Richard Mack Sr.

"Sooner or later, your conscience is going to bother you. In the end, you have to choose whether you're going to live as a soldier, or just another killer with a gun."

- Mack addressing the young SPARTAN-II recruits in 2520

Richard Mack Senior, also known as Codename: PREACHER by ONI, was a member of the SPARTAN-I, or elite Trident Team in the late 25th Century and the  for most of his adult life. Mack was one of the highest performing candidates while in the project and later emerged as a celebrated special forces hero by the beginning of the 26th Century after several classified operations. Following the project's disbandment he retired for several years and fathered a son, though he had to take care of the child alone. He was also responsible for training the SPARTAN-II's of Project SIGMA on Earth for several after being called back to military service in 2517 at the behest of the Office of Naval Intelligence and Doctor Calvin Roe, an old friend. Once the SIGMA Project had been completed, Mack, like many others, were called to the front against the newfound Covenant menace.

During the Human-Covenant War, Mack would go on to lead UNSC forces against the Covenant on dozens of engagements over the years, becoming well-known as an almost unbeatable ground commander in the Marine Corps, being responsible for several major victories, inflicting heavy casualties on enemy forces in most engagements. Mack's distinctive no-nonsense leadership style and charismatic speeches led to several promotions throughout the war in addition to his widespread fame as a leader. His death during the brutal Battle of Harpa in early 2552 at the hands of Felo 'Ranak marked the end of one of the UNSC's best military leaders.

Early Life
Richard Mack was born on Earth, in the megaopolis of, in the , in 2471. While still an infant, he was taken to an orphanage by his biological parents, and remained there for some time until he was adopted by a young couple when he was six years old. Mack lived an impoverished, if reasonably happy childhood, his adoptive parents struggling to find work even at a time of considerable economic growth. Though he was quite a bright young student, Mack was a known troublemaker at school, well known for his confrontational behaviour with both teachers and peers.

Growing up in the huge city also came with it's hazards. When he was fourteen, Mack was mugged by a local gang and badly beaten, ending up in a local hospital with several broken bones. Though his parents were able to afford medical treatment, it left the family with very little money for some time, forcing the teen to take on several part-time jobs on minimum wage in addition to his schoolwork. Things began to go badly at home as well. His adoptive father began drinking heavily after losing his job, becoming physically abusive to both his wife and Mack. In 2488, while coming home from a local bar, Mack's father was gunned down in the street by the same gang of thugs and left for dead yards from his own home.



The 17-year old Mack, who had neglected going to college despite his reasonably good grades to support the family, witnessed the incident while waiting at home, ready to protect his mother if his father had a violent outburst. Seeing the retreating gang and the corpse lying in the gutter, Mack took his father's gun, which was concealed for emergencies, and went out into the night after the gang members despite his mother's pleadings to seek revenge for both the years of torment and his adoptive father's death.

Mack chased down several of the gang members as emergency services were called, following them into a disused factory which served as a hangout for the gang. The young man quickly got into a firefight with two of the members while the leader, the man who had pulled the trigger on his father, attempted to escape. Never having fired a gun in his life, Mack used the darkness to hide before ambushing a few gang members, beating them just as badly as they had done to him years earlier as he made use of metal pipes and bricks as makeshift weapons. Mack then tracked down the gang leader, trapping him on the roof of the building. After disarming the man, who was only a few years older than him, Mack found himself unable to pull the trigger on the murderer. As he turned away, the other man attempted to shoot Mack with a concealed weapon, but was taken down by a shot to the head by a police sniper.

A member of a SWAT Team, which had been called in after the initial shooting, comforted the young Mack, even complimenting him on his prowess in taking down some of the gang members, who were in police custody. The man introduced himself as Anton LaMarche, befriending the disturbed young man and ensuring that he was not sentenced too harshly for his rash actions. When asked by Mack for advice on what to do with his future, LaMarche suggested that Mack join the military, stating that it would give him a good deal of life experience and useful skills. Seeing no other option, Mack enlisted in the UNSC Marine Corps three months later, on his eighteenth birthday after some compulsory community service. His adoptive mother, distraught over the death of his father, was firmly against the idea, refusing to speak to him at all after he joined up. Mack was greatly saddened by this, and resolved to send all his pay home to her, being the only family he had ever known.

Marine Corps
After enlisting, Mack was transported to Reach along with hundreds of other potential recruits, and underwent training there. Unlike his school years, in which he had been quite rebellious and confrontational, Mack seemed to be an exemplary soldier, performing well under pressure and being marked down as a good leader. It was here that Mack first met John Ackton and Harold Redford. The three became good friends and were placed within the same unit once they had finished their training.

Mack's first taste of battle came in late 2489. His unit had been dispatched to an outer colony world after communications had been shut down. Upon being deployed via pelican dropship, their squad quickly secured a large communications array, discovering that it had been irreversibly damaged by an Insurrectionist group. While calling in reinforcements, the NCO of Mack's squad was shot and killed instantly as hostile forces attempted to ambush the marines. Using improvised explosives, they killed off most of the unit, forcing Mack, Redford and Ackton inside the comm facility with the survivors. As the highest ranking soldier alive (being a Lance Corporal at the time) Mack ordered that the marines set up a killzone at the main exit to the facility, killing the rebels as they tried to pursue them inside. This strategy proved to be quite successful, the depleted squad holding off the enemy force until reinforcements arrived, swiftly clearing up any remaining opposition.

