Martin-A136

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Martin-A136 was a SPARTAN-III Commando of Alpha Company and one of its few survivors after Operation: PROMETHEUS. Martin was recruited by the Office of Naval Intelligence from a UNSC-run orphanage at a young age and taken to Onyx, where he was trained by and alongside hundreds of other children, befriending and Dan-A105 on his night of arrival.
Martin was trained for five years on Onyx with Alpha Company, before being sent to the to receive his . Over the course of several months, Martin participated in several operations, both against the Covenant and rebel forces, before being sent out with the rest of Alpha on in 2537. The operation, though a success, led to the decimation of Alpha Company, with Martin and eleven others being the only known survivors.
Once the surviving SPARTAN-III's had made it back to UNSC-controlled space, it was revealed that their survival would be kept secret from Lieutenant Ambrose, who would initiate the training of Beta Company. The twelve survivors were assigned to work under Doctor Calvin Roe of ONI, and placed into two teams: Upsilon and Tau, Martin being in the former. They would be given MJOLNIR armour, which was a great improvement on the SPI they used before, and assigned to open combat roles. 
Martin served with distinction as second in command of Upsilon, the Spartan team participating in many battles throughout the remainder of the Human-Covenant War, such as the Siege of Fargad, during which he encountered the SPARTAN-II's of Sigma Team. Martin and his team were also present during the in 2552, a battle that ended in the deaths of every member of Upsilon and Tau, barring Martin, Alex-A121 and Louie-A199. The three were folded into Sigma Team after escaping the planet, fighting in the Loss of Hope and the Battle of the Zenith Complex before returning to Earth. 
Surviving to the end of the war, Sigma was split up and Martin began operating alone on various classified operations for the next year. In 2554, however, he was picked to lead Shrike Team, a new SPARTAN-III force designed to swiftly eliminate the rising Insurrectionist movement, as well as any Covenant remnants. For over a year Martin led Shrike, dealing with various foes and averting many catastrophes. In December of 2555 after killing a major Insurrectionist leader and ending the NOVA incident, Shrike was disbanded, having lost six of its nine members.
Shortly after Shrike's dissolution, Martin was transferred to the where after several reassignments over the next year he ended up joining his comrades in leading some of ONI's Remote Contact Teams on the fringes of inhabited space. By the start of the Martin was stationed on Europa, and helped to organise a Spartan-led counterattack against the AI rebellion over the next year.
==Biography==
===Early Life===
Martin Farrell was born on Harvest, in the city of . Before he was even a year old, the planet came under by the Covenant, killing thousands within the first few days.Martin was taken, as an infant, to one of the many cargo freighters during the evacuation of the colony, his first an only memory of his mother being of her passing him onto one of the freighters before it took off. Martin's group was able to escape Harvest and retreat into human-controlled space, where he was placed into a UNSC-run orphanage.
Martin grew up in an orphanage on Charybdis IX for nearly six years. He, like many other children who were made orphans by the Covenant attack, became introverted, making few friends. Martin was, however, marked out as being unusually bright despite his young age, grasping things that many of his peers could not, and learning a great deal about the military from propaganda videos that were shown to the children. In 2531, Martin and many others in the orphanage were approached by agents from the , and asked if they wished to get revenge on the Covenant. 
When the time came for Martin's questioning, he met with Major Frederick King, a former member. Martin was suspicious of the man, immediately asking him about his rank, which was unusual for someone apparently working in the Navy. King noticed Martin's intelligence and inquisitiveness, and gave him the offer to get revenge on the ones who had burned his home, killed his family and taken everything from him. Like many others, Martin had absolutely nothing to lose, and accepted the ONI agent's offer. 
===The SPARTAN-III Project===
After a month of travelling with the ONI handlers, who were recruiting more war orphans, Martin was taken to , in the Zeta Doradus system. On his first night, after seeing Lieutenant for the first time, Martin wished in his mind to be just like the armour-clad giant, to kill as many Covenant as he could. Martin passed the first test with some encouragement, successfully completing a paradrop that very night. It was shortly afterwards that he became good friends with and Dan-A105, both of whom had been at his orphanage in Charybdis.
Martin was assigned to Falcon Team, which was lead by Dan. During training sessions, he often worked as second in command, performing very well from the beginning and shaping up to be one of the best trainees in Alpha Company. One day, during a 'Capture the Flag' training session, Martin was able to take the flag from his Drill Instructors, fighting his way out of the training area and escaping, but at the cost of his own team mates. It was here that Lieutenant Ambrose explained to Martin about the cost of battle, and that while completing the objective was one thing, it paid to ensure that his team made it out alive as well. Those words stuck with Martin for the rest of his life, inspiring him to have a 'no man left behind' mentality when it came to his comrades. 
===Alpha Company===
In late 2536, Martin and the rest of Alpha Company underwent a series of that drastically improved their speed, strength, and combat performance, before they were dispatched on their first combat missions. Rather than be deployed against the Covenant, Alpha was sent to Mamore in December, where a large Insurrectionist force had taken root, and were proving difficult to eradicate by conventional means. The entire 300-man company was deployed groundside, and immediately set to work destroying rebel bases across the planet. 
As they closed in on the main Insurrectionist compound, Martin, Dan, and Kai took point, spotting a trio of rebel soldiers on duty. While the other Spartans killed their targets with ease, Martin hesitated, not wanting to take a human life after signing up to kill the Covenant. Though his target was killed by , Kai and Dan began to question Martin's usefulness in combat, pressing onward with him as the rearguard. By this time, Alpha Company had begun the final push, eliminating all resistance as they pushed through the compound. The three SPARTAN-III's were almost killed as they came under fire from an enemy sniper, who kept them pinned down for some time before was able to gun their attacker down from his tower.
Moving into the main Insurrectionist base, Martin watched his team's back as they cleared a building of hostiles before preparing to move out. Before they could, however, a rebel who had been faking death leapt up, shooting Dan several times before he could react. In response, Martin immediately shot the man dead, but not before he could drop a grenade towards the Spartans. Martin was able to throw his wounded comrade through the door, diving for cover as it detonated. He was knocked out by the blast, sustaining some superficial injuries in the process, including a noticeable scar above his right eye, the first of many over the years. Alpha Company had managed to successfully wipe out the entire entrenched rebel outpost with no casualties whatsoever, barring a few dozen wounded during the fighting. Martin came out of his first conflict with his fellow man alive but not unscathed, realising that as a Spartan, he would be made to kill his own kind in addition to the aliens he had signed up to take revenge on.
After being fielded successfully for some time, Alpha Company was to be given their most important mission yet: . Travelling to K7-49, the entire Company, minus a few who were taken out only days before, were deployed with the objective of destroying as many Covenant plasma generators as they could in order to destroy a shipyard there. The mission, like those before it, was initially a success for Alpha Company. They destroyed a number of generators in the first few days there and neutralised an enemy response force with no casualties. However, when Covenant reinforcements did alive, Martin and Alpha Company found themselves fighting for their lives.
