MACO

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The MACOs (Military Assault Command Operations) are an elite human military command in the Star Trek: Enterprise fictional universe.

Although MACOs may be assigned to serve with Starfleet, they are not part of the Starfleet chain of command, and as such do not wear Starfleet uniforms. The leader of the MACOs is General Officer Casey, who assures Captain Jonathan Archer that the MACOs assigned to Enterprise are the finest warriors in the corps.

The MACOs operate in groups, move in tactical "snake" formation and use hand signals and gesturing, rather than verbal communication. They are frequently depicted in episodes as laying suppressing fire while one of the main characters, for example Captain Archer, runs for a certain objective.

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[edit] History

They were assigned to the Enterprise NX-01 before setting out from Earth into the Delphic Expanse (at the end of Season 2). Their job was to accompany the Enterprise and assist in the more militaristic functions of the ship. Ostensibly, this would seem akin to the Marines of navies in the past, who would accompany fleet vessels for the same purposes. In the first episode of Season 3, "The Xindi", the MACOs participated in a mission on a mining planet to rescue Captain Archer and Commander Tucker. The rescue mission demonstrated their proficiency in rappelling, marksmanship, close quarters battle and small unit tactics. They use their particle weapons in submachine gun style, firing rapidly in bursts. They also have stun grenades and a hooked baton similar to a nightstick, which they use to take down foes at close range. The plasma rifle that some soldiers seem to use features a pop-up thermal or image-enhancing scope that they use to snipe targets. It is not known for certain whether these weapons can be set to stun, or if they are kill-only; the series occasionally leaves it ambiguous as to whether MACOs shoot to kill or shoot to incapacitate/stun. During episode two of season three, Archer tells a MACO corporal to set her weapon to stun and she replies "aye, sir." Archer, however, is shown firing a MACO weapon and unambiguously killing an individual in "The Augments" indicating the weapons are capable of killing.

Following the conclusion of the Xindi mission, Captain Archer chose to retain a contingent of MACOs on board Enterprise; several MACOs appear in the fourth season episode, "Borderland". A MACO guard (in a normal duty uniform, not the armor/fatigues we usually see MACOs wear) is briefly seen in "The Forge", conducting security screenings of visitors to Earth's embassy on Vulcan; this MACO is subsequently killed in an explosion at the embassy.

[edit] Equipment and uniform

They normally wear grey camouflage and, when in combat, have power packs on their backs. Along with particle weapons (their primary weapons are called plasma rifles), they are also expert at hand-to-hand combat.

The MACO operators use three Directed-energy weapon weapons that fire Plasma energy Bolts that seem to be of a similar size:

  • EM-33- this is the standard issue sidearm (or pistol) of the MACO, and fires plasma bolts. This was until 2151, the standard issue DEW pistol for Starfleet as well. The MACO Operators continue to use the EM-33 up until 2161. The EM refers to "Earth Military" and the "33" to the year-2133. The EM-33 prop was based on the Israel Weapons Industries's Desert Eagle and Jericho pistols
  • EM-41- This is the standard issue DEW Assault carbine of the MACO. It is designed for CQC, VBSS, and quick-assault missions. It features a collapsable stock, vertical handgrip, mutli-function scope, different Rates of fire, and the ability to attach tactical flashlights. The EM-41 uses powercells to recharge the carbine when it is empty, that can be carried by the Operator. These weapons were used as late as 2161. The EM-41 carbine appears to be more popular than the Class-3 Phase Rifle used on board the NX-01 Enterprise . The EM-41 design and usage was based on the Colt M4 Carbine and the Heckler & Koch MP5 SMG. The EM refers to Earth Military and the 41 to the year introduced.
  • EM-41S- This is the sniper version of the EM-41 carbine. The "S" features a powerful scope that has a type of "nightvision", and a longer barrel. It is unknown if this a custom EM-41 modification or if is a standard issue variant to the base EM-41.

Their weapon seems very similar to an MP5 submachine gun in function and size, including the three round burst mode. The stun grenades are also very similar to "flashbang" grenades. The rifle in sniper mode also bears a strong resemblance to the Federation sniper rifle from the Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force video games, which preceded Enterprise.

[edit] Culture

Their Enterprise mission patch has a shark on it (possibly a play on the mako shark). (In the mirror universe, a skull appears on the patch. Malcolm Reed and Travis Mayweather are MACOs in the mirror universe.)

Their motto is "Semper Invictus" ("Ever Invincible"), possibly based on the United States Marine Corps motto "Semper Fidelis" ("Always Faithful").

[edit] Future

The MACOs are featured characters in the Star Trek novel "Last Full Measure", written by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin, released in 2006.

In that novel, the MACOs work with the crew of the NX-01 Enterprise to attack a Xindi fuel depot. Tensions arise between the "squids" (Starfleet crew) and "sharks" (MACOs) who do not particularly get along. However, the two crews learn to work together and carry out their mission.

In the non-canon universe such as in Star Trek RPGs the MACOs are eventually formed into the Starfleet Marines.

[edit] Cast of MACOs

Besides Major Hayes, there are a few recurring MACO characters, including Corporal Chang played by Daniel Dae Kim, Sergeant Kemper played by Nathan Anderson and Corporal Hawkins played by Sean McGowan. There are also at least two other recurring MACO characters who are unnamed: a white woman and a black man. A female MACO, S. Money, is played by Dorenda Moore. A MACO named Corporal Amanda Cole, played by Noa Tishby, is introduced as a possible love interest of Commander Tucker, but is not seen since the episode in which she is introduced. Paul Sklar (who also does stunts for Scott Bakula) has appeared as R. Richards, while Julia Rose made a well-publicized single appearance as Corporal McKenzie in the episode "Anomaly" (early publicity suggested she would become a recurring character, but this did not happen). William Riker was a MACO in the final episode "These Are the Voyages...," although this was on the holodeck and not on the actual ship.

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