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Spartan-II Program / ORIONPRO
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The SPARTAN-II program was the first major success of the SPARTAN programs, an effort to produce elite soldiers through mechanical and biological augmentation. Originally envisioned as the second generation of the ORION Project under “Generation-II ORION” and “The ORION Project Generation Two”.
History
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-II 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 were chemically-enhanced volunteers from the armed forces, the SPARTAN-IIs were young children, who were kidnapped, indoctrinated, and raised as soldiers from as young as six 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-II 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-IIs were outfitted with MJOLNIR, the most advanced mechanized armor in human history.
While the war with the Covenant continued to progress and the Insurrection was effectively cut off, the Spartan-IIs continued to engage Insurrectionist factions who remained strong enough to pose a genuine threat to the UNSC. The Spartan-IIs 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.
Manifesto
In order to maintain morale among the other forces of the UNSC, the Office of Naval Intelligence created Directive 930. According to it “any Spartan casualties are to be listed as Missing In Action (MIA) or Wounded In Action (WIA), but never Killed In Action (KIA).” The protocol is not applied to members of the SPARTAN-IV program and the Spartan Operations branch, the UNSC opting to honor their sacrifices accordingly rather than maintaining an aura of invincibility for propaganda purposes.
Charter
While many outsiders view them as single-minded, the Spartan-IIs remain independent thinkers; from early on, Dr. Halsey’s intent was to mold the candidates into effective soldiers through “persuasion and acclimation” as opposed to the brainwashing suggested by some of her colleagues within ONI, believing that in order to be truly efficient, the Spartans must be able to properly understand and embrace the significance of their mission. As such, the Spartans possess a profound understanding of their role as weapons and the weight of the life imposed on them. Most of them do not hold grudges over their abduction and treatment, instead having come to embrace their lives as Spartans as both a necessity and something they were born to do.
The Spartan-IIs’ training emphasized dedication to one’s duty as well as winning at any cost, values most of the active Spartan-IIs remain committed to. They have frequently been shown to ignore concerns over their personal health as long as there remains a mission to complete and tend to become incredibly frustrated when prevented from acting in a combat situation; because of this they generally prefer planetary operations to being based aboard starships with no way to contribute to an engagement.
The Spartan-IIs enjoy a great deal of solidarity and camaraderie within their group due to them having grown up together; indeed, they consider their fellow Spartans family, something that was encouraged in their indoctrination from a young age. Having been taught to refrain from overt emotional displays, the Spartan-IIs most commonly convey their emotions through subtle body language and cryptic gestures. They possess numerous unique internal habits and signals conveyed through simple gestures or statements, making interactions among their group largely indecipherable to outsiders. Only a select few outsiders, including Dr. Halsey and Déjà, are privy to some of the best-held secrets within the group. Their familiarity with each other’s body language allows the Spartan-IIs to function in perfect synergy in combat, their teamwork abilities having been described as borderline telepathic.58 Although the Spartan-IIs often have difficulty socializing with baseline humans outside situations of a strictly military nature, they are rather gregarious among themselves and habitually cluster together while out of the battlefield, commonly engaging in activities such as playing cards, exercising together, reading, or maintaining their personal equipment.
