Red Team

"Red Team"

- Forge

Red Team is a name given to a number of mission-specific formations of Spartan-II supersoldiers subordinate to the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command. Although Red Team generally operated at a size of around six members, more Spartans could be selected for missions that called for a larger force. They actively participated in numerous battles against the Covenant, including the Battle of Arcadia, the Battle of Jericho VII, the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, and the Fall of Reach. Red Team was also among the first members of the UNSC who engaged Forerunner Sentinels and various Flood forces.

Known members
Various groups of Spartan-IIs have received the designation "Red Team" throughout the program's history. These are often temporary teams assembled for specific operations, and have ranged from as few as three members to almost two dozen depending on the needs of a given mission. During training exercises as well as in combat operations, Red Team was often designated as a counterpart to Blue Team.

One specific Red Team unit, consisting of rehabilitated augmentation "washouts" Douglas-042, Alice-130, and Jerome-092 as fireteam leader, became more established in its roster than the aforementioned ad hoc teams, in part due to the Spartans' unusual circumstances compared to their mainline peers.


 * Current composition (2559)
 * SCPO Jerome-092 (Leader)
 * SCPO Douglas-042
 * SCPO Alice-130


 * Former members
 * Li-008 (2552) (Rejoined Blue Team after the Fall of Reach) (KIA)
 * Joshua-029 (2552) (Leader during Operation: OCEAN BREAKER) (KIA)
 * Vinh-030 (2552) (KIA)
 * Samuel-034 (2523) (KIA)
 * Isaac-039 (2552) (KIA)
 * Will-043 (2552) (Rejoined Blue Team after the Fall of Reach) (KIA)
 * Anton-044 (2552) (Rejoined Blue Team after the Fall of Reach) (KIA)
 * Malcolm-059 (2552) (KIA)
 * Fhajad-084 (2523) (crippled during augmentation)
 * Kelly-087 (2523; 2552) (Second in command during the Fall of Reach. Rejoined Blue Team after the Fall of Reach) (Active)
 * Grace-093 (2552) (Rejoined Blue Team after the Fall of Reach) (KIA)
 * Fred-104 (2552) (Leader during the Fall of Reach. Rejoined Blue Team after the Fall of Reach) (Active)
 * John-117 (2523) (Leader during Spartan training exercise. Took command of Blue Team) (Active)
 * Beta-Red Actual (2552) (Leader of Team Beta during the Fall of Reach) (Assumed KIA)
 * Red-Fifteen (2552) (Assumed KIA)

Fall of Reach splinter arrangement
After their D77-TC Pelican, Bravo 001, was shot down during the Fall of Reach and four team members were killed, the surviving members of Red Team were split into four groups: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta.

Alpha
 * Fred-104
 * Kelly-087
 * Joshua-029

Beta
 * Beta Red Actual
 * Red-Fifteen
 * Four unknown Spartans

Gamma
 * Li-008
 * Anton-044
 * Grace-093

Delta
 * Will-043
 * Isaac-039
 * Vinh-030
 * Three unknown Spartans

Training
"Linda"

- John

During their training Red Team often competed with other Spartan teams, such as Black Team led by Margaret-053. At some point when Red Team discovered that Margaret was in a secret relationship with Otto-031, they tracked Margaret down as team leader and attacked her, claiming they were not taking their training seriously enough. She lost her left eye resisting them. Soon, Black Team gave Red Team a beating in return and were given a ten-day stint in the brig as a result.

In July, 2523, Red Team, consisting of John-117, Kelly-087, Samuel-034 and Fhajad-084, participated in training exercise along with Blue Team, consisting of Linda-058 and Frederic-104. Spartans were deployed in Longhorn Valley on Reach with mission target to capture the flag. While Blue Team provided cover with SRS99C-S2 AM sniper rifles, acquired earlier from Tango Company's Marines, which had been looking for them for past two days, and repurposed for non-lethal usage, Red Team infiltrated Tango Company's base hiding in undercarriage of passing by trucks. Using battery acid and stun grenades Spartans created a diversion beneath Tango company's barracks buildings, inflicting many casualties. Then, neutralizing the guards around the flag pole with Narq-dart pistol, John snatched the flag and Red Team exfiltrated the base. Tango Company sent a Pelican transport in an effort to trick the Spartans into thinking their extraction craft had arrived. But, not fooled, the young supersoldiers once again outsmarted and overcame the hapless Marines. Then, after John sent the all-clear signal, both Spartan teams rendezvoused at the LZ.

