Edward Buck

Edward Buck (Service Number 92458-37017-EB) is a Staff Non-Commissioned Officer in the UNSC Marine Corps, and is an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.

Summary
Counting time spent in cryo-sleep, Buck is a 25-year veteran of the war. He served in numerous battles throughout the Human-Covenant War. Watching so many of his fellow Marines die has left Buck thick-skinned and short-fused, but this wasn't always so. He was regarded as an extremely skilled Marine and by the Battle of Earth, was the commander of "The Squad" until Capt. Veronica Dare took responsibility before the drop on New Mombasa, Kenya in October 20, 2552.

Early Life and Military Career
Edward Buck was born in 2510 in New Albany in Lombard on Draco III. In 2528, when he was eighteen, he enlisted in the UNSC Marine Corps and followed it through as a career. He served in many battles, including the Harvest Campaign and the Fall of Reach. At some point, Buck was in a romantic relationship with Dare.

Battle of Earth
During the Battle of Earth in 2552, Buck's squad was a part of a larger ODST unit that was to be inserted onto the Prophet of Regret's Flagship stationed over the city of New Mombasa. His mission changed when Captain Dare took control of the squad at the last moment before the orbital drop, in order to use them for her own classified mission.

In mid-drop, Dare ordered the squad to steer their HEVs away from the Carrier. Right after this, the carrier jumped into Slipspace above the city, generating a massive EMP shockwave and disabling the pods' electronic systems. As a result, the pods were scattered and crashed in several sections in the city.

After the EMP, Buck's pod bounced off one building, deflected off a second, and landed upside down. He immediately made radio contact with Dare, whose hatch malfunctioned and wouldn't open. After a brief discussion, he realized that Covenant forces were heading for Dare's crash site. On his way to the crash site, he found the corpses of several Sangheili; upon asking Dare about the matter (and noting that the Jiralhanae appeared to be responsible), he was told that the information was classified. Later, Veronica contacted him, telling him the Covenant had found her and were moving in on her location. After fighting his way through a large unit of Covenant, including a Hunter pair, he made it to Tayari Plaza, Dare's crash site, where her pod was under fire by a trio of Unggoy. After dispatching the Unggoy he opened up her pod to find it empty. A Huragok approached him holding Dare's damaged helmet, and Buck backed away from the mysterious alien before Romeo, on a balcony overlooking the crash site and believing the Huragok to be hostile, shot it through the head.

Buck abandoned Dare's original mission and focused on reuniting his squad and evacuating the city in one piece. He and Romeo made their way to the NMPD Headquarters building, where he made contact with Dutch and Mickey via an NMPD Officer. Dutch and Mickey, who were at the ONI Alpha Site, offered Buck an air evac via Pelican. On the way to the landing zone, Buck tried to contact The Rookie, but received no response.

When Dutch and Mickey's dropship arrived at NMPD HQ, it was ambushed and shot down by two patrolling Banshees. Romeo and Buck then moved through the NMPD Headquarters to find and rescue their squadmates on top of a neighboring skyscraper, defending it from waves of Covenant aircraft and infantry assaults. During the ensuing fight, a Jiralhanae Chieftain badly wounded Romeo with its Gravity Hammer before being fatally stabbed in the neck by Buck. Buck then led the other ODSTs to Kikowani Station, intending to take the train out of the city, but found that the train tunnels had been flooded. He decided to steal a Phantom to escape the city, killing many Huragok in their Recharge Stations on the way out. They encountered a Scarab as well, which Buck successfully destroyed. After finally making it out of the city, he realized where Dare might be and ordered Mickey to drive the captured Phantom back into the city.

He headed into the Superintendent's Data Center alone, going right through the Yanme'e hive. When he neared the Data Center, he was reunited with Dare, The Rookie, and the Huragok Vergil. Unaware as to the importance of the Huragok, he had a quick conversation with Dare as to why Vergil was so important, letting slip to Dare that he had killed "one or two" Huragok, much to her annoyance. After finally making it to the elevator, Dare punched Buck in the face, for "abandoning the mission"; a furious Buck complained that she had been MIA, and that his squad was scattered only to be cut off by Dare, who gave him a passionate kiss for "coming back". Remembering The Rookie and Vergil were there and (rather awkwardly) watching, he congratulated the former on doing a good job.

After battling through a Covenant outpost, and boarding another elevator for the highway, the presence of the Covenant fleet was revealed to Dare. Irritated that Buck had neglected to inform her of the fleet, the two began arguing again, Buck protesting that he had been preoccupied with keeping the helpless Vergil alive. Taking the gunner position on various Warthogs and a Scorpion, Buck and The Rookie covered Dare and Vergil's Olifant down the highway, witnessing the arrival of more Covenant ships—including two Assault Carriers—and marveling at their size. When the first Carrier started to glass the city, he was reminded of Reach and briefly began to panic before Dare calmed him down. The Olifant was later severely damaged by a Scarab, and, knowing that the Covenant had glassed the highway further down, Buck ordered Mickey to meet them at a new location, the entrance to Uplift Reserve.

Buck and the others took the next exit off the highway, and The Rookie and Buck secured a building to hold and wait for Mickey's dropship to arrive. After fighting off waves of Covenant, Mickey arrived, and as the squad was evacuating, an Assault Carrier arrived close to their position. A frightened Vergil then refused to get on the Phantom, and was shoved in by Buck while Dare pulled it in the gravity beam. The group successfully evacuated the city.

A month later, Buck and his squad guarded Vergil at an ONI Orbital facility, while watching as Sgt. Johnson "interrogated" the Engineer.

Trivia

 * Buck is voiced by Nathan Fillion, who also starred in Halo 3 as Gunnery Sergeant Reynolds. He is described by Nathan Fillion himself as "a bit hardened and a bit cranky." Fillion's likeness was also used to model Buck. Also, Reynolds quotes are shared by Buck in the game.
 * Buck is unlocked for play in Firefight by getting the Tayari Plaza Achievement.
 * In an interview with Worthplaying, Brian Jarrard hinted that Buck might be featured as one of the characters in Halo: Reach. This is further supported by Fillion's confirmation of his voice work for Halo: Reach.
 * It is unknown how he made it back to Earth when he survived the Fall of Reach. There is a possibility that this will be explained in Halo: Reach.
 * Some of his lines, such as "Bam, said the lady" and "GORRAM!" come from the television shows Castle and Firefly respectively, which Nathan Fillion also starred in.
 * He is the only known non-Spartan to destroy a Scarab solo, if the player chooses to destroy the Scarab on.
 * In an Easter Egg in the Epilogue cutscene after the credits, if you look to the left near the end of Johnson's talk with Vergil, the camera will pan over to Buck standing next to a caveman, he attempts to groom and eat off it.
 * Rarely, if you jump with Buck somewhere in the vehicle, he will sing the first few bars of "Dixie" in reference to The Dukes of Hazard.
 * Buck is to be made into an action figure by McFarlane Toys, and is to be released June of 2010.
 * Buck's armor takes substantial combat damage by the end of the ODST campaign. This can be seen in the form of various plasma burns on its outer shell, pieces of glass embedded in the torso, several badly scratched components, and noticeable splashes of Yanme'e blood on several areas.