After exiting the facility, Mack was surprised to encounter a man from his past: Anton LaMarche. After greeting his old friend, LaMarche explained that he had decided to rejoin the military shortly after Mack had enlisted, quickly being promoted back to his former rank of Sergeant. Mack's squad, which had been reduced to only five people, was folded into LaMarche's unit after the incident. For the next year, Mack battled the Insurrection on several worlds, being promoted to Corporal, then to Sergeant by early 2491.

The ORION Project
In January 2491, Mack, along with a number others in his unit, was recruited for the top secret as one of the original sixty-five test subjects. After undergoing an arduous training regime and receiving experimental chemical augmentations, a hundred more recruits were accepted into the program, which was designed to create a special forces unit that could effectively combat Insurrection in the colonies.. The training they underwent there was some of the toughest ever devised, much harsher than the infamously tough Orbital Drop Shock Trooper training course that weeded out all but the strongest applicants. Mack watched many others 'wash out' of ORION in this stage, though those who made it to receive their augmentations were effectively the UNSC's best soldiers at this point. Afterwards he noticed a marked increase in his strength, speed and reaction time, something that showed when all sixty-five ORION subjects improved their performance greatly in exercises and broke several training records as a result.

In 2495 both Mack and LaMarche signed up for and spent a number of months training there with several of their fellow ORION candidates. During this period he befriended and Frederick King, both of whom were noted for their leadership qualities within the ORION Project. Mack left there as a in early 2496. For a long period of time, Mack worked largely as a trainer for the newer ORION recruits and participated in several training missions to prepare them for covert operations against the Insurrection. It was not until early 2496 that it was announced that the entire ORION unit would be deployed in Operation: CHARLEMAGNE. Mack was assigned to the newly-formed Trident Team under his friend and mentor, First Lieutenant Anton LaMarche.

Operation: CHARLEMAGNE
Main Article: 

Operation: CHARLEMAGNE, which took place in mid-2496, would be the first major operation undergone by the ORION members, and Mack's first taste of a special operations mission. The entire ORION contingent was deployed on Eridanus II in order to quell the Insurrection there. Trident Team, which consisted of Mack and seven others, was one of the first teams on the ground, swiftly wiping out a rebel outpost within minutes of landing. Mack personally eliminated over two dozen hostiles during the operation, covering his teammates as they set explosive charges and cleared out buildings.

The operation proved to be a huge success, proving the ORION soldiers to be an effective military unit, only taking a single casualty over the course of the entire mission. This would also be the first and last time that the entire company would be deployed as a whole, Mack and Trident being assigned to another mission within a month of CHARLEMAGNE's success.

Operation: BRIMSTONE
Trident Team's first mission on their own was to Mamore, a colony with a long history of anti-UNSC sentiment. A well-armed group of Insurrectionists had seized control of an arms factory that was constructing tanks for the war effort, taking the workers hostage. Rather than risk storming the facility, which would lead to heavy casualties and civilian deaths, the UNSC sent in the ORION soldiers to eliminate the rebels and save the hostages.

After their initial insertion just before dawn, Trident Team was able to quickly advance on the factory. As silenced sniper fire eliminated the outer sentries, Mack and the others were able to get through to the inner walls without being detected, planting explosive breaching charges on their entry points. While LaMarche led several others to free the workers, Mack joined Marion Hollister and Tobias Crowley in breaching the main factory and eliminating the Insurrectionist leader.

The moment the wall was breached, the three commandos stormed the factory floor, their enhanced reflexes and superior equipment giving them the edge against the enemy. Crowley deployed smoke grenades to cover their entry, drawing hostile fire as the ORION's moved forward. Mack took point, utilising thermal goggles to see through the smoke. The surviving Insurrectionists retreated further into the facility, forcing the three to split up and hunt them down. Mack was fastest, and arrived in the main assembly area before his teammates could catch up with him. It was here that he came face to face with a rebel-operated.

Knowing that he had to avoid the tank's, Mack stayed close to the machine, which in combat would usually be protected by several soldiers. The gun fired in an unsuccessful attempt to hit the young soldier, though it brought down several walls, making the building quite unstable. Mack was able to, albeit with some difficulty, climb aboard the tank and open the hatch. After nearly being killed by small arms fire from the driver, a grenade was thrown inside, destroying it and killing the driver as Mack dived off to safety.

Mack was greeted by Crowley and Hollister shortly after, the two of them having cleared out the rest of the building. As the three of them exited to regroup with the rest of Trident, the roof caved in, having been weakened by the Cobra's fire. Outside, another Cobra sat unattended, and was commandeered by the soldiers in order to eliminate the surviving rebels, who were attempting to escape to a waiting transport, which was disabled by repeated fire from the tank. Meeting up with LaMarche and the others, it was discovered that most of the hostages had been saved, one being killed by Steven Hawkins when used as a human shield by one of the rebels.

The mission over, Trident signalled for pickup, and were extracted from Mamore via dropship. In spite of the massive collateral damage caused by the team, the factory being put out of commission for several months, ONI deemed the operation as a resounding success, with similar reports coming in from other ORION teams deployed around UNSC space. Mack was given a promotion to Sergeant Major for his heroic actions, being elevated to second in command of Trident in terms of rank.

Operation: SWEEPER
In January 2498, it was revealed that a large, well-equipped secessionist group had launched an attack on a UNSC-held town, slaughtering the soldiers there and seizing the military equipment present. Fearful of losing control of the situation, a number of ORION troops were dispatched alongside the Marine Corps to wipe out these rebels. In addition, there was a total media blackout on the event to allow for the troops involved to gain superiority and win, granting them good publicity, which was sorely needed in light of growing public criticism of their methods.

