Carter-A259

"In recognition of this, his steadfast resolution, we honor him as commander of Noble."

- The Monument to Noble Team.

Commander Carter-A259 was a SPARTAN-III commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command, attached to Special Warfare Group Three. Carter was the leader of Noble Team, an elite team of Spartans who fought during the Fall of Reach. His call sign in the team was Noble One.

Childhood and early career
Carter was born in Durban, Biko on August 27, 2520. He was conscripted into the SPARTAN-III program's Alpha Company in 2531, and, after an unknown amount of time, he became the leader of Noble Team. He has led Noble Team through enough difficult situations to earn the loyalty of his teammates. He and Catherine-B320 are the only survivors of the original team, and share a close bond as a result.

Later career
On April 22, 2552, Carter led Noble Team in an operation put together by LCDR Catherine-B320 to destroy a maintaining position above a city. The operation was successful, but at the cost of Thom-293.

Both Carter and Kat took responsibility over the death of Thom, unable to admit that the death of the SPARTAN was his own fault. Thom was replaced on Noble Team by SPARTAN-B312 a few months later, just prior to the Fall of Reach.

Fall of Reach
Throughout the course of the game, Carter led Noble Team in multiple operations against Covenant forces, such as the investigation of a communications blackout at the Visegrád Relay, a mission which led to the first confrontation with Covenant forces on the planet, the counter-offensive operation on ONI operated 'Sword Base', and a large-scale UNSC assault on a Covenant-occupied/staging site and the neutralization of a Covenant cloaking tower.

The destruction of the by a  after the Battle of Viery prompted Carter and Kat-B320 to review the situation. Recognizing the presence of the supercarrier as a large threat, Noble Team decided to utilize a "non-existent" space vessel at a secret launch facility and plant a makeshift slipspace bomb on board the Covenant vessel in place of their nukes the UNSC Forces on Reach had expended. Carter, along with Kat-B320, Jorge-052 and Noble Six, helped UNSC ground forces repel Covenant invaders from the launch facility, which housed the Sabre launch site. Noble Team was separated at this point, with Jorge and Six participating in Operation: UPPERCUT with the rest focusing on the groundside.

On August 23, Carter and the remaining members of Noble Team assisted the UNSC in protecting the planet's civilian population from the Covenant. They reunited with Noble Six in New Alexandria and helped in the neutralization of Covenant communication jammers and evacuation of ONI personnel from the ONI HQ. Not too long after, Noble Team was hailed by its commanding officer and was ordered to destroy Sword Base. The team was forced to enter a radiation bunker to shield themselves from the Covenant's glassing of New Alexandria. However, Kat-B320 was shot in the head by a Sangheili Field Marshall on the way to the bunker at the Olympic Tower.

Carter, along with the remaining members of Noble Team, proceeded to Sword Base and fought their way into the facility, only to have their directives revised by an unknown UNSC AI. In the facility, they encountered Dr. Halsey once more. Noble Six was urged by the science officer to become the courier of a package and to deliver it safely to the. Using Pelicans as their mode of transportation, Noble Team was split into two splinter groups; Jun-A266 escorted Dr. Halsey to CASTLE Base while the others headed for the Autumn.

Sometime during the transport of the package to the Autumn, Carter was critically wounded in the Pelican, due to his head hitting the front windshield and causing massive internal damage, in the cutscene at the beginning of the level a bloody hole can be seen in his upper-right abdomen which could also have been his fatal wound, this also explains the blood around his mouth and nose. Knowing that the delivery of the package was of the highest priority, he ordered Noble Six and Emile-A239 to drop out of the Pelican and proceed by ground while he diverted the Covenant aerial forces' attention. During the journey groundside, the two SPARTANs encountered a Scarab blocking their path. Carter sacrificed his life by ramming into the behemoth, allowing the two Spartans to accomplish their objective. His final words to them were, "You're on your own, Noble. Carter out."

Traits and personality
"Spartans never die, Jorge, they're just Missing In Action."

- Carter-A259

Carter is described as charismatic and reassuring, as well as a born leader, inspiring confidence in those under his command. He is said to be cool under pressure, with laser-like focus, even while maintaining adaptability and flexibility. Carter is also noted as being capable of interacting with non-SPARTAN personnel effectively and efficiently with low-to-no expected stress issues, and is said to be at his best while building a team.

As team commander, his defining trait is his desire to bring his people back alive, but he knows the challenge of losing members of his command. However, he was said to have "minor trust issues" due to the death of Thom-293 under his command; Carter attributes S-293's death to his own "inadequate team preparation" while it was evidently due to enemy action or Thom-293's own lapse in situational awareness. Carrying the guilt over Thom's death may have also been the source of Carter's hesitation to commit to one of the replacements.

Trivia

 * Carter was voiced by Freddy Bosche.
 * With the rank of Commander, Carter-A259 is the second highest ranking Spartan, the highest being Admiral Serin Osman
 * Carter's date of birth makes him one of the oldest SPARTAN-IIIs. The majority of the trainees for the first class, Alpha Company, were four, five, and six years old when the project began in 2531; Carter would have been eleven at that time, making him nearly as old when he was conscripted as most other SPARTAN-IIIs were when they graduated from the program.
 * Carter is the subject of the SPARTAN-III augmentation procedures in the Birth of a Spartan trailer. You can see his name on his chest and on the computer screens when becoming a SPARTAN-III.
 * In the Halo: Reach Video Games Awards Trailer, Carter had a shaved head, a lighter skin tone and looked very much like John Forge, from the Halo Wars game. In the final version of the game, his hair is styled in a high and tight cut and his skin is somewhat darker.
 * Carter's helmet is available as an Avatar Award and is obtained by clearing a Campaign mission on Legendary without dying. The easiest way to get the helmet is to save near the end of a level and then continuing campaign.
 * A player would need to be at least Brigadier to recreate Carter's armor, equip the Commando helmet, Assault/Commando chest piece, Commando left shoulder piece, MJOLNIR Mk. V right shoulder piece, Tactical/Tacpad Wrist piece, Gold Visor, FJ/PARA knees, Blue as Primary color and Steel as Secondary color. He is the most accurately replicated Noble team member through player-unlocked armor permutations.
 * During the campaign, Carter is the only member of Noble Team that does not work as a duo with Noble Six.
 * His Spartan Tag, S259, may be a reference to the element Nobelium. Nobelium has a standard atomic mass of 259 and is linguistically similar to Noble, the team that Carter leads.
 * Carter's Spartan Tag Number, 259 is a seven reference, because 5+9=14, 14/2=7, 5+2=7, and 9-2=7.
 * In the world premiere trailer, Carter was missing the detail he had at the bottom of his commando shoulder but in the final game he has it.
 * Carter's birth and death were both in the same month, August.
 * His signature weapon is the Designated Marksman Rifle. If a player looks in Theater Mode, they will find the ammo counter is always at 7.
 * There is a reference to Carter in Halo 4. One of the examples used for a player's service tag is S259, Carter's service number.
 * There is another reference to Carter in Halo 4's Forge: many of the pieces have the serial S-259 stamped on the side.

Appearances

 * Halo: Reach
 * Birth of a Spartan