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
Formed circa 2545-2546, Gamma Company was trained with the help of Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091, the only two known surviving SPARTAN-IIIs from Beta Company, as well as Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and candidates from the previous companies who had "washed out", becoming drill instructors for the later SPARTAN-IIIs.[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 Gama 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.[2]
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.[3] These Spartans received deployment orders only a few weeks after the Fall of Reach, and most left Onyx before the Battle of Onyx occurred. Only fifteen Spartans of Gamma Company remained on Onyx for top honors competitions when the Battle of Onyx began.[4]
Battle of Onyx
- Main article: Battle of Onyx
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.[5]
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
The SPARTAN-IIIs of Team Saber were accepted into Blue Team after their arrival in the shield world within Onyx, although they would be reassigned following their recovery from the structure in February 2553. In September 2553, the three members of Team Saber were missing in action and were consequently designated as KIA, though their deaths remained unconfirmed.[6]
Following the end of the Human-Covenant War, a number of the surviving members of Gamma Company were integrated into the Spartan branch,[7] while some transitioned to non-combatant status.[8]
Known members
- Team Gladius - KIA
- Team Katana - WIA
- Team Saber - KIA
- Holly-G003 - KIA
- Ash-G099 - MIA, listed as KIA
- Dante-G188 - KIA
- Olivia-G291 - MIA, listed as KIA
- Mark-G313 - MIA, listed as KIA
Equipment
Just like Beta Company, Gamma Company was equipped with the Mark II SPI armor and used the MA5K carbine as their primary service rifle.
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-051 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. Kept in check by the antipsychotic and bipolar-integration drugs.
- 009927-DG: Miso-olanzapine. An antipsychotic. Counters the mutagen's properties.
- 009127-PX: Cyclodexione-4. A bipolar-integration drug. Counters the mutagen's properties.[9]
This was against the recommendation of Deep Winter, Onyx's smart AI. Thus Kurt removed all traces and documents regarding the drugs.
List of appearances
- Halo: Ghosts of Onyx (First appearance)
- Halo: Glasslands
Sources
- ^ a b c Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 98
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, pages 99-100
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 102
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 139
- ^ Halo: Glasslands, page 310
- ^ Halo Waypoint: Catalog Interaction - Page 38
- ^ Halo: Glasslands, page 435
- ^ Halo Waypoint: Catalog Interaction - Page 14
- ^ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, page 114