Trident Team was deployed separately as the attack began, the UNSC utilising a number of UH-144 Falcons to land troops in the villages that dotted the colony world. While there was little sign of their Insurrectionist foes at first, a number of Falcons were suddenly hit by AA fire, prompting the rest to immediately land or retreat. Mack, accompanied by Ackton and Crowley, barely managed to hit the ground before their transport was struck by a missile, sending the soldiers into cover. Though radio chatter they picked up, it turned out that the rebel soldiers had been stockpiling equipment for much longer than they had expected, and had taken their attackers by surprise.

Mack led his comrades through the dense forest, eventually locating one of the stolen AA guns and destroying it before arriving at the designated rendezvous point in a local village. There, they came under attack once more by dozens of enemy soldiers, many Marines being killed in their first assault. While running for cover, Mack was shot several times in the side, being forced into sparse cover while his comrades attempted to save him. It was here that he experienced a very close brush with death, managing to crawl into a nearby building where he killed an enemy soldier with his sidearm. Just as the battle seemed to be going against them, reinforcements finally arrived.

Another Falcon, armed with two, was able to decimate the opposing rebels, destroying a great deal of the village as the rest of Trident Team was dropped off. Hawkins, armed with a heavy flamethrower, burned down many of the remaining buildings, flushing out any survivors who were quickly gunned down. Though Ackton objected to this, he was overruled by Lieutenant LaMarche, who had Mack and the other wounded picked up as they prepared to fall back. They did not get far, however, as their Falcon soon came under fire and a rotor was hit, spilling out the crew into the foliage before the helicopter finally crashed.

Though he had been momentarily patched up with biofoam, Mack was still wounded, weaponless aside from his knife, and alone in the forest, having been thrown out into a nearby treetop. He hid there as an enemy patrol passed by before descending to the ground. He followed the patrol for some time until they came across the crashed Falcon. The soldiers were able to rescue the pilot from the wreckage, though they took him as a prisoner instead of executing him. Closing in on the patrol, Mack surprised one as he broke off from the group to urinate, killing the man with his knife and taking his rifle. He then gunned down the entire patrol from his concealed position and untied the pilot.

Though both were wounded, Mack and the pilot made their way back towards the rest of Trident, who had survived with minor injuries. LaMarche was impressed with Mack's survival skills, but insisted that he be brought back to base with his gunshot wounds. After retreating for over four miles, hounded by vengeful rebel patrols, the group was forced into cover by a large clearing as they were attacked. Though the ORION team had the high ground, their foes had numbers and ammunition, Harold Redford sustaining a wound to his leg as he moved into cover. When their Pelican evac did arrive, the treeline was bombarded with missiles, allowing for Trident and the other survivors to escape.

Both Mack and Redford were confined to a medical bay for several days afterwards, hearing news that the UNSC had ended up carpet bombing a large portion of the forest for two days until the remaining rebels finally surrendered. Though they had won the battle, Mack was rather disapproving of the tactics used by his own side, particularly after the media span it into a tale of heroism afterwards. Both he and LaMarche were given promotions to and  respectively following the success of Operation: SWEEPER, a mission that he would later recall as one of the worst experiences of his life.

Operation: HEART OF DARKNESS
In late 2498, Trident was dispatched to an outer colony world, where Insurrectionist forces were confirmed to be present, having built up their own arms factory within the dense rainforests that covered the outer colony world. The team were inserted several kilometres away from a pelican dropship, and began making their way through the harsh terrain, Mack taking point.

Unbeknownst to the ORION soldiers, they had been spotted landing on the planet, and rebel forces were rushing in to intercept them. Richard kept leading the group through the forest. After some time, Trident Team came across several anti-personnel mines. LaMarche sent in Redford and King to disarm them. As they did so, King was hit several times as rebel forces launched an ambush. Redford, having finished disarming the explosives, was able to drag King back into cover, becoming cut off from the rest of the team. Heavily outnumbered, LaMarche gave the order to retreat and leave the others behind to fend for themselves while the rest of Trident regrouped and fought back.

As they fell back into the jungle, Mack realised that both King and Redford would most likely be killed if left to fend for themselves. Moving back in spite of LaMarche's orders, he and Ackton returned to the fray, using the dense foliage as cover to flank the Insurrectionist soldiers before launching their own ambush. This took the enemy by surprise, the two commandos killing half a dozen before Redford was able to drag King to safety with the rest of the team. In spite of his heroism, LaMarche berated Mack for the rash action he had taken, which had clearly defied orders and endangered team mates. Nonetheless, with most of the attack force killed, the ORION's were free to continue their mission, Ackton staying behind to look after King and wait for evacuation.

The remainder of the operation went smoothly, the six other members assaulting the factory with Mack and LaMarche leading separate teams. After eliminating the remaining resistance and killing any survivors, Trident placed explosive charges around the area and retreated to their extraction point, detonating the explosives and denying the Insurrectionists another valuable installation. It was not until the team was aboard the dropship that an argument broke out over Mack's actions earlier. While he had saved the lives of two teammates, he had nearly gotten himself and Ackton killed in the process. The debate went on for some time, with the general opinion being in Mack's favour. This however, meant the end of Richard Mack and Anton LaMarche's friendship, the two becoming embittered and angry over their differences, a far cry from the day that the SWAT officer had given advice to the confused teenager years before.

