Awesome Squad

The Awesome Squad are a mercenary group, composed mostly of Elites, that originated from a special operations division of the Covenant Separatists. In its original state, the team consisted of over fifteen members, but over the course of the civil war between the Elites and the Brutes the team was whittled down to only three members, who went on to form a mercenery group to ensure their economic future once the war is over.

Brief History
The group originated from an Elite special operations squadron, who were posted on Shadow of Intent and deployed down to Earth to fight the Flood. Of the fiftenn-strong squad who deployed to the surface of Earth, only eleven returned alive. Three were confirmed dead or infected, one went missing and was presumably killed when the continent of Africa was lightly glassed by the Elites to prevent the Flood from spreading.

During the Battle of the Ark, the squad was once again deployed as a heavy weapons squad after trading weapons with the Humans. They aided the Arbiter in the location of the Cartographer building, and after the Arbiter stole a Banshee to aid Sergeant Johnson in clearing the skies, the eleven members of the squad took down the majority of the Covenant Air Defences and allowed the Pelicans to land and pick up Johnny and his gang.

After losing a member in the destruction of a Seperatist Phantom, the ten members of the squad were deployed against the Loyalist Covenant in the final battle near the Citadel, just outside the main Citadel canyon. After witnessing the dropoff of two Scarabs from a pair of Covenant Phantoms they made it their mission to take out the dropships before they could deploy more forces. The ten-member squadron split into three groups and took Banshees into orbit. After a heated battle, and the destruction of several Elite Banshees, the Brute forces were destroyed and the Scarabs vanquished.

Despite the initial success, the Flood soon attacked the Citadel, and the seven remaining members of the squad had to fight on the front lines against the Flood, with heavy casulties. As the Arbiter and Johnny made their way to High Charity, the Elites and Marines had to clear a landing zone for the Shadow of Intent, and after a heated battle only three members of the Awesome Squad made it into the ship. The dead had their  names listed on the memorial that Hood held at Voi by the Arbiter himself.

Current Operations
But for the three that survived, life went on. After teaming up with two Grunts who trained as expert pilots, and a self-repairing Engineer who contains a downloaded version of a Forerunner Star Map, the gang now flies around Human and Covenant controlled space doing odd-jobs for people, usually involving cleaning, cooking or asassinations.

The Three Elites were a Commando, a Zealot and an Ultra, and were seen to be the height of military prowess, as shown by the fact that they survived the indicent. Their names passed into legend, and they were always referred to by their rank: 'Commando Felto Putanee', 'Zealot Ogdo Nasu Gutamee' and 'Ultra Kipa Moramee'. Statues were erected to them for their achievements and their techniques in combat were adapted for use in League Military Schools.

The gang's antics include the assassination of a corrupt official on a renegade colony world, the destruction of a Borg Cube on the edge of the Trek Galaxy and aiding in the destruction of the Empire of the Hood under orders from the Arbiter. Rumour has it that the gang even prevented the outbreak of Forerunner holograms into our Galaxy, which they were rewarded for by the highest court of the League. According to the governers of that time 'The act of preventing pure idiocy from escaping into our Galaxy is worthy of the highest knighthood that the League has to offer. However, since the League no longer offers knighthoods, we will have to settle for a simple Anti-Failure Trophy'. The Trophy is made of pure failailium and is lethal to failures like the Forerunners.