i go back on what i said earlier, Halseys not THAT much of a bitch. she does believe they are not true spartans, but the only ones that could come close to the real thing where the handfull in Ghost of Onyx. SPARTAN-IIIs are not true spartans. they are like, umm, its like saying a dollar menu burger is the same as the angus beef. you can guess which is the IIs and IIIs. they werent trained as hard, even though pretty hard, they were meant only for suicide missions, they didnt have the same augmentation chemicals, with greater survival rate i guess trades of for the fact they are like ODSTs that can take a few more hits. the fact of all this just proves that with Pillar of Autumn.
scenario- sure, ill get on the mass driver and take out the covenant ship, and you can just take off afterwards even though itll take 2 minutes for you to fly me aboard with you (it may fit in the story line, but maybe 6 could have died on the ship when the covies attacked at HALO, so he wouldnt make an appearance. master cheif wouldnt know!) it may fit the story line for it, but there were other possibilities for him not to be in anything else halo. shot jumping on the pelican, died in the attack, in a life pod that was destroyed, god knows the possibilities!