Spartan

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The SPARTAN program Project: SPARTAN-II, headed by Dr. Catherine Halsey of ONI, Section 3, and Chief Petty Officer Mendez of the UNSC armed forces, was the program that turned ordinary civilian children into the most capable fighting force that have ever been seen in battle. Started in 2494 (as an element of the ORION project) and 2517, the children selected for the program were chosen based on their strength, height, weight, and various other criteria on which would serve the SPARTAN-II project best. These children were then taken to Reach where they began their physical training by CPO Mendez at 5-7 years of age. They trained as Marines, and after two years, they began their treatments for physical augmentation. Some of these augmentations, which caused about half of them to die and a few others were discharged from military service due to horrible side effects caused by the procedure. Those who recovered completely went on to receive further training and went on to become the current team of Spartans.

Project SPARTAN-II was created in conjunction with Project MJOLNIR so that, once combined, the Spartans in their MJOLNIR armor would be the ultimate soldiers.

Purpose of Project SPARTAN-II

The future of the UNSC looked bleak, as of 2525. ONI projections of the outer colonies concluded that their extreme instability would result in massive rebellion within twenty years unless drastic military action was taken. The SPARTAN-II soldiers were designed to be a perfect pinpoint strike force, preventing massive civilian casualties and perhaps, even a civil war, should rebellions surface. They were designed to quell insurrection.

Ironically, the appearance of The Covenant reversed their mission. After the emergence of the new threat, the Spartan soldiers fought to save every human life they possibly could from its clutches. They, along with humanity fought valiantly, but their numbers have slowly dwindled. Even though the Spartans were supersoldiers, there were still only so many of them compared to the hordes of Covenant they face. This may have prompted the UNSC to start a new generation of supersoldiers codenamed Spartan III.

Before The Battle of Reach and the destruction of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn at Installation 04, the UNSC planned to have the Spartans capture a Covenant ship, in order to locate High Charity. There, they would capture a Prophet, and force an end to the war. They did not know that High Charity was a mobile station, rather than a planet in a fixed system of space. That mission was aborted after Reach fell and most of the Spartans were assumed killed. Even in posession of the Ascendant Justice, it was a virtual suicide mission in light of the circumstances. The Master Chief was convinced to abort the mission. Apparently it was a good idea, because according to Dr. Halsey's profile on Covenant society, the capture of a Prophet would escalate the war.

Later, when the Master Chief had an opportunity to capture the High Prophet of Regret, he did not. There are several proposed reasons for this. First, he had recieved a direct order from Commander Miranda Keyes to kill the Prophet. Second, the Covenant knew the location of Earth and there was no place left for the humans to hold such an important prisoner. Third, the Chief had no backup and it would have been extremely difficult for him to capture the Prophet with its Honor Guard surrounding him and hundreds more Covenant soldiers en route.

Known Spartans

The indentities of the Spartan's full names have been deleted from the military records. These are the tags of all known Spartans, and their current status.

SPARTAN-II Class 1 ("First" Spartans) originally selected 150 potential candidates, however there was only funding for half that number, so the Spartan candidates were further scrutinized, producing 75 "test subjects."

SPARTAN-II Class 2 ("Second" Spartans) are these 75 "test subjects."

SPARTAN-II Class 3 ("Third" Spartans) is not well known. However there were at least 308 potential "test subjects".

Class 2: 2525

Class 3: 2537

See--Spartan-III


Although some did perish in their escape from Reach and after the first strike lead by John-117, the last known surviving Spartans are: John-117, Kelly-087, Fred-104, Will-043, and Linda-058. Currently, Kelly-087's status is assumed alive, but her whereabouts are unknown. She is assumed to be in the company of Dr. Catherine Halsey.

Section Two of the Office of Naval Intelligence has made a significant effort to keep the reports of Spartan soldier's deaths a secret. They created the Spartan MIA Protocol, and this created a strong feeling among the general populace that Spartans were invincible and could not die. The effort has been largely successful in deceiving the human population.

Note: Fortunately, we cannot assume that every Spartan assumed MIA or KIA is actually dead. Notice that many of them dissappeared under dire circumstances. Li-008, Anton-044, Vinh-030, Spartan-James (number unknown), and Joshua-029 are examples. They are assumed dead but the other characters did not actually witness these Spartans die. This is so that the game developers can have the space to develop any potential plot points if they want to. If there are more stories to come, there will continue to be many loose ends.

There is also a discrepancy between the number of Spartans at Reach. Page 260 of "The Fall of Reach" states that there were three spartans who were in "fields of battle too distant to be easily recalled".

Finally, it remains yet to be determined if Cassandra is an actual Spartan or not.

Augmentation Procedures

Proposed

Admiral Ysionris Jeromi of the research station Hopeful documented the following experimental procedures on Binobi Chimpanzees. These operations were later performed on the Spartan soldiers:

1. Carbide ceramic ossification: advanced material grafting onto skeletal structure to make bones virtually unbreakable. Recommended coverage not to exceed 3 percent total bone mass because of significant white blood cell necrosis. Specific risk for pre- and near-post pubescent adolescents: skeletal growth spurts may cause irreparable bone pulverization.

2. Muscular enhancement injections: protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactase recovery time. Risk: 5 percent of test subjects experience a fatal cardiac volume increase.

3. Catalytic thyroid implant: platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues. Risk: rare instances of elephantiasis. Suppressed sexual drive.

