Ernest Stratton

Gunnery Sergeant Ernest Stratton is Tina Byrne's right hand man.

Ernest Stratton served in the Communist Ordered Republiks of Etixnare Army during the Extinction War, most notably during the Evacuation of Pholiz and the defense of the Horizon Periphery Defense Barricade. A firm, honorable soldier with a "by-the-book" leadership style, Stratton was extremely loyal to the ideals of the CORE. Until his demise defending the remnants of his nation.

## Biography

### Early Life

Born and raised in the Medikamente lowlands, Ernest Strattons's childhood was defined by poverty and hardships. Early on, he developed a cynical outlook on life. Sarcasm became a tool finely honed for dealing with the cruelty of fate. At age 16, Ernest found a job in the Doltov shipyard where he would remain at until the depression hit Medikamente hard and he was made redundant.

After years of scraping by, he decided enough was enough and joined the CORE Army. There, he joined the 2nd Covvsterich Infantry regiment and trained as a mechanic before an alcohol-induced bet got him promoted to Corporal.

### Emergence Day

Corporal Stratton was in the city of Ephyra when the Scaler Swarm first emerged; a day that would come to be known as Emergence Day. In charge of a three-man squad, Stratton was on approach to the House of Knights to rendezvous with Colonel Gary Thornton's convoy of commandeered civilian vehicles. However, after deeming the House of Knights a red zone, Stratton contacted the convoy and requested that they divert Thornton's convoy. A Lieutenant responded by saying that the whole city was a red zone. Stratton stated that he understood, and moved in with his Squad as the convoy arrived. However, the convoy came under immediate attack as it arrived outside the House of Knights, and Stratton and his squad assisted Thornton in defeating the Scaler's. One of his Squad-mates acquired the Ragnarok from the convoy's van, killing a Craboid. After defeating the Scaler incursion, Thornton chose Stratton to be his escort. He entered the House of Knights with Thornton telling his squad to guard the entrance before following Thornton inside. Stratton survived the battle, though his squad outside weren't so lucky and were killed due to Ragnarok going offline.

### Evacuation of Pholiz

#### Scaler Assault

Around a decade after Emergence Day, Stratton had been promoted to Lieutenant and was in charge of Baker-Six, and went to help with the evacuation of Pholiz, which was under threat from a Prawnstorm. Four hours before the Prawnstorm was expected to hit, they were working at an evacuation point to get citizens out of the city. Stratton asked  for an update, and he was informed that they had finished loading the last of the civilians. Stratton was relieved by this, and commented that the city would be a nightmare once the sun went down. His squad reassured him that they still had several hours before the Prawnstorm hit to prepare for the Scaler and get the rest of the city evacuated. As they watched the transports leave, a Craboid emerged in the middle of the street and dragged a Bear underground as Stratton screamed in horror. As the Reds scrambled to defensive positions, Stratton contacted Commander Roberts and informed her that the city was under attack and that they needed reinforcements. As the Gears fought to defend the evac station, another emergence hole opened up within their perimeter, but they managed to close it. As more Nosalis, Jermar, and Krov' assaulted the outpost, Stratton told Roberts that they needed backup immediately, but she told him they were still inbound. Stratton responded that they needed to use Ragnarok  then, and she authorized them to use the mobile command center at the evac point. Mort used the command center to wipe out the Scaler, and Stratton contacted Roberts again and told her that what was left of the area was secure. Roberts told him that contact with Golf-Seven had been lost, and to head to their evac point at a bank to try and find them and the civilians they were escorting. As they made their way through the alleys toward the financial district, they spotted a Tank. Mort wanted to take it out, but Stratton told him not draw its attention, since they were supposed to be evacuating civilians, not counterattacking. After killing several Tunnelis and more Nosalis, they overheard the sounds of a battle, and entered a plaza outside the bank just in time to see the last members of Golf-Seven get killed. They killed the attacking Scalers, but did not see any civilians nearby. Stratton suggested they check inside the bank, but more Scaler emerged before they could enter it. They killed the new wave of Scaler, and Stratton contacted Roberts and informed her of Golf-Seven's demise, and that they were heading inside the bank.

#### Searching for Survivors

After entering the bank, Lizbeth suggested that the civilians might have hid in the vaults, but Mort pointed out that those were also underground. Stratton told them they needed to find a way downstairs fast, and when they found a security gate leading to the vaults, he sent Mort to find a way to open it. After Mort got the gate open, they began heading downstairs, and felt rumbling from below. Lizbeth remarked that thunder always followed lightning, and Stratton agreed with her, saying that there were likely Scalers nearby. They found the bodies of several civilians in the halls leading to the vaults, and fought through a pack of Tunnelis . As they entered the vault, Stratton called out to see if there were any survivors, and said that they were there to help. JACK began working to open a security gate deeper into the vault, and when they entered, they encountered Nosalies, Tunnelis, and Incendiary Troops searching the vault as well. They engaged them and wiped them all out, but then heard someone calling for help behind one of the vault doors. They opened it to find a teenager trapped behind some bars with several Wretches trying to get at him, and they quickly shot all the creatures. Mort freed the kid from the cage, and he told them that his name was not important, and that no one else had made it to safety in the bank.