As Falcon Team was deployed as a scouting unit, branching off from the bulk of Alpha Company, they were able to detect and evade a massive Covenant force moving in on the others. While the Spartans did engage enemy infantry at first, it soon became clear that they were heavily outnumbered in this situation, and needed to retreat. Worse still, with the fighting going on, they were not able to focus on the last few generators needed to put K7-49 out of action for good. Though there was some protest, Dan led Martin and the others away from the massacre, towards the final generator needed, and their escape craft.
The Spartans were able to make their way towards the objective, destroying several tanks and linking up with Nelson-A122's Lion Team in the process. A Seraph bombing run killed several of their comrades and wounded a few more, prompting Dan to order the others to make a break for the ships while he and a few others destroyed the generator. Defying a direct order to escape, Martin joined Dan and Kai in planting the last few C-12 charges on the structure as the first few Covenant forces reached them. The three Spartans fought in close combat with a group of Sangheili Rangers atop the structure, and although they were victorious, Kai was mortally wounded by a flurry of plasma bolts. After a brief farewell, Martin and Dan left their friend with the detonator while they ran to their escape vehicles, SPARTAN-A019 detonating the explosives and putting K7-49 out of commission for good.
By the end of Operation: PROMETHEUS, only twelve members of Alpha Company had survived, being picked up by a Prowler shortly after the devastating mission. Once there, they were greeted by Admiral , Colonel , and Doctor Calvin Roe, who congratulated them on their success. With almost the entire company destroyed, it meant that the survivors could not be sent on suicide missions any more; they had become valuable as Spartans. As such, they were to be placed in two teams: Upsilon and Tau. Though the meaning would not become clear to Martin and the others for nearly a decade, the Doctor stated that they would be part of the second generation of a 'Project SIGMA'.
===Inner Colony Campaigns===
While they had lost almost everyone, the dozen remaining Alphas quickly acclimatised to their new situation and after spending over a month aboard a medical station recovering physically and mentally from PROMETHEUS, headed out into battle once more. Martin was still devastated over the death of Kai and so many others, though Dan helped him pull through and focus on the war at hand. In early 2538, the two teams were finally presented with their own suits of customised MJOLNIR armour that would greatly improve their abilities in the field. With this, Upsilon was transferred to a frontline role that brought them face-to-face with the Covenant time and time again. For a time, Martin was fairly happy to finally be fighting their alien foe on fairly even terms, without having the inherent risks associated with the suicide missions Alpha Company had been deployed to.
In 2547, both Upsilon and Tau teams were stationed on the heavily militarised world of Fargad when a large Covenant fleet entered the system, beginning a nine-day siege. It was during this battle that the SPARTAN-III's finally met a nine-man team of famed SPARTAN-II supersoldiers, Sigma Team. Correctly guessing that the other Spartans were their predecessors in Project SIGMA, Martin was initially rather leery of their older comrades and believed they might not work well together, though it soon became clear that the groups where somewhat alike in terms of tactics. During the battle, Martin was responsible for saving a large 'Wet Navy' vessel they were using as a command post from destruction after discovering a group of SpecOps Sangheili attempting to attach bombs to the hull and rescuing Marco-035 in the process. While Fargad was eventually glassed, the combined power of twenty-one Spartans inflicted staggering casualties on the Covenant and ensured that their foe paid for every inch of ground they took from retreating UNSC forces.
===Fall of Reach===
Main Article: 
By late July of 2552 Martin's team was stationed on the fortress world of , where they were to await their next deployment. The recent attack on Sigma Octanus IV made it clear that there was very little standing between the Covenant and Earth, and even the usually-optimistic Martin had begun to doubt if there was any way of winning the war. Then, news arrived that had encountered a Covenant vanguard force attacking the Visegrad COM relay. Only days later, a similar force was found attacking one halfway across the planet by Tau Team, prompting Upsilon's deployment weeks later as part of a massive counter-assault. They met up with numerous other Spartans for this assault across an entire continent on August 12th, intending to completely halt the invasion by bringing down numerous enemy . While their ground assault was successful as the supersoldiers led a massive charge that ended in the destruction of 'Spire Three', the sudden appearance of a Covenant supercarrier had arrived overhead stopped the UNSC's assault in its tracks. Unable to contend with the warship's defences and firepower, Martin and the others were forced to retreat, barely surviving a protracted orbital bombardment as they fled towards safer lands.
Following and the supercarrier's destruction days later, the arrival of a larger Covenant fleet Reach, prompted an immediate counterattack. Codenamed 'DROPKICK', this hastily put-together operation would would consist of Spartan Teams Upsilon, Tau and Sigma leading a boarding action against a pair of CCS-class battlecruisers attacking the city of Manassas. Dividing their forces between the city's defence and the orbital action, Martin was chosen to help lead the ground team, fighting to defend the Manassas spaceport against enemy landing parties. Though surrounded and heavily outnumbered, Upsilon were able to hold off hordes of enemy infantry attempting to massacre fleeing civilians in a lengthy urban battle, which culminated in Martin blowing up half a city block to crush a line of Wraith tanks en-route to the spaceport. The operation in orbit proved to be a success, but at the expense of Spartans Frank-A103 and Dom-A178. Despite the heavy price paid, Martin and the other Spartans saved thousands of lives by halting the Covenant's advance, allowing dozens of evacuation ships to escape the planet.
Shaken by the sudden loss of two longtime allies, Martin and the rest of Upsilon soon reunited with the remnants of Tau Team and were redeployed shortly after to assist in the defence of . While the Spartans saw great success in holding back the tide of Covenant forces swarming into the city, both teams were suddenly recalled by HIGHCOM to enact a rescue operation at the Reach headquarters. Martin and the others complied, ignoring the pleas from the Army troopers they had been fighting alongside to stay as they fell back to a nearby landing pad, only to be picked up by Sigma Team. Now openly wondering who was important enough to warrant the redeployment of three Spartan teams, Martin discovered that their extractee was none other than Doctor Calvin Roe, who he had not seen since the formation of Upsilon and Tau in the aftermath of Operation PROMETHEUS.
Arriving to find the Materials Group's tower besieged by Covenant troops, the Spartans split up, with a rescue party consisting of Wulf-041, Dan-A105, Chris-A189 and Eugene-A133 heading into the building to rescue Roe while the others circled the area and provided aerial support from a UH-144 Falcon. Acting as the pilot for his Falcon, Martin shot over a dozen banshee fighters out of the sky as the rescue operation proceeded, but was surprised when Roe's extraction craft emerged from the tower without the rescue team aboard. As he tried to get into contact with Dan, who he last detected heading back to their insertion point, a series of explosions suddenly rocked the tower. Forced to veer away from the Materials Group building for their own safety, Martin and the other Spartans could only watch helplessly as the tower collapsed, destroyed from within by dozens of explosive charges, taking the extraction team with it. As he watched his best friend's transponder signal vanish, Martin was informed by Marco-035 that the explosion had been triggered by Roe himself, without any regard for the lives of the Spartans still inside.
