Infinite Stratos Plot Bunnies Collection
Chapter 12: Infinite Stratos x Halo Challenge 2
Story Concept Idea #2 – Spartan Generations
AN: The story concept literally what it says on the tin can but for the Orimura. The Orimura siblings reflect each of the three Spartan generations except the Spartan-IVs as there are only three Orimuras that I am aware of, not four. Plus, I really don't have a positive view of the S-IVs. I just don't feel the same way with them as I do for a Spartan-II or Spartan-III. I am very much attached to the Spartan-IIs and I have a high degree of respect for the Spartan-IIIs. The Spartan-IVs on the other hand disappointed me greatly in Halo 4 and I have not looked kindly on them since.
Also want to let you all know that I have recently created a Forum here where we can all discuss some of the story concept ideas from Infinite Stratos PLot Bunnies Collection with each other. The Link is in my profile page. Looking forward to interesting conversion between us all.
Starting with Chifuyu, she would be a ORION Project supersoldier. For those who don't know, the ORION Project was the first human supersoldier project in the Halo-verse and is the predecessor to the well-known and legendary Spartan-II Program. Like the its successor the Spartan-II Program, the ORION Project was originally conceived to combat the threat posed to the UNSC military and UEG government by the Insurrection. Retroactively the ORION Project would be dubbed the Spartan-I Program and the children of the ORION Project soldiers were known as Spartan-1.1s. The ORION Project was an all-volunteer force composed of the best soldiers from the Marine Corps and other special forces branches of the UNSC. The ORION Project supersoldiers performed specialized, high-risk operations including: counter-insurgency operations, unconventional warfare, direct action and black operations. At its height, ORION Project had 300 active-duty personnel and was involved in five known major operations against the Insurrection before it was quietly deactivated. Project ORION had its shortcomings and limits; some of the older Orion conscripts started to suffer from side effects related to their augmentations and suffered from PTSD and a host of other severe mental and physical illnesses which were labeled Boren's Syndrome. Boren's Syndrome is not a real disease, it was a fictitious disease ONI invented to mask the side effects and physical and mental illnesses that caused by the ORION Project augmentations. While the Orion soldiers proved effective against the Insurrection in the beginning, over time insurgent attacks became more effective as insurgent personnel became more difficult to root out and over the ensuing decades became more organized and difficult to combat. Eventually the ORION Project would be deactivated and the surviving members reassigned to other special operations units. Many of them would retire or discharged because of mental illnesses diagnosed as Boren's Syndrome which were really caused by their ORION Project augmentations. Recruited from the UNSC Marine Corps's Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs), Chifuyu was the first of the initial 165 soldiers to undergo the ORION Project augmentation procedures and had been involved in all five known major operations the Orion soldiers took part in – Operation: CHARLEMAGNE, Operation: VERTAS, Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE, Operation: TREBUCHET, and Operation: TANGLEWOOD. After the ORION Project was deactivated Chifuyu was scheduled to be resigned back to the ODSTs, however she was instead diverted to ONI Section 3 to work at one of its various special projects involving Dr. Tabane Shinonono, a one of the top known scientists in the UNSC at the time after Dr. Catherine Halsey.
With the ORION Project deactivated, ONI proceeded with its Spartan-II Program (initially known as ORION Generation II). The Spartan-II Program differed greatly from the ORION Project in many ways. The first and most controversial was the subjects themselves, who were selected by a gene-candidate pool, and must fit into a certain age restriction protocol. They must also have possessed superior physical and mental attributes. The trainees must be instilled with military value, and the understanding of war; something that cannot be taught to enlisted soldiers. This narrowed the candidates down to children who would be raised and taught in the art of warfare and military values, from a young age. Using such controversial means of creating a soldier meant that the project would have to be carried out in the highest form of secrecy. second radical change involved integrating the subject with a new powered exoskeleton device, designed to help keep its user safe and provide a powerful means of combating enemy forces. The drawback of this new armor is its requirement for augmenting the subject, effectively turning the participants into human guinea pigs. Despite the tremendous risk and the unethical means of creating new soldiers, ORION Generation II was greenlit by the top brass within the Office of Naval Intelligence, who concluded that the lives that could be saved far outweighed the risks involved. The project was initially granted funding for 300 candidates, though funding was later reduced to half this number. By 2517, 150 suitable candidates had been identified through DNA gathered from the UNSC's Outer Colony vaccination program; however funding had been further reduced to support only half that number at 75. In the year 2517, seventy-five children, all six years old and of both sexes, were kidnapped by ONI agents. In order to preserve the program's secrecy, the children were replaced by flash clones, whom would die soon thereafter due to numerous medical complications associated with flash-cloning an entire human being. One of these 75 children kidnapped and replaced with a flash clone would be Ichika Orimura, who was abducted by ONI agents on his way home from school (AN: reminiscent to how he was kidnapped in IS canon). His flash clone's deteriorated health soon after was shock to his twin sister Madoka and to his childhood friends Houki Shinonono and Lingyin Huang (nicknamed Rin). As predicted Ichika's flash clone would soon die and the supposed death of her younger brother would devastate Chifuyu though it leaves some questions to be answered. Visiting her brother on his deathbed, she noticed right away that something just wasn't right with Ichika at all. That the person laying there on his final moments before dying wasn't truly her brother at all. Chifuyu couldn't point her finger on it, but by gut instinct she knew that the person dying in front of her wasting away wasn't Ichika at all, that something was very wrong with this scene. After the funeral many people including UNSC doctors and psychologists would attribute Chifuyu's seemingly denial of her brother's death as the case of her Boren's Syndrome seemingly worsening her mental state and stability after her brother's death. By ONI's official records, Ichika's flash clone was the very first one of the 75 flash clones of the abducted children to die.
Ichika was taken to the planet Reach, and trained by the AI Déjà and Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez, along with the rest of the Spartan-II children. To marginalize the civilian lives they had once led, their names became a combination of their given names and a number, with family names being discarded; Ichika's name designation would be Ichika-033 (AN: A reference to the number of Spartan-II candidates out of the 75 who successfully survived and adapted to their augmentations). For eight years the children was schooled in history, military strategy and tactics, weapons, and was given extreme physical training. During this time he had grown close as friends to a few of the Spartan-II candidates like Daisy-023, Cal-141, Maria-062, Naomi-010, and Soren-66. Ichika would grow particularly close to Daisy-023, their relationship at first being like that of siblings only for their close relationship later evolve to something "beyond that of either deep friendship or closely bonded siblings", with Cal-141 being like a big sister figure to him. Ichika progressively proved himself to be one of the program's top candidates, being commended for his excellent teamwork skills and ability to be an invaluable team member to whichever team or unit he is assigned to . While both both Dr. Halsey and Chief Mendez identified the four emerging leaders within the Spartan-II group - John-117, Kurt-051, Jerome-092, and Fred-104 - they noted that Ichika had the potential to be the fifth contender if only he would aggressively pursued a leader role among the Spartan-II group. While Ichika didn't specialized in any particular combat role like most of his Spartan comrades, he was a jack-of-all-trades type of Spartan which allows him to be flexible and versatile on the battlefield and adapt to any role his team needed him to fill. His only notable flaw seems to be that he seems comfortable with his current place in the Spartan-II Program. In 2525, Ichika and the other candidates underwent the Spartan-II augmentation procedures to improve their abilities. Ichika was among the ones who survived and not crippled or killed by the procedure. A few weeks after the Spartan-II augmentation procedures, Daisy-023 would confide to Ichika her wish to go home and see her family again. This touched off a nerve with Ichika as it had been so long since he had seen his family and he often wondered why none of his family or friends ever came looking for him. This set the stage for Halo Legends: Homecoming where Ichika assisted Daisy-023 and three other Spartan-IIs in rebelling against their trainers, holding them at gunpoint in front of Dr. Catherine Halsey herself, in order to escape. Halsey granted them freedom, and they fled Reach as stowaways, hoping to return home to their parents. Ichika in particular would accompany Daisy to her home planet of Sargasso. The two evaded UNSC patrols that were on the lookout for Daisy and Ichika and found her home. There Daisy found a person nearly identical to herself, wheelchair-bound in her home's garden - her flash clone. Daisy and Ichika was then approached by a Hornet VTOL with Dr. Halsey onboard. Halsey explained via COM that all the Spartans had been replaced by flash-clones when they were abducted, so as not to arouse suspicion of the missing children. Halsey urged Daisy and Ichika to return to her and the rest of the Spartans. Daisy, shocked, drew her pistol and approached her clone with Ichika following behind closely with his own sidearm as support. Her clone, confused and bewildered, stared at Daisy as she held her gun to her clone's face. After much hesitation, Daisy lowered her weapon, and began to leave. Her clone however, called after her, and offered her a small teddy bear on a chain, not knowing why she wanted to give it to Daisy, only thinking that she should do so. Daisy and Ichika returned to UNSC custody and were transported back to Reach. For Ichika the event proved traumatic in of itself as he now knew why his family and friends never noticed his disappearance and searched for him. Why would they look for him...when there was a flash clone of him in his place? And in turn they would be made to believe that he died when his flash clone would inevitably die just like Daisy's? When told by Halsey that flash clones did not live very long as they would all eventually die soon and after seeing Daisy's flash clone in such state and knowing she would soon die, wipe away with any illusions or chance Ichika thought he had of returning home to his family and friends.
