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SPARTAN-025, also known as Marco-025, Marco Wade, and the callsign of BULLDOZER, was a SPARTAN-II Commando of the top secret Project SIGMA. Marco was a versatile Spartan and was proficient in most fields of combat, though he was best known for his skill in close-quarters fighting. Marco served with distinction during the Human-Covenant War and participated in numerous battles alongside his team.
Marco was one of the preliminary 150 candidates selected by Dr. Catherine Halsey as part of the SPARTAN-II Program. Due to budget restraints, he became one of the seventy five not abducted and taken to Reach training. However, an Office of Naval Intelligence contractor, Doctor Calvin Roe, was given permission to take twenty of the remaining children on as part of a secret project without Halsey's knowledge. Marco and nineteen others were abducted and given identical training to that of Halsey's Spartans on Reach under the tutelage of Richard Mack Senior In 2525, Marco underwent the surgical augmentations that would transform him into a Spartan. He and the others survived the augmentations and were split into separate teams, each under the impression that their own team were the only living members of SIGMA. Shortly after, Jack-085 and Ahmad-126 tried to convince him to leave the base and go on the run. Marco reluctantly declined, leaving the other two Spartans to escape; Ahmad supposedly committed suicide after being cornered while Jack disappeared for many years.
Throughout the Human-Covenant War, Marco fought valiantly in hundreds of battles and campaigns, participating in major events such as the Siege of Fargad, the Fall of Reach and the Battle of Earth. Following the conflict's end, he and his fellow SPARTAN-II's remained as part of the UNSC Navy instead of joining the newly-formed Spartan Branch and continued to participate in classified operations on ONI's orders.
Career Service Vitae
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Biography
Early Life
Marco John Wade was born in the United Kingdom's capital city of London[1] on Earth on April 2nd, 2511 to two immigrants from from Madrigal. From an early age Marco exhibited many superior qualities that marked him from his peers, including heightened intelligence, strength, and stamina. Growing up in London was tough for the young Marco as his parents struggled to make ends meet for several years, relying on various daycare centres to look after the child. When Marco was three years old, his younger brother, Michael, was born, giving him a natural instinct to protect his younger sibling even at such an early stage. Despite these hardships, he had a fairly happy, normal childhood.
During his first year of schooling at age five, Marco was first noticed by the Office of Naval Intelligence after a routine blood test and report, which noted his advanced mental and physical capabilities. These qualities marked him out as a viable candidate for the SPARTAN-II Program. In early 2517, Doctor Catherine Halsey, who was making personal visits to every prospective recruit, visited Marco's school under the guise of being a special observer. There, she interviewed him, asking various questions pertaining to his views and own personality. In spite of his young age Marco was able to answer her each time, though he distrusted Halsey, seeing through the kind façade she put on while speaking to him. After some time, Marco was placed in the list of seventy five candidates who would not be used for SPARTAN-II due to funding reasons; ONI agents under Halsey would kidnap dozens of other children, taking them to Reach for their own training. This did not mean that Marco and the others were forgotten about. Calvin Roe, a scientist working in the same intelligence division as Halsey, was informed about SPARTAN-II, and managed to convince the upper echelons of ONI to create second group of Spartans on Earth. This was accepted, and Marco and nineteen others were selected for adduction while facilities were made for this group's training.
Training
Marco was abducted at the age of six by ONI agents while playing outside and was taken to a secret military base in Washington DC, in the United Republic of North America on the orders of Doctor Calvin Roe. Marco hated Roe's callous attitude towards him and the other children and cold demeanour from day one. The key reason for these Spartans being trained was for the purposes of ONI having it's own SPARTAN group away from Halsey, who was mistrusted by some. There were many plans drawn up for these potential super soldiers from the beginning, one of the main ones being that they could be used as personal assassins for certain high-ranking members of Naval Intelligence in addition to the proposed operations against the Insurrection. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Mack Senior, a renowned special forces hero, was chosen to train these Spartans on Earth. However, the beginning of the Human-Covenant War changed these plans, causing the majority of the Sigma Spartans to be deployed against the alien threat. The young Spartans were also educated by Leonard, a 'dumb' AI that taught them a great deal about military history and strategies, alongside many basic skills such as writing and mathematics.
During training, he became good friends with Wulf-041, Jack-085, Elena-071 and Nef-015. He was one of the top candidates in training, and though he lacked the leadership style and efficiency that defined Fenn-145 and Kane-099 he made up for it in sheer strength and determination to succeed. He and Elena often came out near the top when working in a pair, and with Jack they were nigh-unstoppable in training rounds; they could never best Fenn in combat simulations, however. Doctor Roe, who had a long standing dislike of Marco, would often try to split the trio up. The implementation of a leaderboard for the Sigma Spartans by Roe only made the trainees strive harder to win, and it began to drive a wedge between Marco and the ultra-competitive Jack towards the end of their training.
Project SIGMA's top eight trainees, circa 2520.
At the age of fourteen, Marco and the other candidates were taken for the augmentations that would make them into the supersoldiers the UNSC needed. Nine of them, including Elena, were apparently killed during the augmentations. However, unbeknownst to Marco's team, there had not been any casualties, the Spartans being placed in separate groups. The others were left to recuperate. After three weeks two of the Spartans, Ahmad-126 and Jack-085, escaped, killing several guards. The two were confronted by Marco during their escape from the facility. In spite of Jack's pleas, Marco refused to leave as he truly believed that they would make a difference as Spartans. Jack angrily insulted Marco for his refusal and left him behind, killing several guards as he and Ahmad escaped.
This would always be something of a regret in Marco's life, the Spartan always wondering if he should have left with his friends. Later on, Marco came to accept that humanity needed him, and all of his fellow Spartans, running away would never change that. Ahmad later appeared killed himself not long after his escape, and Jack evaded capture and was not seen again for many, many years, at least by the UNSC. Marco was questioned by Roe and Mack for his lack of action against them during the escape attempt, and though he was not initially punished the pair admitted that they were greatly disappointed in him. The loss of several of his comrades, including his two best friends, Elena-071 in particular, was hard on Marco at the time. Thinking the other nine Spartans to be dead, he spent several days in mourning, until encouragement from his team mates and his own personal resolve helped him to overcome his grief after he recuperated from his augmentation procedures. Seemingly friendless even within the tight-knit group, Marco resolved to face whatever the future would throw at him.
First Mission
- "I'll never forget Gallis. The first time I ever killed another human being. The slaughter. His voice."
- ―Marco recounting the event in his later years.
In January 2526, Sigma team was sent on their first mission against some Insurrectionists that had entrenched themselves on the small colony world of Gallis. UNSC forces had managed to drive them out of most areas of the planet, but a few thousand had been holding off the UNSC attackers in the capital city, and were threatening a mass civilian killing with a captured FENRIS nuclear warhead. The decision was made prior to the operation to split Sigma into three teams of three. The first consisted of Kane-099, Marco-025 and Jacob-076, who would attack the Insurrectionists main camp and capture their leader. The second - Fenn-145, Wulf-041 and Resk-063 - would find the bomb and disarm it. Meanwhile Jax-007, Nef-015 and Amy-133 would disable the rebel vehicles and signal the nearby Marine forces to attack when ready. Sigma were dropped into the underground sewer via a maintenance pipe, and travelled along it until they found the access point. They knew that they would have only have minutes to act before the alarm was raised by rebel forces.
Marco aged 15 in 2526, shortly after the augmentation procedures.
The three teams set charges to each hatch and when they were all in position, quietly blew them open and began the operation. Jacob led Marco and Kane towards the camp, eliminating sentries as they moved in to attack. Eventually, an alarm was triggered as another group moved into a rebel trap, putting the entire base on high alert. With no point to steal, Marco and the others launched a full assault against the poorly-equipped Insurrectionists. While he had been trained for years utterly dehumanise the enemy and kill without hesitation, Marco felt somewhat ashamed for participating in what was essentially a massacre of dozens of rebels, most of whom died without weapons or were attempting to retreat. Moving away from his comrades, Marco came across what looked like the Insurrectionist leader's room. As he entered, a recorded message began to play taunting the Spartans specifically. As a timer began to count down, Marco fled.
As Marco exited the building, numerous explosive devices detonated inside, sending the Spartan flying but leaving him otherwise unhurt. Kane and Jacob approached him, asking what had happened. He told them that the rebel leader had already left the planet, and that the building was trapped with explosives. Soon, Fenn's group arrived to reinforce them and the other Spartans radioed in, saying that there was no actual bomb and that they needed backup. Marco and the others hurried back to their location and swiftly overwhelmed the rebel attackers in combat. Fenn-145 then called in the waiting UNSC forces, who secured the area from the remainder of the insurrectionists. Sigma Team was extracted by Pelican. Marco was silent the whole way back, pondering over the message, and how this rebel leader had somehow known that they would come. While he feared that Jack-085 had been leading the rebels on Gallis, he could not back up this belief and told no one of the recording.
When they returned to Earth, they were greeted by Doctor Calvin Roe and Lieutenant Colonel Richard Mack Senior. Like the other Spartans, they were assigned to the UNSC Special Warfare Command. However, Sigma Team answered to orders directly from ONI above those of the Navy. They were also given their official military ranks. Fenn-145 was given the high rank of Chief Petty Officer due his amazing strategic and leadership skills. Kane-099 was second in command, given the rank of Petty Officer First Class. The other members of the team were all given the rank of Petty Officer Second Class. However, due to his lack of action against Jack and Ahmad in the breakout a year previously, Marco was given the rank of Petty Officer Third Class. This put him as the lowest-ranking SPARTAN in Sigma Team, though it had little function other than to humiliate him. This only solidified Marco's hatred for Roe before they left the SIGMA complex on Earth for good. Sigma Team would spend several years destroying Insurrectionist groups in the Inner Colonies as news of the Covenant threat began to spread and entire worlds were destroyed by the relentless alien forces.
Contact with the Covenant
Main Article: Skirmish on Brennus
On the 21st of December, 2530, Sigma came into contact with Covenant forces on land for the first time after several years of destroying Insurrectionist strongholds. The Spartans were sent to a research station on the outer colony world of Brennus. The station had gone quiet, and not knowing if it was Insurrectionists or Covenant, The nine Spartans were given orders to secure the station, and destroy any kind of navigational data, as per the Cole Protocol. When the Spartans moved towards the facility, they found it overrun by Covenant forces. Fenn-145 ordered Marco, Nef and Wulf to flank the large number of enemies outside and move into the building while the other members of the team got the attention of the enemies guarding the facility, and would secure the perimeter, ensuring that no Covenant soldiers could escape if they had any data.
Marco with Amy-133 in their earliest MJOLNIR suits
Marco's team moved into the facility, eliminating several hostiles as they cleared it out. Eventually, they came to the main data centre, where they found an unknown species of alien that appeared to be accessing the Facility's database. Nef-015 shot it in the head, killing it instantly. Having secured the perimeter, Sigma Team then set explosive charges around the base after purging the computer systems. They destroyed the facility to make sure that the Covenant could not make use of it in any way. Sigma Team was then extracted from the colony via Pelican after destroying the research facility, having ensured that no data was captured by the enemy. Brennus was glassed several months later when Covenant ships arrived to find their advance teams wiped out. The experience of battling the Covenant on the ground proved to ONI the effectiveness of their SPARTAN teams against the enemy.
Battle of Sethlans
In June of 2534, several members of Sigma Team were dispatched to the Outer Colony world of Sethlans after news spread of Covenant sightings on the planet. While the colony had few settlements outside of large-scale mining stations due to its inhospitable terrain, it was important enough to warrant a Spartan deployment, with an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper team known as Whiskey-04 to act as backup for the supersoldiers. Alongside Jacob-076, Nef-015 and Wulf-041, Marco arrived quietly in a retrofitted U81 Condor, provided by the Office of Naval Intelligence. With the SPARTAN-II Program and Sigma in particular still an official secret, they allowed Whiskey-04 to handle the colonists after their own landing in a small Corvette while they spread out to begin their investigation.
After spending almost a day trudging through the volcanic landscape of Sethlans, the Spartans sighted a Covenant Ghost moving across the landscape ahead of them, followed closely by a heavy-duty miner's vehicle. Though on foot, they were able to track the pair to a cave network miles away from the primary settlement, guarded by a number of Jackals. Spending several hours monitoring the base, they correctly surmised that the colonists were trading equipment with the Jackals - known for their rather unscrupulous behaviour - in secret, possibly in exchange for their colony's continued survival. As the Human vehicle departed the caves, Jacob ordered Nef to take the driver into custody while the others eliminated the alien threat. Marco and Wulf led the attack, moving inside while Jacob covered the entrance from afar. While heavily outnumbered, the two Spartans took their foes completely by surprise and killed dozens as they moved inside the cave. Most who attempted to flee were taken out by Sigma's marksman as they exited onto open ground, though several Jackals managed to evade them and made it aboard a shuttlecraft, taking off from Sethlans before the Spartans could stop them.
Marco navigating the dangerous terrain of Sethlans' surface.
Fearing immediate reprisal from a larger Covenant military force, Sigma contacted Whiskey and requested that they have the colonists prepare for a possible attack. They then met up with Nef, who had ambushed the mining vehicle and arrested both men inside. It took little questioning for them to reveal that they had been trading a cut of the minerals they mined to the Jackals in exchange for Covenant fusion reactors, whose power output far surpassed those of any Human machines. While the civilians argued that the Jackals they had traded with possessed no ill-will towards Humanity and were supposedly unaffiliated with the Covenant, Marco harshly rebuked them for putting their entire planet in danger before heading back towards the local settlement. It was there that they met up with Major John Ackton and the rest of Whiskey, who had discovered the Covenant reactors. As it seemed like only a tiny fraction of the colonists were aware of their existence and there was a very real possibility of Covenant invasion, the Spartans neglected to investigate further and focused on preparing the colony for attack.
As Sethlans was primarily a mining colony, there were few weapons aside from some small arms carried by security guards, though some mining equipment could be repurposed for battle if need be. While there was no activity overnight, word arrived the following morning that a Covenant RPV-class Destroyer had arrived in-system and was heading towards the planet. While an emergency hail had been sent out, UNSC forces were at least a day away via slipspace travel and the corvette the ODST's had arrived in would stand no chance against it in combat. To make matters worse, Sethlans' possessed too few transport ships to evacuate the entire population, as it largely relied on the monthly shipping vessels that transported ore to take people in or out-system. Unwilling to abandon the populace to their fate, Sigma quickly formulated a dangerous plan to launch a counter-attack. While they had cleared out the caves, the Jackals had left a great deal of valuable equipment behind. Knowing that the aliens were greedier and more materialistic than their faith-driven brethren, Jacob had Marco and Wulf return there and wait for them to come back for their possessions while he and Nef protected the mining settlement alongside Whiskey-04.
Before long, Phantom dropships began arriving from orbit to attack the colony, unleashing hordes of vicious Covenant warriors. Still waiting in the cave, Marco was told by Jacob that the attack force seemed to primarily be made of Grunts and Jackals, with no sightings of any feared Elite warriors or monstrous Hunters that usually made up the backbone of alien forces. Nearly half an hour into the battle, the same shuttle arrived at the cave, filled with Jackal raiders. The birdlike aliens were so intent on retrieving their treasures that they did not notice the Spartans until it was too late. Killing the group in seconds, the pair managed to hijack the shuttle before they called for help and left Sethlans' atmosphere without any trouble, heading back towards the destroyer. As they neared it, Marco noticed that it seemed heavily damaged, while Wulf noted how unusual it was for the Covenant to send a single ship to a planet when any Human activity was usually meant with a fleet capable of glassing an entire world. Surprisingly, Wulf's mediocre piloting skills went unnoticed as they landed in the ship's hangar and surprised the deck crew, sweeping through the destroyer's corridors as quickly as possible. When they reached the bridge, the Spartans were surprised to find the vessel captained by a Jackal Shipmistress, whose paltry defence was no match for the two supersoldiers. Furthermore, the ship was in terrible shape; most of its weapon systems were offline and the hull bore the marks of numerous plasma strikes. Correctly assuming that this was a pirate vessel instead of a Covenant military ship, Marco suggested that they simply sabotage the ship's engines and leave before it blew, retrieving any valuable data for ONI to analyse later.
With most of the destroyer's crew fighting on the ground, the Spartans met little resistance en-route to the engine room, where they planted several plasma charges stolen from the ship's armoury. Marco and Wulf quickly escaped in the shuttle they'd arrived in, making it back to Sethlans' surface as the vessel blew apart in orbit. The battle, though vicious, had been won with no casualties; Whiskey and Sigma's superior tactics had easily undone and torn apart the assault force. With Sethlans more or less safe, the Spartans had most of the populace kept in their homes for the next day while they supposedly scoured the surrounding area for hostiles. In reality, Major Ackton had ordered for those collaborating with the Covenant to be interrogated and the Covenant fusion reactors removed, just in case. Backup arrived the following morning in the shape of a sizeable Battlegroup, whose Marine contingent took over on the ground while the SPARTAN-II's and Whiskey-04 quietly left the system. Though they had saved the planet, their actions would likely never see the light of day due to the heavy veil of secrecy surrounding Project SIGMA and SPARTAN-II as the victory was attributed to the vague 'UNSC Special Forces' in the media afterwards.
Battle of the Bonanza Asteroid Belt
In early 2537, Sigma Team were alerted to an impending Covenant attack on a UNSC fleet in the far-off Bonanza Asteroid Belt. While nowhere near the war's frontlines and on the very edge of colonised space, the Office of Naval Intelligence had a science station located on one of the larger asteroids and the area had been used as a staging ground for UNSC ships to repair and refit en-route to battle using hidden SSR stations. After Covenant forces had managed to fit a tracking device on a Frigate fleeing a far-off skirmish, they were able to move in a fleet to the system. With enemy ships moving over the belt and dispatching thousands of troops to search for UNSC outposts, ONI brought in the Spartans to secure any research data and fend off the Covenant by any means necessary.
Marco fighting in the Bonanza Asteroid Belt.
Deploying in the asteroid belt from an ONI Prowler, Marco was part of a team with Fenn-145, Jax-007 and Nef-015. While the rest of Sigma moved to lay mines across the outer edges of the belt to trap the incoming Covenant forces, their group was to move in and secure the research data. Having heavily modified their MJOLNIR suits to help them move and fight for longer in a vacuum, Marco's team soon arrived at the station to find it already under attack by a group of Sangheili Rangers. Though the Spartans easily dispatched them, their foe was able to signal for reinforcements, forcing the Spartans inside as Covenant dropships broke through the heavily-trapped asteroid field towards their position. After ordering Nef to secure all data held within the facility, Fenn had Marco and Jax escort the remaining scientists and guards to the nearby shuttle bay as they began an evacuation.
