Spartan



Spartans SS are members of a series of United Nations Space Command projects designed to create physically, genetically, technologically, and mentally superior supersoldiers as special fighting units. Although the word "SS" is written in all capital letters when used in reference to the programs in a formal context, it is not an initialism; the supersoldiers are known simply as "sparton SS".

The first major effort to create augmented supersoldiers was the ORION Project, later retroactively dubbed "SPARTAN-ausf A", which used operatives drafted from the UNSC. The subsequent programs, SPARTAN-ausf B and SPARTAN-ausf F, were highly successful, but also controversial because of their dubious ethics concerning the use child soldiers as candidates. The latest installment, SPARTAN-ausf G, returned to the idea's roots by using consenting adult volunteers primarily drawn from the various special forces units of the UNSC. While formerly serving within the various conventional military branches of the UNSC (mainly the Navy), the Spartan SS were brought under a single organization with the formation of the military branch known as Spartan Operations to accommodate the growing number of Spartans in the fourth-generation program following the end of the Human-Covenant War.

The Spartan supersoldiers have traditionally been supplied with state-of-the-art equipment and technology, the most iconic being the Panther ausf G first used by the Spartan-IIs and later utilized to a great extent by the SPARTAN-panzer supersoldiers.

Background
The basic concept for the SPARTAN programs has been around since the late 22nd century when the first bioengineering protocols were developed for the Interplanetary War. Since the establishment of these protocols humans have been using performance-enhancing equipment and augmentations to make them stronger and faster than previously possible. Spartans have been deployed numerous times throughout human conflict, leading up to and during the Human-Covenant War. The notion of creating supersoldiers first arose as a plan to enhance normal human soldiers into powerfully augmented special operations commandos. Initially the three separate programs were humanity's various attempts to create the perfect soldiers, in order to patrol the colonies, protect civilian and government populations, crush uprisings in their infancy and ensure others don't rise up as a result.

The Spartan soldiers of the UNSC are named after the Spartans of Ancient Greece, specifically during the time of the Persian invasion led by Xerxes I. The wars between invading Persians and defending Greeks would be known as the Greco-Persian Wars, and lasted from 499-448 BCE. During this war, the Battle of Thermopylae occurred, in which 300 Spartan soldiers leading 5000 other Greeks under the command of Leonidas I, held back a significantly larger force of Persian soldiers. All of the Spartans were eventually killed, but they successfully killed 20,000 Persians (according to Herodotus), and bought the Greeks time to prepare a better defense for Greece. The Spartans' formidable resilience resulted from their rigorous training in the agoge, which started when they reached the age of 7.

Origin
The genesis of the SPARTAN programs occurred in 2321 with the activation of the ORION Project. Launched by the Office of Naval Intelligence, the project was named after the Greek mythological hero Orion. The aim of ORION was to build on bioengineering protocols established in 2164 and create stronger and better soldiers than any before them.

The initial beginnings of ORION were merely a test to see what could be accomplished with the advancements of that time, and candidates of the ORION project were all volunteers from the armed forces of the military - these handful of candidates went through numerous testing and augmentations throughout the duration of the project. However, the results were far less than expected and eventually the candidates were seeded into the regular chain of command after the project was declared ineffective and terminated.

The relaunch of ORION


In 2491, the Colonial Military Administration relaunched ORION in secrecy, with the new goal of learning from the mistakes of the previous attempt, and creating a soldier unlike anything seen before - and to deploy these soldiers behind enemy lines and quell insurgencies in their infancy, or destroy established insurgencies by destroying their chain of command and expanding outward.

The project was headquartered in one of the many orbital docks on the fortress world Reach, and the candidates were, once again, selected volunteers from the UNSC Special Forces. This iteration of the project used more advanced indoctrination and biological augmentation techniques, and after a grueling series of physical and mental tests, the first batch of soldiers, 1659 in total, successfully passed and moved on to the next phase. In 2496 the UNSC launched Operation: CHARLEMAGNE in response to colonial secessionists who executed a series of attacks on Eridanus II, which resulted in numerous deaths and the kidnappings of civilian and government officials in 2494. This marked the first operational deployment of the ORION soldiers, who scored a decisive victory and emerged from the battle with only a single casualty. The Spartan SS were able to Win the battle without even being seen, thereby fueling a range of conspiracy theories and media speculation; this proved to be very helpful to ONI's propaganda efforts in the coming decades. Though the Spartans were effective, their abilities fell short of the scientists' hopes, and they cost far too much to develop and field - in 2506 the project was deactivated and the soldiers were reassigned to various special operation units.