Ichika along with the whole Spartan-II company would obtain their MJOLNIR Mk. IV Powered Assault Armor in the Battle of Chi Ceti. Ichika was made the established leader of Green Team after Kurt-051 was transferred over to Blue Team. Green Team's established roster would include Ichika-033, Daisy-023, Cal-141, Maria-062, Naomi-010, and Randall-037. Soren-066 who was originally part of Green Team ended up running away (as explained in the short story "Pariah" from Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe). In early 2531, Ichika along with many other Spartan-IIs would participate in the Harvest Campaign. Daisy would survive thanks to Ichika shielding her from Needler fire with a Kig-Yar point defense gauntlet (also known as Jackal shield unit) he had acquired from a Jackal he killed. SInce then he had made sure that his team were equipped with salvaged Jackal shield units as they were their only real protection against Covenant energy weapons until the Spartan-IIs received their MJOLNIR Mk. V Powered Assault Armor which had energy shielding in November 2551. Green Team would participate in the Battle of Vodin, the team's first casualty being Randall-037 who fell from one of the planet's skyhooks after the destruction of that planet's space elevator and was presumed lost. In truth, Randall had survived the fall, having landed in an ocean, and was eventually rescued by the surviving colonists; his final fate is shown in the Halo: Nightfall webseries.
In 2535 Green Team participated in the Battle of Jericho VII. The team's mission was to prevent a Covenant ground force advance on the planet. Meanwhile, Blue Team were drawing out the Covenant rear guard, while Red Team slipped behind Covenant lines and planted a HAVOK tactical nuke, hoping to destroy the next Covenant ship that landed and dropped its shields. All of the Spartan teams accomplished their missions and returned safely to the remaining fleet in a Pelican dropship. In 2540, Green Team would participate in a joint-operation with the ODSTs to assassinate a Minor Prophet to stop the enemy supply chain and gather intel of unknown ruins on a Covenant-held planet, Heian, the events of Halo Legends: The Babysitter. Cal-141 was given command of the ODST squad sent with Green Team. Remembering Kurt-051's "feelings", Ichika chose to accompany Cal-141 and the ODST squad while the rest of Green Team went a separate route to position themselves close to the village to assassinate the Prophet up close should the sniper team fail. Ichika intercepted the Jiralhanae chieftain thought to have been killed by Cal the day before in the alien's attempted ambush of Cal and the ODST squad. Ichika struck first by impaling its side with an Energy Sword, but was batted aside by Jiralhanae chieftain's Gravity hammer to the chest sending him fly away from the group. Cal fought the Jiralhanae chieftain while the ODST backup sniper O'Brien took the sniper shot that successfully killed the Prophet. Ichika was near-dead when Cal and the ODSTs came to him and his worsening pale condition as Green Team and the ODST squad withdraw from Heian would have a profound affect on the ODSTs and their perceptions of the Spartans, showing them that despite their advanced training and powered armor exoskeleton they were just as human as any of them.
In 2336, fifteen years before the MJOLNIR Mark V entered production, Dr. Tabane Shinonono completes her assigned ONI partnership tenure with the Earth-based think tank RKD Group based in Japan as the chief scientist behind the development of the Hayabusa Powered Assault Armor under Project HAYABUSA. It was presented to the UNSC Ordnance Committee as an answer to the self-contained powered armor problem. Tabane had grown bored with the Project HAYABUSA and declines to stay on as the project's chief scientist. She had originally signed on in hopes to creating a powered assault armor system that would rival and succeed the MJOLNIR Mk-IV Powered Assault Armor which was conceptually developed by her longtime rival, Dr. Catherine Halsey. However many delays and setbacks in the project early years on had dampened her mood regarding Project HAYABUSA, as her chosen test pilot of the prototype model designed to be easily used by non augmented humans, Chifuyu Orimura (who had since been fully transferred over to the UNSC Navy and given a naval officer's commission rank of Lieutenant) had not been able to perform as much performance, simulated combat simulations, and stress tests on the basic prototype model of the Hayabusa powered assault armor. The fully conceived Hayabusa Powered Assault Armor would be fully completed when Tabane's tenure with RKD ended. During the middle her tenure with RKD, as Tabane gave up on the prospects of Project HAYABUSA succeeding, she began to focus attention on the conceptual designs for her own unique kind of powered assault armor. When her tenure with RKD end, Tabane appealed to ONI Section 3 and ONI's Materials Group division for funding and support for her own powered armor assault system design, the Infinite Stratos. ONI eventually green-lighted Project INFINITE STRATOS for Tabane with Chifuyu as its primary test pilot. Tabane shown results later with the first generation Infinite Stratos unit Shirokishi ("White Knight"). With Chifuyu as its test-pilot, the Shirokishi performed some successful missions behind enemy lines against Insurrectionists and Covenant under the guidance and supervision of ONI Section 3 Beta-5 Division. The Shirokishi's successful combat performance in these top secret missions had awarded ONI's recognition, approval, and support of Project INFINITE STRATOS. Tabane begins development of the second generation of the Infinite Stratos. At the time ONI supported Project INFINITE STRATOS as a means to increase its options and choices in the small pool of powered exoskeleton and armored systems technology which consisted of MJOLNIR powered assault armor, the HAYABUSA powered assault armor, the HRUNTING and YGGDRASIL projects (whose fruits bore the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit aka the Prototype suit from Halo Legends episode "Prototype", Cyclops, and Mantis), and Semi-Powered Infiltration Armor (or SPI armor). ONI wanted to see what results the supposed rival of Catherine Halsey could deliver them.
Meanwhile in the same year 2536, the Orimura's home planet and colony is glassed by the Covenant (AN: As to which planet is glassed that is the home of the Orimura, that is up to you guys to decide for yourselves). Shortly thereafter, Madoka would be recruited into the Spartan-III Program Alpha Company. Compared to the other Spartan-III candidates, she was deem extremely valuable and was foreseen with great potential thanks to her siblings' connections to the previous Spartan supersoldier programs, Chifuyu from the ORION Project and her own twin brother Ichika-033 from the Spartan-II Program. She was given prefered status for the very first company of the Spartan-III Program that was initiated in 2531 and deployed in 2536. However Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose (also Kurt-051) refused to play favorites despite knowing her "prestigious line of having family members in prior similar programs" and was fair to her in the same way he treated and trained the Spartan-III Alpha Company candidates. Their aggression levels were extreme, and ONI had concerns that the children would kill each other during training. Despite this, Kurt and Mendez were able to train them into effective soldiers and Alpha Company was declared active in late 2536. Before Alpha Company's deployment, Kurt-051 and Mendez hand-picked a small number of Spartans that stood out from the rest and removed them from the company, assigning them to special duties such as elite fireteams and Headhunter pairs. These Spartans were also issued more advanced equipment such as MJOLNIR armor to make their battlefield prowess comparable to that of the Spartan-IIs. Madoka-A201 (AN: a reference to Madoka's anime debut, Infinite Stratos Season 2 Episode 01) was one of the Spartan-IIIs chosen to be assigned elsewhere from the general population of Alpha Company. Before her departure from the planet Onyx, Madoka had a conversation with Kurt regarding his past comments upon meeting her bearing some resemblance to someone he knows. Kurt had thought to conceal Ichika's existence as a Spartan-II but drop a few clues around for Madoka to figure out for herself. Kurt only stated that Madoka reminded him a bit of someone who served with him when Kurt was once the leader of the Spartan-II Green Team, but has since serve as the established leader of Green Team after Kurt had been transferred over to Blue Team. Kurt never referred to Ichika by name in Madoka's presence, instead referring to him as Spartan-033. When Madoka asked Kurt how did this Spartan-033 bear any resemblance to her, Kurt replied that the two of them had the very same set of eyes and near same facial features; her eyes widen at such revelation. Madoka would be assigned to a ONI Section 3 Beta-5 Division unit black operations team known as Phantom Task, one of the first UNSC units to field-test the second generation of the Infinite Stratos.