As Marco and his comrades prepared the shuttles for launch, they were informed of a newly-arrived UNSC battlegroup, called in to repel the Covenant attack. Due to the asteroid belt's close proximity to many valuable refit stations and the dangers of using MAC guns in such an environment, the allied ships used the rocks for cover to move in close to their foes before deploying hundreds of EVA-equipped special forces personnel. While an incredibly risky and near-suicidal move in tactical terms, these troops were able to board the Covenant vessels and within the hour had blown apart three from the inside. Watching from afar as they fended off waves of attackers by the facility, Marco was impressed at the mission's success, though he was unaware of the existence of SPARTAN-III's at the time. Eventually the last-remaining Covenant vessel, a damaged CCS-class Battlecruiser, attempted to retreat from the system. As it moved out of the Bonanza belt to attempt a slipspace jump, it triggered a number of HORNET mines placed by Sigma's insertion Prowler that badly damaged its shields and hull and allowed the nearby UNSC Frigates to destroy it with volley after volley of missiles.
Sigma Team were retrieved from the asteroid belt shortly after regrouping at the science station and covertly left the system that day. While the UNSC had won a surprising victory that day, they were forced to abandon the system immediately due to the Covenant knowing its location, moving out their SSR stations and personnel to another secluded location away from the frontlines. Marco expressed interest in learning the identity of the unknown personnel who had taken out several Covenant ships, and was surprised to find any data on them to be either missing or heavily classified. In spite of this mystery, both he and the rest of Sigma were pleased to have successfully won a victory against the Covenant, one of few as their foe slowly conquered the Outer Colonies.
Beta Taurius II Campaign
Main Article: Beta Taurius II Campaign
In early 2538, Sigma Team were assigned to a force led by the famed Admiral Preston J. Cole to assist the beleaguered UNSC forces there. Cole's fleet quickly gained the advantage in orbit and quickly deployed the SPARTAN-II team groundside to help where the fighting was thickest. Marco joined Wulf and Kane in an infiltration mission behind enemy lines shortly after their arrival, the trio successfully getting inside a heavily fortified enemy camp and assassinating a Sangheili general before escaping unseen. These operations would carry on for some time, until Sigma was recalled for a campaign situated in the arctic region of Beta Taurius II. Here they fought on the frontline against a well-organised and equipped Covenant army in several desperate battles. It was largely through Spartan intervention that the UNSC forces were able to hold their ground for so long, particularly with the space battle above being evenly matched.
Once the campaign began in the planet's northern polar region, Sigma were reunited to help lead the assault against an entrenched Covenant encampment there. While a large armoured company held up the bulk of enemy forces, the Spartans and a number of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers were covertly deployed by a nearby ice shelf, climbing above the encampment to scope it out before the eventual assault. It was revealed that they had used their cloaking technology and a Spire to conceal a CCS-Class Battlecruiser above the site, which was deploying hundreds of troops to overwhelm the UNSC forces below. Marco, Amy, Wulf and Nef were sent to take out the spire with C-12 charges while the rest of Sigma and their ODST comrades caused havoc around the Covenant encampment. The eventual plan was to call in for support from Admiral Cole's ships to hit the battlecruiser once its shields came down. Marco's group were successful in their endeavour, bringing down the spire onto the enemy camp and killing hundreds of foes in the process. As Cole's ships neared their location, the Spartans regrouped with their comrades on the camp's outskirts and were evacuated via Falcon. The allied ships tore the battlecruiser to pieces with targeted MAC rounds and scored a victory for the UNSC that day.
Sigma Team would spend several months enduring hard fighting on Beta Taurius II as Covenant and UNSC reinforcements battled over the colony world. Even with the legendary Preston Cole leading the defence, the Covenant fleet was eventually able to break the human lines and began to glass the planet. The Spartans, who had been engaging in bloody trench warfare for some time in the southern hemisphere, were given priority for immediate evacuation. Marco was greatly displeased when the first Pelican to arrive demanded that Sigma board it rather than the Marines who had been worn down by the constant fighting. Nonetheless, he followed orders and left the planet with his comrades. Sigma Team was taken aboard the UNSC Everest following the end of the lengthy battle and commended by Admiral Cole personally for their efforts in trying to secure the colony world. Though the UNSC were defeated, they had inflicted massive casualties to their foe in the process, largely in thanks to the efforts of Sigma and several other SPARTAN-II teams on the planet. Even so, Marco was uneasy following the loss of the planet, which gave the Covenant a chance to begin attacking Inner Colony worlds.
Raid on the Umbra Tempestus
In December of 2544, Sigma Team was alerted to an attack on the Umbra Tempestus, an older Hillsborough-class Destroyer being used to transport important supplies to staging points for the UNSC Navy. Due to the remote location in which it was ambushed an Insurrectionist attack was not ruled out, though ONI was unwilling to risk a vessel with navigation data leading to Earth and the Inner Colonies being taken by a possible Covenant force. As such, the entire Spartan Team was dispatched on this vital mission with orders to secure any navigational data and to scuttle the Destroyer if necessary.
Arriving with a Battlegroup of six ships, Sigma Team were deployed via Pelican dropship and though an initial scan revealed that one the ship's hangar bays had been left open, giving them an entrance to land. After Marco and Wulf expressed their concerns after getting a bad feeling about the situation, Fenn had Amy, Resk, Kane and Nef remain aboard their dropship with orders to circle round and secure secondary access points to the Umbra Tempestus. With Marco taking the lead, the rest of Sigma moved deeper into the vessel, which had lost all power besides its most basic life support systems. As the ship's elevators were non-functional, the Spartans were made to traverse the length of the vessel and utilise maintenance corridors as they moved towards the upper decks.
Eventually reaching the Destroyer's bridge, the Spartans found that the Umbra Tempestus' entire computer system and navigational data had been wiped clean by the crew, with signs of battle marking the area. Upon discovering evidence of severe plasma damage nearby, Marco confirmed that the ship had indeed been attacked by the Covenant. Thankfully, it seemed that the crew had deleted their NAV data, though the vessel was seemingly irreparable and the mysterious circumstances in which it was found made Marco and his comrades suspicious. Fenn immediately gave the order to destroy the vessel, and as the Spartans prepared to set up detonation charges the power re-activated, revealing dozens of heavily-armed SpecOps Sangheili who had hidden along locked corridors and prepared to ambush the supersoldiers.
Though they were taken by surprise as a sudden mass of Sangheili attacked them, Sigma Team held their ground on the ship's bridge and set up a killzone across every possible entrance. However, their limited ammunition and the fact that it was a dead end meant that they could only fend off their foe briefly. Marco and Jax took it upon themselves to cover the main entrance, taking swords from fallen Sangheili and engaging in a bloody melee while Jacob got to work at one of the Destroyer's main stations. While they had been thorough in sabotaging the Umbra Tempestus' systems, the Covenant had made enough errors in rerouting the ship's systems for the SPARTAN-II's to exploit and turn against them as they deactivated the ship's artificial gravity. In the brief time it took their ambushers to adapt, the Spartans took their chance and made a break for the vessel's lower decks and their hangar, signalling for backup from the rest of Sigma as they went.
Ambushed by the Covenant, Marco came close to death aboard the Umbra Tempestus.
En-route, it became clear that the Covenant had planned this operation well in advance. Marco and the others were hit numerous times with glancing shots from plasma weapons, though after their initial rush the Sangheili were wary of engaging the Spartans in close quarters combat. As they moved downstairs, a nearby wall was blown apart by a team of enemy Rangers, who had hidden in a set of maintenance tunnels and attempted to drive Sigma out of the airlocks. As he pushed Wulf into an alcove for cover, Marco was suddenly hit thrice by blasts from a fuel rod gun and thrown across the corridor. With most of his back and right side horribly scorched, the Spartan was rendered immobile and in intense pain while Jacob-076 dragged him out to safety. Marco struggled to remain conscious, using his left hand to fight back with an M6D Magnum.
While pinned down yet again, Sigma's proximity to an airlock would have given them an excellent avenue of escape were it not for Marco's heavily-breached MJOLNIR suit and injuries making it impossible for him to engage in EVA activity. As such, Fenn radioed for Kane and the others aboard their Pelican to move directly outside the airlock and open the dropship's rear hatch for a quick extraction. While Jax, Wulf and Jacob ensured that any attackers were kept at bay with sporadic rifle fire, Marco was tied to Fenn with a length of cable for what would be a very short trip through space. It did not take long for their comrades to arrive, and after a brief moment of preparation the Spartans opened the airlock and leapt into the Pelican's waiting compartment. The moment Sigma Team was clear of the Umbra Tempestus the order was given for the rest of the fleet to open fire, tearing the Destroyer apart and killing the remaining Sangheili as they attempted to escape aboard a small ship in one of the other hangars.
The attack and Marco's near-death experience made it clear that their foe had moved far beyond their usual strategy of relentless assaults and the occasional infiltration mission, with several members of Sigma convinced that the Umbra Tempestus trap had been set for the sole purpose of eliminating the Spartans. Marco, who lost consciousness before they returned to the fleet, underwent a number of surgical procedures to deal with the severe plasma burns incurred during the mission. While there was thankfully no permanent damage, save some severe scarring, his MJOLNIR suit's systems were irreparable and the armour had to be scrapped after thirteen years of usage. Several other members of Sigma had begun to feel the wear and tear on their own suits after so long in the field, and with the advent of a number of important technological upgrades the SPARTAN-II's decided to take on improved, more heavily-armoured MJOLNIR systems as the Inner Colony Sieges began.
Fall of Kurovan
In 2545, news arrived that a sizeable Covenant fleet was on its way toward Kurovan, a heavily populated planet in the Inner Colonies. Though this was one of their foe's earliest assaults this far into Human-controlled space, the UNSC had been shoring up the planet's defences and had Sigma in orbit when news of an impending attack arrived. For two days, the Spartans were tasked with overssing the evacuation of civilians from Kurovan's major cities while the Covenant fleet attacked the system's outlying planets, which had been left to fend for themselves. Marco, along with Amy-133 and Resk-063, was in the capital city, escorting several VIP's at the time. Their building was hit by Banshee fire as they were in a lift. It rocketed to the ground, killing the VIP's, but leaving the Spartans more or less unharmed.
The Covenant had decided to land most of their ground forces in the city, and were gradually working their way to the Office of Naval Intelligence's local headquarters and its valuable data storage. Marco, Resk and Amy soon received a call for backup from Fenn-145, who had holed up within the ONI building alongside a small security force, and began making their way towards his location. The fleet above Kurovan was taking heavy fire and despite having taken out four CRS-class cruisers, they had lost two thirds of their ships. Around this time, ODST squads were dropped in from orbit into the capital city. Among them was Whiskey-04, Sigma's trusted backup team. After coming into contact with Whiskey, Marco advised that they meet up with Kane's group in the north while they continued on their mission
Marco during the Fall of Kurovan
Marco's team had also been making their way towards the ONI building. On the way, they met up with Wulf-041, who had been rallying troops near an abandoned hotel. The four Spartans, along with the surviving marines, made their way towards the government building, in the city centre. Upon arrival, Marco was almost shot by a Sniper, had it not been for Amy-133, who pushed him out of the way. The Spartans were forced to take cover as a column of wraiths entered the area.While Resk and Marco engaged the enemy, Amy searched the rubble for anything of use. Eventually, she found several small propane canisters, and after some work, she had made a small bomb, put inside a children's stuffed teddy bear. When the wraith's began to move past the building, she threw and ignited it, destroying the wraith, and blocking the path of the others. Resk called for a bombing run on the area, as the Wraiths began to destroy their hiding place. It was approved, and the Spartans and Marines fled as the area was blown up by a shortsword bombing run. Marco later commented on Amy's bomb, saying that she was probably the "scariest person" he knew. With more Covenant troops heading towards them, the Spartans changed their mission directive to stemming the tide of enemy reinforcements and left defending ONI's headquarters to Whiskey-04.
Whiskey kept in contact with Marco and had reached the ONI building, but not without some difficulty. They had been ambushed by a Sangheili patrol, and had lost several troopers, leaving only three survivors: Major John Ackton, First Lieutenant Steven Embry, and Sergeant Major Richard Mack. In another part of the city, Kane-099's team met up with Resk-063's and they formulated a plan: Marco, Jax and Nef would lead a counter-attack using Scorpion tanks and Warthogs to break through Covenant lines with the intention of plantint a beacon underneath a Covenant Cruiser, which had come in over the city to deliver reinforcements. Amy-133 and Wulf-041 would head to the ONI building, and complete Whiskey's mission if they failed. Inside, they would meet up with the squad leader, Fenn-145. Jacob-076, Kane-099 and Resk-063 would find transport to leave the city, and call in for bombing runs where necessary.
With Sigma leading the resistance in the city, Whiskey-04 continued onwards into the data centre, where they found Fenn-145 at work on the main computer. He had been coordinating UNSC attacks, and he needed defending long enough to get an SOS out to local Human forces. Meanwhile, Marco's attack had successfully been able to penetrate the Covenant defences, and after Reaching the base of the Supercarrier, knew that their beacon would not be enough to destroy the ship, so he formulated a new plan: They would capture the ship. Using the ship's gravity lift, Marco, along with Jax-007, Nef-015 and a dozen surviving marines, entered the Cruiser, and after over half an hour of intense fighting, had managed to secure the bridge. Marco killed the Sangehili Shipmaster personally in close quarters. However, not knowing how to accurately pilot the ship, Marco was instead able to plot it on a collision course with the other cruiser orbiting the city. The three Spartans, being the only survivors of their boarding party, escaped the ship via several banshees.
Meanwhile, UNSC forces had been pushed back in the city, fighting fiercely for every street. It was not until the Covenant forces called in a Scarab that the retreat began in earnest. The Scarab was only stopped by a last minute bombing run by the three shortsword fighters that had been providing support throughout the battle. Inside the now-besieged ONI Facility's Data Centre, Fenn-145 had finally been able to send a distress beacon to UNSC forces, and ordered Whiskey to plant explosive charges around the data centre. Wulf-041 and Amy-133 had arrived upstairs, pursued by Covenant forces that had broken through the defensive turrets. After making their way down and finding their commander, The Spartans and ODST's sealed off the floor as best they could, and made their way to the base's emergency escape route: An old monorail leading to the spaceport. The Kurovan Central Spaceport was the main rally point for what was left of the UNSC forces on the planet, and was where the Spartans were making their final stand until everyone else had made it onto transports.
Fenn destroyed the ONI facility remotely while they were on the monorail; by the time they arrived at the spaceport all hell had broken loose. Covenant forces had breached the wall and were attacking the fleeing humans. Many transports had made it away; the Covenant fleet seemed too busy glassing the planet rather than paying attention to the small freighters escaping. The nine SPARTAN-II's met up, and after successfully driving the Covenant attackers back, took off in the last transport along with Whiskey-04 before they could regroup. Sigma and Whiskey made it off of Kurovan hours before the entire planet was glassed by the Covenant. Marco was surprised that he and the entire team had made it through with only superficial injuries. The tactics employed by the Spartans, coordinated by Fenn-145, were astounding, though the UNSC lost the planet, they considered Kurovan to be one of the finest examples of Spartan tactical prowess as they inflicted major casualties on their foe.
Battle of Draco III
Main Article: Battle of Draco III
Shortly after fighting on Kurovan, Sigma were dispatched to Draco III, which was being used as a staging area for UNSC forces. When they arrived aboard the UNSC Bright New Day, it was discovered that the planet was already under attack by Covenant forces. The frigate, under the command of Captain Uriah Maxon, deployed the SPARTAN team via SOEIV pods before moving in to assist the decimated human fleet in holding off the Covenant invaders.
Sigma Team arriving on Draco III
The three Spartans immediately engaged the Sangheili team, who despite their active camouflage, were hopelessly outmatched by their foes. It was here that Marco first crossed paths with Felo 'Ranakee, who was then a Major in the Covenant Military. The two fought in hand to hand combat for some time before the Sangheili was forced to retreat alongside the remnants of his team. Though the enemy had been driven off, the gun was a smoking ruin, forcing the Spartans to regroup with the rest of Sigma at the city waterworks. The rest of Sigma had brought the Covenant advance to a standstill, Amy-133's expertise with explosives demolishing several city streets, blocking enemy tanks and forcing their foe to engage in bloody combat within the nearby buildings. However, the sheer amount of enemy forces had been enough to make the Spartans retreat, setting various traps along the way. While in the waterworks, preparing to make another assault, Sigma encountered a depleted ODST squad, led by captain Henry McNair, who had retreated from their emplacement in the outer city after their barricades were overwhelmed.
Upon meeting McNair, a man who had an inherent dislike for Spartans, Sigma was dispatched to defend the city spaceport, which had come under heavy attack by the Covenant. Though the ODST's order was seen as a suicide mission, the team carried it out, making their way on foot to assist the UNSC forces there. Upon reaching the spaceport, Marco and Wulf quickly dispatched a group of Hunters while the rest of the team moved inside to check on the dire situation. After a short conversation with a marine NCO covering the evacuation, it was discovered that a third of the transports had been destroyed already, and those that were able to escape the planet only did so due to the defence fleet's actions, led by the UNSC Pride.
Outside, Marco and Wulf met up with another unit, 'Tango Six Operations', under the command of Captain Kryss-216, a SPARTAN-II Class II. As she outranked the other Spartans, she was led to the command centre to meet with Fenn-145, who had assumed control of the defence efforts and was helping to direct fleeing ships away from the planet safely. SPARTAN-216 explained that a Covenant Scarab was on it's way to the spaceport, and would easily overwhelm the defenders there if not stopped. So, Marco, along with Kryss, Amy, Nef, Jax and Wulf, set out across the city to stop the Covenant assault vehicle in it's tracks before it reached them. Though the narrow streets of the city had impeded the progress of enemy wraiths before, it posed no such threat to the Scarab, which either clambered over buildings or destroyed all in it's path. So, a plan was made to stage an ambush. Kryss would lure the Scarab onto the highway, utilising the speed and manoeuvrability of her motorcycle to stay ahead while Amy, Jax and Wulf would set explosive charges on the side of a weakened building to collapse it on the heavy assault vehicle. As a contingency plan, Marco and Nef would trail it in a warthog and look for an opportunity to board the Scarab if they saw an opportunity.
The trap went ahead almost exactly as planned. The Scarab pursued the 'demon' onto the open highway, and the building, which had been deserted as a result of the city-wide evacuation, was destroyed, it's remains crippling two of it's legs. As it struggled to free itself from the wreckage, the two Spartans climbed aboard, Marco fighting off several elites at close quarters while Nef destroyed the core, giving the two just enough time to escape before the Covenant war machine detonated, taking out a good chunk of the highway. Their mission complete, the Spartans fell back to the New Albany Spaceport, which had come under attack by fresh Covenant troops, that had been able to freely land outside the city with the ground-based MAC guns within destroyed.
