Rosenda-A344

Rosenda-A344
Biographical information
Homeworld:	Earth
Born:	January 5, 2525
Personal details
Species:	Human
Gender:	Female
Height:	208 centimetres (6.83 ft)
Weight:	99 kilograms (219 lb)
Political and military information
Affiliation:	UNSC Navy (formerly) Naval Special Weapons SPARTAN-III program UNSC Army
Rank:	Warrant Officer
Service number:	S-A344

"Don’t go missing me too much, I’m sure whoever they get to replace me will enjoy your company just as much as I have."

— Rosenda-A344, shortly after being reassigned from Noble Team

Rosenda-A344, sometimes nicknamed Rose, is a SPARTAN-III supersoldier, trained as a member of Alpha Company. Rosenda served on NOBLE Team as part of its earliest roster under the callsign "NOBLE Four", before eventually being replaced by Emile-A239 in late 2551.

Biography

Early life and career

Rosenda was born in the Greater Chicago Industrial Zone, United Republic of North America on Earth on January 5, 2525. Early in her life, her family moved out to the colony world of Vodin so that her parents could work as colonial administrators, where she stayed until the Covenant's invasion of the planet in 2532. During the invasion, Rosenda's parents were killed during the destruction of the planet's space elevator and subsequent glassing, resulting in her being brought to Onyx later that year as a "volunteer" for the SPARTAN-III program. Rosenda acclimatised to the military environment quickly, and proceeded to train under Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose and SCPO Franklin Mendez. Rosenda was identified by Ambrose and Mendez as one of a handful of exceptional specimens within the SPARTAN-III Alpha Company and was extracted from the group before the disastrous Operation: PROMETHEUS. She and a small number of other Spartans were given MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor and were assigned to smaller special operations units and eventually NOBLE Team, under the operational authority of Unified Special Warfare Command.

As part of NOBLE's earliest roster, Rosenda served under the callsign "Noble Four". As part of NOBLE, she partook in a number of operations throughout the Human-Covenant War including DIRE MORNING, FANCY DRESS, and finally, OFFSET EYE on Concord.

Concord

Main article: Operation: OFFSET EYE

In December 2551, Rosenda and the rest of NOBLE were sent to Concord to defend the colony from Covenant invasion. By December 12, a joint effort between the UNSC Army Rangers and the Concordian militia had denied the Covenant air superiority, and also drove the invaders from the major cities. Following this, the unusually small number of Covenant warships in orbit had been neutralized by a UNSC strike group. After being rerouted from one of the cities, NOBLE's Pelican was downed in the mountains of the Hinterlands region during a particularly brutal snowstorm. They made their way to the town of Skathi, which was under imminent threat from a contingent of Covenant ground forces. As the others were preparing the citizens of the town for the coming battle, Jun-A266 informed them that a Zashk-pattern Draugr siege platform was leading the charge. Formulating a plan, Kat-B320 had Rosenda and Thom-A293 join her in their M862 Arctic Warthog while the rest of NOBLE stayed in town as a rear guard.

Kat drove their treaded Warthog straight at the approaching convoy, attracting the attention of the Draugr's escort of six Karo'etba-pattern Ghosts and mortar fire from two Zurdo-pattern Wraiths. The Ghosts began to flank the Spartans' Warthog, but Rosenda flung open her gullwing door and fired her assault rifle in short controlled bursts, killing the drivers of the first three Ghosts before targeting the fuel cell of the fourth, causing the vehicle to detonate. As the Warthog neared one of the Ghosts, Thom leapt to the vehicle and took it for himself. Kat directed him to draw the fire of the Draugr as she and Rosenda prepared to board the siege engine in spectacular fashion. Kat used a nearby rocky outcropping to launch the Warthog into the lower troop bay of the Draugr. Immediately after their vehicle came to a rest, Rosenda launched from her seat and killed multiple Kig-Yar with her combat knife. With the welcome party eliminated, Kat got to work opening the Draugr's forward loading ramp so that Thom could get inside as well. As Rosenda and Thom provided cover, Kat used the siege engine's own focus cannons to obliterate the remaining Ghosts and Wraiths. Knowing that the remaining Covenant infantry would frantically attempt to reclaim the Draugr, Kat reopened the loading ramp and the three Spartans prepared to ambush the boarders.

After dealing with the rest of the infantry, the Spartans brought the Draugr back to the outskirts of Skathi, where a pair of Pelicans would land a few hours later. As some of the others unloaded supplies from the dropships, Rosenda talked with Jorge-052 about what the citizens of the town would do following the battle. She worried that this victory would not last long, and that the Covenant would return with a much more sizable force. Carter-A259 then called them over for a situation update, where he stated that Colonel Urban Holland was sending them to Fumirole, which was expected to be attacked in short order. Carter also informed Rosenda that she was being reassigned. NOBLE exchanged formal goodbyes and saluted before they boarded their Pelicans—Rosenda in one of the dropships alone, and the rest of NOBLE in the other. Before the Pelicans lifted off, Thom pinged her on TEAMCOM to wish her luck and to say that he would see her on the other side. As the two dropships flew in opposite directions, Rosenda wondered if she would ever see them again.

