Waimarie Paiwei

Waimarie "Lucky" Paiwei was an Earth-born , , and operative who served during the and the simultaneous . Paiwei would serve in multiple major and minor conflicts throughout the war as Marine Recon and as an ODST. This included such theaters like the and Operation: RAUCOUS SOLITUDE, where she had a defining role. Paiwei would best be known, though, in her later career as the ranking Non-Commissioned Officer of Diamond Team, and it's subsequent role in the Battle of Mendel. Paiwei would be embedded as the second half of Diamond Team, leading a squad of ONI operatives to compliment the first half made by Spartans Lieutenant Annalee-B220 and Chief Warrant Officer Drew-B191. 
Paiwei came from a family of service members. Her father, and all five of her siblings, served for a military branch of the UNSC. In her juvenile and teen years, her physical training for military service culminated in becoming a competent Ice Hockey player at a semi-professional level. At age 16, she was as an Alternate Captain for the New Zealand "Ice Fernz" during their 2531 PIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship run. Paiwei would famously turn down offers from multiple teams in the Sol system in favor of serving in the armed forces. The UNSC utilized her story as until her entry into service. 
== Biography ==
=== Early Life and Family ===
Paiwei was born in on August 3rd, 2514. As a citizen of the UEG, her home nation-state was the Commonwealth of Australia. She was the fifth child born to Nikau Paiwei and Marcella Black Paiwei, and preceded one younger brother. The Paiwei Family were a majority , and the family had long sought to honor those traditions. The most common of these many standing traditions was to serve in the armed forces or become a public servant. To the Paiweis this was a continuation of their ancient Māori warrior traditions that their ancestors had carried out for over a thousand of years. Waimarie Paiwei would anecdotally mention from time to time that her and Māori ancestors had "fought in every conflict placed before them since the dawn of man", which tends to be confirmed by her recorded family history extending back into the 19th century.
==== Childhood ====
Waimarie's pre-teen years was marked by the reaching the height of its hostilities. Her father had retired from the armed service by this time, but even before her primary schooling was complete all three of her older enlisted siblings had seen direct combat of some kind. Her brothers, Luke and Tama, had served together on Reach, and her sister Marcella (nickname "Marcy") was a embedded with UNSC Marines in several theaters of combat. 
The reality of the conflict first became a reality for Waimarie in 2522, at that age of 8. Her brother, Luke, was nearly killed in a truck bombing which targeted his barracks while he was deployed on Reach. His injuries were very serious and included the loss of both his legs, his eyes, and a fair amount of brain damage which would result in regressive function over the course of his life. Close to one hundred Marines were killed in the bombing and Luke was one of roughly a dozen "lucky ones" who survived as they slept opposite the explosion. He would be and sent home after a year in a military hospital. Once he was home, the spark of a deeper sibling relationship was ignited in both his and Waimarie's lives.
The years after Luke's discharge were decidedly hectic times for Waimarie's family, but formative for her and her brother Niko. Both, who would become career service members like their older sister Marcy, were able to prepare in ways that couldn't have imagined before Luke returned home to recover from his injuries. Both would take active roles in helping their parents care for Luke while he rehabilitated, and this offered them time to spend at length with the wounded warrior. Waimarie and Luke became much closer as, being younger, she had more time to spend with him than the teenage Niko. The two bonded reading books in particular. While Luke waited for ocular implants, the two worked together to learn braille. The two often read books aloud with each other, which is where Waimarie had first discovered a love of books. She particularly became fond of Narrative History and Fantasy and often wrote for fun on the side. It was during one of their book readings, on Luke's request, they first read her ancestor Joseph Paiwei's book: Te Hokowhitu Toa, which was a memoir about the first World War. 
