Eirikur Quinn

Eirikur Quinn, nicknamed Erik by his squadmates, was a marine and Orbital Drop Shock Trooper conscripted by the UNSC for service from his native Iceland in 2550. Though initially disliking his obligation to serve, he quickly found the life of a soldier to be less complicated and reenlisted after his tour was up.
==Life==
===Early Life and Enlistment===
Born in the trade center of Reykjavik, Eirikur attended public school and went on through college leaning towards a career as an accountant. He secured a job with the military doling out the enlistee payroll. Erik became concerned when the UEG began implementing drafts in North America and Europe in 2549, and a year later, when drafts came to Iceland, he got into the records beforehand and saw his name in the lists. Rather than go later without preparation, he signed onto the Marines to take advantage of enlistment bonuses.
Despite a suppressed anger for not having a choice in his service, Erik worked hard and fought harder. He learned that the ODSTs were taking high-scoring basic training graduates due to the troop shortage, and when he was offered the chance to attend Drop School, he accepted because of their higher pay rate. In 2551, Erik was shipped to fight with a Shock Trooper unit. In his first battle against the Covenant, Erik couldn’t cope with the stress and ran for his life. As he was cursing at himself for being a coward, he nearly ran headlong into a Grunt Lance. Backed against a wall, Erik survived and slew his opponents, then turned back and rejoined the fight.
===Reach===
Transferred to the 22nd Single-Human Vertical Assault Team, known as the , after most of his unit was killed, Erik trained in the use of a jetpack for unconventional warfare operations. They proved useful when the planet was attacked. His unit refused to abandon New Alexandria against the orders of Navy FLEETCOM, and Erik took part in a last-ditch evacuation under the leadership of Pete Stacker that would save thousands of lives. Ordered to help capture a landing pad, his squad hooked up with a Spartan-III supersoldier and faced off against Brute occupation forces for the pad. The Spartan saved Erik’s life when he misjudged a jump and nearly plummeted to his death.
When they finally had to desert the planet, Quinn was taken by Pelican to a Navy vessel still in-system, the UNSC Eternal Peacekeeper. Instead of heading back to Earth, the ship gave chase to the Covenant fleet that jumped to Hope, and once again was with an unfamiliar unit during the battle.
===Battle of Hope===
====Landing====
Minutes after exiting slipspace, the Peacekeeper came under attack by the Covenant. As Quinn came out of cryostasis, the ship maneuvered into the atmosphere to try to gain the advantage and evacuate all non-essential personnel. Quinn was rushed to a drop bay and deployed alongside a squad of ODSTs. Only moments after his pod left the Peacekeeper, the ship was destroyed by a Covenant supercarrier, the Valiant Seraphim, orbiting above it. Angling away to avoid the cruiser's debris, Quinn landed in an emptied section of Port Neandra alone. Seconds after he landed, a lone Sangheili swordsman came upon his pod and jumped onto it, intending to kill the trooper before he left his pod. Erik's hand accidentally triggered the door's explosive bolts, and the force of the pod door blasting off killed the alien, saving his life.
Wandering the streets for some time, he came upon Shouji Komoro, an ex-marine convict that had stolen the suit of another Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Identifying himself as Staff Sergeant 'Shouji' Sherman, the pair then proceeded to the city park and met up with First Sergeant Dennis Moore's unit, preparing to cross hostile territory to evacuate a leading researcher on the , Dr. Robert Hallmay. Joining their convoy, composed of three Warthogs and a Scorpion tank dubbed "Ye Olde Angry Bitch", Quinn gunned for one of the jeeps as they dashed across the city. Reaching the target building, they made short work of the Kig-Yar and a Wraith tank attempting to enter, and evacuated Hallmay. Despite the success, the unit was immediately given another objective.