Consumed by a desire for vengeance, Martin was the first to demand that they hunt down Roe. To his surprise, Marco, Jax and the other SPARTAN-III's agreed, and they soon abandoned New Alexandria to its fate. Even Kane-098, Sigma's leader, did not protest their actions and an hours-long chase began as they pursued Roe, peppering his dropship with gunfire until it was forced to land at Outpost Foxtrot-Whiskey, a remote military base. As they closed in on the outpost, the base's anti-aircraft turrets opened fire on the Falcons, downing one craft and killing Sal-A142 in the subsequent crash. Narrowly avoiding AA fire, Martin managed to touch down not far from Foxtrot-Whiskey and contacted its defenders, who had been told that they were firing on rebel aircraft, not Spartans. Though he intended to kill Roe himself, Martin was beaten to the punch by Marco, who pursued the doctor into the base and executed him. It was only then that he and the others realised the magnitude of their actions, but before the Spartans could discuss things further a nearby alarm went off, alerting the base to an incoming Covenant attack.
Putting his emotions to one side, Martin fought fiercely in the defence of Outpost Foxtrot-Whiskey, manning its walls against a horde of Covenant troops swarmed into the valley with the intent of slaughtering all present. Killing scores of enemies over the course of an hour, Martin truly believed that he would meet his end as ammo ran low and the base's Marine defenders were gradually picked off by their foe. News of Dorian-A188's demise arrived shortly after, and Martin grieved for Upsilon Team's soft-spoken medic as Marco carried his broken body back to the base after a failed sortie. Just as it seemed as though Covenant troops were massing for their final assault, assistance arrived for the outpost's defenders in the form of a Shortsword airstrike that set most of the valley ablaze. With the Covenant force broken Martin and the others took their chance finally flee the outpost, piling the survivors into the few working Falcons and Pelicans before fleeing the area. In their wake they left behind the bodies of Dorian and Sal, whose armour's self-destruct systems had been wired into a FENRIS tac-nuke found in the base's armoury. Shortly after their departure, Outpost Foxtrot-Whiskey was consumed in a nuclear blast, taking any surviving Covenant forces with it.
Arriving at days later, the survivors were able to link up with local UNSC forces again and took the time to rest and re-equip themselves, all while coming to terms with their recent losses. It was here that Martin finally realised that he was the sole survivor of Upsilon Team, which had been completely wiped out in the space of a single day. Guilt-stricken over his survival when so many of his friends were dead and pessimistic about their chances, Martin became extremely withdrawn, speaking only when spoken to and finding himself almost looking forward to the prospect of dying in battle against the Covenant. In the darkest hours of his life, Martin was visited by Kane-098, who extended an offer for Martin to officially join Sigma Team. Having seen Sigma's leader as a cold, unfeeling Spartan who did little more than order his more extroverted teammates around, Martin was genuinely surprised and touched by Kane's invitation, which was given more out concern than pragmatism. Martin gladly accepted Kane's offer, and chose to leave Upsilon behind him as the Spartans finally left the base.
Though they would fight in isolated battles across the continent for several more days, Martin and his fellow Spartans soon accepted that Reach was going to fall to the Covenant's invasion. Shortly after losing all contact with HIGHCOM and most local COM channels on August 30th, the Spartans commandeered a single Pelican and made the long journey towards the in Asźod, which had been turned into one of the few offworld extraction sites left on the planet. Despite their desperate speed, the Spartans were too late to board the as it took off and escaped Reach, leaving them stranded until they picked up a signal from the ODST group Whiskey-04. Stationed at the far end of the yards some miles away, the troopers had come across a ship with a functioning slipspace drive - the UNSC Bright New Day - and were attempting to get it airborne while Covenant troops, furious at their failed attempt to destroy the Autumn, were rapidly converging on their position.
Acting as their Pelican's co-pilot, Martin assisted Louie-A199 in steering their Pelican into a hard landing after Covenant AA fire took out their dropship's thrusters. The Spartans emerged from the crash unscathed, and hastily made their way towards Whiskey-04's location. The ODST's had taken heavy losses, though their foes were quickly massacred by Martin and his comrades, giving them access to the underground hangar where the Bright New Day had been left before its final dispensation. Quickly boarding the ship, which had been left with a skeleton crew of technicians and engineers, the Spartans were given cover by Jax-007, Alex-A121, Nelson-A122 and Jordan-A111, who lured Covenant reinforcements into a deadly chase through the ship breaking yards while their newly-acquired frigate began to launch from its hangar. This act of bravery and sacrifice claimed the lives of Jordan and Nelson shortly before the ship took off, though Jax and Alex were able to reach the Day as it rocketed out of the hangar in a pair of stolen banshees. Now down to only six survivors, the Spartans, ODST's and remaining crew took the frigate safely into orbit, where it immediately made a risky slipspace jump to escape the Epsilon Eridani system, pursued by a furious group of Covenant ships.
It would be another two days and nine costly slipspace jumps before the Bright New Day escaped their pursuers, giving Martin and his allies time to take stock and reflect on the past few weeks. The Fall of Reach had been disastrous for the Spartans, leaving most of their comrades dead and the survivors cut off from command. Alex and Louie soon joined Martin in Sigma Team, leaving the survivors of PROMETHEUS under the command of their SPARTAN-II allies. Having been used to taking commands from Dan for so many years, Martin found this new team dynamic strange, and it took some time for him to adapt to Sigma's less communicative style of operating. Even so, he was glad to have someone to give him orders once more, and dedicated most of his free hours to processing the deaths of his team. Though Martin would bear the scars - physical and mental - of the Fall of Reach for the rest of his life, he quickly forced himself past any grief and dedicated himself to keeping his remaining allies alive at all costs.
===Loss of Hope===
Main Article: Loss of Hope
With the Bright New Day's slipspace drive starting to experience malfunctions that made long-distance jumps unwise and supplies starting to run low, the Spartans took the ship towards the Epitadeus system and the nearest major colony: Hope. With minimal supplies on board, Sigma Team's hopes of linking up with friendly forces to re-arm and resupply were dashed when they found the planet already besieged by Covenant forces. Unwilling to leave the planet and its populace to die, the team took the Bright New Day in to assist, manning the frigate's controls as best they could as they attempted to assist local UNSC forces. As they approached Hope, the Day was detected by a Covenant light cruiser, which moved to intercept the newly-arrived warship. Acting quickly, the Spartans, ODST's and remaining crew were able to bring the frigate's weapons online and blew the cruiser apart with a single MAC round, though not before it had loosed several plasma torpedoes, two of which struck the warship's hull and badly damaged its already-ailing slipspace drive. With few options, Kane-098 ordered the crew to take the ship to the planet's surface, where they would seek out materials for repairs and any local troops.
