Ensign William Lovell was a Junior Officer in the UNSC Navy. He was a member of the command crew of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. During his eventful career, he developed a Career Service Vitae that was at least twice as long as Jacob Keyes'.[2] He had been awarded the Bronze Star award three times.
Biography[]
Early military career[]
Lovell enlisted voluntarily and was immediately enrolled at the Luna Officer Candidate School, due to his high grades. During a training flight, he demonstrated heroism by saving the entire crew, and this helped him to graduate from the academy after only two years.
Upon being commissioned he took the first outbound corvette headed into battle.[3] Within three years he had been promoted to Lieutenant.[2] He also amassed three Bronze Stars, a Silver Star, and two Purple Hearts, and served aboard the UNSC Gorgon for a period of four years.
Trouble[]
A promising career was rocked by a series of mishaps: four reports of insubordination and two transfers. Ultimately, his demotion back to Ensign may have been caused by an "incident" involving Anna Gerov, a civilian and possible daughter of Vice Admiral Gerov.[2]
Lovell was reassigned to Remote Scanning Outpost Archimedes on the fringes of the Sigma Octanus system. He was there for a year, an unheard of duration for such a remote facility.[2] This was partially his own choice, due to his judgment that he had broken under pressure and, having seen so much death, was content with the isolation and relative safety of the outpost.
Later military career[]
In 2552, while on Archimedes, he detected the silhouette of Covenant ships headed for the Sigma Octanus. While he did not positively identify the silhouette as such,[4] his report allowed UNSC forces to converge in defense of the system in time to win the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV. Lovell was reassigned to the UNSC Iroquois under Captain Jacob Keyes, replacing Lieutenant Jaggers as navigation officer. There he participated more actively in the battle.[5]
Shortly afterward, Lovell was transferred with the rest of the command crew to Keyes' new ship, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn and participated in the Fall of Reach. Despite his low rank, and the surprise it caused among the bridge crew, Lovell performed skillfully, even under pressure. He and Cortana successfully extracted the ship from the disaster. When the ship was abandoned during the Battle of Installation 04, Lovell piloted and landed his Bumblebee lifepod (Kilo Tango Victor 17) containing Keyes, the command crew, and the Covenant spy Isna 'Nosolee. Keyes described him as seeming to be doing a lot better than when he first came on board very troubled, indicating that his work under Keyes has helped him recover somewhat from his past and the horrors he witnessed that made him apparently break.
Death[]
After landing, he and the rest of the lifepod group attempted to escape the Covenant, successfully for some time. Because they were wanted alive, the small group manage to inflict heavy damage on the Covenant, who could not harm them. Ultimately, they were captured by the Covenant after being betrayed by Ensign Ellen Dowski. In an attempt to avoid execution, he made a desperate dive for a M6D Sidearm, but was shot and killed by a Sangheili Minor with a Plasma Pistol.
Trivia[]
- In The Fall of Reach novel, he is named "William Lovell," but is later named by Captain Keyes as "Michael Lovell."
Appearances[]
- Halo: The Fall of Reach (First appearance)
- Halo: Combat Evolved
- Halo: The Flood
- Halo: Fall of Reach - Covenant
- Issue 3, 4