Frederic-104

"Alright, the Great Journey ends here."

- Fred to Thel 'Lodamee

Lieutenant, Junior Grade Frederic-104, born Frederic Ellsworth, is a SPARTAN-II commando. As of 2557, he is one of the few remaining SPARTAN-IIs and holds the highest rank among his active-duty peers.

Early childhood
Frederic Ellsworth was born on the human colony of Ballast on April 3, 2511. He was abducted from his home in 2517 at age six after he was observed by Dr. Catherine Halsey and marked as a potentially exceptional soldier. He was trained with the other Spartans at Reach by Déjà and Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and participated in numerous training exercises, including Spartans' mission to the Military Wilderness Training Preserve.

During his training, Fred quickly proved himself to be one of the program's top candidates. Both Dr. Halsey and Chief Mendez identified him as one of four emerging leaders within the SPARTAN-II group, along with Kurt-051, Jerome-092, and John-117. He was among the Spartans who survived the physical augmentations which enhanced their combat prowess to superhuman levels.

Early career
Fred was part of the Spartans' first mission to Eridanus Secundus to abduct Colonel Robert Watts in 2525. At some point after the Battle of Chi Ceti IV, he and John briefly were sent to support a group of Marines fighting Insurrectionists, but the skirmish quickly changed as the Covenant's arrival forced the UNSC troops to briefly side with the rebels.

In 2526, the Spartans were deployed to Circinius IV to combat a Covenant invasion. During the battle they received a distress signal from a cadet squad pinned down at Corbulo Academy of Military Science: these cadets were the only survivors on the entire planet. Kelly-087 led Blue Team north to the evacuation point, where they waited for John; soon, John and the three surviving cadets reached the evacuation point and their Pelican immediately dusted off. During the flight Kelly and Fred removed their helmets. When Cadet Sullivan, asked how old they were, Kelly and Fred exchanged glances and responded simply, "That's classified."

Fred likely fought in the Battle of Jericho VII in 2535. He also took part in the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV in 2552, designated Blue-Three and part of John's team that destroyed the Covenant forces at Côte d'Azur.

In 2544, Fred also participated in an ONI-led operation which required a squad of SPARTANs, consisting of Solomon-069, Arthur-079, Kelly-087, John-117 and himself, to infiltrate Covenant-controlled space via Booster Frames and recover a stolen package from a Covenant fleet. The Covenant fleet was temporarily unable to enable their slipspace drives due to a stellar magnetic field, providing the Spartans some time to retrieve the package before the Covenant fleet departed. During the course of the operation, Arthur and Solomon were killed by the Covenant. The surviving SPARTANs then infiltrated the Covenant flagship and got separated as they made their way to the package which was revealed to be Dr. Catherine Halsey‎. The operation was successful with the Spartans escorting the "package" back to the ONI stealth ship that deployed them.

Fall of Reach
Fred was assigned on the as part of the SPARTAN-II contingent of Operation: RED FLAG, but the mission was aborted as all ships were ordered to defend Reach from a massive Covenant assault. John assigned Fred to lead Red Team, which was sent to land on the ground and protect the power generators for the orbital MAC stations. As Red Team's D77-TC Pelican, Bravo 001, descended to the surface of the planet, it was attacked by Seraphs and dove uncontrollably towards the ground. Fred ordered Red Team to jump from the Pelican. The impact killed four of the Spartans; however, if they had not jumped, they would have all died as Bravo 001 exploded. When the group met again, they went to ODG Facility A-331 where they met what was left of the nearly destroyed Charlie Company, and received a distress call from Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb.

Fred then divided his Spartans into four teams: He, Kelly-087, and Joshua-029, comprising Team Alpha went to destroy a nearby Covenant landing zone, while Team Gamma, led by Anton-044 with two other Spartans, would rescue Admiral Whitcomb. The third team, Team Delta, led by William-043 and consisting of the wounded Spartans would secure a fall back position at CASTLE Base and the fourth team, Team Beta, consisting of the rest of the Spartans, would defend the ODG Facility. Fred's team successfully destroyed the landing zone using Banshees to deliver Fury tactical nukes into a Covenant cruiser overhead. However, Joshua was killed and the team at the ODG facility appeared to be wiped out by a Covenant plasma bombardment. Fred bitterly thought that he would rather trade 10,000 Covenant lives for that of Joshua's.

Fred and Kelly then retreated to the fallback position, which was surrounded by the Covenant. They were forced to commandeer Wraith tanks but they successfully ended up at Team Delta's position thanks to Jackhammer Support from Team Delta. They were then able to enter the base by whistling Oly Oly Oxen Free into the speakers. It turned out that Dr. Halsey was still in the facility. Fred had suffered a torn Achilles tendon, three cracked ribs and moderate contusions in both kidneys while making his way towards CASTLE Base. For a Spartan, these injuries were nothing, so she sent him and William-043 on a supply run. The Spartans received upgrades to their MJOLNIR armor and new weapons.