During this vast period of time after 2536 to mid-2552, several moments and events take place that of great importance to the Infinite Stratos and the Spartan-II Program. After the graduation of the first class of Spartan-IIs in 2525, Dr. Halsey began planning for the next wave of Spartans; her efforts, however, ran into problems. There were too few candidates that were in sync with her age and genetic restriction protocols and a majority of her funding was going towards MJOLNIR maintenance and construction; this left little room for continued training efforts. By 2531, the majority of her funds had been diverted to other projects, most notably the top-secret, eyes-only SPARTAN-III program. Halsey eventually gave up on Class II and left the program, after she judged the candidates to be of an inferior standard. Around six years later 2531, however, enough candidates were within the right age range to begin a second class and one July 30 of the same year the second class of Spartan-IIs are conscripted by ONI. Of which are Nicole-458 and Chloe Chronicle who was designated as Chloe-212 (AN: The number 212 is a reference to Chloe Chronicle's anime debut, Season 2 Episode 12). On September 16, 2545, the Class-II Spartan-IIs undergo augmentations. Chloe Chronicle fails to adapt to the augmentation procedures which left her seemingly blind and washes out of the program as a result. Chloe was reassigned to ONI where her genius in computer information and data engineering science is put to use. Her eye sights remains in poor condition even with the surgical operation to replace her original eyes with flash cloned eyes, but that hasn't stopped her from being of great use to ONI with her skills as a cryptanalyst and hacker. At some point, Chloe Chronicle was placed under the apprenticeship of Dr. Tabane Shinonono to be her personal assistant for Project INFINITE STRATOS and as a liaison who would report directly to then Vice Admiral Margaret Parangosky (Director and Commander-in-Chief of ONI) and Rear Admiral (likely rank at the time) Michael Stanforth (head of ONI Section Three) which was in charge of ONI's numerous secret projects and conducting black operations.
On the Infinite Stratos side of things, Project INFINITE STRATOS enters the second generation phase with the development and creation of the Uchigane developed by in-house by ONI Materials Group and the Rafale Revive Basic which as designed by Dunois Industry under agreement with the Materials Group. Despite ONI's offers to provide the information on the MJOLNIR Mk-IV powered assault armor developed by Halsey to incorporate them into Project INFINITE STRATOS, Tabane refused out of stubborn pride of not wanting to make use of anything conceived by her longtime rival and maintaining the unique aesthetic designs of her own creation. Thus Project INFINITE STRATOS would be free of any MJOLNIR-like influences for quite some time. The second generation IS units were given out to Phantom Task and Schwarzer Hase, an UNSC Army black operations unit that operates under limited autonomy control of Special Warfare Command (SPECWARCOM) but ultimately answered to the top brass of the UNSC Army. Schwarzer Hase was an independent supersoldier project of the Army with joint support from the UNSC Air Force. Thus it had none of influences or aspects of the Spartan supersoldier programs that had been overseen by ONI, though ONI does play a limited support and advisory role in the Army's own supersoldier program. For example, Chlore Chronicle's genetic material was donated to the Schwarzer Hase program by ONI, leading to the creation of Laura Bodewig. Unlike the ORION Project or the Spartan-II Program, Schwarzer Hase supersoldiers are developed as test-tube babies originally created to become the perfect combatants for Army. Such was the case of Laura Bodewig as she and others like her were educated with only what was needed to make them excellent soldiers; all the while being ignorant to things she would have learned as a normal child. She was educated with just enough social skills to be able to function as a elite special forces soldier, which was clearly nowhere near enough to become a normal girl. In addition to the normal training they received, Schwarzer Hase soldiers received both additional training from UNSC Army Ranger (Army counterpart to the Marines' elite Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) and Army Pathfinder courses, and lastly Orbital Drop Shock Trooper training and certification for orbital drops. While the Schwarzer Hase commandos outperformed even the most gifted and powerful of normal human soldiers and better than the ODSTs, they still pale in comparison to the Spartans overall even without the Spartans' MJOLNIR armor being a factor. As the SPI armor is the standard body armor equipment for Schwarzer Hase, their SPI armor appearance is modified to separate and distinguish them from the SPI armor worn by Spartan-IIIs. As the Human-Covenant War progressed, most of the Spartans are diverted to fight the Covenant while Schwarzer Hase was given the task of combating Insurrectionist groups that could still pose a credible threat to the UNSC and its overall war efforts against the Covenant. The task of handling Insurrectionist threats fitted Schwarzer Hase well as they were originally created by the Army to combat the Insurrectionists. However Schwarzer Hase would decline significantly in standing with the Army when ONI Beta-5 Division started assigning specialist Spartan-III teams to serve under operational command of the other branches outside the Navy such as the UNSC Marines, Army, and even Air Force under SPECWARCOM and Unified Ground Command (UNICOM) which has control of all UNSC ground-based operations
ONI's Beta-5 Division considered specialist Spartan-III teams useful bargaining chips in the internal politics of the UNSC Armed Defense Forces, using them to achieve ends relevant to their interests such as securing given branches' leadership support for the program. With the ONI's promise of assigning more specialist Spartan-III teams to the Army's operational command, the Army's support and funding for Schwarzer Hase declined significantly and its standing became less important as the Army produced lesser numbers of Schwarzer Hase soldiers. The Air Force still continued to support Schwarzer Hase, but the its meager funding and support for the program still wasn't enough to maintain Schwarzer Hase's optimal and operational capacity. Schwarzer Hase pride themselves in being the best soldiers in the UNSC, above that of their perceives rivals the ODSTs, and believed themselves to be the only supersoldier unit and program in the entire UNSC. However they had misgivings about the UNSC assigning them to hold down the Insurrectionist threat in the Outer and Inner Colonies while the defensive war against the Covenant only seem to grow worse over time. Schwarzer Hase questioned why for the long time they weren't being sent to the frontlines to fight the Covenant and the top UNSC brass refused to give them any answers at all. They strongly believed that had the UNSC chose to deploy them to the front theaters of the war to combat the Covenant menace, Schwarzer Hase would be able to turn the tide of the war itself in humanity's favor. It wasn't until May 21, 2547, when ONI Section Two publicly unveils the SPARTAN-II Program in order to boost morale during the Human-Covenant War did the Schwarzer Hase found out why they weren't deployed to fight the Covenant. Because each Spartan supersoldier is said to have killed thousands of Covenant troops, many consider the Spartans to be the stuff of legend, unless having encountered one. The public unveiling of the Spartan-II Program led Schwarzer Hase to blame the Spartans for them being sidelined in the most important war in the history of the UNSC. They could not understand why the UNSC prioritized the Spartans to fight the Covenant threat while assigning them to handle the Insurrectionists whom Schwarzer Hase now starts to see an as insignificant threat with the Human-Covenant War raging on. Schwarzer Hase wanted to be sent to the where fighting was thickest against the Covenant, but more importantly they wanted to a chance to compete against the Spartans and show the whole UNSC that they were unquestionably the best supersoldiers in the UNSC.
Wanting to remain relevant to the Army and to the UNSC overall, Schwarzer Hase eventually accepted Tabane's offer to become part of Project INFINITE STRATOS - fully knowing well that it might lead to the eventual patronage and support from ONI but at the cost of their own independence and autonomy - to even the odds in their everlasting competition and rivalry with the Spartans over who would be the best supersoldier group/program in the UNSC. Schwarzer Hase were given the second generation IS units roughly the same time as ONI given them to Phantom Task; their eager acceptance of the Infinite Stratos marked the end of their Army-centered autonomy and made them another group that would serve at beck and call of ONI. The Schwarzer Hase program was placed under the command of then Commander Serin Osman (formerly known as Serin-019, a former Spartan-II candidate who washed out of the program after failing to adapt to her augmentations and adapted by Margaret Parangosky to be her protege) to oversee the Schwarzer Hase program while Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Chifuyu Orimura, Navy Lieutenant Maya Yamada, and Army Lieutenant Clarissa Harfouch served as their new training instructor to oversee their newly revised training regime as well as teaching them how to use the Infinite Stratos. With the Infinite Stratos thrown into the equation, Schwarzer Hase faced a heavy obstacle since their soldiers like Laura was tuned for traditional conventional and unconventional "ground-pounder" warfare and the factor of IS was never calculated. The new ONI scientists brought in decided to re-tune Laura by replacing her left eye with an artificial one, a miniature (and heavily downgraded in order to fit into human body) version of the Hyper-sensor package. With it, she was supposed to have boost in her sensory system, even when not enhanced by the IS. Coupled with the IS, this was to function as an additional conduit to enhance her response is IS piloting, resulting in a huge efficiency boost in IS operation. The experiment, however, ended in a partial failure as the new eye installed malfunctioned and couldn't be turned off when needed and as a result, Laura's performance not only as a IS pilot but as a soldier began to deteriorate. Being raised with the sole purpose of being an excellent soldier, she was devastated when she couldn't keep up with other IS pilots, who once saw as their exemplarily star champion of Schwarzer Hase began to treat Laura as a defect and not as a comrade.
