SPARTAN-II Project

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Spartan-II

Halo Character
Spartan outfitted with MJOLNIR Mk. VI armor
Active	2517-
Allegiance	United Nations Space Command
Branch	UNSC Defense Forces
Sub-Branch	UNSC Navy
Type	Special Forces
Size	6'6 feet tall without armor, 7'0 feet tall with armor
Garrison/HQ	Reach (Planet)
Part of	ONI Section III
Notable Equipment	MJOLNIR battle armor, AI
Battles/wars	Human/Covenant War, Rebel civil wars
Commanders
Notable Commanders	SCPO Franklin Mendez Dr. Catherine Halsey Master Chief John-117 Lt. Cmdr. Kurt-51 Ambrose

The SPARTAN-II supersoldier project is part of the fictional Halo universe storyline. The player-controlled character in the Halo games, Master Chief, is a Spartan. Created by the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), its purpose was to create an army of genetically and cybernetically-enhanced supersoldiers that could face any foreseeable military challenge without the need for large-scale military action. The Spartans proved invaluable in humanity's war against a theocratical alliance of aliens known as The Covenant. The Covenant had superior technology to the United Nations, and the UNSC had taken heavy losses. To many, the Spartans were humanity's last hope.

1 History
2 Training and early deployment
3 Current status
4 List of Spartan-IIs
- 4.1 Living SPARTAN-IIs
- 4.2 Deceased/Unknown Status Spartan-IIs
5 Equipment
- 5.1 Armor
6 See also
7 External links
8 References

[edit] History

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The SPARTAN-II project is the successor to the SPARTAN-I project, known as Project ORION. The SPARTAN-Is were named after the Spartans of Greece. Sparta was a military-oriented state; from birth, its children were screened for disabilities or defects, and those that failed the checks were left to die. Its population was mostly slaves (helots), allowing the city-state's actual citizens to spend every waking moment training for war.

Historically, the Spartans won many wars simply by arriving to fight. Appreciative of this reputation, the UNSC decided to use the name for their grand project. The result would be a group of supersoldiers gifted with inhuman abilities. With this goal in mind, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey set out to gather children who were genetically suitable for the project. They found a total number of 150 trainees, but for budget reasons only half that number were "conscripted," a process that involved kidnapping the child in question and replacing him or her with a flash clone. These clones were unstable (due to the process used to clone them not being perfected) and quickly died of what appeared to be natural causes. They were officially conscripted by Section Three of the Office of Naval Intelligence, which is why the player's character (the Master Chief) holds a Naval rank and is not a member of the Marine Corps, despite typically fighting alongside Marines.

The group was taken to the UNSC's space colony Reach, where from the age of 6 they were trained in all aspects of combat and tactics, as well as learning various other academic information in lieu of attending a proper school. They also were administered many physical and mental augmentations. The process was not painless, nor was it entirely safe, but Dr. Halsey knew she would have to sacrifice a few for the good of many. The result of the project was a group known as the Spartans, nearly invincible warriors with superior skills and tactical prowess.

On a training mission July 12, 2519 it is revealed that 72 children remain in the program at this time (pg 48). No other mention of trainee loss is made between that point and the start of the major genetic alterations. At the age of 14, the remaining SPARTAN-II candidates underwent a heavy series of augmentations:

Carbide Ceramic Ossification: Advanced material grafting onto skeletal structures 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-pubescent adolescents: skeletal growth spurts may cause irreparable bone pulverization. See attached case studies.
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.
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.
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. See attached autopsy reports.
Superconducting Fibrification of Neural Dendrites: Alteration of bioelectrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. Three hundred percent increase in subject reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity. Risk: significant instances of Parkinson's Disease and Fletcher's Syndrome.

Twenty-three of the 68 died in the SPARTAN-II augmentation process; 12 more became disabled to the point that they were not able to participate in combat, but some became high-ranking officers in positions where their enhanced thinking capabilities would be very useful. The remaining 33 Spartans became the most elite in the UNSC's forces, revered by nearly all other UNSC personnel. They were not referred to by their names; instead, each was assigned a three-digit number, based on their specimen number in the original selection process, which was then used as their callsign. (As an example, John, the Master Chief, is Spartan-117.) To maintain the image of the invincible Spartan warrior, no Spartan was ever marked as killed in action, only as missing or wounded, however such reports were irregular, due to the Spartans incredible combat prowess. This is done in accordance with ONI Section 2 Directive 930. It was decided later-on in the project to make the Spartans' existence public to strengthen morale throughout the UNSC. This is why the Spartans are never listed as K.I.A, as knowledge that Spartans can die would result in a crippling loss of morale.

