Owen-B096

Petty Officer Second Class Owen-B096 is a Spartan-III in service with the United Nations Space Command's armed forces. Orphaned at a young age following the Covenant's attack on his homeworld, he was trained to be a Spartan on Onyx as part of the Spartan-III program's Beta Company and biologically augmented. Owen was separated from the rest of his company prior to its deployment to the 51 Pegasi system in 2545. In 2548 he lent aid to the defense of Meridian, teaming up with four teenage residents of the moon in the opening stage of the conflict. Together, they successfully evacuated surviving residents of Brume-sur-Mer off-world. In late 2553 he and another Spartan, Hazel-A302, were tasked with delivering the artificial intelligence Gabriela to Earth and assisting with an Outpost Discovery at major population centers on the planet.

Early life
"Owen-B096"

- Saskia Nazari Owen was born on the colony world of Eremus in the Lambda Serpentis system. The Covenant began a ground invasion of the planet on February 9, 2535 and by the twelfth had begun to glass it. Owen's parents were in a town which fell victim to this orbital bombardment. By the time half the planet's surface had suffered the same treatment Owen was eventually discovered by the Office of Naval Intelligence living on his own in the countryside and eating bugs. Owen volunteered for the Spartan-III program a short time later, becoming one of four hundred and eighteen children making up its second company. Only three hundred and seventy-five had been confidently identified for participation by July 30, 2537, but the full company was formed by the next day.

Beta Company was trained from that point on by the Spartan-II Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose and Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez at the Camp Currahee complex on the planet Onyx in the Zeta Doradus system. The regimen mirrored that of the Spartan-IIs', with intensive physical conditioning and education conducted by hand-picked trainers and multiple on-site A.I.s. All training and indoctrination emphasized the significance of achieving objectives at any cost and a willingness to sacrifice for the UNSC. Beta Company's drill instructors also counted washouts from Alpha Company among their ranks, who always seemed to go out of their way to make things as hard as possible for the trainees. On August 24, 2541 all four hundred and eighteen recruits were given an exercise near Camp Currahee in which their respective teams were tasked with ringing a bell atop a poll in a field. Impeding their progress were their drill instructors, who were shielded by Mark II semi-powered infiltration armor. Beta Company's members, conversely, only had sweat suits and light boots for protection against stun rounds. Kurt had previously announced that eventually only three hundred slots would be made available for continuation as a Spartan, and ringing the bell was required in order to advance. The lieutenant had also let it be known that grades would be a factor in the selection process, so the kids were as a whole exhausting themselves each night with studying before falling asleep. The exercise this day began at 1420 hours. An exceptional candidate, Owen's tenacity and single-minded focus allowed him to grind his way through the remainder of the punishing training in the years which followed and the biological augmentation processes to reach the top honors program. Beta Company graduated at some point during the first few months of 2545 and by May 30 at least some of its members had been deployed for Operation: CARTWHEEL. Three hundred were deployed to the 51 Pegasi system on July 3 of that year for Operation: TORPEDO following a number of other missions the company had completed, but Owen was not among these, having been detached from the rest of his comrades for special assignment. Soon after this separation he was given Mjolnir armor.

Landfall on Meridian
"Owen-B096"

- Saskia Nazari In 2548 a small Covenant fleet element arrived in the Hestia system near the start of the rainy season on Meridian, one of Hestia V's moons. The UNSC and Meridian's military fought to keep the Covenant from breaching the outer colony world's atmosphere for around a week before their combined defenses finally failed. For the last three days of that effort, Owen fought as part of a team to stop the aliens from getting to the moon's surface. During planetary descent the dropship carrying his team was taken down by the enemy and Owen was separated from the others when it made impact. Owen was also injured in the crash, though his armor managed to take most of the damage inflicted. It further helped to somewhat correct a resulting imbalance in his gait, but he was still dragging his left foot and limping the next day.