Her inferiority complex and that of the rest of Schwarzer Hase only worsen when ONI sent them out to participate in a number of battles against the Covenant for the very first time to see how well they performed and measure up in comparison to the Spartans, without their Infinite Stratos. It was ONI's method of testing out their worthiness and as Serin stated well to Chifuyu's face, "to root out the week and defective Schwarzer Hase test-tube soldiers who would be a waste of ONI's time and resources". Schwarzer Hase engaged the Covenant on many human colony worlds such as the Battle for Alluvion on the planet Alluvion in the Bhaakto system in 2542 that resulted in the glassing of the planet, the Invasion of Draco III in January 2545 and the Battle of Actium in May 2545, the Battle of Sargasso in 2546, and the Battle of Skopje in 2547. Schwarzer Hase would suffer heavy casualties in the Battle for Alluvion as they were not used to fighting the Covenant who proved themselves a deadly foe to face against when Schwarzer Hase traditionally has excelled against human enemies. On Draco III, Schwarzer Hase failed their objective to secure and evacuate VIPs from Draco III before the Covenant invaded the planet and captured its human civilian population and allowed them to be massacred by starving starving Unggoy and Kig-Yar. The planet was only partially glassed, as the Covenant chose to use the world as a hunting ground. Schwarzer Hase could only put up a brave but insignificantly minor resistance before being captured themselves. Laura herself witness some of her captured comrades being killed and then eaten by the Covenant aliens and for the first time in her life she was gripped with fear, helplessness, hopelessness, and despair that was present when she learned those Schwarzer Hase soldiers who managed to evade capture were killed off in horrific ways, which including glassing and being hunted for sport by various Covenant aliens including the Sangheili and Jiralhanae. Several Spartan-IIs, including John-117 and Linda-058 and members of Blue Team and Green Team, witnessed the civilian massacre via satellite uplink and were then deployed to rescue any survivors However no civilian survivors remain remained and the only military survivor to be confirmed alive was Laura herself as the entire unit under her command were all dead. The enraged Spartans then defeated the invaders in a retaliatory action, resulting in a tactical victory for the UNSC. The civilian massacre psychologically scarred John-117 and some other Spartan-IIs including Ichika-033. With Laura however, she felt deep humiliation and shame at having to be rescued by the Schwarzer Hase's mosted hated rival supersoldier unit, the Spartan-IIs, and immense guilt over being the only survivor of her group and all other humans. Once the pride star and celebrated exemplar model of a supersoldier of the Schwarzer Hase program, in the eyes of her comrades Laura became the program's greatest disgrace and embarrassment, receiving a demotion in rank from Army Captain and openly declared a weak coward "who needed a Spartan green knight in shining armor to save her". Laura grew to resent if not outright hated the Spartans, wishing she would have died fighting back on Draco III over the pain and suffering she now endures now as the hard cold true fact was made clear. The Spartans were undisputedly the greatest supersolder unit the UNSC ever had and far more superior than her or anyone else in Schwarzer Hase.
This is when Laura first met Chifuyu who was Schwarzer Hase's new training regime and IS instructor. To Laura, Chifuyu appeared to be the ultimate goal that she should pursuit, and with Chifuyu's help, Laura was able to recover and regain her former top rank in Schwarzer Hase as Captain again. From that point on, Laura developed a fanatical admiration toward Chifuyu, to the point of almost being worship. However, once when she asked her how to become strong, Chifuyu answered that she once had brother and revealed a soft and tender expression which changed to sadness and soon afterwards suspicion. Schwarzer Hase. Laura who had been raised to believe in strength and toughness and that softness is for the weak could not condone Chifuyu showing such an expression towards anyone and resolved to punish Ichika wherever he may be, whom she viewed as the reason for Chifuyu's "weakness". Scwarzer Hase finally completed their IS training and received their second generation IS units. They succeeded their mission objectives in the the Battle of Actium, the Battle of Sargasso, and reinforcing the ODSTs units deployed in the Battle of Skopje. After these successful missions, Laura had regained some confidence and the morale for Schwarzer Hase was raised once more. However unknown to anyone else involved with Schwarzer Hase and Project INFINITE STRATOS, not even Chifuyu and Tabane, Admiral Margaret Parangosky and Commander Serin Osman had communicated with each other privately to discuss the fate of Schwarzer Hase and its future in UNSC's overall plans for them regarding the war.
They made some some negative assessment after extensive review and viability of continuing Schwarzer Hase program that would be detrimental. The two concluded that neither ONI or the rest of the UNSC could continue to support two rival separate supersoldier programs. Their own study and review found that in the long run the Spartans were the best investment for both ONI and the UNSC overall and that their related R&D programs and projects tied to the Spartans - such as the continued development of the MJOLNIR powered assault armor and the Spartan-III Program which was currently active - would be far more cheaper and with greater payoff than Schwarzer Hase, as an individual Schwarzer Hase soldier was inferior compared to even a Spartan-III who had less extensive augmentations than a Spartan-II. Overall UNSC support for Schwarzer Hase has been reduced significantly to a trickle as both the Army and Air Force had ceased allocating part of their budgets for the program, leaving ONI as the sole financier and supporter of Schwarzer Hase. Over the course of the experiment with the Infinite Stratos in all of the operations undertaken by Schwarzer Hase, critical flaws in Tabane's supposed perfect superweapon powered assault armor have been found. The energy shields of an IS couldn't recharged not like the initial versions of the MJOLNIR Mk-V powered assault armor that were issued to specialist Spartan-III teams - a single overcharged shot from a plasma pistol would disable and deactivate the IS, taking it out of the fight completely when their energy shields hit zero. The IS would deactivate and reverted back to closed form, leaving its pilot suddenly vulnerable to Covenant plasma fire. In fact such cases have caused Schwarzer Hase and ONI to waste precious resources and personnel in having to search and recover, or search and destroy missing IS tech left behind in previous operations to prevent the Covenant from discovering and accessing IS tech. Furthermore, while the Infinite Stratos were powerful weapons in terrestrial operations, space battles was a different issue as they had no significant difference in effecting the outcome of fleet battles except in few rare occasions. It was concluded that the Schwarzer Hase program would come to its final conclusion, ceasing the creation of more test-tube babies to raised as child soldiers. Furthermore the third generation IS would be the last IS generation ONI would fund and support before they would close down Project INFINITE STRATOS and allocate more resources to the development of the MJOLNIR armor system and other specialized equipment for the Spartans. UNSC Army Colonel James Ackerson, who had been the overall commanding officer Schwarzer Hase had answered to prior to receiving backing from ONI, and had been their long time advocate to the Army brass, supported ONI's quiet moves to deactivate and eventually close down the program. Ackerson no longer needed Schwarzer Hase now that he is running his own Spartan program which was the Spartan-III Program.