The Spartan-II Project, was originally created to combat the growing rebellions occurring throughout Earth and UNSC controlled space. However, when the UNSC was attacked by the Covenant, the Spartan-II project was immediately shifted into action to confront this new threat.

[edit] Training and early deployment

The Spartans underwent extensive physical conditioning and received the best combat and academic teaching. Their physical and combat training was administered by Chief Petty Officer Mendez while their academic instruction was handled by the AI, Deja. Their initial physical training consisted of workouts and an intricate structure which the young Spartans had to navigate. They were split up into teams and each team had to navigate a system of ropes, beams, and bridges to reach the top and ring a bell. The last group to ring the bell was deprived of dinner while the others were fed a lavish meal. John (Spartan-117) discovered early on that the goal was to teach them how to behave effectively as a team. After being less than impressed with his team mates the first day of training, he left his team behind to fend for themselves. While he was the first to ring the bell, he was told that he had lost because his team mates were the last to ring the bell. The next day he and his two other team mates were able to work together to avoid being last.

In a later training exercise, the Spartans were dropped high in the mountains, each with only one piece of a map, and told to make their way to an extraction point. The last one to make it would be left behind. This is when John's leadership qualities first appeared. He picked out a spot where the Spartans would regroup after they had been dropped, and he led them, as a group, to the extraction point, and fought as a team to take out several members of a squad that had been placed there as another hurdle to overcome. When it came time to leave, he made sure that he was the last person to get onto the dropship, because he didn't want any of the others to be left behind. When they returned he was selected as the team leader by Dr. Halsey.

During their training the Spartans developed a strong friendship with each other, and often viewed each other as brothers and sisters. After they received their MJOLNIR armor, which completely obscured their faces and made it difficult to identify individuals, they could still recognize each other simply from the way they moved, as could Dr. Halsey. When greeting another Spartan in armor they would often draw two fingers across their visor as this was the "smile" gesture, indicating they were happy to see them.

[edit] Current status

Just prior to the fall of the planet Reach, all but three of the Spartans (designated "Gray Team") were gathered for what was to be a defense against the ground troops on Reach. (The exact number is unknown, as there are discrepancies in numbers.) Three (John-117, James, and Linda-058) stayed in space for a side operation, of which John was the only active survivor. (It is detailed in the book how the Master Chief put Linda-058 into a cryo tube to be resurrected once she could be revived. During the book "Halo: First Strike" Linda is revived and assists the Master Chief.) The rest descended to Reach to combat a massive Covenant invasion force. Most of them were killed in action. The planet was subsequently "glassed" by heavy orbital plasma bombardment, killing most of the inhabitants. By luck, however, eight Spartans fell back to the one area that was not bombed: it contained a religious artifact the Covenant were hoping to retrieve. Dr. Halsey was within this complex as well, providing the wounded Spartans with much-needed medical attention. They were eventually rescued by the Master Chief, and Halsey was later able to revive Linda. Unfortunately, a number of surviving Spartans (Anton-044, Li-008, Grace-093, Isaac-039 and Vinh-029) were killed in action after the fall of Reach. The surviving Spartans include John-117, Fred-104, Linda-058, and Kelly-087; who was abducted by Dr. Halsey to investigate Onyx. Another surviving SPARTAN, Maria-062, is retired from the program and raising a family, assuming she wasn't killed when the Covenant invaded Earth. Currently, the Master Chief is the only known Spartan in active duty, while Fred-104, Will-043, and Linda-058 were defending Earth during John-117's disappearance, and were re-assigned to Onyx at the request of Dr. Catherine Halsey during Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.

[edit] List of Spartan-IIs

[edit] Living SPARTAN-IIs

Active duty

SPARTAN-058 "Linda" [Active Duty, Currently in the Micro Dyson Sphere of Forerunner shield world "Onyx"]
SPARTAN-087 "Kelly" [Active Duty, Currently in the Micro Dyson Sphere of Forerunner shield world "Onyx"]
SPARTAN-104 "Fred" [Active Duty, Currently in the Micro Dyson Sphere of Forerunner shield world "Onyx"]
SPARTAN-117 "John" [Active Duty, Forerunner Ship en route to Earth]
SPARTAN-458 "Nicole" [Active Duty, Trapped in 21st Century on Nassau Station, featured in Dead or Alive 4; uncanonical.]