Reassignment and post-war

With Rosenda's reassignment from NOBLE, she did not take part in the fatal Battle of Fumirole and Fall of Reach, with her position in the team instead being fulfilled by Emile-A239. Despite this, NOBLE's commanding officer, Colonel Urban Holland, considered replacing Emile with Rosenda should a counterinsurgency operation have arisen, due to the former's extreme aggression toward insurgents. After Concord, Rosenda was transferred to other clandestine operations, and she ultimately survived the Human-Covenant War. During the post-war era, Rosenda worked in a covert role and took part in numerous missions against various Covenant remnants and insurrectionist groups.

In early 2560, Rosenda was reunited with fellow NOBLE alumni Jun-A266, a meeting which she eaglerly accepted. Jun recruited Rosenda for a new mission: assist in fending off an attack by the Banished on the Avery J. Johnson Academy of Military Science on Nysa, a hidden colony world used as a UNSC staging area in the Created uprising. Around 0441 hours on March 4, 2560, Rosenda and Jun were deployed from Mulsanne-class light frigate UNSC Fearful Symmetry into the academy via way of Pelican dropship Bravo 198. Upon exiting the craft, Rosenda was able to fire upon and severely damage a Banished Banshee with an MLRS-2 Hydra missile launcher, leaving Jun to make the final killshot. The two escorted a number of survivors of the Banished attack into the Pelican including Spartan Commander Laurette Agryna and Spartans Hieu Dinh, Sigrid Eklund, and Adrian Vesco, before dusting off from the landing zone to reunite aboard Fearful Symmetry, which then ferried them to Anvil Station.

Personality and traits

Rosenda was seemingly close with the other members of NOBLE Team, and has been known to make lighthearted jokes with her fellow Spartans. Her relationship with Thom-A293 was even closer, with the two of them regularly cracking jokes together. By 2560, Rosenda was considered one of the only people from Alpha Company and NOBLE Team left alive, something which made her one of the only people that Jun-A266 could fully trust to keep himself in check.

Rosenda has a distinct surly drawl to her voice. In December 2551, her hair was noted to be thick and a bit longer than regulation.

Equipment

During the defense of Concord in December 2551, Rosenda-A344 was equipped with the Mark V [B] MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor and a CQC-class helmet. She employed the SAP/Recon on her left shoulder and the SAP/CQC on her right shoulder. She also employed a P1DA Bracer on her right forearm and an M45 Hardcase hard case on her left thigh. She has been observed wielding an assault rifle and combat knife. During her brief deployment to Nysa in 2560, Rosenda wielded an MLRS-2 Hydra gyroc launcher.

Production notes

Rosenda was originally intended to play a larger role in Halo: Reach as a member of Noble Team, as a part of the team's original roster of seven members alongside Thom-A293. Ultimately, the team was cut down to six members, with Thom being replaced with a custom player character and Rosenda cut from the game entirely. Both Spartans were retained in Halo canon, with Thom's death taking a central role in the Deliver Hope trailer for Reach and Rosenda referenced offhandedly in the Noble Team performance reports as a potential replacement for Emile-A239. During development, Rosenda was designed to have a "sassy" personality, and concept art produced by Isaac Hannaford depicts her in CQC armour with a nondescript machine gun. According to Lee Wilson, Rosenda would have been killed off late in the game, taking the place occupied by Kat-B320 in the final game. This death would have likely taken place in the originally planned Supply Convoy Attack mission some time after Jorge's death in Long Night of Solace, with Rosenda sniped out of a Warthog by the Elite Field Marshal. Once Rosenda was cut from the game, this death was instead given to Kat, at the end of the mission New Alexandria.

While Rosenda was kept nominally in canon via her mention in the performance reports, she remained outside of the spotlight for over a decade except for a brief mention by Catalog confirming her service tag of A344 - something first associated with the license plate Easter eggs in Halo 3: ODST. In ODST, the license plate "KNS 344R" was long assumed to stand for "Rosenda-344, Noble Seven". Catalog confirmed her tag several years later in addition to identifying her as a member of Alpha Company. "Rosenda" also remained one of the name options for customized loadouts in Halo: Reach, along with the names of the members of Noble Team and several Spartan-IIs.

Rosenda was given her first major spotlight and introduction into Halo canon in 2023, in the Noble Intention event for Halo Infinite. The event features an armor kit (alongside one for Thom) and the "Noble Rose" stance, both of which are based on Rosenda's original concept art. The armor kit's description also detailed some of her background in canon. The Halo: Winter Contention short story released to celebrate the event centred on Rosenda and Thom, and fleshed out their characters and history with NOBLE team.

Gallery

Browse more images in this article's gallery page.

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  Concept art of NOBLE's full originally-intended roster, including Rosenda and Thom.

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  Concept art of armor permutations, including Rosenda and the rest of NOBLE's early roster.

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  Concept art of Rosenda's CQC armor.

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  Concept art of Rosenda's face for Halo: Reach.

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  Concept art of Rosenda's CQC helmet.

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  A storyboard for Rosenda's intended death.

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  A storyboard for Rosenda's intended death.

Screenshots

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  The Rosenda-A344 armor kit in Halo Infinite.

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  Rosenda alongside Thom-A293.

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  A render of Rosenda-A344 in the style of the Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition).

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  Rosenda-A344, along with Sigrid Eklund, Laurette Agryna, and Vedrana Makovich in a promotional image.

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  Rosenda-A344 featured alongside the main cast of Halo Infinite in a promotional image.

List of appearances

• Halo: Reach (Mentioned as a loadout)
• Halo Infinite (Mentioned only)
  • Winter Update
• Halo: Winter Contention (First appearance)
• Halo: Battle for the Academy - Part 2