SPARTAN-III Gamma Company
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Gamma Company was the third generation of the SPARTAN-III program. The company was deployed in late 2552 and was considered by Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose to be comprised of "the finest Spartans ever."[1]
History
Training
Authorized in July 2544,[2] Gamma Company began training on Onyx on July 9, 2545.[3] Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091, the only two known survivors of Operation: TORPEDO, acted as their instructors alongside Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and candidates from the two previous companies who had "washed out" and become drill instructors.[1]
Because of the program's accelerated timetable, puberty was artificially induced for the members of Gamma Company via supplements added to their diet prior to the augmentations, causing the Spartans' physiques to develop into a near-adult stature over nine months and forcing them to relearn basic movement and coordination.[1] Before the augmentations, Kurt Ambrose briefed the Spartans of Gamma Company on the failures of the SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures as a final test, despite the safety of the SPARTAN-III program's improved procedures. Not one of the 330 candidates opted out of the program despite witnessing the fate of the previous program's washouts, and at the request of Lieutenant Commander Ambrose, all 330 of those who passed the selection process were approved for augmentation.[4]
Every candidate survived their training and augmentations. In addition to the enhancements received by the previous SPARTAN-III generations, they were injected with illegal drugs that altered the frontal lobes of their brains to enhance aggression, strength, endurance, and tolerance to injury.[5] Following their augmentations in February 2551 Gamma Company remained in training for over a year, until they received deployment orders several weeks after the Fall of Reach. The majority of the company left Onyx roughly a week before the Onyx Conflict occurred, with only fifteen Spartans of Gamma Company remaining on Onyx for top honors competitions.[6]
Onyx Conflict
- Main article: Onyx Conflict
At 0645 hours on October 31, 2552, three five-member teams from Gamma Company were competing for top honors when they experienced a disturbance in the ground. Moments later, Team Saber witnessed a large explosion near them and saw an alien drone. When the drone appeared to have shields, they assumed that it was a Covenant force and alerted the two other teams, Gladius and Katana. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Commander Ambrose desperately tried to contact the Spartans, but was unable to find them; he then went to Camp Currahee's armory to procure heavy weapons.
As Team Saber were attacking the drones, which were actually Forerunner Sentinels, they discovered that the constructs could only track high-velocity objects, such as bullets. As a result, they began using large rocks to destroy them. They later rendezvoused with Ambrose, Mendez, Tom, Lucy, SPARTAN-II Blue Team, and Dr. Catherine Halsey. Team Gladius had been found KIA while Katana had moved deeper into Zone 67; they were subsequently injured and placed into slipspace field pods by Huragok present on Onyx.[7]
Dr. Halsey informed the Spartans of the greater situation and stated that there were valuable Forerunner artifacts in the core of Onyx. Pursued by Covenant forces that had discovered Onyx, the Spartans then made their way to the core, losing Dante-G188 in the process. On the way, Zone 67's AI Endless Summer ordered the Spartans to destroy a massive Sentinel manufacturing facility to save a UNSC battle group in orbit. After succeeding in this task, they traveled to Team Katana's position pinpointed by a local Cartographer. They discovered Katana in Forerunner slipspace pods that kept them perfectly safe in slipspace bubble enclosures, but the group did not know how to deactivate them.
Kurt and the Spartans made a last stand in the entrance to Onyx's hidden core, with two FENRIS warheads to act as a fail-safe in the case that they were overwhelmed. The Covenant then began to assault them with a massive army. In the fighting, Holly-G003 was killed. As they began to run out of ammo, the majority of the Spartans—including the three surviving members of Team Saber—entered the slipspace portal in the core, while Kurt sacrificed himself to ensure the Covenant did not follow them. On the other side, the survivors found themselves in a massive Forerunner Dyson sphere habitat.