No longer in combat

SPARTAN-062 "Maria" [Retired, Currently in Songnam, South Korea, on planet Earth]
SPARTAN-084 "Fjahad" [Crippled during augmentation process, currently serving as intel officer for ONI Section Three]
SPARTAN-??? "Kirk" [Crippled during augmentation process]
SPARTAN-??? "Rene" [Crippled during augmentation process]

[edit] Deceased/Unknown Status Spartan-IIs

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

It should be noted that no Spartans are ever marked within UNSC records as KIA (Killed In Action). This is in accordance with ONI Section Two Directive Nine-Three-Zero; this directive explains that the reported death of a Spartan would cause a crippling loss of morale. As a result, deceased Spartans are simply marked as MIA (Missing In Action) or WIA (Wounded In Action) to provide the illusion that Spartans never die. (Halo: First Strike, p249; Eric Nylund)

SPARTAN-008 "Li" [KIA, Ascendant Justice] - He was the team's zero-g combat specialist. Li had trained extensively with microgravity equipment and martial arts at the UNSC's extreme-conditions facility on Chiron in orbit about Mars. Was killed by a capitol ship plasma blast as the other Spartans attempted to repair the Ascendant Justice's hull in zero-g.
SPARTAN-029 "Joshua" [KIA, Reach]- He was a specialist at computers and technical equipment. He was last seen plummeting to the ground in a captured Banshee, as he had been shot down by Covenant forces. No communications established since. (there is a numerical discrepancy; both Joshua and Vinh are designated as SPARTAN-029 in Halo: First Strike; p9 and 148 respectively)
SPARTAN-029 "Vinh" [KIA, Reach] Last seen with Isaac retreating from Covenant assailants in a subterranean facility. No communications established since. (there is a numerical discrepancy; both Joshua and Vinh are designated as SPARTAN-029 in Halo: First Strike; p9 and 148 respectively)
SPARTAN-034 "Samuel" [KIA, Covenant ship infiltration in 2525] - He was the strongest SPARTAN of the team. Sam was John's best friend and good friends with Kelly. He was killed during the first Spartan attempt to board and destroy a Covenant ship. He pushed John aside and the plasma shot meant for John compromised his non-shielded MJOLNIR IV armour. He had to stay behind to ensure the successful detonation of the ship's reactors. However, he would have not survived even if he had escaped because his damaged suit would not hold up in the vacuum of space.
SPARTAN-039 "Isaac" [KIA, Reach] Last seen with Vinh retreating from Covenant assailants in a subterranean facility. No communications established since.
SPARTAN-043 "Will" [KIA, Onyx] He was quiet, but never failed to complete his mission. He wasn't always that way, though. When he was younger he was the one with the jokes and riddles that kept the team's spirits high. Something had hardened in him over the years. He died on Onyx, shot by a Hunter's Fuel Rod gun while trying to protect his team.
SPARTAN-044 "Anton" [KIA, Ascendant Justice] - He spent most of his life with his feet firmly planted on the ground. He'd cross-trained in tracking, camouflage, and stealth, and had been used exclusively on ground-based operations. Was killed by a capitol ship plasma blast on Ascendant Justice along with Li.
SPARTAN-051 "Kurt" [KIA, Onyx] Kurt was Sam’s replacement on Blue Team. On the one hand, he was an extremely capable Spartan. Chief Mendez had routinely given him command of Green Team during training exercises, and Kurt had often won when facing John’s Blue Team. But on the other hand, he was, for a Spartan, undisciplined. He took time to talk with every Spartan, and even the non-Spartan personnel that trained and supplied them. As a professional soldier in the middle of two wars—one fighting an entrenched rebellion, the other taking on a technologically superior xenophobic alien race—Kurt spent a considerable amount of time and energy making friends. SPARTAN-051 was announced MIA, presumed dead, after an incident involving an unstable Shaw-Fukigawa engine that caused his T-PACK to malfunction, sending him into "interplanetary space." A search and rescue attempt was made, but was abandoned due to "Covenant activity".

Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose, [KIA, Zeta Doradus System, Planet Onyx] It is revealed later in Halo: Ghosts of Onyx that the "accident" involving SPARTAN-051 Kurt's disappearance was staged. He had been chosen by Colonel James Ackerson of ONI to train the SPARTAN-IIIs on Onyx, using the incident to quietly extract him from active SPARTAN duty. Kurt was promoted to Lieutenant (Junior Grade), then Lieutenant Commander for his efforts in training the new SPARTAN-III's. He later reunited with his fellow SPARTAN-IIs and Dr. Catherine Halsey, with whom (and a few SPARTAN-IIIs) he journeyed into the entrance to the Micro Dyson Sphere at the core of Onyx. There, he died detonating several nuclear mines to prevent the Covenant from pursuing the other survivors into the Dyson Sphere.