Arriving back in time to fend off a wave of attacking enemies, Marco and the others learned that New Albany was the only remaining city on Draco III still under human control; others such as Karnak had been easily taken after Covenant forces overwhelmed the UNSC defenders there. This also meant that the city was one of the only remaining evacuation sites left on the planet. With the last civilian transport launched, along with most of the remaining marine forces, The ten Spartans and remaining ODST's of Tango Six set out for a third evacuation point in the mountains outside New Albany, where a single ground-based MAC still functioned.
Taking the remaining Warthogs and Kryss' motorcycle, the group fled the city through the waterworks, rigging the spaceport to blow by overloading the fusion reactors used to power the area. Not long after leaving the city, an emergency transmission was picked up, emanating from a reactor complex in the wilderness that powered the MAC. It was coming from Echo 1-1, a platoon sized force of ODST's from the 105th regiment, commanded by Captain McNair, who was making a stand there despite being massively outnumbered and outgunned by the Covenant, an entire Covenant Legion bearing down on their position. Responding to the transmission, the Spartans drove off Covenant scouts near the complex before getting inside, where they met with the Captain and his ODST's. There were just under forty Helljumpers defending the vital facility, nowhere near enough to even put up a solid fight to the incoming Covenant forces. After a brief argument with Kryss, whose Naval Captain rank superseded McNair's ground one, the Spartan ended up allowing the veteran soldier to direct his troops while she attempted to hail any UNSC forces that remained on Draco III. This was largely done to placate McNair, who made his dislike of Spartans very clear, and would be needed to keep his platoon in line.
Marco accompanied Nef in placing Lotus anti-tank mines outside the base, and argued about the fact that this new Spartan-a fifteen year old-was commanding them in the field. While Marco had little problem with following Kryss, who had proved to be a capable combatant in New Albany, Nef voiced his concerns about the younger SPARTAN-II's experience, especially in a situation where, if there was no immediate evacuation, the Spartans would have to resort to long-term guerilla warfare. Marco dismissed these thoughts, stating that if Kryss had been trained as they were, then she would have no problems on the battlefield.
Returning to the base, the two Spartans were ordered to join Jax and Kryss in defending the main reactor building, backed up by half a dozen ODST's. Kane and Jacob would provide sniper cover from the roof, while the rest of Sigma and Echo 1-1, McNair included, would draw the Covenant into the secondary reactor, which had been rigged to blow. In the armoury, a Fury tactical nuke had been discovered by one of McNair's men. Plans were made to detonate the device if Covenant forces overwhelmed them completely.
The complex soon came under attack, multiple banshees bombing the outer walls and covering the advancing infantry. Many were shot down by the defenders, though many more were able to destroy large sections of the wall and main gate, allowing for ground forces to gain entry. Marco took down several elites attempting to infiltrate the main facility while Nef and Kryss held off hunters at the main entrance. The two would have been killed had it not been for a timely intervention from Jax, who engaged both of them in close quarters combat, distracting them long enough for Nef to take them out with his Spartan Laser. Though the Spartans and ODST's were inflicting massive casualties on their alien foes, they were still hopelessly outnumbered. Sending out an emergency hail again, Kryss was able to contact the UNSC Bright New Day, which had been supporting what remained of the human fleet in orbit.
The Captain of the Day, Uriah Maxon, immediately sent support down to the surface of the planet, half a dozen pelicans being dispatched, along with several Shortsword bombers to attack the Covenant army. This had some success, though it only served to slow the massive force down. It was discovered that another Covenant army was en-route, having destroyed a human stronghold in the nearby mountains. Seeing that there was no way of holding the Generator Complex any longer, Fenn ordered Sigma to retreat, covering the surviving ODST's as they made their way to the vehicle depot.
The Fury tac-nuke was in the hands of Lieutenant Mira Reyes, McNair's second in command. Her team, who had been situated in the secondary reactor. When she did not respond to McNair's order to activate it on a timed charge, the ODST Captain, along with Marco and several of his soldiers, moved to investigate, only to find her team slaughtered by Iroe 'Nemokee, a Sangheili Officer leading the attack. Engaging him and his bodyguards, Marco was almost defeated by the accomplished swordsman, being saved by McNair, who stabbed the elite repeatedly with a combat knife. This gave the SPARTAN-II enough time to move away and acquire a weapon, though McNair was gravely wounded by his opponent, having his robotic arm sliced off and being slashed across the chest. Marco was able to fire an asault rifle at the elite, breaking through his energy shields and badly wounding him, making him retreat into an outer area of the complex. McNair refused any help from Marco, getting himself to his feet in spite of his wounds. Taking the tac-nuke from his dead comrades, the veteran ODST ordered Marco and everyone else to get away from the area before the device was activated. Marco fled the complex, being picked up by Kryss on her motorcycle and joining the other Spartans and ODST's of Echo 1-1 and Tango 6 in their retreat to the mountains, being constantly harried by Covenant fliers, which had regrouped following the airstrike.
Marco and other members of Sigma fighting on Draco III
As the surviving ODST's of McNair's platoon reached the entrance to the mountainside base, several Seraph formations attacked, bombing the area and killing most of them. By the time the entire human force had reached the top, there were only a few dozen survivors, Spartans included. Jacob-076 get to work on opening the large steel doors that led into what had once been a titanium mine, leaving the others to give him as much time as possible. With dwindling ammo supplies, Marco acquired a missile launcher from a fallen ODST and used it to kill an approaching Hunter pair before expending the last shot on a banshee. The Spartans were performing well in close combat, slaughtering the Covenant infantry and using their weapons against them, but it was only a matter of time before numbers and superior fire overcame them. Jacob was able to open the door for a short amount of time, sabotaging the control panel so they would not be followed.
All of Sigma made it inside before the doors shut, along with the few survivors of Tango Six under Kryss. Three ODST's got inside as well, though one died of her wounds shortly after, leaving Ash Mitchell and Mal Roberts as the only living members of Echo 1-1. As they began to make their way through the interior of the mine the mountain shook as McNair's tactical nuke detonated, destroying most of the valley and obliterating the Covenant Legion there. Fenn was able to establish contact with Captain Maxon once more, arranging for a Pelican pickup at the exit of the mine. The group was able to make it out in the early hours of the next morning.
Upon reaching the extraction zone, Marco learned of the slaughter that had occurred within Draco III's other cities, and was disturbed to learn that the UNSC had seemingly abandoned the people there. In retaliation, several other Spartan groups had been dispatched to destroy the remainder of Covenant forces while a second UNSC fleet drove off Covenant ships. Sigma boarded their personal pelican, saying goodbye to Kryss-216 and the ODST's as they headed back towards the Bright New Day. For Marco, Draco III had been a difficult battle, teaching him that even the Spartans couldn't save everyone in time, though the people of New Albany had been spared the fate of many others on the planet.
Battle of Gress
- "Listen up! I've got something that you lot want! Try anything and I'll blow it to hell, understand?"
- ―Marco fending off Covenant attackers by threatening to destroy a Forerunner crystal.
In early 2546, Sigma was based on Gress, a large, industrial-based colony and site of an extensive dig into unknown alien ruins. While there, the SPARTAN-II's were informed of an unusual object that had been recovered there: A large crystalline shard that, when scanned, gave very unusual readings, prompting the scientists there to believe that it should be taken for study on Reach. Before arrangements could be made for transport, reports came in of a small Covenant fleet entering the system, sending Sigma and the UNSC defenders on Gress into high alert. Due to the limited defences that the UNSC had in space, the human fleet retreated around the other side of the planet, planning to make quick strikes against their enemy while covering the civilian evacuation ships. Surprisingly, the Covenant did not attempt to glass Gress, instead deploying hundreds of landing craft to the planet.
Marco, who was stationed in a remote ONI base with Resk-063 and Jax-007, was tasked with the protection of this crystal as Covenant dropships began to land in the area. Along with Whiskey-04, the three Spartans boarded a MagLev train, which would transport them to a spaceport, hundreds of kilometres away, where the rest of Sigma were covering the evacuation on the ground. Moments after they set off, Marco noticed that their pursuers had all but abandoned the base, over a dozen Phantom dropships chasing them. Rather than destroy the train, as they could have quite easily done, they began to deploy a number of Sangheili Rangers. Correctly guessing that they were after the crystal, Marco left it in the capable hands of Major John Ackton and the ODST's before joining his comrades in fending off the Covenant boarders.
Marco and Resk on the MagLev train.
As the first few enemies managed to break through into the armoured train, they were met with heavy machine gun fire, courtesy of Resk, while Marco and Jax (against the former's better judgement) climbed onto the roof to prevent their foes from getting to Whiskey and the crystal. There, the two Spartans fought against numerous Sangheili for some time, their magnetised boots keeping them from falling as the train hurtled towards the spaceport. Eventually, a group of Sangheili SpecOps warriors arrived, proving to be almost a match for the two, one nearly overwhelming Marco, had it not been for Resk's timely intervention from below, the bigger Spartan pummelling the Sangheili and driving the others back while Jack defended his comrades with a pair of captured energy swords, butchering any who came near.
With the Spaceport in sight, a number of Pelicans and AV-14 Hornets arrived to escort the defenders inside, forcing their surviving enemies to retreat. Arriving in the transportation terminal with the crystal and no casualties, Marco linked up with the rest of Sigma. However, before they could board one of the remaining spacecraft, several CCS-class battlecruisers emerged from slipspace, decimating the UNSC Fleet above the planet. With their forces scattered, and an army of Covenant descending on them, Sigma was forced to make a hasty retreat through the city, leaving the spaceport to be overrun as they were directed to a landing zone not far away. The sheer amount of Covenant, however, proved to be too much for the already outmanned Marines, the LZ being ovverun before the Spartans could reach it. With enemy forces closing in, Fenn-145 revealed that he had been given possession of a HAVOK tac-nuke for use in the most dire of circumstances, as orders had come down from the highest level not to allow the crystal to fall into enemy hands.
As the entirety of Sigma had no wishes of blowing themselves up, Marco suggested that they could drive the Covenant back with the threat of destroying the crystal before using the HAVOK in their favour. With little time remaining, Marco spoke over an open COM channel, threatening the Covenant and forcing them to retreat while the Spartans made plans to escape. They were able to find a couple damaged, but serviceable Pelicans, which had been shot down earlier. Nef-015 and Jacob-076 were able to repair it as the others provided cover, Covenant infantry beginning to make their assault in spite of Marco's warnings. The team split up into the two dropships in order to confuse their foe, and took off out of the city. Knowing that they would be relentlessly pursued until the Covenant obtained the crystal, Marco dropped it, HAVOK attached, into a forest while they fled into the mountains.
Marco detonated the nuke, destroying the crystal and utterly obliterating most of a Covenant Legion that was after it. As they had only just gone beyond the blast radius, their Pelican went down once more, Nef managing to pull off a crash landing above the remains of the forest. Having lost contact with the other Pelican and all other UNSC forces, Marco's group remained there for over an hour, watching the Covenant glassing the distant city while they attempted to repair a long-range radio. They were eventually contacted by the UNSC Albumasar, one of the few remaining ships in orbit. The cruiser had picked up the other Spartans, and dispatched a single dropship to evacuate the others from the planet before Covenant ships could locate them. While on patrol, Jax and Resk stumbled across a vengeful Covenant force out for blood, and were forced into a hasty retreat towards Marco and the others, who in turn were making their way towards the LZ.
The Spartans were picked up, just in time, by the Pelican, and successfully evacuated from Gress. In spite of the fact that they had lost a potentially valuable alien crystal, Marco was content with the fact that they hadn't allowed the Covenant to obtain it, either. However, they had lost another colony, and thousands of innocent lives in the process, something that Marco and the other Spartans found themselves dealing with on a surprisingly regular basis. For his actions on Gress, Marco was given a long-overdue promotion to Petty Officer Second Class, the same rank the rest of his comrades had been granted two decades ago.
Siege of Fargad
Main Article: Siege of Fargad
- "I've got better things to do tonight than die![2]"
- ―Marco during the battle for Storm Base
In September 2547, Sigma Team, who had spent a month on the colony world testing new MJOLNIR armour variants, were called into action after several Covenant ships were able to land on the planet, disembarking thousands of troops against the UNSC defenders. As one of the last remaining military centres aside from Earth and Reach, Fargad was a critical planet in supporting the war effort. The Spartan team was deployed to assist the 7th Infantry brigade of the Army forces on the planet in a massive assault on Covenant landing zones in order to buy the evacuating cities more time. In a critical mistake made by Colonel Brandon Walters, the Army commander on Fargad, the 11th mechanised brigade was all but wiped out in the initial assault on the original landing zone, leading to the discovery of over a hundred thousand Covenant troops all across the continent, nearly three times more than army recon had anticipated from a single ship. Reports from Rear Admiral Hsu, the UNSC Naval commander, verified that several Covenant cruisers were deploying troops from orbit rather than set up a landing zone. As such, half a dozen settlements were obliterated on the first day as the Covenant advanced towards the highly populated cities on Fargad.
Brigadier General Richard Mack Senior, the de facto UNSC leader on the ground, initiated a greatly revised and better planned strategy, one that would buy the defenders much more time. While the bulk of the Covenant army advanced towards one of Fargad's central cities, Antolia, elements of the 91st and 104th Marine regiments would strike from the mountainous region that encircled the area, catching the enemy off-guard with hit-and run attacks. Meanwhile, Sigma and the remainder of Army forces would launch an all-out attack with hopes of crushing the enemy legions there. This strategy proved to be a success, with UNSC forces and Sigma successfully holding the line and decimating the entire Covenant attack force, though not without considerable losses. Though they had achieved a major victory on the ground, in orbit the UNSC fleet was pushed back, Admiral Hsu ordering for the remaining battlegroups to split up and circle round for another strike at the Covenant attackers, hoping to draw some away from the planet. This allowed the carrier, Glorious Victory, to enter Fargad's atmosphere and rain plasma fire down on the humans below. Once again, the UNSC issued a full retreat into the city, which was still defended by several ground-based MAC guns and mass drivers.
Sigma split up once they arrived, Marco joining Wulf, Amy, Jax and Nef in the defence of the unprotected city harbour. It was there that they were placed on a 'Wet Navy' ship, a rare sight during the Human-Covenant War. The commander of the antiquated ship, Admiral Han Kurtz, was charged with defending Antolia city from the western flank. Shortly after boarding, Marco was surprised to find twelve other Spartans, making up teams Upsilon and Tau already there. This marked the first time Sigma had directly worked with SPARTAN-III's, Marco and the others having been vaguely aware of other supersoldiers in the field beforehand.
Marco assisting UNSC Army soldiers during the Siege of Fargrad
After a brief introduction, the ship received a message that a Covenant army, thrice the size of the previous one, was on it's way to the city. While having seventeen Spartans on board was useful to the wet navy ship, the supersoldiers would be needed elsewhere, several falcons being sent to pick them up. While conversing with the younger Spartans, Marco was attacked and nearly killed by a SpecOps Sangheili, being saved by Martin-A136 of Upsilon. While the others searched for the elite's comrades, a quick thinking ODST named Bill Cross noticed a cloaked Sangheili planting plasma charges on the side, and quickly eliminated it. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that this particular elite was an Ossoona, sent to spy on the humans.
However, there was little time to ponder it's presence, as the first wave of Covenant attackers had struck the city. Surprisingly, the enemy had not attacked via the bay, allowing the Spartans to relocate to other areas while Admiral Kurtz' ship stood guard. Marco's group met up with elements of the 91st regiment in downtown Antolia, saving them from a wraith attack. Acquiring a Scorpion tank dispatched via Pelican, the Spartans proceeded to wreak havoc in the city, punching though enemy lines and allowing UNSC forces to push back while consolidating and entrenching their own positions further in. By the time the battle had reached it's fifth day, the Covenant had gained a definite advantage on the ground, and had destroyed nearly two thirds of the UNSC fleet in the Fargad system. The evacuation, on the other hand, had been a complete success, with over 90% of the evac ships escaping unhindered. Marco and Sigma had been redeployed to defend Storm Base, a facility which was acting as the HQ for Richard Mack as he directed ground assaults on the planet. Admiral Kurtz had sacrificed himself by ramming his beloved ship into a scarab as it attempted to get through the city harbour, killing a mass of enemy troops before that with the onboard cannons.
After Antolia fell and it seemed that the Covenant would overrun the base, Sigma set out to lead the enemy away from the base, playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the approaching army, hit and run tactics, as well as insulting messages broadcast on unencrypted enemy frequencies, drove a great deal of forces in pursuit of the Spartans, who were able to flee toward the mountains. The 13th Engineers, also known as 'Lucky Company', had prepared an ambush there, using several FENRIS tac-nukes to bring down half a mountain on the enemy. In the ensuing confusion, Sigma launched an assault on the survivors, Marco personally killing their Field Marshall, Ran Tur 'Ontokee, as he attempted to flee. The Spartans moved back to Storm Base, where Upsilon and Tau had arrived via Pelican to extract Mack and move him to another city, one that had yet to fall to the Covenant.
The seventeen Spartans were tasked with the defence of the base while all high-ranking personnel were evacuated. Though several UNSC army brigades under the command of Colonel Walters were still engaging the enemy on other parts of the planet, the bulk of Covenant troops, still enraged from the destruction of their Legion and Field Marshall, were diverted towards the base, with orders to wipe out the 'demons'. The base, despite being hastily built from instacrete when the Covenant attacked, held out for some time, with Marco and the others cutting down waves of enemies, fighting well into the night. By dawn of the fifth day of Fargad's siege, Sigma and the others pulled back while shortswords dispatched from the UNSC Bright New Day carpet bombed advancing enemies, giving the Spartans time to escape towards the capital, where Mack Senior was marshalling the surviving UNSC forces.
Even with the considerable advantage of having SPARTAN support, it became clear that the UNSC were losing. News arrived that Colonel Walters had been killed in a banshee strike, while Rear Admiral Hsu's ships were still, if barely, holding the line. As with Antolia, Fargad's capital, New Istanbul, had been heavily fortified, the defenders ready for street-by-street fighting in order to hold off the Covenant as long as possible. After giving an inspirational speech to the remaining human forces in the city, Mack Senior took full charge, sending Sigma to the frontlines while the last few transport ships departed from the planet. The plan was to have several UNSC ships ready to pick up the remainder of the soldiers before initiating a full retreat outsystem.