4. Occipital capillary reversal: submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of subject’s retina. Produces a marked visual perception increase. Risk: retinal rejection and detachment. Permanent blindness.

5. Superconducting fabrication of neural dendrites: alteration of bioelectrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. Three hundred percent increase in subject’s reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity. Risk: significant instances of Parkinson’s disease and Fletcher’s syndrome.

Results

The combined modifications produced unexpected and unexplained synergistic effects, later recorded as follows:

  • Capable of running at speeds exceeding 55 KPH. SPARTAN-087 was capable of running faster than the rest.
  • Capable of lifting three times their body weight due to increased muscle density.
  • Virtual night vision.
  • Reaction times of 20 milliseconds. Significantly faster in combat situations.
  • Capable of unprecedented teamwork that resembled "telepathy".
  • No physiological or mental instabilities.

These abilities were completely independant of the MJOLNIR armor, which only further augmented the Spartans' unprecedented capabilities.

History of Project SPARTAN-II

  • 2491: Project ORION, the predecessor to Project SPARTAN-II, is launched
  • August 17, 2517: The first Spartan-II candidate, six-year-old test subject number 117 (SPARTAN-117), is selected.
  • September 23, 2517: The Spartan test subjects are abducted from their homes and replaced with flash clones. The real children, most no older than six, are brought through Slipspace to planet Reach. They are officially conscripted into the SPARTAN-II program.
  • September 24, 2517: The Spartan test subjects begin their first day of training, with an excruciating physical regimen with Chief Petty Officer Mendez and rigorous classroom education by the AI Deja.
  • March 9, 2525: The Spartans undergo augmentation procedures. Of the 75 children, 30 are killed during the procedures, 12 are too crippled to continue training, and only 33 candidates are left.
  • March 30, 2525: The 30 dead Spartans are given a deep space funeral, the 12 crippled spartans are reassigned to other jobs in the Office of Naval Intelligence. The remaining Spartans begin their final recovery and training.
  • April 22, 2525: SPARTAN-117 accidentally kills three ODST soldiers in self defense. The Spartans are permanently given a bad reputation as "freaks" because of this incident. From this point on, trainers must wear their own armor for safety.
  • September 11, 2525: The Spartans are given their final training exercise in a cavern against trainers in Mark I Powered Exoskeletons.
  • September 12, 2525: The Spartans are given their first mission: The capture of Colonel Robert Watts of the Eridanus Rebels. SPARTAN-117 is given the highest military rank of the Spartans as he is promoted to Petty Officer Third Class.
  • September 14, 2525: A Spartan team consisting of SPARTAN-117, SPARTAN-104, SPARTAN-087, SPARTAN-058, and SPARTAN-034 suceed in their mission.
  • September 15: 2525: The Spartan unit garners its first major award, SPARTAN-117 receives a Purple Heart for an injury during the mission.
  • November 2, 2525: The Spartan soldiers are first briefed about the Covenant. Chief Mendez and Deja leave the Spartans to train a new group of Spartans.
  • November 3, 2525: All 33 Spartan soldiers graduate from training. They are all commissioned with the rank of Petty Officer, Second Class.
  • November 27, 2525: The Spartans are given their first MJOLNIR armor. The Spartan unit suffers its first combat casualty, SPARTAN-034 is killed in the destruction of a Covenant ship.
  • February 10-12, 2535: The Spartans fight in the Jericho VII theater of operations. They witness their first glassing firsthand from the bridge of the destroyer UNSC Resolute as they retreat.
  • 2537: Unbeknownst to the first Class of Spartans, a second class, consisting of at least 300 test subjects, is abducted and replaced with flash clones in the same manner as the first class.
  • 2552: Stealth ship Apocolypso causes a temporal anomaly, throwing one of the second Spartans into the 21st Century.
  • August 27, 2552: The first Spartans are briefed about their mission to capture a Covenant Prophet.
  • August 30, 2552: The Battle of Reach. The first Spartans are divided into two teams: Blue Team (SPARTAN-117, SPARTAN-058, and James) and Red Team (All other Spartans). Blue Team is dispatched to Reach Station Gamma to destroy a NAV database. Red Team is dispatched to Reach to defend the Orbital Generators. Red Team is subsequently divided into Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta Teams. During this battle all Spartan-IIs from the first class are killed or missing, except SPARTAN-117, SPARTAN-104, SPARTAN-087, SPARTAN-008, SPARTAN-044, SPARTAN-043, SPARTAN-093 and the clinically deceased (later revived after cryo-stasis) SPARTAN-058 escape Reach. Of these survivors Spartans 008, 044 and 093 were killed in subsequent combat actions at the ruins of Installation 04 and during Operation: FIRST STRIKE. Three unidentified Spartans are rumored to have been absent from The Battle of Reach and subsequent actions due to their assignments on "distant" battlefronts. Their whereabouts have not yet been confirmed.
  • September 20, 2552: The four remaining Spartan-IIs (minus the "distant" three) return back to Earth and they are out fitted with the new MJLONIR Mark VI armor. They are also issued new weapons, and have to defend Earth.

unfinished

Trivia

In the two games the word 'Spartan' is only said once at the end of Halo 2 by the Master Chief when he says "This is Spartan 117...." aboard the Forerunner Ship. (In truth, it is said twice in Halo 2. Sometimes the Marines call the Chief a Spartan.)

See Also

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