Owen soon realized that the Covenant was setting up in the coastal village Brume-sur-Mer. During the afternoon of the day which followed the Covenant's night arrival on Meridian itself, he sighted two Mgalekgolo gestalts at the village's edge and managed to kill one of them minutes before the second turned it attention upon two teenagers who had crossed Rue Glycine to a line of warehouses lining it. The boy and girl were about to be killed when Owen suddenly barreled into the Hunter at full speed to save them. In doing so he forced it back and prevented it from firing its weapon, yelling for the teens to get clear before being sent flying through one of the wall of one of the warehouses by the hulking beast. It followed him inside and a short battle between the two ensued, but ultimately Owen emerged victorious and caught up to the near victims in the forest across the road from town. He asked why they were not in the old town bomb shelter with the rest of Brume-sur-Mer's surviving population, only to be told it was a long story. Seeing that the boy was hurt, he agreed with the girl's assessment that they needed to leave before any more aliens showed up and noted that there had been two Hunters present a few minutes earlier. He asked if they had somewhere in particular to head toward and learned the girl's house was apparently safe. The girl let him know that there were also two more of them who had gone to speak with Salome, the town's artificial intelligence. Owen assured her they would make sure to collect them as well on the way to her house before taking the lead as the trio set out deeper into the woods.

After at least one right turn taken at the girl's direction the three of them stepped into a clearing where one of the town computers was located. Another boy and girl pair already there, the ones whom they were looking for, initially provoked a raised rifle from Owen due to the boy's surprised reaction. Once things had calmed down the Spartan urged that they continue onwards, assuming he could trust the home of the first girl truly was the safest place for them to be then. It took over thirty minutes of walking from there until the group of five reached their destination, a house surrounded by massive iron walls and turrets which both clearly didn't look meant for civilians. By then it had become apparent to the girl who lived there that he was hurt, but when asked about his status Owen hesitated before explaining the close call he'd had when his dropship crashed. After moving past the wall's gate it was her alone who stayed back with him as the others went inside the house. She said she could treat him with a UNSC-issued medical kit but he cautioned against removing his armor, since he wouldn't be able to get it back on without a mounting machine. Nevertheless, he agreed to slide off the damaged panel near his hip so she could help, provided that she did so on the porch away from the others. She returned to him soon with the kit and used medical scissors to cut away the fabric of his bodysuit so she could apply biofoam to the bloody patch of grey-black skin, mottled with yellow and purple, beneath. Owen assured her he'd used biofoam before but still tensed his muscles, groaned, and clenched his jaw when she inserted the canister's needle into the wound. When it was done he thanked her. She finally then introduced herself as Saskia and he reciprocated the introduction.

Lay of the land
"Owen-B096"

- Evie Rousseau After everyone had gathered in Saskia's parents' living room she introduced Owen properly to the group and let them know he was of the opinion that they should evacuate. This provoked a variety of reactions but he made it clear to them that his job was to get both they and their families to safety, which he believed he had the best shot at if the four teens were first brought to the UNSC shelter in Port Moyne, a town adjacent to Brume-sur-Mer. The two he'd met at the town computer, Dorian and Evie, remained skeptical but he promised he would personally come back for their families, presently in the village's shelter. In the house's foyer Owen explained that they'd need to go on foot, since the roads were likely being monitored. He hoped that by keeping to the underbrush they might run into UNSC or Meridian scouts on the way. Calling for backup was impossible thanks to all communications being jammed by the Covenant. Past the gate again he instructed the teens to stay quiet and follow his lead.

They walked single file for at least an hour as evening neared, following the main highway out of town but staying clear of it, before Owen finally stopped the procession and raised a fist to signal those behind him to do likewise. He told them to stay put then and bolted off into the surrounding foliage. When he returned, it was with bad news. The entire village was encased within a gargantuan domed energy barrier which prevented their passage past it without being cooked alive. As the group as a whole was examining the shield Owen suddenly yelled for them all to get down and spun around, firing his rifle. Multiple Unggoy attackers had converged on their position, so he called for a retreat. After pounding one of the alien's masks with his fist and firing more shots at another he glanced to where Evie lay in the mud and urged her to get out of there. He managed to wipe out the rest of the attackers and then ordered Saskia and Victor back to the house, having to double back to find Dorian and Evie and give the same instructions to them.

