Shawn Gates

Shawn Gates is an intelligence officer in the Office of Naval Intelligence. Prior to being inducted into ONI, he served as a Force Recon team leader in the UNSC Defense Force Marine Corps and earlier as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Having served as a designated marksman or sniper for the entirety of his enlistment, Gates has honed his skill with a precision rifle to fine edge and was one of the Marine Corps' deadliest snipers. Over the course of his service, Gates was awarded two Medals of Honor, a Distinguished Service Cross, three Silver Stars, and seven Purple Hearts, putting him among the most decorated servicemen in the UNSC.

Personality
Since his baptism by fire in the Fall of Reach, Shawn has devoted his life to honing his warrior skills and serving humanity. After surviving several grueling battles of the Human-Covenant war, he emerged a ferocious and determined fighter. As a non-commissioned officer, he was demanding, critical, and extremely difficult to please. He was especially harsh on the ODSTs under his leadership as he felt that drop school was too easy to weed out the weak and create the elite force his troopers believed they were. Despite being a marine's nightmare of an NCO, he never failed to give credit where credit was due, and rather than blaming a marine's failure on their weakness or worthlessness, he preferred to accuse them of holding back or quitting. His insertion team proved the effectiveness of his leadership in action on Draco III, where, as an official citation remarked, their ferocity embodied the Corps' moniker of "Devil Dog." As the leader of Force Recon Fireteam Mercury, Gates relaxed his leadership style, recognizing that, unlike his ODSTs, the operators under his command were experienced and elite fighters and held themselves to the standard he would have set for them. Outside of Combat, Gates had few hobbies to occupy himself. He participated in the hobbies of his fellow Marines, such as drinking and playing cards. During long slipspace voyages, he took up electric guitar and became proficient by practicing in his downtime.

Emma Gates
Shawn's only living blood relative is his sister, Emma. Their enlistments are a source of friction between them, as Emma thought it irresponsible of Shawn to leave her and fight in the same war that killed their older brother, and Shawn thought it reckless for Emma to enlist after their brother had been killed and he had nearly been killed several times. After a chance meeting on Trost where Shawn initially learned of his sister's enlistment, they remained estranged until Shawn's reported death in 2564. Shawn has not reestablished contact with Emma and Emma continues to believe he is dead.

Alice Haytham
Shawn maintains several extra-familial relationships which have persisted past his supposed death. The longest of these is with Chief Petty Officer Alice "Allie" Haytham, who he met during the Fall of Reach. Following the end of the Human-Covenant War, Shawn and Allie developed a mutual reliance on each other for support in dealing with the psychological trauma that accompanied their experiences. Shawn invariably spends his leave time with Allie who, being the only child of her estranged father and deceased mother, is closer to Gates than anyone else.

Dmitry Emmanuil
Shawn and Dmitry met during the formation of Fireteam Mercury on Trost in 2558. Shawn was entrusted with the marksmanship training of several recruits for the 121st Force Reconnaissance Battalion that were pulled from units deployed to the system based on their aptitude and Dmitry was one of these recruits. Shawn selected Dmitry for his own fireteam and the two served together until Dmitry moved on to serve on a JSOC team. The two maintained contact throughout their service and eventually Dmitry was selected as the assistant task force leader for OPERATION: PYRRHIC WIND due to his status as a former Spartan-IV and drill instructor.

Gabriel Parson
Gates first met the famed Angel of New Athens in a bar fight on Trost. They met again less than half a dozen times through their mutual friend, Allie Haytham. While Gates was waiting to rotate out of the Delta Forti system aboard the UNSC Verdun, he recognized Parson as he rushed to his pod for an immediate drop to the surface to rescue the crew and passengers of a downed pelican gunship. Gates chose to accompany the ODST squad and was severely injured in the resulting firefight, resulting in his supposed death. Parson was later selected for OPERATION PYRRHIC WIND due to his aptitude as an operator and medic as well as his service as an ODST Pathfinder team leader.

Early Life
Shawn was born in Detroit on March 17th, 2535 to James and Emily Gates. He had an older brother, Trevor, and a younger sister, Emma. James was laid off from his job in late 2538, but found work on another world thanks to his brother, Richard, who recommended him to his management. As a result the Gates family moved to Reach in 2539. James and Emily worked long hours, yet struggled to make enough money to raise their three children. In 2545, James and Emily were killed in an automobile accident, leaving Shawn and his two siblings orphaned. Their uncle Richard adopted them, but struggled to provide for them with his insufficient income. In 2548, Richard robbed a convenience store in a desperate attempt to keep the three orphans fed. The robbery turned against him, and he was killed by the cashier. Trevor enlisted in the UNSC Defense Force soon after and began ODST training after his first year of enlistment. Emma and Shawn lived in Richard's house from then on, both of them working part time jobs and struggling to finish school. In 2551 Emma and Shawn were informed that Trevor had been killed fighting the Covenant on Ballast. Shawn dropped out of school soon after, and in 2552 he lied about his age and joined the UNSC Marine Corps.

