User:Baccus78/Project MYRMIDON

Project MYRMIDON (known as Project HELLSPARTAN in other sources) was one of several top-secret supersoldier development projects by the Office of Naval Intelligence and Naval Special Weapons, running concurrently with the SPARTAN-II Program, with the same aim of producing highly capable and biologically and mechanically augmented supersoldiers. Unlike the 'regular' SPARTAN-II Program, MYRMIDON was more Marine-based, being run mainly by marine corps officers and having its operations managed by Naval Special Warfare's marine corps contingent.

Origins
As part of ONI's attempts to keep some SPARTAN Program candidates out of Halsey's reach, she was limited to choosing 75 of the (supposedly) 150 targeted subjects. Some of these leftovers were then recovered for other concurrently planned projects in other locations, run by various entities - mainly secret subcells of ONI Section Three, including Beta-5, Alpha-7 and Gamma-1. MYRMIDON (later nicknamed "HELLSPARTAN" by its founders) was one of the larger of these projects, using 34 of the leftover candidates.

The effort was headed by the Alpha-7 Division, led by Major Victoria Brawler, ONI liaison of the Marine Corps, with backing from Lieutenant General Albert Kits and numerous other lower-ranking officials in the Security Committee (though in the case of the latter, the project was disguised as a weapons program).

Training & Augmentation
Following the authorization of Naval Code 45812, Alpha-7 operatives abducted the targeted candidates in early December 2517 - a few months after Halsey's Program start - and took them to a hidden ONI-controlled facility on the asteroid 2 Pallas, Ordnance Facility S7K. Shortly after, the intense training to become supersoldiers began, supervised by a cadre of elite drill instructors led by Staff Sergeants Jack Roberts and Jun Nawaki. The training closely mimicked that of Halsey's program, though additions and changes were made throughout the project's course by Major Brawler as she saw fit - including adding additional emphasis on marine combat tactics and orbital insertion training.

In 2525, all candidates underwent the pre-planned augmentation procedures, consisting of the following chemicals;
 * Carbide Ceramic Ossification
 * Description: Advanced material grafting onto skeletal structures to make bones virtually unbreakable. Recommended coverage not to exceed 3% total bone mass because of significant white blood cell necrosis.
 * Risk(s): Specific risk for pre-and near-postpubescent adolescents: skeletal growth spurts may cause irreparable bone pulverization.
 * Muscular Enhancement Injections
 * Description: Protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactase recovery time.
 * Risk(s): 5% of test subjects experience a fatal cardiac volume increase.
 * Catalytic Thyroid Implant
 * Description: Platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues.
 * Risk(s): Rare instances of elephantitis. Suppressed sexual drive.
 * Occipital Capillary Reversal
 * Description: Submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of the subject's retina. Produces a marked visual perception increase.
 * Risk(s): Retinal rejection and detatchment. Permanent blindness.


 * Superconducting Fibrification of Neural Dendrites
 * Description: Alteration of bioeletrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. 300% increase in subject reflexes. Anecdotal evidence of marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity.
 * Risk(s): Significant instances of Parkinson's Disease and Fletcher's Syndrome.

As was the case with Halsey's program, the augments proved devastating to a staggering amount of the subjects, though it was worse in MYRMIDON's case as there were few candidates to begin with. In the end, only 15 candidates survived the procedures relatively unscathed, while 14 died outright and 5 were fatally crippled. The remaining Spartans were subsequently broken down into three teams - Gold, Silver and Bronze - and trained to adapt to their new enhancements for some time, before going into the field in January 2526.

Service
Initial deployments against insurgent factions showed satisfying results, which was later considered one of the reasons that the Myrmidons' superiors decided to send the three-team force to battle humanity's new enemy, the Covenant Empire, sooner than the Spartans' trainers and Major Brawler would have preferred. Though the members continued to impress the moment they touched down on Harvest to aid in its liberation, their inexperience with fighting the alien juggernaut lead to casualties as the situation grew worse; by the end of the campaign, 6 Myrmidons had perished, and one suffered extensive injuries preventing further deployment. The losses forced Bronze Team to be inactivated, the surviving members covering the gaps in Gold and Silver.

