Pete Stacker (AAO)

"You heard the man, boys. It's time for some hazard pay!"

- Stacker, October 20th, 2552

Gunnery Sergeant Pete Stacker was a veteran serving in the UNSC Marine Corps during the 26th century. Coming from a family with a long history of military service, Stacker enlisted at the minimum age and joined the UNSC counter-insurgency effort on, where he first took part in Special Operations. Wounded during the course of, after recovering from his injuries Stacker was offered Special Forces training and transferred to the 7th Battalion, 105th Shock Troopers.

Participating in a number of engagements with the Covenant, he was eventually selected by the in 2542 as a drill instructor for. Having seen child soldiers used before by the Insurrection, Stacker was always concerned with the emotional health as well as the physical capability of the trainees, but nonetheless knew when to be stern and made a fine instructor. His job finished when the candidates left for augmentation, Stacker returned to the 7th Battalion and was present for some of the most critical battles of the entire war, surviving to see its end in late 2552.

Early Life
Pete Randall Stacker was born in the Commonwealth of Kansas in the United Republic of North America on July 15th, 2501 to a modest family with a rich military background. His father, Ryan Stacker, served eight years in the UNSC Army, before recieving a medical discharge following a hit from a road side bomb. This incident gave the young Stacker a large interest in the UNSC Defense Force and on July 17th, two days after his 18th birthday, he would enlist in the UNSC Marine Corps.

After a 12 Week training session at a UNSC basic training facility on Cyrus VII, Stacker would be assigned to the on Tribute.

Colonial Independence Campaigns
Stacker participated during numerous raids on Insurrectionist facilities on Tribute, as a part of a UNSC counter-terrorism mission on the planet.

Operation: TREBUCHET
Following three successful missions with the 8th Marine Battalion, Stacker was temporarily reassigned to Alpha Squadron of the Naval Special Warfare battalion stationed on Tribute. Upon receiving special operations training in early 2524, he was transferred to Alpha Squadron of the 18th Special Operations Battalion. He served under the command of well distinguished Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, up until the Casbah bombing in mid-winter. He was transferred to the UNSC Hopeful due to his severe injuries sustained from the battle.

Onyx Drill Instructor
In 2542, Stacker was recommended by his old friend and mentor,, as a Drill Instructor for. Reviewing his service record, quickly approved his transfer to the  facilities on. Before the training actually began, he was one of the personnel sent to interview the candidates. Ambrose ordered him to use revenge as a motivator, for most of the candidates had been orphaned by the Human-Covenant War. However, Stacker took a different approach, explaining that they could become strong enough to prevent what happened to them from happening to others.

As one of Mendez's executive instructors alongside and, Stacker was responsible for overseeing six squads of five recruits each, with help from a substantial number of instructors under his command that were NCOs, medics, or washouts of the Alpha and Beta Companies. Stacker earned the respect of Tom and Lucy when he outmaneuvered a group of Beta washout trainers who had acted disrespectfully towards them, cowing them by pointing out it had been their own fault for failing to graduate, not Tom and Lucy's. The washouts stood down, and Tom and Lucy accepted him as a valuable addition to Onyx's training staff.

While many other instructors came to admire his conduct, it was lost upon the Gamma recruits, particularly the members of Machete Team. While pranks and escapes became a regular occurance, all recruits would pass the rigorous physical training and survive the later augmentation, but when augmentations began in February 2551, Stacker was returned to active duty with a promotion to Sergeant Major.

Battle of Reach
When Reach came under heavy attack, Stacker's ship was one of the first to arrive in-system. Given command of a contingent of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, he was tasked with the defense of 's outskirts while the civilian populace was evacuated. Not long after his men were engaged, the UNSC sounded a general retreat to minimize its military losses, at the expense of what would be thousands of lives. Stacker refused, using a general distress call to ask for volunteers to continue evacuation efforts. Immediately he was contacted by Admiral and warned he was disobeying a direct order, and was to fall back for extraction immediately. He again, refused.

Hundreds responded, including individuals and units from the, the , and the 6th Shock Troops Battalion along with a battalion from the UNSC Army under Sergeant Major. Without any military transports available, Stacker planned and led an attack on the New Alexandria spaceport in the heart of enemy-controlled territory, and took control of almost a dozen large passenger shuttles. With surface-to-air fire support provided by Duvall and SPARTAN-B312, the shuttles escaped an overhanging Covenant corvette and headed for Earth indirectly through the Cole Protocol, saving several thousand lives. In holding back enemy infantry however, Stacker and his squad remained behind.

Though he would be decorated for his heroism later, Command wouldn't officially send him any assistance. It would be Lieutenant Carol “Foehammer” Rawley that came to his rescue, flying in through heavy ground fire to extract him and his squad and return to the. While her actions had been unauthorized and reckless, her bravery and skill as a pilot impressed Captain. To follow the letter of law while remaining fair, Keyes assigned her the workload of the Autumn's late Pelican wing leader in addition to her own duties, the responsibility all but officially promoting her to Flight Captain.

