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  • Subject: Regarding a "Class 2" of Spartans
Subject: Regarding a "Class 2" of Spartans

With B.B. gone, the passion of Bungie.net has lessened.

I've seen many threads in this forum proposing the idea of a "class 2" of SPARTAN-IIs that had been somewhat hinted at in the Halo novels and would explain the high classification numbers of Sierra 259 and Sierra 320 from the Reach trailer. While this is a fairly plausible idea and would indeed explain the higher numbers of the assumed-to-be-Spartans from the trailer, I think I found a sort of stick-in-the-mud in Ghosts of Onyx:

From pages 62 - 63:

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.


So this seems to suggest that there was not a second class of SPARTAN-IIs, or at least that there was going to be one, but it was discontinued. Personally, I would believe this to be the case, but I do understand that there are a few things that give reason to take these words with a grain of salt:

1.) Ackerson could be lying. Given his attitude towards Dr. Halsey and the SPARTAN-II program, this would not be unlikely.

2.) Ackerson could simply not have access to information regarding a second line of SPARTAN-IIs because of his attempts at sabotaging the first class.

3.) Though the novels are pretty close to canon, I'm sure Bungie retains the ability to rewrite what's been written in order to fit their concept of a new game. Judging by the complete lack of a reference to the remaining Spartans before the events of Halo 2 and Ghosts of Onyx in the actually game of Halo 2, I would also not consider this to be unlikely.

Let me know what you folks think. I'd be interested to see counter-arguments.

  • 06.19.2009 8:34 AM PDT

With B.B. gone, the passion of Bungie.net has lessened.

Oh, and the time-stamp for this conversation in Ghosts of Onyx is 2531. Though I still find it unlikely if what Ackerson said were true, that would leave 21 years before Reach's fall; enough time to train another class of SPARTAN-IIs. (Reach fell in 2552)

  • 06.19.2009 8:36 AM PDT

Loyalty is all I have.

First off, love the Name, dig the Dune reference :)
Second, Ackerson started the Spartan III"s, someone else might have made the same initative to start their own group of Spartans.
Only time will tell

  • 06.19.2009 8:37 AM PDT

Challenge me to a Hawaiian Punch chugging contest. I dare you.


Posted by: mubox47
$.50 in store credit.

He says additional, wich could mean there was only one wave of S IIs or, that after the second wave she stopped them. Still, nice find. That must have taken some research.

  • 06.19.2009 8:38 AM PDT

Well they could've worked on a secret S-II class 2 project but that's unlikely because you have to consider the fact that they would need to have to get a new physical trainer...and I'd recon that they would use Mendez again since he's the best, And I think they wouldn't do with anything but the best.
And Dr. Halsey would prefer Mendez above all.
But that isn't enough because they could've taken someone else but because of this I think it's unlikely that they would've made a class 2 S-II.

  • 06.19.2009 8:44 AM PDT

Oh btw I think that Dr. Halsey would be the one who would even attempt at making another S-II class since she is the creator of the first class and therefore the best candidate(if not only) for another class of S-II's

  • 06.19.2009 8:46 AM PDT

it was proven that there was a second wave of Spartan-IIs. Here
~Hunter

  • 06.19.2009 8:54 AM PDT
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  • Senior Legendary Member

Posted by: BTE
Posted by: Xharpan
it doese'nt look nextgen , looks good but not nextgen
If by next-gen you mean crappy, dark and colorless, I agree. It doesnt look next-gen at all.

Posted by: Upsilon 08
it was proven that there was a second wave of Spartan-IIs. Here
~Hunter


ILB? Dont let yourself believe everything you see even if its on Halopedia. As for there being a second class of Spartans, it can be possible. Bungie could just say that there was and there is no way that they would be changing the story since Hasley isnt the only one that couldn't worked on it.

  • 06.19.2009 9:01 AM PDT

With B.B. gone, the passion of Bungie.net has lessened.

Posted by: Upsilon 08
it was proven that there was a second wave of Spartan-IIs. Here
~Hunter


There is astonishingly little information on Halopedia about this ILB "Class 2" of SPARTAN-IIs. I've seen people link that before, and I don't really buy it. If one takes everything that had been used in ILB as canon (which is debatable, as it was an advertising gimmick and not necessarily canonical story), then I can see why this is evidence for a second class of Spartans.

Personally, I'll take words from a post-Halo 2 Eric Nylund Halo novel over those of a rather cryptic way of hyping up a game any day.

To elaborate on the above sentence, it would be a good thing to keep in mind that Ghosts of Onyx was in fact written after Halo 2's release, which means after the I Love Bees ARG. If story was rewritten after Halo 2's release in anyway, Ghosts of Onyx would be more likely to be true than anything written prior to Halo 2.

  • 06.19.2009 9:15 AM PDT