User:Killjax/S.P.A.R.T.A.N IV Program

"You are the Fourth Generation of super soldiers, you are Spartans. Two generations of your brothers and sisters have started a fight with a collective alien race known as the Covenant, now its your turn to fight and finish it once and for all."

- Lt. Col. Pierce

The S.P.A.R.T.A.N IV Program, acronym for SPecialized Assault and Reconnaissance, Tactical and Non-conventional unit, is part of the Spartan Program of the Office of Naval Intelligence, Section III, Beta-6 Division. This fourth generation of Spartans would be the second generation to produce cheap and expendable super soldiers but with the focus of tight unit cohesion and advanced tactical assault and reconnaissance. Unlike the Spartan-II Program, the S.P.A.R.T.A.N IV was under the influence and command of the UNSC Army and its Black Ops Division, much like the Spartan-III program. The Program was to expand and to finish where the S-III program left off under new authority (Battle of Onyx→) and to supply the new selected candidates with more equipment and exposure to advanced weapons and tactical training unlike before.

Precursor
The Spartan-III Program, successor of the Spartan-II project, was a success in the Human-Covenant War. Though, almost 100% mortality rates in a single suicidal mission was seen as a futile attempt to buy the UNSC precious time. ONI counted this as a "strategic success" to the war effort. However, Col. James Ackerson, head of the project, had to unofficially post-pone the further training of newer candidates of Delta Company after communications was lost at Camp Currahee, Onyx (Battle of Onyx→). This later erased the chances of Echo and Foxtrot Company to be trained as well. By the time Earth was invaded, Col. Ackerson was deemed MIA (Missing In Action) after the Battle of Mare Erythraeum. When the war ended a year later, 3 platoons from Gamma Company were accounted for and the candidates of Delta were dispersed by ONI (though the records of their genetic pool were kept on file).

5 years after the Human-Covenant War ended, Covenant Remnants of the Jiralhanae military faction began to wreak havoc among the surviving Inner Colonies and space lanes. Along with Sanghelian Rebels who still held the previous Prophets teachings as truth. With the Colonial Administrations sources and limited ships spread to thin, the surviving United Earth Government and the UNSC's Security Committee proposed to re-arm and re-train their military to a combat effective stance. A recommendation order was sent to a mock HIGHCOM of the UNSCDF and a widespread order to initiate Military wide re-armament commenced. The UNSC Marine Corps and Army accounted over 2-4 million personnel ill-equipped down to the last squad member, and had limited access for transportation to other colonies due to the Home Fleet having few operational ships. This created a temporary problem for Colonial security. Though, by 2560, hostile accounts across the outer rim have limitedly ceased for reasons unknown side for a few skirmishes. This created an opportunity for the United Nation Defense Force to rebuild without hassle.

By 2567, A meeting between the UN Security Council and its Committee suggested reviving the Spartan Program to effectively combat and eliminate growing Covenant Remnant incursions. Howevever, the idea was abandoned due to the limited military funding and the difficult process of candidate selection. The idea was thus forgotten. Though, Lt. Col. Morgan Pierce, acting member of the Security Committee (replacing Col. Ackerson as the Intelligence Officer), requested to go through ONI's Section III's Divisional files for Ackersons reports and files of the Spartan-III Program. ONI denied the request and stated the information he wanted "has been erased since the Covenant obliteratd Reach" years before (Cole Protocol order→). Lt. Col. Morgan did not believe this and thus recruited his advisor, Major Devereux, to look for the files himself. Devereux was head of ONI's Black Ops Division of Section III (replacing Captain Aaron Gibson). After using his own personal AI, Devereux managed to pull up files pertaning to "S-III", Delta Company's Candidate roster along with the illegal augmentation procedures that took place (Project CHRYSANTHEMUM→). Devereux also found a log of past and future deployment orders of the Remaining 2nd, 4th, and 5th Platoons of Gamma Company from the past 9 years, now consisting of only three squads. Lt. Col. Pierce presented this to the Security Committee and ONI Section III was court martialed for illegal use of augmentation procedures without FLEETCOM's consent. Beta-5 Division was soon disbanded. With the information at hand, a meeting was held with the UNSCDF, ONI, and the Security Council to initiate the fourth generation of Spartans. Lt. Col. Morgan Pierce was given full command of the project as well as Major Devereux. The newly formed Beta-6 Division took responsibility of the Program. Funding came through the Office of Naval Intelligence after its court martial and Militray Funding was temporarily diverted to the project to help start training procedures. Base-of-operations of the Spartan Program was situated at Fort Mariner on Australia, Earth.

Recruitment
The File "S-III" contained the augmentation procedures and drugs used during Project CHRYSANTHEMUM and the specific genetic, physical, and mental requirements viable for the candidates to meet by the par. Although the drugs were outlawed by the UNSC Medical Corps in 2513, the UNSC withdrew the law due to the 100% survival rate it had with the Spartan-III's. Though, the report was kept confidential by ONI nonetheless. While attaining the neccessary drugs to under go the future augmentations, the recruitment list was less than expected. Alpha Company was to be the first unit to go through training and augmentation, but had a list of 220 names of the 330 needed for a Company. Major Devereux suggested altering the gene pool so more can be selected, but Pierce denied the idea in fear of losing more candidates than receiving them in augmentation.