Hector Nyeto

"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 Prowler Corps, before defecting to aid his homeworld in rebelling against the Unified Earth Government.

Turncoat
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 s called Ghost Flight. Over the estimated course of years or even decades, Nyeto quietly replaced the crewmen of all four ships with insurrectionist personnel.

Insurrectionist spy
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.

Operation: SILENT STORM
Nyeto and his flight would later be assigned to Task Force Yama, in order to support an ambitious mission to board and destroy Covenant warships with nuclear weapons: Operation: SILENT STORM. Upon learning that Catherine Halsey, mastermind of the SPARTAN-II program, would be assigned to the unit, he authorized her office to be spied upon through the use of surveillance equipment and software, in an effort to learn crucial information about the supersoldiers.

During the Battle of Seoba, Nyeto's flagship, the, was responsible for dropping off a platoon from the 21st Space Assault Battalion's Alpha Company, along with John-117, above the ice quarry. Prior to their deployment, the lieutenant commander confronted John-117 regarding his real age. Although the Spartan denied it, his defensiveness only confirmed that Nyeto's information was accurate. Soon after, he ordered his ship to begin the insertion, and launched a missile strike on the Insurrectionist transmitter when the Ghost Song was fired upon was attacked 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. He 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 - this time against an Insurrectionist convoy that carried equipment necessary to repair the transmitter. After the battle concluded, he participated in a hearing that investigated Alpha Company's unusually-high casualties, and revealed the correct age of the Spartans to the rest of Yama's ranking officers.

Later life
By June 2526, he was believed to be hiding in the jungles of Gao, beyond the reach of ONI. Upon his return to Gao, Nyeto served the Gao Ministry of War as a general in the Gao militia and led its forces against the United Nations Space Command and Colonial Military Administration throughout the Insurrection. Nyeto was largely successful in his efforts using his captured prowlers to great effect, though this was mainly due to the UNSC and CMA being spread thin across the Outer Colonies at the time and Gao was only a small part of the war. Regardless, Nyeto's actions helped Gao gain more independence from the Unified Earth Government. During the Insurrection, General Nyeto was also responsible for creating and organizing the Gao battle-jumpers, armored stealth troopers.

At some point, Nyeto served as one of the first fourteen Presidents of the Gao Republic. His legacy was immortalized as a hologram in the People's Collection of Presidential Holographs, located in the Gao Cabinet Chamber in the People's Palace. Nyeto's hologram features him in armor on a fiery hangar deck with a cigar in his mouth as he smirks at the remains of a CMA AV-14 Hornet. The Hector Nyeto Conference Room in the Montero Vitality Center was named after Nyeto.Nyeto's son, Ross, became an accomplished smuggler in the Isbanola sector, using his father's captured prowlers to smuggle arms across the sector. However, the Gao Ministry of War wanted him dead, believing that his smuggling activities were a stain on his father's heroic legacy.

Physical description
Nyeto had a roughly square-shaped face with a bushy black mustache over a heavy-lipped mouth. He also had curly hair.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Last Light
 * Halo: Retribution
 * Halo: Silent Storm
 * Halo: Oblivion
 * Halo: Shadows of Reach