Back at the house, Owen seated himself on a couch in the safe room and was soon being peppered with questions probing what he knew about everything going on. He volunteered what he could, explaining how long the fight had lasted around Hestia V so far and what his role in that had been. He apologized for letting them down, feeling partly responsible for the fact that the Covenant had finally broken through their defenses. When asked why they'd all been kept in the dark about the battle raging off-world, Owen defended the measure as a standard procedure meant to stave off panic. He also theorized that both human militaries were probably prioritizing larger population centers at the moment and as such were relatively unconcerned with Brume-sur-Mer. He also briefly speculated that there might be something in the village that the Covenant want, but couldn't say for sure what it might be, if anything at all. Evie was the first to declare it was up to them to put a stop to the aliens' present activities, an idea which Owen all but dismissed. However, he turned the question of whether they ought to do something over to the rest of them, and found that only Saskia was opposed. Owen quickly gathered that her reluctance contrasted with the other three's motivation to fight back due to her being the only one among them without close family ties in the town shelter. When she brought up she and Victor's close encounter with the Hunter Owen encouraged her that had it been a Grunt instead, he was sure they could have held their own. At this he also stated it had been a mistake not to arm them earlier. It was then that he resolved to do what he could for them so that they could draw out the Covenant's efforts as long as possible so that the UNSC had a better chance of eventually getting through the shield to save the village. If they hoped to accomplish that, he emphasized, they would need to work as a team and follow his directions. And the first thing they'd need to do, he said, was to scavenge weapons and ammunition.

Training the Meridians
Later that night, after a dinner of reconstituted packets of stew, everyone filed outside into Saskia's backyard. Owen announced that he planned to split the teens up into the same two-person teams they'd been in when he met them and to send them into town for a reconnaissance mission the next morning. To prepare for this, he wanted them all to head into the surrounding woods so they could practice not being seen. As such, he challenged them to try to sneak up on him in the dark of night without being caught by him first. This exercise lasted through the night, with Owen repeatedly catching Dorian and Evie in particular despite showing them how to circle trees in narrower and narrower arcs.

Aftermath
"I know it seems like too much, but give it time. Civilian life will be hard for you now. You'll see."

- Owen offers a word of advice to Dorian, Evie, Saskia, and Victor. Upon docking within the Owen was taken away for medical attention. Within two days he had recovered and given a full report of the four teens' activities on the surface to Daniella, a representative of ONI's Xeno-Materials Exploitation Group. In it he mentioned the discovery of evidence that the Covenant was attempting to retrieve a Forerunner artifact in Old Brume. After those two days had elapsed he was sent to fetch Saskia, surprising her in the middle of the refugee barracks where she'd been staying. She immediately embraced him and was further surprised when he returned the gesture. Owen let her know someone from the Office of Naval Intelligence wanted to speak with she, Dorian, Evie, and Victor. Seeing that Saskia evidently felt woefully unprepared for such a meeting, he put a hand on her shoulder and told he she looked fine, joking that he'd looked a lot worse during his first encounter with ONI. He guided her toward the barracks' exit and down the adjacent corridor, stopping before a door at the end to press one of his hands against an identification lock. When the door slid open the other teens and Daniella were revealed within a conference room. Owen seated himself at the far end of the room's table. Daniella proceeded to offer the four teenage civilians a truncated version of ONI's ground operatives training program and membership within a subset of Meridian's local defense force which would work directly with ONI. After a moment of silence Owen spoke up to say that even though the proposal might seem like a lot then, civilian life would likely be hard for each of them now. Three months after the evacuation of Brume-sur-Mer's population, Owen found himself back on Meridian's surface once again.

Later career
"Gabriela, you are being deployed to Earth, where you will serve as the caretaker of Outpost Discovery. Spartans Owen and Hazel will escort you there."

- An ONI officer informs Gabriela of her assignment to work with Owen and Hazel. At some point following the ultimately futile defense of Meridian, Owen participated in scorched-earth holding actions in the Sol system. The details concerning these particular actions are not slated to ever be publicized or known to the wider UNSC. In late 2553 Owen and another Spartan-III, Hazel-A302, met with the Spartan-II Linda-058, the volitional A.I. Athos, and an ONI officer. Linda and Athos had recently returned from a mission in which they had secured another A.I. named Gabriela thought lost around a year prior during the Fall of Reach. The record of all cataloged human history which Gabriela contained made her unique among A.I.s, so Owen and Hazel were tasked with escorting her to Earth. There she would assume the role of caretaker for an Outpost Discovery, a mobile exploratory initiative focused on the education, recruitment, inspiration, and training of the next generation of UNSC personnel. . Both Spartans joined her thereafter in assisting with the outposts, which involved traveling to various major population centers on humanity's home world and interacting directly with civilians in attendance.

