Thomas Lasky

Lasky redirects here. For his mother, see Lasky (colonel). For his brother, see Cadmon Lasky.

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"There's a soldier inside of you Thomas. I can see it. Everyone can see it. You need to see it; I know your brother did."

— Colonel Mehaffey

Commander Thomas J. Lasky is a human senior officer of the UNSC Navy who served throughout the Human-Covenant War and in the post war years. Since at least 2552, Lasky has served as Captain Del Rio's executive officer aboard the UNSC Infinity.

Biography

Childhood and education

Thomas Lasky was born on August 15th, 2512 to Colonel Lasky, his mother, in Mare Erythraeum, Mars. He began his officer training as a freshman cadet in Corbulo Academy of Military Science on Circinius IV sometime preceding spring 2526, months after hostilities between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant began; this development was kept from the students and much of the staff at Corbulo however. Organized into Hastati Squad, a freshman unit in the class of 2529, Lasky originally began as a team leader during field exercises.

During his time in the school, he regularly exchanged video messages with his brother Cadmon, former student of Corbulo Academy now serving as an ODST fighting in the front lines of the Insurrection. Enjoying a close friendship with his brother, Thomas was deeply struck when Cadmon was killed, starting to express doubt about the sensibleness of the UNSC waging war against the Insurrectionists and viewing his training with cynicism, failing to take the exercises seriously anymore. As there were no remains their mother felt Thomas should not leave school to attend his brother's funeral. Meanwhile, Lasky continued to replay his brother's messages in his spare time.

Lasky's reputation suffered at his constant disregard for the orders of his superiors and displaying a lack of proficient knowledge of infantry tactics. He was subsequently relieved of his duties as team leader, which then fell to squadmate Walter Vickers. Despite this, he continued to ignore orders and continued to lead Hastati in receiving low combat scores, resulting in him being shunned by the rest of the squad. Worse, his health declined rapidly during the school's mandatory acclimation to cryosleep caused by the dangerous side effects, including large blistering, of "flash thawing."

Maturing

Chyler Silva: "Look, you want people to change, you want this war to end?"

Thomas Lasky: "Yeah, of course."

Chyler Silva: "Then you're going to need people to follow you."

— Silva and Lasky exchanging words following Mehaffey's lecture on Hannibal.

His classmates were unrelenting in their provocation of Thomas, affirming their distaste for the freshman who did not live up to the example set by his brother Cadmon. Days prior to the end of the 2525-2526 school year, Lasky and Vickers were singled out by their squad leader April Orenski in response to Hastati's disciplinary physical training. Frustrated by the verbal and minor physical harassment he received from his squadmate, Lasky assaulted Vickers in the school's mess hall. Senior cadets and underclassmen alike continued to encourage the altercation, which the two were performing hand-to-hand combat tactics taught at the academy. Lasky mildly injured Vickers and only ended his violent strife to acknowledge Colonel Mehaffey's presence. The professor took advantage of this quarrel in her mentorship of Lasky, hoping he would embrace the warrior culture of the UNSC and inspire him to become a better leader.

Mehaffey's efforts dawned on the young cadet and he volunteered to lead Hastati moments prior to the start of their final combat exercise, a contest of capture the flag. While waiting for Zuma Squad to approach their flag's location, Lasky had organized Hastati into cover in a tight formation adjacent their flag, a seemingly ill-tactical maneuver. Lasky ordered his men to remove their helmets as they contained IFF transponders that were detectable by the enemy's motion sensors. With Zuma converging on Hastati's flag, Lasky positioned his squad in a formation reminiscent of the pincer movement, a tactic utilized to great effect by Hannibal at Cannae in 216 BCE, taught to the freshman cadets only a day before the exercise by Col. Mehaffey. The enemy soon realized that Lasky had funneled them into a trap and they were swiftly dispatched by two sections of Hastati cadets. The two Hastati elements continued to press in on Zuma's flag with ease, eliminating or capturing all enemy cadets, suffering no casualties of their own in the process. An emboldened Lasky, charging towards Zuma's flag, finally succumbed to his ailing health and collapsed meters away from completing the objective.

Examination by Doctor Hughes of the Academy's medical staff revealed that Lasky's condition was an allergic reaction to the cryo drug cytoprethaline. As cytoprethaline is vital for cryo-sleep to prevent damage to cells, Lasky was judged to be unfit for UNSC service and was to be medically discharged. Before the necessary paperwork could be completed, however, Circinius IV was attacked by at least three SDV-class corvettes of the hostile alien force known as the Covenant, completely overwhelming the Academy's Marine guard and forcing Lasky and his fellow cadets into front line service.

The attack on the Academy prompted one of the first deployments of SPARTAN-II's in the war, led by John-117. Marines, including those in the ODST divisions, accompanied Blue Team in their rescue of the academy's cadets. Lasky became inspired by the heroism and leadership of the young Spartan supersoldier, influencing him to help combat the enemy forces that were slaughtering his classmates and professors.

