Marcus James Chandler

"'Then we run, we rally what allies we can, and we get the hell out of town. We can't risk getting close to heavily populated systems if what Captain Lasky says is true.'""'Then I guess all those innies we've been hunting are our best hope...'""-Spartan Commander Chandler to Commander Larose aboard the UNSC Deliverance after receiving the warning from Captain Lasky regarding the Created Coup."

Early Life
Growing up on Cascade and inspired by the fantastical port city of Mindoro Marcus imagined one day scaling the space tether and venturing off into the stars aboard one of the many ships which frequented the corporate city center. Marcus enlisted at sixteen, 2546, into the UNSC and showed exemplary talent therefore being recruited into the ODST's Marcus was given command of Ethereal in 2547 at only eighteen as a Corporal and becoming the leader of Ethereal also known as Echo Squad.

Ethereal Squad
Ethereal Squad was active for the final quarter of the human-covenant war and conducted many operations against the Covenant. Specializing in higher risk missions and upon successfully completing multiple 'suicide' missions Ethereal become recognized as a considerably seasoned ODST squad by 2550.

Cascade
Ethereal were on Cascade when it was attacked by the covenant in 2552. During the battle Ethereal squad was ordered against Chandlers wishes to use the space tether to get off world and regroup for a large scale ODST bombardment into a covenant ship. En route the space elevator was destroyed by covenant forces and Staff Sergeant Chandler was the only member of Ethereal Squad to survive.

Chandler unable to communicate with command funneled as many civilians out of the city through sewage tunnels, outside the city he was able to call in for an evac ship where the civilians were safely brought off-world. With the majority of the city evacuated the UNSC was able to turn the tide of the battle and fend off the covenant and take back the planet. Chandler was promoted to Gunnery Sergeant and awarded the Medal of Honor in recognition of his performance on Cascade.

ONI Operative
Following the battle of Cascade Chandler was targetted by ONI recruiters and following the conclusion of the Human-Covenant war became an ONI agent after being commissioned as a Lieutenant stationed as the second in command of X-ray Seven a team of agents operating aboard the Black Knight, a UNSC Prowler in which espionage and sabotage was conducted against remnant factions of the covenant.

Spartan Career
In 2554, now Captain Chandler was ushered into the spartan iv program as the leader of fireteam Thermal leaving his rank behind. Fireteam Thermal was an intelligence team designed to go far behind enemy lines and conduct espionage and sabotage against enemies of the UNSC. During the early stages of his Spartan career Chandler wore Scout armor

Requiem Campaign
Fireteam Thermal was deployed prematurely by (at present commanding officer) Del Rio and were immediately cut off from Infinity following its crash. Thermal team encountered hostile promethean forces and were forced into endless teleportors of requiem with the assistance of friendly sentinels who aided the spartans in establishing Citadel, a forward operating base for Thermal team. The team was able to make contact with Infinity before it left the planet and were told by Del Rio to remain there until reinforcements could arrive. The order by Del Rio to remain on the planet was never documented and was used against him in his court martial upon returning to Earth.

Chandler and the rest of Thermal remained on the planet and when Infinity returned were reinforced and Citidel became a UNSC landing zone accompanied by the UNSC frigate Call to Valor captained by Commander Larose.

With Command Site Citadel and the UNSC Call to Valor as a center of operations for UNSC conquest on the far side of Requiem various joint operations were done prior to the destruction of Requiem. Spartan Chandler was given command of all local Spartan forces operating directly under Spartan Commander Palmer and lead operations which would become catalogued as Thermal Ops / Thermal Operations. It was through this command and Spartan Chandler's long list of reputable service that eventually made him a prime candidate as a Spartan Commander himself following his service on Requiem.

Post Requiem
Back at Earth Thermal team and the captain of the Call to Valor all received awards of service and were stationed aboard the prototype and namesake frigate Deliverance. Upon reporting as the Spartan Commander of the UNSC Deliverance's Spartan contingent Chandler began sporting Ranger mjolnir armor. It is noted that after becoming the Spartan Commander aboard Deliverance and leaving Fireteam Thermal, Chandler continued to wear the Fireteam's patch on his armor.

As the Spartan Commander of spartan forces on Deliverance and acting XO Chandler was no longer attached to Thermal team. Under his command were 38 Spartans in six fireteam. The Deliverance conducted its maiden voyage beyond enemy lines in old UNSC colonies and on the edge of UNSC space fighting off remnant forces and dissolving insurrectionists'.

During his time on the Deliverance prior to the Created Crisis Spartan Commander Chandler acted as XO and Spartan Commander aboard the Deliverance during the following operations.
 * Barstow Campaign
 * Discovery of Bastion

Created Conflict
In 2559 the UNSC Deliverance documented its discovery of the Crux Installation, Spartan Commander Chandler eventually went within the installation alongside Fireteams Desert and Thermal to investigate. Within the strange layers of semi-organic-like material which covered the Installation the group came into contact with 02A Inhibited Catalogue, the monitor of the installation. Catalogue informed Spartan Commander Chandler of the purpose and summary of the history of the Crux Installations, revealing there were more than one, and that they were entering an intentional decay state due to Cortana's rise to power with her Created.
 * Discovery Crux Installation 02

The team was only able to extract a limited amount of data and information regarding the installation before it became extremely instable due to its state of decay, additionally Catalogue alerted the Spartans to the incoming slip space distortion from a Guardian Custode. Being likely sent by Cortana the team quickly evacuated the Installation and fled the system aboard the Deliverance.

Trivia

 * Following the death of Spartan River on Requiem, Chandler was deeply psychologically wounded, in part due to the previous loss of his entire ODST squad, Ethereal Squad, on Cascade in 2552.
 * Prefers the MAR-16 over the DMR which he previously held dear.
 * It is postulated that Chandler may possess a Geas or Genesong due to multiple cases of unexplained knowledge and tactics along with dreams eerily reminiscent of events which transpired during the Human-Forerunner War.