Early Human-Covenant War
"We'll clean up this mess."

- Member of Team Omega during the Battle of Arcadia.

In November 2525 members of Red Team were briefed on the massacre that took place on Harvest shortly after first contact with the Covenant. A short time later, the, under the command of Captain Wallace, brought Spartans and Dr. Halsey to the Damascus Testing Facility at Chi Ceti IV, where they were to receive the MJOLNIR powered armor for the first time. When a Covenant ship, the Unrelenting, attacked the Commonwealth, Red Team, as well as any other active Spartan-II, took part in their first engagement with the Covenant. The Spartans used thruster packs to launch themselves from a Pelican dropship. Each Spartan carried an ANVIL-II warhead to be used against the Covenant ship. However they missed the ship and only Blue Team managed to board the vessel through a puncture in its hull, caused by a MAC round from the Commonwealth. They succeeded in completing the mission and destroyed the Covenant ship.

In February 2531, Red Team, comprised of Jerome, Douglas, and Alice, was part of a nine-person unit, Team Omega, which was deployed on Arcadia; these Spartans' MJOLNIR Mark IV armor was equipped with a prototypical energy shield system which would not become standard until the release of the Mark V twenty years later.

On February 9, 2531, Red Team participated in the Battle of Arcadia. Spartans were tasked with defending the capital, Pirth City long enough to evacuate the civilians of the planet. Afterward, Red Team linked up with the rest of Team Omega and marines from the and assisted in a counterattack on a Covenant outpost. After a majority of the Covenant forces were eliminated around Pirth City, Team Omega departed, however  Red Team remained with the crew of Spirit of Fire to assist with Captain James Cutter's plan to infiltrate a large Covenant shield dome. Spartans helped prevent the destruction of several prototypical M145D Rhinos while the tanks ensured that the shield was destroyed. After Sergeant John Forge's forces triumphed over a Scarab, Jerome, Douglas, and Alice searched for Covenant survivors in the jungles on a M12 Warthog. Upon hearing that Professor Ellen Anders had been abducted by Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee, Forge and Red Team boarded Spirit of Fire, which jumped into slipspace in pursuit of the Covenant destroyer carrying Anders.

Shield World 0459
"Spirit of Fire, this is Red Team. We are 100 meters from Ander's transponder signal... Meeting strong resistance. Seein' some pretty crazy stuff out here, over."

- Jerome-092 encountering the Flood.

Upon arriving at a Forerunner Shield World on February 23rd, Red Team assisted the Spirit of Fire's crew in neutralizing Covenant and Flood forces. After the Spartans assisted in destroying a proto-Gravemind, Red Team became stranded on the planet. With the Spirit of Fire being dragged inside the megastructure, Red Team was assisted by Sergeant Forge and his forces and successfully withdrew to the ship. Red Team then assisted the crew in scouring the Flood forces from the hull of the Spirit of Fire. Soon, the crew repelled Covenant boarders and successfully repaired the ship's power core when after it was damaged by Covenant forces.

Once Anders was rescued, Red Team were tasked with ensuring that the Spirit of Fire ' s slipspace drive arrived at the teleporter that would take it to the Apex Site in an attempt to destroy the Shield World's sun, denying the Covenant access to a fleet of Forerunner warships. Atop the Apex Site, Jerome, Alice and Douglas engaged a large force of Sangheili while Forge engaged 'Moramee. Once the area was clear, Jerome volunteered to take the damaged drive in and ensure its detonation. Forge, believing that the SPARTANs would play a bigger part in the war than he ever could, took his place. Jerome, Douglas, Alice, and the Spirit of Fire ' s crew were then charged with opening the gate which allowed the Spirit of Fire to exit the Shield World. After that they have been evacuated back to the Spirit of Fire before slipspace drive detonated.

