- "Once John gets a hold of this armor, we'll all start sleeping a little better at night."
- — Maria-062
Maria-062 is a SPARTAN-II supersoldier. She claimed that, at some point during the Human-Covenant War, she had retired with the intent of starting a family.[1]
Biography
Special Warfare Center
Prior to the Battle of Earth in October 2552, Maria tested the new Mark VI MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor in Seongnam, United Korea.
She fought against a squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers from the 340th ODST Combat Training Unit with Tactical Training Rounds in a mock battle near the Special Warfare Center. After the exercise, the armor was approved for battle and was delivered to the orbital defense platform Cairo Station. There, it was issued to Master Chief Petty Officer John-117.[2]
Ambiguous Mentions
Maria-062 is theorized to have been mentioned in two other Halo books, but it cannot be clearly determined if it is specifically her.
In Halo: The Fall of Reach, during Catherine Halsey's briefing to the Spartans assembled for Operation: RED FLAG, she mentions that among those not present is one SPARTAN-II who was been too critically wounded to continue active duty.[3] It is possible that this wounded Spartan was Maria, whose absence allowed her to avoid the Fall of Reach and afterward having healed enough by October 2552 to test the Mark VI MJOLNIR armor. Other candidates are possible, though, like Naomi-010, who is not known to have been at the Fall of Reach and later served in ONI's Kilo-Five team deployed to Sanghelios.
In Halo: Mortal Dictata, Serin Osman mentions that only one Spartan has ever retired, and only because they had the excuse of having failed the augmentation procedure.[4] Since Maria was planning to retire, Osman could be referring to her. However, Osman compares the unnamed retired Spartan to herself, as Serin had also failed augmentations. While Osman had no received any physical benefits from the procedure, Maria seems to be at the peak of ability, well enough to use the MJOLNIR powered armor, a system dangerous enough to kill an unaugmented user. Additionally, Maria had not yet retired by October 2552, which raises the question of why she would wait 27 years to retire if she had failed augmentations in 2525. Possible answers include Maria having been one of the crippled Spartans who was later rehabilitated, or Maria having not yet retired by 2553 and Osman referring to another Spartan like Ralph-303.
Trivia
Maria-062 is the first SPARTAN-II whose face was visually depicted in official media.
Gallery
Maria-062 making a sub-orbital jump while testing John-117's Mark VI MJOLNIR armor.
Maria in the free-fall burn.
Maria-062 prepares to throw a mock grenade.
Flames flicker about Maria's shields.
A concept art piece of Maria from the Graphic Novel drawn by Doug Alexander
List of confirmed appearances
- Halo Graphic Novel (First appearance)
Sources
- ^ Halo Graphic Novel, "Armor Testing", page 68
- ^ Halo 2, campaign level, The Armory
- ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, page 240
- ^ Halo: Mortal Dictata, page 367