Mark-G313

Petty Officer Third Class Mark is a Spartan-III of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Group. He was assigned to Team Saber of Gamma Company, and later Blue Team.

Background
Nicknamed "The Mark" by his fellow Spartans due to his marksmanship abilities, Petty Officer Third Class Mark is proficient with numerous sniper rifles, including the SRS99C-S2 AM. He is also skilled with an MA5-series Assault Rifle or BR55-series Battle Rifle in a targetful environment.

He was present when the Onyx Sentinels attacked Gamma Company. Mark also fought in the Battle of Onyx, which he survived because Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose ordered him through the Slipspace portal which lead to the Dyson Sphere.

Conscription
Mark was conscripted into the SPARTAN-III program, developed by Colonel James Ackerson around 2546. Conscripts were between the ages of 5 and 7 when he, along with other orphans volunteered to become Spartans and avenge his family, home planet, or just because he wanted to be like the man in green (Kurt in his MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor).

Once on Onyx, he and the other spartan candidates were trained by Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose, SCPO Franklin Mendez. As well as surviving Beta Company members, PO2 Lucy-B091 and PO2 Tom-B292.

Zone 67
Mark was assigned to Team Saber, under the command of Private Ash-G099. When Onyx came under attack by Sentinels, the teams were still vying for top honors. Team Saber went dangerously close to Zone 67 to avoid the other teams. The team spied what they assumed at the time to be a new kind of Covenant drone due to it's energy shields. They decided to investigate and the sentinels engaged. Mark remained with the team as they tried to figure out the weak spots of the drones. He and the rest of the team hurled rocks at the drones and to their surprise, the drone's shields did not activate. The sentinel chased Ash into a hole and Mark and the rest of the team pummeled the drone with huge rocks, destroying it.

A general decision was made and the Team moved to the armory to get heavier armaments. Team Saber met up with LCDR Ambrose, Senior Chief Mendez, as well as PO2 Tom and Lucy; and proceeded to play life and death games of cat and mouse with the sentinels.

Mark and the team later met up with PO2 Kelly-087 and Dr. Catherine Halsey and were subsequently engaged by a pair of sentinels. After the skirmish, Mark and the rest of the Spartans took Dr. Halsey and Kelly to a bombed out bunker where Halsey revealed the origin of the Sentinels and what to do next.

Team Katana
After the team destroyed the two sentinels and the overwatch position at Camp Currahee, they moved back to Zone 67. Once there, they discovered the map room and the location of Team Katana. First, Dr. Halsey proposed that they go to the sentinel factory and make sure no more sentinels were produced. Later, they moved out to discover Team Katana and found them in some sort of Slipspace cryotubes.

At the map room, Dr. Halsey discovers the meaning of the Shield World and also that the Covenant Separatists knew the location of the two teams and was advancing towards their position with four legions of Sangheili, Mgalekgolo, and other soldiers and Armored vehicles.

End of the Battle
Surrounded, Mark and the other Spartans formed a loose half-circle "killzone" around the entrance to the Shield World and picked off targets at close and long range. They managed to defend the entrance to the shield, although, it had come at some serious losses.

PO2 William-043, PO3 Dante-G188, and PO3 Holly-G003 had already been killed by the advancing Covenant Separatist Army. Due to little time left, LCDR Kurt Ambrose ordered Team Saber through the portal before it closed. Soon after, Dr. Halsey and the surviving Spartans entered the portal. Mark awaited Kurt's arrival, but he never came, instead Kurt gave his life by detonating a FENRIS Nuclear Warhead. The blast killed Commander Voro Nar 'Mantakree and all of his forces, as well as any surviving UNSC or Sentinel forces.

Shield World
"Welcome to Blue, Spartans...We're going to make a great team."

- PO2 Kelly-087

Once Mark, Dr. Halsey, and the other Spartans were safely inside the Dyson Sphere, they made gravestones for LCDR Kurt Ambrose-051, P02 William-043, PO3 Dante-G188, and PO3 Holly-G003.

After the ceremony, Mark and the other Spartan-III's were reassigned to Blue Team, a Spartan-II unit, by Lieutenant Frederic-104 and Petty Officer Second Class Kelly-087.

Trivia

 * Mark could be considered the "Linda" of Gamma Company, due to his skill with a Sniper Rifle.

Related Articles

 * United Nations Space Command
 * UNSC Naval Special Warfare Group
 * S-II Blue Team
 * S-III Gamma Company
 * Team Katana
 * Team Saber