After touching down in the rainforest surrounding the port city of Port Neandra, Martin and the rest of the Spartans disembarked, leaving command of the ship to Sergeant Major Richard Mack. Sigma Team traversed the forest in a pair of Warthogs, and arrived to find the city silent, and almost completely devoid of life. As they made their way towards the nearest spaceport - the best location for a replacement slipspace drive - the Spartans discovered that Port Neandra had been struck by an immense EMP blast, which had fried almost every piece of electronic equipment in the city. Though this dramatically lessened their chances of finding an intact drive, the group had little time to discuss it as they soon caught sight of a sizeable Covenant patrol heading their way. The Spartans quickly hid and sprung a successful ambush on the Jiralhanae-led group, with Martin leaping from a rooftop into an overhead Phantom and slaughtering the crew before it could retreat and call for reinforcements. Seizing control of the dropship, Martin rammed it into a second Phantom, bringing both craft crashing into the street atop an incoming Wraith tank, setting an entire street ablaze. Emerging from the wreckage unscathed, Martin felt satisfied to be on the offensive against the Covenant once again, and found this type of revenge to be particularly cathartic. 
Despite some misgivings about their chances, Sigma Team's luck changed as they neared one of the city's shipyards. Using the information gleaned from a half-fried datachip containing a detailed map of Port Neandra's infrastructure, the Spartans entered an underground facility not far from the main spaceport and were surprised to discover not one, but three fully-intact Charon-class frigates that the planet's defenders had not been able to launch when the Covenant attack began. Searching the massive underground hangar, they found that all three had been brought in for drive maintenance, and that one drive had been taken from its warship and left alone in a maintenance bay. Signalling Whiskey-04 for a Pelican extraction, Sigma were then attacked by a pack of jump pack-equipped Jiralhanae, who had begun to plant charges on the frigates across the hangar. A lengthy firefight ensued, though Sigma soon gained the upper hand and opened the hangar's roof hatch. Martin fired a flare to signal Whiskey, though with Covenant reinforcements racing towards their position they would have little time to escape.
When the ODST's arrived, Martin assisted them in safely securing the intact slipspace drive to their Pelican, and helped to cover the rest of Sigma as they retreated into the dropship. As they fled, news arrived from Sergeant Major Mack of major seismic activity across the surface of Hope, indicating earthquakes of tremendous magnitude. Pursued across the skies by a swarm of Banshees and several Spirit dropships, Martin and his comrades did all they could to take down the enemy fliers, knocking craft out of the sky with missiles and machine gun fire. By the time they reached the Day the frigate had already taken off, unable to remain on the unstable ground, but the Pelican was able to land safely in its hangar bay with the slipspace drive intact. With the Covenant momentarily driven away and Hope's surface starting to crumble, the frigate left the planet and retreated to a safe distance, leaving its remaining technicians to properly install the new slipspace drive while repairs were made to the outer hull. Shortly afterwards, the entire planet imploded, leaving a massive slipspace rift where Hope once stood.
===Battle of the Zenith Complex===
Main Article: Battle of the Zenith Complex
Before a decision could be made on what to do, another human ship suddenly emerged from slipspace close to the Bright New Day. Manning one of the bridge's communications terminal, Martin soon identified it as the UNSC Heavens Asunder, a heavily-modified ONI prowler. Left to help guard the Day while the SPARTAN-II's went to investigate the prowler, Martin and the others were soon contacted with news that the rest of Sigma had made contact with Commmander Elena-071, a former comrade, and were going into the slipspace rift themselves. Though concerned for the wellbeing of the older Spartans, Martin and the others complied, and remained aboard the frigate as the prowler vanished into the rift. After waiting for several hours, making minor repairs and assisting the crew, Martin and the others received a weak transmission from Marco-035, requesting their assistance on a planet housed within an alien dyson sphere. After receiving coordinates from Marco, the frigate's crew were able to plot a slipspace jump point, and fired up the new FTL drive for the first time. The Bright New Day travelled safely through the rift - Martin had half-expected it to be torn in half after the drive's hasty installation - and arrived above the world indicated by Marco.
Leaving the ODST's in charge of the Day once more, Martin, Alex and Louie quickly boarded a Pelican and made the journey down to the surface, arriving just in time to assist the SPARTAN-II's, who were slowly being encircled by a large Covenant force. Linking up with Marco, the SPARTAN-III's soon ambushed an enemy patrol and stole several Ghost transports, which allowed them to wreak havoc against Covenant infantry with rapid hit-and-run attacks while Marco went ahead on foot. The battle grew more intense as the Covenant bombarded their position with plasma mortars, unseating Martin and Louie, though the Spartans pressed on, eager to save their older brethren. The trio arrived just in time to save Marco from certain death at the hands of a pair of Hunters; Alex bisecting the first with his Ghost while Martin took down the other with several well-placed rounds from his SR99. With the enemy stalled, Sigma Team reunited, and Elena introduced herself to Martin and the others and revealed the purpose of her mission: to bring back data from the dyson sphere - known as the 'Zenith Complex' - and return it to ONI. Having truly incensed the Covenant, the Spartans signalled the Bright New Day and dug in for a protracted battle.
Acting as Sigma's secondary marksman after Kane, Martin retreated to high ground and marked incoming enemy troops for the rest of Sigma, who had lain HORNET mines and C12 charges around the hillside by the alien complex Elena had brought them to. What ensued was a furious battle as the Covenant threw themselves at the Spartans with reckless abandon, slowly depleting their ammunition reserves and probing their defences for weaknesses. While it seemed as though their defence was a doomed one, the timely intervention of a number of cut a bloody path through the Covenant's attack force, throwing them into disarray and giving Sigma time to retreat. Falling back towards their dropships, Martin was surprised when Marco followed Elena instead of the rest of Sigma, willingly throwing himself in harms way to protect her as they fled. Both Pelicans took off safely, and returned to their respective ships. 
After retreating back through the slipspace rift, the Heavens Asunder docked with the Bright New Day, though Elena immediately forced Marco into the frigate's airlock and fled the system, startling the other Spartans. Unwilling to trust Elena and fearing some kind of treachery, Martin advocated pursuing her, though Marco made it clear that he felt no animosity towards his comrade and explained that ONI was expecting her to return alone. With their business concluded, the Spartan-led crew of the Bright New Day left the Epitadeus system, seeking the nearest Navy rendezvous point to complete their repairs before finally heading to Earth.
===Battle of Second Sanctum===
Main Article: Battle of Second Sanctum
Shortly after their battle within the Zenith Complex, the Bright New Day exited slipspace close to one of the Navy's many backup rendezvous points. There they discovered a small battle group of battered warships, all survivors of the Fall of Reach. Eager to reconnect with the military chain of command, the Spartans made contact with the allied ships and received a response from Captain Jeanette Nisha of the UNSC Theseus, a prowler. Though surprised to find an ONI officer leading the tiny battle group, they agreed to meet with her aboard her vessel and Martin was chosen to accompany Kane-098 and Louie-A199. After travelling to the prowler, Martin and the others were briefed by Nisha about a supposed mission from HIGHCOM itself - one to strike against the Covenant on their home turf following the disastrous Fall of Reach. 