#### Rendezvous with the Convoy

They headed back upstairs, and The Civvie explained to them how he had gotten separated from the rest of his group as they left the bank. Stratton told him they would try to find the others as they headed for a convoy rendezvous point, and after the rest of the squad explained to The Civvie about the Gunkers inking the sky for the Prawn, they felt the ground begin to shake, and Stratton told everyone to keep on alert. They spotted Theron Grasz emerging in the street accompanied by several Scaler elites and a Tremor. They felt more rumbling, and Stratton asked Roberts what was going on. She told him she was not sure, but that they had lost contact with the last evacuation checkpoint. She asked them if they had found any survivors, and he told her they had found just one, and were heading to the checkpoint now, and asked where the convoy was at. Roberts told him they were encountering some resistance, but were heading for their position, and that they did not have much time to reach them. Stratton thanked her for the information, and they exited the bank out onto a heavily defended street filled with Scalers. They fought through several groups of Nosalies, and Stratton directed Mort to take out a Mortar team that had pinned them down. After finishing off the Scalers, they entered an abandoned COG camp, and spotted Angels over the evac point. Stratton contacted Roberts and informed her about the creatures, and she told him that they needed to find and kill the nearby Gunkers before the evac convoy arrived. Stratton then informed her about seeing Grasz and his elite forces emerge, and she confirmed that Scaler forces had emerged throughout the city, and that Director Frecrick Ferguson had deployed the Obsidian Forces to the city. Stratton was glad for the reinforcements, and after signing off from Control, he told the rest of Baker to hurry to the evac point so they could kill the Scalers. When they reached the evac point, Stratton ordered the squad to wipe out all the Scalers before the convoy arrived. Lizbeth suggested collapsing a nearby building onto the Gunkers to kill them, and Stratton approved of the plan. Once the Scalers were dead, Stratton told Roberts it was safe to send the convoy in. However, when the convoy arrived, the felt the ground shaking, and Roberts told Stratton that a Tank was heading for their position. They managed to destroy it, and escorted The Civvie down to the vehicles. Stratton told him it was his ticket out of the city.

#### City Hall

Stratton led Baker to downtown Pholiz, hoping to link up with other CORE forces. He attempted to contact Walker and inform her of their situation, but was unable to reach her. They heard thumping in the distance, and Liza pointed out that Gunkers were likely jamming their comms. Stratton told them they needed to reestablish comms if they had any hope of finding survivors, so they needed to find and kill the Gunkers. They entered a parking lot and fended off a wave of Tickers, and then defeated a group of Scalers that came out of two E-Holes. They entered a parking garage and fought their way up several levels, before eventually finding the exit guarded by two Colossus. Mort killed them with a car, and they exited out onto the street near a former evac point. They saw several dead Reds scattered around the street, and a heavy Scaler presence guarding a Gunker at the end. Stratton noted there were too many to take on directly, so he decided to split up along the street and rooftops in order to surprise the Scalers. He teamed with Liza along his chosen route, with Mort and Lizbeth going along the other. They provided covering fire for the other team when they needed it, and eventually regrouped at the end of the street. They went through the evac building and found themselves outside of Pholiz City Hall, which had several Angels in the air above it. Stratton formulated a plan to retake city hall and use the mobile command center within to take out the Gunkers. They entered the courtyard outside of the hall and began fighting dozens of Nosalies, which were supported by Krov' and various Sub-Species. After a long fight, they managed to defeat all of the Scalers and entered city hall. They fought through more Scalers and located the command center. Stratton, Liza, and Lizbeth defended the center as Mort used it to take out the three nearby Gunkers. Once they had killed the last of the Scalers, they headed for the back exit of city hall. Before they went outside, Stratton tried contacting control, and managed to reach Walker. He told her he was glad to hear her voice, and replied it was good to hear his too. She asked if he was responsible for the unauthorized Ragnarok strikes, and said they were, and explained that they were at city hall, and that he hoped they had bought the evacuation some time. Walker informed him that the evacuation was over, and that they were the last squad known to still be in Pholiz. She sent the last APC to pick them up.

### Loss of Arm

With the Convoy en route, Grasz arrived behind Golf-Seven and caught Liza as she attempted to flee. Stratton tried to rescue Liza, but she was impaled upon Grasz's blade as Stratton tried to stab Grasz, But Grasz expected this and cut off Stratton's arm. Mort, and Lizbeth cut down the last of the Locust. Stratton's yell of horror as Liza was killed alerted Mort and the others to Grasz's presence, and they turned around and fired upon the General.

### Arrival of the convoy and Prosthetic arm

When the convoy arrived shortly after Grasz left the scene of the battle, out gunned, Stratton was unconscious and bleeding out, it wasn't until Medics began a transfusion in the Bear before it was realized just how dire the situation really was. Due to his disastrous evac and getting plenty of soldiers and civvies "killed" he was demoted to Gunnery Sergeant.

After returning to a nearby camp Stratton demands a replacement arm for he refused to give up fighting the Scaler Swarm. After replacing his arm with a cybernetic one, his new prosthesis is unstable, when it repeatedly smashes a biscuit in his face as he tries to test out his new arm. Due to his Personality and determination to win, he was personally requested to be transferred by Tina Byrne. It was there he would form a bond with the Rookie Wade.

## Personality and Traits

Ernest is selfless, loyal, reliable, sarcastic, broken, haunted, bitter, old and in pain during his timeline. He is seen praising his allies achievements on the battlefield and considering them young, crazy and dedicated. Ernest sees himself as expendable and states to Wade that in a time of war, people die.After losing battle after battle to the Scalers , Ernest became self-loathing, grief-stricken, guilt-ridden, stressed and world-weary. Being in his thirties, Ernest felt his mortality, calling himself a "useless skeleton" to Byrne. In addition, he worried for the future, knowing that him and Byrne were getting too old to "strap on the holsters" and that they couldn't lead Eagle Team forever. Despite this, he is still determined, reliable and loyal, aiding the CORE with all his strength.His style was always to fight honorably, and he believed that the Reds, along with the Communist Ordered Republiks of Etixnare, were the last defense against the Scaler Swarm for all of humanity's sake. Stratton believed in fighting in the trenches with his men. He was a firm believer in the Socialist ideology which the CORE was firmly established upon.