When the Covenant attack came, the humans were at least motivated this time. Marco and Wulf led a platoon in the lower streets, blocking several and forcing the Covenant to reroute their tanks. By this time, however, the remaining Covenant ships had regrouped following their heavy losses and were getting in formation to glass the planet, city by city. With most of the UNSC fleet driven off, they would have little-to-no opposition in wiping out the humans on Fargad. As the Spartans were slowly pushed back, they received a distress signal from Mack's bunker, which had come under attack. Sigma Team stormed the complex in a desperate and risky search for Mack Senior. By the time they had reached the final room, they discovered the Brigadier General alive, along with the ODST squad, Whiskey-04 and his son, the small group having killed dozens in a last stand.
Escaping the bunker, Sigma and the others rejoined Upsilon Team in the retreat. Just outside New Istanbul, the UNSC Bright New Day had arrived in atmosphere, raining down fire on the Covenant army as it was joined by three other Frigates. The evacuation took four hours, with many casualties in the process, including Admiral Hsu's ship, UNSC Frankenstein, which had gone down firing everything it had at a Covenant capital ship. The thousands who survived were evacuated outsystem, the UNSC remnants fighting their way out until they could execute a safe slipspace jump. Though it ended in a defeat for the UNSC, Fargad being completely glassed shortly after, it had come at a heavy cost for the Covenant. Over two thirds of their fleet had been destroyed, along with a massive number of ground casualties. Also, Sigma Team were able to successfully remove all data pertaining to ONI-run experiments on Fargad, some of which would lead to MJOLNIR armour improvements in the future.
Battle of Nevarra
In mid-2549, Marco, Nef-015 and Amy-133 were sent on a mission to assassinate a high-ranking Insurrectionist leader on Nevarra, one of few Outer Colony worlds as yet untouched by the Covenant's relentless advance. The success of the mission was vital, as the death of this leader would break the back of one of the few remaining holdouts the insurrection possessed. Though none of the three chosen for the mission were as skilled as Kane-099 or Jacob-076 with a sniper, they were known for their talent for destruction. Upon infiltrating the base in which Colonel Markus Jensun, was residing, the Spartans began to plan their assassination. As he was particularly well-protected within the heart of his base, they would launch their attack as the Colonel as he gave a speech the next day, killing him and his senior staff and destroying any other military assets before exfiltrating.
Marco on Nevarra
Marco was assigned to place the C-12 charges on the reactors which powered the base, as well as on the main landing pads around the base. Nef was the designated shooter, taking his position in an air traffic control tower, which would be empty for the duration of the speech. Amy, as the main explosives expert of Sigma, had set up a large quantity of C-12 around the infrastructure of the facility to be used once the Spartans had made their escape. On the night of the speech, however, something happened that completely changed the plan. Three Covenant cruisers had appeared above the planet, getting past the bulk of Human defences via slipspace jumps, and smashing them from behind. As team leader, Nef ordered the Spartans to regroup outside the facility, watching as an army of Covenant soldiers was dispatched mere miles away from the base, while the other two Cruisers began to glass other parts of Nevarra.
At first, the Spartans were content to detonate the base when the Covenant reached it, killing as many as they could before exfiltrating and linking up with a UNSC Prowler on the edge of the system. However, further recon indicated that many civilians from the towns and villages nearby were making their way towards the rebel base to find shelter or transport. This was a problem; the Spartans could not kill that many innocents, or let them be butchered by approaching Covenant forces, so a risky plan was made. Infiltrating the base once more, Marco found the Colonel in his war room, discussing plans to evacuate in the three ships they had. The problem was, that they would not have enough room for their forces and the hundreds of civilians. Marco dropped into the room, and despite facing half a dozen men, proposed a deal with Colonel Jensun: The three Spartans would assist the insurrectionists in holding off the incoming army for as long as it would take to evacuate the civilians, and then they would retreat through the surrounding jungle to the location of the Spartan's ship, which at full capacity could hold roughly a hundred people.
The Colonel reluctantly accepted the plan, more out of desperation than anything else. Amy and Nef joined Marco in the base, where they began to coordinate a defence against the incoming enemy forces. Using their remaining Lotus Mines and C-12 packs (Marco deliberately neglected to tell the Colonel about the hidden charges around the base), the Spartans set the area around the base up as a trap for enemy forces, while the rebel forces set up ambush points up the roads leading to the base. After a few initial skirmishes, a column of Wraith tanks were sent against the humans. Nef, who had climbed a tall tree, was able to take the first few out with his Spartan laser before they zeroed in on his location, forcing him to retreat further up the hill, towards Marco's location. Marco had been keeping enemy infantry pinned down on the right flank, losing many soldiers as he did so. Amy had kept back, along with the Colonel, who was overseeing the evacuation. She would signal to the others when to fall back, and once they had done so, the charges would be triggered.
Marco and Nef, along with a dozen rebels, had been pushed back up near the base's entrance by a large force of Elites, who were attempting to flank them. After acquiring an energy sword from a dead Zealot, Marco cut a bloody swathe through the enemy, Nef and the soldiers assisting him as he pushed Covenant squads back. Upon hearing about the 'Demons' on the battlefield, the Covenant Shipmaster ordered that a Scarab should be deployed onto the battlefield. Unable to hold back the giant walker, the human forces fell back as it, accompanied by hundreds of combatants, cleared a path to the base.
By the time the Scarab had arrived, two of the three transports had departed, and the third was lifting off. The few working AA guns at the base ensured protection from banshee fire as the few dozen survivors of the battle outside made it back to the base. Waiting until the Scarab had reached the optimal zone, Amy detonated the remaining explosives, crippling the walker. Despite this, Covenant Infantry swarmed over it's burning husk and towards the base. It was time to leave. As the humans fled into the jungle, Marco triggered the explosives that they had set the day before, obliterating the base. The Colonel and his surviving men followed the Spartans to their ship, and got on board. Despite his hatred for the UNSC, Colonel Jensun admitted that he admired the Spartans for their devotion to protecting Humanity and agreed to willingly turn himself in. The three Spartans and the rebel survivors managed to escape offplanet without attracting enemy attention, and escaped the system in a waiting Prowler.
Siege of Paris IV
Main Article: Siege of Paris IV
In November of 2549, Sigma Team were deployed to assist in the defence of Paris IV as part of a supporting fleet that would cover evacuation efforts and secure important sites across the colony in an attempt to hold their foe back. As they split up to cover as much ground as possible, Marco was joined by Jax-007 and Resk-063 in a mission to secure one of the planet's most important orbital stations against enemy attacks. As the facility had been hastily abandoned by its civilian crew the moment Covenant vessels entered the Paris system, its databanks and the information they contained had not been wiped as per the Cole Protocol. The trio of Spartans moved in via Pelican just as a CRS-class cruiser broke off from the Covenant fleet's main offensive line and began to dispatch troops towards them.
Realising that the enemy was seeking to take over the station and not destroy it, Marco and the others quickly set up defensive positions aboard the space station and used their supply of antipersonnel mines and M618 charges to ambush the boarders. As groups of Covenant Rangers entered via docking tubes and airlocks, Marco drew them further in by acting as bait, firing towards the alien attackers before retreating further towards the station's command room where Jax and Resk had set up a pair of machine guns. After drawing the scattered boarding teams into their field of fire, the Spartans detonated their explosives and completely levelled a good portion of the station along with several dozen enemy attackers before quickly finishing off the rest. While the Covenant were undeterred and continued to send in troops via Phantom dropship, they soon realised what they were up against and began to withdraw as the Cruiser itself launched an attack on the station.
As the Covenant saw killing three Spartans as worth more than any navigational data, the trio chose to make their retreat immediately, with Marco acting as a rearguard for his comrades. As they moved through hallways leading back to their Pelican, the Cruiser fired its energy projector towards them, cutting the corridor in front of Marco in half just as Jax and Resk were able to move out to safety. Taken by surprise and lacking any form of EVA gear or a thruster pack, Marco was flushed out and sent flying into space, unable to control his trajectory. While he expended what ammunition he could to slow himself down, the Spartan quickly lost his weapon and was cast adrift, alone and helpless in Paris IV's orbit. As he attempted to contact the rest of Sigma, he discovered that long-range COM systems were being jammed by the Covenant, and had no choice but to await help while the air in his MJOLNIR armour slowly ran out.
Marco would continue to send emergency hails over the course of an hour, growing more and more panicked as time went by. As he drifted through space, he watched the Covenant begin to glass Paris IV and for the first time since his prior near-death experience five years ago began to ponder his own mortality; while he had long since accepted self-sacrifice as simply part of being a soldier during his years of training, Marco was genuinely frightened of dying in such a manner outside of battle and continued struggling to get help as he continued to lose air. Thankfully, Jax and Resk arrived just in time aboard their Pelican, having been forced to take a rather circuitous route to his location to avoid the enemy warship, which had been taken out by a UNSC Destroyer's MAC round earlier. Having been saved with less than a minute to spare, the rather shaken Marco was somewhat relieved to find that they were abandoning Paris IV, and after meeting up with the rest of Sigma Team aboard an ONI Prowler retreated from the system to fight another day.
Battle of the Hephaestus Array
Main Article: Battle for the Hephaestus Array
In 2550 a portion Sigma Team, along with Battle Group Tempest, was sent to the Olmara system to investigate a series of attacks on UNSC ships in the area by insurrectionists, who were raiding and capturing the vessels. Among the cargo in one of these vessels was several suits of newly-developed MJOLNIR armour that were in transit to Earth for more extensive testing at the hands of both Sigma Team and the Materials Group. Led by Jacob-076, Marco was joined by Nef, Amy and Wulf on this operation. While it was initially believed to have been the work of simple pirates, Marco suspected that an incredibly organised and well-informed group had conducted the raids with the intention of stealing the incredibly expensive MJOLNIR suits for their own purposes.
As the ships drew near the planet Endrin, they came under attack by several captured ships of varying sizes. All but one of these ships were easily destroyed by UNSC force in moments, with the last one fleeing towards the planet. As a Destroyer, UNSC Livingston, pursued the ship close to the planet, it was hit by several MAC rounds and blown apart almost immediately. On the far side of Hephaestus, a large fleet of over eighty Insurrectionist ships was assembled. Most of the ships had either been captured by the Insurrectionists or had been taken. The largest, a Gorgon-class Destroyer that had been among the ships taking the supplies and the armour to Earth. As the Battlegroup prepared to attack, the Insurrectionists sent out a message to the UNSC forces, ordering them to stand down and leave the system. Naturally, they refused and continued on course towards the construct.
Marco was deployed alongside Wulf-041 and Jacob-076 in a bid to destroy the main ship in the array, and kill or capture the Insurrectionist leader. However, although they had not told their superiors, the Spartans knew who the enemy leader was, and that it was very unlikely they would take him alive. Amy-133 and Nef-015 were deployed to assist separate UNSC forces groundside. The first team was sent in with over forty Pelicans, escorted by two Frigates. They took heavy losses as they approached the array, with only twelve of the pelicans surviving, and the Frigates destroyed. The surviving ships landed on the Hull of the ship, and the Spartans, along with several platoons of ODST's entered the ship through the airlocks, intent on finding the Insurrectionist Leader, Jack-085.
The Spartans led the fighting through the ship and towards the bridge. They took heavy casualties as they neared the bridge, and Jacob-076 ordered the surviving ODST's to fall back towards the pelicans, saying that the fighting would end soon. The real reason for him saying that was because he and his fellow Spartans both knew in their minds who the enemy leader was, and wished to keep it a secret from the rest of the UNSC. they entered the Bridge, and made quick work of the bridge crew. However, the Insurrectionist leader was nowhere to be seen. As they took control of the helm, Jack-085, who had been waiting for them, fired a rocket, narrowly missing the Marco and hitting the floor near Jacob, sending him flying. Jack then fled, with Wulf and Marco in hot pursuit. They chased him to the hanger, where Jack boarded a Shortsword bomber in an attempt to escape. Marco and Wulf followed him on a Pelican.
However, as they left the ship, a Covenant fleet arrived and began attacking both the human's forces, making them team up against the new foe. The now badly damaged Array fired all of it's remaining MAC guns at the covenant forces, destroying two cruisers with their combined firepower. Meanwhile, on the Bridge of the array, Jacob-076 had taken the controls despite being wounded, and was directing all remaining firepower at the covenant. Jack-085's shortsword entered the atmosphere and crash landed after being hit by UNSC AA fire. The Pelican landed nearby, and the two Spartans made their way to the crash site. When they got there, Jack, was alive, protected by his MJOLNIR armour. Jack ambushed the two Spartans, wounding Wulf and nearly killing Marco. However, Marco was able to trip him up and grab his M6D handgun, shooting and wounding Jack. Jack again tried to escape, but Marco simply kicked him over. Meanwhile, in Space, the array had been almost completley destroyed, with only a few key ships left in it. On the bridge, Jacob-076 had only one choice to save the planet and the UNSC forces, who were taking heavy losses. He piloted the Array on a collision course to the Covenant Supercarrier. a Pelican, piloted by Amy-133, reached the array in a bid to save Jacob. Amy stayed with the dying Spartan until the Array impacted, killing them both.
Back on the planet, Jack managed to get to his feet, and was able to disarm Marco. The two had always been evenly matched in training, and were at their limits. As he pointed the pistol at his former friend, he looked up, and saw his creation being destroyed, He took off his helmet, and fell to his knees. The array impacted with the Covenant Supercarrier, crippling it, killing Jacob-076, various rebels, and many Covenant soldiers.With UNSC forces closing in, he ran from Marco, dropping his pistol as he did so, towards the burning ruin of what had once been his masterpiece. It crashed, completely obliterating the surrounding area. The UNSC were never able to find Jack's body, and so always considered him to be missing, although with the blast radius, he was presumed dead. Marco told the rest of the team what happened, and they all swore to keep it a secret. While it was likely that Jack had been killed, Marco was sure that his former friend was still alive after he'd let him escape a second time.
Battle of Cronus IV
In May 2551, months after the loss of two squadmates, Sigma Team was split into several groups for a short period of time. Marco and Resk-063 were sent to Cronus IV, a largely agricultural colony world in the Inner Colonies that was also home to a testing facility run by the Materials Group. The two Spartans were testing new MJOLNIR armour variants for usage in the field, including prototypes for the Mark V suit, which would possess a recharging energy shield reverse-engineered from Covenant shielding technology. The pair fought their way through a number of obstacle courses that tested the armour's shield strength and durability compared to previous variants, emerging with outstanding results. Mere hours before Marco and Resk were to leave the planet, a number of Covenant ships arrived in-system, launching an all-out attack on the colony world.
Marco and Resk during the battle.
While the testing facility began to evacuate, Covenant forces began to land nearby, attacking the defenceless farming communities. The Spartans moved out to help the civilians, arriving just in time to rescue a village from a group of Kig-Yar. With limited transport ships on Cronus IV, Marco allowed the civilians to take their Warthog to the local spaceport for evacuation. The pair spent a number of hours moving through rural areas, eliminating Covenant patrols and rescuing people where they could. This was the first live test of the MJOLNIR Mark V's capabilities, the energy shielding coming in handy against the waves of Covenant infantry. Furthermore, the new additions to Marco's suit, such as an up-armoured helmet variant and a Command Network Module, would give him a much bigger advantage in the field than he had in previous years. Once the local communities were safely evacuated the Spartans moved back to defend the testing facility, which had come under Covenant attack.
By the time UNSC Marines arrived on the planet to combat the much larger Covenant force, the Spartans had been defending the base for several hours, Marco utilising a heavy turret to mow down infantry while Resk provided support with an M39 Grenade Launcher. While they had inflicted massive casualties on the ground, the facility's meagre security force had been depleted and Marco seriously doubted that they would hold out for more than a day. The arrival of Seraph bombers and Wraith tanks in the valley below confirmed his fears as the base's automated defences were quickly destroyed, allowing Phantom dropships to deploy troops easier. Resk and Marco fell back into the facility alongside the remaining human defenders and used the narrow corridors as chokepoints to hold of their foe for some time while all relevant data pertaining to Earth and the colonies was destroyed, as per the Cole Protocol. Eventually the decision was made to completely obliterate the facility with C-12 charges rather than allow the Covenant access, the Spartans covering a team of engineers while they set the explosives before retreating to the vehicle bay.
With barely two dozen survivors remaining, Marco and Resk led a convoy of vehicles away from the base as the charges were detonated, fleeing into the nearby hills under heavy pursuit. There, the Spartans led a spirited defence until several Pelican dropships arrived, scattering the Covenant infantry below with a missile barrage before picking up the survivors. While Cronus IV was quickly glassed by the Covenant, Marco's group were taken to a nearby UNSC Frigate and evacuated from the system. In spite of the colony's loss, the new MJOLNIR suits had passed their first real field test and were soon ready for wider production thanks to the data gathered by Marco and Resk. They were eventually issued to most SPARTAN groups in November of that year.
Battle of Harpa
Main Article: Battle of Harpa
In March 2552, Sigma Team was stationed on Harpa, an inner colony world mainly used as a staging ground for the UNSC Fleet. The Spartans were taking part in routine training exercises when a sensory outpost picked up three Covenant Destroyers en-route to the planet. Harpa's defence fleet, which consisted of barely half a dozen ships, moved to engage but were quickly decimated by the Covenant's superior weapons after bringing down one Destroyer. While the Covenant were expected to immediately begin glassing Harpa due to it's low tactical value, they instead began deploying troops groundside in an attempt to wipe out the Human populace.
Marco and Jax-007 were sent to Harpa's capital, Andama, to assist in it's defence while the rest of Sigma covered the civilian evacuation elsewhere. While the initial Covenant assault had been little more than a massacre, the arrival of two SPARTAN-II's and a company of UNSC Marines helped to stem the tide, Marco personally leading a platoon in an offensive that destroyed a dozen Wraith tanks and blocked off a number of roads. The battle soon descended into bloody urban warfare, Banshee and Shortsword strikes levelling entire city blocks as neither side could gain a proper advantage. Even the Covenant's feared Scarab assault platforms did little to change the situation, the narrow streets giving Marco and Jax a chance to board and destroy one while coordinated artillery fire took out two more within Andama.
Marco fighting to defend the city.
The fighting in Andama lasted nearly four days, Marco going without sleep to continue holding the line. The presence of two Spartans greatly raised morale among the Marines there, though casualty rates were still high and victory seemed unlikely with fresh Covenant troops arriving by the hour. Furthermore, they had set up a large encampment on a hill that allowed them to rain plasma fire over the Human-controlled portion of the city. A previous attempt to take it had left Marco wounded, losing the left shoulder plate of his MJOLNIR armour to a plasma grenade that almost killed him. While there were a number of officers in the city that outranked Marco and Jax, the Marines looked to them for orders; the pair were considering initiating a retreat when reinforcements arrived in the form of several AC-220 Vultures, Nef-015, Resk-063 and Wulf-041. This massive boost in firepower allowed the UNSC forces to advance once more, missile barrages eliminating any heavy targets while the infantry moved in and wiped out the Covenant holding the hill. While this appeared to be the turning point in the battle, with Covenant forces in complete disarray, a Covenant Destroyer had moved in and began to glass the city, effectively rendering their victory obsolete.
