Michael Crespo

"Private First Class Michael Crespo - Mickey. Smart enough to be a pilot, but trained to blow stuff up. He's never seen a planet get glassed, I hope he won't see that today."

- Edward Buck

Michael "Mickey" Crespo (service number 51033-15973-MC) is a SPARTAN-IV supersoldier and a former Orbital Drop Shock Trooper in the UNSC Marine Corps. He served in Alpha-Nine, a small squad led by GySgt Edward Buck during the Battle of Earth and in the post-war era.

Early life
Michael Crespo was born in 2530 in Crisium City, Naniwa, Luna and has lived there ever since. Despite this, he has never visited Earth, and has only seen it from a transport craft window. Crespo's parents were Insurrectionists who died wiring a bomb to a government building. He never got to know them well because he was very young at the time. He was placed in foster care, during which he studied subjects such as UNSC history and work productivity.

Military career
Crespo signed up for UNSC service on June 4th, 2548, as mandatory military service was a requirement for freedom from foster care. After the mandatory service, he had the chance to quit the military, but he decided to stay as he considered it home. Both he and The Rookie enlisted in the same year, and were both students before they enlisted. It is possible that they both knew each other before joining the UNSC.

He was a pilot and then Crew Chief on a Pelican dropship for sometime before becoming an ODST with the rank of Private First Class. Before the Battle of Earth, he had undergone EVA training and finished in the top of his class, as well as three HEV drops.

Battle of Mombasa
During the Battle of Earth in October 20, 2552, Crespo was stationed aboard the and was interviewed for ONI by Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck and became part of his squad, Alpha-Nine. They were part of a larger detachment of the 105th Shock Troops Division that was to be dropped from orbit right onto the Prophet of Regret's flagship, Solemn Penance, stationed over the city of New Mombasa. Unknown to Crespo, the squad had been chosen by the ONI operative Veronica Dare to partake on a classified mission, which was not revealed to the squad members until in mid-drop, when Dare ordered the squad to adjust their drop pods' trajectories away from the Covenant carrier. Crespo's drop pod was caught though in the EMP blast from the retreating flagship. It lost power and slammed into the Rookie's pod, cracking the window and causing him and the Rookie's pod to land farther away from his squad.

Later that day, Crespo stumbled upon several retreating Marines. He helped them fight through to their rally point with a Scorpion tank near the entrance of the ONI Alpha Site which led him to rejoin with Taylor H. Miles in aiding with other Marines also. After defending the area, both ODST's met up with a desperate NMPD officer. In response, they defended the ONI Alpha Site complex with him and several other officers and Marines. After the courtyard was overrun they moved inside where NMPD officers were defending the building, and getting ready to blow it up, should the Covenant overwhelm them. Sure enough after a few waves they fell back to the roof on an elevator, there Crespo told the last remaining officer to link the charges to him, saying "If anyone's gonna blow this place, it's gonna be me." Once on the roof they evacuated on a NMPD Pelican, where they finally made contact with Buck who was at the NMPD Headquarters, the pilot agreed to take them to him.

As they flew away from the Alpha Site, the building exploded. Some time after the battle, they were preparing to pick up Kojo Agu and Buck from a landing pad in the NMPD Headquarters building. However, two Banshees appeared and shot the Pelican down. Buck and Agu proceeded to rescue them. They survived the crash, but the pilots didn't, so they had to hold out against an assault by Banshees and Phantoms. Eventually a Brute Chieftain engaged the squad and severely wounded Agu by swinging the bladed side of a Gravity Hammer into his chest. As Buck engaged the brute, stabbing it in the neck, Crespo assisted Buck by tackling the brute, ramming his shoulder into it's chest. After killing the Chieftain, the squad later went to Kikowani Station, Crespo was the first to notice that they couldn't take the train out of the city since the tunnels were flooded. Buck then had Crespo help him capture a Phantom that was hovering close to the ground. After taking out the Covenant in the area, Crespo went up the Phantom's lift and took out both the pilots. After familiarizing himself the best he could despite not having run a simulation on piloting a Pelican for more than a year, he picked up Miles and Agu, who manned the Phantom's plasma turrets.

Eventually the squad makes it through the station and out of the city, however, Buck suddenly realized where Capt. Veronica Dare might be and told Crespo to go back. Buck has Crespo hide the Phantom in a safe location while he rescues Dare. When Dare's Olifant was damaged by a Scarab they had to find a new location for Crespo to pick them up. After safely evacuating the city, Buck told Crespo he would have a co-pilot, Vergil, which Crespo was reluctant to have in the cockpit with him. He was last seen a month later on an ONI orbital facility, in an interrogation room with the rest of his squad and Vergil, as Sgt. Avery Junior Johnson began to interrogate the Huragok.

Post-war era and defection
Crespo continued to serve in Alpha-Nine throughout the years following the war, and went on to join the SPARTAN-IV program alongside Buck and Agu. As the team was sent on missions against human Insurrectionists, Crespo grew disillusioned with the UNSC, feeling that he had not signed up to kill other humans. In one such mission on Draco III his squadmate, the Rookie was taken hostage by rebels and was executed during an attempt by Crespo to incapacitate his captors, and shouldered much guilt for being unable to save him. Eventually, he became secretly affiliated with the United Rebel Front. In 2555, Crespo, Buck and Agu, participated in a mission at a United Rebel Front facility on the moon Talitsa to recover the ONI Huragok, Quick to Adjust, and his human handler, Sadie Endesha. On the way to the rebel base, they were surrounded and captured by rebel forces, whereupon Crespo's treachery was revealed to his teammates. While being taken to the URF facility, however, the captive Spartans managed to fight off the rebels. Buck personally faced Crespo in hand-to-hand combat and eventually knocked him out, while Agu rescued Endesha and the Huragok from the base. Crespo was subsequently incarcerated.

Personality and traits
Being an ODST was Crespo's favorite of all the positions had been in by 2552. He is the demolition expert and pilot for the squad. According to his file, he is highly creative, a risk taker and a daredevil. Despite being an experienced combatant, he is somewhat unique among his squad brothers, never having witnessed a planet get glassed by the Covenant. He holds the lowest rank and was the last to enlist of all the members on the squad, though he joined the squad itself before the Rookie, which is how the Lance Corporal got his nickname.

Trivia

 * Crespo is voiced by Alan Tudyk, best known for his role as Hoban Washburne in the television series Firefly alongside Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin. Tudyk's character was the pilot of the show's titular spaceship, the Firefly-class vessel Serenity, likely inspiring Mickey's pilot training.
 * He is unlocked for use in Firefight by earning the Kizingo Boulevard Achievement on Kizingo Boulevard.
 * On the right leg of his ODST armor, he has an ammo belt wrapped around it with what seem to be shotgun shells. This came from early in Mickey's character development by Bungie, as concept art shows him as a close-quarters battle specialist.
 * Mickey is the only squad member who does not directly interact with the Rookie throughout the game.
 * The events of Halo 3: ODST take place on his birthday (October 20), though neither he nor any other character mentions it.
 * "Mickey" is written (poorly) on a piece of tape on his helmet.

List of appearances

 * ONI Candidate Assessment Program V5.02A
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo: New Blood