Thom-A293

Thom-A293
Biographical information
Homeworld:	Dwarka
Born:	October 15, 2525
Died:	April 22, 2552 (aged 26)
Cause of death:	Sacrificed his own life to detonate a nuclear weapon.
Personal details
Species:	Human
Gender:	Male
Height:	210 centimetres (7 ft)
Weight:	110 kilograms (250 lb)
Political and military information
Affiliation:	UNSC Navy (formerly) Naval Special Weapons SPARTAN-III program UNSC Army Special Warfare Group Three (operationally under NOBLE Team)
Rank:	Lieutenant
Service number:	S-A293

"I'm not gonna lie to you, Lieutenant. You're stepping into some shoes the rest of the squad would rather leave unfilled."

— Commander Carter-A259 to SPARTAN-B312 on replacing Thom on NOBLE Team

Thom-A293 was a SPARTAN-III commando and a member of the UNSC Navy during the Human-Covenant War. He served as a member of Noble Team under the call sign Noble Six until his death on April 22, 2552.

Biography

Childhood and training

Thom was born on October 15, 2525, on the colony world of Dwarka. He spent his early life there until the attack on the colony by the Covenant in 2530. During the battle, Jiralhanae forces were dispatched to ransack the planet's residential sectors though Thom was able to join a number of evacuees and escape the planet's glassing aboard a freighter. This freighter eventually made contact with a vessel operated by the Office of Naval Intelligence, at which point Thom "volunteered" for induction into the SPARTAN-III program - having been identified as a potential candidate for the program at a young age. Thom was taken to the classified world Onyx for training under Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose and SCPO Franklin Mendez in late 2532. Thom 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. He 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.

Operation: OFFSET EYE

Main article: Operation: OFFSET EYE

In December 2551, Thom and the rest of NOBLE were sent to Concord to defend the colony from Covenant invasion. By December 12, a joint effort between the 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 Thom and Rosenda-A344 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. During the drive, Thom joked about the overconfident nature of Covenant ground forces to deploy into winter environments while bearing their usual multicoloured armour, making them easy pickings for human forces. The Ghosts began to flank the Spartans' Warthog, with Thom supporting the defence of the vehicle from the cargo bed by throwing M9 fragmentation grenades at the attackers. 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. 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 Rosenda on TEAMCOM to wish her luck and to say that he would see her on the other side.

Death

Thom was later deployed during the Battle of Fumirole on April 22, 2552, in which he participated in an operation put together by Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320 to destroy the Ket-pattern battlecruiser, Sanctity of Purification, - which had been maintaining position above a city. However, Kat, who carried the Fury tactical nuclear weapon intended to destroy the Covenant ship, was incapacitated while on her way to the objective by an enemy Banshee.

Thom was the first to arrive to where Kat was laying wounded, picking up the nuke for her and using his jetpack to fly into the battlecruiser's gravity lift. Once inside, he threw the nuke into a crowded hangar and attempted to escape the ship before it went off, without success. The nuke detonated before Thom could safely make it out, destroying the ship and killing him.