Beginning in 2548, the Battle of Meridian continued for three years as the Covenant attempted to diminish the UNSC's strong resistance on the world. Schwarzer Hase, equipped with their Infinite Stratos, put up a heavy fight and inflicted many casualties on the alien invaders, but ultimately Meridian was glassed by the Covenant in 2551. In that same year the human colony on Algolis would come under attack by the Covenant, the events of Halo Legends: Prototype. In the early hours prior to the Covenant invasion of Algolis, Green Team was deployed to assist ONI personnel in recovering as many advanced prototype weapons as they could gather and haul away before Covenant's impending arrival. Green Team was also there to ensure the enforcement of the Cole Protocol. While Green Team was sent to secure and defend Weapons Research Facility T12A, which was the target of Covenant forces and where the HRUNTING and YGGDRASIL exoskeleton projects were, Green Team received a suddenly unannounced secondary objective from an unknown ONI Special Projects Division but this time from a separate weapons R&D facility. Ichika divided the team into two - Ichika-033, Maria-062, and Daisy-023 would remain at Weapons Research Facility T12A, while Naomi-010, Cal-141, and Green Team's newest member Nicole-458 (a Second Class Spartan-II) to the unknown research facility to recover any valuable tech they could. During the battle, Maria-062 was heavily injured and her Mk-IV MJOLNIR armor damaged beyond usability. Nevertheless she continued to fight, taking one of the Mark I Prototype Armor Defense System (aka the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit, also shorten to HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark I ADS, the Prototype suit) as a replacement for her heavily damaged armor. Maria, Ichika, and Daisy would help the Marine Sergeant "Ghost" evacuate his men while he held the Covenant back in in a HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit he obtained himself. Ghost managed to destroy swathes of Covenant forces, allowing the Marines and civilians to escape. Using the suit's powerful armament, he savagely countered the Covenant assault and laid waste to most of their ground vehicles and aircraft. When the suit was damaged and Ghosts was cornered he gave a code-word activation: this activated a nuclear self-destruct in the armor, killing himself and all Covenant forces in the area. The weapons facility was consumed by the blast, depriving the Covenant of any classified data they had sought to obtain.
Meanwhile Ichika, Maria, and Daisy would rendezvous at the seperate weapons R&D facility, but whatever assistance they could lend was not needed as they witness a strange but powerful exoskeleton completely different from the the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit flying in the skies so fast only "Spartan Time" sense could keep track of it as it single-handedly wiped out swarms of Covenant. Green Team evacuated Algolis with the weapons R&D facility's staff and the lead director, Dr. Tabane Shinonono, who was in charge of Project: INFINITE STRATOS. Because Green Team was extracted on another Pelican heading to an ONI prowler ship, Ichika missed out on a chance meeting with Tabane Shinonono and Chifuyu Orimura. Maria's injuries were severe enough that she would have to retire. Maria would heal enough at some point as she was the one who would test the MJOLNIR Mk-V armor that Master Chief John-117 would later wear in the Halo 2. Project: INFINITE STRATOS would be relocated to Reach, the military planet and stronghold of the UNSC. Maria's surviving HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit would be taken back to ONI Sword Base on Reach for R&D purposes as a high-value object of great importance to ONI. The HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit was a heavily scaled-down, design simplified, low-cost alternative to Tabane Shinonono's Infinite Stratos exoskeleton powered armor. While the IS were very powerful and had many advantages over the MJOLNIR armor - like not needing the user to be biochemically augmented - there were some flaws and restrictions that prevented the IS from being manufactured full scale. The IS Cores were extremely difficult to make and Tabane restricted the sharing of any IS technology with other ONI science divisions, like the Materials Group, outside of her IS Academy group greatly restricted and slowed any progress ONI could have made into the IS R&D program efforts. Furthermore it was revealed that only women could pilot the IS and all previous attempts to have men pilot the IS has fail considerably. In frustration to Tabane's slow lack of progress, the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL armored suit was another exoskeleton powered armor weapons system that was designed as the practical cost-effective alternative to the IS that can be used by anyone. Data collected from the surviving HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit piloted by Maria-062 would be used to improve and hopefully manufacture more suits.
The 2552 would be the ultimate year of the Human-Covenant War (AN: The original Bungie games - Halo: Reach, Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3 ODST, and Halo 3 - as well as the novels The Cole Protocol, Fall of Reach, The Flood, First Strike, and Ghost of Onyx would all take place this very year). By July 2552, the majority of the Spartan-IIs are recalled back to Reach to be refitted in the MJOLNIR Mk-V armor and to be brief in preparation for Operation: RED FLAG that was being discussed by the top brass of the UNSC HIGHCOM. Admiral Margaret Parangosky (Commander-in-Chief of ONI) secretly conspires with Admiral Michael Stanforth (head of ONI Section Three) to use Reach as bait to seize major Covenant vessels as part of the oncoming Operation: RED FLAG, the UNSC's desperate gambit plan to end the 27-year long war with the Covenant. The plan involved disabling and capturing a Covenant flagship carrier (either a CAS-class assault carrier or the CSO-class supercarrier) which would be boarded by the Spartan-IIs who would seize control of the ship. Then with the help of an A.I. (Cortana) cracking the Covenant ship's navigational database, the Spartan-IIs would then plot a course to Covenant capital world of High Charity. Afterwards, the Spartan-II force would then infiltrate High Charity and capture of one of the three Covenant Prophet Hierarchs for negotiating purposes. The UNSC hoped that by capturing a Hierarch and holding him hostage, they could force the Covenant into agreeing to a truce, thereby ending a war that the UNSC would most certainly have lost. Killing the Hierarch was out of the question, as ONI's analysts predicted it would just incite the Covenant to vengeance, thereby escalating the war. There was a lot of debate back and forth between HIGHCOM leaders over the details of the missions. Many were reluctant to gamble almost all of the entire Spartan-II force on what was essentially a dangerous one-way suicide mission. The only other group recommended as alternative replacement or auxiliary support to the Spartan-II force was two premiere IS pilot forces, ONI Section 3 Beta-5 Division's Phantom Task unit and Special Warfare Group "Schwarzer Hase". Both groups had their share of successful missions against the Covenant despite being relatively newer units compared to the Spartan-IIs. Many HIGHCOM leaders expressed doubts with the viability of using IS groups for the operation, leading Tabane having to attend the meeting herself along with Chifuyu who had been recently promoted to the naval rank of Commander to try to convince HIGHCOM to expand the IS role further for RED FLAG. However Parangosky opposed them and reassigned Phantom Task working in secret, getting ready to move all IS and exoskeleton-based powered armor suit technology as well as any valuable Forerunner artifacts that can be moved to the Sol System on Mars and Earth. Only the IS training units from IS Academy which is also located on Reach were available on Reach; the ISA group remotely close to being combat ready are made up of the IS Representatives teachers, the Representative Cadets are the top ISA students and the majority of whom are only first-year students, and the third-year students. The fact that much of the IS group were "green rookies"led HIGHCOM to decline IS participation on the mission with the exception of Schwarzer Hase who were reluctantly approved for the operation and now being called back to Reach.
Ichika and Green Team arrived at the beginning of the month. For the first time in a long time, fate would have Ichika and those from his past connected to him meet each other on separate occasions for the first time in a long time. Ichika and Green Team were going to be assign as handling heavy weapons and equipments to support Blue Team and Red Team for Operation: RED FLAG that was held at ONI SWORD Base for them. Ichika and Green Team first met up with Halsey and were the first Spartan-IIs to be equipped with the MJOLNIR Mk-V powered assault armor. Halsey also assigned Deja, the educational A.I. instructor for the Spartan-IIs during their boot camp years on Reach to be their own A.I support. After equipping the MJOLNIR Mk-V, they are sent to the testing grounds to test their new powered assault armor. As they were passing by the gym facility inside ONI SWORD Base, they witness a Schwarzer Hase platoon tried to bully a steel-gray colored Spartan - later identified as Spartan-B312 who had just been assigned to NOBLE Team as the new Noble Six - led by Laura who ordered five of them and the Spartan into a boxing ring. In the ensuing fight, Spartan-B312 knocked out cold two of the Schwarzer Has soldiers, leaving them seemingly dead, and left the others severely injured and crippled (AN: This scene is a homage to John-117 who after his augmentations got challenged into a fight by ODSTs where he brutally kicked their asses but inadvertently killed two of them). Laura ordered the rest of the Schwarzer Hase platoon to jump on the Spartan at once, prompting Ichika and Green Team to intervene in aid of their fellow Spartan, helping Spartan-B312. Not wanting to lose a fight to the Spartans, Laura violates protocol and materializes the latest third generation IS issued to her, Schwarzer Regen. Laura proceeded to trash the ONI SWORD Base facility as she chased after the Spartans, doing more damage around her trying to pursue after them as the Spartans had slip away, using their memorized layout of the SWORD Base to outmaneuver her. Ichika then chose to confront Laura with multiple EMP, sonic, and concussion grenades as distraction while Deja hacked Laura's IS. Laura had Ichika trapped in the Schwarzer Regen's Active Inertia Canceller (AIC) field, but he was able to break free thanks to quick thinking from Noble Six firing a Spartan Laser blast at Laura. Spartan-B312 and Green Team continued to engaged Laura and her Schwarzer Regen IS while Deja attempted to hack and shut down the IS. Deja was having little success as the AI of the IS Core proved too advanced for a dumb AI like her to override, but she was able to slow down the Schwarzer Regen. Laura was enraged that despite being given one of the most powerful IS developed that she was still unable to defeat her Spartan rival foes.
