Team Macheté, later known as Fireteam Macheté under Spartan branch, was a fireteam of five SPARTAN-III commandos trained on Onyx as part of Gamma Company. Although they were the first team in Gamma to be sorted, due to each of its members being caught outside their barracks after curfew one night early on, Machete's members took the longest out of any team to bond and were near the bottom of the company's scoreboard as a result, unable to compete with more coordinated teams. Despite the best efforts of their drill instructor, Staff Sergeant Pete Stacker, the team had disciplinary problems throughout their training, stemming from two in particular who seemed to be responsible for much of the trouble in Gamma. At one point, the pair were responsible for organizing a massive breakout of the trainees in an event which would come to be wryly known amongst staff and recruits as Operation: JAILBREAK. After graduation, the team was transferred to the Army's SPECWARCOM by Lieutenant Erin Coney's intervention, preventing them from being thrown away on a suicide mission by ONI.
After taking part in the Battle of Earth, the team was assigned to the UNSC Themistocles, an exploration vessel tasked with recolonizing planets fallen during the Human-Covenant War, for almost five years. In this time, they repeatedly came into contact with the Jiralhanae Chieftain Attilus and eventually ended the warlord's threat, at the cost of one of their own. In the process, however, members of ONI managed to outmaneuver Coney and had the team reassigned to Spartan branch on the UNSC Infinity in 2557, redubbed Fireteam Macheté. The team took part in and survived both battles of Requiem, but was shattered less than a month later on the glassed planet of Stavros when Amber-G330 took the side of a Covenant civilian settlement, and killed her teammate Morgana-G018 defending it. Amber deserted and was presumed dead when Macheté's team leader, Kodiak-G114, accepted a mission to track and recover her. Shortly after, Dyne-G217 was discovered absent without leave, leaving Kodiak alone. Without a team to speak of, Fireteam Macheté was formally disbanded and Kodiak recruited as part of a new unit directly under the auspices of ONI: Fireteam Nephthys.
Members[]
Kodiak-G114: While a skilled assault operator and technician, it was Kodiak's laid-back style of leadership that earned his place as Machete's team leader. Though many thought him ill-suited to the task, none more so than Kodiak himself, it was Commander Ambrose who saw something of himself in Kodiak's effort to make a personal connection with each of his teammates and promoted him. Kodiak eventually grew into the role and led the team to admirable accomplishments despite their overall low ranking within the company. With the utter breaking of his team, however, and the loss of his close friends, Kodiak's confidence was destroyed, and he was relegated to a subordinate position in Fireteam Nephthys.
Morgana-G018: If there were any other choice for leader of Machete, it would have been Morgan. Her organizational skill made her Gamma Company's premier artillery coordinator, exhaustively knowledgeable on a wide range of UNSC ordnance and precise enough to drop hundreds of tons of high explosives on a target with virtually no collateral damage. Her mechanical worldview, however, led Morgan to treat her teammates like tools, completely opposite Kodiak. Excelling in the role of executive officer, the balance of Morgan's pragmatism and Kodiak's interpersonal skill served the team well, especially when cooperating with units outside the Spartans. Her death on Stavros in 2558 ultimately led to the team's disbanding.
Tara-G112: Machete's reconnaissance and survival expert seldom spoke, so rarely in fact even her own teammates believed for a time it was something she couldn't do. But each time she has made herself heard, Tara made arguments with passion and unshakeable resolve, pointing to the conclusion her silence is a matter of her own choice. While this willful lack of communication was noted as a potential detriment to working as part of a special operations team, the teammates she ended up with never seemed to have trouble understanding her. Her expertise proved useful time and again not only in helping the team evade the hazards of the wilderness on distant alien worlds, but in leading their opponents into such dangers. Tara was killed in action against the Chieftain Attilus during the Raid on Exceeding Grasp in 2555.
Dyne-G217: Technically brilliant but irrepressibly impulsive, Dyne was Machete's dedicated combat engineer and saboteur, often partnering with Kodiak for the tasks when the latter wasn't occupied by leadership duties. Frequently overzealous in practicing his craft on Camp Currahee's equipment, the base's staff nonetheless managed to guide his antics in ways which developed his skill set, allowing him to graduate, but never fully instilling in him a Spartan's rigid discipline. Factoring this into his psyche analysis suggests he was unable to cope with the death and betrayal of his teammates, and is the reason for his desertion following that of Amber-G330. A possible match for the fugitive Spartan has recently cropped up on Talitsa.
Amber-G330: Only a rare few Spartans elect to trade in incendiary weapons, and none of these ever maintained a psyche profile as stable as Amber--which made it all the more a surprise when she deserted the UNSC. In hindsight, however, the signs were there: abducted from a loving family rather than taken as an orphan, regularly questioned orders and superiors, and acted on her own initiative numerous times without leave. Amber served the UNSC not out of loyalty to the organization, but because serving aligned with her conscience, and stood against it as soon as they were in conflict. Yet, this would not explain her motivation for the murder of Morgan, her close friend, nor for her resurfacing as a commander in the Kru'desh Legion alongside notorious fellow traitor Simon-G294. The former, it is believed, was likely an accident, while motivation for the latter remains a subject of speculation.
Erin Coney: Machete's advisor was with the team from its beginning, having been a drill instructor during Gamma Company's training. Where she came to Camp Currahee from remained classified, but her subject of choice being intelligence leaves little room for doubt it was anywhere other than ONI. While none of its members were ever among those she trained personally as intelligence specialists, she was noted to have always taken a particular interest in Machete, and had herself assigned as the team's liaison with SPECWARCOM when they were deployed. The course of Machete's history attached to various command structures has always been conspicuously unusual, being just barely overlooked as Spartan teams were reassigned to Spartan branch or ONI; the interventions of a certain former ONI agent may hold an explanation. Like Kodiak, she was brought into ONI after Machete was disbanded to serve as Fireteam Nephthys' advisor.
Deep Winter: While Machete has commandeered tanks and appropriated heavy ordnance without authorization, the 5th-generation Artificial Intelligence program named Deep Winter represents their most egregious breach of regulations. Winter was formerly the support AI which assisted in the training of Beta and Gamma Companies, and was retired at the end of his 14-year operational lifespan to a holding facility in Japan to await decommissioning with other near-rampant programs. During the Battle of Earth, however, Machete rescued Winter and kept the program they considered a friend in secret, only activating him in dire need to stave off his eventual rampancy. After Attilus' defeat, Deep Winter parted from them and was one of the driving forces behind the reconvening of the Assembly.