Operation: SPARTACUS
"You brought this on yourselves."

- Mack to the criminal survivors of SPARTACUS.

In April 2499, Trident Team and two other ORION teams were dispatched to, an outer colony world in the well known for its high crime rate and trafficking operations. However, due to the relative lack of Insurrectionist activity there things had been left largely in the hands of the CMA and local authorities. That was until an undercover agent successfully located a massive criminal underworld that operated, among other things, a black market of weapons, the marketing of illegal drugs and substances and the trafficking of human slaves. One horrifying discovery was that there were several 'pits', or fighting arenas where children as young as seven years old were expected to fight to the death. The ORION operatives were given explicit orders to completely destroy the criminal organisations on Troy to avoid a potentially massive anti-UNSC surge if the media discovered this.

Shortly after their arrival, Mack was sent with Hawkins and King to accompany to members of another team, Gunnery Sergeant Teresa Morrison and Lieutenant in attacking one of the many hideouts in a densely populated city. The ORION's moved in under cover of night, with black bodysuits and helmets to provide concealment as they assaulted an inner city compound guarded by a number of gang members. It was little more than a slaughter, with dozens of confirmed kills before anyone was even alerted to their presence. Mack felt no guilt for gunning down the criminals who owned the fighting pits; many of them reminded him of the thugs who had murdered his adoptive father years before. In a single night, the twenty-four ORION operatives had shut down nearly two thirds of Troy's drug manufacturing plants and freed dozens of children, many of whom carried deep physical and emotional scars from their ordeals.



On the second night of operation: SPARTACUS, Mack's group were tasked with the infiltration of an abandoned fuel refinery that had been converted into a manufacturing plant for weapons. After eliminating a few perimeter guards, Mack waited for an which confirmed the presence of explosive devices within the building. The ORION's moved up and planted several charges on an outer wall and detonated them to gain entry, killing a force nearly four times their number inside. As they began to secure the perimeter, Mack discovered an underground tunnel that led to a much larger complex beneath the main building. After venturing within, they came across a much larger pit fighting arena attended by hundreds of people, including a number of civilians. While their group initially hesitated, it soon became clear after they released two children to fight to the death that everyone in the area was a target.

What followed was a slaughter as the ORION's gunned down dozens of unarmed foes, making use of undermounted grenade launchers and conventional grenades to inflict massive casualties. Steven Hawkins, whom Mack privately disliked for his overly aggressive attitude, was allowed to go about with a machete, butchering the people responsible for the fights. Within less than ten minutes the five soldiers had killed more than 150 people and had expended almost all of their ammunition. Mack then moved to the fighting pit, where he found a young boy standing over the corpse of another child with a bloody knife in hand. He ordered King and Morrison to free the rest of the child slaves while he took care of the boy he had found, signalling for extraction via Pelican. Several of their targets were still alive and wounded by this point. While Hawkins advocated finishing them off with his blade, Mack ordered for their capture instead, feeling somewhat guilty for his actions. When their team regrouped with Anton LaMarche and the others, he was actually congratulated by his superior for his actions, the older man having completely wiped out the encampments he had attacked.

While operation: SPARTACUS was considered a complete success, with the massive criminal presence cut down greatly on Troy and the children relocated to orphanages in the Inner Colonies, Mack would be ashamed of his actions here in later years, as a moment of anger at the crimes of others had led to him creating an atrocity of his own. The Office of Naval Intelligence ended up covering the full details of the operation up, crediting the ORION's work to that of a massive policing operation in conjunction with the CMA. SPARTACUS would also give Mack something of a reputation among his peers, as fellow ORION Leon Black had denounced him as a war criminal before the operation ended. Mack's actions did not go unnoticed by ONI, either. A few notable individuals within the intelligence world had already marked him for future use within a week of SPARTACUS. He would always regard this operation as one of his greatest failures in spite of what he and the other ORION's had achieved.

Heimdall Incident
"This is a classified, highly sensitive mission, even for ORION. It will also be a test for each of you to prove your loyalty to the UNSC, and to Earth. Failure here will mark you down in history as traitors."

- Commander, briefing them on the mission.

In late 2499, Trident was split into two groups. Mack, Redford, King and Ackton were sent to assassinate a minor rebel leader and his lieutenants on Biko, while LaMarche and the others were sent to Heimdall, an outer colony world, whereupon a UNSC weapons testing facility had been taken over by a force of hard-line Insurrectionists. Though he thought it strange that Trident would be split up on this one, having always remained as a group in the past, Mack joined the other two on the mission to Biko shortly after. It was a simple mission, which involved taking down a small-time rebel group there suspected of creating bombs. After little more than a day they had completely wiped out their foes and succeeded.

Immediately after their operation on Biko, Mack and the others were covertly transported to the by agents from the Office of Naval Intelligence. There, they met with Admiral and Commander, who explained to the three how the situation on Heimdall had gone from bad to worse upon Trident Team's arrival to the planet. From what ONI could garner, Anton LaMarche had gone rogue. After being deployed on the sparsely-populated colony world to deal with the reported incident, it had been revealed that LaMarche, Hollister, Hawkins and Crowley had apparently joined the terrorists in taking over the experimental weapons facility. Worse still, the garrison of soldiers there had not been taken hostage; instead they had actively rebelled and joined the others in the takeover. As the base had a number of weapons in development and a supply of active nuclear warheads, ONI had decided to send the remainder of Trident Team in to end the incident.

