Michael Crespo

Michael "Mickey" Crespo[1] (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.[2] After joining the SPARTAN-IV program, Crespo defected to the United Rebel Front. He was eventually detained by the UNSC and incarcerated for high treason.[4]

Early life and military career
Michael Crespo was born in 2530 in Crisium City, Naniwa, Luna and has lived there ever since.[1][2] 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.[5]

Crespo signed up for UNSC service on June 4, 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. 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 extra-vehicular activity training and finished in the top of his class, as well as three HEV drops.[5]

Battle of Mombasa
During the Battle of Earth in October 20, 2552, Crespo was stationed aboard UNSC Say My Name and was interviewed for the Office of Naval Intelligence by Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck[5] 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.[6] 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 to land farther away from the 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 allowed him to rejoin with Taylor Miles and aid other Marines. After defending the area, both ODSTs met up with a desperate NMPD officer. In response, they defended the ONI Alpha Site complex with several other officers and Marines.[7] 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, where 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 NMPD Headquarters.

As Crespo and Miles 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 at NMPD Headquarters. 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 its chest. After killing the Chieftain, the squad later went to Kikowani Station, where 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 assist him in capturing 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 rescued Dare, the Rookie (who Dare had managed to contact), and a Huragok from the New Mombasa Data Center. When Dare's Olifant was damaged by a Scarab as they attempted to escape via the New Mombasa Waterfront Highway, 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 Johnson began to interrogate the Huragok.[8]

Rebellion on Draco III
In 2554, the United Rebel Front attempted to take control of Draco III, which was finally being resettled for the first time in nearly two decades. Dare sent Alpha-Nine to help eliminate the rebels on the planet.[9] Mickey and the rest of Alpha-Nine traveled to New Albany and stormed the insurgents' headquarters established in the city's capitol building. After breaching their way into the building's legislature chambers, their entrance was quickly blocked off by some rebels. The Rookie was sent to secure the emergency exit, but he was ultimately captured and held at gunpoint by Captain Ingridson, the leader of the URF on the planet. Spartan Sarah Palmer, who was battling insurgents elsewhere in the city, contacted Alpha-Nine and offered her assistance with the situation;[10] Buck declined as he believed that the appearance of Spartans would lead to the Rookie's death.[11]

Mickey and Dutch were signaled by Buck to sneak up to Ingridson's shielded balcony, while he and Romeo distracted her. URF soldiers began to surround the capitol building, while Palmer and her Spartans began to engage them. Once Mickey and Dutch got into position, Buck ordered the squad to attack the rebels while having Palmer and her Spartans engage the approaching rebels outside. In the ensuring firefight, Mickey held the rebels at gunpoint and ordered them to surrender. Realizing she was out of options, Ingridson executed the Rookie. While Mickey remained shocked and speechless, Dutch killed Ingridson and one of the rebels, while the last one surrendered. Mickey contemplated executing the surviving rebel, but Buck ordered for him to stand down. Palmer and her Spartans arrived seconds later, having wiped out the rest of the rebels in the city.[11] Afterwards, Alpha-Nine buried the Rookie out at sea on Draco III. Troubled by his death, Dutch decided to retire alongside his wife.[12] Mickey was affected by watching the Rookie die in front of him and blamed himself for the Rookie's death, as he thought that his hesitation to kill Ingridson prevented the Rookie's survival. Mickey became disillusioned with the UNSC and UEG, angered that he was tasked with killing fellow humans instead of aliens.[13]