Battle of Installation 04
"Chief! You gotta find the Cartographer! We'll keep them busy as long as we can!"

- Stacker to John-117

After fighting to repel Covenant boarders, he and his men escaped on a Bumblebee lifepod safely to the surface. Almost immediately they were attacked by Elites, Jackals, and Grunts, and held out on a high hill until the Master Chief arrived. With his help, they fought off the Covenant and were evacuated by Echo 419.

Stacker's next job was to lead the marines in the assault on the Cartographer. Once John-117 was inside, Cortana warned him that several Spirit dropships were inbound. Stacker told them to complete their mission, and the marines would buy them time. A bloody firefight ensued, and all the marines under his command except PFC Dubbo were killed. The two of them took a Warthog and escaped, leading them away from John-117.

Returning to the human command post, he and Dubbo were transferred to Fire Team Zulu, and were en-route to an objective when their Pelican was shot down. Taking what equipment they had, which included an SRS99C rifle, M19 rocket launcher, and Warthog, they met up with John-117 to help take Halo's control room. Part way through, the marines would be evac'd and leave the Spartan to take the control room alone.

Battle of Earth
thumb|300px|right When the Prophet of Regret touched down at New Mombasa, Stacker accompanied Sgt. Avery Johnson and John-117 as the leader of second squad. Encountering a Scarab, they were shot down, losing their pilots and one of his ODSTs. Stacker lead the survivors into the city, fighting off a stealthed Elite minor and its squad before taking shelter in the Zanzibar Hotel. Once the Master Chief met up with them, he followed John-117 all the way to a marine command post held by Sgt. of "A Company", and was evacuated to the UNSC In Amber Clad, jumping with Regret's carrier to Installation 05.

Battle of Installation 05
Stacker was dropped in with his squad of ODSTs and the Master Chief, taking a heavily defended ruin overlooking one of 05's lakes. After fighting through Covenant armor and riding a set of gondolas, Stacker and some of his marines were recalled to help Miranda Keyes and Avery Johnson secure the ring's index.

During the fighting, most of his men were killed by the Flood, and the rest were captured along with Miranda and Johnson. Just before their execution, Thel Vadam stumbled in on the scene, allowing the marines to escape and hijack a Scarab.

Return to Earth
Upon returning to Earth, Stacker proved instrumental to the resistance in Africa. It was he who suggested using the ancient fortifications of a place called for a base of operations, himself having spent a few weeks there during wilderness training. The place received many of the wounded soldiers from the Covenant’s initial ground assault. With most networks over Africa down, Stacker supervised a team of technicians to coordinate the search for John-117 after he made a landing in the Kenyan jungle with assets from all branches of the UNSCDF, and helped lead a platoon to recover the Spartan. While it was successful, the multitude of signals being sent and received drew Covenant attention to the base. Commander gave the order to abandon Crow’s Nest, knowing the ancient defenses had no chance of withstanding a Covenant attack.

As most Marines proceeded to evacuate in Pelican transports, Sergeant Major Johnson and Gunnery Sergeants Reynolds and Stacker stayed behind with a number of marines, all of whom had volunteered to defend the perimeter as evacuation got underway. Unfortunately, most of these were attacked as they retrieved equipment from the barracks, and were slaughtered by, with Stacker among a small number of prisoners. Not one to die lying down, Stacker and two marines that were under guard by a Jiralhanae Captain used a knife to cut their bonds. The escape attempt came simultaneously with the arrival of the Master Chief, and as he engaged, the marines gathered up the fallen weapons strewn around and joined in the fight. Shooting their way out of the barracks, the surviving marines were evacuated aboard piloted by Lieutenant.

Instead of accompanying Keyes to a new command post, he requested to be dropped early after spotting a Warthog convoy headed away from the base. Soon after he joined them, they came under attack by Loyalist, and Stacker split the convoy. His rearguard group made a stand, but with limited ammunition was overrun, saved only by the timely intervention of another mechanized group led by Sierra-117 and GySgt. Reynolds. Pushing ahead, they found the advance group in more trouble and the survivors had holed up in a small structure. With new vehicles dropped off by Hocus, the marines were able to push through Covenant armor and a heavily-guarded roadblock into Voi.

Skirting the depression surrounding the Portal, Stacker’s group of marines moved into the Traxus Industrial Complex, using the LAAG of one jeep to suppress scattered Covenant infantry groups inside the buildings.

Battle of Installation 00
"Hey, how does 90 millimeters of tungsten strike you?"

- Stacker

Personality and Traits
"With enough diesel fuel, you can move anything."

- Stacker referring to heavy vehicles like the M808B Scorpion and M312 Elephant Troop Transport.

Family
Pete comes from a long line of Irish-American and German-American citizens. His family has a long legacy in the military, tracing their military heritage to as early as the Third World War. His father, Ryan Stacker was a non-commisioned officer serving during the Insurrection and his brother and sister also served careers in the UNSC Army and Marine Corps, respectively.

Ranks

 * Sergeant (2524-2542)
 * Staff Sergeant (2542-2551)
 * Gunnery Sergeant (2551-?)