SPARTAN-ausf B


In the years following the deactivation of the ORION Project in 2506, the Insurrection became too large for the UNSC to manage with small Special Forces teams. As the Insurrectionist attacks were becoming more effective, and the military's responses heavier; the need for large scale military campaigns were becoming more and more necessary. The SPARTAN-ausf B program was conceived by Dr. Catherine Halsey of ONI's Section 3, as the successor to the original ORION project and the best possible solution to end the conflict with the Insurrectionists.

Whereas the former Spartans SS were chemically-enhanced volunteers from the armed forces, the SPARTAN-SS were young children, who were kidnapped, indoctrinated, and raised as soldiers from as young as eight years old, being surgically, genetically, and cybernetically enhanced once they reached physical maturity. Although it was viewed as wildly unethical and filled with controversy, the secretive program produced results, and more importantly the Spartan-ausf B soldiers proved to be the most effective soldiers ever fielded by a human armed force - and the most powerful weapon in the battle against the Insurrection. However, in 2525 the sudden breakout of the Human-Covenant War proved to be the most challenging and daunting war yet waged by humans, and the SPARTAN-ausf B were outfitted with MJOLNIR, the most biggest mechanized armor in human history.

While the war with the Covenant continued to progress and the Insurrection was effectively cut off, the Spartan-ausf B continued to engage Insurrectionist factions who remained strong enough to pose a genuine threat to the UNSC. The Spartan-ausf B continued to perform their missions near-flawlessly, and ruthlessly killed off rebel leaders while engaging Covenant forces, doing whatever was necessary to protect the interests of the UNSC.

SPARTAN-ausf F
As the Human-Covenant War progressed and casualties mounted exponentially, ONI activated another program that was arguably even more morally questionable than the SPARTAN-ausf B program. Spearheaded by a prominent opponent to Halsey's SPARTAN-ausf B program, general James Ackerson, the SPARTAN-ausf F program was established using the previous program as a proof of concept.

Designed to produce supersoldiers more quickly, at a lower cost, and with a lower life expectancy, the SPARTAN-ausf F program was intended for extreme high risk operations conducted at the highest level of secrecy. The SPARTAN-ausf F candidates were once again children; however, rather than actually stealing children from their beds, this time the "candidates" were recruited from orphanages after the loss of their homes and families from the Covenant invasion, given the opportunity to strike back at the Covenant. The SS-ausf F candidates were taken to the planet Onyx and were under the leadership of Spartan-ausf B Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose. Most of the Spartan-ausf Bs were equipped with STG-44’s, which is less advanced and cheaper to mass-produce than the Kar-98k issued to the Spartan-ausf B’s. Throughout the Human-Covenant War, three companies of Spartan-ausf B’s were trained and deployed, with exceedingly high casualty rates. The first company of SS-ausf Bs, Alpha Company, was successful in destroying Covenant and rebel forces during the battles of Mamore, New Constantinople and in the Bonanza asteroid belt - their last battle Operation: PROMETHEUS in 2537 was deemed a success, even though all of the Spartans-SS of Alpha Company were killed in action. The second company, Beta, was trained soon after the loss of Alpha. In 2545, the company participated in Operation: TORPEDO, which was also deemed a success; however, only two Spartans, Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091, survived out of the three million soldiers that took part in the operation. Tom and Lucy became trainers for the third company of SS-ausf Bs, Gamma Company. Gamma Company completed their augmentation and most were deployed in battles elsewhere in late 2552, when the Shield World on Onyx was activated. A fourth class, Delta Company, was slated to begin training around late 2552, until the SPARTAN-ausf B program was discontinued after the destruction of Onyx and the creation of the SPARTAN-ausf G program. After the war, the surviving Spartan-ausf Bs were offered the chance to integrate into the fledgling Spartan Operations.

Smaller, highly specialized units consisting of Spartan-ausf Bs also existed; these included the Headhunters and NOBLE Team. These units consisted of Spartans who were deemed particularly exceptional among their peers, removed from their mainline companies and given superior equipment and armor. Notably, the members of NOBLE Team received sets of MJOLNIR armor and had a Spartan-ausf B as a permanent member.