-- TO BE DECLASSIFIED --

26th Century
Following the Heimdall Incident, Mack and the survivors of Trident spent several weeks recuperating from his ordeal aboard the as they were debriefed. To his dismay, almost every detail of the mission would be kept secret, with a cover story put in place that terrorists had seized the facility and had only been stopped by the heroic actions of Mack. He was placed in the public eye and made out as a hero, receiving the Colonial Cross and a promotion to. Mack disliked the publicity that he was receiving, but put up with it until he faded from the public eye, allowing him to begin embarking on missions as the new leader of Trident Team. For another six years, Mack would lead his team, now down to five operators, on dozens of classified missions against the growing Insurrectionist movement. He would also participate in a few smaller operations, such as an in 2502 during which Mack spotted for a  as he killed a. His reputation following Heimdall often had him assigned in a supervisory role during missions as the highest ranking active duty operator in ORION.



In spite of the ORION's effectiveness in the field, the number of rebel organisations seemed to be growing, with many violent incidents sparking up over the colonies. In addition, as a result of their augmentations, Mack and some members of Trident were beginning to suffer from side effects from their augmentations. Though not serious, largely involving headaches and occasional migraines, it soon became clear that the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder were beginning to set in. Marion Hollister was discharged from the unit due to this in 2504, and it was soon after this that the ORION project as a whole began to disband, being officially ended in 2506.

The members of Trident went their own ways after the project was shut down; Mack being assigned to Reach to train Orbital Drop Shock Trooper recruits, Redford and Ackton joining the ODST's themselves while King went to work for the Office of Naval Intelligence. The four of them generally kept in contact over the years in spite of their work. In late 2508, after a liaison with a former member of his support team during the Heimdall incident, a child was conceived. Mack was forced to retire from active duty, arriving back on Earth not long before the birth of his son, who was named after him, something that Mack Senior disliked, but ended up agreeing with the mother's choice. Four months later, she left to pursue her own career, Mack being alone to bring up his son.

Though he lived comfortably, Mack resented the inactivity, even while looking after the young Richard. Using some of the pull he still had within the military, he was able to get a job on Earth, going back to his ODST training for some time, while still being able to stay close to his son on an almost daily basis, though he relied heavily on maids and nannies to take care of him. One of Mack's most promising recruits was Henry McNair, who had grown up hearing about Mack's 'heroic' exploits before joining the military himself. While he busied himself with training new ODST's, Mack saw his son less than he would have liked to, becoming quite distant from the child. In 2517, Mack was visited by Calvin Roe, who had saved his life on Heimdall years before.

Project SIGMA
Roe, now a well-known civilian consultant for the Office of Naval Intelligence, told Mack in detail about the 'SPARTAN' initiative, proposed by to combat mounting Insurrection in the outer colonies. Roe, who had been in contact with Margaret Parangosky, was forwarded the data for review, and came up with the idea of adapting the project, the goal of which was to train super-soldiers for the UNSC, for ONI's own needs. This was largely due to their mutual dislike for Halsey, whom Parangosky had considered disposing of when her usefulness had run it's course. Roe's project, codenamed SIGMA, would utilise all the data from Halsey, though certain aspects would be modified. All they needed was someone to head up the training of these new soldiers.

Though initially dubious of the whole project, which involved kidnapping and the creation of child soldiers, Mack was eventually persuaded to join, for several reasons. Firstly, he owed both Roe and Parangosky for Heimdall, and trusted them greatly. Secondly, there was an implicit threat if he did refuse, largely the technical war crimes that he and his fellows in Trident had committed years before being revealed. The training facility would be located on Earth, hours away from Mack's home, so he would be allowed to return there often to look after his son, something that had been taken into consideration when he had been selected for the job.

However, the one thing that made up Mack's mind about joining the project was the children that were involved. Though he trusted Roe personally, he was aware of the man's lack of social skills with others and his explosive temper, needing someone who was harsh but fair to ensure that the ones they were training to be Spartans would come out well. One candidate in particular caught his eye: Kane Hollister. A quick background check confirmed his suspicions that he was the son of Marion Hollister, an old friend from Trident. As a sort of favour to his old friend, Mack accepted Roe's offer, and was secretly transported to the SIGMA facility in Washington DC to prepare for the candidates arrival. Along with his removal came a surprise promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, something that Mack cared little for, but knew was made to appease him in some way.

For the next eight years, Mack worked in the Sigma facility on a daily basis, forming training programmes for the twenty trainees there. The small 'class' size of SPARTAN-II's meant that they could be individually monitored and enhanced based on their own specialities. The children gained a great deal of respect for the SPARTAN-I, never misbehaving in his presence or speaking out of line, as some would with Roe, SPARTAN-025 in particular. Though he put years of hard work and effort into training the Spartans, Mack was still deeply disturbed by the ethical issues brought forward by the program, chiefly the flash cloning procedures used, as first proposed by Catherine Halsey. While some of this came from his own dislike of the Doctor, Mack lived in fear of his involvement in SPARTAN-II being revealed to the public, particularly towards his own growing son, who was becoming very detached from Mack Senior.