Not long after Luke stabilized, her brother Tama would end his time in the military to return to Earth. Not long after this he planned to marry his long time fiancée, passing on serving any longer in favor of a Teaching career. Tama did not help the family much during this period, and gained a bit of ire from Waimarie and Niko for this. The following year her brother, Niko, would officially begin his career in the Marines, and in 2524 Marcy would begin a stint as a before she made a career move to become part of the UNSC Navy Medical Corps stationed in . Marcy shortly thereafter married her longtime boyfriend, James Todd, taking his name. Waimarie would recall the wedding being the last time their family was together in it's entirety. 
Not a year after Niko began his active duty, the attacked and the Human-Covenant War began. 
==== Teen Years ====
During her teens, Waimarie trained her body actively, assuming she would join the war against the Covenant as soon as she could. Among other extracurricular athletic activities, she joined a Jr. ROTC program. When she made it known her decision to serve, her father and brothers enthusiastically helped tutor her on military expectations and they all worked to preemptively instill an spirit of service in her thinking. The seriousness she brought to her desire to serve would lead to her eventual promotion to Cadet Captain before her schooling was complete.
Paiwei was a skilled basketball player and, at age 15 was already 1.83 m (6' imperial). Even though her dominance was obvious, she instead adopted the sport of Ice Hockey due to it's physicality and speed. She would ultimately play for the New Zealand women's juniors team, the Ice Fernz, as a defenseman. She wore the number "93" in honor of the fallen Marines that had served with her brother Luke, as well as in honor of the Women's Suffrage movement in New Zealand which passed sweeping voting rights in 1893, a nod to her encyclopedic nature when it came to History. 
While playing for the Ice Fernz in the 2531 , she would be awarded an by her coach, and help lead the team to a Gold Medal. Post-Tournament, she would famously turn down offers from several professional teams in favor of serving in the armed forces. She cited her reasoning as a desire to not choose sport over service, and thus she was popularly portrayed in local media as "Christchurch's Lady Captain", much to her chagrin as she didn't desire the attention. The UNSC, however, utilized her story as in Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania until her entry into service. It is assumed that this is the first time Paiwei was under an ONI microscope in any regard. 
During this media blitz, she also became somewhat self-aware of her over-achieving drive and worried she might alienate herself from other service members. She stopped speaking with the media and began to ready herself for enlistment, mentally. She, eventually, dropped out of the public eye and she became less worried about her image as a driven individual. 
=== Early Military Career ===
As she reached the age of enlistment, Waimarie's brother Niko had already been an ODST for a few years. She and Niko had always been particularly close, and though she hadn't intended to become an ODST like him, she had wanted to eventually follow his lead and enter an officers candidate program. Due both to Niko and Marcy's recommendation, Waimarie would enlist in the Marines in 2531. Her intention, while in the Corps, much like her brother's, was to be a career soldier. Soon after her 17th birthday, she had enlisted in the Marines and was shipped to the UNSC in San Diego. 
After Basic Training and subsequent Basic Recon Course, Waimarie would be assigned to a Marine Recon unit. Her original intentions out of BRC were to serve a few years as an before heading to a Marine . However, it was becoming obvious to her—and many of her fellow Marines—that the Human-Covenant War had already turned for the worst. There was a general recognition around this time that Humanity was battling for it's own survival. Waimarie felt taking time away from active duty for an OCS stint wouldn't stop the inevitable, so she resolved to remain an NCO throughout the conflict. This would remain true throughout the War.
Waimarie was first deployed on Tribute in 2532 for a six month deployment to help cull a small Insurrectionist uprising. It was during this deployment where she first garnered the nicknamed "Lucky" from fellow Marine Walter Ellis, who often mispronounced her name. It was also during this deployment where she would first see combat, and kill another individual. 
Tragically, not long after her first deployment began, her brother Niko was during combat at the and Waimarie would take leave to return home before her deployment was over. 
Waimarie arrived back at Earth in mid February of 2532. The UNSC, utilizing Waimarie's past use as a poster child, arranged for all active duty Paiwei siblings to return home for Niko's funeral, and had Waimarie accompany his remains home to Christchurch from Reach. Tragically, all that truly remained of Niko had been his helmet, and would be the only remains the family could bury.