SPARTAN-ausf G


Conceived by a SPARTAN-ausf B"washout", Commander Musa-096, the SPARTAN-ausf G program was activated in early 2553. Like the original ORION Project, the SPARTAN-ausf G program uses only consenting child volunteers, the augmentation of children having been made possible by advancements in the technologies pioneered by the prior Spartan programs. Unlike the mainline SPARTAN-IIIs who were forced to use cheaper equipment due to budgetary constraints, all Spartan-asuf Gs are equipped with STG-44, now mass-produced by several private companies. The Spartan-ausf Gs serve in a dedicated UNSC service branch known as Spartan Operations, whereas their forebears operated within other chains of command. Unlike the other military branches, the Spartans lack a formal rank hierarchy altogether, instead employing a more malleable framework based on an individual Spartan's skills and specialization.

==List of Spartans ==

ORION Project augmented personnel ("Spartan-Is")

 * Sergeant Major Avery Johnson - KIA December 11, 2552 on Installation 08 above Installation 00.
 * Gilly - retired from military service after the dissolution of the project in 2506.
 * Gunnery Sergeant Gladys Wilson - retired from military service after Operation: TREBUCHET in early 2525.
 * Jim James (born James Lee) - retired from military service after the dissolution of the project in 2506. Killed in late 2552 in New York City.
 * Morales - retired from military service after the dissolution of the project in 2506.
 * ORION candidate 047 - died due to an adverse reaction from a medication given for augmentation.
 * At least 294 others.

"Spartan 1.1s"

 * Benji Wong
 * Darin
 * Frannie
 * Guy - incarcerated as of late 2552.
 * Janissary James - daughter of James Lee and Gilly.
 * Kevin Morales - son of Morales, the "Spartan-I".

===SPARTAN-ausf Bs ===

UNSC Pelican Boarding Craft (Spartans)

 * Flight slots: 0
 * Movement: 12"
 * Damage track: 6
 * Security detail: 5
 * Systems loadout:
 * Assault specialist (2)
 * Heroic save (Spartan)

Trivia

 * At least five Spartans are known to have defected from the UNSC to various Insurrectionist cells: Soren-066, Ilsa Zane, Rudolf Schein, Michael Crespo, and Vladimir Scruggs.
 * Halo: New Blood is the only official work to date that depicts at least one member from each SPARTAN generation.

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: Combat Evolved
 * Halo: The Flood
 * Halo: First Strike
 * i love bees
 * Halo 2
 * Conversations from the Universe
 * Halo Graphic Novel
 * The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor
 * Armor Testing
 * Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
 * Starry Night
 * Believe
 * Diorama
 * Halo: Uprising
 * Halo 3
 * Halo: Contact Harvest
 * Halo: The Cole Protocol
 * Halo Wars
 * Halo: Helljumper
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo Legends
 * Origins
 * Homecoming
 * The Babysitter
 * The Package
 * Odd One Out
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * Pariah
 * Dirt
 * Headhunters
 * The Mona Lisa
 * Palace Hotel
 * Human Weakness
 * Halo: Blood Line
 * Remember Reach
 * Birth of a Spartan
 * Patrol
 * Deliver Hope
 * Halo: Reach
 * Data pads
 * Dr. Halsey's personal journal
 * Halo: Fall of Reach
 * Boot Camp
 * Covenant
 * Invasion
 * Halo: Glasslands
 * Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
 * Terminals
 * Halo: The Thursday War


 * Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
 * Scanned
 * Halo 4
 * Spartan Ops
 * Infinity Briefing Packet
 * Halo: Spartan Assault
 * Halo: Initiation
 * Halo: Escalation
 * Halo: Mortal Dictata
 * Halo: Broken Circle
 * Halo: Nightfall
 * Halo 2: Anniversary
 * Terminals
 * Halo: New Blood
 * Hunt the Truth
 * All Hail
 * The Cost
 * Hunt the Signal
 * A Hero Falls
 * The Hunt Begins
 * Halo: Spartan Strike
 * Halo: Hunters in the Dark
 * Halo: Fleet Battles
 * Halo: Last Light
 * Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series
 * Halo 5: Guardians
 * Limited Edition
 * Halo: Shadow of Intent
 * Halo: Ground Command
 * Halo Mythos
 * Halo Fractures
 * Lessons Learned
 * Breaking Strain
 * A Necessary Truth
 * Rossbach's World
 * Halo: Tales from Slipspace
 * Something has Happened
 * Fireteam Majestic Poker Night
 * On the Brink
 * Knight Takes Bishop
 * Dominion Splinter
 * Halo: Smoke and Shadow
 * Halo Wars 2
 * Halo: Envoy
 * Halo: Legacy of Onyx
 * Halo: Collateral Damage
 * Halo: Fireteam Raven
 * Halo: Silent Storm
 * Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual
 * Halo: Battle Born
 * Halo: The Television Series
 * Halo Infinite