to send the Spartans into any of his future battles. After this, the discussion turned to how the insurgents had seemingly prepared for the UNSC's arrival. John suggested that they were waiting for someone else, the Covenant. Just as everyone else began to see the logic in his reasoning, a Covenant flotilla arrived in the system. Nyeto and Ascot immediately rushed back to their ships to prepare for battle.

With the flotilla nearing Seoba, the 21st Space Assault Battalion was spilt among the prowlers of Task Force Yama, including Nyeto's Ghost Flight. Captain Ascot's Night Flight received the final company of ODSTs. As the UNSC Starry Night launched, it was hit by a blast from an intrusion corvette, causing it crash into the quarry. Nyeto frantically reported this over the task force's command channel, observing that the vessel was still intact. Before he could finish, Crowther interrupted him, informing Nyeto that he would advise if more information about Ascot's flagship was needed. Nyeto indignantly proclaimed that there could be survivors in need of help, but Crowther cut him off again, telling him to proceed as planned and to observe Protocol Echo. This was an instruction to treat communications as non-secure, and the colonel used it to warn to Nyeto that the extent of Covenant eavesdropping technology was unknown. With Nyeto silenced, Crowther attempted to hail the Starry Night, but received no response. Fearing the worst, he began searching for a Black Dagger unit that could be sent to the crash site. However, all of Crowther's ODSTs had already launched with prowlers, and sending them back would put more lives and ships at risk.

As no other units were available, John-117 decided that he and his Spartans would search for the Starry Night themselves, knowing that Crowther would not assign them to the task. Once they made it into the quarry, John accessed the command chann