Noble Team

"You know as well as I do that we wind up with some that she would have chosen - not just kids unlucky enough to survive a glassing. Orders are still being followed and those Spartans are in the field, but they are armed as SPARTANs - and they are making a difference."

- LCDR Kurt Ambrose to SCPO Franklin Mendez.

Noble Team, sometimes referred to as Team Noble or simply Noble, was a fire-team sized unit of the UNSC Special Warfare Command Group Three, composed mostly of SPARTAN-III supersoldiers and one SPARTAN-II commando as of 2552.

Overview
Noble Team was primarily composed of SPARTAN-IIIs pulled out of their main companies by Kurt-051 and Franklin Mendez before large-scale operations where the companies were mostly wiped out, Operation: PROMETHEUS in the case of Alpha Company and Operation: TORPEDO with Beta Company.

Prior to the Fall of Reach, Noble Team had managed to survive countless battles, always coming back from suicide assignments, but not without a cost: only two members of the original team, Carter and Kat, remained alive by 2552.

Noble Team also operated with non-Spartan military personnel more extensively than other Spartan teams. To grant them more operational freedom when interacting with regular military personnel, the members of Noble Team had been given higher ranks than most of the Spartans by their CO. In 2552, the team was under the command of Colonel Urban Holland of the UNSC Army.

The SPARTAN-IIIs of Noble Team utilized equipment on par with the SPARTAN-IIs, such as the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor, which is far more advanced than the cheaper SPI armor worn by the rest of the SPARTAN-IIIs. The team was issued with the Mark V MJOLNIR armor on November 24, 2551. Unlike the mainline SPARTAN-IIs whose armor was fairly uniform in coloration, the members of Noble Team sported a variety of color schemes and field-customized armor variants.

When Reach was deemed lost, and there was no hope of saving it, Noble Team ensured that humanity would have a fighting chance against the Covenant and future enemies by delivering a high priority package to Captain Keyes and making sure the Pillar of Autumn escaped intact with it. Despite their success, all but Jun-A266 were confirmed KIA.

Team Composition

 * Commander Carter-A259 (Noble One) - A no-nonsense soldier, Carter serves as the leader of Noble Team. Listed MIA. Confirmed KIA during the Fall of Reach.
 * Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320 (Noble Two) - Carter's second-in-command, Kat serves as the intelligence specialist. Listed MIA. Confirmed KIA during the Fall of Reach.
 * Warrant Officer Jun-A266 (Noble Three) - A thoughtful and taciturn soldier, Jun serves as the sniper of Noble Team. Status unknown, most likely alive, last seen taking Dr. Halsey to CASTLE Base.
 * Warrant Officer Emile-A239 (Noble Four) - A bold and aggressive Spartan, Emile is the assault specialist of the team. Listed MIA. Confirmed KIA by Sangheili warriors during the Fall of Reach.
 * Chief Warrant Officer Jorge-052 (Noble Five) - The only Spartan-II on the team, Jorge serves as the heavy weapons specialist. Listed MIA. Confirmed KIA during Operation: UPPERCUT.


 * Lieutenant SPARTAN-B312 (Noble Six) - The playable character of Halo: Reach. A new addition to the team, this Spartan's background is mostly unknown. Listed MIA. Confirmed KIA during the Fall of Reach.

Other Spartans were constantly kept on rotation for the team, including SPARTAN-344 who would take Emile's place in the case of a counterinsurgency operation. When one member fell in the line of duty, a new SPARTAN would be brought in as a replacement.

Known former members
 * Thom-293 (Previously Noble Six) - Killed on April 22, 2552, and replaced with SPARTAN-B312 just before the Fall of Reach.

Trivia

 * The flag in the Capture The Flag multiplayer mode in Halo: Reach bears the emblem of Noble Team.
 * The voices of each Noble Team member are usable in Halo: Reach's Firefight mode.
 * McFarlane Toys created an action figure figure known as Noble Seven for Comic Con 2010. According to McFarlane, Bungie did not add a new member to the team, but they allowed the company to create a unique figure.
 * Originally, Noble Team was supposed to have two more members in Halo: Reach: the "sassy" Rosenda-344 and the "cowboy"-like Thom-293. Both were later reduced to background characters, with Thom being a former member and Rosenda serving as a potential replacement for Emile in a counter-insurgency operation.
 * Including Thom-293, Noble Team is comprised of seven known members.
 * Though the player requires armor abilities, the rest of Noble Team doesn't. In Winter Contingency, the team will have to sprint however they have no attachment and sprint longer than usual. In other missions, Noble Team can initiate Armor Lock without the attachment.
 * During gameplay, every member of Noble Team is invincible.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Reach