William Lovell

Summary

Instead of being conscripted right into the UNSC, William Michael Lovell volunteered his services. He was granted immediate admission to the Luna OCS Academy due to his high grades, but only finished his second year before he moved on to graduate. He received his commission so early for heroism in a training flight where he saved the entire crew. He took duty on the first outbound corvette headed into battle. Three Bronze Stars, A silver Cluster, and two Purple Hearts were awarded to him. He was catapulted all the way up to Lieutenant, senior grade in just three years. He served aboard the UNSC Gorgon for four years. However his decline was just as rapid as his ascent. four reports on insubordination. two transfers, and an "incident" with a civilian woman, Anna Gerov, daughter of Vice Admiral Gerov.

He was finally reassigned aboard the UNSC Archimedes Remote Scanning Outpost on the fringes of the Sigma Octanus star system. He was there for a year, which is an unheard of length of time for such a remote faciliy.

In his own words, Lovell had simply broken from the pressure. He had seen too many people murdered and too much death. He wanted to live, just like everyone else. He chose to stay in the outpost because it was safe.

He encountered the silhouette of the Covenant battle cruisers that attacked the system in 2552. Although he did not identify the threat immediately, his report about the silhouette did alert the UNSC to the Covenant's presence and thus turned the tide of what would have been a massacre. For that, he became navigations officer aboard the Iroquois during the final fight during The Battle of Sigma Octanus IV.

After the battle at Sigma Octanus IV, he was reassigned by Captain Keyes to the UNSC Iroquois as navigator. He piloted the Iroquois during the final engagement of The Battle of Sigma Octanus IV. He was then transferred to the Pillar of Autumn along with Keyes and the rest of the command crew.

He then manned his post during The Battle of Reach. He, along with Cortana were sucessful in making the ship escape the system intact, however this lead them only to another fight at Installation 04. After the hopeless battle, he piloted the bumblebee lifepod that contained the command crew, including Captain Keyes, as well as the spy Isna 'Nosolee. He landed the bumblebee on the surface but they were soon spotted by the Covenant patrols.

After crash landing on Installation 04 he and the bridge crew along with their three Marine escorts were tracked down by the Covenant, who had the aid of the traitor Ensign Ellen Dowski, and executed. As a last desperate attempt, Lovell dived for a pistol but was shot in the face by an Elite with a Plasma Pistol. It is said in the book Halo: The Fall of Reach that Lovell's CSV is twice as long as Captain Keyes' CSV.