====Raid on the Super-Spire====
A plan was concocted to utilize the Warthog's powerful suspension system for a makeshift insertion vehicle, dropped inside the shield dome of the Covenant Super-Spire bringing troops down from the Seraphim overhead. While barely sane, the tactic did succeed in allowing the teams to bypass the standing armies that had been brought to ground already, and get them inside the spire quickly. After fighting off any immediate foes, they were found by Riley-B311. After a brief sitrep, Shouji suggested instead of using the bomb they had to destroy the spire, they could use the teleportation grid from the spire to enter the Seraphim's belly and deploy the bomb there. Fighting through a mass of Covenant foot soldiers, the group was successful in infiltrating the supercarrier, and prepared the bomb. But upon their swift discovery, the Shipmaster ordered infantry to the marshalling bay they were in. The group escaped by hijacking three Phantom dropships, Quinn narrowly escaping after grabbing a heavy machine gun to cover the others. Just before a Hunter smashed him, Riley's Phantom fired on it and picked up Quinn and a wounded soldier he'd tried to carry with the lift beam.
While most of the soldiers watched the Seraphim break in half behind them, a stowaway Darc 'Varmen attempted to kill the SPARTAN, but thanks to the quick action of Shouji and Moore, he failed and was thrown out the Phantom to his death. However, when Shouji was wounded in the fight, he was revealed as not being who he said he was. His weapons were removed, but the matter was saved for later. A distress call was coming in from Hades.
====Skirmish on Hades====
Joining several SPARTANs, Moore, Quinn, and many marines boarded the UNSC Grapes of Wrath, taking advantage of its armory to rearm with an assault rifle and silenced sidearm, and secure a new ICARUS Pack. As the Wrath and the UNSC Siren's Call engaged a lone Covenant corvette that had been attracted by the distress beacon, ground forces were deployed by Pelican dropships to reinforce and recover the stranded. Quinn's vessel was hit by plasma fire, and made a rough landing, skidding to a stop upside-down. Quickly finding Moore, they sighted a Covenant com tower and went to disable it. However, they found most of its guards already dead, and through a radio broadcast got in contact with a few of the missing UNSC fighters cornered nearby. In the fighting that followed, Moore's team went from assisting the trapped to almost being cornered themselves, until the arrival of reinforcements from the Hades force, and a larger battle ensued.
Afterwards, Quinn joined Randy Campbell and Miranda Lopez returning to their base camp, and there was introduced to LTJG Angel Yasunaka, pilot of Bravo 029. After a brief respite, Angel's crew was called on to assist an Albatross dropship under attack by Banshees, and Quinn volunteered to man the aft machine gun. Once in the air, 029's copilot Mikail Gossard shot down two Banshees with rockets, but two more dropped in on their tail. Though their dropship sustained damage, Luc-G056 and Justin DeLucus came to their aid, and then accompanied them up to the UNSC Beowulf in orbit. With some work, Bravo 029 was eased into the Beowulf's hangar for repairs to begin. The pilots were briefly congratulated by Commodore Robert Garcia, and with the pilots catching up, Quinn went to shower and sleep before the ship set course for Hope.
====Return to Hope and Port Neandra Spaceport====
Transferring over to the Tecumsah with Rear Admiral Nikolai Torkamentov and a platoon of Marines, when the ship entered Hope's atmosphere Erik was dropped alone to mark positions of anti-aircraft batteries. As he scoped out the first emplacement, Quinn caught sight of a human convoy travelling with an unidentified SPARTAN, and tried to report on their position, but interference from a Covenant radio jammer prevented him from doing so. Rather than chase after them, Quinn diverted to check on another HEV that had landed nearby, and found Riley regaining consciousness in a new suit of armor. Though he was just realizing the sacrifice his friend Rowan had made, the SPARTAN joined him to observe the convoy and spotted Luc-G056 also tailing them. Together, they followed at a distance, but were quickly being left behind by the vehicles until being picked up by a Pelican flown by Ryder and Matt. Concluding the armed convoy wasn't UNSC or local militia, they guessed it was an Insurrectionist cell, although the convoy's size and presence of a SPARTAN remained unanswered questions which they wanted answered. Taking a direct approach, they landed the dropship directly in the convoy's path.