When the Human-Covenant War broke out, the Sigma Spartans had only just gone through their. However, Roe made the decision, backed by ONI, to split up the SPARTAN group, with eleven members set to fight humanity's new foe, the Covenant, and the other nine focusing on whatever ONI wanted them to do behind the scenes. Unlike Halsey's group, there were no fatalities or even permanent incapacitation from the procedures, largely to the smaller group, which allowed for less errors to be made. In addition, the fact that they underwent their augmentations several months after the Reach-trained SPARTAN-II's allowed for many corrections to be made from the original process, significantly lowering the danger rate for Sigma, though several were scarred and/or had long recovery periods. Mack was furious to find out that the second group, consisting of nine members, had officially 'died' during their augmentations, this fact being hidden from 'Sigma-Alpha' for many years. He assumed that Roe had done this in some kind of misguided attempt to motivate the Spartans, but saw it as a horrible mistake.

Upon hearing word of human colonies being destroyed by the Covenant, Mack received word that many former military commanders, including the famous, were being called out of retirement to fight once more. While he was technically not retired, Mack felt the need to return, the Sigma project nearing it's completion. It was on his final day with the Spartans of Sigma-Alpha that a breakout occurred within the facility. Jack-085, one of the highest performing Spartans in Sigma, had broken into the armoury, along with Ahmad-126, and slaughtered his way through the facility, heading for the hangar bay. Mack pursued the two Spartans alone, armed only with his M6D Pistol, and attempted to corner them in a corridor. After a brief standoff, Jack was able to get the upper hand, taking Mack hostage as Fenn-145, Kane-099 and Jax-007 arrived. Though Jack threatened to kill his trainer, he relented, knowing that killing Mack would almost certainly lead to the death of him and his accomplice. Mack was released as Jack escaped through a side door, managing to flee the facility in a Pelican.

What followed was an intense manhunt for the rogue Spartans through the surrounding area after the Pelican was shot down, though the search teams found little evidence to trace the pair. After a few days, Ahmad-126's body was found on the outskirts of a city, the cause of death being ruled as suicide. Jack, however, managed to escape, much to Mack's despair, and was never found by the authorities. As someone who had trained these people for several years, he felt as if he had failed both of them, not having any idea of Jack's plans until it was far too late. Depressed over the loss of two SPARTAN-II's, Mack made his goodbyes to Sigma. Not long after, a message came through from, requesting that he return to the front to fight against their newfound alien foe.

Mack's return to active duty in the Marine Corps was met with a great deal of praise, from both his peers and his subordinates, many of whom had heard about the so-called hero's exploits years before. The Lieutenant Colonel spent several weeks reading up on everything he had regarding their new foe, known as 'The '. Though they definitely held a technological advantage compared to humanity, and had already demonstrated their immense destructive capabilities by glassing several colonies, Mack was certain that they could be defeated on the ground, in addition to the few pyrrhic victories the UNSC were gaining in space, largely to the tactical genius of Preston Cole. Eventually, Mack was given command of the 85th Marine Battalion, and dispatched to, along with a massive fleet under Cole's command, with the intent of reclaiming the whole planet from the Covenant. It was in mid-2556 that the news came of the death of Harold Redford, one of Mack's old friends, on Harvest at the hands of the Covenant. This surprised him greatly, remembering Redford's combat prowess years before. Attending a memorial service shortly after, he noticed Frederick King, another old comrade, attempting to recruit Redford's young son into ONI, much to his displeasure.

The position of command suited Mack, who was now in his fifties. Though long periods spent in cryosleep and his ORION augmentations slowed down his ageing process somewhat, keeping him, for the most part, fit and healthy, he had began to notice his limits on the battlefield. In addition, the chemical augmentations that gave him a distinct advantage over 'regular' humans also gave him occasional debilitating migraines, which struck more often than not when Mack was out of combat. In addition, Mack Junior had, against his father's wishes, joined the rather than taking up the offer from the prestigious, as his father had wished. He was aware of his son's presence during the Harvest Campaign, albeit in another Marine Company.

By 2528, Mack took direct command of a beleaguered Marine Company entrenched in the ruins of one of Harvest's cities after its commander was killed in a banshee strike. There, he led the survivors in a massive counter-offensive against their enemy, with air and armour support massacring the Covenant on the ground. They did, however, take heavy casualties in the attempt. This was Mack's first experience of losing a great deal of troops under his command, with the company at less than a third of its original strength by the end. Mack himself sustained a plasma injury, a pistol bolt hitting him in the lower abdomen; its impact was stopped only by his body armour. While recovering, he met a trio of Marines who had fought alongside him during the battle:, Mira Reyes, and Carlos Driscol. He personally commended the three for their valour in subsequent battles; each would end up earning the prestigious by the end of the conflict.

Outer Colony Campaigns
For the next few years, Mack would fight in many battles across the Outer Colonies, even as they slowly fell to the Covenant onslaught. Weeks turned to months, and months to years as he led various forces against not only the Covenant, but the remnants of the Insurrection as well. In 2537, Mack was in charge of fighting against rebel forces on Mamore, a world in the Outer Colonies that he had visited many years before. The planet had changed much since his ORION days, and with the majority of UNSC forces away fighting the Covenant, the rebel forces had gained a great deal of support from the people and held most of the major settlements.

While Mack had some private doubts about even engaging his fellow man with the alien threat elsewhere, he led his troops to victory across the colony, totally crushing most forms of armed resistance within a few weeks. The final stronghold proved too much for even his forces to take, and not wishing for a long siege, he contacted the Office of Naval Intelligence for support. In response, they deployed the newly-graduated SPARTAN-III to the planet. In spite of the program's top secret nature, Mack had been privy to its creation and was even considered as a potential trainer over Franklin Mendez had the UNSC not needed capable field commanders. The Spartans completely wiped out the fortress in a single night with no casualties, impressing Mack greatly. With orders to inform his men simply that 'Special Forces' units had destroyed the enemy, Mack left Mamore and was promoted to for his actions in stopping the Insurrection there.