Marco and the others were airlifted out of Andama in Pelican dropships, retreating under heavy fire towards Harpa's vast jungles. Sigma's transport was struck by a number of fuel rod blasts, losing an engine and crashing shortly after. While the Spartans survived after locking up their MJOLNIR suits, Wulf-041 had been flung out of the dropship during their descent and landed several miles away. During their search Marco's group battled a number of Covenant patrols; by the time they found their missing comrade he had singlehandedly scaled and destroyed a Scarab as it travelled through the jungle. Once they were reunited, Sigma Team was able to ambush and hijack a Phantom dropship as it moved in to deploy troops, flying north towards HAMMER Base, the planet's main rally point for all UNSC forces.
The Spartans arrived at the base the following morning and met with Fenn-145, Kane-099, and Brigadier General Richard Mack Senior, who was in charge of leading the planet's defence. Marco discovered that the evacuation had been largely successful, with just over 75% of the civilian ships escaping safely. However, the only remaining orbit-capable transport on Harpa was the UNSC Bright New Day, a Frigate that had escaped the space battle and was holding its position above a nearby desert. Mack decided to wait for the last few stragglers to arrive at HAMMER before moving out, even if it meant holding off an all-out Covenant assault on the facility. After catching up on some sleep and having his armour repaired, Marco joined Wulf-041 in organising the defence alongside the nearby mountainside. With two Covenant Destroyers en-route to the base they had very little time to do so, managing to set up a field of LOTUS anti-tank mines and setting up firing positions to hold off the incoming army. The base's only real defence against the ships was an old Mass Driver, manned by Resk-063 and guarded by an ODST Platoon.
When the attack finally arrived, the defenders came under heavy assault by waves of Phantom and Spirit Dropships, most of which went down before landing; the troops that did arrive either stumbled into the minefield or were cut down by the base's autoturrets. However, this did not stop the Destroyers from deploying a number of SpecOps Sangheili via drop pods to cause havoc and eliminate sniper teams along the mountainside. Marco and Wulf came under heavy attack by one group, the Spartans barely holding them off while more dropships moved in to attack. In spite of the base defences and advantageous position of the defenders, the Covenant forces greatly outnumbered them and could afford to lose waves of infantry if it allowed them to slowly break through the UNSC's defences. Eventually a lucky plasma mortar shot destroyed one of the base's primary generators, taking the autoturrets offline just long enough for the infantry to advance and engage UNSC troops at close quarters. A large number of Drones swarmed into the base through service tunnels and would have overwhelmed the defenders had it not been for Marco's timely arrival alongside a group of Marine 'Hellbringers'; they incinerated dozens of the bug-like aliens and forced the others out of the base.
Though they won several minor victories across HAMMER Base, the facility was compromised after nearly an hour of fighting, Mack ordering a full evacuation after the Mass Driver lost power. With the deployment of Jiralhanae the Spartans faced a tougher battle in the confined quarters of the base, Marco would have died were it not for Resk-063 gunning down an entire pack with his turret. Nef-015 was deployed to initiate the base's self-destruct sequence while Marco and the rest of Sigma regrouped in the vehicle bay; they would escape alongside the survivors through a tunnel that led through the mountains. While their fellow Spartan was successful, he was also badly wounded when a Jiralhanae Chieftain ambushed him and, ignoring Marco's pleas, decided to take down one of the incoming Destroyers alone so it could not pursue his comrades. Sigma Team lost contact with Nef halfway through the tunnel after the Spartan detonated a HAVOK nuke within the Destroyer. Distraught over the loss of a friend and teammate, the Spartans pressed on until they emerged near the edge of the desert where the Bright New Day was stationed. While most of the troops headed straight for the vessel, Sigma moved in to fend off Covenant attackers within nearby ruins. During the ensuing battle, Mack Senior became separated from the main group and came under attack by a much larger Sangheili force. Before Marco and the other Spartans could come to their teacher's aid, he was killed by Shipmaster Felo 'Ranakee. While Jax-007 was able to injure and drive off the Sangheili, the loss of Mack made a massive impact on the troop's morale and sent the surviving UNSC forces into an all-out retreat.
The UNSC Bright New Day was able to leave Harpa safely, though it was cut off before it could initiate a slipspace jump by the surviving Covenant Destroyer. The Shipmaster contacted the ship and ordered the Humans to surrender their navigation data. In return they would be allowed to leave safely. In addition, Ranakee demanded that the data be delivered by a 'Demon' and the highest-ranking Human Officer. Marco and the others were fully aware that the Destroyer would most likely obliterate the 'Day' the moment they had what they wanted, and the decision was made to try and take out the ship by delivering a HAVOK tac-nuke in a sacrificial mission. Marco offered to carry out the task himself, but was ordered to stand down by Fenn. As Sigma Team's leader, he would sacrifice himself to save the lives of thousands aboard the ship. Accompanied by Lieutenant Martin Keel, Fenn departed for the Destroyer and detonated the nuke, obliterating the ship and giving the Frigate a chance to escape.
While the Covenant ships were destroyed and the surviving forces scattered, Harpa marked a major loss for Humanity. The loss of Mack Senior, one of the UNSC's most capable commanders, alongside two Spartans was a heavy price to play. Marco and the surviving members of Sigma Team were to undergo psychiatric evaluations following the battle; years of war and death were beginning to take a toll on the usually stoic SPARTAN-II's. Marco confessed to Kane-099 that the deaths of his friends had disturbed him greatly, though he resolved to continue fighting the war as long as he had to. Now down to only five members, Sigma Team was deployed to Reach to begin testing new MJOLNIR armour variants until new deployment orders arrived.
Battle of Dorvyesk III
Still reeling from the loss of both Fenn and Nef, as well as Richard Mack Senior several months before, the five Spartans were then sent to Dorvyesk III, a world of little significance aside from its large populace. On arrival, Sigma Team were ordered to cover the civilian evacuation there, holding the line at any cost. The UNSC were already losing the battle by the time Sigma arrived, though the Spartans were able to do massive damage to their opponents on the battlefield, an entire Covenant armour division falling to a well-placed trap by the Spartans. Nonetheless, they continued their relentless assault on the colony, slaughtering thousands in their path.
Pushed back, Sigma Team regrouped with a number of surviving marines as they struggled to evacuate the remaining civilians from the planet. Even with the SPARTAN-II assistance, they were still vastly outnumbered, many abandoning their posts to get to the remaining evac ships. Marco and Wulf became separated from the others and were trapped in a ruined building, which was soon surrounded by vengeful Sangheili. Knowing that they would not survive long if they met their foe head-on, Marco contacted a nearby Frigate, which had entered the atmosphere in order to provide air support and evacuation within the city. Giving them his exact coordinates, he called for an immediate airstrike on their location. The two Spartans took cover in the house's basement as three Archer Missiles struck the nearby area, totally destroying the area around it. The pair were able to crawl out of the rubble, protected by their armour locking down and greatly increasing the energy shielding.
A little worse for wear, Marco and Wulf managed to make their way back to the others as the final wave of ships came in. Together, the Spartans held the line as the last few groups of civilians made their way aboard, pursued by waves of Covenant infantry. During the carnage, Resk-063 noticed a Banshee launching a fuel rod towards a fleeing family, and immediately threw himself in its path. Marco and Jax watched their friend die instantly before their very eyes, and began to make a bloody counter-attack. The usually amiable Jax flew into a rage and massacred dozens of troops before recovering the body of his best friend. With Marco, Kane and Wulf covering him, the remnants of Sigma Team made it into a Pelican dropship, leaving Dorvyesk III hours before its glassing. The loss of another comrade hit Marco hard, especially since Resk died saving a family of civilians rather than sacrificing himself to inflict massive amounts of damage on the enemy as Fenn, Nef, Jacob and Amy had. While ONI Directive 930 forbade making any SPARTAN-II death public, Resk-063's comrades buried him personally back on Earth in late July, not far from the SIGMA compound in which they had grown up together.
Fall of Reach
Main Article: Fall of Reach
In early August, 2552, Marco was deployed back on Reach with the rest of Sigma. Shortly after arriving on Reach, Sigma was called in to assist a SPARTAN-III Team who were under attack by enemy forces. After WINTER CONTINGENCY was declared, the teams were sent out to secure other communication relays against possible attack, the Visegrad Relay being attacked by a Covenant strike force several days earlier. The four remaining members of Sigma arrived to find the other Spartans trapped within the relay station with sizeable attack force outside. With Falcon support, they were able to buy Tau Team enough time to mount a counterattack, wiping out Covenant forces in the local valley. Planting a tracking device on a fleeing banshee, the Spartans were able to locate it's point of origin in the Viery Territory. While Sigma and Tau travelled back to base, the location of the Covenant forces was pinpointed by Spartan reconnaissance teams that night.
After the recon teams discovered a large Covenant presence within the territory, the UNSC quickly put together a massive attack force, with the objective of destroying the Covenant staging grounds and denying them a foothold on Reach. As such, multiple SPARTAN teams were to be deployed, namely Sigma, Noble, Upsilon and Tau as well as Tango Six Operations under the command of Kryss-216, whom Sigma had met several years earlier. The different teams were spread out amongst the battlefield, with Sigma and Upsilon being part of a frontal assault against the main enemy encampment.
On the morning of August 12th, the attack was launched, Sigma joining a mechanised battalion in destroying Covenant armour raining plasma mortar fire on the main attack force. The assault was successful, and with the destruction of Covenant AA guns on the nearby mountainside, air support from UNSC Frigates Grafton and Saratoga made short work of several Scarabs that were decimating their attackers. Sigma rejoined Upsilon, who had engaged enemy infantry within a nearby refinery. The ten Spartans butchered their way across the battlefield until they found UNSC forces engaged with a huge Covenant defence beneath a large Spire. While debating over the best plan of attack, several Pelicans arrived, with Kryss-216 under orders to destroy the Covenant structure at all costs.
The Pelicans gave the Spartans a short ride over the bulk of enemy armour before the electromagnetic fields surrounding the Spire shorted them out, leading to them crash land in the hills not far from the base of the Spire. None of the Spartans were injured due to their MJOLNIR armour, though several ODST's in Tango six were badly injured. Leaving Sal-A142 and Dorian-A188 of Upsilon Team to protect them, the others set out downhill, engaging enemy infantry as they went. The Spire itself was heavily defended, with Shade turrets and Revenants making it difficult to get close. So, while Upsilon Team and the ODST's drew the bulk of enemy fire Marco, Kane, Jax and Kryss would infiltrate the Spire, Wulf-041 planting a large amount of C-12 charges along key structural points as they did so.
Marco during the attack on Spire Three.
Marco and the others were eventually able to access the Spire's gravity lift, assaulting the upper level and wiping out the defenders there. The Spartans then placed their charges, only to discover that the electromagnetic energy generated by the Spire's shield would not allow a remote detonation. At this time, the UNSC Grafton had just used it's MAC gun to destroy Spire One not far away, and was subsequently obliterated by the Long Night of Solace, a Covenant Supercarrier that had been cloaked above the battlefield. With this new threat, the Spartans had to evacuate the area quickly. Kryss was able to find a button that deactivated the Spire's shields, allowing for several Falcons to come in for a pickup. Sigma, Upsilon and Tango Six were able to escape the area, detonating their charges and destroying Spire Three as they did so. Though the battle was considered a victory for the UNSC on the ground, the appearance of a Supercarrier gave the Covenant a distinct tactical advantage, forcing a full retreat from the area. On August 17th, 2552, three days after the relative success of Operation: UPPER CUT, which destroyed the Supercarrier, The UNSC initiated a follow-up mission, codenamed: Operation: DROPKICK. The goal of the mission was to destroy two Covenant cruisers in orbit, to cover the evacuation ships from Manassas as they fled the Epsilon Eridani system. Because of the importance of the mission, Sigma and Tau teams were chosen to lead the boarding action.
Utilising half a dozen YSS-1000 Sabre fighters that had not been used in Operation:UPPERCUT, Wulf-041, who had received training in the Sabre Program several months before, accompanied Tau in assaulting one of the cruisers, assisted by several frigates and a wing of Longsword fighters. Marco, Kane and Jax were dropped into the first cruiser after concentrated MAC fire gave them an opening, followed by a platoon of EVA-capable marines. The team were able to plant a Fury tactical nuke in the hangar of the ship, setting it on a timer before getting to their evac pelican and escaping to assist Tau and Wulf.
Marco and Jax moved in to extract the second strike team from the hangar of the second cruiser, in which the Spartans were fighting a difficult battle against a number of Sangheili veterans in their attempt to storm the bridge. While attempting to plant the nuclear device in the rear of the ship, both Frank-A103 and Dom-A178 were killed in an ambush by an Elite Ranger team, leaving Louie-A199 to set the timer. Marco and Jax arrived in time to save the SPARTAN-III, fighting their way back to the hangar and escaping in the remaining Pelican and Sabres. DROPKICK was a success that saved thousands of lives on the planet below, but came at the price of two Spartans.
Not long after, Marco and Sigma fought in the Battle for New Alexandria, covering the spaceport during the initial evacuation from Covenant infantry. Sigma was joined by Upsilon and Tau once more in a bid to push back the Covenant, who were gaining ground across the city. With fourteen Spartans in combat, the enemy was massacred in the lower city streets while the evacuation effort in some areas continued unhindered. After several hours of urban warfare, the Spartans were given direct orders from HIGHCOM to travel to an ONI facility on the far side of New Alexandria, where it was revealed that Doctor Calvin Roe, the progenitor of the Sigma project, was holed up with an ODST team defending him. Though vocally unenthusiastic about their mission, Marco went along with the others in falcons to cover Roe's Pelican. When they reached the building, they found it under attack by dozens of Covenant soldiers who had almost broken through to the Doctor's saferoom. Wulf-041, Dan-A104, Chris-A189 and Eugene-A133 landed, and began clearing out the building, cutting a bloody swathe through the enemy until they reached Roe and his bodyguards. The Doctor, worried about enemy forces accessing the building's databanks, dispatched the Spartans to clear the level below and destroy the main servers, which had not been wiped clean of data pertaining to Earth and other colonies. Wulf led the others to the lower level to clear it out while Roe and his guards made their way to his personal pelican.
Immediately after taking off, Roe announced that he had been given explicit orders by ONI to demolish the building, and activated the charges on a timer with the Spartans still on the building's sub-level. The Doctor ignored Marco's requests to stop the timer and allow the Spartans to escape, instead flying away from the city. Though Wulf and the SPARTAN-III's attempted to make their way outside, there was no possibility of them making it in time. Before they could reach the landing pad, the entire ONI building detonated, killing the four of them instantly. This shocked the remaining Spartans, who were still in Falcons nearby. Marco immediately piloted his Falcon after Roe's Pelican, stating his intent to kill his old enemy.
Marco was serious in his intent to kill Roe, opening fire on his Pelican as they caught up in spite of orders from Kane-099 to stop. Another Falcon, piloted by Martin-A136, assisted Marco, the pilot having lost three of his best friends because of Roe's disregard for human life. After a lengthy chase, spanning several hundred miles, Roe's Pelican finally landed at Outpost Foxtrot Whiskey, a remote military base on Reach and rally point for local UNSC forces. Upon arrival, Roe ordered for the base's AA guns to fire on the Spartans, stating that they were insurrectionists. Kane's pelican, piloted by Sal-A142, was shot down before the others could identify themselves to the Marines on site.
The moment his Falcon touched down, Marco leapt out and ran for the base after Roe, while the other Spartans made their way to the crash site. Though the passengers, Kane, Jax-007 and Jordan-A111, were unhurt, Sal had been fatally wounded, dying of her wounds shortly after being dragged from the wreckage. Entering the outpost, Marco snatched a shotgun from the hands of one of Roe's ODST bodyguards and went after the Doctor, who had fled into the base and was looking for a way to contact HIGHCOM. After a short confrontation with the man who had kidnapped him, subjected him to brutal training measures and put him though his augmentations, all while treating him like scum, Marco shot Roe in the face, killing him instantly. His oldest enemy dead, the Spartan returned the shotgun to it's owner and joined the other Spartans in taking Sal's body into the base.
Marco leading troops during the battle of Outpost Foxtrot-Whiskey.
After sending news to HIGHCOM of Roe's death, stating that he had been killed by Covenant forces while fleeing New Alexandria, word arrived at the Outpost that a large Covenant attack force was heading their way, most of the UNSC defence in the nearby city having been crushed. As the highest ranked person in the base, Kane-099 took command of the situation, ordering the Spartans to split up into groups to assist the Marine platoons in defending the base while the wounded were evacuated via Pelican airlift. He also made sure that one dropship was left behind for the Spartans to evacuate in if need be.
Rallying the retreating UNSC forces around the mountainside base, the Spartans set up remote turrets and an array of mines. When the Covenant did arrive, Marco took a platoon of marines and engaged the enemy in the foothills around the base of the mountain, while Jax-007 took a small vehicle contingent in to draw away the bulk of enemy armour. Marco's forces, assisted by Dorian-A188, Jordan-A111 and Nelson-A122, took down dozens of enemies in fierce close quarters combat, leading Covenant troops into ambushes and making use of their elevated position to gain the upper hand during the battle Jax's group fared just as well, their warthogs being pursued by wraiths into a narrow valley where the cumbersome tanks could be easily flanked and destroyed by other Spartans.
In spite of their initial victories, however, the sheer number of Covenant soldiers, as it had done many times in the past, allowed them to simply keep attacking until they overwhelmed the human defenders. After contacting HIGHCOM once more, Kane requested a bombing run just outside of the outpost on the tightly-packed Covenant forces. Surprisingly, it was accepted, Shortsword bombers decimating enemy attackers outside of the base. As Marco received the order to retreat, he noticed Dorian-A188 of Upsilon Team fighting a number of Sangheili at once. Before the SPARTAN-II could reach him an Officer stabbed Dorian through the chest with an energy sword, killing him instantly. This sent Marco into a furious rampage, gunning down the trio of Sangheili before taking the sword and butchered dozens of foes, causing many others to flee in terror. Marco recovered Dorian's body and returned it to the base, covered in alien blood.
As an attack by Shortsword bombers momentarily halted the Covenant advance, Marco and the others fled back into the outpost to regroup. After raiding the remains of Foxtrot-Whiskey's armoury for weapons, Marco discovered a single FENRIS nuclear warhead that had been left behind. Unable to take the bodies of their fallen comrades with them, they linked the warhead to Sal and Dorian's MJOLNIR suits and set up a timer for the survivors to flee the base. Taking several Pelicans, the Spartans and surviving ODST's left Outpost Foxtrot-Whiskey before Covenant reinforcements could reach it and vaporised the entire area.
