Darren Leone

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Darren Leone
Personal details
Species:	Human
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Graying
Political and military information
Affiliation:	UNSC Navy
Rank:	Captain

Darren Leone is an officer in the UNSC Navy and the captain of the downed military cargo tender, the Template:UNSCship.

Biography

War and Crash

At the tail end of the Human-Covenant War, the Dark Was the Night was part of a chain of vessels responsible for taking the Spartan-III super-soldier, Kevin-A282, back to Earth. The last transmission from command recived by the ship let those aboard know that Reach had fallen. The Dark Was the Night came under fire from the Covenant and was forced to make an emergency slipspace jump. Kevin saved Darren's life at that time by hauling him to safety when an airlock was blown open during the violence. Although the got away, damage sustained to the ship was catastrophic and it wasn't long before a death spiral of critical malfunctions, including the loss of its A.I, put the lives of everyone onboard in danger. Darren took control of piloting the vessel and managed to crash-land it on the Outer Colony named Losing Hand. Impressively, he avoided putting it in the ocean or flattening it against a chain of mountains. The ship touched down on a landing strip but in the process the wind farm providing a nearby township with power was destroyed. The cargo tender's long-range communication capability and its drives were irreparably broken amidst all of this. The Dark Was the Night's command crew had been gutted in the wake of the attack and subsequent struggles, leaving Darren to take over as captain. One of his first decisions was to make First Lieutenant Maher his executive officer. He also gradually slackened the rules as far as disciplinary matters were concerned, given the crew's situation. To make up for the loss of the colony's source of power, Darren worked out a deal with the colonists whereby the cargo tender's power core, powered through solar energy, could provide heat and light to the town in exchange for a steady supply of food for his crew. In addition, when the UNSC personnel put a drone satellite into orbit, Darren agreed to allow the civilians unfettered access to it. A month after their landing on the planet, Kevin wandered off on his own and when Darren sent people to find him, they were unable to. Template:Expand-Section

Escalating Tensions

After spending almost a year on Losing Hand, relations between the UNSC personnel and the colonists were still uneasy. At one point, an unintentional blackout resulted from an overload of the power system. Evidently believing that it had not been accidental, the colonists responded with a load of fish a few days later that was half contaminated with fuel oil. They claimed, of course, that the contamination was unintentional. One night, a few weeks after these events, a fight broke out. The next morning First Lt. Maher woke Captain Leone up to inform him of some vandalism done to the side of the ship. Upon viewing an image of the writing, Darren recognized the writing and told Maher he would handle it. He also instructed him to ensure that the point-defense cupola nearest to the damage was powered up so that, despite being unable to fire, could still track targets and deter anyone from getting too close. Maher also made sure to let his captain know about the return of an issue they had been having with their power core that resulted from solar flares overcharging it. Just then, Aoife Larsson was escorted to Leone, a colonist that had spent the night in their brig after the last night's fight. Darren made light of the drunken state she had been in and offered to take her back to her brother, Ryan. He, Aoife, and the marine escort, Sergeant Robertson, piled into a warthog and set out for town. As he drove through the rain, he questioned Aoife. She responded with hostility and boldly expressed the misgivings she and many others shared concerning the prolonged presence of the UNSC on their planet. Darren was forced to admit that he couldn't know how long it would be until the UNSC found them, if it even still existed, given how the war had been going. He stopped the warthog outside the town hall where six men, including Ryan Larsson, were glaring at he and Robertson. Ryan mocked Captain Leone's attempts to act as some kind of law enforcement and let the two men know their welcome was wearing thin. Darren said he was only returning his sister but also threatened that there would be consequences for the next person to paint on the side of his ship. He then found himself launching into an impassioned appeal to their common survival on the world, in which he berated Ryan's short-sightedness and bitching, as he put it. At that, Ryan plainly stated that it might be time for the colonists to take the Dark Was the Night for themselves so they wouldn't actually need any of its crew anymore. Before the conversation could escalate further, Aoife came running out to Ryan, having gone inside the hall after exiting the warthog earlier. As she communicated clearly grim news to him, Darren also got a call from Lt. Maher. Template:Expand-Section

Crisis and Resolution

As it turned out, both Ryan and Darren were learning the same thing: the drone satellite's sensors had detected a ship on an intercept course with the colony. Though it was broadcasting an old UNSC recognition code that announced an intention to land, it was clearly a DAV-class light corvette. Aghast at this development, Ryan blamed the UNSC for bringing this apparent doom on them. Template:Expand-Section

Personality and traits

As of the important events of 2553, Darren had grown a graying beard. His fingers were permanently scarred from frostbite he sustained when the Spartan had to drag him through freezing decompression. When he first took over the captaincy of the Dark Was the Night, Darren tried to solve all the problems the ship and crew faced partially out of guilt but also out of a sense of responsibility to do so and a dedication to the ideals of the UNSC. As time wore on, however, he found himself doing things simply because someone had to. His work caused him to lack sleep often. He took pride in the ship that was under his command and damage done to it angered him. He could also be easily annoyed by what he perceived to be an inability of the civilians on Losing Hand to understand what the ship meant to those that arrived on it. Despite his dedication, Darren still usually felt like an imposter in his position. The crash weighed heavily on him and he thought about it every day. Template:Expand-Section

Equipment and Dress

Darren typically wore his naval uniform, emblazoned with the UNSC crest, and donned a heavy weather parka when it was necessary. He carried an M6 magnum on his hip. Template:Expand-Section

List of appearances

• Halo: Fractures
  • Breaking Strain (First appearance)