Siege of Fargad
Main Article: Siege of Fargad

"This is it, ladies and gentlemen. The Covvies are on our doorstep, and heading this way. We could run, we could hide. We could hole up here like animals until those alien bastards burn us out. That's not going to happen though, is it? We're fighting. Every man and woman present is here because they chose to be here. This is where we draw a line in the sand. This is where we say not one step further! Every minute we spend holding our ground here gives our citizens more time to escape. We all know the price paid for our duty. How many of you have lost family or friends to the Covenant, or have them fighting? I have. I for one, am proud to be fighting alongside my own flesh and blood here, against these monsters. They have butchered millions, but not without a fight. So, it is here, brave men and women of the UNSC, I ask you, fight with me! This time tomorrow, we could all be dead. We could be standing here, on a mountain of Covvie corpses with our heads held high. In any case, we're not running. Not here! Not now! We're gonna sit right here, and give these covvie bastards one heck of a fight!"

- Mack's famous speech to Fargad's defenders on September 17th, 2547.

In late 2547, Mack was stationed on Fargad, an important world in the Inner Colonies that had long been one of the UNSC's prominent bases beyond Reach and the Sol System. The planet's importance to the war effort warranted a large fleet to be stationed there at all times. As such, many military units waiting for reassignment would spend their shore leave on one of the colony's cities, something that Mack himself was doing when news of Covenant forces reached him. An enemy fleet had appeared out of slipspace at the edge of the system unexpectedly, destroying two sensory outposts as they alerted the fleet. Reporting into a local UNSC base, Mack discovered that he was the highest-ranking person alive on Fargad, and was immediately put in charge of its defence against the Covenant invasion.

Following a disastrous mechanised assault led by Colonel Brandon Walters on the primary Covenant landing zone, Mack organised the UNSC defences, with elements of the 91st and 104th Marine regiments striking at the incoming Covenant armies from the nearby mountains while Sigma Team participated in a number of operations in the area that essentially ground the Covenant advance to a halt. Even with a full team of nine SPARTAN-II's deployed, the sheer amount of Covenant troops landing on the colony world forced the UNSC to fall back and regroup, with Mack sending Colonel Walters to hold off the enemy elsewhere to give him near-absolute control of the situation. This would lead to a crushing blow being dealt to the Covenant on the ground after a successful counter-strike. However, the situation in space worsened as the Covenant fleet slowly gained an advantage over the weaker UNSC ships lead by Admiral Michael Hsu, which allowed for more ships to provide support for their armies below. Mack ordered his force to hold a nearby city, which had been heavily fortified with Mass Drivers and AA guns.

Even with these preparations, Mack was fully aware that they would not be able to hold the city for long, and was surprised to find a message sent from the upper echelons of the Office of Naval Intelligence, who had dispatched reinforcements to Fargad to assist him. This came in the form of two SPARTAN-III teams, Upsilon and Tau, who had landed in the nearby harbour. Mack was both surprised and relieved to discover this, and dispatched Sigma Team to rendezvous with the others aboard an old wet navy battleship, belonging to the head of Fargad's Colonial Militia, 'Admiral' Han Kurtz. After foiling a Covenant sabotage attempt, the Spartans helped to fight off the Covenant army as it attacked the city, wave after wave of troops wearing down the defenders, with thousands of casualties being inflicted on both sides.

By the fifth day of the battle, the city had been reduced to ruins from the fighting and the Covenant were gaining a big advantage on the ground as well as in space. Kurtz had died taking down a Scarab, and soon news arrived that Colonel Walters had been killed while fighting elsewhere on the planet, leaving Mack as the sole leader of the planet's defence force. From the UNSC's Storm Base he commanded the majority of planetary operations, and ended up as a prime target when the Covenant pinpointed his location and dispatched an entire Legion there. This was foiled by an ambush by the Spartans, who used FENRIS nukes to collapse a mountain on the approaching force and managed to assassinate the Field Marshall leading them. Though he protested, the SPARTAN-II's evacuated Mack and his command staff from the base to Fargad's capital, Antolia, where they would hold out until they could be evacuated from the system. It was here that he gave a hastily put-together and inspirational speech to the forces under his command, who had lost nearly two thirds of their number in just a few days.

When the attack came, the UNSC defenders inflicted horrific casualties on the enemy over the course of a few hours, though a number of Phantom dropships deployed Sangheili SpecOps teams to blow up bridges and cause havoc within the city. Eventually a massive bombing campaign was launched, with hundreds of Seraph fighters destroying large sections of the city. Mack was holed up in an emergency bunker with his staff and a few soldiers, and was surprised to discover that the ODST team sent to protect him was none other than Whiskey-04, John Ackton's former unit which contained his son. As the bombing intensified and parts of the bunker began to collapse, Mack was finally able to speak to his only son for the first time in years. While their relationship had always been rather frosty, he attempted to apologise for being a terrible father and admitted how proud he was of him. Mack Senior and Mack Junior were able to reconcile, believing that the Covenant bombing would be the end of them both. The bunker was eventually breached by A Sangheili team, who assaulted the defenders for over an hour, pushing the dwindling group back until they were trapped in a strongroom with limited ammunition. Mack was wounded in the shoulder during this battle, though he was still able to slit the throat of an Elite attempting to kill his son and successfully fought his foe off until reinforcements arrived.