While Martin had no issue with striking back against the Covenant to take revenge for his fallen comrades, some of the other Spartans were uneasy about the operation. While none dared to directly question Nisha, who outranked them, their meagre numbers and lack of support or firepower meant that things could go wrong very quickly if the mission did not go to plan. Their target - a Covenant fortress known as 'Second Sanctum - was located on a remote world known only to ONI's spies, and while Nisha's forces had procured an enemy for the operation and several prisoners the odds of success remained low. Even so, Martin and Sigma Team geared up and chose three of their number to join the infiltration team aboard the Lich. Martin and the rest of the team remained aboard the Bright New Day as it joined the other warships of the newly-dubbed 'Battle Group Cossack' in their surprise assault on the Covenant-held moon. Thanks to the success of their infiltration team, their Battle Group managed to punch through Second Sanctum's orbital defences, deploying the rest of Sigma Team and their ground forces to assault the fortress. 
With the enemy taken off-guard as Second Sanctum's defenders scrambled to defend themselves from attacks outside and within, Martin was able to lead a squad of Marines through a gap in the fortress's defences, slaughtering all in their path. Martin ensured that his group kept up their momentum, taking advantage of the havoc being caused by his squadmates to push deeper into Second Sanctum itself. Linking up with Alex, the two Spartans slowly fought their way towards the enemy command centre, intent on disabling what was left of the base's defences to give their air support time to land and rescue a number of human civilian prisoners they had stumbled upon within the fortress. As they neared their goal, the Spartans found themselves harried by a cadre of Sangheili warriors, who used hit-and-run tactics to pick off the Marines accompanying them and forcing Alex and Martin to split up. 
Intent on drawing his foes away, Martin soon found himself engaged in a battle against Field Master Yorru 'Talanee, the fortress commander, and his heavily-armed bodyguards. Martin fought hard against 'Talanee and his men, attempting to draw the proud Sangheili into close-quarters combat as their range and firepower put the Spartan at a severe disadvantage. Martin killed several of the warriors, though was wounded and may have been overwhelmed were it not for Alex's timely intervention. Alex quickly dispatched the remaining bodyguards, giving Martin a chance to close the distance and engage the enraged Field Master in combat. Though 'Talanee fought fiercely, giving Martin one of the hardest fights of his life and even beating Alex back, Martin was able to disarm his opponent, breaking the Field Master's hand before turning his own plasma rifle on him. Martin promptly executed 'Talanee, leaving Second Sanctum's remaining defenders without a clear leader.
Upon securing the base's command centre, Martin and Alex did everything they could to deactivate Second Sanctum's automated defences before blowing the room up with a C-12 explosive pack. While it looked as though the rag-tag attack force had secured a crushing victory against the Covenant, having all but seized the fortress from their foe with limited losses, this would not last. Martin and the other Spartans were contacted by Captain Nisha, who informed them that a small but powerful Covenant fleet had entered the system and was en-route to the fortress moon. Most of Battle Group Cossack was destroyed in a brief exchange in orbit, leaving only the Theseus, Bright New Day and a couple of other ships remaining as they fled the enemy warships. Now trapped on the surface with almost no air support, Martin and the Spartans rallied their surviving allies and prepared for battle as thousands of Covenant troops descended towards Second Sanctum. 
Now faced with the task of defending Second Sanctum, Martin did all he could to gather weapons and supplies as their troops manned the walls, expending most of the ammunition against a seemingly endless horde of hostile infantry. Eventually the sheer number of enemies, now backed by artillery and air support, broke through the UNSC's sparse defences, pushing Martin's troops back through Second Sanctum as a full retreat began. The battle soon spilled out onto the beaches outside the fortress, where the Spartans took down scores of enemies while awaiting the Bright New Day as it came in to extract them. The survivors may have been overwhelmed were it not for the last-minute intervention of some of Battle Group Cossack's last remaining Longswords, whose bombing run eliminated a Scarab and blew the enemy attack line to pieces. Having taken horrendous casualties in the enemy counterattack, the survivors made use of their stolen Lich to cause as much damage as possible, wiping out scores of enemy troops before they were forced to crash-land. This vital distraction gave the Day time to divert several dropships to rescue Sigma Team and their few living allies, bringing them back to the frigate before it escaped into orbit.
Having barely escaped Second Sanctum with his life, Martin was present for a brief bit vital discussion between Kane and Nisha, where the ONI officer revealed that the operation had been an unsanctioned one, meant to take revenge against the Covenant after the UNSC's humiliating defeat on Reach. Martin felt conflicted upon hearing this, as while their attack force had almost been wiped out they had saved a number of innocents in the process. To cover the Bright New Day's escape, Nisha had her Prowler launch a nuclear strike against Second Sanctum from orbit, drawing the Covenant's attention away from its retreating allies as it wiped the fortress off the moon's surface. Only the Day, and a destroyer, Illustrious, survived the battle, and fled into slipspace to another rendezvous point. There they quickly offloaded most of the surviving soldiers and civilians to the Illustrious and agreed to split up, heading back towards Earth separately to avoid any Covenant pursuers. Having fought nearly non-stop since Reach, Martin found himself physically and emotionally exhausted following the fight for Second Sanctum, and was grateful to have some time to recuperate as their badly-damaged ship began its long journey towards Earth.
===Battle of Earth===
The Bright New Day arrived back in the Sol system on November 1st. Sigma Team son discovered that Earth had come by Covenant forces weeks earlier, and that a protracted siege had begun for humanity's homeworld. With their frigate severely undermanned, damaged, and low on ammunition, the decision was made to abandon ship at the first opportunity. Nearing Earth, the Day found its path blocked by a in orbit, which it would be unable to destroy with its remaining MAC rounds. Kane ordered the remaining crew and technicians to what few shuttlecraft they possessed, while the Spartans and Whiskey-04 would use the frigate's drop pods to head towards the surface. The Day was then put on a collision course with the enemy battlecruiser as it turned to intercept them. Martin and his comrades made it to the drop bay with minutes to spare, and were able to launch successfully just before the Bright New Day met its end, taking the Covenant vessel with it. 
Using the battlecruiser's destruction to mask their approach, the Spartans and ODST's fell towards Earth. Their shared trajectory put them over western , prompting Kane to direct the team towards Moscow, the region's capital city. Sigma and Whiskey arrived in the midst of a massive Covenant assault, and were scattered throughout the city's outskirts as their drop pods finally landed. Martin was first to reach the team's designated rendezvous site, where he met with Kane and several of Whiskey's troopers and waited for the rest of their team to arrive. A brief discussion ensued, and while some were in favour of contacting HIGHCOM and requesting an airlift, defending the city became a priority is civilians were still evacuating and local Marine and Army forces were being pressed hard by Covenant forces.