It immediately became a standoff, with several times their number of armed Insurrectionists facing them down, although the presence of four SPARTANs was enough to make them hold fire. The SPARTAN with them was revealed to be Julie-B224, cut off from her team and not at all pleased with their grand entrance. While she explained her mission to Ryder, Quinn kept a nervous eye on the rebels. After they'd come to an understanding, they joined Julie and the Insurrectionists under General Li Gorka to help them escort a large number of civilians to Port Neandra's spaceport. Quinn rode in one of the Innie trucks along with Turok 'Moramee, a Sangheili turncoat. Oddly, in the presence of the rebels he felt more an ally with the alien.
Upon arrival, Gorka forced Quinn to reconnoiter the field, but surprised the trooper by coming with him, along with two of his rebels. Finding it overrun by Jackals, they split up to reach the traffic control tower, but the two freedom fighters were discovered, killed, and eaten by the vicious aliens. Quinn and Gorka used the distraction to reach the control tower. Through the radio, Quinn reached Bravo 029 and learned a ground force deployed from the Grapes of Wrath and newly-arrived Battlegroup Roadtown was in search of a landing site, and Quinn gave their location. Angered that the trooper was bringing more UNSC forces to him, Gorka swung at Quinn and came after him with a knife. In the skirmish that followed, Gorka almost cornered him, but a Wraith mortar struck the building and threw both of them to the ground. Though Gorka regained his feet first, Quinn had found his sidearm, and held the Insurrectionist at gunpoint.
While a battle began all around the spaceport, Quinn realized they had to work together to coordinate the civilians. Pleading for his help, he was able to convince Gorka to trust him, though the Insurrectionist leader would have to stay behind and surrender himself to the Office of Naval Intelligence. Gorka was able to command his soldiers to get the civilians quickly aboard two cruise starliners while Quinn tried to find them a clear runway, but a Wraith was blocking their path. With everyone else already engaging enemies of their own, it began to look hopeless when Julie reappeared to attack and disable the tank, giving the civilians and their escort a window of escape. With her task completed, Julie departed to find her team while the battle escalated.
====Standish's Distress Call====
As main UNSC and Covenant forces engaged, Gorka was temporarily placed in Marine custody while Matt and Turok rejoined Quinn to fight from the vantage point of the tower. The radio equipment picked up an open distress call from a man named Standish claiming to have wounded and inbound Phantoms, in need of extraction. While most forces had troubles of their own, Bravo 029 offered to transport them. Finding Rear Admiral Torkamentov, he volunteered to come with them. Matt was given a heavy Gauss Rifle, and used it to shoot down the two Phantoms before Bravo 029 moved in, dropping them off on the edge of a farm where the distress call originated, rendezvousing with Riley. Having to move through a field of tall corn, they were ambushed by Skirmishers and had to run, burning the ripe field behind them with incendiary grenades. It made the number of Elite Zealots already inside aware of them, and upon their entrance, Silum 'Kelohee held Colonel Lorrie Stops hostage. To keep the band of humans from throwing themselves into a losing fight, Turok challenged Silum to a duel.
As they fought, Quinn, Torkamentov, and Riley were in a standoff with the Elites. Sure Silum wouldn't let two officers and two demons slip out of his grasp, they beat him to the punch by shooting first with an EMP grenade to disrupt their enemies' shields. Quinn darted in and pulled Colonel Stops back to where the rest had taken cover, then fell back outside to flank the enemy. But once outside, he found Turok wounded after being defeated and thrown through a window. Dragging the Elite to makeshift cover, and akimbo shooting a Skirmisher that had the upper hand on Riley on the way, Quinn patched the Sangheili's wounds as best he could. Turok was half-delirious with pain, and was mumbling about how he had failed, and no longer had honor. Trying to keep him alive, Quinn pointed out Turok's challenge had leveled the odds, and that he was still alive. It renewed the Elite's resolve, and picking up a convenient Plasma Rifle, the two returned to battle.