To break the stalemate, Ichika had the rest of Green Team go retrieve their newly assigned "heavy gear" for Operation: RED FLAG that Halsey prepared for them while he and Spartan-B312 held their own against Laura. Laura was able to get a few blows and and finally cornered and trapped the Spartans. However Laura's IS was undone when Halsey's personnel AI Kalmiya personally intervened and helped Deja override the AI inside of Core of the Schwarzer Regen and forced it to deactivate into its closed form, revert to a garter belt on Laura's right leg. Spartan-B312 restrained Laura while Ichika removed the Schwarzer Regen's closed form from her. Schwarzer Hase reinforcements arrive with some of them in their second generations IS units, eager to continue the fight against Spartans. However Green Team arrived with their heavy gear - customized HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL exoskeleton powered armor suits - to back up Ichika and Spartan-B312 which was a huge shock to Schwarzer Hase as they didn't think the Spartans would have anything to counter the IS units. Hasley appeared before the two opposing sides to oversee her Spartans, curious to see her custom HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL units in action. She mocked Schwarzer Hase for picking a fight with Green Team and dismissed them as another of Colonel James Ackerson's failed pet projects that he had abandoned, that as supersoldiers they couldn't even hold a candle to the soldiers of the late ORION Project, and expressed her absolute confidence in her Spartan's abilities to win against impossible odds. Her words raised the Spartans' morale while riddling up the Schwarzer Hase supersoldiers. Before the battle of giant overpowered exoskeletons, the epic clash between Schwarzer Hase supersoldiers and the legendary Spartan-IIs could begin, a sniper shot was fired in front of the Schwarzer Hase group. The shot came from Madoka-A201 in the her third generation IS Silent Zephyrs who ordered both groups to ceasefire at once, with Phantom Task operatives and their IS appearing behind her, with them Phantom Task leaders CDR Squall Meusel and Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Autumn, newly promoted Commander Chifuyu, LCDR Maya, Tabane, the newly promoted Captain (CPTN) Serin Osman, and Admiral Parangosky.
The involved parties were taken to IS Academy to be integrated by ONI as Sword Base had to be repaired from damages done by Laura's outburst. As expected of anyone with a brain, ONI finds Schwarzer Hase at fault for the incident. Spartan-B312 was made to file a report from his POV on the incident before being sent on his way in a UH-144 Falcon for his first mission with NOBLE Team. Serin Osman was furious about the incident and argued to have the entire Schwarzer Hase group to be jailed and court martialed for their reckless and irresponsible actions and behavior, especially in light of HIGHCOM's discussions of planning for RED FLAG. Hasley condemned her younger peer scientist Tabane for being irresponsible with her Infinite Stratos in giving them away to defective supersoldiers who could not be trusted not behave and act properly as expected from the UNSC regarding their status as supersoldiers. Halsey further notes that the Infinite Stratos should be taken away from them and made it clear to Tabane what her views were on Project INFINITE STRATOS. Tabane and Chifuyu would try their best to defend Laura and Schwarzer Hase, agreeing that what Laura and her cohorts did was beyond stupid, rash actions and behavior and conduct unbecoming a supersoldier whom the UNSC held to a higher standard, but urged that Chifuyu would should handle their discipline. Admiral Parangosky sided with Halsey and Serin on the matter with Schwarzer Hase and handed out strict and cold judgement. Laura and her cohorts who participated in the fiasco would be held in containment at IS Academy until their court martial could begin. The rest of the Schwarzer Hase group would placed on suspension for the time being until HIGHCOM determines whether to allow their participation in RED FLAG or not in light if the incident at SWORD Base, their IS units to be seized and held at ISA. UNSC Army Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Iris Calling (the top CO, instructor, and commandant of ISA) with assistant Army Major (MAJ) Natasha Fairs and the ISA's chief scientists Warrant Officer Lei Lei Yang agree to these new orders given to them by Parangosky to hold Schwarzer Hase at ISA. Green Team would not face any disciplinary action as ONI have found them to act accordingly in self defense of another Spartan though Parangosky left them off with a warning and repudiated Halsey for mincing words to agitate Schwarzer Hase into further into conflict. Parangosky took this opportunity to unveil to Tabane and Chifuyu of ONI formally in the process of deactivating the Schwarzer Hase program and the total cessation of funding and support for Project INFINITE STRATOS in R&D progress and efforts into the third generation IS. Parangosky and Osman expressed their annoyed grievances and misgivings regarding Project INFINITE STRATOS and Tabane herself to justify cutting off support to the Infinite Stratos. Chifuyu though had an inkling that ONI would have done something like this eventually and that they were just using this incident between Schwarzer Hase and the Spartans as an excuse to carry through with it.
In the aftermath of a series ONI interrogations and formal meetings, the Orimura siblings had their reunion on ISA campus grounds. After learning what really happened to Ichika and the origins of the Spartan-IIs, Chifuyu had some harsh words to say to Halsey for involving her brother and the amount of pain and suffering she and Madoka had to go through seeing Ichika's flash clone die and the uncertain that haunted them afterwards. However Ichika defended Halsey's action stating that Spartans are now all that stood between Humanity and extinction at the hands of the Covenant. Chifuyu would try to argue against that point, but as Ichika stated with Halsey's point Schwarzer Hase as the alternate supersoldier program and group stood no real chance against the Covenant. Schwarzer Hase had only made meaningful contributions to the war effort thanks to the use of Infinite Stratos, and that Infinite Stratos with their slow development process and certain flaws wouldn't amount to even one-fourth of the many successful operations the Spartans have undertaken. Ichika also pointed out that Chifuyu couldn't be one to talk about how he shouldn't have been made a Spartan as she was an ORION soldier (a Spartan-I) while Madoka was made a Spartan-III - one family, three different Spartan generations - that he ultimately grew to accept his fate, role, and duty as a Spartan long ago after meeting Daisy's flash clone with her . Ichika was unable to abate Chifuyu's wrath, anger, and hatred against Halsey. His attempt to allay here fears and concern by saying "Spartans never die" only worried Chifuyu more as she finished the sentence for him, "They are just missing in action", fully aware of ONI Directive 930 which banned the application of KIA status to Spartan-IIs and was extended to the Spartan-IIIs and thus the Spartans are usually classified as Missing In Action, or rarely Wounded In Action. Ichika would also meet his childhood friends Houki Shinonono and Lingyin Luang, also known as Rin, who attended ISA to be future Infinite Stratos pilots. Both childhood friends were shock to see Ichika again and actually alive, for the least time they saw him (actually his flash clone) was when in a coffin at his funeral before his coffin was nailed shut. Houki and Rin would later be paid a visit by ONI agents who warned them that Ichika's existence was classified at the highest level and that there would be consequences if they disclosed his status as a Spartan-II outside of approved people who have the proper ONI security clearance to know anything about the Spartan-IIs.
