Shawn Gates

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== Early Life ==
Shawn was born in Detroit on March 17th, 2535 to James and Emily Gates. He had an older brother, Trevor, and an younger sister, Emma. James was laid off from his job in late 2538, but found work on another world thanks to his brother, Richard, who recommended him to his management. As a result the Gates family moved to Reach in 2539. James and Emily worked long hours, yet struggled to make enough money to raise their three children. In 2545, James and Emily were killed in an automobile accident, leaving Shawn and his two siblings orphaned. Their uncle Richard adopted them, but struggled to provide for them with his insufficient income. In 2548, Richard robbed a convenience store in a desperate attempt to keep the three orphans fed. The robbery turned against him, and he was killed by the cashier. Trevor enlisted in the UNSC Defense Force soon after and began ODST training after his first year of enlistment. Emma and Shawn lived in Richard's house from then on, both of them working part time jobs and struggling to finish school. In 2551 Emma and Shawn were informed that Trevor had been killed fighting the Covenant on Ballast. Shawn dropped out of school soon after, and in 2552 he lied about his age and joined the UNSC Marine Corps.
== Military Service ==
=== Reach ===
Gates was deployed to Reach on  August 20th to a strategic beachhead on the outskirts of New Alexandria. His company held off several waves of Covenant, but their defenses crumbled when a team of Sangheili Zealots and Rangers assaulted the beach. Gates' platoon was nearly wiped out along with two others, and the company's fourth platoon retreated. He and the remaining Marines on the beach called in orbital support on their position, and managed to decimate the Sangheili platoon. The two other Marines, 1st Sergeant Baker and 1st Lieutenant Miller, were killed immediately after the bombardment by the only remaining Zealot, however Gates managed to kill it with a nearby shotgun. The incident resulted in Gates being awarded the Medal of Honor and being promoted to Corporal. 
Following the incident on the beach, Gates was deployed with another company of Marines into New Alexandria to assist with evacuations. It was during this operation that he received his first wound of the war from a Covenant needle rifle, and subsequently was awarded a Purple Heart.
=== Earth ===
On October 22nd, 2552 Gates was deployed into New Mombasa, Kenya with a team of Marines with orders to recon the city's police headquarters. However, The team was left unable to complete their mission as their insertion failed when their Pelican was shot down. The team spent several hours attempting to reach the UNSC lines, but the initial Covenant assault was constantly pushing the lines back. After several firefights, Gates and his fire team found a Pelican intact and still flyable. They used the Pelican to return to the UNSC Euphrates with a Longsword escort. 
Later, Gates was deployed with a company of Marines with orders to reinforce a previous attempt to secure a hill near Voi, Kenya. The company took fire going in and two platoons were lost almost immediately. The remaining Marines were able to reach the UNSC defenses with cover from the remaining Pelicans and Longswords. Once in cover, they recieved support from the UNSC Who Dares Wins, which decimated the Covenant armor and infantry on the hill. The Marines advanced with little resistance until Covenant reinforcements arrived, but the Marines eventually fought through and disabled the AA emplacements at the top of the hill. The UNSC strike on the Covenant dig site began, but the Marines were ambushed by Covenant special forces while watching. Gates himself was nearly killed by a Covenant energy sword and was rendered unconscious. Soon after, a combined team of ODSTs and Spartan IIIs retook the hill with the few surviving Marines and discovered Gates unconscious on the ground. He was brought to the UNSC Come and Take It and was treated for his wounds. When he recovered, he was promoted to sergeant and awarded a purple heart.
=== Installation 00 ===
Shortly after waking on the Come and Take It, Gates learned of the Flood attack on Africa and the Covenant Loyalists retreating through the portal they had opened. He was among the Marines that volunteered to pursue the Covenant through the portal. He was transferred with the rest of the volunteers from the Come and Take It to the UNSC Aegis Fate and entered the portal soon after with the rest of the combined UNSC and Covenant Separatist fleet. 
Once through the portal, Gates' company took part in the assault on the Cartographer, Gates himself leading a fireteam of Marines. Later, his team was deployed to assault the Citadel, and after the Flood attack on the facility, his team held the line against the Flood until John-117 and Thel 'Vadam escaped. They were extracted by Sangheili Phantoms and returned to Earth aboard the Shadow of Intent. 
After the Battle of Installation 00, Gates was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic stand against the Flood and promoted to Staff Sergeant. The falsification of his enlistment papers that allowed him to join the Marines in the first place was pardoned, and Gates was allowed to continue to serve. Though he escaped the battle without physical injury, his encounter with the Flood left him with moderate post traumatic stress disorder.
=== Post-War Conflicts ===
Following the end of the Human-Covenant War, Gates began training as an ODST. He served on an orbital insertion team from 2553 to 2556 and fought in several small skirmishes against both Insurrectionist and Covenant Remnant forces and also took part in the Battle of Draetheus V. He was meritoriously promoted to Staff Sergeant during this period and awarded another purple heart and a silver star. Shawn later returned to the Marine Corps to train as a scout sniper. 
==== Trost ====
After completing his training, Shawn was deployed to Trost where he served several tours with a Force Recon team. On Trost, Shawn took part in several operations against a myriad of threats, including conducting screening operations for Flood activity during the Delta Forti Outbreak, raiding insurrection stronghold and caches, disrupting Covenant Remnant activities, and waging guerrilla warfare against Promethean forces.
==== "Death" and induction into ONI Service ====
Hours away from rotating out of the Delta Forti system in 2564, Shawn volunteered to accompany an ODST QRF to secure the crash sight of a downed pelican gunship. As he and the orbital insertion team approached the pelican, they were engaged by insurrectionist forces. Shawn was hit by shrapnel from an insurrection rocket and passed out from blood loss soon after. He was evacuated to the UNSC Verdun, where he was placed into cryogenic stasis and listed as killed in action. He remained in stasis for two years, being removed only to be operated on while sedated. In 2566 he was removed from cryogenic stasis and trained as an intelligence officer for the Office of Naval Intelligence, Section One. 
==== Lambda Rho ====
In 2568, Shawn made contact with a group of independent colonists known as the Lotus Coalition on the moon of Dolorosa in the Lambda Rho system by using the name John Silas Shaw and posing as a UNSC deserter and former EOD technician. He leveraged his skills to learn the location of the UNSC Neptune, a missing Poseidon-class light carrier. This operation, codenamed OPERATION: BLACK DOG, resulted in the recovery of the Neptune as well as its crew with minimal casualties. Following OPERATION: BLACK DOG, Gates was assigned to the Lambda Rho system as an intelligence officer.