Ash-G099

Ash is a Spartan of the SPARTAN-III Program and is the leader of Team Saber in Gamma Company. He was one of the fiercest, smartest, and the best leaders in the class. He is currently active in the company of the survivors of the Battle of Onyx.

Rank
While the Spartan-IIIs of Alpha and Beta Companies "graduated" into the UNSC Navy, as Ash holds the UNSC Marine Corps rank of Private, it is possible that Gamma Company "graduated" into the Marine Corps. However, since the other members of his squad held the rank of Petty Officer Third Class (the equivalent of a Corporal in the Marine Corps), it is assumed the rank was a mistake.

Biography
Ash was conscripted into the SPARTAN-III program, developed by Colonel James Ackerson around 2546 between the ages of 5 and 7 when he, along with other orphans volunteered to become Spartans and avenge his family and home planet. Once on Onyx, he and the other SPARTAN-III candidates were trained by Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose and Senior Chief Petty Officer Mendez.

Ash was assigned to lead Team Saber. When Onyx came under attack by Sentinels, the teams were still competing for top honors, and Ash had nearly lost it for his team by walking into a trap set up by one of the other teams. In an effort to not fall into another trap he took his team dangerously close to Zone 67 to avoid the other teams. The team spied what they assumed at the time to be a new kind of Covenant drone because of the energy shields. They decided to investigate and the sentinels engaged. Ash dispatched scouts to reconnoiter and figure out the weak spots of the drones. He and the rest of the team hurled rocks at the drones and to their surprise, the drone's shields did not activate. One of the drones chased Holly to the edge of a cliff and she was about to jump when Ash flung a fist sized rock at the drone and to his amazement, the shields were not active; however, Ash succeeded in getting the drone's attention and it chased him into a hole and the rest of the team pummeled the drone with huge rocks, destroying it. Curiously enough, the drone responded to Ash's COM, and talked to him in Latin, calling him Reclaimer.

A general decision was made and the team moved to the armory to get some real fire power. Team Saber met up with Kurt, Mendez, Tom and Lucy; and proceeded to play life and death games of cat and mouse with the sentinels. Ash and the team met up with Kelly-087 and Dr. Catherine Halsey but had no time for pleasantries because they were soon engaged by a pair of Sentinels. After that was over, the team took Dr. Halsey and Kelly to a bombed out bunker. While in the bunker, Dr. Halsey revealed the origin of the Sentinels and what to do next.

Just as Team Saber was in the middle of battling the Sentinels, the Covenant destroyer Bloodied Spirit dropped out of Slipspace over Onyx; carrying the remaining members of Blue Team; SPARTAN-104, SPARTAN-058 and SPARTAN-043; landed rather abruptly in the forest at the source of what was believed to be coordinates for a rendezvous point that was on the E-Band. It turns out that the signal was sent by Kurt and the other Spartans. Ash and the others were knee deep in Sentinel trouble and decided to retreat back to Zone 67 and regroup, with Blue Team.

By now, the team had figured out that the Sentinels only came after them in pairs and there was always one over watch, or observer that records all the action and reports back to the others, making the Sentinels smarter and harder to defeat each time they engage in combat with the humans. So, the only way to turn the tables would be for the teams to take out all three of the sentinels. Olivia, Will and the rest of Team Saber, scouted out a tunnel to bury the Sentinel pair in and Dante rigged it with explosives. They met up with Kurt in a tree and watched as Kelly gave the Sentinel pair "the finger" and kept on running. She went through the tunnel and it blew up behind her, throwing her like a rag doll across the forest floor, but destroying the sentinel pair. Kurt dispatched Team Saber to go see if she was alright. Meanwhile, Tom and Lucy fired both rockets from their SPNKr Rocket Launchers and Linda timed her fire so the sniper rifle rounds would impact at the same time as the rockets. The ploy worked and that bought the team some time.

After the team destroyed the two Sentinels and the overwatch, they moved into Zone 67. Once there, they discovered the map room and the location of Team Katana. Olivia had picked up Katana squad's signal earlier. They'd reported they were being forced into Zone 67. Their signal was lost shortly thereafter. First, Dr. Halsey proposed that they go to the Sentinel factory and make sure no more Sentinels would be made. Then, they moved to find Team Katana.

In looking in the map room and examining the Forerunner text, Dr. Halsey figured out how to utilize the Forerunners Slipspace Translocation System, similar to the one Cortana used on Installation 04. Just before the team was about to jump to Team Katana, AI Endless Summer contacts Dr. Halsey and Kurt-051, telling them they need to destroy the Sentinel Production Facility in order to save Battlegroup Stalingrad. Halsey gets the teleportation grid working, and they all teleport to the Sentinel Production Facility near the northern pole in Onyx. Halsey sends them to destroy three key structures, which would bring the entire production to a halt. Using the teleportation grid, they go to the three structures and trick Sentinels into firing on them on a line with the structures. Having destroyed the structures, they teleport back.

Ash and the rest of the team arrive at Team Katana’s holding area to find them in some sort of cryo-Slipspace containment cells. Dr. Halsey found out the meaning of the Shield World and also found out that the Covenant knew the location of the group and was on the way with an entire armada of troops to attempt to stop them.

Ash, along with the other Spartans made a loose half-circle kill zone around the entrance to the Shield World and picked off targets at range. They managed to defend the entrance to the shield, although, it had come at some serious losses. Will, Dante, and Holly had already died at the hands of the Covenant. He was visibly distraught at Holly's death. There was little time left and the Covenant forces were closing in for the final kill. Kurt ordered Ash to take his team through the rift. Soon after, Dr. Halsey and the surviving SPARTAN-IIs came through and lastly, Lucy came through with an unconscious Tom over her shoulder. The team waited for Kurt to arrive, but he never came. Once the team was inside the Dyson Sphere, they made gravestones for William, Dante, Kurt and Holly; and were accepted into Blue Team by Kelly-087, along with Olivia and Mark. At most recent knowledge he is alive inside the core, presumably safe from further attacks.