Post-war

By the end of the war, Lasky had risen to the rank of Commander in the Navy and had been appointed as the executive officer of the UNSC Infinity, the most powerful vessel in the Fleet. He was present aboard Infinity during Fleet Admiral Hood and Admiral Parangosky's inspection of the ship and the subsequent trial deployment on Sanghelios to test the ship's capabilities in the guise of assisting the Arbiter and his forces in the ongoing Sangheili civil war in early 2553. When Infinity began its operations on Requiem, Lasky's relationship with John-117 would prove vital to the Spartan's recovery and the outcome of their mission.

Personality

Known for his renegade attitude as an "innie sympathizer," Thomas was shunned universally by squadmates and other classmates alike. Lasky was not hesitant whatsoever to express his views on the ongoing conflict with the colonies, even with the ardent stance on the conquering of the rebel effort by the majority of Corbulo Academy's staff and cadet corps. The constant display of pacifism and sympathy towards the Insurrectionist cause did not hamper his enthusiasm to successfully lead his team into combat using tactics that would overwhelm the enemy, albeit with tactics that would cause them to peacefully capitulate. Many believed that Thomas would not live up to the level of excellency set by his brother Cadmon, by then a Marine junior officer in the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, nor the expectations of his estranged mother to at the very least, graduate from the academy. At the conclusion of his freshman year from 2525 to 2526, lingering doubts about his competency as a future officer were alleviated.

Relationships

As the growing Insurrection in the Outer Colonies demanded the effort of millions of soldiers, sailors, and Marines, Lasky rarely saw his mother and their relationship faltered because of it. He still maintained a very close relation with his older brother Cadmon, even following in his footsteps with acceptance for schooling at Corbulo Academy. Thomas and his brother Cadmon, both seeming to be avid chess players, maintained an ongoing game through video messages while the two were at Corbulo and on Jericho VII, respectively.

The hawkish Walter Vickers aggressively despised Lasky, lashing out at him with verbal abuse and eventually resorting to public physical altercations. Junjie Chen, a Terran, blamed his failing scores in combat exercises on the incompetence of his classmate. Her parents both being very high ranking officers on Reach, Dimah Tchakova expressed her disdain for Lasky because of his pacifism and beliefs on the war. He was not without more tolerant contemporaries however. Michael Sullivan, despite being "killed" consistently in exercises, found common ground with Lasky in their circumstances, generally not caring for Lasky's reputation as he harbored no ill-feelings towards the Insurrectionists and lacked any blind ambition within the UNSC. He ultimately found support in Chyler Silva, a colonist accustomed to the horrors of the war, attempting to influence her friend in becoming a successful cadet at the academy; with this support/friendship eventually turning into romance. April Orenski, a senior cadet in the class of 2526, was Lasky's squad leader whom he seemingly viewed as an antagonistic figure. She led her subordinates with an austere style and instilled responsibility through reasonably harsh discipline; Orenski repeatedly shot Lasky at point blank range with training rounds for ignoring orders and made him give her his meal following a squad-wide punishment for their failures in quick response drills. Lasky was granted responsibility of leading Hastati upon request and though appearing to be reserved for a brief moment about his ability, she warmed up to the situation knowing that it would strengthen him.

Academy professor Colonel Mehaffey, who had previously served under his mother, began to distantly mentored Lasky, motivating him relentlessly in becoming a successful soldier. Whilst he earned positive reinforcement by superior officers such as Mehaffey and Orenski, headmaster General Black held a mild bitterness towards the young Lasky. Black often singled him out and invariably used the example of the his older brother, the well regarded Cadmon, to force Thomas to exceed his benchmarks set at Corbulo Academy.

Production notes

Lasky is the main protagonist of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn and is mainly portrayed by Australian actor Tom Green; stuntman Anthony Moyer lends himself to the film as Green's double. Canadian actor Ty Olsson appears as the older Thomas Lasky in the contemporary scenes aboard UNSC Infinity; Olsson serves as the basis for Lasky's motion-capture animation in Halo 4. Olsson's voice was overdubbed by Darren O'Hare's for the contemporary portrayal in Forward Unto Dawn, suggesting that the latter will voice Lasky in the game.. Lasky's hair style and birthmarks are consistently represented on all three portrayals of the character. However, Olsson's face shape is noticeably different from Lasky's in-game model in Halo 4; the in-game model otherwise bears a clear resemblance to Green, albeit aged three decades.

Gallery

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  A young Cadet Lasky in Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.

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  Cadet Lasky in Corbulo Academy training gear.

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  Commander Lasky in the post-war era, as seen in Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.

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  Cadet Lasky brooding near Corbulo Academy's space elevator.

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  Full-body portrait of Commander Lasky.

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  Commander Lasky, John-117, Cortana and Captain Del Rio on the bridge of the Infinity.

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  CDR Lasky conversing with a fellow shipmate aboard Infinity.

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  A Marine, John-117, Palmer and Lasky converse.

List of appearances

• Halo: The Thursday War (First appearance)
• Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
• Halo 4