Fall of Reach
Gates was deployed during the Fall of Reach on  August 20th, 2552 to a strategic beachhead on the outskirts of New Alexandria. His company held off several waves of Covenant, but their defenses crumbled when a team of Sangheili Zealots and Rangers assaulted the beach. Gates' platoon was nearly wiped out along with two others, and the company's fourth platoon retreated. He and the remaining Marines on the beach called in orbital support on their position, and managed to decimate the Sangheili platoon. The two other Marines, 1st Sergeant Baker and 1st Lieutenant Miller, were killed immediately after the bombardment by the only remaining Zealot, however Gates managed to kill it with a nearby shotgun. The incident resulted in Gates being awarded the Medal of Honor and being promoted to Corporal. Following the incident on the beach, Gates was deployed with another company of Marines into New Alexandria to assist with evacuations. It was during this operation that he received his first wound of the war from a Covenant needle rifle, and subsequently was awarded a Purple Heart.

Battle of Earth
On October 22nd, 2552 Gates was deployed into New Mombasa, Kenya with a team of Marines with orders to recon the city's police headquarters. However, The team was left unable to complete their mission as their insertion failed when their Pelican was shot down. The team spent several hours attempting to reach the UNSC lines, but the initial Covenant assault was constantly pushing the lines back. After several firefights, Gates and his fire team found a Pelican intact and still flyable. They used the Pelican to return to the UNSC Euphrates with a Longsword escort. Gates was later awarded a Silver Star for his determination and dedication to his team. Later, Gates was deployed with a company of Marines with orders to reinforce a previous attempt to secure a hill near Voi, Kenya. The company took fire going in and two platoons were lost almost immediately. The remaining Marines were able to reach the UNSC defenses with cover from the remaining Pelicans and Longswords. Once in cover, they recieved support from the UNSC Who Dares Wins, which decimated the Covenant armor and infantry on the hill. The Marines advanced with little resistance until Covenant reinforcements arrived, but the Marines eventually fought through and disabled the AA emplacements at the top of the hill. The UNSC strike on the Covenant dig site began, but the Marines were ambushed by Covenant special forces while watching. Gates himself was nearly killed by a Covenant energy sword and was rendered unconscious. Soon after, a combined team of ODSTs and Spartan IIIs retook the hill with the few surviving Marines and discovered Gates unconscious on the ground. He was brought to the UNSC Come and Take It and was treated for his wounds. When he recovered, he was promoted to sergeant and awarded a purple heart.

Battle of Installation 00
Shortly after waking on the Come and Take It, Gates learned of the Flood attack on Africa and the Covenant Loyalists retreating through the portal they had opened. He was among the Marines that volunteered to pursue the Covenant through the portal. He was transferred with the rest of the volunteers from the Come and Take It to the UNSC Aegis Fate and entered the portal soon after with the rest of the combined UNSC and Covenant Separatist fleet. Once through the portal, Gates' company took part in the assault on the Cartographer, Gates himself leading a fireteam of Marines. Later, his team was deployed to assault the Citadel, and after the Flood attack on the facility, his team held the line against the Flood until John-117 and Thel 'Vadam escaped. They were extracted by Sangheili Phantoms and returned to Earth aboard the Shadow of Intent. After the Battle of Installation 00, Gates was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic stand against the Flood. The falsification of his enlistment papers that allowed him to join the Marines in the first place was pardoned, and Gates was allowed to continue to serve. Though he escaped the battle without physical injury, his encounter with the Flood left him with moderate post traumatic stress disorder.

Post-War Service
Following the end of the Human-Covenant War, Gates began training as an ODST. He served on an orbital insertion team from 2553 to 2556 and fought in several small skirmishes against both Insurrectionist and Covenant Remnant forces and also took part in the Battle of Draetheus V. He was meritoriously promoted to Staff Sergeant during this period and awarded another purple heart and a silver star. Shawn later returned to the Marine Corps to train as a scout sniper. After completing his training, he was deployed to Trost where he served several tours with a Force Recon team. On Trost, Shawn took part in several operations against a myriad of threats, including conducting screening operations for Flood activity during the Delta Forti Outbreak, raiding insurrection stronghold and caches, disrupting Covenant Remnant activities, and waging guerrilla warfare against Promethean forces. For his actions against the Flood, he was awarded a Silver Star. For wounds received on Trost, he was awarded three Purple Hearts.

"Death" and Induction into ONI Service
Hours away from rotating out of the Delta Forti system in 2564, Shawn volunteered to accompany an ODST QRF to secure the crash sight of a downed pelican gunship. As he and the orbital insertion team approached the pelican, they were engaged by insurrectionist forces. Shawn was hit by shrapnel from an insurrection rocket and passed out from blood loss soon after. He was evacuated to the UNSC Verdun, where he was placed into cryogenic stasis and listed as killed in action. He was "posthumously" awarded the Medal of Honor and a Purple Heart. He remained in stasis for two years, being removed only to be operated on while sedated. In 2566 he was removed from cryogenic stasis and trained as an intelligence officer for the Office of Naval Intelligence, Section One.

OPERATION: BLACK DOG
In 2568, Shawn made contact with a group of independent colonists known as the Lotus Coalition on the moon of Dolorosa in the Lambda Rho system. Under the alias of John Silas Shaw and posing as a UNSC deserter and former EOD technician, he leveraged his skills to learn the location of the UNSC Neptune, a missing Poseidon-class light carrier. Once on board the carrier, Gates activated a covert beacon and alerted the prowler UNSC ''Night Moves. Spartan Fireteam Phoenix boarded the Neptune'' via EVA from a stealth pelican and secured the bridge with minimal casualties. A UNSC battlegroup slipped in after the bridge was taken and secured the rest of the carrier. All hands were accounted for and the Neptune was returned to service in the Lambda Rho system.