Project EPIDERMIS

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Project EPIDERMIS was a subsidiary project of the Epimetheus Programme, operating with full autonomy and no oversight by either the main project, or ONI. This ostensibly means that Project EPIDERMIS was a rogue project; subversive, potentially seditious, and with unknown objectives.

The Project has its roots in the 2526 EPIDERMIS Initiative, begun by the Epimetheus Programme as a way to generate funding, independent from the Office of Naval Intelligence, and off the books entirely. This means that, while officially illegal, the project could continue to operate with its compartmentalised structure uncompromised, with little, if any, backchannels that would lead any investigator to the Office of Naval Intelligence.

The EPIDERMIS Initiative was essentially a medical initiative, putting the Epimetheus Programme's many medical staff and equipment to use once the Spartan subjects were fully augmented. This medical technology included, but was not limited to;


 * BRX-T04 Embryonic Obviation Chambers.
 * TX01 Flash-Clone Organ Tanks.
 * VFD9 Autonomous Surgical Assistance Drone.

These pieces of military medical equipment were used to create embryonic stem cells and flash-cloned organs for transplant, along no predetermined genetic vector, essentially leaving them as 'blank slate' organs. These organs, when used in transplant surgery, would seamlessly bond themselves to the recipient's genetic code, and reduce all risk of being rejected. The stem cells, when used in conjunction with these 'blank slate' organs, would increase the speed at which the organ acclimated to the recipient's body, as the unspecialised cells would be used to assist with healing, cell revitalisation, and proper organ function.

These two traits combined were leagues ahead of civilian sector medical technology, and with the onset of the Human-Covenant War, they proved invaluable in the decades to come, as corporations and pharmaceutical companies would pay enormous sums of money for the continued flow of perfect, 'blank-slate' organs.

The Epimetheus Programme liaised with various organisations and corporations through a myriad of private sector shell corporations, allowing the funds to be essentially laundered, and make it back to the Epimetheus Programme for funding to the various maintenance works, medical treatments, and production costs that comprised the programme.

However, sometime after 2530, a good portion of this medical equipment went missing, unaccounted for in all records, and replacements had to be requisitioned from ONI and produced locally.

The whereabouts of these instruments was the subject of a massive Section Zero investigation that ended when the Agents sent to investigate also turned up missing. Subsequent investigation into the deaths of the two Section Zero Agents yielded little to no information, and the deaths were ruled as accidental in the summer of 2532.

While the leading theories of the deaths are based purely on circumstantial evidence and hearsay, ONI Section 0 has seen fit to reopen the investigation following the creation of the UNSC Office of Military Justice.

Furthermore, as per the protocols of Security Clearance Gold, this file is restricted to senior level staff and Gold Clearance officers only.

Evidence
In the fall of 2530, several hundred million credits worth of medical equipment went missing from the Epimetheus labs, forcing the Epimetheus Programme to take a massive hit to its funding, and requisition more of the highly-expensive technology from other sources; even creating their own through reverse-engineering and siphoning of their own funds towards this goal.

In response to this event, ONI Section Zero dispatched two Agents; Major Tiverra Abdul and Lieutenant Lisandra Baines. These Agents would work closely with the project heads of the Epimetheus programme to locate the source of the missing equipment. Leading theories at the time were that the Epimetheus Programme itself, or one of its subsidiary shell corporations, were selling the equipment to the civilian sector, specifically, to their various pharmaceutical contacts. This theory was dismissed the following year (2531), when it was revealed that no transaction of any kind took place. Adding to that, the Epimetheus Programme's response to the loss of the equipment were to create their own; a highly expensive and potentially-dangerous feat in and of itself.

The attempted creation of reverse-engineered Watershed technology was halted in 2531, after a successful recreation of a BRX-T04 Embryonic Obviation Chamber. Replacements were fast-tracked to the programme, and research into the recreation of these items was seized and delivered back to the Watershed division by the Section Zero Agents.

The next piece of evidence came in a shocking ambush by suspected-Insurrectionist forces of an Epimetheus-run convoy supplying flash-cloned organs and embryonic stem cells to the Vita-Tech Corporation. UNSC Marines and Army Troopers, moonlighting as PMC forces, came under assault in broad daylight during their journey through a highly metropolitan area, with copious amounts of security footage, a local Superintendent-Class AI, and facial recognition software.

None of these security measures were able to discern faces of the attackers, nor any identifiable markings of any kind. It was believed to be the work of highly trained, highly knowledgeable individuals, who knew precisely how to bypass comprehensive security systems worked into the infrastructure of the city itself.

Despite local law enforcement and the scrambling of UNSC air force assets, the perpetrators managed to escape with over thirty million credits worth of organs, medical supplies, and the Doctor who was in charge of seeing them to their destination; Doctor Ronaldo Byrtes.

The loss of Doctor Byrtes forced the Section Zero Agents to enhance and redouble their efforts to find the link between these events, and bring the investigation to a close.

Two other medical practitioners under the EPIDERMIS Initiative approached the Agents, in order to assist them in the safe return of Doctor Byrtes. These individuals were Doctor Tress Mullen and Doctor Leyland Wiles. Initially, the Agents refused to work with internal personnel, especially those with no combat nor investigatory experience. In time, the Agents relented, and allowed the two other Doctors to accompany them on the investigation, and into the field, as they revealed that Doctor Byrtes—the one who had been taken—had left an electronic trace behind in the truck, allowing the Agents to track the whereabouts of the Doctor.

What follows is unknown. It is known that the two Agents and the two medical personnel went into the field alongside a squad of UNSC Marines, hand picked by the Doctors to accompany them, as they were part of the squad that had escorted the convoy when it had been attacked.

It is known that, prior to the operation, the two Agents made contact with the Office of Naval Intelligence for a pre-mission information exchange, and it is known that this exchange was the last time the two Agents and the two Doctors were ever seen.

At some point during the operation, it is known that the two Agents were killed, and their bodies disposed of in the Zvolic canal system. The two Doctors and the squad of Marines were never seen again, and were presumed dead or captured.

With no other leads, the investigation at the time was quietly shut down, and the deaths of all involved ruled either tragic accidents, or the work of Insurrectionists.

To this day, exactly what happened during that operation is unknown.