Halsey returned to her private office and lab facilities in ONI CASTLE Base discussing with Kalmiya the AI's successful hacking of Schwarzer Hase's IS units from the incident. Halsey obtained her true prize from the incident of Green Team's confrontation with Schwarzer Hase, the Schwarzer Regen's blueprint displayed on her tablet. Halsey entered her office, surprised but quickly turned angry to see Tabane hacking her computers looking through her files waiting for her. Tabane was unfazed with Halsey's unfriendliness with her, as this sort of meeting was a long time coming. Tabane noted it was an interesting read going through some of the files on the Spartan-II Program and the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor, replying that her move was payback for Halsey having Kamilya hacking the Schwarzer Regen. A brief verbal exchange where the two ach outline the other's background history, their service account and records working under ONI, as well as their research fields and accomplishments - trying to show the other who was the better scientist. Tabane expressed her interest in the Spartan-II Program to the strong disapproval of Halsey given Ichika's involvement since Ichika was a dear childhood friend of her little sister Houk and the brother of her best friend Chifuyu. Tabane was also agitated hearing Halsey refer to Ichika as "Ichika-033" and insist that Halsey call him by his real name, Ichika Orimura. Halsey brushed off Tabane's condemnations of having Ichika kidnapped and abducted into the Spartan-II Program - as she has already accepted her guilt from her involvement of heading the program. However Halsey snip back at Tabane's assertion that somehow the IS would be a game changer technology and a suitable alternative if not a replacement to the Spartans. Halsey was quick to nail down the Infinite Stratos's flaws and limitations, as well as Tabane hampering R&D progress so that only she would be working on the Project INFINITE STRATOS, and ONI just now deciding to stop current research into the IS third generation phase and moving to deactivate Schwarzer Hase due to her unwillingness to cooperate and share more of her IS research with them and the UNSC. Halsey joking stated that maybe she should throw her hat into the IS R&D ring, that maybe ONI would be more accepting of Halsey leading the charge in making some actual progress into IS R&D efforts. Tabane's mood sour and she warns Halsey not to even think of encroaching on her territory, as IS R&D was her area of research and she won't allow for anyone else to challenge her in that specialty field. Halsey stated that she wasn't even remotely interested in developing and creating her own IS and only wanted certain IS-based tech to assess their usefulness in incorporating them into the MJOLNIR armor system. Halsey pointed to Green Team's successful recovery of one of the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL units which allowed her to create customized HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suits for Green Team. Halsey had just completed Ichika's HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit, incorporating some of the hacked data and tech from Schwarzer Regen and she would have it sent to him immediately. Tabane commented that she would rather have Ichika use an Infinite Stratos instead of what she sees as an inferior derivative of her creations, but Halsey took a jab at Tabane pointing out that the IS only works with women and that all previous attempts to have men pilot them have failed. Besides Halsey wanted only the very best equipment for her Spartans and she wasn't going to give Ichika a piece of technology that has questionable reliability issues and wouldn't be compatible with him since it could only be operated by women. Tabane responded that she did not deliberately configure the IS to be a female-only platform, mentioning that it was a accidental side-effect, and since she didn't really care about that factor that the time she didn't see any reason to bother with it. But with Ichika being a Spartan-II and about to sent to participate in RED FLAG, the operation that may very well determine the outcome of the war, Tabane now had reason to do something to fix that side-effect to allow Ichika to pilot an IS. Halsey scoffs at Tabane's seeming lack of seriousness and understanding of what she was saying. RED FLAG would soon be formalized and launched very soon - most likely between two weeks to a month - which is not enough time for Tabane to provide Ichika with an IS on short notice and properly train him how to pilot one. Halsey tells Tabane to not even bother as it would never work out and that the customized HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit she made for him would be perform well to her expectations, but Tabane wasn't willing to abide by her rival's dismissal of the idea, seeing it as a challenge and set off to create an IS for Ichika and the best one she could make for him with what little time she had.
For the remainder of Reach's last peaceful moment, the calm before the storm, IS Academy's training grounds is used to help Green Team train and get accustomed to their HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suits. Then between July 23-25, 2552, the Covenant discovers and invades Reach, the UNSC fortress world and the planet that had trained the Spartan-IIs and now houses IS Academy which trains upcoming future IS pilots. The Battle of Reach(also known as the Fall of Reach) has begun. UNSC fleets were recalled back to Reach and UNSC forces counterattacked on all fronts inflicting heavy damage to the Covenant armada and ground forces, but Reach would still suffer the same fate of all the other human planets that fell. Phantom Task was also deployed to conduct strategic operations against the Covenant in the early days of the invasion when Spartan NOBLE Team confirmed Covenant presence on Reach and protect key UNSC strategic installations and facilities. Ichika and Green Team would be deployed with the other Spartan-IIs in their HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suits to defend the orbital defense generators, but the other generators would be compromised, leading the Orbital Defense Platforms to be immobile and powerless to be destroyed by the Covenant invasion fleet and allowing the Covenant to begin glassing the planet. Green Team and surviving UNSC soldiers planned to link up with the surviving remnants of Spartan-II Red Team, but they receive a distress signal from the ISA campus facility. On the way Green Team encounters a long time former Spartan-II candidate and runaway, Soren-066, whom Green Team took with them. Green Team and accompanying UNSC forces assist ISA combined forces consisting ISA security forces, staff instructor, and the third-years in IS training units and the Personal users. The Schwarzer Hase soldiers including Laura had been let out of ISA's holding cells and their suspension revoked on emergency orders to defend ISA from swarms of Covenant. They beat back the heavy Covenant force of heavy assault infantry plus numerous aircraft and ground vehicles including multiple Scrabs and Locusts, but have taken heavy losses as well and a Covenant ship began to glass ISA. The ground-based heavy MAC guns close to ISA were able to damage the floating Covenant ship before they were taken out by the ship, allowing the IS units to attack the ship by breaching through a blasted hole in the ship with a portable nuke and destroying it from within. With incoming news of more Covenant ships on their way to ISA, it was decided that ISA was no longer a viable defensive position and thus the surviving combined forces decided to abandon ISA and head to Camp Independence and link up with Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb. Thanks to Soren-066's familiarity and guidance in the woodlands, the surviving force - consisting of Green Team, the joint Schwarzer Hase and ISA combined force - was able to avoid detection from the Covenant and make their way to Camp Independence located in the Highland Mountains undetected. Ichika decides to give Soren his HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit, given that Soren-066's physical deteriorated condition would not allow him to keep up and the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit would allow Soren to keep up with the group and actually fight. There is acceptance and a bit of joy in Soren-066 as he did not believe for a long time he would ever get the chance to fight alongside his Spartan brothers and sisters, that he would always be doomed to be "left behind". Now Soren was finally able to stand alongside his Spartan brethren and fight alongside them. Ichika welcomes Soren into Green Team, giving him a brief summary of how much has happened since Soren ran away from the Spartan-II Program. Chifuyu is concern about Ichika giving up his HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit to Soren, but Ichika contends that he would be fine without it and that Soren would need it more than he given Soren's physical disability. Tabane takes this opportunity to present Ichika his Infinite Stratos unit, the Byakushiki, once they reach Camp Independence.
The combined group makes it to Camp Independence and met Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and a sub-unit of Red Team, Team Gama, consisting of Li-008, Anton-044, and Grace-093. Ichika initially decline Tabane's offer of giving him the Byakushiki IS. He had read the reports on the IS and felt that it was pointless when previous attempt to have males pilot them were unsuccessful. Plus the Byakushiki's initial specs seemed dismal compared to his custom HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit that Ichika gave and to Soren and helped him put on; it only had one weapon which was a sword. However with Chifuyu's insistence to just try it once to quiet Tabane down, Ichika reluctantly puts on Byakushiki's closed form (in the shape of a gauntlet), with Tabane helping to incorporate the Byakushiki onto Ichika' MJOLNIR armor. To the shock and surprise of everyone, the Byakushiki reacted with Ichika and seemingly merged with Ichika's MJOLNIR armor and materializing its IS form. Ichika would pilot the Byakushiki when the surviving group would launch occasional guerilla attacks on Covenant to test its usefulness, its strength as well as potential weaknesses. The Oly Oly Oxen Free signal broadcasted by the Spartan-IIs on UNSC E-Band radio in hopes that any surviving Spartans would help them would alert the Master Chief and surviving UNSC personnel from Installation 04 of their presence. From then on the story would follow much of the the novel Halo: Operation First Strike with some differences. Halsey would give Ichika her personal A.I. Kalmiya to help him maintain some measure of control over the Byakushiki while giving him a separate secret assignment to get the Infinite Stratos basic blueprint (which include detailed instructions to build an IS Core) to the UNSC without Tabane knowing, while Ichika gave Chifuyu the dumb A.I. Deja to give the Schwazer Hase and ISA force proper AI support. Some of the Schwarzer Hase and IS Academy IS pilots would die during the group's escape from Reach on emergency repairs of the combined ships Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice while being pursued by Covenant ships on in an anomalous slipspace field with unusual properties generated by the Forerunner crystal Halsey brought with them. During Operation: FIRST STRIKE, the Spartan-IIs of Blue Team (Fred-104's Red Team merged with Blue Team) and Green Team infiltrated the Covenant repair and refit station Unyielding Hierophant to postpone the Covenant's assault on Earth. Spartan-II Grace-093 would be saved from death when Ichika shielded her from three shots fired from a Brute Shot with the Byakushiki's own energy shields. Soren (cladded in the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL suit) would stay with Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and Lieutenant Elias Haverson onboard the Ascendant Justice when it crashed into the Unyielding Hierophant, fighting off Covenant troops coming to take the assumed Forerunner crystal from them; in reality the crystal had been destroyed earlier. The three would perish when the station overloaded and exploded, killing all three of them and destroying most of the Covenant fleet, and saving Earth from impending invasion. Upon returning to Earth, Ichika handed over Halsey's Infinite Stratos basic blueprint over to the UNSC. The blueprint would be retrieved by Madoka to be handed over to ONI which was eager to finally obtain the data that would allow them to construct IS Cores on their own without needing Tabane's assistance or guidance. However upon accessing data, a dormant virus was triggered that deleted the data with a mocking message from Tabane to ONI as payback for deciding to cut funding to Project INFINITE STRATOS.