The evening after the funeral, Waimarie fought with her older sister Marcy after Waimarie had slapped her younger brother, Jericho, after he announced to the family he wanted to join the Marines to avenge Niko—a move which sent their mother into a depressive stupor. After their fight escalated to throwing fists, Tama and her father broke the sisters up forcibly. When they were broken up, Waimarie stormed off alone into the night. She spent the rest of her evening drinking herself into a destructive fit across Christchurch. After being tossed from a bar for drunkenness, she stumbled to the where she broke down. She vowed then to live only to fight the Covenant until either they lost, or she died. Due to this vow, she wouldn't return home again for nine years.
==== Initiation into ODST's ====
After returning to her Recon squad, she entered into a somewhat destructive phase which included a relationship with Walter Ellis. Ellis enabled Waimarie's recklessness and, generally, saw her more as a means to an end. When Ellis insulted her brother's legacy, she realized her mistakes. She promptly cut off Ellis and reevaluated her situation. 
After soul searching, Waimarie decided to disregard her career path and instead acted on her vow to mete out the most severe revenge on the Covenant that she could. With the intention of honoring her brother's sacrifice, Paiwei chose to apply for ODST training a year after his death. Her short tenure as a UNSC Marine Recon member gained her entry into the initial training, but it did not ensure that she would survive the intensity of the ODST drills. 
She would receive plenty of scrutiny and ire from both drill instructors and initiates due to her perceived inexperience, but those doubts would constantly be proven wrong by Waimarie's skills and tenacity. By the end of the training, she not only continued using the nickname "Lucky" as a reminder of where she had been, but she earned it by continually beating the odds more than once. She was neither the strongest, fastest, or most skilled, but she was a good combination of all these traits and a natural leader. After she graduated from ODST training in 2533 with honors, Paiwei was assigned to the and began combat drops not long after.
=== ODST Career ===
==== ====
In her first major-scale battle as an ODST, Waimarie, now a Corporal, would deploy to in early 2535 as part of combat team Charlie-Two. Charlie-One and Charlie-Two would launch a counter attack against Covenant ground forces trying to take a strategic position from embattled Marines on the planet. After their landing, Paiwei received a to Sergeant by ODST Captain Tolu Azi. The ODST's would beat back the attack and restructure Marine lines with the help of some unexpected reinforcements. Ultimately though, she and the rest of the UNSC would be forced to retreat as the planet was glassed. 
It was in the course of this operation when she would meet Spartans for the first time, and would become well acquainted with Kenneth-139. Kenneth and Waimarie became fast friends and, before they parted, they agreed to stay in touch—however improbable that seemed. The two had developed an odd relationship that neither really ever seemed to mention to the other, culminating in the two meeting at strange intervals, but only by chance. The two recognized as long as a war was on, neither could commit to the other, and that in their particular line of duty both were quite likely to die. As such, each shared a distant admiration they seldom acknowledged.
After the , Paiwei reflectively felt as though she lost her way. Having been confronted with grave reality, she had come to realize she had been self destructive after Niko's death. During a shore-leave on Reach, she sought out her sister Marcy to try and make amends over their fight the night of Niko's funeral. Marcy, now a Navy Surgeon, had spoken little with Waimarie since their confrontation. Since they had fought, their relationship had been strained. However, neither had held a large grudge against the other and both were generally apologetic. When Waimarie asked Marcy to give her her (a traditional Māori woman's chin tattoo), the two quickly reconciled, and Marcy obliged. Marcy would make Waimarie's Moko somewhat inverse her own as a symbol of their sisterhood and reconciliation.
In the following decade Paiwei would fight in dozens of battles, deployments, and operations without any notable personal conflict. Over the course of this period she would be moved to the 17th Shock Troops Division—the "Iron Boots"— and promoted to the rank of First Sergeant. During her time with the 17th, she would help lead the Platoon with several different officers. She became adept at larger platoon sized movements, but also perfected squad sized tactics. Though she was only in her mid-twenties and early thirties during her time in the 17th, her time spent in the ODST's made her a Division legend for having served so long when the risk was so immensely high—again, her nickname fueling the fire of her subordinates. 