Sigma Team would arrive at HIGHCOM Armoury Omega several days later, parting with the surviving troopers as they contacted their superiors for orders. Upon reporting the status of their MJOLNIR suits, Marco, Jax and Kane were given special access to several newly-developed prototypes being held in the base. While not fully tested and calibrated, Sigma took the armour and spent some time getting used to it before setting out once more to engage enemy landing parties. Marco and the others would spend several days operating far away from friendly forces and cut a bloody swathe through Covenant patrols before losing all contact with HIGHCOM. From what they could garner from scattered UNSC transmissions across Reach, the planet had more or less fallen to the Covenant's onslaught and evacuation points were quickly dwindling.
With no choice but to flee Reach, Marco and the surviving Spartans attempted to reach the Pillar of Autumn, docked in the Aszod shipyards before it left the planet. As the Pelican neared the shipyards, mere minutes away from extraction, the cruiser took off, leaving them behind. After discussing their potential options, Marco being in favour of taking down as many Covenant as they could before they were overwhelmed, a distress signal was picked up, emanating from the UNSC Bright New Day, a still-functional frigate that had been scheduled for decommissioning when Reach was attacked. The Spartans contacted the ship, only to find Richard Mack Jr. defending it along with what remained of Whiskey-04. Though the ship, which had a skeleton crew of engineers and deckhands, was ready to take off, the sheer number of Covenant forces in the area would overwhelm them before they could take off.
While Marco boarded the vessel, Jax, Alex-A121, Nelson-A122 and Jordan-A111 offered to draw enemy attention in the shipyards while the other Spartans made their way to the Frigate's hangar and took off. Marco, having seen half a dozen Spartans die in the last week, was reluctant to see his longtime friend stay behind, but ended up going with Kane and the others to the ship. Using flares and insults over open radio channels, Jax was able to attract a surprising amount of enemy attention, having mocked Covenant beliefs to provoke them. The four Spartans held their own for a short while, though it became clear that they wouldn't last long. Jordan was killed while taking half an Elite lance with him, and Nelson was wounded heavily, being unable to fight effectively as he fell back with Jax and Alex. As the Bright New Day took off, moving over the shipyards, the two hijacked a pair of banshees, managing to fly into the ship's hangar before it reached orbit while Nelson remained behind to cause as much damage as possible. The Bright New Day left Reach and managed to narrowly evade the Covenant fleet, most of which was occupied with pursuing the Pillar of Autumn or glassing the planet. The Spartans were able to plot several jumps to randomised locations in accordance with the Cole Protocol, and to lose their Covenant pursuers. The fact that they were able to do this without an AI or trained bridge crew was seen as nothing short of a miracle by Marco, though the ship did retain records of human colonies and Earth, allowing for slipspace jumps to be made autonomously by the navigational computer at the push of a button.
Loss of Hope
Main Article: Loss of Hope
After making two Slipspace jumps, the UNSC Bright New Day received a distress signal emanating from the colony world Hope[3]. MCPO Kane-099, as the senior-ranked person on the ship, ordered the crew to investigate the planet. Upon arrival, they discovered that the planet was under attack, and after managing to cripple a Covenant ship, were forced to land due to plasma torpedo damage rendering their FTL drive inert. They were lucky not to have been killed. Leaving Whiskey-04 in command of the ship, the three SPARTAN-II's and three SPARTAN-III's of Sigma Team set out for the nearest city, Port Neandra, in search of a slipspace drive or friendly UNSC forces. Upon entering the city and finding it not only deserted, but with all electronics fried as a large EMP had detonated in the area. While Jax-007 attempted to activate a data terminal, the team ambushed a large Covenant patrol, taking down several Wraiths and Phantoms along with a Brute Chieftain.
Jax was able to find a city map, which led them to a large underground facility in the city, where three partially dismantled UNSC Frigates sat. As they approached, one of the frigates was destroyed by brutes, and the Spartans were forced into an engagement with several more Covenant squads who had been lying in wait. Kane-099 set up a defensive position covering the others with his Sniper rifle while Marco led Louie-A199 and Martin-A136 in a counterattack, opening a large roof access hatch for extraction, while Alex-A121 and Jax-007 went in search of a working FTL Drive.
After eliminating their Covenant attackers, the six Spartans secured the undamaged FTL drive and waited for Pelican evac supplied by Sergeant Major Richard Mack Jr.. When his pelican arrived, the FTL drive was attached to the dropship as it took off from the city as tremors began to shake the ground. The Pelican was pursued by over a dozen enemy banshees and several dropships as it fled the city, FTL drive attatched. As they neared the UNSC Bright New Day, Marco leapt from the Pelican bay, and hijacked an enemy banshee, using it to take down several enemy vehicles and allow the Pelican to get to the Frigate's hangar with the drive intact. The newly acquired Slipspace drive was installed by technicians as the Frigate began to leave the system, but Kane-099 ordered the ship to stay, as there was something happening to Hope, as several earthquakes and tremors began to happen as they were fleeing.
Battle of the Zenith Complex
Main Article: Battle of the Zenith Complex
After fleeing to the edge of the system, Kane ordered the Bright New Day to turn, as the planet Hope imploded. Despite protests, the ship remained on the outskirts, drawing little attention to itself as UNSC and Covenant forces moved on to fight at a newly discovered world[4]. The Spartans rested for a short amount of time, making checks on their MJOLNIR armour until a slipspace rupture was detected not far from the Frigate. A small prowler, powered down, exited slipspace not far from the Day, and drifted, apparently dead in space. Marco, along with Kane-099 and Jax-007, took a pelican to investigate the ship, managing to enter it through an airlock. After several minutes, the Spartans ran into someone they had not seen in over twenty years: Elena-071.
After reuniting briefly with their fellow SPARTAN-II, the ship was reactivated. Elena then revealed that she was on a top secret mission from ONI, codenamed Operation: ASPHALT. Following the slipspace trail of allied UNSC ships, the Heavens Asunder jumped, arriving above a strange planet. While onboard, Elena, who was wearing a field prototype of the MJOLNIR Mark VI armour, gave the others some upgrades to their well-used suits. Kane-099 received a thermal vision mode for his HUD, Jax-007 receiving force-multiplying circuits that improved his reaction time, and Marco gaining an overshield upgrade for his armour.
Taking Elena's pelican to the alien planet, Sigma was attacked shortly after landing by an unknown enemy; flying machines with high-powered energy weapons. After a short pursuit through the surrounding forest, during which Marco was able to destroy two of the machines, the Spartans regrouped, discovering a structure atop a ridge not far from their location. Still being chased by Sentinels, Sigma Team made it into the structure, where they discovered a holographic control panel. Elena, despite being cautioned, began to press the buttons without knowing what they could do. One such button activated a teleporter a short way from the facility, whereupon Covenant forces, who had been located at another terminal elsewhere on the planet, began to pour through, nearly overwhelming Jax-007 and assaulting the structure. Another button opened up a concealed tunnel, leading into the mountainside.
Marco was sent back to the dropship while the others held off the massing Covenant forces to activate the long range communicator in order to get in touch with the Bright New Day, and call for SPARTAN-III reinforcements. After several attempts, Marco was able to contact Sergeant Major Richard Mack Jr., who followed the Heavens Asunder's slipspace trail as it had done before. A dropship was dispatched carrying Martin-A136, Louie-A199 and Alex-A121 to the planet. Returning to the structure with the SPARTAN-III's, Marco found it overrun with Covenant forces. Lying in wait, the four ambushed a grunt patrol, killing all but one member, whom Marco then tied to a Ghost, strapped explosives to, and sent flying up the ridge where Wraith Tanks were setting up alongside a Covenant assault force.
Marco on the Zenith Complex.
Marco and the younger Spartans then commandeered several Ghosts and launched an assault on what remained of the Covenant positions atop the ridge as enemy reinforcements arrived. Marco directed the others down the ridge, a high-speed chase ensuing as both Covenant and Sentinels began to battle around the structure. Kane then detonated a number of C-12 charges from within the Forerunner structure, creating a massive eruption that forced the Spartans to abandon their vehicles and move forwards on foot. Momentarily cut off from his comrades, Marco was assaulted by two Hunters. Dodging several blows, Marco was hit squarely in the chest by a Hunter's fuel rod cannon, saved only by the overshields installed into his armour back on the Heavens Asunder. Thrown to the ground, the SPARTAN-II was saved when Louie-A199 rammed one Hunter and cut in in half as Martin finished the other off.
After making their way to the rendezvous point at the base of the ridge, the four Spartans met up with Elena-071, whose arrival was marked with an elite's decapitation due to a well-aimed kick from her. Martin, Alex and Louie were introduced to the Commander, and after sending a message to the UNSC Bright New Day for extraction, the seven Spartans bunkered down in anticipation of a Covenant and Sentinel counter attack. As enemy forces approached, Louie-A199 and Alex-A121 set up their remaining C12 charges at the base of the hill, assisted by Marco. They then fell back to the summit as a large Covanant force emerged from the forest, led by several Revenants. On Kane's order, they detonated the explosives on the enemy forces, and swiftly eliminated the rest with combined fire.
Shortly after, Sigma Team were evacuated on a Pelican dropship, piloted by Richard Mack Jr. As they escaped the conflict, Elena ordered Mack to divert his course to her own modified dropship, which was being investigated by a Covenant patrol. When they got close enough, Elena leapt from the Pelican's open doors, closely followed by Marco, ambushing and wiping out enemy forces before getting aboard. The two pelicans then took off from the planet, heading back to the Bright New Day and Heavens Asunder. Marco and Elena went back to the prowler, where they spoke for some time before the other Spartans attached a docking tube to the ship to come aboard. As the airlock opened, Elena grabbed Marco and threw him in before sealing the door. She apologised, stating that ONI had ordered her to return alone, and that the others were not supposed to even know that she was alive. Detaching her ship from the Frigate, Elena made a slipspace jump to an unknown area of space. Though the other Spartans wished to follow her, Marco explained that she would not have abandoned them without good reason, still trusting his old friend after all these years. The crew of the Bright New Day then calculated a random slipspace jump to throw off any Covenant forces, and left the system.
Battle of Second Sanctum
Main Article: Battle of Second Sanctum
Marco, Kane and Jax fight their way into Second Sanctum.
Battle for Moscow
Main Article: Battle for Moscow
After a long journey, the Bright New Day arrived in the Sol system to find it under attack by the Prophet of Truth's fleet. After making contact with UNSC forces, they began making their way towards Earth and were soon detected by Covenant forces. As they drew closer, Kane ordered all of the Spartans and ODST's to the ship's drop pods, and plotted it on a collision course with a nearby CCS-class Battlecruiser in he Earth's atmosphere. Barely a minute before the Frigate collided, Sigma and Whiskey launched their pods, heading straight for Earth. The remaining crew and technicians on the Day were able to evacuate in the few remaining lifeboats and Pelican dropships. The team landed near Moscow, Russia. Marco found Sergeant Major Mack, along with Jax-007 and Privates Raikov and Peterson, who informed him that two other ODST's had been killed in the drop. Kane-099, Martin-A136 and Corporal Bell were next to arrive at their rendezvous point on the city's outskirts, meeting up in an abandoned schoolhouse. While they discussed their potential options, Marco suggesting that they contact HIGHCOM, two enemy corvettes dropped in and began their assault on Moscow. With no other choice, the Spartans and their allies moved to defend the city alongside local Marine forces and split up into several teams.
Marco's team moved towards the city centre, contacting the local police forces with the help of the Russian-speaking ODST Raikov and planning a counter-attack against the invaders by setting up explosive traps and sniping points across streets by the enemy landing zones. Just as it seemed they would halt advance of enemy infantry, over a dozen Wraith tanks moved in, overwhelming their meagre defences and driving Sigma back. The Spartans, along with the ODST's and Marines, were forced to pull back into a plaza in an attempt to trap the tanks in the narrow streets surrounding it. Kane-099 and his team then arrived to provide support from a church tower, Kane and Martin-A136 acting as snipers. Marco, Jax and Whiskey-04 set up a defensive position inside a ruined building while Alex and Louie acted as spotters, waiting for the column of wraiths to arrive.
Eventually, the attack came. Louie-A199 and Alex-A121 unleashed several rockets on the first Wraiths, destroying them, and then fell back towards the main building. Marco and Jax provided covering fire from the advancing Covenant infantry with mounted machine guns. As the battle raged on, things were going badly for Whiskey-04. Marco, who had spent most of the battle operating a machine gun, was forced into a hasty retreat along with the surviving UNSC forces, though they had bought the local Marines all the time they needed.
Several evac Pelicans met Marco and the others half a mile north and extracted them from the combat zone. As they left, the Marine NCO detonated a HAVOK nuke left within Moscow, destroying all Covenant forces in the area and downing their remaining ship at the hefty cost of over a third of the ancient city. While even Marco considered it a heavy price to pay for victory, stopping the Covenant at any cost had become the priority. The Spartans returned to the UNSC's PILLAR Base, situated under Mount Everest. Mack Junior was reassigned almost immediately after saying his goodbyes to Marco and the Spartans, who had their injuries and armour checked out. To replace their heavily-damaged and failing Mark V suits, Sigma were given the new MJOLNIR Mark VI armour, which would come in useful for the heavy fighting they would soon see.
Battle of Sector Six
Main Article: Battle of Sector Six
On November 17th, Sigma was once again deployed, this time without their SPARTAN-III comrades. They were sent to an area east of Pawa on the Afganistan/Pakistan border with a mission was to calculate the crash site of the incoming SPARTAN-117 before he landed. While Marco and the others had never met him, even they had heard of the legendary Spartan's feats and gladly took on the operation. While Marco was provided with a laser designator to pinpoint 117's location, they were forced to hide the device while they held off a massive force of Jiralhanae. Knowing that they would not make it in time, they radioed for a secomd team while Sigma led their foe away. When the pair arrived, Kane ordered Bravo-21 and Bravo-22 to take the designator to the destination while the Spartans held off enemy forces. Sigma was able to temporarily drive back the Brutes and make their way towards the ODST's location. By the time Sigma arrived at the rendezvous point in a nearby bunker, they had completed their mission, at the cost of Bravo-21 and various other Marines. With Marco taking point, the survivors made their way through the long tunnels and eventually emerged by their extraction point the following morning, where they were picked by friendly Pelicans and taken to Pillar Base.
Battle of Voi
Main Article: Battle of Voi
Sigma team and Marco played a relatively small role in the battle, simply providing support for UNSC Marines and destroying several targets of opportunity outside the city as a distraction for the primary assault force. When the Flood-controlled Covenant ship arrived and began infecting the nearby area, Sigma fought bravely against this new threat and acted as a rearguard to a platoon of Marines as they fell back towards their evac Pelicans. They were able to escape to a safe distance before Covenant Separatist ships began glassing the area.
Battle of the Portal
With the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn and several allied ships, including several belonging to their newfound Sangheili allies, the Spartans remained behind on Earth. From their position near the portal in Kenya, the remainder of human ground forces, which largely consisted of army soldiers and naval operatives, with some air support, came under attack from a large Covenant army, which had remained behind on Earth, somehow surviving both the flood and subsequent partial glassing of the continent.
Marco fighting in his initial Mark VI suit.
With limited ground support, the humans, commanded by Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood retreated to a defensible position near mount Kilimanjaro, where a network of bunkers still remained in spite of the main UNSC base, Crow's Nest being destroyed. Marco, Jax and Kane were deployed there instead of returning to PILLAR base, being given explicit orders to keep Hood alive. The complex came under heavy assault, with Brute-led Covenant Loyalists breaching the outer defences easily. While the other two led marine fireteams to defend exits from the base, Marco protected the Fleet Admiral himself upon finding him in the command room.
Giving the order to evacuate the base, Hood accompanied the Spartan, proving to be an adept combatant himself, even saving Marco from a brute that caught him unawares and knocked him down by shooting it in the head. Marco escorted Hood to the landing pads, where Jax and a marine team were engaged with a Brute Pack, several Pelicans having been destroyed before takeoff. While the Spartans considered their options, half a dozen dropships arrived at the base, jetpack-using ODST's slaughtering the Brutes with ease. The platoon leader of these troopers was none other than Sergeant Major Richard Mack Junior, who had been dispatched to ensure Hood's safety in spite of his SPARTAN protectors.
With the immediate threat taken care of, the base's evacuation was carried out in full, Kane rejoining his comrades as they abandoned the old base to the Covenant. Though the battle had been short, the loyalist forces were in disarray after their leadership had departed through the portal, allowing them to be easily outmanoeuvred and defeated. Also, as it had been done many times before, most of the base was obliterated by a HAVOK tac-nuke dropped by Mack's ODST's. The convoy of Pelicans then made their way to HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6 in Sydney, Australia, where Sigma Team was debriefed.
War's End
- "Feels strange to think that it's finally over. I'm sure they'll keep us busy."
- ―Marco, speaking at the Hillside Memorial
With the Human-Covenant War finally over, Sigma Team remained active, its members among the very few surviving SPARTAN-II's after the decades-long war. The three Spartans visited the Hillside memorial in East Africa on March 3rd, 2553, shortly after the official ceremony ended. Lord Hood, grateful for the help they provided him during the battle of Earth, allowed them to pay their respects before departing. Two days after the ceremony, Marco was promoted to the rank of Chief Petty Officer, though he saw it as a fairly meaningless gesture after losing so much over the years. Martin-A136, Louie-A199 and Alex-A121 were to remain with Sigma for several months until either the UNSC Navy or the Office of Naval Intelligence reassigned them. By August, the SPARTAN-III's had left the team, though they remained good friends with their older brethren.
Eight months after the end of the war, while Marco was undergoing a simple health checkup and blood test, a doctor discovered that his DNA was remarkably similar to that of a marine NCO, Gunnery Sergeant Michael Wade. Wade was called up to the UNSC Brighton, where Marco had the test. After meeting Michael, Marco questioned him repeatedly about his life and childhood, something that the Marine found very strange. After Michael revealed that he had a brother three years older than him who had died suddenly when they were kids, Marco removed his helmet and announced that he was Michael's supposedly dead brother. The Marine was shocked at this revelation, and demanded answers from Marco.
