Catherine-B320

"In recognition of this, her unparalleled brilliance, we honor her as the true genius of Noble."

- The Monument to Noble Team.

Lieutenant Commander Catherine-B320, commonly known as Kat, was a SPARTAN-III commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command, attached to Special Warfare Group Three. She fought with Noble Team as Noble Two during the Fall of Reach in 2552.

Childhood and early career
Born on Monastir, New Harmony in 2530, she was conscripted as part of Beta Company. She was taken out of Beta Company by Kurt-051 and Franklin Mendez after Operation: CARTWHEEL, not long before Operation: TORPEDO commenced. She was later assigned to Noble Team when it was formed.

She, along with Carter-A259, is one of the only two survivors from the original Noble Team, and they share a close bond as a result. She is Noble Team's second-in-command, and described as being fiercely loyal to Carter and the team.

Later career
On April 22nd, 2552, Kat put together an operation to destroy a CCS-class Battlecruiser maintaining position above a city. The operation was successful, but at the cost of Thom-293. The operation also cost Kat her right arm, which has been replaced by a robotic prosthetic. Kat clearly has no problem working with the arm, which she moves just as naturally as her previous biological one, even continuing to hold her M6G pistol in her dominant right hand.

Both Carter-A259 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
The Spartans of Noble Team participate in an operation to investigate a communications blackout at the Visegrad Relay, a mission that led to the first confrontation with Covenant forces on the planet. In the operation, Kat recovered a data module containing Laszlo Sorvad's "latchkey discovery" from the Relay's console and uncovered an unfortunate discovery; the Covenant has successfully deployed their forces on Reach. The discovery led the team to Sword Base, currently under siege by Covenant forces and their corvette. Kat and Noble Six engaged the Covenant forces on foot and repelled them off the site and the airbase.

Intelligence gathered from Noble Six and Jun-A266's reconnaissance mission lead to a large-scale UNSC assault on a Covenant-occupied site. Kat and Noble Six engaged Covenant forces on the groundside while other members of Noble Team provided aerial support. Noble Six assisted Kat in reconnaissance of the Covenant-occupied site, destroying multiple aerial defenses and unveiling a large Covenant installation code-named Spire One.

The destruction of the by a Covenant supercarrier, Long Night of Solace, after the Battle of Viery prompted Carter and Kat to reassess the situation. Recognizing the presence of the supercarrier as a large threat, Kat suggested to Noble Team to reconfigure a slipspace engine into a makeshift slipspace bomb, which would destroy the supercarrier immediately. Carter, along with Kat, Jorge-052 and SPARTAN-B312, helped UNSC ground forces repel Covenant invaders from a UNSC base, which housed the Sabre Program Launch/Research Range. Noble Team was separated from this point, with Jorge and Noble Six participating in Operation: UPPERCUT while the rest focused on groundside operations.

At some point during the Fall of Reach, Kat and the remaining members of Noble Team assisted the UNSC in repelling the Covenant from civilian population centres. They reunited with Noble Six in New Alexandria and helped in the neutralization of Covenant communication jammers and the evacuation of ONI personnel. Soon, Noble Team was hailed by its supervisor, Colonel Urban Holland, and was ordered to destroy 'Sword Base'. The team was forced to enter a radiation bunker to shield them from the Covenant's glassing of New Alexandria. As Noble Team exited the elevator and ran towards the bunker, a Sangheili Field Marshall in a Phantom overhead shot Kat in the head with a needle rifle, killing her instantly.

Traits and personality
"This one seems to like me. Someone kill it."

- Catherine-B320

Catherine is described as an inspired tactician and an exemplary combatant, but also a brilliant cryptanalyst and a hacker; allegedly, there has not been a system yet that she has been unable to crack. According to Colonel Urban Holland, she has a habit of occasionally investigating classified Intel more than her superiors would like her to. Her ability to acquire and digest information has been described as "supernatural"; more than once, she has been able to read a situation, working with information many would find overly limited.

Much like Carter, Kat blames herself for Thom-293's death while it was apparent that neither was responsible; according to Colonel Urban Holland, Thom died because he pursued a group of enemies by himself rather than waiting for backup.

Kat's death can be attributed due to a fatal lack of situational awareness. Like the loss of her right arm in a previous operation, Kat underestimated the gravity of her situation and failed to initiate her armor's shielding system. However, another explanation could be that excess radiation from the nearby Covenant glassing shorted out her shields, as she may have been exposed to the radiation longer than the other members of Noble Team. Her trademark curiosity could also be blamed, as she was preoccupied at the time with understanding new uncharacteristic orders from Holland. Trading questions with Carter as to Holland's motives, she was too lost in her own mind as she analyzed this new information to focus on the present.

Equipment
Kat's preferred weapon is the M6G Magnum Sidearm as she is seen using it in most cutscenes in the game as well as the trailer Deliver Hope. However, in gameplay she uses the MA37 Assault Rifle.

Kat wears Mark V armor and an AA helmet. Her helmet has an attachment that appears to be the FC-I, albeit without the UA Attachment. The rest of her armor consists of the default chest piece (with a prosthetic right arm), the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/FJ/PARA variant shoulders, and the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mk. V G variant knee pads.

Trivia

 * Kat was voiced by Alona Tal.
 * Kat's voice is available for use in Halo: Reach 's Firefight mode.
 * Kat shares her homeworld with Jun-A266.
 * Kat wears Mark V armor with an AA helmet with an attachment that appears to be the FC-I, albeit without the UA visor-like Attachment, and MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/FJ/PARA variant shoulders.
 * As shown in an early production note, Kat was originally intended to have been born in 2529, and was supposed to have been conscripted as a part of Alpha Company. In this version, she and Carter were the last remaining members of a Spartan-III team known as "Blue Team" (not be be confused with the SPARTAN-II unit). This is also apparent by the similar coloration of their armors in early concept art.
 * The armor of all six members of Noble Team are available for purchase on the Xbox Live Avatar Marketplace. Kat's is available for male Avatars as well as females, but lacks her prosthetic arm.
 * Kat's helmet is available as an Avatar Award and is obtained by earning an Avenger Medal in Matchmaking.
 * Kat's prosthetic arm becomes available after the purchase of Collar/Breacher [R] armor (which is available at Lt. Colonel rank) for 75,000 cR, as well as the Assault/Sapper [R] chest (available at Commander for 250,000 cR) and the HP/Parafoil [R] chest (Available at Colonel for 175,000 cR).
 * According to the Halo: Reach Legendary Edition developer commentary, Kat was originally supposed to laugh when the player killed Moa, due to her reactions towards alien species. It was cut due to the real-life animal cruelty.
 * Kat's nickname and repeated hacking of secure and highly classified information may be a pun on the saying "curiousity killed the cat".
 * There is another possible pun/reference towards the saying when Kat is killed by sniper fire while inquiring why Colonel Holland had made the destruction of Sword Base a Priority One order for Noble Team.
 * Kat and Jorge happen to be the only Spartans on Noble Team without Combat Knives somewhere on their armor.
 * You must be a Colonel to replicate her armor at closely as possible (HP/Parafoil [R] is required), though it is not currently possible to obtain her Default [R] chest and Air Assault/FC-I (minus metal visor) helmet.
 * Despite the B in her service tag, Kat's tag is a reference to the number 7. B is the second letter in the alphabet, so (2(B)+3+2 = 7).
 * During the Halo: Reach developer commentary, Martin O'Donnell comments, "There was some sort of relationship between Carter and Kat at some point." The nature of this relationship is currently unknown.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Reach