SPARTAN-III Program (AAO)

"Delta Company is like one huge family. Everyone in it knows each other by name, and there are varying emotions. You know, the typical family stuff.  Fights, anger, love.  They're tightly knit, though.  All feuds are forgotten the instant their family is threatened, and very few outside the company actually know their names; they think they're too important to just hand out.  If one does tell you their name, it means they have put a great amount of faith and trust in you.  Betray it, and no Delta will ever trust you again.  In fact, there seems to be only one out of the entire group that they'll always trust, no matter what he does.  And that Spartan is perhaps the most powerful human alive.  I wouldn't want to cross him."

- Ezekiel-254 in conversation with Spartan-116

Conscription
Like most Spartans, the Spartans of Delta company were conscripted around age six, and were taken to the planet of New Quebec to begin training in August 2555. However, due to population constraints, some were younger and some older, with the youngest being 4 and the oldest conscripted being 8. It has also been found that most of the Deltas were genetically engineered while in the womb to conform to the proper DNA markers.

Training
Delta company was trained by Ezekiel-254, a Class II Spartan II. The training regime was hard and quick, as each Spartan had to get used to their bodies again and again between augmentation procedures.

Graduation
The Delta Company Spartans graduated at age 18, later than earlier generations due to biological concerns. Their augmentations were spread out over a five year course, which had the side effect of allowing them to ease in to super-human bodies, rather than get dumped in to them.

Upon graduation, five Spartan teams were awarded honors, with the top team receiving high honors. They are listed in descending order:


 * 1) Phoenix Team
 * 2) Hawk Team
 * 3) Manticore Team
 * 4) Flechette Team
 * 5) Dragoon Team

Improvements
The technology used to enhance the Delta Spartans is the newest kind, some backwards engineered from Forerunner technology, and has made these Spartans even faster and stronger.

Delta Company Spartans can run at speeds around 160 kilometers per hour when armored in Mk. VII MJOLNIR armor. When given twitch stimulants, which increase running speeds temporarily, a fully armored Delta can sprint at slightly over 180 kph. Unarmored, a Delta can sprint at speeds of about 65 kph.

Team Types
In order to spread out their usefulness, Delta Company is divided in to different teams, each one with a specific purpose.

Standard Teams
Standard Teams are the most well-rounded teams, consisting of five Spartans or more.

Tactical Strike Teams
Tactical Strike teams are the most versatile, their make up being a demolitions expert, sniper, medic, electronics expert, and CQC fighter.

Five Spartans comprise one Tactical Strike team. They make good use of all weapons and equipment available to them.

Guard Teams
Guard Teams are made up of six Spartans, whose purpose is generally defense. There is generally one sniper, a demolitions expert, two CQC fighters, a medic, and a heavy weapons fighter.

Guard Teams are very skilled in the defense of a location or moving target. They make excellent use of close-quarters weapons and shield equipment.

Specialized Teams
Specialized Teams have a more specific purpose, but can still fight like the rest.

Strategic Infiltration Teams
"Tag. You're it."

- SI Spartan in the middle of wrapping an energy garrote around an Insurrectionist's neck

Strategic Infiltration teams are made up of three Spartans. These are the assassins and kidnappers of Delta Company, using close quarters weapons like the shotgun very effectively. They also come equipped with weapons most Spartans don't use, like energy garrotes and neural disruption collars. These two weapons come in handy for assassinating or capturing a target, respectively.

SI teams are geniuses with their active camouflage. It is to be noted that the only five Spartans that came withing inches of beating the famed Phoenix Team during an exercise were all later put in to SI teams.

SI team members are also selected for their ability to blend in with the general population, and are picked from the shortest of the Spartans. These members are specially trained to operate undercover for extended periods of time.

Of the 3000 Spartans that Delta Company is comprised of, about 20 are used as undercover agents.

EVA Teams
"Jack, if you start singing " Fly Like an eagle " again, you get a .50 caliber round up your ass."

- D173

Extra-Vehicular Activity teams are zero-gravity specialists. The last years of their training were done entirely in zero-g aboard the MAC station and various cruisers orbiting New Quebec.

