Katherine IV-04

OVERVIEW Katherine IV-04 was one of six Spartan-IVs and functioned as the sniper of the team. Later, she would be assigned to Phoenix Team as a multirole operator. Katherine was a key player in both the Second and Third Wars, participating in numerous pivotal battles and influencing the outcome of many future events.

BIOGRAPHY Katherine was born on Reach. When the planet was glassed by the Covenant in 2552, Katherine’s parents, brother, and two sisters were all killed, leaving her the only surviving member of her family. She enlisted in the UNSC at the age of eighteen and established herself as a skilled, if isolated, sniper.

By late 2556, humanity was deeply entrenched in the Second War, a stalemate conflict against Shipmaster ‘Kodomee. Katherine was one of six soldiers called upon to join the Spartan-IV program, an initiative designed to bring a swift end to the war. As a result of the program, Katherine was biologically augmented with enhanced strength, speed and reflexes, and was requisitioned a suit of Mk VI MJOLNIR Assault Armor. She gained the service tag IV-04 (four oh-two) to denote her position as a Spartan IV. By February 2557, Katherine had finished training with her new body and armor, and was designated as the team’s sniper.

Over the next few days, Jake and the other Spartan-IVs (Saul, Cameron, Jake, Christian, and Gabe) took part in operations against Shipmaster ‘Kodomee’s forces, conducted by Commander Lawrence Harper. Initially, Katherine found herself at odds with Gabe IV-06, but the two would soon reconcile. Unfortunately, during a mission which successfully eliminated ‘Kodomee's right-hand commander, several of the Spartan-IVs were killed, leaving Saul and Katherine the only surviving team members. The two supersoldiers were reassigned under Commander Kyle Grey and were tasked with assisting in the Evacuation of Africa.

In mid-April 2557, ‘Kodomee unearthed a Forerunner ruin under the Sahara desert which housed a route to an ancient superweapon known as Halo. As his mission on Earth was finally complete, the Shipmaster ordered his fleet to glass Africa and then departed Earth aboard his flagship. Commander Grey, Saul, and Katherine pursued him aboard the UNSC Heart of Defiance. Both parties arrived at the Halo in June and immediately landed on the ring, establishing outposts. Tampering from both sides resulted in the release of the Flood, a dangerous parasite residing deep within the ring. Having managed to survive both the Elites and the Flood, Saul and Katherine led a team to stop the Shipmaster from firing the Halo ring, an action that would wipe out all life in the galaxy. The operation was a success, culminating in ‘Kodomee’s death, but the UNSC forces were too late to stop him from activating the ring.

Using what little time they had left, Saul and Katherine went alone to destroy the ring’s firing mechanism. While successful, Saul was wounded by the Flood, and stayed behind to stall the Flood so Katherine could escape. As Katherine attempted to escape, she was confronted by the ring’s monitor, 1167 Humble Guardian. The Monitor attempted to kill her, but Commander Grey arrived and destroyed him just in time, evacuating Katherine from the doomed Halo. A stricken Katherine would return to Earth, once again the last surviving member of her family. Her grief would only grow, as Grey would lose his life to cancer years later. A soldier without a war, Katherine would drift from post to post until the Third War began in 2568.

Assigned to the black ops group Phoenix Team, Katherine would be introduced to Brett, Michael, Tanner, Zach, and the team leader, Logan. She was also reunited with an enemy-turned-ally; Monitor 1167 Humble Guardian, who had been recovered and reprogrammed by the UNSC. Phoenix Team was immediately sent to Reach to reclaim it from Fleetmaster ‘Krudom and end the Third War.

Operations on Reach were briefly stonewalled outside the city of Little Rock, but Phoenix would eventually halt Krudom’s operation in the outskirts, at the cost of Michael’s life. Katherine began to be more comfortable with her new team, growing especially close with fellow sniper Tanner. Once Phoenix broke through to Little Rock, they were contacted by renegade Elite Field Marshal Uhze ‘Nostrom. Katherine strongly opposed an alliance with Nostrom, as she despised all Elites immensely; but after getting to know Nostrom, she began to let go of her hatred.

As the Third War raged on, Katherine and Tanner eventually declared their feelings for one another, and she also earned the respect of Zach, who would later reveal himself to be a Spartan-III. The war came to a devastating height when ‘Krudom activated his Disruptor superweapon, killing most UNSC personnel in Little Rock, including Brett. The surviving members of Phoenix Team began working to strike back against the Fleetmaster, but Tanner was killed in the process. Devastated, Katherine’s resolve began to fracture, and this was only worsened by the death of Nostrom. Vowing that no one else would die in her place, Katherine had Zach escort Logan and Humble Guardian out of Little Rock before confronting the Fleetmaster on her own. After explaining to a dumbfounded ‘Krudom why humanity would never give up as long as hope remained, she turned the Fleetmaster’s own weapon on him and destroyed them both, ending the Third War.