The members of Red Team, as with the rest of the crew, entered cryo sleep after the Spirit of Fire escaped the destruction of the Shield World. After the loss of contact the UNSC tried to locate the Spirit of Fire for the next three years and eventually, in 2534, the Spirit of Fire and all its crew were declared "lost with all hands". Thus the members of Red Team had been declared MIA.

On January 1, 2537, six years after the events on Shield World 0459, a Flood infection form which had been nesting out of sight since the escape from the shield world, initiated an outbreak of the parasite aboard the Spirit of Fire. As the Flood threatened to breach quarantine, Serina awoke Jerome, who, with the aid of Professor Ellen Anders, was forced to exterminate all infected crew members, ensuring the survival of the Spirit and its remaining crew. After all traces of the Flood parasite aboard the Spirit of Fire were erased, Jerome returned to cryo-sleep.

Further operations in various compositions
In 2535, another group of Spartan-IIs designated Red Team participated in the Battle of Jericho VII. The team's mission was to slip behind Covenant lines and plant a HAVOK tactical nuke, hoping to destroy the next Covenant ship that landed and dropped its shields, while Blue Team were drawing out the Covenant rear guard. Meanwhile, Green Team was preventing a Covenant ground force advance on the planet. All of the Spartan teams accomplished their missions and returned safely to the remaining fleet in a Pelican dropship.

During Operation: OCEAN BREAKER on Sigma Octanus IV in July 2552, Red Team was led by Joshua-029. They were tasked with scouting the city of Côte d'Azur's wharves while Blue Team planted a HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon in the sewers beneath the city. In the meantime, they rescued numerous civilians, the only ones the Covenant had not massacred.

Fall of Reach
By August 30 Red Team had been assigned to the to participate in Operation: RED FLAG. However, before the Autumn could exit the system and initiate the mission, all UNSC ships were recalled to defend Reach. Red Team, consisting of twenty-two members under the command of Fred-104,    was deployed to the surface of Reach to defend the generators that powered the planet's twenty orbital defense platforms. Unfortunately, their Pelican transport, Bravo 001, was shot down, resulting in the deaths of four Spartans (including Malcolm-059), and some others were wounded as well. Near their crash site, the surviving Spartans discovered the shell-shocked remnants of Charlie Company.

The Spartans, after being briefed on the situation by Charlie Company, responded to a distress call from Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, who requested immediate evacuation. Frederic-104, commander of the Spartans, split the remains of Red Team into four groups: Team Alpha, which was tasked with eliminating an encampment of 10,000 Covenant and their hovering cruiser, Team Beta, tasked with defense of the orbital defense generators, Team Gamma, ordered to retrieve Whitcomb, and Team Delta (the Charlie Company Marines and six wounded Spartans), ordered to secure the Spartans' fallback point at CASTLE Base.

Team Alpha hijacked three Banshees and approached the Covenant encampment and used Fury Tactical Nuclear Weapons within the shields of the Covenant ship, destroying the encampment. Joshua was killed in the process. The remaining Spartans of Team Alpha then fell back to CASTLE Base, blasting their way through the remaining Covenant in the area with two commandeered Wraiths. Team Gamma accomplished its mission and fell back to Camp Independence with Whitcomb, where they survived the partial glassing of the planet. Team Delta fell back to CASTLE Base, but in the process lost the remaining Charlie Company marines and every Spartan save for Vinh, Isaac, and William. When the remnants of Team Alpha and Team Delta arrived at CASTLE Base, they found Catherine Halsey there.

Team Beta was unable to stop the Covenant, who attacked in swarms of thousands. The orbital defense generators were compromised, and the Covenant, after eliminating the powerless, immobile ODPs in geosynchronous orbit around the planet, began the glassing of Reach.