Post-Covenant War
Following the end of the Human-Covenant War, a number of the surviving members of Gamma Company were integrated into the new Spartan Operations branch,[8] while some transitioned to non-combatant status.[9] However, by July 2553, ONI decided to reassign the remaining Gamma Company Spartans to more covert roles, Admiral Margaret Parangosky having deemed their destabilizing augmentations an unacceptable public relations hazard to the fledgling Spartan branch. As of July 6, 2553, ONI had not yet fully decided on the future of most of the surviving Gammas, although they were planned to be assigned to roles that would mitigate the risks of their enhancements.[10]
The surviving Gammas of Team Saber—Ash-G099, Olivia-G291, and Mark-G313—were accepted into Blue Team after their arrival in the shield world within Onyx and continued to serve in the unit until ONI's reassignment orders in July 2553. Officially listed as killed in action, they were assigned by Rear Admiral Serin Osman into a covert ONI Ferret Team led by Veta Lopis.[10] By mid-October of 2553, even the members of the Ferret team remained unaware of the fate of the other Gammas.[11] In December 2553, the Spartans of Lopis' Ferret team teamed up with Blue Team once again to investigate the assassination of a UNSC admiral in Operation: RETRIBUTION. In the process, they uncovered and foiled a bioweapon plot as well as destroying the Keepers of the One Freedom's Salvation Base and about ninety percent of the forces stationed there. However, everyone was left unaware that Intrepid Eye was the true mastermind behind the plot and was continuing her efforts aboard the Argent Moon.[12]
As of January 2558, SPARTAN-G059 served as a solo operator under ONI, embarking on covert high-profile missions such as the assassination of Avu Med 'Telcam.[13]
The Ferrets were later assigned to infiltrate the Keepers of the One Freedom and assassinate the Keepers' leader Castor. In October 2559, they joined the Keepers in traveling to the Ark where the Keepers intended to fire the Halo Array. With the aid of the long-lost UNSC Spirit of Fire, the Ferrets foiled the plot and destroyed Intrepid Eye once and for all. However, Mark was killed in the battle. The surviving Gammas and Lopis then accepted an offer to join the crew of the Spirit of Fire and help them in their ongoing conflict with the Banished.[14]
Known members
- Team Gladius - KIA
- Team Katana - WIA, possibly KIA
- Team Saber
- Holly-G003 - KIA
- Ash-G099 - active, listed as KIA
- Dante-G188 - KIA
- Olivia-G291 - active, listed as KIA
- Mark-G313 - KIA
- Unknown
- SPARTAN-G059 - active
Equipment
Gamma Company was equipped with the newest version of Mark II SPI armor which incorporated a number of upgrades since Beta Company's demise.[15] Like the prior Spartan-III generations they used the MA5K carbine as their primary service rifle.[16] Due to their covert work, the Spartans on Veta Lopis' Ferret team continued to prefer using the SPI armor after the war even when Mjolnir armor was available to them.[12]
Augmentations
- Main article: Project CHRYSANTHEMUM
Gamma Company received the same biological enhancement procedures as Alpha and Beta companies. However, frustrated with the deaths of his previous two classes of Spartans, Kurt Ambrose added the following illegal drugs to their augmentation procedures:
- 009762-OO: A mutagen that alters key regions of the subject's frontal lobe. Enhances aggression, strength, endurance, and tolerance to injury under stress.
- 009927-DG: Miso-olanzapine. An antipsychotic. Counters the mutagen's properties.
- 009127-PX: Cyclodexione-4. A bipolar-integration drug. Counters the mutagen's properties.[17]
This was against the recommendation of Deep Winter, Onyx's smart AI. Thus Kurt removed all traces and documents regarding the drugs.
As a result of 009762-OO, the Gamma Company Spartans have to use the antipsychotic and bipolar-integration drugs, colloquially known among the Gamma Spartans as "Smoothers" to keep the effects in check. If denied regular access to the "Smoothers", which can be administered via injections every twelve hours or longer-lasting subcutaneous implants, the Gamma Spartans start to lose their rationality and will eventually descend to a psychotic state.[18]
List of appearances
Sources
- ^ a b c Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 98
- ^ Halo Mythos, Page 76
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Canon Fodder - Ship Strike (Retrieved on Apr 22, 2023) [archive]
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, pages 99-100
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 102
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 139
- ^ Halo: Glasslands, page 310
- ^ Halo: Glasslands, page 435
- ^ Halo Waypoint: Catalog Interaction - Page 14
- ^ a b Halo: Last Light, pages 330-331 (Google Play edition)
- ^ Halo: Fractures, "A Necessary Truth"
- ^ a b Halo: Retribution
- ^ Halo: Tales from Slipspace, Knight takes Bishop
- ^ Halo: Divine Wind
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, pages 99, 113
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 170
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 114
- ^ Halo: Last Light, page 123 (Google Play edition)
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