Personal characteristics, armor, and effects
Owen primarily specializes in direct action and secondarily specializes in reconnaissance and asset acquisition. Upon first meeting him, Saskia Nazari thought Owen's face looked unlined and boyish, despite his eyes being dark, shrouded, and looking older than the rest of him. At this time his hair was relatively short. Owen's left cheek is marked with an angry red scar. At his full height, he is tall enough to give the appearance of taking up an entire living room-sized space when armored.

During the opening stages of the Battle of Meridian, Owen wore dark blue Mjolnir armor which could look silver in the right sunlight and sported a flat grey faceplate. Within three months after Brume-sur-Mer's evacuation Owen adopted a lighter blue armor. Following the end of the war he wore a Mark V JFO-class helmet and an Assault/Commando chest piece. His left shoulder was protected by a SECURITY-class pauldron and his right by one of the baseline Mark V variety. On his left wrist he had a Tactical/UGPS unit and on his left thigh Tactical/Soft Case pouch. After he began to assist with the Outpost Discovery on Earth Owen started wearing a pouch around his waist which protruded from his rear.

Behind the Scenes
"Whenever we were designing them we wanted to have two characters that made sense. And we already had Battle Born in the works."

- Sarah Campbell notes that Owen had been conceived of as character prior to his inclusion in Outpost Discovery, since he had originally just been designed for Battle Born. Owen was first introduced in Halo: Battle Born, the series' first young adult novel, and subsequently appeared in the final panels of Halo: Lone Wolf's concluding issue. By the time it was determined that Halo: Outpost Discovery locations ought to include two individuals dressed as Spartans attendees could interact with, Battle Born was already in the works for Owen to be drawn from. 343 Industries consumer products team artist Sarah Campbell did most of the three-dimensional designing and construction of the armor to be worn by the person dressed as Owen. Objectives of the armor's design included having it make sense for the time in which Outpost Discovery is set as well as representative of armor that would actually be worn by Spartans at Outpost Discovery locations. In addition, Sarah had to consider practical issues for the wearer such as the need for pockets, flexibility, and the ability to sit down while wearing the costume. She used assets from Halo: Reach alongside those from other projects and some she created herself specifically for Outpost Discovery while designing the armor. A rear-protruding pouch worn around Owen's waist in particular was based on that seen on Carter-A259 in Reach, described as a "fanny pack". An exclusive Xbox avatar costume based on the character is provided for those who purchase tickets for Halo: Outpost Discovery.

Gallery
 File:Halo Battle Born cover.jpg|Owen appears on the cover of Halo: Battle Born. File:Halo Meridian Divide cover.jpg|Owen appears on the cover of Halo: Meridian Divide. File:OwenAvatar.PNG|All purchasers of Outpost Discovery tickets will receive download codes for this Xbox avatar costume. File:HOD Owen and Hazel Expanded.jpg|This artwork shows Owen and his partner, Hazel-A302. File:LW Debrief.PNG|Owen and Hazel attend the debriefing of Linda-058 and Athos. File:HaloOutpostDiscovery Poster.png|Owen is featured in this promotional image for Halo: Outpost Discovery. File:BbEarly.jpg|Owen's appearance on the cover of Halo: Battle Born is slightly different for an early pre-release version of the book. File:HLW ODE.PNG|Owen is featured on the cover of a hardcover collection of Halo: Lone Wolf issues exclusive to Halo: Outpost Discovery. File:OD Shirt.PNG|Matthew Beasley, event programming manager for Halo: Outpost Discovery, shows off a T-shirt featuring the event's key art. File:OD-Shirt2-.jpg|Another T-shirt featuring Owen is worn by Florida reporter Greg Fox. 

List of appearances

 * Halo: Battle Born
 * Halo: Lone Wolf
 * Halo: Outpost Discovery
 * Halo: Meridian Divide