As the Covenant began glassing Reach, the surviving Spartans continued their fight. Team Gamma had managed to survive and complete their mission to rescue Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb from HIGHCOM. Too late to reach CASTLE base, they hid in the mountains attacking Covenant units with the use of guerrilla tactics as opposed to a conventional assault. They programmed their MJOLNIR suits to transmit the "Oly Oly Oxen Free" secret code on E-Band radio, hoping that any surviving Spartans would discover it and help them.

Meanwhile underneath the ruins of CASTLE base, Dr. Halsey and five Spartans (Fred, Kelly, Will, Vinh, and Issac) had spent five days combing the remains of a Forerunner structure and an additional five days trapped in a hallway inside the ruins by Covenant forces. They managed to retrieve a Forerunner crystal that the Covenant were seeking, but it emitted a burst of radiation which alerted the Covenant to their presence. Vinh and Issac fell at the hands of overwhelming Covenant forces, and the others escaped by blowing the hallway down behind them.

Later the survivors were recovered by John-117, who returned to Reach after the destruction of Installation 04 and were evacuated to the Ascendant Justice, a Covenant Flagship captured by John. Every surviving member of Red Team joined John's Blue Team.

Back in action


"If Atriox gets control of this Halo, he'll be holding a gun to the head of all life across hundreds of light years. We have to clear the Banished off this ring. It's up to you, Red Team"

- Cpt. Cutter on the importance of Red Team's mission on Installation 04C.

In 2559, after 28 years of drifting in space the UNSC Spirit of Fire found its way to the orbit of the Forerunner Installation 00, known as the Ark. Awakened from cryo-sleep, Red Team was tasked with investigating the UNSC distress signal coming from the surface of the Ark. There, inside the abandoned UNSC outpost they encountered Isabel, a logistics AI, who warned the Spartans about danger concealed on the Ark. They extracted Isabel and continued investigating the outpost. However, they were soon ambushed by the Jiralhanae warlord Atriox, the leader of a mercenary organization known as the Banished: Atriox defeated the Spartans, severely wounding Douglas by crushing his left shoulder. With the arrival of the enemy reinforcements, Red Team was forced to retreat. It was not long before the Spartans were in a Warthog and being pursued by Ghosts. In order to escape the pursuers, Jerome requested an orbital bombardment on their location. The Spartans were later evacuated back to the Spirit of Fire.

Halo Wars gameplay
Red Team plays a significant role in Halo Wars ' campaign. In gameplay the Spartans have prototypical energy shields in addition to health. All three Spartans (as well as the six-member Team Omega in the level Arcadia Outskirts) count as hero units; if their health is depleted, instead of dying, they are "downed", at which point their health bar begins to regenerate. Once the health bar is at least half full the downed Spartan can be revived by touching them with any other unit under the player's or co-op ally's control. The Spartans are capable of hijacking enemy vehicles and commandeering friendly vehicles, similar to the FPS games, but at a much slower rate. Any vehicle driven by a Spartan receives a stat boost and the ability to earn more veterancy points. Spartans cannot be harmed by Flood infection forms while their shields are intact, and as hero units they are immune to being infected. When hijacking enemy vehicles, they often make a loud punching sound on the vehicle being hijacked.

Halo Wars 2 gameplay
In Halo Wars 2, the members of Red Team are Hero Units that must not be allowed to die under any circumstances; unlike Halo Wars, where the Hero Units are "downed", this time when the health is depleted they will die permanently. When the Red Team hijacks the vehicle, they immobilize the target and make a computerized sound before the Spartan gains control of the hijacked vehicle. The Spartans can also traverse higher or lower ground impassable to normal ground units with their "Spartan Slam" ability, which can also be used for hijacking enemy vehicles.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Adjunct
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo Wars
 * Halo: Blood Line
 * Halo: Reach
 * Halo: Fall of Reach
 * Covenant
 * Invasion
 * Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series
 * Know Your Enemy
 * Halo: Ground Command
 * Halo Mythos
 * Halo: Tales from Slipspace
 * Something Has Happened
 * Halo: Smoke and Shadow
 * Halo Wars 2