- Angelfish360
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- Noble Member
Posted by: Dream053
Please do not quote the OP posts in their entirety. If there is something you wish to respond to, cut out everything but the portion that you wish to address. That will help us all when dealing with the already abnormally large size of the thread. If you see someone who has quoted an entire post without appropriately cutting it up, please REPORT it.
This theory (more accurately a hypothesis) sprouted from the continuous controversy over the Halo: Reach teaser's "Spartan-259" and "Spartan-320", and how their numbers must instantly mean that they are of "Class 2" of the Spartan-II Program. I feel that there is a lot of assumption going on regarding the Spartan callsigns / "conscription" numbers and the original selection process, and so I've busted out my novels in an attempt to provide a plausible explanation as to how and why these Spartans are part of the first "class" or "wave" of Spartan-II supersoldiers, rather than being from some sort of subsequent class.
Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form support the idea that "259" refers to Spartan-2 "059" rather than simply being a direct part of the callsign number. My theory does not deal with that incredibly silly, weightless supposition in any way, so do not bring it up here.
Thesis: The original 150-candidate group of children that was later cut in half to become the "first class" of 75 Spartan-II soldiers was a number dwindled down from an even larger pool of potential candidates for the program, thereby rendering the misconception that Spartan callsigns above 150 having to be from a secondary "class" as very unlikely.
Introduction: While I won't spent too much time giving backstory here, as I'm sure we're all quite accompanied to canonical Halo lore, I feel it is necessary to reiterate a few things here in order to help refresh both your memory as well as how you conceive this continuous debate.
The opposition to which my thesis is directed, is the idea that Spartans whose identification numbers go beyond "150" are instantly signified as being not from the first "class" of Spartan-II soldiers, but are a secondary "class". It is vitally important to understand where the idea of this "second class" of Spartans even came from:
Understanding The Spartan-II Project: "Class 2":
The idea of a secondary wave of Spartan-IIs was initially introduced into the novels during a briefing by Vice Admiral Stanforth to the Spartan-IIs about discovering the existence of The Covenant. After informing them that their training would have to be accelerated to its final phase, assimilation with Project MJOLNIR, he went on to inform them that CPO Mendez would be leaving to train a secondary wave of Spartan-IIs, as seen in this excerpt from Eryic Nylund's, "The Fall of Reach":
"The Fall of Reach", p. 99 - Admiral Stanforth and the Spartan-IIs
0600 Hours, November 2, 2525 (Military Calendar) /
Epsilon Eridani System, Reach UNSC Military Complex,
planet Reach
. . .
"To that end, I'm afraid I have another unpleasant announcement."
He turned to the Chief. "Chief Petty Officer Mendez will be departing us to train the next group of Spartans. Chief?"
Pushing "Dead or Alive 4"'s Nicole-458 aside, as she is entirely non-canonical, it seems that some people have also wrongly considered there to have been a second, canonical instance in which a Spartan-II, Class 2 was indicated, particularly in "I Love Bees", the Alternate Realty Game marketing project that hyped up Halo 2's release, when it is revealed that Durga, a splintered personality from a smart AI named "Melissa", was actually created via cognitive impression mapping from the mind of a Spartan girl who died during augmentation processes. However there is never any mention of what type of Spartan class this is:
"I Love Bees" - 'Kamal Meets Durga'
circa September, 2552
Durga: I'm not--I'm not Yasmine. I'm merely copied from her personality matrix. Your sister was abducted into the Spartan class of [2537], but she washed out.
"I Love Bees" - 'Had to Tell You'
circa September, 2552
Jersey: But, if they took Yasmine when she was 6, then 8 years of Spartan training, Kamal's 18, she dies... how old is Kamal?
Durga: 25.
As we can see, it is shown here that the Yasmine character is purported to have been conscripted into a Spartan program in 2537 at the age of six years-old, but it is not indicated whether it is the Spartan-II program's "2nd class", or if it is instead the Spartan-III program which, conveniently enough, had its second conscription process expedited in the midst of this very same year:
"Ghosts of Onyx", p. 88 - Vice Admiral Parangosky, Kurt-051
0900 Hours, July 30, 2537 (Military Calendar) \ Aboard
UNSC Point of No Return, Location Classified
(5 years fater Alpha Company introctrination)
"We have identified 375 candidates," Kurt said. "Slightly less than we started with for Alpha Company, but we have learned from our mistakes. We will be able to graduate a much higher percentage this time."
. . .
"Now I want you to focus and accelerate the training of the Beta Company Spartans," [Vice Admiral Parangosky] said. "We have a war to win."
According to the I Love Bees timeline, Yasmine would have died due to biological augmentations in 2545, a year from which we have no information on the Spartan-III project, which makes confirmation difficult. However, this next quote should provide an adequate clarification all on its own regarding the "Class-II" Spartans, and speculation notwithstanding, it should serve well as my opening argument. If that portion of I Love Bees was considered canon (as it was said to be "embraced" as such, rather than an all-encompassing statement that the entire project was canonical), it would be safe to assume that she was indeed part of the Spartan-III project's Beta Company, as it is the most multilaterally compatible of plausible explanations:
Ghosts of Onyx, p. 62-63 - Kurt-051 and Colonel Ackerson
1950 HOURS, DECEMBER 14, 2531 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \
ABOARD UNSC POINT OF NO RETURN, LOCATION CLASSIFIED
. . .
"What is this new mission, sir?"
Ackerson stared at him a moment, then seemed to look through Kurt, past him. "I want you to train the next generation of Spartans."
Kurt blinked, taking in what Ackerson had just said, not quite understanding. "Sir, I was under the impression that Chief Petty Officer Mendez had been reassigned years ago to carry out that mission."
"The effort to train additional Spartan-IIs was postponed indefinitely by Dr. Catherine Halsey," Ackerson said. "There were other candidates within the gene pool, but they were out of synch with her age restriction protocols. And with the continuing war, her program funds were . . . diverted."
Kurt had always presumed other Spartans were being trained, that he and his fellows were the first in what would be a long line of Spartans. He'd never considered they might be the first, and the last, of their kind.
This very quote tells us that the Spartan-II's second wave of Spartans was postponed indefinitely back in 2525, as CPO Mendez never did fulfill his original reassignment given that very year, and that her funding was subsequently redacted for other military uses. Now, six years later, nothing has changed. Nonetheless, some have argued that the word "indefinitely" leaves the situation open-ended, providing Halsey with the chance of restarting the Spartan-II project sometime in between 2531 and 2552. It is true that it doesn't explicitly state here that the Project was canceled altogether, there are also two very important things to consider here:
Section Three was responsible for the Spartan programs. Orion, Spartan-II, and Spartan-III. With Halsey's consistent absence of progress, they turned to Colonel Ackerson to bring the next wave of Spartans instead. Only this time, with new health, training, and budgetary protocols, the project would henceforth be separated from Halsey's predecessor. The Spartan-III program began to graduate Spartans of mass numbers in relatively shorter amounts of time that were also far cheaper to produce and support (GoO, p.63). Their high-risk missions were considered incredibly successful ones (despite the towering number of Spartan deaths) and their production continued through 2552, with the last class having begun in the mid 2540s. Given that this new project became Section Three's focus, we are at least somewhat led to believe that all focus on the original, out-dated Spartan-II project would have dissipated completely.
The second thing that we must pay close attention to is something that I will address in the beginning of the third post in this thread.
lol nerd