When Mack and the five other survivors exited the bunker they were greeted by twenty-one Spartans and hundreds of other soldiers who had been sent to look for him. A frigate, the UNSC Bright New Day, had taken up position over what remained of the city and was evacuating the surviving UNSC forces aboard. It was revealed that Admiral Hsu had also perished along with most of his fleet, but not before taking down a number of Covenant capital ships. Three other frigates had joined the Day in the evacuation, a process that took roughly four hours before what remained of Mack's troops were off the ground. Before the Covenant fleet could regroup and pursue them, the human ships exited the system. Though Fargad was glassed, many considered Mack a hero for his actions in holding up the Covenant advance for as long as he did, something that forced him into the public eye once more. Fully aware that the UNSC was trying to use him like they had with, he refused a promotion to Major General and arranged to be reassigned so he could go back to a station near the frontlines.

Battle of Harpa
Main Article: Battle of Harpa

"We'll win, just you wait and see. We 'mere humans' are much better at waging war than you bastards ever were."

- Mack speaking to Felo 'Ranakee

Skills and Abilities
"Sir, are you- oh, never mind."

- Marco-025, discovering Mack at the centre of a slaughtered Sangheili lance.

As both a former marine and ORION member, Richard Mack was a highly skilled soldier, proficient with most forms of weaponry in the UNSC's arsenal. While a part of the program, he distinguished himself as an expert at scouting and tracking in most environments, as well as being an accomplished marksman. In addition to this, he was known for his deadliness in close quarters, his enhanced speed and reflexes giving him a vital edge on the enemy, even being able to take down Sangheili warriors at quite an advanced age with nothing but a combat knife. Even in his late seventies, he was noted for being just as fit as he had been in his ORION days, there being dozens of occasions in which he would have to take to the frontline during the Human-Covenant War.

Another key skill that Mack had was the ability to lead and command respect from others around him and deal with changing situations in battle. Upon taking command of the remnants of Trident Team in 2500, Mack proved to be an effective commander for the team until it's dissolution several years later. Upon being recalled to active duty in 2517, he was the man responsible for training the SPARTAN-II Sigma Team on Earth, drilling the twenty children into an effective fighting unit and overseeing their augmentation procedures a few years later.

After the outbreak of the Human-Covenant War, Mack was one of many formerly retired commanders to be brought back into action by the UNSC to fight against their new alien foe. Despite his unparalleled record on the battlefield, he had little experience of commanding large military forces when initially recalled. However, when the time came and his marine regiment was deployed he proved to be an effective strategist, being responsible for dozens of ground victories over the course of the war, and, if victory could not be achieved, organising retreats that would be costly to pursing enemy forces, as exhibited during the Siege of Fargad and several other battles. Even at an advanced age, Mack took to the field on multiple occasions, fighting on the frontlines if necessary.

Personality
"Sorry if I have to skip the pleasantries, Colonel, but I've got a goddamn battle to win."

- To Colonel Brandon Walters during the Siege of Fargad.

Richard Mack became well known among colleagues for having something of a hair-trigger temper, particularly in his ORION years. This largely stemmed from a history of bullying while at school and the death of his adoptive father when he was seventeen. While his Marine Corps training helped to some degree with his anger problems, Mack's violence on the field was noted, though he never brutalised or endangered innocents, unlike some of his Trident squadmates. Mack was known for never backing down in the face of danger, persevering against all odds to win on the battlefield. While some superiors did see this behaviour as reckless, he never failed to get results, though his eventual status as a 'hero' following 2499 would lead to few questioning his methods. He despised his portrayal as some kind of paragon in the media, seeing it as simple propaganda on the UNSC's part.

Following the Heimdall incident in 2499, he began drinking heavily, becoming quite depressed for a time. His actions led to a temporary suspension from duties, until fellow Trident members and others were able to put him through rehabilitation for a few months. Though he became teetotal and never touched the drink again, this would lead to a major personality change from the somewhat hotheaded ORION member he had been in the 2490's.



After temporarily retiring for nearly a decade, Mack became somewhat calmer, helping to bring up his son until he was called back to active duty. There, he was forced to adopt the persona of a drill sergeant in training the young Spartans. However, a key characteristic of his was the ability to see what was bothering the trainees and speak to them individually, something that gained him the respect of his pupils for years after. However, this degree of dedication to the SPARTAN Program distanced himself quite a lot from his son, leading to a somewhat strained and even hostile relationship between the two at times. Though they eventually reconciled, Mack would often feel guilty about treating his only child far too harshly in his youth.

While in command of various marine regiments over the course of the Human-Covenant War, Mack often chose to lead without taking the advice of others. This can be largely attributed to the fact that while he was a brilliant commander, he was also quite arrogant at times when it came to the big decisions on the battlefield, though he was known for rarely making mistakes. These were often overlooked in light of his many victories and that his own lieutenants rarely questioned him.

In spite of being an exemplary commander and a talented orator, Mack was quite a solitary man, having only a few friends outside of his former ORION team and even being quite distant from his son for many years. Strangely, one of the few people that he got on with well was, the eventual head of ONI. The two were reportedly good friends for decades, sharing somewhat ruthless personalities in addition to being extremely efficient in their respective professions. Another person of ill-repute that Mack was known for befriending was Doctor Calvin Roe, a scientist involved in various projects for ONI. Roe had saved Mack's life while on a mission, the latter owing him a debt following this, which he repaid when he was called to train the Sigma SPARTAN unit.

Literary References

 * Boot
 * Back Then
 * Start of Darkness