Under attack from Covenant, the five Spartans and Dr. Halsey were forced to destroy CASTLE Base as part of "Operation: WHITE GLOVE". They found themselves trapped underground in the old mining caverns beneath the base for several days, until they came across a Forerunner installation, where they discovered a mysterious Forerunner crystal. The artifact created a spike in radiation that allowed the Covenant to triangulate their position. The Covenant breached the underground complex, and used a gravity lift to send massive amounts of ground forces to the humans' location. The humans then ran into a cavern and blew up the entrance. The cavern was a dead end and for two days Fred, Kelly, Will and Dr. Halsey were trapped in the cavern as the Covenant tried to dig them out.

Operation: FIRST STRIKE
Fred, Kelly, Will, and Dr. Halsey were rescued from the underground complex when John, Anton-044, and Admiral Danforth Whitcomb found them and took them away to the captured Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice. Fred's injuries were finally treated aboard the Gettysburg, which had been fused to the Ascendant Justice. He then took part in an extravehicular mission to repair a plasma conduit on the ship, holding his own against camouflaged Elites as well as the dangerous rampant plasma bolts floating around the slipspace bubble the ships were trapped in as a result of the Forerunner crystal aboard.

Fred then accompanied John into Eridanus Secundus a second time when Admiral Whitcomb and Dr. Halsey demanded repairs from the Insurrectionists, under the leadership of Governor Jacob Jiles. Fred then manned a station of the Gettysburg when Covenant cruisers appeared in the system.

Fred then took part in Operation: FIRST STRIKE along with John-117, Will-043, Linda-058, and Grace-093. He boarded the Unyielding Hierophant with the Spartans and their copy of Cortana, then followed John to the reactors and covered their exit. Fred then escaped with John, Will, and Linda, - Grace had been killed by Jiralhanae - to the Gettysburg, where they, together with Cortana and Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, finally returned to Earth. In order to forestall the invasion of Earth, Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and Lieutenant Elias Haverson lured the Covenant fleet close to the station with a holographic image of a Forerunner relic. The detonation caught almost the entire fleet in the explosion, with all but twelve ships being destroyed in the blast.

Battle of Earth
Before the Covenant invasion of Earth, Fred and Linda descended the Borneo Space Tether to report on Operation: FIRST STRIKE to an ONI council. During the opening stages of the Covenant invasion of Earth, Fred was subjected to a psychological analysis by Dr. Veronica Clayton of the Office of Naval Intelligence. The doctor became increasingly vitriolic toward Fred, seemingly blaming him for the deaths of his teammates after giving the order to jump from Bravo 001. However, Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood, who had not authorized the analysis, soon arrived and had Clayton escorted away. He then told Fred to return to Blue Team and assist in Earth's defense.

Fred-104, Linda-058, and William-043 were sent to defend Earth for two weeks shortly after 's journey to Installation 05. The missions given were around the globe, including Mount Erebus, the Yucatan Peninsula, and Cuba. Shortly after the Battle of Havana, Fred was given a transmission from Fleet Admiral Hood to have his team travel to Onyx to aid Dr. Halsey. He led his team to hijack a Covenant destroyer, Bloodied Spirit, and destroyed another with FENRIS nuclear warheads.

Battle of Onyx
Using the Bloodied Spirit, Fred and Blue Team traveled to Onyx, being caught in a brief space battle with a Covenant frigate on the way. Upon arrival at Onyx, the Bloodied Spirit was engaged by Onyx Sentinels in orbit. As the ship crashed on the surface, Blue Team escaped in a Spirit dropship. On the surface, Fred and Blue Team soon met with Kurt-051 and other human survivors, with the long-lost friend assuming command of the mission.

They then headed to a Forerunner city within the restricted Zone 67 and located Onyx's map room whilst being pursued by a massive Covenant ground force under command of Fleet Master Voro Nar 'Mantakree. After destroyed a Sentinel manufacturing facility under orders of AI Endless Summer, Fred and the other survivors recovered SPARTAN-III Team Katana and headed for Onyx's core room and made a final stand against the Covenant forces at a slipspace portal which Halsey theorized to lead into a "shield world".

With the humans being overrun, Kurt ordered everyone to retreat into the slipspace rift while he would stay behind to ensure the Covenant did not follow them. Before Fred and the rest of Blue Team entered, however, Kurt promoted Fred to the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade and gave him command of the operation, along with the UNSC forces present, including Kelly-087, Linda-058 and SPARTAN-III members Ash, Olivia, Mark, Tom and Lucy.

Shield world and post-war missions
Having passed through the slipspace rift, Fred and the rest of the human survivors found themselves inside a massive Dyson sphere contained within a slipspace bubble of compressed space-time in the heart of what used to be Onyx. After the survivors had explored the sphere for several days—over three months in normal space-time—they discovered a group of Huragok which helped them establish contact with the ONI ships outside the sphere and eventually bring the sphere back into normal space. They were then recovered by the ONI team Kilo-Five and taken to a debriefing in HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6 aboard the. Fred, along with the rest of the surviving SPARTAN-IIs, were present in the Voi Memorial ceremony on March 3, 2553.

Shortly thereafter, Fred would lead the Spartan contingent of a UNSC research battalion sent to investigate a disturbance on the planet Gao.

