SPARTAN-A048

Fred-A048 was a member of the Special Proficiency, Assault, Reconnaissance, Tactical Augmented Nonconventional-force, Fourth Generation (SPARTAN-IV) Program, part of Albion Company, commanded by SPARTAN-II Class I survivor Laszlo-108. He was also second-in command and close quarters combat expert of Fireteam Bravo.
Born on board a UNSC patrol vessel and raised by the marine and navy personnel stationed there, Fred (then Frederic Hansen) early became familiar with UNSC weapons, vehicles and military terms. However, lack of any loving parents made him believe that no one could or would love him, making him sad as a child.
In 2600, he was abducted from his orbital home and replaced with a flash-clone along with the other 487 children that made up "Group 1" of the SPARTAN-IV Program's recruitment pool and taken to Arcturus for his training to become a SPARTAN-IV.
==Appearance==
Fred is quite short by SPARTAN standards, although broad-shouldered and muscular, which makes him seem larger than he really is. He has short-cut auburn-colored hair and rust-colored eyes (the latter inherited from his mother, Laura Hansen), although he otherwise resembles his father, the marine Sergeant Ryan Hansen, moreA reference to Harry Potter, who has his father's appearance but his mother's eyes.
==Mental Report==
At first, Fred was an unhappy child, who thought, through his own experience, that there was no such thing as true love or friendship, and that whoever thought so was a fool. Thus, he was cold to his fellow SPARTANs during the initial part of the training, despite the fact that many tried to befriend him. He also tried to convince the others that he was right in what he believed, actually convincing some of them.
Noticing Fred's problems and correctly discerning what had caused them, Albion CO Laszlo-108 met with the child soldier and taught him about love, friendship and how important bonds were. Finishing with saying that since Fred had had no one that cared about him, he told Fred that he could be that person. That sentence alone reached Fred and convinced him that he had been wrong before. Ever since, he became very close to his CO and started to attempt to make bonds with the rest of the Albion Company recruits. Eventually, his personality became almost a replica of his Laszlo's, turning him into a wisecracking, positive and overly friendly individual, and similarly made the other SPARTANs uneasy around him, although he made a few close friends among the recruits.
However, his hobbies are a bit different from that of Laszlo; for example, unlike Laszlo (who was seen as lazy by some in combat situations), he early took a liking to combat drills and training, and would spend most of his free time practicing or challenge others to drills. He also enjoyed studying historyA reference to myself, who (no matter how un-cool it is) like history, especially that of Ancient Greece and the 21st Century. He also enjoys inspecting, studying or maintaining weapons, therefore often found polishing his weapons, which includes a shotgun that he always carry with him and passionately calls "Sarah", and a combat knife he calls "Kate".
It can also be noted that he has a tendency of disobeying the team leader, Jack, on their missions to go on side missions. This has put him on edge with both Jack and Colonel Teufal, who sees this as an 'undesirable trait' that makes him hard to control, although Laszlo usually just ignores or even encourages this, calling it signs of 'exceptional bravery'. In addition, Fred is romantically involved with the team's heavy weapons expert, Maria-A097.
==Preferred Weapons==
*M90D Close Assault Weapon System: The M90D is the newest iteration of the M90-series shotguns, including new upgrades to keep up with the new era. The weapon is also Fred's favorite. In fact, he has so far only used one specific shotgun of this type, one he passionately calls "Sarah". The gun has helped him on many occasions, something he seems to be very proud of. He is also commonly seen polishing the weapon extra carefully to make sure it remains in shape.
*M7A Sub Machine Gun: Continuing the Human-Covenant War era's Sub-Machine gun legacy, the M7A has an increased rate of fire and reduced recoil, partly thanks to being made of new, stronger materials. The weapon is Fred's second weapon of choice, carried alongside "Sarah" on his missions, although he isn't as attached to the SMG as the shotgun. He usually upgrades it with a silencer, laser sight and reflex sight for the missions that require stealth.
*M13 Machete: Although designed for cutting through thick vegetation, the M13 Machete does just as well in cutting through body armor and organic tissue. Fred early took a liking to the weapon and named the one he received "Kate". He will use it whenever he runs out of ammo in his other weapons or in a terrain where his other weapons are impractical to use.
==Strengths==
Fred is highly skilled in close quarters combat and weapons related to such, including shotguns, sub-machine guns and melee weapons. He has continually honed these skills in his favorite combat drills or individual training, settling for nothing less than mastery of the area. The years upon years of intense practice has rightfully made him very skilled in all variants of close quarters combat, possibly the best in the whole of Albion Company. As previously mentioned, his attachment to CQC and their related weapons caused him to name his favorite shotgun and machete, something that his fellow recruits sees as weird.
