D'ero 'S'bud

"Treacherous scum, the Covenant. They do not deserve to survive! Those who have sided with the High Prophet of Truth, and with the Brutes—they deserve to crumble into dust and be forgotten."

- Shipmaster D'ero 'S'bud

D'ero 'S'bud, known as D'ero 'S'budee before the Great Schism, is a Sangheili shipmaster of Journey's Sustenance, a supply ship that formerly served the Covenant Fleet of Blessed Veneration until the Great Schism.

Early life and career
D'ero 'S'bud was born in the state of Zolam in the continent of Qivro on Sanghelios, the Sangheili homeworld. He often ranged the state's hills, hunting for maegophet and doarmir. He once succeeded in killing a helioskrill with a spear, as his ancestors once did. During the Human-Covenant War, D'ero served as the shipmaster of Journey's Sustenance, a supply ship for the Covenant Fleet of Blessed Veneration.

D'ero 'S'budee and the Fleet of Blessed Veneration were stationed at High Charity over Installation 05 on November 3, 2552. Upon reading the Sangheili reports that described Captain Melchus leading a Jiralhanae contingent to Installation 05 to massacre the Sangheili High Councilors, D'ero reluctantly defected from the Covenant and joined the Sangheili separatists' battle against the San'Shyuum and Jiralhanae. He got into contact with G'torik 'Klemmee, Crun 'Brinsmee, Tul 'Imjanamee, and Huragok Sluggish Drifter, who had also defected from the Covenant. D'ero agreed to wait for them aboard his ship while they rescued Zo Resken, one of the few San'Shyuum that was allied with the Sangheili. After Resken was rescued, the group navigated a small maintenance craft into the supply ship's freight bay and Journey's Sustenance fled the system through slipstream space. The supply ship exited slipspace in the Ussan system, near a gas giant. D'ero had chosen the system because the Covenant marked it with a scarlet border, meaning it was forbidden. Upon exiting slipspace, all crew members of Journey's Sustenance disposed of their old ranks and titles; D'ero removed the honorable suffix of "-ee" from his last name and became D'ero 'S'bud. When Resken realized that the system was named after Ussa 'Xellus, he came to the conclusion that the Ussan system was home to the Refuge. Hoping to discover the Ussan colony, Resken persuaded the crew of Journey's Sustenance to search the system for the colony.

The Ussan expedition
By 2553, after spending half a solar cycle searching for the Refuge, the crew of Journey's Sustenance was growing tired of the search. They had examined the Ussan system's numerous planetoids and its asteroid belt, but had only found small fragments from the colony. D'ero had managed to turn up reports from Kig-Yar pirates that claimed that they had found larger Forerunner artifacts in the system and even were fired upon. Despite this, the search continued to prove fruitless and the supply ship's food stocks were starting to diminish. However, just as the crew was about to give up on the expedition, D'ero came across the Refuge. Though D'ero remained reluctant to venture to the colony, as he believed that there was a possibility that the Ussans were hostile. As the supply ship moved closer to the colony, D'ero spotted a Ussan maintenance vehicle spiraling uncontrollably through space—having had its engines damaged by rebels of the Refuge. Pulling the vehicle into the freight bay with the ship's tugfield, the crew discovered that Ussan V'ornik 'Gred had been aboard the vehicle. However, the vehicle proved to be unstable and D'ero had the crew exit the bay as he ejected the craft by decompressing the bay seconds before it exploded.

As the crew met in the bridge, they managed to communicate with V'ornik. The Ussan was amazed when he realized that D'ero was a native of Sanghelios, the planet that Ussans dreamed of returning to. Resken convinced V'ornik to guide them into the Refuge, and D'ero had G'torik and Tul escort him. Sluggish Drifter accompanied them, with the intentions of helping the Ussans repair the Refuge. When the ship's crew entered the Refuge, Sluggish Drifter repaired Enduring Bias, the colony's monitor. Afterwards, they encountered Kaidon Bal'Tol 'Xellus and aided him by quelling the rebellion. After giving a speech to the Ussans, Bal'Tol had Enduring Bias join the fragmented sections of the Refuge together, forming a connected, ring-shaped structure for the Ussans to live in. D'ero watched the events from Journey's Sustenance, via a live transmission provided by the monitor. D'ero later returned to Zolam on Sanghelios, along with G'torik and Ussans Xelq 'Tylk and C'tenz. D'ero insisted that they remained only on the outskirts of the state for a time, at the mountain range, as he believed that it was too dangerous to visit the cities, due to the tensions between different Sangheili with different beliefs.

Personality and traits
"Foolishness still seems to be in abundance here. But then again, fools are found in every species on every world."

- D'ero, referring to his home-state of Zolam

D'ero 'S'bud has an irritable disposition and is known to usually glare at others. When he returned to Zolam on Sanghelios in 2553, it was noted that D'ero appeared unusually cheerful for once. He apparently resented his own decision to defect from the Covenant during the Great Schism, though he knew it was irrevocable. D'ero ultimately defected after learning of the massacre of the Sangheili High Councilors at the hands of Melchus and his Jiralhanae; the reports of the massacre had horrified and enraged him. He is slightly bow-legged. D'ero was somewhat cynical; he feared that there was a great chance that the Ussans would attack them on sight, and he later wondered if V'ornik 'Gred had intentionally caused his maintenance vehicle to explode in an attempt to destroy their ship.

Despite the fact that the crew had removed their ranks and titles to distance themselves from their Covenant pasts, D'ero still referred to Zo Resken as "Prophet" and appeared to consider him an authority figure within the crew. Resken eventually had given up on correcting him. D'ero believed that all who sided with the High Prophet of Truth and the Jiralhanae during the Great Schism should be destroyed.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Broken Circle