Jerome-092

"Good luck, sir. It's been an honor."

- Jerome-092 to John Forge.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Jerome-092, born Jerome Cable, is a Spartan-II supersoldier of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command. In 2531, he served as the leader of Red Team and fought alongside the crew of.

Early life and conscription
Jerome Cable was born on May 8, 2511 to a poor family in the infamous Palaikos borderlands, an undeveloped portion of the human Inner Colony of Minister, a tough world that forced him into an early childhood of crime where he also realized his capacity for violence. He was of a genetic make-up that Doctor Catherine Halsey regarded as desirable for the SPARTAN-II program. After being selected as a suitable candidate for the SPARTAN-II program in 2517, he was abducted and sent to Reach, where he was specially trained to be a soldier by Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and the artificial intelligence construct Déja. Although he initially attempted to escape from his training facilities several times, Jerome soon transformed from a self-centered survivalist to a competent leader, honing the speed and agility that kept him alive back on Minister. Jerome quickly proved himself to be one of the program's top candidates. Both Dr. Halsey and CPO Mendez identified him as one of the four emerging leaders of the group, along with Kurt-051, Fred-104, and John-117.

In 2525, he and the other candidates underwent a series of augmentations to improve their physical and mental abilities. Jerome was one of a number of "washouts" whose bodies initially rejected the augmentations, but he was able to be retrained and re-augmented separately. During the process, he was partnered with fellow augmentation washouts Alice-130 and Douglas-042, with the three being organized into incarnation of Red Team with Jerome as a team leader.

Battle of Arcadia
Jerome was the leader of Spartan Red Team during the Battle of Arcadia. On February 9, 2531, Jerome and Red Team were tasked with stopping the Covenant long enough to evacuate the civilians of the planet. Afterward, he and Red Team linked up with forces from the and assisted in a counterattack on a Covenant outpost. Once the plan to infiltrate a large Covenant shield dome was passed down from Captain James Cutter, he and Red Team remained with the crew to assist with the assignment. He helped prevent the destruction of several prototype M145D Rhinos while the tanks ensured that the shield was destroyed. After Sergeant John Forge's forces triumphed over a Scarab, Jerome, Douglas-042, and Alice-130 searched for Covenant survivors in the jungles on an 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


After Jerome recommended destroying 'Moramee's ship and killing Anders rather than let classified information fall into Covenant hands, Forge confronted the Spartan. The altercation resulted in a broken chair, a seal malfunction on a bulkhead, and a stern interruption from Serina. From then on, Forge and Jerome always ate together in the mess hall.

Upon arriving at a Forerunner shield world on February 23rd, Jerome assisted the Spirit of Fire's crew in neutralizing Covenant and Flood forces. Once Jerome assisted in destroying a proto-Gravemind, he and 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, Jerome was 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. Red Team returned to the Spirit of Fire before slipspace drive detonated and, after the Spirit of Fire escaped the destruction of the shield world, Jerome, as with the rest of the crew, entered cryo-sleep. The loss of contact prompted the UNSC to conduct a search of the vessel for the next three years, and eventually, in 2534, declared the Spirit of Fire "lost with all hands". Thus, Jerome was declared MIA.

On January 1, 2537, six years after the events on Shield World 0459, a Flood outbreak was initiated aboard the Spirit of Fire by a Flood infection form that had managed to remain hidden aboard the ship. 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.

The Ark


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, also known as the Ark. Awakened from the cryo-sleep, Jerome and the rest of Red Team was tasked with investigating a 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 the 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. Red Team was forced to retreat, and Atriox ordered his troops to hunt them down and capture them, in order to learn where they came from. It was not long before the team was in a Warthog and being pursued by Ghosts. In order to escape the pursuers, Jerome requested an orbital bombardment from the Spirit of Fire on their location. Later, the Spartans were evacuated back to the ship.

Trivia

 * Jerome was portrayed by Crispin Freeman in-game and Gideon Emery in cutscenes for Halo Wars.
 * Jerome-092's name was inspired by the Campaign Lead of Halo Wars, Jerome K. Jones.
 * A faint Legendary symbol can be seen on Jerome's left bicep. This can be most clearly seen in She Is Not My Girlfriend, the cutscene at the beginning of Anders' Signal, and in Monsters, the cutscene at the beginning of Escape.
 * McFarlane Toys released an action figure of Jerome titled "Red Team Leader Mark IV." It was released on March 2nd, 2010 in a boxed set that also includes John-117, an MA5B assault rifle, and an M7057 flamethrower.

List of appearances

 * Halo Wars
 * Halo: Reach
 * Dr. Halsey's personal journal
 * Know Your Enemy
 * Halo: Tales from Slipspace
 * Something Has Happened
 * Halo Wars 2