Because of his skill in CQC, his lack of skill in long-range combat and the general stealth-orientation of Albion Company as a whole, Fred has become an excellent infiltrator, easily capable of moving stealthily up close to his enemies where he can use his close quarters weapons to take them out (unlike Laszlo, who could use his infiltration skills to get into position to snipe down his targets from a distance). He is also very clever and knowledgeable in tactics, which gives him good analytical abilities. This in turn lets him read the situation around him and come up with the best possible course of action. He is able to deceive the enemy in various ways so that he can come up close and kill them if required, or lure them into traps or ambushes.
In addition, it can be noted that he is very strong, to some regarded as near Sam-034's level. However, despite being thick and weighing quite a lot (thanks to his muscles), he is capable of remaining stealthy and quiet, a fact he often seems to be proud of.
==Weaknesses==
While excelling in close quarters combat, his long-range combat skill is exactly the opposite; his skills in such combat and their related weapons are below average SPARTAN standards, considered to be among the lowest in the whole company, possibly even in the whole SPARTAN-IV regiment. Although he is naturally not skilled in the niche, it is likely that his low scores are partially because he simply doesn't like it, preferring to "feel the enemy's breath in the face" as he refers to it. His lack of ability in the long-range niche has also made his stealth-related skills less useful, as he needs to get up close to the enemy rather than take it down at long range, although this is countered if he is together with his teammates.
While his analytical abilities are impressive, he is unable to put these abilities into a team-leading use, which otherwise would have made him a good leader. Although he can think up all sorts of "miraculous solutions" he has a problem to explain it to others so they understand, since they are often complex, risky and overall hard to carry out. As such, his analytical abilities are mostly just suitable for himself, which led to Jack-A151 taking command of Fireteam Delta, although he can at times give good input on a difficult situation where he has the time to properly explain what he means.
Although strong and able to move stealthily, he is quite slow compared to his teammates, and often has to put more effort into running fast than others. This has earned him the occasional nickname "slug" by the other SPARTANs, mostly said whenever they have to rush for their targets and such.
==History==
===AUR-Covenant Remnant War===
====Operation: DEVIANT====
With their training and augmentations regimes behind them, the SPARTAN-IVs prepared for their first taste of combat, their baptism by fire. While no true such opportunity appeared, it was decided that the 117th would be tested in Operation: DEVIANT, to prove that they were ready for deployment.
A clan of the brutal, savage and ruthless Kig-Yar Pirates successfully constructed a string of bases in the Jaguar Expanse, a region of several star systems that were filled with massive asteroid fields but only a handful of planets, of which only one was inhabitable. With their bases operational, the pirates were capable of handling a large smuggling, slavery and piracy trade, which aided their own as well as the Covenant Remnant's efforts to withstand the Alliance of United Races.
To deal this important blow to the pirates and, indirectly, the Remnant, Operation: DEVIANT was conceived by the UNSC, and to kill two birds with one stone, the SPARTAN-IVs were drafted into the operation, going in first through hiding on Kig-Yar freighters, gradually infiltrating their bases.
Fred and the rest of Fireteam Delta hid on a freighter that took them to the asteroid Yuk, where the Kig-Yar secretly maintained a captured hive of Yanme'e with an indoctrinated queen to sell to the Remnant, who desired it for their own war machine. However, as the team's designated targets were the asteroid's armory and slave camp, Jack-A151 ordered the team to let the hive be and focus on the mission, in his typical by the book attitude.
However, at the first best moment, Fred left the others to deal with the hive, despite Jack's repeated orders to have him return. As he descended into the asteroid's catacombs, he quickly encountered numerous Yanme'e workers who, blinded by the words of their indoctrinated queen, tried to defend the hive by attacking the intruder. Fred made short work of these obstacles, however, and continued through the hive to find a means to destroy it.
After a while of additional engagements with workers and some soldiers, he found the solution; a network of strategically placed explosives throughout the hive, put there by the Kig-Yar in case the Yanme'e got out of control. After reaching the control panel that would activate the explosives and then killing the present Kig-Yar guards, he activated the charges, although he realized too late that this would cause a cave-in and trap him unless he got out fast. Rushing through the tunnels and being constantly attacked by surviving drones and Kig-yar, he ultimately got up to the surface a few milliseconds before the charges went off. The subsequent explosions effectively killed the hive and the brainwashed queen, preventing something that could have reinforced the Remnant in the future.
He then regrouped with his angered and worried teammates, who had already carried out their objectives and found a defendable location until transports to extract the slaves arrived. After a while of ranting from Jack, the complete Fireteam then returned to reality with the arrival of pirate reinforcements, effectively taking it down and keeping the slaves safe. A short while later, multiple Pelican dropships arrived, carrying the slaves onto designated ships, which would go back to their respective homeworlds and drop them off.
