Editing Marmon Crowther

{{era|HCW}}

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. As the {{UNSCShip|Starry Night}} launched, it was hit by a blast from the Covenant [[Intrusion corvette|corvettes]], causing it crash into the quarry. Nyeto was frantically reporting over the task force's command channel that the vessel was still intact when Crowther interrupted him, informing the lieutenant commander that he would advise if more information about Ascot's flagship was needed. Nyeto indignantly proclaimed that there could be survivors in need of help, but Crowther cut him off once more, telling him to proceed as planned and to observe [[Protocol Echo]]. This was an instruction to treat communications as non-secure, and the colonel used it to warn to Nyeto that the extent of Covenant eavesdropping technology was unknown. Now that Nyeto was silenced, Crowther attempted to hail the ''Starry Night'', but received no response. Fearing the worst, he began searching for a Black Dagger unit that could be sent to the crash site. However, all of his ODSTs had already launched with prowlers. Those aboard the other three prowlers of Night Flight were eager to assist, but it would require sending them back into an increasingly intense [[plasma]] bombardment. He denied their offers, not wanting to lose any more ships.{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS13|HSS|Chapter=13}}

Because no other units were available, John-117 decided that he and his Spartans would search for the ''Starry Night'' themselves, knowing that Crowther would not assign them to the task.{{Ref/Reuse|HSS13}} Once they made it into the quarry, John accessed the command channel once more and requested a [[Navigation point|waypoint]] leading to the downed prowler. Crowther responded by asking what he thought he was doing. John stated that they were checking on the status of the ''Starry Night'' as they were the only unit that could so at the moment, carefully choosing his words so that Crowther could deflect blame onto the Spartan if need be. This would make it more likely for Crowther to not stand in the way of their self-assigned mission. As such, Crowther acknowledged John's plan, but ordered him to not take action unless immediately warranted. He also informed him of Biko's naval response to the alien bombardment of Seoba and that Nyeto believed that the small Covenant flotilla would either be in full retreat or destroyed within the hour by the approaching overwhelming force. After nearing the provided waypoint, the Spartans discovered that the ''Starry Night'' was largely intact, but sat atop a large avalanche about seven hundred meters up the quarry wall. Also, they spotted an intrusion corvette moving into position over the prowler, seemingly preparing to recover it for study. John opened the command channel again and relayed this information to Crowther, who insisted that they could not let the Covenant take possession of the ''Starry Night''. The vessel's [[navigation computer]] and other onboard data devices could reveal the locations of UNSC outposts, entire force deployments, or worse. Crowther asked Nyeto if there was any way that the prowler's nuclear [[self-destruct]] [[Fury tactical nuclear weapon|system]] could be remotely activated, to which the lieutenant commander responded in the affirmative. However, there were only three positions that had access to that ability. The first two were the flight commander and wing commander, both of which were roles held by Captain Ascot, who was either dead or unable to be reached aboard the ''Starry Night''. The final person with the ability to remotely detonate the prowler was the captain of the ''Vanishing Point'', which was unfortunately holding station two planetary orbits out from Seoba. At that distance, it would take nearly an hour for the request to be sent to the cruiser and for the return signal to arrive. By then, the Covenant might already have retrieved sensitive data from the wrecked prowler. Crowther began to reluctantly order the Spartans to prevent the ''Starry Night''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s capture, but John cut him off, assuring him that they would not fail. The Spartan requested that Task Force Yama assist them by keeping the assaulting corvettes off their backs. Nyeto began to say that their prowlers were not designed for ship-to-ship combat when Crowther interrupted him, promising that they would find a way. Crowther started to tell John to standby for instructions on how to manually activate the prowler's self-destruct, but he reassured the colonel that his Spartans already knew how to activate a [[Nuclear weapon|nuke]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=HSS14|HSS|Chapter=14}}

{{Expand-section}}

Having realized that Lieutenant Commander Nyeto was likely an insurrectionist, Crowther began quietly working with the Spartans on missions against the Covenant while publicly continuing to butt heads with them, claiming at one point that he was going to send them back to Reach while having Staff Sergeant Johnson pass them secret orders. Crowther was later responsible for John's promotion to the rank of [[Master Chief Petty Officer]].