He explained to Michael that, from what he could garner, after he and the other Spartan candidates were kidnapped, they were replaced with flash clones, that quickly died. Although Wade did not at first believe the Spartan claiming to be his brother, but after much conversation and evidence, Michael finally accepted Marco, whom he had not seen for thirty-six years. While the Office of Naval Intelligence was aware of this, no action was taken against Michael or his family, though they were placed under distant observation so that the Spartan would not notice. Michael informed Marco that their parents had been killed during the Battle of Earth; two casualties among billions lost there. To his own surprise Marco was not particularly upset by this news; having spent most of his life away from his biological parents he was emotionally distant from their passing. Michael also revealed that their parents had a third child, Amanda, in 2532. While he was twenty-one years older than Amanda, Marco asked about his younger sister and wished to see her. It turned out that immediately following the War she had fallen out with Michael when she enlisted in the UNSC Marine Corps to avoid dealing with the death of their parents. Michael urged Marco to simply forget about Amanda as he was still furious at her actions.
Michael invited Marco to stay at his house, where he was home on leave with his wife, Melissa, and his two-year-old daughter, Kate. Marco accepted, and stayed there until Marco had to return to active service in the UNSC. Michael then informed Marco of his plans to retire from military service once his tour had finished to spend time with his family. Marco was happy for his brother, but deflected any questions pertaining to his own possible retirement; he knew that he would most likely belong to the military for his entire life, and that the only way he'd be leaving was in a body bag. After nearly a month of leave, he was recalled to PILLAR base in India to meet with the rest of Sigma Team before getting back to duty.
Post-War
Although the war was over, the Covenant had survived in the form of dozens of sub-factions that fought over parts of their former empire's space. Marco and the surviving members of Sigma were kept within the UNSC Navy while most of the remaining SPARTAN-III's were transferred to the newly-formed Spartan Branch alongside the first SPARTAN-IV supersoldiers. While Marco saw these new soldiers as somewhat inferior compared to previous Spartan generations in terms of training and experience, he did appreciate that they were all consenting adults instead of kidnapped child soldiers like he and his peers had been. For several months after, the Spartans were tasked with hunting down any Covenant remnants that had survived the end of the war.
In early 2554, Marco would be part of the rescue team that extracted Elena-071, Kane-099 and Echo 1-1 from Schönheit in the conclusion of Operation: ASHES. There they were able to recover the preserved corpse of Hank-136, an old comrade thought long-dead. While Marco and the others wished to have Hank returned to their team, his mental instability following his resuscitation led to ONI placing him in Fireteam Thor with other troublesome Spartans.
Hunting down Meridus
In August of 2554, Marco, Jax and Kane were tasked with the elimination of a Jiralhanae Chieftain named Meridus in what became known as Operation: CATFISH. Once a mid-ranking leader in the Covenant military, Meridus had become a powerful warlord following the war's end and was attempting to unite several large Jiralhanae tribes with other former Covenant forces in an attempt to kill the Sangheili leader Thel 'Vadam and blame it on the UNSC. After spy probes uncovered the location of Meridus' base on a far-off colony of Sundered Heart. Once a mere outpost on the edge of Covenant space, the Covenant remnants had turned the small world into a fortress, guarded by dozens of capital ships and even a single CSO-class Supercarrier that had been constructed shortly after the war's end. With the support of many former arms companies operating on former Covenant worlds, their amassed force would be enough to glass both Sanghelios and Earth if left unchecked. Rather than risk a full-scale attack, the Office of Naval Intelligence deployed the three SPARTAN-II's in-system to kill Meridus and stop his plans for invasion at any cost.
After arriving on a Prowler utilising highly-advanced cloaking fields, the three Spartans made use of a distraction by several UNSC vessels to land on the nearby planet in secret. Without any contact at all with command, Marco and the others only had orders to succeed at any cost. As with any high-risk, low-survival odds mission, Marco complained, Jax made a joke of it, and Kane ordered the pair of them to focus on the task at hand. For seven days the trio trekked across the colony, avoiding contact with the local Jiralhanae villages while living mostly off rations and wild animals. Eventually they arrived near Meridus' fortress and managed to enter through a waste disposal pipe in a nearby river. While the Jiralhanae warlord had enough defences to fend off a large fleet-based attack, the security measures against enemy infiltrators were sub-par and the SPARTAN-II's easily made it into the base after blasting through a pipe with a shaped charge and eliminating the nearby guards before they could raise the alarm. Covered in sewage, the armoured supersoldiers cut a bloody swathe through the fortress' defenders until they reached the command room where Meridus was supposed to be. The Jiralhanae was not present, though the controls to his base defences were. While Jax and Marco held off enemy reinforcements, Kane was able to activate several 'Mantis' AA guns to fire on their own fleet in orbit.
Marco during Operation: CATFISH.
With their foes in disarray, the Spartans fought their way to a nearby landing pad and hijacked one of Meridus' personal shuttles to escape the colony as several of the orbiting ships began to return fire on the base, severely damaging the fortress and the surrounding area. As Meridus had not been present at his fortress, Kane reasoned that he would most likely be aboard his Supercarrier, Return to Glory, attempting to direct the invasion fleet. In the confusion, the flight controllers aboard the ship believed that the incoming ship contained their leader and allowed them to land; they did not realise their mistake until Marco, Jax and Kane had already slaughtered the greeting party in the hangar and were working their way up the massive ship. Fearful of the Spartans' progress, Meridus dispatched groups of veteran Jiralhanae warriors to kill them while he ordered his fleet to initiate a slipspace jump towards Sanghelios. Before that could occur, several dozen ships appeared insystem, belonging to both the UNSC and United Sangheili. As the battle raged on outside, Marco and his comrades fought their way through Meridus' finest, their augmented bodies and power armour making short work of the soldiers before blowing their way into the bridge. As per his rank and status, Meridus was no easy pushover in combat; an incredibly powerful energy shield coupled with a modified Gravity Hammer made it a difficult battle for the Spartans. After Jax was nearly killed by a lucky hit and Marco was thrown across the room by the raging chieftain, Kane was able to change the ship's course on an unstoppable impact run with the planet itself.
Realising that they had little time to escape, Marco and the others fled from Meridus before he realised he had been locked out of his own bridge console, and soon gave chase to the Spartans. The sudden death dive coupled with multiple MAC round hits badly damaged the Return to Glory, which had begun to break up as it entered orbit. Meridus was almost able to catch up with the retreating Spartans, only to run directly into a trap set by Marco - C-12 charges rigged to blow through the ship's outer hull. Though his shield protected him from instant death, the Jiralhanae leader was blown out of the ship and died as the trio escaped in the same shuttle they arrived in. As they approached the joint UNSC-Sangheili fleet, the Spartans identified themselves to avoid being blown to pieces and were eventually picked up by a nearby Cruiser. ONI congratulated Marco, Kane and Jax on a mission well-done, as the three of them had managed to thrown Meridus' forces into disarray just long enough to be vulnerable to a massive counter-attack. The Supercarrier's impact had killed thousands of innocent Jiralhanae colonists on Sundered Heart, though ONI cared little for their lives and Marco had long since learned to keep his opinions on such matters to himself.
Operation: GOLGOTHA
- Elena: "You play the hulking idiot thug part quite well."
- Marco: "I'll take that as a compliment."
- ―A conversation shortly before Marco's undercover mission.
In January of 2555, the Office of Naval Intelligence's investigation into the mysterious figure known as Magnus had turned up few leads, with many believing that the name was merely a pseudonym conjured up by rebels and criminals to give a name to the perpetrator of several terrorist attacks over the years. This changed when the SPARTAN-III's of Shrike Team were able to successfully capture one of his agents alive during a raid in the Outer Colonies. After a lengthy interrogation at the hands of ONI, the agent revealed that Magnus was not only real, but was conducting a massive operation involving dozens of criminal and rebel groups, the likes of which had never been seen even in the days when the United Rebel Front was at its full strength. With the location of these groups as the tip of the iceberg, ONI began to mobilise dozens of its top agents to infiltrate and destroy them from within. Among those agents was Marco, who was chosen to go undercover for the first time in years.
Marco, posing as a criminal gun for hire.
In spite of his noticeable stature and scars that would arouse suspicion, ONI's Section Two was able to come up with a lengthy background for the Spartan as a career criminal and hitman operating in the Outer Colonies. Part of Marco's cover story was that he was a steroid abuser with a history of violence; strength enhancers and other illicit drugs being used as an excuse for his appearance and to ensure that his new employers knew that he was a force to be reckoned with. Lastly, Marco was given the name 'Simeon Moritz' to use while undercover. After arriving on Talitsa in March, he spent several weeks working illegally as a labourer in a local foundry before attracting the attention of one of the planet's more notorious criminal factions. Having spotted 'Simeon', a number of armed men brought the supposed criminal to a nearby warehouse where he met with Gordon Mills, a high-ranking member of the organisation who offered Marco a job offworld working for their leader. He accepted, and was taken aboard a freighter the next day to the Caucasus Station, a sprawling asteroid settlement home to thousands of people outside UNSC-controlled space. Mills would use Marco as muscle for several low-key operations there for nearly a week before their leader arrived.
The head of the Crimson Star crime syndicate was a woman named Patricia Hurst, a little-known individual even by ONI who met with Marco and a number of other recruits in a secure room on the station. Hurst explained that they would be participating in a large deal with the United Rebel Front, which had greatly diminished in power since the end of the Human-Covenant War. In exchange for a large sum of money, the Crimson Star was to provide military-grade equipment to the rebels in preparation for a future attack. Unable to contact his backup in any way, Marco played his part as dumb muscle for the group until their meeting date was revealed, and the man in charge of the exchange: Magnus. As they began loading up their stolen equipment for the deal, the Spartan plotted to singlehandedly sabotage the Crimson Star's plans in an attempt to bring down both their organisation and Magnus' forces in a single day. Though he was deprived of reinforcements and his MJOLNIR armour, Marco privately believed that his chances of success were fairly good as the meeting date with the URF approached.
Due to Marco's excellent results and imposing stature, Hurst chose him to act as one of her personal bodyguards during the deal in case of any arguments. Wary of a possible ambush, he suggested that he and Mills investigate the meeting area several days in advance to ensure that their URF contacts would not set up a trap there ahead of time. Unbeknownst to his employer, Marco was able to set up several blocks of C-12 explosives around the lower levels of the station the meeting was being held in, and eventually reported to Hurst that there would be no problems on the day of the deal. Though unable to contact the UNSC directly from the Caucasus Station, Marco met up with Kyle White, an undercover agent from ONI's BRUTUS division in a bar the night before. While his contact could not do a great deal and had to avoid blowing his cover, he was able to procure some weaponry and armour for Marco from the black market; two 'snapshot' pistols, a number of plasma grenades, and a modified T-55 Storm Rifle. Upon returning to the Crimson Star's base, Marco explained that he had overheard a rumour that the URF intended to seize the station following the deal, and were bringing several hundred soldiers to do so.
While apprehensive about Marco's information, Hurst and her followers refused to take any chances and mobilised the entirety of the Crimson Star's forces to deal with any potential attack. At the same time, Kyle White had slipped information to some URF informants that the criminal organisation intended to betray them as soon as possible. As the deal took place, Marco stood back as the initial dealings took place, waiting for the arrival of Magnus. Before long, a very tall, heavily-built man entered the meeting, surrounded by bodyguards. Though Marco had orders to immediately attempt to take down the elusive terrorist on sight, he hesitated. Not only did he recognise the man, but he had once been friends with him; it was none other than Jack-085, who had supposedly died on Endrin in 2550. Watching from the sidelines, Marco took note of how Jack appeared to have undergone extensive modifications since their last encounter, considering his prosthetic legs and heavy cybernetics dotting the rest of his body. Eventually, 'Magnus' caught a glimpse of Marco out of the corner of his eye and immediately recognised the SPARTAN-II. Without hesitation, Marco detonated the C-12 charges, turning most of the warehouse into a blazing inferno and badly destabilising the entire level as all hell broke loose. URF and Crimson Star forces turned on each other in an instant, and despite Marco's best efforts Jack managed to flee. While making his way to the upper levels in pursuit of Jack, Marco ran into Patricia Hurst, who ordered him to join her forces in taking the Caucasus Station for their own. In response, he killed her and her entourage, effectively ending the threat of their organisation immediately.
With the two forces clashing across the sprawling station, Marco had a hard time chasing his former friend. While the Crimson Star were better-equipped, the URF's tactics and sheer numbers gave them a clear advantage in the resulting battle. The Spartan was able to finally confront Jack as he entered the hangar bay, a brief but intense firefight between the two Spartans tearing the room apart before Marco managed to blow one of Jack's prosthetic hands off with a bolt of plasma. Before he could deliver the final blow, Jack managed to board a nearby freighter as it prepared to take off, escaping the station and the wrath of Marco. With his mission more or less complete, Marco managed to contact Kyle White once more and the pair left in a small freighter before jumping to Slipspace. Upon his return to Earth, Marco was congratulated for his efforts in bringing down the Crimson Star, though some sources indicated that this shift in the balance of power had placed the United Rebel Front in control of the Caucasus Station. Furthermore, Marco's report of Jack's survival to the UNSC Security Council was met with heavy scrutiny; Admiral Serin Osman, the head of ONI, assured Marco that Jack's death had been all but confirmed years ago when her agents had examined the remains of the Hephaestus Array on Endrin's surface. Nonetheless, the possibility that Jack had survived to become Magnus was taken into consideration by the Council at the behest of Admirals Terrence Hood and John Hawkins, who promised that the matter would be looked into. Marco would later contact Jax-007, Kane-099, Elena-071 and Hank-136 in private about their old friend's return. While both ONI and the UNSC would take years before publicly revealing Magnus' true identity as Jack-085, Marco ensued that his Spartan comrades knew exactly who they were dealing with.
Mission to Mamore
- "They sent me to kill some old bloke who thinks he’s any better than the UNSC. They’d make a martyr of him anyway, but orders are orders."
- ―Marco explaining his mission to Amanda
In 2556 the location of Roger Maxon, a prominent recruiter for the New Colonial Alliance, was finally pinpointed by ONI. He had travelled to Mamore, a turbulent colony with a long history of anti-UNSC sentiment. The rebel leader was supposed to be directing a rally in the city of Agadir to gain support for their cause. Due to the high possibility of Mamore attempting to secede from the UEG's control again, Marco was to kill Maxon and cause havoc in the area before extracting safely; a larger UNSC force would only cause more trouble if it intervened. After spending several days getting into position near the rally and laying a series of explosives along the nearby road, the SPARTAN-II launched his attack on Maxon's convoy as they began to leave. While he was successful in destroying an armoured vehicle and the main armoured car, Marco soon realised that Maxon was hiding among his troops in the transport trucks, and fled the area as the Spartan began his pursuit.
While he successfully avoided NCA troops in Agadir, Marco was held up on the road as the rebels deployed two Mantis mechs to take him down. Though he was heavily outgunned, the Spartan managed to board and punch a grenade into one of the rebel vehicles, destroying it. Before he could face the second, it was hit with a volley of missiles and destroyed. Marco was greeted by a group of independent humans, led by none other than an old acquaintance of his: Amanda Wade. While there was some initial confusion, Amanda asked for Marco's assistance in another task. As he felt that Maxon would only be made a martyr if he were assassinated, the Spartan allowed his quarry to escape while he assisted Amanda and her comrades in rescuing a man named Ash Mitchell from an NCA-run prison nearby. While he knew of Mitchell's involvement in a publicised attack on Circumstance known as the 'Kuiper Massacre' earlier that year, Marco was willing to help Amanda and joined a young assassin named Winston Zhou to launch an attack on the fortified base. Together the pair decimated several enemy platoons heading their way before spotting Mitchell, who had escaped himself and was attempting to flee through the nearby snowfields. Seeing that he wouldn't get far without help, Marco set off on his own and eliminated several rebel squads before saving Mitchell from a group of enemy soldiers. Mitchell, who had evidently suffered from torture and mutilation from his time in the prison, threatened to kill himself, though Marco talked him out of it long enough for Amanda to arrive and convince him to join her crew. Their quarry soon passed out from blood loss, and Marco handed him over to Amanda as her ship, the Dynasty arrived on Mamore. After a brief conversation with her, the pair on good terms for once; Marco promised not to reveal what had happened on the planet to his superiors. While he reported his mission as a failure to ONI when he returned, Marco credited himself with the destruction of the NCA's prison camp and several hundred soldiers, which drastically reduced their effectiveness on Mamore.
Avalon Incident
Following his failure to kill Roger Maxon, Marco was temporarily reassigned to the Department of Recolonisation and Exploration, or DRE, as a form of punishment from ONI. Marco did not mind this, and joined the crew of the UNSC Demeter, a scouting vessel that was assessing colonies glassed during the Human-Covenant War for possible resettlement and terraforming. During this time he worked with Iris Touré, who led the exploration vessel and proved to be an intellectual sparring partner for the venerable Spartan. While Marco initially had some misgivings about Touré and believed her to be an ONI agent, they soon became friends after discovering that they held similar views on colonial self-rule. Their vessel arrived at the abandoned colony world of Emerald Cove shortly after, and discovered an independent colony there named 'Avalon'. Upon landing, it was discovered that the colony consisted of both Humans, Unggoy and a single Jiralhanae, and wished to retain independence even if the UNSC moved to recolonise the rest of the planet. While Touré spoke with the supposed leader of Avalon, Marco encountered Amanda Wade once again. They spoke for some time before the Demeter departed the planet, Marco now worrying about his sister's life and the lives of those dwelling in Avalon. He confided in Touré about how ONI may deal with the colony, prompting her to head straight back to Earth where she intended to deliver a speech to the UEG to raise public awareness of Avalon and similarly independent colonies.
Shortly after their arrival back on Earth, Marco was contacted on his personal communicator by agent Kyle White of ONI's BRUTUS division as he and Touré visited a coffee shop in New York, several hours before she was due to make her speech. White informed Marco of an impending attempt on Touré's life and instructed that the SPARTAN-II move away from his protectee. As he did so, the coffee shop was destroyed from within as an explosive device triggered, instantly killing Touré and dozens of civilians. While he first feared it to be an attack by the NCA or some other terrorist group, a car soon pulled up carrying White and Elena-071, who swiftly escorted Marco away from the scene before the police could arrive and informed him that Touré's death was an action ordered not only by the head of BRUTUS, but by CINCONI himself. As they drove off, White and Elena explained how in spite of Touré's best intentions, the UEG could not be further fractured by newly-independent colonial worlds and that it was a sad necessity to keep Humanity united. Furthermore, the attack would be blamed on Anatoly Kustentov, a rogue BRUTUS agent who had recently been recaptured and would be discreetly executed to appease the populace, while making for great anti-Insurrectionist propaganda. While utterly disgusted by the callousness shown by White in regards to the woman's life and the extreme measures taken by ONI, Marco forced himself to simply accept what had just happened as little more than a change in 'mission parameters' that as a Spartan he would go along with without questioning orders. Nonetheless, the death of Iris Touré would forever haunt Marco; the very sudden loss of someone who had treated him like a friend rather than a military asset staying in his mind for many years after.