Along with the rest of Albion and the SPARTAN-IV Regiment, Fireteam Delta then landed on the single inhabited planet to deal the final blow to the pirate clan. Together with the rest of Albion, Fred raided a Kig-Yar communications dish, easily capturing it and, as a result, learning about the Pirates' defense measures. This information was transmitted to the other companies, giving them a considerable advantage.
Moving on from the communications dish, Albion then disabled two Anti-Air guns on their way to their final objective; a data cache keeping track of the Pirates' operations, trade and their clients. The guards at this installation were no more successful in stopping the two hundred SPARTANs than the ones at the COM dish had been, and were taken down with little effort from the SPARTANs. After a while of cracking firewalls in the cache's system, Albion's specialist tech team successfully extracted the data they were looking for and sent it to the ships in orbit, who would in turn hand it over to ONI for study.
Meanwhile, the other SPARTAN companies had carried out their objectives successfully, causing the few remaining pirates to flee the system. With this, Operation: DEVIANT became a great success, and the SPARTANs proved that they were ready for deployment. And after a while, an opportunity for a true baptism by fire appeared.
====Operation: WARDOG====
In October, 2611, the Covenant Remnant, having recovered slightly from their defeats at Kanna and Vespera, managed to launch a raid on Hannibal III, taking control of the entire colony and turning its inhabitants into slave workers to support their strained war machine. While the UNSC Navy gathered resources for an invasion of the planet, the UNSC Special Operations Command issued the SPARTANs with Operation: WARDOG; to wage a guerilla war on the Jiralhanae occupiers and make the UNSC's coming invasion and liberation easier.
After landing onto the surface, blending into the terrain and establishing a base, Fred and the rest of Albion Company could relax for a while before the next day's scheduled raid on a Remnant communications station. Most of the Albion SPARTANs, including Fred, used this spare time to relax and socialize, playing cards and such. Late in the evening, he and Maria took a walk in the forest. They stopped at a big rock, where they lied down and watched the sky. A while into this romantic moment, and after a discussion about by-the-book military figures, the two shared a kiss. After this, the two decided to return to the camp to rest before the next day's mission.
The next morning, all the 200 SPARTANs of Albion Company prepared for the raid on the designated Covenant communications outpost. Control of the outpost would let the SPARTANs upload a virus into the Covenant Battle Net, giving them control over Covenant communications across the planet. Fred along with Epsilon and Zeta Platoons and the command staff made up Force 1, tasked with the frontal assault on the outpost. The assault went well and the outpost was easily captured. In addition, they found the human Ulric Domes inside the outpost, taking him back to camp and requesting a pickup from the ONI ships in orbit.
However, the last thing the human civilian wanted was to leave. Instead, he wanted to search the Covenant slave camps for signs of his girlfriend, Emily Davidson, whom he was separated from during the Covenant occupation, something that the SPARTANs were, of course unable to let him do, as they were under orders to keep him safe until he could extracted, and the SPARTANs couldn't carry out the task either, as they were under orders to stay hidden for the rest of the week.
Enraged at how the SPARTANs treated and denied him, Ulric tried to escape the camp the next night. However, the SPARTANs noticed this and sent Fred to alert Laszlo about it. Laszlo ultimately decided to let Ulric leave, though telling Fred to tag along with him, to make sure he survived. After a bit of persuasion, Ulric agreed to have Fred follow him, the latter then giving the former a spare M7 Body Armour and an MA6A assault rifle to protect him in the potentially dangerous task.
After moving through the cold forests for some time, the pair found one of the slave camps. Together, the two managed to defeat the twelve guards Jiralhanae guards and free the imprisoned slaves. Although Emily wasn't among these slaves, one of them told Ulric that she and some others had been shipped off-world to the Remnant's inner territories. Ulric got very depressed over the news, although Fred managed to cheer him up by encouraging him not to give up, and to keep looking for her. At this point, Ulric told the SPARTAN that he would join the UNSC Special Forces – the best way to find Emily would be to join the ones most likely to strike at the heart of the Remnant in the future. The two and the slaves then returned to camp, where they befriended one another until Ulric and the other escapees were evacuated a few days later.
====Operation: REAPER====
====Operation: HELLFIRE====
===Necros War===
====Third Battle of Linna====
==Related Pages==
*Laszlo-108
*Fireteam Bravo (Argonaut Squadron)
*Albion Company
==References==
Category:Matt-256/UNSC Personnel
Category:Alpha Company
Category:SPARTAN-IIIs