In the post-war years to follow, Blue Team—comprising Fred, Kelly and Linda—was redeployed to the outer fringes of human space to eliminate hostile Covenant remnant forces. These operations were highly classified and under ONI's direct oversight.

Gamma Halo
On July 26, 2557, Fred, Kelly and Linda were reunited with John-117 for a mission to investigate an attack on a local science team and Team Black on Installation 03 immediately following John's return to the UNSC. Soon after their arrival, Linda found tracks left by a Promethean Crawler. Fred and Linda found the bodies of Team Black while John and Kelly found the scientists. He wondered if the Crawlers were capable of doing that; John felt it was something else. Shortly after they left the camp they were attacked by Promethean Knights, Fred stabbed one of them in the "head", killing it. They continued following the Crawlers' tracks and came to where the Composer was originally located. Kelly found a tunnel which they followed down, soon finding the Composer's Abyss where they entered a slipspace portal.

The Spartans arrived in a deserted Forerunner city where they soon discovered the Composer's Forge and six intact Composers housed therein. The Didact confronted the Spartans and a firefight broke out between them and the Didact's newly-created Promethean machines. While Fred and the other Spartans battled the Prometheans, the Didact took one of the Composers and departed toward the portal, intending to use the device as well as Gamma Halo against Earth. Fred and the others pursued the Forerunner through the portal back to Installation 03. Upon their return to the surface, the Didact attacked the Spartans, intending to kill them personally. Before he could kill John, Linda and Kelly attacked the Didact. He blasted Kelly away and tackled Linda to the ground, disabling the Spartans. The Didact allowed Fred to shoot him in the head with a Z-110 Boltshot—to no effect—so he could give Fred the honor of "dying a warrior". However, before the Didact could finish them off, Static Carillon appeared behind the Forerunner and disabled him with his laser. Then the monitor teleported the Didact to Gamma Halo's control room to prevent him from killing the Spartans. While John went to pursue the Didact, Linda and the rest of Blue Team returned to their Longsword. After John succeeded in "containing" the Didact, Static Carillon teleported himself and John into Blue Team's Longsword. Fred asked the monitor where the ring would be taken, but no response was given; Static Carillon then left to repair the ring and Blue Team returned to Earth.

After John was debriefed by Fleet Admiral Terrence Hood, the admiral gave orders for John and the rest of Blue Team to have some rest after years of combat. However, John and the rest of the team instead left to take on new missions, all of them highly classified.

Personality and description
Fred has displayed many similarities, both physical and mental, with John-117, with whom he often worked very closely. He is an exceptional leader and a quick thinker. John remarked, however, that Fred sometimes takes the responsibility of his command too seriously, empathizing too deeply with any wounded member of his team. However, in the years following the Fall of Reach, he learned to better adapt to battlefield casualties. Many consider him the most capable fireteam leader of all Spartans. Fred, like many of the other Spartans is an introvert and is rarely called by his full name. He never began to stand out among the Spartans until the death of Samuel-034. Like many of the Spartan-IIs, he dislikes the special treatment he and the other Spartans receive from ordinary humans and does not elevate himself above baseline troops.

As of 2552, he had fought in more than 120 campaigns. John believed that Fred could easily have "come out on top" in the contests the Spartans had as children, though he chose to make second place because he did not like the attention of winning. He is the Spartan-IIs' second-best sniper and their best spotter, just below Linda-058's skills. Despite this, he prefers and specializes in close-quarters combat. He is well known for his abilities with the combat knife, and has a habit of twirling his knife between his fingers when idle.

Fred has black hair which was shot with streaks of silver after his augmentation, and he was "not too short or tall", slightly shorter than John-117, and neither too muscular, nor too slim. John-117 remarked, "If any Spartan had to blend into a crowd it would be Fred."

Equipment
By 2526, Frederic wore the B variant MJOLNIR Mark IV armor. Later on, in 2552, he wore a Commando-class Mark IV and Mark V armor. Upon his return to Earth he, like the other active Spartans, was equipped with a Mark VI-generation MJOLNIR armor, specifically a number of variants of a prototype suit designated Centurion, which incorporated many features which would later be incorporated into the GEN2 system. He continued to wear a blue-tinted Centurion-class armor by 2557.

Production notes

 * Fred was voiced by Andrew Love in The Package, and Travis Willingham in Halo 2 Anniversary's terminals.
 * Tony Giroux portrayed Fred in Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. Strangely, he is credited simply as "Spartan" in Forward Unto Dawn despite his significance in the novels.
 * The Centurion armor in the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta has "104" stenciled on the chest plate in Braille. John-117's armor is similarly designated with his Spartan tag in Halo 4.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: First Strike
 * Adjunct
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Halo Legends
 * The Package
 * Halo: Reach
 * Dr. Halsey's personal journal
 * Halo: Fall of Reach
 * Boot Camp
 * Covenant
 * Invasion
 * Halo: Glasslands
 * Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
 * Halo 4
 * Halo: Escalation
 * Halo 2 Anniversary
 * Terminals
 * Halo: Last Light
 * Halo 5: Guardians