Garth-056

Garth-056 is a Spartan-II supersoldier serving in the United Nations Space Command.
An expert with explosives, Garth has an innate capacity for chemistry, physics and engineering. Garth is a socially distant and often callous person who outwardly shows little concern for events that happen outside the sphere of his duties and Spartan brethren. Inwardly, however, Garth cares deeply for his fellow Spartans and will go to great lengths to ensure their safety.
== History ==
=== Early Life ===
Garth-056 was born Garth Rutherford on the colony world of Fumirole on April 18, 2511. His mother Alessandra Rutherford, a pilot, died in an aircraft explosion when Garth was only two years old, leaving his father Nathan Rutherford to raise Garth alone. Garth's father was a pharmaceutical chemist who tried to kindle an academic and scientific interest in his son from a young age. As early as five years old, Garth was already fully literate and reading well above his age group. 
Garth was identified as a candidate for the SPARTAN-II Program because of his genetic makeup, labeled with the number 056. In 2517, Garth was kidnapped alongside other SPARTAN-II candidates and replaced with a flash clone. Garth's flash clone quickly fell ill, contracting an autoimmune disease and given a life expectancy of only 3 months. Having still not recovered from the loss of his wife, Garth's father, Nathan worked effortlessly to find a way to extend his son's lifespan. In doing so, Nathan noticed irregularities in his son's physiology. Blood tests he took showed signs of drugs and medications he was never given and inexplicable genetic degradation. Even with his tireless efforts, Nathan was neither skilled nor well-equipped enough to save his son, and Garth's flash clone died. Overwhelmed with grief, Nathan spiraled into depression and mental instability. Convinced that his son was the subject of government testing and with the belief that he had nothing left to lose, Nathan set off a bomb in a nearby government office and fled the planet. 
=== Spartan Training ===
At the start of his training, Garth deeply missed his father and was extremely homesick, even more so than the other trainees. He rarely acted independently and did what he was told, even when he disagreed with it because he was too afraid to speak up. Antisocial and distant, Garth often fell behind in training activities. Despite this, whenever he was ahead, he would not hesitate to help those behind him. Nevertheless, Garth managed through the grueling training procedure, if not simply because he was too shy to give up. Where Garth truly succeeded was in his academics. Consistently scoring near the top of the class, Garth's confidence was much greater in academic situations and he supported his classmates whenever possible. 
In 2525, at the age of 14, Garth was surgically and genetically augmented alongside the other SPARTAN-II Trainees. Mere minutes after the augmentation procedures were completed, Garth began convulsing and his heart stopped beating. Doctors were able to resuscitate him and after a week of observation, he was cleared to begin service. He was assigned to Orange Team alongside Shane-148.