Marmon Crowther

Marmon Crowther
Biographical information
Born:	c. 2476
Died:	April 15, 2526
Personal details
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Black
Eye color:	Blue-gray
Political and military information
Affiliation:	UNSC Marine Corps
Rank:	Colonel
Notable info:	Commander of the 21st Space Assault Battalion

Colonel Marmon Crowther, callsign Dagger Actual, was the commander of the United Nations Space Command Marine Corps' elite 21st Space Assault Battalion, nicknamed the Black Daggers. He commanded the Black Daggers throughout the UNSC's daring Operation: SILENT STORM early in the Human-Covenant War.

Biography

Insurrection

Main article: Insurrection

Marmon Crowther was born circa 2476, eventually enlisting in the UNSC Marine Corps. He rose to the rank of colonel during the Insurrection, becoming an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper and taking command of the 21st Space Assault Battalion, a special operations battalion with advanced zero-gravity combat training. His ODSTs came to be known as the "Black Daggers" and were greatly respected by other UNSC personnel. At some point prior to March 2526, the Black Daggers raided a United Rebel Front-controlled supply depot at Bomogin, capturing it before the rebels even knew they were there.

Operation: SILENT STORM

Main article: Operation: SILENT STORM

When Vice Admirals Preston Cole and Michael Stanforth, along with Dr. Catherine Halsey, formulated Operation: SILENT STORM—their plan to slow the Covenant's advance through the Outer Colonies, they chose Crowther's Black Daggers to assist in this mission. Along with the SPARTAN-IIs, these ODSTs would board Covenant vessels and destroy them from the inside using nuclear weapons, a strategy that had already been successfully executed on two separate occasions by the Spartans. On March 8, 2526, Crowther was summoned by Preston Cole aboard the UNSC Vanishing Point, along with John-117, Captain Halima Ascot, Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson, and Dr. Halsey, to discuss the plan. It was theorized that the Covenant's next target would be Biko due to its proximity to Etalan, which was already being glassed by one of their fleets. An ice quarry on Biko's moon of Seoba was chosen to be their staging ground as they waited for the Covenant to arrive.

With the briefing over, Task Force Yama left for the Kolaqoa system. As the Vanishing Point travelled through slipspace, the Spartans trained with the Black Daggers in the vessel's mission preparation hold. The Spartans made short work of the marines in every exercise until Staff Sergeant Johnson taught they some new, unorthodox strategies that were much more effective. After four days of this training, Colonel Crowther had them all gather in the drop hangar to discuss the specifics of the plan. Despite their performance, Crowther was skeptical about deploying the Spartans to the front lines due to their inexperience on the battlefield as well as their apparent young age, much to John-117's frustration.

Battle of Seoba

Main article: Battle of Seoba

Upon arriving in the Kolaqoa system on March 18, Task Force Yama set course for Seoba and the abandoned ice quarry that would house their prowlers until the Covenant arrived. Eager to not waste any time, Colonel Crowther decided that his Black Daggers and John-117's Spartans would practice a full-scale landing into the quarry, dubbed Operation: ICE DANCE. With the drop bays of the task force's Razor-class prowlers packed full with forty-two ODSTs each, it would take time for them all to be deployed into the moon's low gravity, which would have each platoon strewn across a thirty-kilometer area unless they slowed down. Because of the Spartans' seeming lack of experience, Crowther also had each of them at the back of the drop bays, making them the last to deploy and in the worst position to provide support, according to John's assessment.

While on approach, Task Force Yama intercepted communications from the Biko Independence Army, revealing that they were in the process of preparing a coup against Biko's chancellor and that these insurrectionists were occupying the very same quarry that the UNSC force had selected. With the Vanishing Point doing its best to jam any transmissions from the moon, Crowther announced to his men that Operation: ICE DANCE was no longer a drill and that their insertion would likely be hot. He also ordered them to eliminate any communications equipment that they came across while on the ground, in the event that the insurgents had found a way around the jamming. For operational security, all Black Daggers would identify themselves as members of the Chancellor's Guards to any insurrectionist captives.

Once the prowlers reached their designated drop off zones and began letting off their complement, the entrenched insurrectionists tore into the ODSTs with M41 Vulcans. In the chaos, John-117 disobeyed orders and leapt from the UNSC Ghost Song to face the insurgents head-on, with the rest of Blue Team following his lead. They softened up the insurrectionists enough for many of the Black Daggers to deploy safely. Ghost Flight managed to disable the enemy's communications center in their attack run, but the Spartans soon had to focus on preventing them from repairing it to call for reinforcements. As a form of payback for disobeying orders, Lieutenant Nelly Hamm of the Black Daggers' Alpha Company tricked the Spartans into being a distraction so that her men could stop the insurgents from repairing the relay themselves. With the relay permanently disabled and enough ODSTs safely deployed, the ice quarry soon fell under UNSC control. During the battle, Captain Zelos Cuvier, the commanding officer of the Black Dagger's Alpha Company, was killed, resulting in Crowther promoting Lieutenant Hamm to captain and commanding officer of Alpha Company.

The day after the battle, Crowther's men had repurposed the quarry's Assembly Chamber 4L430 for an informal debriefing led by Captain Ascot. A UNSC flag was hung on the chamber's polycrete-coated walls, with portable standing lights and a folding conference table also set up for the debriefing. Along with Captain Ascot and Colonel Crowther, the meeting also included Lieutenant Commander Hector Nyeto of Ghost Flight, now-Captain Nelly Hamm, Avery Johnson, John-117, and Dr. Halsey. Here, they discussed the difficulties with the previous day's battle. After John's maverick action was discussed, the discussion soon turned to the young Spartan's true age. Ultimately, the truth came out that John and his fellow Spartans were all around the age of fifteen, and Crowther refused to send them into battle again as a result. The conversation then turned to why the insurrectionists had seemingly been ready for their arrival, with John realizing and convincing the others that they had instead been waiting for the Covenant, with the intent to meet them for negotiations. While they were planning for the Covenant's inevitable arrival, a flotilla of the alien ships appeared in-system and set course for Seoba. The other UNSC leaders then rushed out of the chamber to ready their forces for the imminent continuation of the battle, as Crowther remained where he was to talk with John. He assigned the Spartans to guard and load the captured insurrectionists into a transport as the Black Daggers mobilized to ambush the Covenant. Despite being relegated to babysitter, John accepted his orders. However, he also requested that Crowther no longer refer to him as "son," to which the colonel agreed.

With the flotilla nearing Seoba, Crowther was busy organizing his men onto the prowlers, with Ascot's own Night Flight receiving the final company of ODSTs. Crowther himself was aboard the Ghost Song with Lieutenant Commander Nyeto. As the UNSC Starry Night launched, it was hit by a blast from the Covenant corvettes, causing it crash into the quarry. Nyeto was frantically reporting over the task force's command channe