Taylor Cruz

> "No, you listen to me! We are getting out of this alive, that or become one of those things! Now stand up and grab anything to fight back, hell even a stick would work; I refuse to turn into one of those and I won't let any of you either." -Taylor to Reed and Hange
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Taylor Cruz is a young women who, at the exact age of 18, swore in to the UNSC Marine Corps with high enough scores to get into the ODSTs. She would live on the colony known as Unity and witness the Flood outbreak it faced in 2557 just hours after being sworn in. Known as a kind yet stern person, she inspired others around her and after Unity was destroyed would be transferred to the Office of Naval Intelligence for her military career.

## Biography

### Early Life

Taylor Cruz, born on Luna in 2539, was a happy child who's father was UNSC and mother was former police before an early retirement due to injurie. Life seemed pretty normal for the young girl until at the age of 5 her father was killed in the Human-Covenant war. After this marked a darker time for the then child as she would fall into a deep depression and have a complete personality change. Where she was admired and loved by friends at school, she was now considered a bully and a recluse. Where she would play at the parks she would now sit alone on the swings as if waiting for someone to push her even though no one would.

Her and her mother would be forced to move around after this, until at 13 she would witness on news stations reports of Covenant ships invading Earth. This event known as the Invasion of Earth to the Battel of Voi would relight a spark in her she long had forgotten: the fire to become like her father, a Marine. She would begin training herself in body and mind for this new dream to carry on her father's legacy until at 14 the Human-Covenant war would end; a joint colony would follow named Unity where a multitude of species would set aside their differences and live together not long there after in 2553, and at 15 her mother would fall ill after they had moved there for a chance at a better life.

Not a full year later, months before she was even 16, Taylor's mother would succumb to her sickness and pass away. Now seemingly alone and with no family the teen had walked up to the UNSC Recruitment center that had been setup on Unity and attempted to sign up; this would lead to a small amount of humiliation when the soldiers present laughed at the girl and attempted to turn her away.

### Lynette Wolf

However fate would have it that said soldiers also be embarrassed that day as ODST and Wolf Pack leader Lynette Wolf had been present during the interaction. She would walk up to the men and put them in their place via verbal lashings and then turned her attention to Taylor. When she asked the girl why she wanted to join at such a young age she felt a sort of kinship with her: Wolf too had become an ODST due to her late father, Samuel Wolf, and understood the feeling of being with no family. She took the girl under her wing and began training her where Taylor would meet on occasions the full Wolf Pack squad.

Their training had helped Taylor improve what she already had and knew, breaking her previous limits and setting new ones. This would continue until 2555 when Lynette and her Pack had to go off planet to aid another colony that had been occupied by The Galactic Pact. That day Taylor saw for the first time in person SPARTAN-IIs, even if at a distance. She would send her mentor off with a hug and thanks as she left for a mission that would last until the late months of 2556.

### Graduation

After Taylor turned 18 in 2557, she had immediately went to officially sign the dotted line and be sworn in to the UNSC Marines as her father once had. She aced all the written and practical tests with enough points to put her on the same path as her mentor: an ODST. However just hours later after receiving a holomessage from Lynette, horror would strike the colony as the scientist and archeologists would unearth an ancient research and containment facility.

## The Flood Outbreak

### The Beginning

Once it had become wide news that something was dug up by Unity's scientists people of all species flocked to see what it was. The area was blocked off however for the public safety and a deeper, secretive reason no one knew of just yet. Taylor would be asleep when the alarms of the colony blared through the night sky; someone had snuck in and opened whatever the dig teams found. Now, with the Flood on the loose and people dropping left and right it became chaos. Barricades were set up to try and contain the parasite to specific areas but would always fail in time. Taylor, along with a small group of citizens (Lamda, Jessie, Hange, and Reed), would fine refuge in a small underground bunker used for emergencies.

By the time the colony AI Virgil had been corrupted over 65 percent of the colony was turned, and 25 percent were killed, their bodies awaiting use for the Flood. Taylor and her group had survived off of rationing and small runs outside their bunker for food and supplies, including weapons and ammo. They would be in far grater peril when the Flood had shut off the colonies main generators stopping food, clean air, and life support functions. This would lead to Taylor rallying her survivors for at least three days until she would come face to face with loss once more.