SPARTAN-059 "Malcolm" [KIA, Reach] - Died during the initial high-risk orbital insertion into Reach.
SPARTAN-093 "Grace" [KIA, Unyielding Hierophant] - She had a knack for explosives. Grace could shape a charge to cut through a single steel bolt with only a whisper sound or rig a hundred thousand liters of kerosene to blow into a firestorm from hell. Killed by a Brute's high-velocity grenade.
SPARTAN "James" [MIA, Orbital Station, Reach] - Credited by John as never quitting or leaving a job undone, was thrown into space when his thruster pack was hit by a needle from a needler, presumably dying of oxygen deprivation. No contact has been established since.
All other SPARTANs who were originally trained with the Master Chief and the other current living SPARTANs have been killed in action (listed as MIA or WIA)
Three unidentified Spartans designated "Gray Team" were too far away from Reach to be recalled before it was attacked, though it's possible that they have either died or are still missing in deep space as they haven't contacted command for over a year.

[edit] Equipment

The Spartan survivors were granted some of the finest armor and weapons available. The contents of the Spartan armory changes depending on the scenario in question, but the general items stay more or less the same. The first Spartans mainly used the MA5B, MA2B (a shortened version of the MA5B with an attachable silencer), M6D magnum and fiber optic cables. Every Spartan wears the MJOLNIR Mark V and higher models which have thermal optic and infrared vision modes. Cameras are also planted in the Spartan's helmet as standard procedure to record all missions. The MJOLNIR Mark V and VI have magnetic adhesive strips in specific locations so Spartans can carry Covenant technology, extra weapons or even tactical HAVOK nukes as described in the Halo novel The Fall of Reach. Also the MJOLNIR Mark V and VI have the ability to house an AI construct. These constructs (such as Cortana from the games) can provide tactical guidance, distance calculations, hack into enemy communications channels and devices, analyze data, weapons, machines and identify specific threats such as mine distribution and other threats the Spartan may not be aware of. A standard flash light in the side of the helmet that runs off a recharging fusion power pack in the back of the armor is also included. Also, the visor of a Spartan provides a real time HUD (heads up display although HMD -Helmet Mounted Display- is the more correct term) and can provide weapon info, ammunition used and remaining, health and pulse monitors, energy shield status, active motion tracker and waypoints laid down by an AI. The MJOLNIR Mark VI has its own supply of biofoam and when a Spartan is wounded it is automatically administered.

[edit] Armor

A quick way to identify a Spartan is by his or her MJOLNIR armor, a full-body suit with a reflective visor. Although the armor comes in different colors on Multiplayer, in the canonical story, the armor consists of green ceramic outer plates with metallic inner plating. The suit augments neural ability, with slight commands becoming big motions with big results. It also allows for an AI to interface with the suit, acting as a layer between the suit and the brain. An AI interfacing with the suit provides improved response time, among other things. The first version of this armor put into use was the MJOLNIR Mark IV, which Dr. Halsey tasked John's team to retrieve. This entry-level version was rather primitive compared to newer incarnations, and because of conditions on Reach, spare parts were not available. Just before the Master Chief was deployed to Halo Installation 04, all available Spartans on Reach upgraded to the Mark V, which added an automatically-recharging energy shield (derived from Covenant Jackal shielding technology) to protect the wearer from initial damage (however, the shield will deplete after continuous or extensive stress and subsequentially recharge when undisturbed). After the events on Halo, the armor was changed again to the Mark VI. This latest armor is even more powerful, with a slightly more powerful shield, off-hand coordination enhancements that allow the wearer to wield two small weapons accurately, ammunition and heat tracking for said second weapon, and enhanced zoom capabilities using the helmet's visor. The suit was originally designed for use by unaugmented humans. Tests of this suit showed that the neural interface that allows the suit to move at a thought was too fast for an average human soldier, which proved to be extremely tasking for the personnel inside. When given to the Spartans it proved to be manageable. The Spartans quickly adapted to the suit and it is now an important addition to their arsenal.

In multiplayer matches in Halo and Halo 2, the players' armor color changes to his team color in a team game. In Halo 2, a user can create an emblem to help uniquely identify his avatar to help distinguish between players; portions of the armor where the secondary color would be also remain the same.