Marco-035

"Lets show these aliens that we ARE their demons"

-Marco-025

Early Life and Training.
Marco was born in London on Earth on April 2nd, 2511. He was abducted by ONI agents at the age of 6 and taken to a secret military base in Washington DC, in the United Republic of North America on the orders or Dr Calvin Roe, whom Marco had always harboured a great hatred for.Marco was one of the 75 potential candidates that were not chosen by Doctor Catherine Halsey to be taken to Reach for training. He and twenty others were picked by ONI from the remaining 75 for what was known as 'S' or Sigma Division, the 'S' also standing for 'secret'. He and the 19 others were given rigorous training, similar to that of the Spartan inductees on Reach. Despite this, Doctor Halsey never knew of Sigma Division.

At the age of 14, Marco and the other candidates were taken for the augmentations that would make them into the supersoldiers the UNSC needed. Nine of them were killed during the augmentations. The others were left to recuperate. After three weeks, two of the Spartans, Ahmad-127 and Jack-085, escaped, killing several guards. Ahmad later killed himself when cornered by UNSC personnel, and Jack evaded capture, not to be seen again, at least by the UNSC.

First Mission
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. Sigma team was to be dropped in, and using the sewer system, get in behind the enemy forces and disarm the Nuke. The Nine Spartans split into 3 teams of 3. Team one consisted of Kane-099, Marco-025 and Jacob-076, who would attack the insurrectionists main camp and capture their leader. .Team 2, Fenn-145, Wulf-041 and Resk-063, would find the bomb and disarm it. Team 3, Jax-007, Nef-015 and Amy-133 would disable the rebel vehicles and signal the nearby Marine forces to attack. The teams were dropped into the underground sewer, and travelled along it until they found the access point. They knew that they would have only have minutes to act.

The three teams set charges to each hatch and when they were all in position, blew them open and began the operation. Jacob-076 led Team 1 to the main camp, which was on high alert, and using a sniper rifle, covered Kane-099 and Marco-025 as they searched for the leader of the Insurrectionists. Fenn-145, Wulf-041 and Resk-063 killed several guards, but were unable to find any type of bomb. So, Fenn began hacking into the Insurrectionist's network while the others covered him. While doing so, his team came under attack by a large force, and was pinned down in the building. Meanwhile, Team 3 had quickly wiped out the enemy forces and had secured the hostages, but the leader of team 3, Jax-007, felt as if they were walking into a trap, and his suspicions were proved when several rebels, using Warthogs, burst from a garage and attempted to kill the Spartans before attempting to escape to the main camp where team 1 was currently fighting. The trio took a third Warthog and pursued them.Down in the main camp, the Spartans were slaughtering the poorly equipped rebels, something that Marco looked back on as something 'shameful', and regretted doing. eventually, Marco came across what appeared to be the leader's room. When he entered, a recorded message began playing: "If you are hearing this message, Spartan, then know that I am gone. I highly doubt that you will find me for a while, but should you survive, we will meet again, be it you or another one of your brethren. Goodbye" When the message stopped playing, Marco ran from the room, exiting the building just as it exploded. Kane and Jacob approached him, asking what had happened. He told them that the Rebel Leader had left the planet, and that the building was trapped with explosives. Soon, Team 3 arrived, having killed the other rebels as they had fled. Team 2 radioed in, saying that there was no actual bomb, and that they needed backup. The six Spartans hurried towards the compound where the bomb was to have been kept, and attacked the rebels, who, facing the armoured Spartans, soon surrendered. 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. How had the Rebel leader known they were coming? Who was he? Marco was sure he had heard that voice somewhere else, but it would be over 24 years before he heard it again.

When they returned to Earth, they were greeted by Dr. Calvin Roe, and then Lieutenant Colonel Richard Mack. Like the other Spartans, they were assigned to the UNSC Special Warfare Command. However, Sigma Team answered to orders directly from ONI, and Dr. Roe in particular.They were also given Ranks according to their Skill. Fenn-145 was given the high rank of Master Chief Petty Officer because of his amazing strategic and leadership skills. Kane-099 was second in command, given the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer. The other members of the team were all given the rank of Petty Officer Second Class. However, Marco, who saw answering to ONI as making them 'personal assassins', complained. Dr. Roe's response was to just demote him to the Rank of Petty Officer Third Class. Since then, Marco has refused every promotion he was given.

The Human Covenant War
Marco and Sigma Team operated in secret during the Human-Covenant War, and were deliberately kept away from the other Spartan-II's by Dr. Roe lest the Sigma Project be found out by Dr. Halsey. They participated in several major battles and countless black op missions against Insurrectionists and the Covenant. Throughout the war, Sigma team was called upon to test many variants of the MJOLNIR armour, such as the 'Rogue' variant and the testing of other power armoured variants, such as the 'Hayabusa' variant, to compare it's statistics to the conventional MJOLNIR armour used by the Spartans. All of Sigma Team tested these variants in 2536, but almost all preferred to use the MJOLNIR variant. Marco remarked on the armour, saying "It's as durable as the regular stuff, but i'd rather not go into battle looking like a bloody ninja" In the end, only Jax-007 remained using the shoulder armour.

The Battle for the Hephaestus Array
In 2550, many years into the war, 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 MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armour/EOD variant, that were in transit to Earth for extensive testing by Sigma team. However, when the ship was captured, ONI despatched Sigma team to go with the Battle group, and recover the armour. However, at the time, Fenn-145, Jax-007, Kane-099 and Resk-063 were not available, so they sent a team led by Jacob-076, who was third in command behind Kane. 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 destroyed by the Battle Group, with the last one fleeing towards the planet. As the UNSC Destroyer 'Livingston' pursued the ship close to the planet, it was hit by several MAC rounds, severely damaging the ship. On the far side of Hephaestus, a large fleet of over 80 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 battle group prepared to attack, the Insurrectionists sent out a message to the UNSC forces. "Greetings. We wondered when you would arrive. We have been assembling this fleet for over 20 years, and with a little more time, it would be complete. I ask you simply to work with us, as my creation, which I have dubbed the 'Hephaestus Array' after the Greek God, may be the key to winning this war, is that not what you want? If not, you will be destroyed. Please, give me your response, if you do not want to work together, you will be destroyed"

See The Battle for the Hephaestus Array for more Details on the larger battle

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 40 Pelicans, escorted by 2 Frigates. They took heavy losses as they approached the array, with only 12 pelicans remaining 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 attacked the other Spartans, wounding Wulf and nearly killing Marco. However, Marco was able to trip him up and grab his Pistol, 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, flew towards the array in a bid to save Jacob, but it ws destroyed by Seraph fighters, killing her.

On the planet, Jack managed to get to his feet, and disarmed Marco. As he pointed the pistol at his former friend, he looked up, and saw his creation being destroyed, He took off his helmet, and began crying. He pointed the pistol at his head and pulled the trigger.

Harpa
Se the Battle of Harpa for what happened.