Katherine’s sacrifice saved countless lives on Reach, as she halted Fleetmaster ‘Krudom from taking over the entire planet and using the Disruptor on innocent people. Moreover, she would have a great impact on her surviving friends Zach and Guardian, who would continue to defend humanity in her memory long after the events of the Third War.

PERSONALITY A victim of several atrocities, Katherine was a very quiet woman. Her reservedness concealed a volatile personality, which she fought to keep down. As the years went by and she saw more and more friends die, it became harder and harder for her to repress her emotional outbursts. This instability could prove to be a challenge when it came to forming bonds with people, but with the help of people such as Saul, Tanner, and Nostrom, she would overcome her own chaos and be a steadfast friend to those she cared about.

As a sniper, her synergy with other soldiers was fairly limited, and this was exacerbated by the fact that Katherine preferred to keep her teammates at a safe distance anyway. Among the Spartan-IVs, this resulted in difficulties with team coordination, though the combined efforts of Saul and Christian helped to ease her into the fold. Because of Saul’s training, she worked well with Phoenix Team, though had difficulty trusting Michael and Guardian at first.

Those who came to know Katherine beyond her closed-off exterior would find a vulnerable and caring woman who valued her friends deeply. Saul became a brotherly figure to her, and she experienced a strong and quick romance with Phoenix sniper Tanner. Katherine overcame several of her personal boundaries by forging a strong interspecies friendship with Field Marshal Uhze ‘Nostrom as well as being the first human 1167 Humble Guardian would consider a friend. Once she got to know them, Katherine became very emotionally invested in those she worked closely with.

This made losing friends all the more difficult for her. After losing her family, Katherine opened up to the Spartan-IVs, only to lose most of them in one day. Where their deaths galvanized Saul to fight even harder, it only made Katherine more reserved and pessimistic. When Saul sacrificed himself to save her, Katherine’s hold on her bottled-up turmoil began to slip. Losing Grey to cancer only added to the pressure, and by the time she was operating on Reach, she was prone to lashing out and erupting with cold anger. When Tanner, her love, was torn away from her, she nearly shut down completely, but found in herself the strength to carry on and end the fight, trading her own life to save the few friends she had left.

Those who found themselves on Katherine’s bad side were faced with a cold, deadly anger, fermented under an unstable crust. This was especially true for any member of the Sangheili species; losing her family and fellow Spartans to the Elites grew a violent hatred for the aliens inside Katherine. This nearly prevented her from allying with the Elite Separatists; luckily, ‘Nostrom’s cooler head won her over in the end.

Losing so many loved ones as well as experiencing horrors such as the Flood left Katherine traumatized. Some of her scars would never heal, as she still experienced nightmares of Omega Halo over a decade after the ring’s destruction.

Despite all this, Katherine was stronger than her demons. At her core was a fierce fighter and a determined friend, one who would never truly give into the darkness. No matter how bad things got, no matter how close she came to losing battles both inside and out, Katherine always found a way to prevail, embodying the true, hopeful essence that makes humanity great.

ABILITIES AND EQUIPMENT As an augmented soldier, Katherine possessed greater-than-natural strength, speed, resilience, and reaction times. Her natural marksmanship talent was only enhanced by her biological upgrades, and she was known as one of the best snipers in the entire UNSC. She used a variety of weapons over the course of her service, most notably the SRS99 series of sniper rifles. She also commonly utilized the MA5 series of Assault Rifles, and would occasionally field precision rifles such as the BR55 Battle Rifle or the M392 DMR. Katherine also demonstrated excellent skill with close-quarters weapons like the M45 and M90 Shotguns, the standard-issue UNSC combat knife, or the Type-1 Energy Sword.

There were many instances where Katherine would hijack enemy Ghosts and use them against her opponents.

Upon entering the SPARTAN-IV program, Katherine was issued a suit of Mk VI MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor painted in olive green with red trim. This would later be replaced by a Mk VII suit with similar livery, one of only two in existence. Katherine would use this suit from 2557 to 2568, making personalized modifications to it such as storage cases and a wrist-mounted TACPAD, not to mention 1167 Humble Guardian’s helmet-mounted storage device.

TRIVIA


 * Katherine's voice actress, Carrie Whittington, is the sister of series creator Jacob Whittington (aka Chronicler 177).