On an outing gone wrong Lamda and Jessie had been killed and turned; the former via scratch and the later after having his leg shot and pounced by an infector form. While distraught and heartbroken at their deaths Taylor stayed strong for her two remaining survivors- and eventually this would prove rewarding.

### Fireteam Erebus

While venturing into the central parts of the colony the three survivors would find terminals filled with information. They would learn that ONI had been the one who ordered the creation of the colony, and had provided all it needed for their future experiments. However just 5 months before the Containment facility's discovery the colony leaders stopped reporting into ONI leaving only the AI left to do so. The terminals had revealed that once the leaders found whatever laid in the 'vault of possible treasures', they would break free of ONI and go at it alone.

But of all the information they found, nothing was as important as the UNSC grade radio and communicator they found still intact. Sending out a distress signal while a team was already enroute due to Virgil's sudden lack of reports, the three would then attempt to hide out until someone arrived. When someone did arrive it was a group of people no one would have expected to be the response to their message: a team of SPARTAN-IIs. Once the Spartans had met the three survivors they brought them along deeming it the safest place they could be at that moment.

Once the team finished evaluating Virgil and found the human colony leader, Jericho, being used for a proto-gravemind, they reported to Raptor-5 and ONI for further instructions. Taylor would help the team find the first generator when they were to be targeted to level the colony; however at that point the Flood knew what they were up to. Blocking off the second from any access at all, the team had no choice but to extract after radioing in a better solution. Taylor would follow along but not before witnessing her last to survivors and friends die before being brutally turned before her eyes.

### Unity's Destruction and What Followed

Now in orbit aboard the ship Tides of Fortune Taylor watched as the UNSC Fleet Scourge rained down fire upon the planet destroying all they could and quarantining the system as a precaution.

Once they left the system and arrived at a debrief point Taylor was brought in and presented to the CINCONI Serin Osman by Erebus. After listing her achievements on Unity Taylor was given a rare opportunity: forget everything she saw and heard on the lost colony with the looming threat that if somehow word got out of what truly happened she'd be targeted, or join ONI where her skills could be put to good use. She chose the later of course and was then placed under the command of ONI and the CINCONI from then on.

## Personality and Traits

Taylor Cruz is a kind hearted, loving young women who hates seeing people suffer. Aside from the brief change in her early teen days she has gone back to her normal self and continues to help where she can. To this day she inspires those around her to do and be their best at every moment.

However that is not to say she doesn't have her weaknesses. After the loss of her parents and even the prolonged absence of her mentor it became abundantly clear Taylor had abandonment fear, the fear of being abandoned, due to these experiences. She also developed a case of depression and anxiety over the darker years of her life, finding comfort in dogs and faith.

She is of Hispanic decent, and is considered to be attractive by most. However she is annoyed at the fact she is quiet short in stature, an attribute she loaths and is often reminded of by her colleges light hearted jokes.

## Equipment

As she is now an ONI Operative, Taylor is equipped with easy to hide weapons as well as her more military esc weapons. She generally uses an M7 Submachine Gun suppressed and a hair-trigger tactical magnum.

In terms of protection Taylor is also a test-bed for new tech such as the Single Fireteam Cloaking Drone which as the name implies was a small drone meant to cloak up to four-six people at a time. She would have this as well as her official ODST uniform when she joined as well as a set of SPI armor due to joining ONI.

## Trivia

* Taylor is the second person to develop a fear of the Flood
* She had become fast friends with Antonio-007, an accomplishment even Raptor-5 thought impossible for any non-Spartan
* Even though her father was killed by the Covenant, it is due to Taylor's belief that not every member was bad
* One of the easiest characters to write for on Erebus as of 02/16/2020 at 2:47 am
* Taylor and her fellow survivors will appear in a dedicated story surrounding Unity from the beginning to the end of the outbreak over on the official Fireteam\_Erebus Wattpad account
* Taylor had been one of the first few characters to kick off the Erebusverse project in an attempted story of similar plot to Unity, but that was scrapped in favor of this almost two years later