Shortly after Iris' death, Marco discovered that Avalon had been attacked and destroyed by the Office of Naval Intelligence's own forces. Instead of hearing about it through Elena or his superiors he saw this through footage that had been leaked from Avalon itself during the attack, making it blatantly clear who the perpetrators were as they massacred most of the populace. While officially the operation was labelled as a counter-insurgency mission, there were mass protests across multiple worlds following this, which only served to strengthen the New Colonial Alliance's political position. Initially believing Amanda to have died, Marco received a video message that had been sent to him from Lodestone in the Outer Colonies and intercepted by Elena before ONI could access it. Though brief, it showed that both Amanda and Ash Mitchell had survived the attack, and contained a statement from the two declaring that they would continue pursuing Magnus before hunting down those responsible for Avalon's fall. Though worried for his sister's welfare, Marco knew that there was nothing he could do for her and deleted all trace of the message before getting back to work.
Southerness Incident
Following the Battle of Requiem in July of 2557, Sigma Team was kept on-station as reports of the newly-encountered Forerunner Prometheans began to spring up around the Outer Colonies. After several sightings confirmed that they were aligned with Covenant Warlord Jul 'Mdama's faction, the SPARTAN-II's were stationed aboard a Prowler to await news of any further attacks. On August 17th, several Covenant ships arrived over the newly-colonised world of Southerness[5] with the intent of wiping out the settlers there. With UNSC support more than a day away, Sigma immediately moved in to assist, having been monitoring the planet beforehand. With a lot of ground to cover, Marco, Kane and Jax split up after landing in an Owl.
Scouting out the coastline Southerness had been built on, Marco discovered a number of Armigers being led by a group of Sangheili Zealots. Watching from afar, the Spartan saw that reports of them massacring civilians were incorrect; they were enslaving Human colonists. After relaying this to Jax and Kane, Marco moved in and quietly dispatched several guards en-route to the Covenant's vessel, an old DAV-class corvette. Unwilling to let them escape with any more captives but aware that he would die if he tried a head-on attack against the well-guarded vessel, Marco covertly set up demolition charges beneath a group of nearby Shadows and waited for their occupants to return, drawn by news of Sigma's attack on their comrades in the settlement. As they set off the charges detonated, killing dozens of Covenant soldiers and forcing the rest back towards their vessel.
Marco fighting a Promethean Knight.
To Marco's surprise, the corvette immediately took off instead of assisting the remainder of its forces on the ground. It was around this time that the surviving Promethean forces vanished, presumably teleporting aboard the ship before they could be felled by the Spartans. Upon returning to the settlement and regrouping with the rest of Sigma, Marco found that barely a third of the colony's populace had survived; the rest had been either killed or taken by their attackers. Some colonists tried to blame the Spartans for their misfortune, prompting a hasty exfiltration as Kane assured them UNSC reinforcements were en-route to help rebuild and reinforce the heavily-damaged town.
After returning to Earth, Marco and the others were debriefed and spent several days waiting as ONI tracked the fleeing Covenant vessel. Eventually, it was tracked to an area of lawless space, far away from any known outpost belonging to Jul 'Mdama's allies. A spy probe was able to track the corvette as it settled on a nameless asteroid base. This strange behaviour was noted and sensing that the ship may have broken off from Mdama's main force and gone rogue, ONI dispatched Sigma to track down the Sangheili slavers and destroy them.
Operation: RAILROAD
Within a week, ONI had been able to track down the enemy slave ships to a remote location on the very edge of Human space. As it turned out, the slavers had been using colonies abandoned during the Human-Covenant War as temporary bases and meeting points, where they then sold their cargo to both Kig-Yar Pirates and Jiralhanae warlords. Entering the system alongside a small battlegroup, Sigma Team landed quietly on the planet and prepared to launch an all-out attack on the slavers from the air, utilising AV-49 Wasps to launch a quick strike while Marine forces moved in for a frontal assault.
Marco in his damaged Wasp during the assault.
While the slaver camp was well-defended, the speed and energy shielding on Sigma's Wasps allowed them to easily break through the outer perimeter, launching precise missile strikes that destroyed AA guns and other ground defences as the main attack force neared their location while keeping their fire well away from the slave pens. While Kane and Jax maintained their speed and high altitude, Marco moved in low to mow down the fleeing slavers with his aircraft's machine guns and was struck numerous times by plasma fire. His Wasp's shields were eventually dissipated under heavy fire and as he rose away from danger, a well-aimed plasma grenade smashed open the Spartan's cockpit window and badly damaged his engines. After taking more fire, Marco was forced to leap from his Wasp after sending it on a collision course with the slavers' barracks, kicking his MLJONIR suit's thrusters into gear to land safely as he moved to engage the enemy on foot.
After being utterly decimated by the surprise attack from the Spartans, the Sangheili slavers were in complete disarray, with most fleeing towards their ships as Marco moved into their base alone. The SPARTAN-II showed no mercy to anyone in his way, brutally killing many foes during his rampage. After descending several levels, Marco discovered a massive cavern housing the same DAV-class corvette they had encountered on Southerness. As he approached, the Sangheili were able to summon their final group of Prometheans to engage the Spartan while they loaded up their vessel and fled the planet. Despite his best efforts to board the ship, killing a number of Armigers before a trio of Knights blocked Marco's path. While his enhanced speed and reflexes allowed him to match the hulking constructs evenly in combat, he was outnumbered and heavily outgunned in the engagement and eventually forced back. As they closed in for the kill, Jax and Kane arrived to save their friend, catching the Knights off-guard and swiftly eliminating them with a fusillade of well-aimed gunfire.
As the corvette lifted off and moved out of the cave via a large entrance blasted into a mountainside, Marco and the others contacted the UNSC battlegroup in orbit. Though fast and armed with plasma weaponry, the slaver vessel was no match for twelve pinpoint MAC blasts and was utterly obliterated as it tried to escape the planet. With the current threat more or less annihilated, Sigma Team moved to secure the camp as Marine reinforcements arrived. In addition to numerous Human slaves, there were a number of Kig-Yar, Unggoy and Yonhet kept there until an auction was held. Upon freeing a group of Human slaves, they discovered that one of them - a middle-aged man with his tongue cut out - had been a former UNSC officer after the discovery of a CNI implant in the back of his skull.
After personally escorting him to an orbiting Destroyer after a Pelican arrived to extract them, Marco and the others learned that he had been declared KIA back in 2540. It soon became apparent to Marco that the former slave was seemingly unable to recall his past in great detail; the ship's physicians believed this to be the result of a high-level neural paralysis dart that had wiped away a great portion of his memories. As ONI agents soon arrived to take him into protective custody, the former slave was able to recall a single name: The UNSC Kuwabara.
Finding the Kuwabara
Created Uprising
Personality
- "I wouldn't call myself a good person. You spend this long at war and it really messes with you, you know? Killing starts to become a game after a while."
- ―Marco in a psych evaluation.
Marco had, throughout training, always had a rebellious attitude towards his superiors, more specifically Dr. Calvin Roe, though this faded with time. He was also aggravated quite easily by non-Spartans, and almost got into a fight with a group of abusive ODST's had it not been for Jax-007 and Resk-063 intervening. Marco possessed a rather cynical, sarcastic personality, and would often comment negatively on his surroundings or taunt enemies in combat to gain the advantage, something that worked more often than not. Marco was also very vocal with his opinions on Insurrectionists and the Covenant. He believed that Insurrectionists were cowardly traitors who had turned their back on their own species, and that the Covenant were simply aliens that needed to be destroyed. Even after the conclusion of the Human-Covenant War, he remained very wary of allied Sangeheili forces, expecting a betrayal at any moment.
After finding out about his family in 2553 Marco became very protective of them, especially his young niece, Kate. Marco would generally follow orders diligently, though his methods were considered unorthodox by his superiors at times, even for a SPARTAN. Marco had very few close friends, even within Sigma, and throughout his entire life, there were few he ever confided in. During training, Marco became good friends with Jack-085 and Elena-071, also befriending Nef-015 and Wulf-041. Following the augmentations, with Elena's supposed death and Jack's escape, Marco found it difficult to integrate with others. However, outside of combat, he was reasonably friendly, or at least attempted to be so. Like to most of Sigma, he made very little effort to socialise with non-SPARTAN personnel, with few exceptions.
Like some Spartans, Marco would suffer occasionally from the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after years of near-constant campaigning with few breaks from war. Both in an out of combat he often felt numbed towards events around him and disliked attracting attention towards himself. While he could converse with others easily, Marco preferred to keep anyone not on his team at arm's length and would very rarely open up. He also suffered from what was known as Survivor's Guilt after witnessing so many of his fellow Spartans killed in combat. Wulf-041's death in particular was devastating to Marco, as it triggered the violent pursuit and killing of Calvin Roe as he discarded his Spartan training and discipline for a short while.
Skills and Abilities
- "Suit yourself sir, I'm adaptable."
- ―Marco after meeting Admiral Hood in late 2552.
During his training as a SPARTAN-II, Marco was noted for being the most tactically flexible of everyone in the Project SIGMA and was able to adapt much easier than his team mates could. However, as the Human-Covenant War went on, Marco's penchant for going off alone in battle would put his team in danger several times. Marco was, however, the most proficient in hand-to-hand combat of all the Sigma Spartans; being able to outfight veteran Sangheili within seconds, and on several occasions even kill Hunters using only his armoured hands. The Spartan was particularly skilled in the martial art of Krav Maga, which relied on grapples and the quick neutralisation of threats, something that was critical in battle. With his SPARTAN augmentations improving his speed, strength and reaction time, Marco was a nigh-unstoppable force at close range for most enemies.
Marco also attempted to repurpose Covenant weapons as something of a hobby, though his only notable success was customising a captured Brute Shot to fire human fragmentation grenades during the Battle of Harpa. Though useful at the time, his weapon was confiscated and most likely destroyed upon Sigma Team's arrival to Reach in July 2552. Marco's tinkering was largely something he practised in his spare time, often attempting to improve on the efficiency of his weapons. He would impart his knowledge to future SPARTAN generations, ensuring that they made the best out of their assigned kit. Like all Spartans he was proficient with most Covenant weapons after years of experience on the frontlines.
Marco was extremely proficient in close-quarters combat, relying mainly on his immense strength.
When it came to plans, Marco was never quite the brilliant tactician that Fenn-145 was. His favoured strategy seemed to be 'sprinting it' - charging through enemy lines to secure an objective and/or escape. This tactic, though crude and seemingly suicidal at times, was used to great effect on multiple occasions. His enhanced speed and reflexes would make this maneuver devastating to the enemy as the Spartan constantly charged ahead. Also notable among Marco's qualities was his intense resilience to pain and has taken damage that would cripple or kill most others, even Spartans. One example of this would be during the Battle of Harpa, where he fought for several days with damaged armour, multiple plasma burns and a broken arm. It was this toughness that saved him from death multiple times throughout his life. As with all SPARTAN-II's, Marco was trained to some degree in first aid, though he rarely had time to give it on the battlefield.
Appearance
Due to spending a great deal of his time encased in armour, Marco's light brown skin had become rather pale, while much of his body was scarred as a result of both his augmentations and years of combat. While outwardly stoic like his brethren, Marco has been described as 'twitchy' by others and rarely shows signs of relaxation. While he kept his hair close-cropped and was clean-shaven for the duration of the Human-Covenant War, Marco would eventually grow a short beard after the war's end. After many years of heavy fighting on the frontlines and experiencing more combat in a single year than most soldiers would see in their entire career, Marco's green eyes acquired a piercing look known as a thousand yard stare; a sign of his lingering PTSD.
Equipment
Throughout his career, Marco has worn several different iterations of the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armour. Enhancing his already-formidable strength, speed and reaction times, the suit has saved Marco's life on numerous occasions and has become like a second skin to the Spartan. Aside from his earliest suit, Marco has always requested that his armour be tan in colour, mostly out of personal preference. As of 2558, he has worn eight different iterations of the suit.
| SPARTAN-025's MJOLNIR suits | |||||||
| Suit name | Image | Time Worn | Description | Status | |||
| MJOLNIR Mark IV/Prototype |  |
2526 - 2531 | The first MJOLNIR suit worn by Marco, this Mark IV iteration featured several modifications based on data from the Battle of Chi Ceti and several other early ground engagements. As it was developed at a time where knowledge of the Covenant was still scarce and Sigma Team was primarily deployed against Insurrectionist groups taking advantage of the chaos in some Outer Colony worlds, its effectiveness was not tested until Marco's first engagement with Covenant forces in 2530. While effective in its five years of use, massive technological advancements in this short period and some plasma damage to the suit's systems after heavy fighting in early 2531 had made it somewhat obsolete. | ||||
| MJOLNIR Mark IV |  |
2531 - 2544 | A more streamlined MJOLNIR variant based on the Mark IV's production model, this suit served Marco throughout the Outer Colony Campaigns and was able to maximise the Spartan's speed and agility in combat. While its heavy use against the Covenant saw astronomical maintenance costs for replacement parts and upgrades, it proved to be a reliable, long-lasting piece of equipment that saw Marco through well over a decade of combat. Even this suit did not last the Spartan forever, as after Marco was nearly killed in the Raid on the Umbra Tempestus in late 2544 it sustained irreparable damage and was replaced at the user's request with a hardier, upgraded MJOLNIR suit. | ||||
| MJOLNIR Mark IV/UA |  |
2544 - 2551 | The third Mark IV suit worn by Marco, this 'up-armoured' version boasted much greater protection from enemy attacks while retaining the same advantages given by his previous armour. While the helmet resembled the prototype version worn by the SPARTAN-II in the 2520s, its advanced firmware upgrades gave Marco an even greater edge in combat. Designed for prolonged, intense combat as the Inner Colony Sieges began, this suit was tough even by MJOLNIR standards and helped to amplify Marco's strength to even further levels. | ||||
| MJOLNIR Mark V |  |
2551 - August 2552 | Given to Marco and his comrades months after the Spartan helped test prototype versions of the suit on Cronus IV, this suit not only possessed the usual interior upgrades, but had newly-developed energy shielding technology that had been reverse-engineered from captured Covenant equipment. While worn for less than a year and not cosmetically very different from Marco's previous suit aside from the helmet, his Mark V armour would endure a tremendous amount of damage throughout 2552, lasting through both the brutal Battle of Harpa and a majority of the Fall of Reach. Following the Battle of Outpost Foxtrot-Whiskey, Marco's horribly-damaged suit was barely operable and after a visit to HIGHCOM Armoury Omega upgraded to a newer variant. | ||||
| MJOLNIR Mark V/G2 |  |
August-November 2552 | The second version of the MJOLNIR Mark V suit, this was given to Marco, Jax and Kane during the Fall of Reach. Designed as an upgrade for the mainline suit, it mostly possessed minor firmware and shielding upgrades, but also allowed for the integration of an Artificial Intelligence construct into the suit itself. Marco would wear this suit for the remainder of his time on Reach and during their journey back to Earth. It was given some enhancements by Elena-071 during the Battle of the Zenith Complex, though the suit's newly-implemented systems began to experience malfunctions by the time Sigma Team arrived in time for the Battle of Earth. Its last major usage would be during the brutal Battle for Moscow, before critical damage to the armour's outer layers and the production of newer suits made it obsolete by the time Marco arrived at PILLAR base. | ||||
| MJOLNIR Mark VI |  |
2552 - 2554 | One of a number of newly-created MJOLNIR Mark VI suits not dispatched by the time the Covenant began their invasion of Earth, Marco and the surviving members of Sigma received these upon their arrival at PILLAR base. Though lacking the specialised modifications that many Mark VI variants had, it was still a big step up from the Mark V and saw plenty of action on Earth in the final months of the Human-Covenant War. Marco would continue wearing this after the war's end while Sigma spent months clearing out pockets of enemy resistance. While it never received any major damage, by 2554 the suit had already become somewhat outdated, prompting an upgrade. | ||||
| MJOLNIR Mark VI/UA |  |
2554 - 2556 | An upgraded variant of the mainline Mark VI armour, this version worn by Marco had heavier armour and greater shield strength, and proved useful as he and his comrades began a series of dangerous operations on the fringes of Human space. In terms of design, this armour was a hybrid of sorts between older MJOLNIR models and the newer GEN2 design, though officially it was considered a 'GEN1' suit. Considered to be a very dependable, if unremarkable suit, Marco would wear this in the field for over two years before transitioning to a new GEN2 model. | ||||
| MJOLNIR Mark VII |  |
2556 - | Issued as part of a widespread upgrade to most SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III personnel still using the older GEN1 system, this armour is heavily customised to enhance Marco's main strengths - physical power and close-quarters combat - on the battlefield, and retains both the older Mark VI helmet design and body armour patterned after REAPER-class MJOLNIR. While officially classified as 'Mark VII' due to numerous system upgrades, it is a GEN2-developed suit with few similarities to its GEN1 namesake. | ||||
Promotions
| Rank | Dates | |
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Petty Officer Third Class | March 22, 2525—May 8, 2545 |
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Petty Officer Second Class | May 8, 2545—March 5th, 2553 |
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Chief Petty Officer | March 5th, 2553— |
Gallery
Trivia/Behind the Scenes
- Marco is the main SPARTAN-II protagonist of the Sigmaverse.
- As with the rest of Sigma Team, Marco was originally created before the user joined the site for a Machinima project, in which he would have been a Spartan heavy weapons specialist. Once the project was cancelled, he and many of the other characters were heavily revised before appearing on Halo Fanon.
- This is the author's second ever page, and first character article. As such, it has undergone constant revision and improvement since its creation and was the basis for the rest of the Sigmaverse to form around.
List of Appearances
- Back Then (2520)
- Weakness (2521)
- Start of Darkness (2525)
- Overwatch (2546)
- Drifting (2549)
- Rebirth (2550)
- Sacrifice (2552)
- Losing Hope (2552)
- Gaining Faith (2552)
- Breath (2553)
- Halo: Mercy Kill (2554)
- Halo: Sanctuary (2556)
- Monolith (2557)
- Respite (2557)
- Halo: RED FLAG (Non-Canon)
- Halo Fanon: Survival of the Fittest Season 4 (Non-Canon)
- Halo Fanon: Survival of the Fittest Season 5 (Non-Canon)
- Halo Fanon: Survival of the Fittest Season 6 (Non-Canon)
References
- ↑ Also the author's birthplace. This is the only similarity between the author and Marco.
- ↑ Referencing the Autobot Springer from the original (and best) 1986 Transformers Movie
- ↑ Losing Hope, posts 216, 232, 242, 251, 256 and 260
- ↑ Gaining Faith, posts 11, 30, 60, 79, 88, 95, 107, 115, 124 and 136
- ↑ Southerness is the name of a town the author would often visit while on holiday as a child.
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