Since EVA teams are generally fighting at long range in space, they use weapons like the BR60 and the M99 Stanchion, all modified for use in a vacuum.

EVA Teams use the Mk. VII MJOLNIR/V variant armor. It is the same in almost every aspect to regular Mk. VII armor, except that the V variant features magnetic grapple points for easier maneuvering on a ships hull, as well as attachment points for booster packs. The helmet is also concave, similar to SPI armor, but fitting tighter against the head. This allows for easier viewing of an entire situation in space.

Command Structure
Delta Company is actually split in to fifteen companies of 200 Spartans each.

Augmentations

 * 1) Carbide ceramic ossification: Advanced material: special metal and ceramic layers, grafting onto skeletal structure to make bones virtually unbreakable. Recommended coverage not to exceed 4 percent total bone mass because of significant white blood cell necrosis. Specific risk for pre- and near-post pubescent adolescents: skeletal growth spurts may cause near irreparable bone pulverization.
 * 2) Muscular enhancement injections: Protein complex is injected intramuscular, to increase tissue density and decrease lactate recovery time. Risk: 1 percent of test subjects experience a fatal cardiac volume increase.
 * 3) Catalytic thyroid implant: Platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues. Risk: extremely rare instances of elephantiasis. Suppressed sexual drive.
 * 4) 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.
 * 5) Superconducting fabrication of neural dendrites: Alteration of bio-electrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. Three hundred sixty percent increase in subject’s reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity. Risk: moderate instances of Parkinson’s disease and Fletcher’s syndrome.
 * 6) Increased Balance: Specialized superconducting of the VIIIth nerve's Vestibular Portion, which increases the person's sense of balance.  Risk: .5% chance of permanent disorientation due to nerve rejection.
 * 7) Boosted Immune System: Drug synthesizer bridged in to the aorta to boost the immune system and stimulate blood cell regeneration, improving resilience to disease and increasing cellular regeneration.  Can also inject cortisol and adrenaline for combat, and basic sedatives afterward.  Requires the user to be using Mk. VII MJOLNIR armor.  Risk: Rejection of the aortic artery.
 * 8) Fifth Generation Nano-bots: Advances in nanotechnology allow microscopic robots to be inserted in to a host's circulatory system.  There are three types: immune, biochemical, and plasma.  Immune nano-bots are used to assist the immune system in fighting off viruses that the immune system can't fight off by itself.  Biochemical assist the liver and kidneys in the breakdown of nutrients and the filtering of poisons, giving the host more energy per calorie ingested.  Plasma bots are used to stimulate bone marrow to replenish red blood cells faster than normally possible.
 * 9) Cardiovascular Conditioning: Cardiovascular steroids are applied to strengthen the heart of the individual, reducing the effect of microgravity on it, and increasing cell wall regeneration. This multiplies the chance of survival in case of damage to the heart.  Risk: Tachycardia or Bradycardia.  Treatment requires a specific set of DNA.

Reasoning
"So we're still just suicide soldiers? And we were genetically engineered to be prime candidates for the augmentations? Now you know why I never trust authority figures."

- Clad-D1010

The official reasoning for the conscription of 3000 humans for Spartan training, as well as the development of their armor and superior augmentation is that the Covenant is still active. This does not hold water with most, as the Covenant are much weaker than before the official end to the war.

However, recent evidence gathered by a few teams of Delta Spartans has revealed that the reasoning behind the creation of Delta Company has to do with the recent discovery of Precursor data. The motives behind this are still not clear, and are currently under investigation. Some have gathered that new processes taken from Forerunner technology have led to easier material manufacturing, effectively cutting the cost of making a single Spartan by about one half.

In early 2570, Wings-D339 found out that the Delta Company Spartans were still suicide soldiers, but not in the same fashion as Alpha, Beta, and Gamma companies. Whereas the first three companies of Spartan IIIs were secret suicide soldiers, the Deltas were never meant to be secret, but they were still supposed to give their lives as martyrs to fight the Covenant to a standstill. This was confirmed by Wings' teammate, Peec-D1074, when the hacker found out that ONI knew just exactly how many Covenant there were.

"I'm not done. There is still more to this puzzle, still more to find. I won't be content until I have all the pieces."

- Wings-D339