During this time, the war with the Covenant would become increasingly dire and she never traveled far were she needed to deploy quickly. She would only return home one other time for her brother Luke's funeral in 2541. Luke had passed from complications sustained from his injuries in the line of duty. Waimarie's mother would become non-verbal around this time due extremely detrimental exacerbated by chronic depression. Waimarie wouldn't see her mother alive again after this time.
==== Operation: RAUCOUS SOLITUDE ====
In late April of 2545, Paiwei and her combat team in the 17th were flagged by per directions from Darren Cohen. They had been slated to be utilized as an on-board security detail and support team in an upcoming SpecOps mission within Covenant controlled space. Paiwei was initially reluctant to be designated to run ship security, but when she was told that the mission would be carried out by Spartans she changed her tone. Eager to work with Spartans again up close, and willing to help hit the Covenant hard, Paiwei agreed— mostly, hoping for the chance she would work with her friend Kenneth-139 again. She and her combat team reported to the UNSC Prowler Boudica in early May, 2545 and the ship was en route to Biller Pavonis 4A shortly after.
When the Operation began on June 12th, it was very clear from the Boudica's OpCenter that the Spartans had received massive resistance almost immediately on touchdown—their cover blown inexplicably. By the following day, Captain Mattias Jones had pulled the Boudica back, fearing that the Covenant had expected the Spartan forces and would search the area for a ship. By June 17th, Paiwei had been briefed by multiple deck officers, including then Commander Marco Dorota, that they believed the Captain was acting out of line, if not entirely detached from reality. Dorota came to Paiwei again on the 19th to ask for her assistance in relieving the Captain of duty if need be. Paiwei was initially hesitant, but had grown frustrated with the Captain throughout the week. On the 20th, Paiwei assisted the officers in relieving the Captain, and readied for a make-shift rescue of the Spartan survivors.
On the 20th, Paiwei and her combat team landed the Boudica's life-boat craft atop a structure to clear a landing zone for the Spartan extraction. Paiwei lead a fireteam through the structure and successfully rendezvoused with three Spartan survivors. After a heated battle in which her entire fireteam, as well as Spartan Spencer-B337 were KIA, Paiwei helped extract Spartans Annalee and Drew to the Boudica.
=== Diamond Team ===
==== Operation: SWEEP ====
==== The Centroid ====
== Relations ==
== Service Summary ==
=== Major Assignments ===
* Basic Training — September, 2531 to August, 2532
* Basic Recon Course — August, 2532 to December, 2532
* 7th Reconnaissance Battalion, 7th Marine Division — December, 2532 to June, 2533
* ODST Basic Selection — July, 2534 to September, 2534
* 103rd Shock Troops Battalion, 65th Shock Troops Division — January, 2535 to May, 2539
* 103rd Shock Troops Battalion, 17th Shock Troops Division — May, 2539 to October, 2545
* Diamond Team, — January 9th, 2546 
=== Dates of Rank ===
Insignia	Rank 	Date 	Circumstance
 	Private (E-1) 	September 1, 2531	Conscription
 	Private First Class (E-2)	August 31, 2532 	Promotion
 	Lance Corporal (E-3) 	December 16, 2532	Promotion
 	Corporal (E-4) 	May 12, 2534 	Promotion
 	Sergeant (E-5) 	February 9, 2535 	Field Promotion
 	Staff Sergeant (E-6) 	June, 2537 	Promotion
 	Gunnery Sergeant (E-7) 	September, 2540 	Promotion
 	First Sergeant (E-8) 	February, 2544 	Promotion
== Appearances: ==
=== In Circulation ===
*Centroid
*Index Alpha
**Tough Love
**The Blocks
=== To Be Distributed ===
*Parallel Encounters
Category:ODST
Category:UNSC Marine Corps Personnel