After linking up with local police and military forces, the Spartans swiftly took charge and devised a plan to delay the Covenant's advance. Taking advantage of the limited manoeuvrability in some of the city's streets, Martin would assist in setting up C-12 explosives to destroy enemy tanks and bury infantry under rubble, all while funnelling enemy forces into a killzone where their numbers mattered less. Thousands of alien troops soon swarmed through the city streets, only to be forced to fight for every inch of ground as they were beset by traps, snipers and Spartan-led counterattacks. This gave time for UNSC forces to complete their evacuation efforts and send reinforcements, while Martin alternated between manning a sniper's post and helping to keep their supply line clear, even driving fresh troops towards the frontlines when banshee fighters began to bomb the roads.
Though Martin and his fellows put up a spirited defence, the Spartans alone could not turn back the Covenant's overwhelming numbers. Little by little the defenders were forced to secede ground, with Whiskey-04 gradually being reduced to a single survivor. With no way of victory, the survivors began to retreat from the city, covered by friendly airstrikes that levelled entire blocks and gave them enough time to board rescue dropships. As the Spartans were airlifted out of the city, a nuclear strike was launched against an enemy corvette that was advancing on their location, destroying the vessel and badly damaging Moscow. Sigma Team was then transported to PILLAR base, an ONI installation built at the foot of Mount Everest. There, the Spartans were finally able to swap out their rapidly deteriorating and now-obsolete MJOLNIR suits, and following several days of recuperation were presented with new suits of armour. With the Covenant launching assaults across the globe and the UNSC's remaining forces hard-pressed, Sigma Team was split up to launch immediate counteroffensives to draw enemy attention while HIGHCOM mustered troops for a counterattack. 
Dispatched alongside Louie and Alex, Martin's next mission would take him to South America, where a lone CCS-class battlecruiser was bombarding a spaceport filled with civilians and several military-run colony vessels trying to escape Earth. Making use of a stolen Phantom and enemy access codes taken from Covenant prisoners by ONI, the three Spartans were able to covertly approach the warship after it shot down the main evacuation craft, enter one of its hangar bays, and leave a timed HAVOK tac-nuke there before departing. Following this shockingly easy display of infiltration tactics, Martin's team flew towards the downed colony ship, leaving the battlecruiser to be torn apart from the inside as the nuclear blast contained within the ship's energy shields turned the formidable vessel into an enormous fragmentation grenade. The Spartans began picking up survivors, and discovered that the evacuation operation was part of an ONI contingency plan to ship important civilians and military personnel offworld in case of a Covenant victory. Leading up this operation was none other than Frederick King, the man who had recruited Martin for the SPARTAN-III program decades prior. Though surprised, Martin gave no indication that he recognised King, and after signalling for reinforcements escorted him and his command staff to the nearest HIGHCOM facility.
Martin's involvement in the final weeks of the Battle of Earth was fairly minor, consisting mostly of guerrilla warfare in remote parts of the globe against occupying Covenant forces. After the Covenant's leadership opened a in Kenya and fled through it with most of their remaining troops, Martin would assist in fending off a massive attack on PILLAR Base, where the rest of Sigma Team had been assigned to protect some of the UNSC's top brass. Several tense weeks followed as the Spartans waited for further news, until ships from an alliance between the UNSC and a returned through the portal with news that the Covenant had at long last been defeated. Martin was overjoyed by the news, and though he wished he had been present for the final battle against the Covenant was just glad to have survived alongside his comrades. Sigma Team remained in PILLAR base in the weeks that followed, occasionally heading out on cleanup operations while the Unified Earth Government and United Nations Space Command began to pick up the pieces after decades of conflict.
===Post-War===
Sigma Team would remain on Earth for several months as the Human-Covenant War came to an end. Having spent the majority of his life with no other goal than fighting the Covenant, Martin would wonder about his life's purpose if an era of peace were to arrive. While the thought of life outside the military briefly crossed his mind, he would dismiss such thoughts quickly, content to remain in service alongside his Spartan brothers and sisters. By August, the decision was made to transfer Martin and his SPARTAN-III comrades into the recently-formed , where they would act as senior advisers and trainers to the SPARTAN-IV Program. Though he regretted leaving Sigma Team, who would remain with the UNSC Navy, Martin welcomed this new challenge and would work for months aboard , keeping a close eye on the first wave of Spartan recruits. 
Martin proved to be the most adept of his team when it came to training new recruits, and before long Alex was transferred to lead a remote contact team and Louie to weapons development, leaving him alone for a time. As a lead trainer, Martin would spend his time liaising with his old friend , who acted as Spartan Operations' Chief of Staff, and Violet-B039, who was helping to reform the unit after its near-destruction in the war's final year. In addition to the retraining that all new Spartan augmentees went under aboard the station, Martin would lead a number of training exercises on Earth and other worlds, putting his Spartan training and mindset to use against the more conventionally-trained Spartans. While he excelled in his role for well over a year, Martin began to feel sidelined due to an increase in administrative duties, and found himself yearning for a return to the field. With enough SPARTAN-IV's now fully trained and active in the field and a wider array of trainers available, Martin's position as an instructor was viewed as less critical, and he would eventually find his wish granted.
===Shrike Team===
In September of 2554, Martin was suddenly given a set of transfer orders, and travelled to to Helios Station over Mars. There he was met by Commander Elena-071, whom he had not seen since their mission to the Zenith Complex years prior. Despite the great successes achieved by the SPARTAN-IV program, who now stood as the public face of the UNSC's efforts to rebuild and fend off threats in a hostile galaxy, the Office of Naval Intelligence found itself in dire need of operatives who could act against the resurgence in Insurrectionist activity throughout the rebuilding colonies. As a SPARTAN-III whose very existence remained a state secret, Martin had been chosen by Elena to lead up a commando unit that could lead off-the-books missions against the insurrection. While he had some reservations about actually leading a team, Martin did not complain, and was introduced by Elena to eight other SPARTAN-III's who would make up his new unit: Shrike Team.
After meeting his new teammates, who were graduates of Beta and Gamma companies, Martin and the rest of Shrike were briefed by Captain Ryan Samson, a naval officer working within the Office of Naval Intelligence as their overall commanding officer. While he always had reservations about ONI's distinctly untrustworthy officer class, Martin took a liking to Samson, who informed the team of their purpose and made it clear to the younger Spartans that Martin was in charge. Martin spent little time getting to know his teammates, preferring to see how they operated in the field, and before concluding the meeting was introduced to Armand, a Smart AI who would act as support for Shrike Team in the field. Having never worked with an AI before and feeling slightly out of his depth, Martin chose to simply see how things worked as his team was immediately packed off and dispatched to the rebuilding colony world of , where several insurrectionist cells had been identified by ONI agents.