After Harvest, things slowly stabilized and the Myrmidons didn't lose any more members for some time, though this could have been because they received the MJOLNIR Mark IV Powered Assault Armor - which Halsey's Spartans had already been using for several years before MYRMIDON's superiors managed to acquire some to use for themselves - around this time. The next major loss of members came during the Battle of Leonis Minoris, during which two of Gold Team's members were separated from the others and were subsequently killed by orbital bombardment. Shortly afterwards, another member of Gold, Cal-141, was killed during a mission with a team of ODSTs to destroy a Covenant logistics base on Heian, reducing Gold to a three-man team. Several years later, the Myrmidons suffered even more devastating losses to their already crippling numbers during the catastrophic Operation: SCATTERSHOT, resulting in the loss of one member of Gold and all but one member of Silver, reducing the amount of active Myrmidons to three.

Nearing the end of the Human-Covenant War, the Myrmidons' command organization, Alpha-7, was decommissioned and its resources rerouted to Beta-5. As such, the last remaining Myrmidons - banding together into a new Gold Team - also came under the supervision of Beta-5. This proved to have an unexpected benefit, as Beta-5 decided to get the team back to a five-man roster by assigning a pair of SPARTAN-III Headhunters from Gamma Company, Vladislav-G119 and Desideria-G033. Together, the new five-man team then returned to Reach to receive the MJOLNIR Mark V Armor to prepare for new missions into Covenant space.

Gold Team
Former members:
 * Sergeant Major Anko-106 (Gold-One) - A capable leader on the field and a social comrade-in-arms off it, Anko is the team leader of Gold, and overall commander of all the Myrmidons.
 * Gunnery Sergeant August-048 (Gold-Two) - A daring man in all circumstances, August is the team's close quarters combat specialist, pointman and second-in-command.
 * Sergeant Aziz-036 (Gold-Three) - The sole survivor of Silver Team and constantly cranky as a result, Aziz has taken up the role of Gold's heavy weapons specialist.
 * Petty Officer First Class Vladislav-G119 (Gold-Four) - A calm and calculating prodigy, and like Desideria a Spartan-III Headhunter, Vladislav is an expert hacker and field medic.
 * Petty Officer Second Class Desideria-G033 (Gold-Five) - The youngest member of the team, and a Spartan-III like Vladislav, Desideria is somewhat jumpy and eager to please - fitting the designation of 'Team Rookie' - but her marksmanship, pilot and mechanic skills more than make up for this.
 * First Sergeant Keiichi-047 (Previous Gold-Two) - Gold Team's previous second-in-command, Keiichi was killed near the end of the Harvest Campaign in battle against a convoy of Wraiths.
 * Sergeant Maria-062 (Previous Gold-Four) - The team's former pilot, Maria was severely wounded during the Harvest Campaign and relocated to a medical facility in the inner colonies.
 * Corporal Marcus-003 (Previous Gold-Four) - Keiichi's replacement and the team's former heavy weapons specialist after Bronze Team's inactivation, Marcus was killed during the Battle of Leonis Minoris along with Tara.
 * Corporal Tara-123 (Previous Gold-Five) - Reassigned from the inactivated Bronze Team as a replacement like Marcus, Tara also died on Leonis Minoris.
 * Sergeant Cal-141 (Previous Gold-Four/Three) - The team's former expert marksman, Cal was killed during a raid on a logistics base on Heian with a team of ODSTs.
 * Sergeant Howard-099 (Previous Gold-Four/Three) - Brought in as a replacement first to Silver and then to Gold, Howard ultimately met his end during Operation: SCATTERSHOT.

Trivia

 * Several Spartans revealed in somewhat questionable sources (the Halo Wars Marketing Campaign and Halo Graphic Novel, for example) were repurposed for this article in an attempt to work them into the universe in a somewhat plausible manner.
 * The name "Hellspartan", which was occasionally applied to the Myrmidons, is a reference to the Hellspartan figurines released by McFarlane Toys.