Nolan Byrne

Staff Sergeant Nolan Byrne is a UNSC Marine, a Team Leader on ORION Project, and a possible SPARTAN-I. He took part in Operation: TREBUCHET with Avery J. Johnson, until he was severely injured from an insurrectionist bomb. Byrne was then reassigned to the planet Harvest to train the local militia with Avery J. Johnson.

Insurrection
During the Insurrection, Byrne participated in Operation: TREBUCHET in 2524 leading Bravo Squad of a platoon of NAVSPECWAR marines alongside Staff Sergeant Avery J. Johnson. Their squads used Hornets to conduct air assaults on multiple targets in efforts to eliminate Rebel bomb making factories. However, when a rebel (armed with a bomb) was cornered in a Jim Dandy restaurant, Byrne told Johnson to fire a Stanchion Gauss Rifle at an Insurrectionist holding a child hostage. Johnson did not have a clear shot at the rebel, which led to a civilian (a man trying to rescue his son) tackling the female rebel, who then detonated her explosives, destroying the Jim Dandy restaurant, along with most of the Marines in Byrne's squad and thirty eight civilians.

Battle of Harvest
After recovering from his injuries, Byrne was re-assigned along with Johnson to train the Colonial Militia on Harvest. He had felt great resentment at Johnson's hesitation on Tribute, and picked a fight with him as soon as he arrived on Harvest. Byrne had almost killed Johnson if Captain Ponder hadn't intervened. Their actual mission was to create an covert anti-insurgency unit, as revealed by ONI officer Lt. Cdr. al-Cygni, and to lay an ambush on insurgent forces suspected in the disappearances of DCS freighters around Harvest. However, He and Johnson fought four Jackals in the first battle between the UNSC and Covenant,on board the human freighter called This End Up, and they successfully defeated them. Byrne and Johnson (with the rest of the militia of Harvest) were also present at the initial negotiations between the Brutes and the Humans. They also fought Tartarus, Maccabeus and several Grunts. One militia soldier was torn apart by a Grunt, which sparked the firefight. As the conflict heated up, Byrne continued to defend the planet from Covenant hostiles and he received multiple injuries in the conflict. He was fortunate enough to live through the battle, and was evacuated with Johnson, Jilan al-Cygni, and the rest of the Colonial Militia in a pod heading from the Tiara. How Byrne participated more in the Human-Covenant War is currently unknown.

Trivia

 * In Halo: Contact Harvest, Byrne's call sign is Creeper.
 * He is most likely HEV Orbital Drop qualified given the fact he has the same training as Sergeant Johnson while in NAVSPECWAR.
 * It is possible that Nolan Byrne was a SPARTAN-I alongside fellow Sergeant Johnson. This is because in the fight they have in the beginning of the book, Byrne said: "They taught BOTH of us to be killers". However, this could just be a reference to their NAVSPECWAR training, or even their basic training.
 * Byrne is the one of two characters mentioned in the Halo series who is of Irish descent. There was also a Marine who appeared in the non-canon Halo E3 2000 Trailer.
 * Byrne may have been infected by the Flood, because on Halo 3 with the IWHBYD Skull on Marines may say when they throw a Frag Grenade on Legendary on Floodgate "this ones for Byrne!". This leads to speculation that he could have been infected on Installation 05, or even High Charity or Installation 04.
 * He had a chance to kill Maccabeus on Harvest, but lost the chance when Johnson sharply turned their Warthog trying to get a civillian they rescued from Maccabeus near his Spirit dropship.