Shortly after arriving on Circumstance, Shrike Team travelled to the , where a black market arms dealer named Johan Hennerman had been found dealing large quantities of military equipment to groups associated with the United Rebel Front. Having been given a surprising amount of leeway by Samson and Elena for his operation, Martin had Shrike appropriate a pair of UH-144 Falcons from a military base before moving to intercept a convoy of trucks filled with stolen goods, led by Hennerman himself. The operation hit a severe snag, however, when after swooping in on Hennerman's car Martin found it empty, save for an explosive device left inside the driverless vehicle. It detonated seconds after Martin opened the vehicle, blowing one of the team's Falcons out of the sky. To his relief none of Shrike Team were seriously injured, but a pitched gunfight soon ensued as mercenaries hired by Hennerman opened fire on the Spartans. Though heavily-armed, they were no match for Martin and his team and were swiftly killed or apprehended, leaving tens of thousands' worth of credits in gear. Hennerman was cornered by Alric-G040 as he attempted to flee in a different vehicle, and was taken into custody. Despite their success, Martin was deeply unsatisfied with the sloppiness of Shrike's first operation, and pulled his team out to let the local authorities clean up behind them. 
Martin did not have time to interrogate the badly injured Hennerman, who immediately began to give names and places to the Spartans before he even saw the inside of a cell. This information was passed to Armand for further analysis, and the AI quickly gave him an important name: Rizhan Kama, a young and obscenely wealthy socialite who had been using his family's money to help funnel illicit cargo to and from Circumstance via Hennerman. With no time to lose, Shrike Team flew out that evening to extract Kama, who was throwing a lavish party in his penthouse. Wary of civilian casualties, Martin had his Spartans equipped almost exclusively with non-lethal weapons as they gatecrashed the party from above, using tear gas to disperse the crowds while Martin personally apprehended the terrified Kama. Before the Spartans could depart, an unregistered Pelican dropship arrived on the scene, deploying several squads of mercenaries who fired indiscriminately on the crowd. Switching to live rounds, Martin and his fellows made short work of these attackers before bringing down their dropship. More mercenaries had attempted to attack the building from street level, but had been taken down by the rest of Shrike. Mystified at the sudden appearance of these attackers, Martin and his fellows attempted to interrogate a survivor, though he committed suicide with a poison capsule. Martin was only able to get one coherent word out of the man: Magnus.
After filing a report on their mysterious attackers, Martin and Shrike Team spent the next few days working alongside local law enforcement to systematically dismantle every insurrectionist safehouse left on Circumstance, bringing down smugglers, drug peddlers and extremist cells in the process. Shrike Team's efficiency pleased Martin, but their brutality worried him, especially now that they were fighting human opponents instead of the Covenant. Soon Kuiper had effectively been all but cleansed of rebel activity, with only a small cell able to escape Shrike's wrath aboard a freighter and flee the planet. Samson and Elena were fairly pleased with Shrike's progress in such a short amount of time, and began lining up an array of covert operations for Shrike Team to embark on. Initially unsure about his teammates, Martin took the time to get to know the Spartans under his command following their operation on Circumstance, forming bonds with them over their shared upbringing and training on Onyx as he resolved to improve Shrike's camaraderie and group cohesiveness until they were on the level of Sigma or Upsilon Team's.
In December of 2554, Shrike were deployed on their first mission against a Covenant remnant group after weeks of hunting down human rebels. Having identified a refinery run by a group of Jiralhanae arming fanatics against both the UNSC and , ONI chose to dispatch Shrike to gather intel and destroy the facility at all costs. Having built Shrike up since their formation, Martin was confident in their chances of success and the team was discreetly deployed via a stealth craft to the surface of a moon where the refinery was hidden. Having landed without issue, Martin directed Grantley-B130 and several others to eliminate a cluster of anti-aircraft cannons around the refinery's perimeter while his team entered the facility. By sheer luck, Shrike had chosen to attack while most of the Jiralhanae within were feasting and security had been lowered, giving the Spartans ample time to enter the refinery and break off into smaller teams. Working with Julian-G209 and May-G210, Martin swiftly and brutally eliminated several enemy patrols, guided through the base by Armand. They soon set up their explosives, though news of enemy reinforcements coming in to land would complicate their exit strategy. 
Working against the clock, Martin's group quickly finished up with their part of the mission and were en-route to the entrance when Cesare-G177 and Amos-G028 reported that they were under heavy fire. Despite his best efforts to reach the pair, Cesare was badly wounded and sacrificed himself in a fiery explosion to save his friend's life, badly damaging the facility. Shrike Team intensified their attack, massacring the Jiralhanae reinforcements returning to the refinery as they dragged an unconscious Amos back to their exfiltration craft. The sudden death of Cesare, who had been a sociable and well-liked teammate, sent a ripple of shock through the team and caused Martin a great deal of guilt, though he was fully aware that the young Spartan had simply been caught off-guard and that he could not always account for everything on a mission. 
Martin's team spent some time recuperating before returning to active duty, and for the next few months spent its time participating in operations solely within the Inner Colonies. On March of 2555, Shrike Team were participating in a counterinsurgency operation on the colony world of to eliminate a large gathering of known rebels when they found that another party had beaten them to the punch. Upon investigating the building where the gathering was to take place, Martin and his comrades were confronted by a group of commandos in who identified them as special forces personnel working for the UNSC Army. After confirming their identity, Martin had his team withdraw, confused as to why they had not been informed of friendly forces in the area. 
Two weeks later, Martin accompanied Captain Samson to a military facility on Luna, where they met with General Cole Warrick of the UNSC Army. As it turned out, the commandos Shrike Team had encountered were part of Project HAYABUSA, a powered armour project whose experimental suits had been given to an Army unit of the same name. Warrick disregarded Samson's misgivings about HAYABUSA's unorthodox methods and approach, which had nearly brought them into conflict with Shrike, and argued with John Verensky, the group's scientific lead, on their usefulness compared to Spartans. To Martin's surprise, Verensky hinted that he knew about the highly illegal recruitment and training methods for the SPARTAN-III program and treated Martin with disdain. Shrike Team were warned about HAYABUSA after this meeting, and in the following months found themselves in the field alongside HAYABUSA operatives on several occasions as they took down Covenant groups and neutralised terrorist threats. Martin reported during this time that the HAYABUSA operatives consistently used excessive force in the field and were routinely unprofessional despite being talented killers, though he was unaware if anything came of these reports. 
In September of 2555, Martin's team found themselves assigned to the unusual task of guard duty in New York on Earth during a diplomatic summit involving some of the UEG's highest-ranking officials and the Swords of Sanghelios, represented by none other than Arbiter and Fleet Master Felo 'Ranak, one of his top supporters. Finding himself joined by the HAYABUSA unit once again, who had recently suffered heavy casualties, Martin felt uneasy about the talks and had Shrike Team on high alert as the summit began. As watched over the proceedings, explosions rocked the building and smoke grenades were thrown into the main hall, causing panic and confusion as a group of well-armed terrorists fought their way into the building. Prioritising the human delegates, Martin leapt into action, only to witness the HAYABUSA operatives opening fire on the men and women they were supposed to protect. Realising that they had been betrayed, Martin killed several attackers as 'Vadam and 'Ranak fought off a pair of Sangheili assassins, then raced off to support the rest of Shrike Team in fending off the attack. 
