Spartan Ops: The Line

by Brainal

Trust is something that is not meant to be broken, yes? Yet, when you're forced against your will to build relations up, then tear them down years later, you begin to question, ponder. SPARTANS as viewed as emotionless, merciless, unforgiving, killing machines. Yet, no one seems to understand that, at their core, they're just as human as you, and me.

1. Prologue

Spartan Ops: The Line

Prologue

The universe seems to have it's roots set in history. Everything is bound to repeat. Everything is bound to happen again. Just in a different form. This is no exception for the SPARTAN Program. However, with almost all of the SPARTAN II's gone, most of the III's sent on suicide missions, and the IV's dealing with the Infinity, there's been a lack of good super soldiers about.

And that's about where we start. ONI, wanting the SPARTAN III program to continue, has launched a small scale op. Delta Company, the would be next generation of SPARTAN III's, was often regarded as disbanded. However, there was a change in plans. After the Onyx incident, it was obvious it would be hard to find a remote planet to train a mass amount of children as soldiers. So, in came the Selective Soldier Protocol. A small idea listed by ONI, in which only thirty of the original three-hundred were to be trained and deployed. They wanted the Program back on it's feet, yes, but it was baby steps for now. The children are now, about the age of twelve. Though they look well over the age of sixteen. Some even appear to be young adults. Their training carried out in a restricted section of some newly colonized outer-planet after the Human-Covenant War.

Now, why are we forsaking morals here? Aren't the SPARTAN IV's efficient? The problem with an SPARTAN IV is the same as any marine. They have their limited training. They have their mentality to question things. They have a past. They have much more to them one would first assume. However, a SPARTAN III? What are they? They're but an orphan fighting for their place in this world. They're willing to follow orders, less likely to question orders, exactly what ONI wants. Because there will always be those, "dirty jobs" that need cleaning up. One that someone like a marine or IV wouldn't be able to handle. Like Gamma Company, Delta is to be augmented with the 009762-OO mutagen to increase their strength, pain tolerance, aggression, and endurance. Along with it's counter active's.

It's 2558, about the same time Infinity is deployed on Requiem. This is some foreign planet. Way out in space. ONI decided this would be a nice location to train Delta. However, things aren't always as they seem. The wildlife here makes some nice hunting targets and even survival sessions. But, as stated, things aren't as they seem.