Becoming a Spartan-IV
After the Draco III rebellion, Mickey and the rest of Alpha-Nine were offered a position into the SPARTAN-IV program by Jun-A266, which they accepted.[14] Mickey departed to Mars where he underwent the necessary augmentations alongside Buck and Romeo.[15] Mickey and the rest of the Spartan trainees were transported to a space station orbiting a dwarf planet for further training. With Captain O'Day serving as their drill instructor, the Spartans were trained to break their bad habits that they had formed over their military careers.[16] He often conversed with fellow trainee Rudolf Schein about politics.[17] Schein shared his anti-UEG, anti-centralization views with Mickey; he often dropped dissolving pamphlets about the United Rebel Front into Mickey's locker for him to read.[18] After fellow trainee Hideo Wakahisa was found dead, Commander Musa-096 ordered for all trainees to return to their quarters until the situation defused.[16] Schein, who had murdered Wakahisa when he refused to join Schein's cause, had stolen a medallion belonging to Mickey and planted it on the body to buy himself more time.[18] Mickey, Buck, and Romeo were visited by Jun and Musa. Although they had found Mickey's medallion on the body of Wakahisa, Buck, Romeo, and Mickey insisted that the latter was not responsible for the murder. Musa ordered Jun to search the station's security footage of the locker room to find any further leads. Musa later had Jun assign the three Spartan trainees to a temporary quarters until the situation could be solved.[19]

Schein was soon proven responsible for the murder and Jun, Musa, and O'Day went to confront him. However, Schein was waiting for them at the recreational room with the intent to blow up the station, and a skirmish ensured. Mickey and his team heard gunshots from their room and the three raced to its place of origin. Before the Spartans reached the rec room, O'Day warned them to stay back before Schein's grenade detonated and sent the four flying backwards as the station's artificial gravity was shut off. As they attempted to escape from the breached rec room, O'Day was killed when she was sent flying towards a wall at a high speed. The three Spartans took shelter in an empty room until the incident was over and the gravity returned an hour later. Returning to their quarters, Mickey and his team were debriefed on the events that had transpired and on Schein's defection.[20] After the incident, Mickey attended Schein's funeral, likely hosted by the URF. At the funeral, Crespo met Schein's father and covertly joined the Front.[18] For eighteen months, largely at his request, Mickey and his squad battled Covenant remnants on human colonies, including New Caracas, Gaenir Beta, and Charion VI.[21]

Defection
In August of 2555, Mickey participated in a mission alongside Buck and Romeo at a United Rebel Front facility on Talitsa to recover the captured Huragok Quick to Adjust, and his human handler, Sadie Endesha. The three were sent on the mission by Dare due to their past experiences with the Huragok.[21] On the way to the rebel base, they were surrounded and captured by rebel forces, whereupon Mickey's treachery was revealed to his teammates.[22] As the rebels, led by Doctor Schein, led Buck and Romeo back to their base, the latter began to insult Mickey and Schein. In response, Mickey attacked and inadvertently pushed Romeo down a hill. While the URF soldiers chased after him, Buck used the opportunity to attack Mickey and succeeded in moving the fight just out of sight of Schein, and Romeo and his pursuers. Meanwhile, Romeo began to massacre the other rebels. As their brawl continued, Buck eventually managed to knock Mickey unconscious with a headbutt. Schein attempted to help Mickey and shot Buck in the back. Holding him at gunpoint, Schein attempted to use Buck as a hostage to force Romeo to surrender. However, Buck used his helmet to knock the doctor to the ground and smashed his own rifle against his face, killing him.[23]

While Romeo rescued Quick to Adjust and Endesha and finished off the remaining rebels, Buck awaited by Mickey until he regained consciousness. Upon awaking, Mickey begged for Buck to kill him, believing death was better than prison. However, Buck opted not to and the two sat down together in silence until a dropship arrived to extract them.[24] When they returned to the Spartan facility on Mars, Buck had Mickey handed over to Jun-A266 instead of the ONI agents that were waiting for their return, since he believed that Mickey was still a Spartan. Mickey's defection led to the review of the SPARTAN-IV candidate vetting procedures to prevent further defections from within the branch.[25]

Personality and traits
Being an ODST was Crespo's favorite of the military positions in which he had served as of 2552. According to his file, he is highly creative, a risk-taker, and a daredevil.[5] Despite being an experienced combatant, he was somewhat unique among his the members of Alpha-Nine, never having witnessed glassing prior to the Battle of Mombasa. He held the lowest rank and was the last to enlist of all the members of Alpha-Nine, though he joined the fireteam before the Rookie, which is how the lance corporal got his nickname.[2]