Upon discovering that a Pelican had opened fire on the building, Martin made it his priority target. After climbing to the roof he leapt onto the rebel dropship and attempted to smash through the pilot's canopy, forcing the pilot to fly upwards in an attempt to throw him off. Unwilling to let his prey escape, Martin managed to disable the dropship's thrusters with a grenade, downing the Pelican in a fiery blast that threw Martin of and towards the streets below. Saved only by his MJOLNIR armour after sustaining serious injuries, Martin landed close to the Pelican's crash site, and after making his way there was confronted by a rebel pilot. Unwilling to surrender, the pilot attacked the unarmed Martin with a knife, only to be swiftly disarmed and killed. Having misjudged the seriousness of his wounds, Martin found himself losing consciousness, and had enough time to call for medical evacuation before passing out. 
Following the terrorist attack on Earth, Martin was transported to a medical facility on Luna to recuperate. Shrike Team had been mostly successful in their goal of thwarting the terrorist attack, with both Sangheili leaders surviving without injury and most UEG delegates making it through, though several had perished in the attack's opening moments. Most of the treacherous HAYABUSA operatives had been killed by Shrike too, putting an end to the unit. After he was well enough to walk, Martin attended a briefing session where he was informed that the attack on New York had been a diversion for the terrorists' true goal: the theft of a from beneath PILLAR Base in Nepal.
Their primary target was John Verensky, an ONI scientist who had been secretly coordinating several insurrectionist cells to do his bidding for months, culminating in the theft of one of the most destructive weapons ever made. Having used his rank and status within ONI, he had all but handed over the NOVA to a group of rebels aboard the Dynasty, a stolen freighter, before leaving Earth alongside them. Though Verensky's supporters had fled, stopping the Home Fleet in its tracks by threatening to detonate the device and destroy Earth itself, the UNSC had gone on high alert to capture or kill Verensky and secure the NOVA at all costs. Shrike Team was put at the head of this counterattack, and given orders to hunt down the perpetrators with extreme prejudice.
Eager to return to the field and with time running out, Martin lead Shrike Team into the fray immediately. While utterly focused on the mission ahead, he had begun to notice a marked change in some of his subordinates, most notably Amos-G028, who suffered immense survivor's guilt after Cesare's death and whose operational effectiveness was beginning to suffer, and May-G210, who had become increasingly informal towards him and whose actions began to suggest an odd co-dependency towards Martin as a team leader. Unable to attend to his teammates due to the seriousness of their mission, Martin chose to put off addressing these issues as sightings of Verensky brought Shrike to several different planets. In November, Shrike were sent to Circumstance, where a credible source had informed them with less than half an hour's notice that the terrorist intended to bomb a stadium in the midst of a crowded Gravball game. Arriving to find all communications cut off and Verensky's men having infiltrated the stadium, Shrike scrambled to evacuate the civilians and find the bomb, though their own sensors picked up no explosive traces whatsoever. Realising too late that the insurrectionists intended to launch a biological weapon, Martin and the others were too late to find the real bomb on the pitch, which went off, releasing a massive cloud of toxic gas that filled most of the stadium in seconds, killing thousands. Protected by their suits, Martin could do nothing but attempt to find the bomb as the gas began to dissipate, and found Amos-G028 by it, having been only a few seconds too slow. Before Martin could stop him, Amos removed his helmet and shot himself in the head, ending his own life out of guilt.
Utterly devastated by the death of thousands, including Amos, Martin could do nothing but keep going in his search for John Verensky, who was being tracked down by the entire UNSC for his crimes. Feeling dreadful over his inability to help Amos, he began to have doubts about his ability to lead, but refused to step down from Shrike until their mission was complete. Soon after, news arrived that many rebels associated with the attack on Earth had been seen gathering in the Caucasus Station, a mining base turned independent colony spread across several large asteroids. While the UNSC had left the settlement alone for years, its harbouring of so many insurrectionists warranted a full-scale attack, and as a battle group was assembled Shrike were dispatched once again to search for the missing NOVA bomb.
Shrike Team were deployed just ahead of the main task force, with speed being crucial to infiltrating the settlement and securing the stolen superweapon before Verensky's allies could escape. Utilising several dropships built for stealth and speed, Martin's team bypassed the colony's defences and touched down on separate habitats before spreading out in search of their target. Joined by May, he directed Shrike towards the station's control centre, encountering little resistance until an alarm was finally triggered by the arrival of a UNSC battle group. With the insurrectionists controlling the station now on high alert, Martin was forced to divert course to disable several anti-ship cannons, allowing reinforcements to arrive and seize many of the station's hangars. Martin soon fought his way to the control room, where he found evidence of a bloody massacre with a number of high-profile insurrectionists lying dead, including several who had participated in the NOVA's theft. 
With evidence of a power struggle and no sign of the NOVA, Martin turned his attention towards assisting Graham and Alric, who had found a group of Sangheili terrorists planting an on the station. Though he moved as quickly as he could, Martin arrived to find Graham injured and most of the Sangheili dead. Their leader had escaped through an airlock and was pursued through space by Alric, who after a struggle with his opponent was forced to detonate a pair of grenades to stop him from setting off the charge, killing them both. Helpless as he watched the detonation from afar, Martin endured the death of yet another teammate as their primary target has escaped once more. Thankfully, Armand had been able to track several ships departing through slipspace and logs of a location believed to be Verensky's base of operations: New Albion. With no remains to recover, Shrike Team left the UNSC to clean up on the asteroid settlement and set off immediately to continue their pursuit.
===Reassignment===
===Created Conflict===
==Skills and Abilities==
As a member of one of the best-performing teams in Alpha Company, Martin exhibited a great level of skill in combat from a young age. He quickly adapted to his SPARTAN-III training after recruitment and emerged as one of the company's more promising candidates, though he was not assigned to a team leader's role. Martin regularly worked as this team's designated marksman over the years and was an excellent shot; his skills were even praised by the extraordinarily talented marksman Kane-098 while serving as a member of Sigma Team.
While he preferred to engage targets at long range, Martin was a capable hand-to-hand fighter whose speed and augmented strength made him extremely deadly at close range. While he rarely got the chance to use one, Martin was a surprisingly adept at using the Sangheili and could hold his own against seasoned duellists like Sur 'Ranak. As one of the very few survivors of Alpha Company, Martin also possessed a great deal of combat experience. This would greatly assist him in becoming a competent leader in later years as he was finally assigned his own team. While not as charismatic as others, he was a good field commander and genuinely cared for those he led in the field, earning the respect of his subordinates.
==Personality==
==List of Appearances==
*Flight (2552)
*Losing Hope (2552)
*Gaining Faith (2552)
*Halo: Shrike (2554-2555)
*Vigil (2531-2557)
*Halo: SIGMA (2558)
Category:Sigmaverse Characters
Category:Sigmaverse
Category:Sigmaverse Spartans
Category:Sigmaverse HCW
Category:Sigmaverse PW