Samuel-034

"I think I'm in love..."

- Samuel-034 commenting on the MJOLNIR Mk. IV armor

Petty Officer Second Class Samuel-034 was a SPARTAN-II supersoldier of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Group. He was the tallest and strongest of the SPARTAN-IIs, and often acted as the second-in-command of Blue Team. At the age of fourteen, Sam was the first SPARTAN-II to be killed in action—on November 27, 2525—in battle against the Covenant.

Conscription
"Samuel"

- Kelly

Sam was abducted by the Office of Naval Intelligence in September 23, 2517 at around the age of six. He was then replaced with a flash clone and sent to Reach to train with the other Spartans under the watchful eyes of Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and Déjà, the Spartans' "teacher".

On the first day of training, Mendez divided the trainees into teams of three. Sam, John-117, and Kelly-087 were assigned together into one of those teams. During their first trip to "the playground", John finished first in the competition, while Kelly and Sam came in last. Mendez informed the team that they had lost, simply because, in his words, "Your team loses, you lose. You don't win until your team wins". Because their team finished last, they were not allowed to eat dinner that night. It was, however, a lesson in teamwork for them, and the three Spartans never made the same mistake again. The day after, Sam had shoved John and threatened to push him off one of the pillars if he refused to work with them again. During the second run of the playground, the three worked together and achieved third place in the exercise, earning dinner. The exercise led to the formation of a camaraderie between the three and they became good friends.

Training and augmentations
Sam later trained with his fellow Spartans at the Military Wilderness Training Preserve, with each Spartan being dropped off at a different point in the preserve. The Spartans regrouped and made their way to the extraction point. There, they were almost forced to kill a squad of UNSC Marines. However, Sam worked with John, Kelly, Fhajad-084, and Linda-058 to defeat the Marines and all the Spartans reached and then commandeered a D96-TCE Albatross dropship to leave the preserve. John was subsequently promoted to squad leader after the mission. By July 14, 2523, Sam and the Spartans had begun facing the formidable Tango Company in simulated war games.

After receiving his Spartan augmentations at an ONI medical facility station, Sam was the fastest to recover, and was in exceptional health. He later attended a military funeral on the for those Spartans who died during the augmentation process. Later, the Spartans then returned to Reach for their final training phase in the Highland Mountains.

Infiltration on Eridanus Secundus


On September 14, 2525, Sam—along with John, Kelly, Linda, and Fred-104—was chosen for the SPARTAN-IIs' first mission in the Eridanus system. He and the team boarded the Laden at the Eridanus II space docks and infiltrated Eridanus Secundus. Blue Team secured Watts inside a crate and made their way back to Eridanus Secundus' docking bay. Sam put C-12 explosives on the asteroid's main hangar bay doors and the Spartans fled in a stolen D77-TC Pelican with Watts, as the doors blew and the hangar bay decompressed. As the Pelican left the asteroid, Sam's explosives caused Eridanus Secundus to vent atmosphere and rotate erratically.

Chi Ceti IV and death


After the First Battle of Harvest, Sam later attended the UNSC briefing by Admiral Michael Stanforth and the AI Beowulf about the emerging Covenant threat. The training of Sam, and the rest of the SPARTAN-IIs, was accelerated and the Spartans were sent to Chi Ceti IV to receive their new MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor from Damascus Testing Facility to aid in combat against the Covenant. The Spartans were sent to the Chi Ceti system aboard the and went to the Damascus Testing Facility on Chi Ceti IV to be equipped with MJOLNIR armor. While in orbit over the planet, a Covenant ship appeared in the system and attacked the Commonwealth. However, the Commonwealth was able to temporarily ward off the ship, allowing the Spartans and Doctor Catherine Halsey to make their way to the facility. The Spartans were able to retrieve the MJOLNIR armor and then left to return to the Commonwealth in a Pelican.

While en route to the frigate, Unrelenting returned to the battle and began to engage the Commonwealth, severely damaging it. As the Covenant prepared to finish off the human ship, John had Sam take a team of Spartans to remove the Pelican's ANVIL-II AS missiles. With thruster packs, all the Spartans flew out from the Pelican and attempted to direct themselves towards Unrelenting. Sam, Kelly, and John were the only three Spartans who made it onto the ship, gaining access through a hull breach created by a MAC round.

As they entered and explored the Covenant vessel, Sam was struck in the side by an overcharged bolt from a Type-25 plasma pistol wielded by a Kig-Yar soldier while trying to protect John from harm. The shot burned a sizeable hole in Sam's unshielded armor. The Spartans managed to make it to the engine room of the ship and planted several ANVIL-II missiles on the fusion generator; however, their only means of escape was an EVA, but this was impossible for Sam since the vacuum seal in his armor was compromised. Rather than die in the vacuum of space, Sam volunteered to hold off the Covenant forces and allow the missiles to explode, destroying the entire ship. John later marked Sam as "missing in action" because "Spartans never die"; it is believed that the morale of the public and servicemen alike would fall dramatically if they found out the legendary super-soldiers could actually be killed.

Legacy
"Sam's life was not wasted, Kelly. His death taught us something very important. The Covenant can be killed. Humanity can win this war."

- John-117 understanding the meaning of Sam's sacrifice.

Sam was the first SPARTAN-II to be killed in combat during the Human-Covenant War. Despite that fact, and his short life of fourteen years, Sam is regarded as one of the most important Spartans. Sam was later replaced on Blue Team with Kurt-051. The mortally wounded Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose had a hallucination about his Spartan comrades that had been killed in battle—including Sam—as he laid dying on November 3, 2552 during the Battle of Onyx. This is to show that Sam had a close relationship with all the Spartans, not just the members of Blue Team.

It seems that his position as John-117's second-in-command was subsequently taken by Frederic-104 and Kurt-051 in authorizing the Spartans and commanding them in battle.

Personality and description
Samuel was considered to be the strongest of the first class of SPARTAN-II's. According to John-117, he had the best eyes and ears of all of his subordinates. He is also said to be one head taller than John-117, making him one of the larger Spartans, and was the fastest to recover from the augmentation. He had a tan complexion with sandy blond hair and green eyes. Sam did not display the same great leadership qualities as John or Frederic did, but he did act as John's second-in-command throughout the duration of his naval career. At times Sam also displayed some ruthlessness, such as detonating a C-12 shaped charge on a rebel base, despite the obvious civilian casualties that would be involved. He appeared more sociable and had a bigger sense of humor than the other Spartans.

Sam was also one of John's and Kelly's closest friends. Sam was the first friend John made at the Reach training complex before meeting Kelly. The three of them became inseparable. Sam and John were like brothers, they could always depend on each other. When Sam died, John was the most devastated.

Trivia

 * There was a number tag conflict between Sam-034 and Fhajad-084, but it has been widely accepted that Sam was, in fact, SPARTAN-034 because he was given that number first.
 * In Halo Wars, Spartans will occasionally say "For Samuel!" after killing an enemy unit.
 * Samuel-034's Spartan tag is a seven reference (0+3+4=7).
 * "Sam" is one of the name options for customized Loadouts in Halo: Reach, along with the members of NOBLE Team and several SPARTAN-II's.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo Wars
 * Halo: Reach
 * Dr. Halsey's personal journal
 * Halo: Fall of Reach
 * Boot Camp
 * Covenant
 * Invasion
 * Halo: The Fall of Reach (animated series)