Through its course, both Riley and Lorrie were dangerously wounded, though the arrival of Standish, who turned out to be a SPARTAN named Henry, helped some. Torkamentov commandeered a tractor to break back into the building, and intent on pulling out Henry's wounded, Quinn joined him. Taking Lower than Few's retinue of Elite Zealots by surprise with another EMP, Torkamentov held a rocket launcher on the unshielded Zealots while Quinn shot two Needle Rifle darts into the malfunctioning Huragok, and threatened to kill 'her' with a third. An explosion interrupted them, and the two humans ran for the entrance to tunnels under the building. Fleeing down them with the Zealots in pursuit, they found the wounded holed up in a cellar and blockaded the door. It wouldn't hold long against an Energy Sword, but after a firefight suddenly began and ended outside, they opened the door to find the Zealots dealt with by Ryder and Insurrectionist Sergeant Juliet Varusisguard.
Taking the wounded with them, they retreated down the tunnel to escape, Quinn taking point. He caught sight of a Grunt disappearing ahead, and gave chase only to realize the tunnel was set with explosives. Warning the others just before they went off, Quinn ran the other way to escape, but was buried by debris. Dug out on the other side of the collapse by Unggoy, he fought his way free and climbed out to the surface. He rejoined the others, but was more injured by the cave-in than he was willing to admit. Torkamentov ordered him aboard Bravo 029 with himself, Henry, Lorrie, and the wounded marines, and returned to the command post at Port Neandra spaceport.
====Reuniting with Moore====
They arrived just in time for Quinn to turn General Gorka over to an agent from the Office of Naval Intelligence. Though a medic insisted Quinn get in some rest, the trooper felt guilty relaxing while there was still a battle going on. Wandering near the command tents, he overheard a radio operator answering a request from a squad deep in the city in need of ammunition. While it couldn't be brought by air, Quinn volunteered to make the ammo run himself and was given cases of rifle ammunition along with surface-to-surface missiles. Traversing several miles of the city and encountering no resistance, he was eventually spotted by Shouji Komoro, still acting as part of Moore's squad.
Upon joining him, Quinn drew his sidearm and demanded an explanation from the ex-marine convict, and after some pressing Shouji told him he'd killed ODSTs that were murdering inmates in their cells indiscriminately, taking pleasure in the deaths. Satisfied, Quinn assisted Komoro using the rockets to make a guerrilla strike on a Covenant outpost, destroying several turrets locking down the area. Quinn was led to a bar which Moore's squad had taken shelter in, which had taken on a grim mood after the Marine unit Moore had come to reinforce had taken heavy casualties despite the best efforts of medic Todd Richstofer. After talking with Richstofer and Moore, Quinn left with Shouji and fellow ODST Sgt. Isaac Long to continue guerrilla raids against Covenant positions.
After enough of the AA grid was wiped out, a Pelican captained by CWO-5 James Morales came to extract them and continue on to provide air support to the forces still engaged at the farm. Before reaching their destination, they touched down to aid another evacuation point where Angel and DeLucas' ships were also providing assistance. A fourth needed a tail gunner, and Quinn volunteered. Once they reached the farm, Long, Richstofen, Komoro, and Quinn were deposited on the roof of a building with to fend off an incoming Banshee squadron. Taking one out himself, Quinn and the others were forced to abandon position when the fliers strafed the building and made it start to collapse. Cut off from their dropship, Quinn escaped aboard the police Pelican, making for orbit with the others, but while Bravo 029 and her wingmen made it to the Grapes of Wrath, Quinn's Pelican wasn't able to escape the forces created by Hope collapsing in on itself. As the planet was destroyed, they were pulled with the debris into a rift in slipspace.
===Battle of the Zenith Complex===
===Second Battle of Earth===
==Personality and Traits==
==Notes & References==
Category:ODST
Category:Loosing Hope
Category:Gaining Faith