Prior to the start of Halo 2, the Spartan-IIs including Ichika and Green Team swapped out their MJOLNIR Mk-V armor for the Mk-VI armor. ONI was able to provide Madoka with her own MJOLNIR Mk-VI armor. The ISA survivors would be relocated to Japan which had a new ISA campus facility ready to receive staff and students to continue the IS training program. Schwarzer Hase would be officially reinstated and their court martial dropped. The ribbon medal ceremony saw the promotion of many people (mostly IS characters) and the graduation of the surviving third-year ISA students including Tatenashi Sarashiki (pilot of the IS unit Mysterious Lady). The supersoldier unit Schwarzer Hase, a unit which had been greatly depleted and losing people since their real participation in the Human-Covenant War, would be replenished and enlarged with new non-augmented humans by orders of UNSC NAVSPECWAR and SPECWARCOM to remain an effective fighting force, reorganized into one of more Infinite Stratos Special Warfare Groups. Iris Calling and Natasha Fairs would command one of their own IS-SWG under SPECWARCOM and stationed on Earth. While the newly promoted LTC Laura and CAPT Clarissa would command the "old guard" of Schwarzer Hase, the newer members consisting of graduated ISA third-year students like Tatenashi would answer to the newly promoted CDR Maya Yamada. The Personal users would also be added to the "new guard" of Schwarzer Hase as HIGHCOM decided that even though they have not graduated from ISA yet, they would be made to fight in the war as it would soon be Earth's finest hour. Schwarzer Hase would be assigned to the to Charon-class light frigate UNSC Aegis Fate which would be captained by the newly promoted Navy Captain (CPTN) Chifuyu Orimura. Tabane would implement Anti-Flood countermeasures into the Infinite Stratos to prevent them from being used should the pilot becomes infected by the Flood. These countermeasures would prove largely unsuccessful (AN: read on more to the part of the story diea covering the events of Halo 3).
During the First Battle of Earth, Green Team (using Open Frame 92/Extra-Vehicular Activity "Booster Frames" shown in Halo Legends episode The Package) and Schwarzer Hase using their IS units to defended the ODPs from the initial fleet battle, although a few ODPs were destroyed allowing a single CAS-class assault carrier Solemn Penance carrying the Prophet of Regret to enter Earth's atmosphere. It hoovered above the island city of Mombasa deploying infantry and mechanized support. Phantom Task IS forces under promoted CPTN Squall Meusel and CDR Autumn along with Madoka were deployed to protect and defend key strategic areas of Mombasa as well as provide reconnaissance and other high-risk operations behind enemy lines in support of UNSC forces and achieving ONI objectives in Mombasa. Elements of Phantom Task deployed to support the ODST orbital drop on the Solemn Penance attempted to trap and board the assault carrier when the ship initialed a slipspace jump inside the city; they were killed along with most of the contingent of ODSTs dropped to infiltrate the carrier in the blast radius of the slipspace portal opening up with the exception of the Alpha-Nine squad (Halo 3: ODST) whom CPTN Veronica Dare had their trajectory changed at the last minute. Two weeks after Green Team would be diverted along with Blue Team to Onyx to rescue Halsey. However Ichika would not go with the rest of his Team as there was some value in him to ONI for being the only male to pilot an IS. Instead he was reassigned to the UNSC Aegis Fate as it received new orders from Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood to track down the UNSC In Amber Clad to its last traced location when it chased after the Prophet of Regret and assist CDR Miranda Keyes in capturing the Prophet of Regret. The Aegis Fate set course to the last known location of In Amber Clad; they would arrive at Installation 05 (aka Delta Halo) and High Charity to assist UNSC forces in the area only to find none. They tracked the In Amber Clad enroute to High Charity but their attempts to hail the In Amber Clad were unanswered and Kalmiya registered no life signs on board; unknown to them the frigate had been captured by the Flood and it was they who were flying it into High Charity. The crew of the Aegis Fate witness the In Amber Clad entered High Charity and crashed into a tower and from the wreckage merged the Flood. Kalmiya was able to contact Cortona who briefed the crew of Aegis Fate an update on the situation. Chifuyu decides to pursue the new objective of stopping the Covenant from activating the Halo ring and if possible rescue CDR Miranda Keyes and other survivors of the In Amber Clad. Under Chifuyu's direction, the Aegis Fate deployed Schwarzer Hase and UNSC forces near the Control Room of the Delta Halo. After getting in contact with SGT MAJ Avery Johnson, the IS cast allied with the Arbiter and Sangheili to stop Tartarus and the Jiralhanae from activating the Ring; they succeed..
In the lead up to Halo 3, Phantom Task under Squall, Autumn, and Madoka participated in the Battle of Sector Six helping the ODST pair Bravo-21 and Bravo-22, who were tasked with calculating the crash site of the Master Chief who was on his way to Earth having jumped out of the Forerunner Dreadnought, and Marines hold off waves of Covenant troops to allow the ODSTs in track the Master Chief's landing point with a laser designator, allowing the UNSC to quickly locate the him and use him to put a stop to the Prophet of Truth's plans (AN: The premise of the Halo live-action movie trailer by Peter Jackson before the film idea was canceled). For the rest of Halo 3, Ichika, Madoka, Chifuyu, and Laura would accompany the Master Chief in his battles, the three would prove greatly helpful as IS support to the Master Chief and Arbiter in dealing with Flood-infected IS pilots from when the Flood crashed landed on Earth during the Battle of Voi (some IS pilots who participated in the battle had become infected by the Flood) and later on when the Flood crashed the infected High Charity onto the Ark during the Battle of Installation 00. Ichika would unlock 2nd Shift of Byakushiki when having to battle IS units piloted by Flood-infected pilots. In the Battle Voi, the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, UNSC Aegis Fate, and an unnamed frigate would be ordered by Hood to fire on the Forerunner Dreadnought, which remain intact and able to activate the Portal to Installation 00 (aka the Ark). The Aegis Fate and Schwarzer Hase would provide to support to UNSC and Sangheili forces for the remainder of the Battle of Installation 00. At the end of the Battle, while the Arbiter, Ichika, Madoka, and Laura made it back to Earth on the front half of Forward Unto Dawn, the other half was split apart leaving the Master Chief and Cortana to drift in space for a long while. The IS cast would attend the Voi Memorial held three weeks later after the war had come to an end. Chifuyu in particular mourned the death of SGT MAJ Johnson as he had a fellow ORION Project soldier (i.e. Spartan-I) just like her. WIth his death, Chifuyu remarks that she is now the last of her kind of her breed, the last ORION Project soldier still alive (in a metaphorical sense she lost contact with the ORION Project soldiers and doesn't know their individual status since the ORION Project ended). With the Human-Covenant War over, the Personal users were sent back to ISA in Japan to continue and finish their interrupted education and IS training. In the timespan between Halo 3 and Halo 4, Ichika to his surprise would be assigned by ONI to the ISA campus in Japan to further his IS training. Kurt-051 who survived the Battle of Onyx (AN: Thanks to butterfly effect of Green Team being sent with Blue Team to aid Halsey) would resume leadership of Green Team while Ichika is assigned to ISA for the time being. Deja as assigned to Green Team as AI support. However Naomi-010 would be assigned to the Kilo-Five team.
Fighting alongside the Master Chief and other Spartans like Ichika and Madoka, and later finding out about Chifuyu's status as a Spartan-I, had a profound effect on Laura and changed her mindset about the Spartans in many ways. Some time after returning home, ADM Margaret Parangosky alongside CPTN Serin Osman announced the official end of the Schwarzer Hase program and disbandment of Schwarzer Hase personnel as well as possible reassignment options, including being shifted to non-combatant roles. Instead to their surprise Laura asked the how she could join the Spartan program, a question which stunned both ONI leaders. Parangosky responded that while she recommend her to the recent Spartan-IV Program that was in the works, she warned Laura that she would have to prove herself worthy and that it is unknown how her biological and physical makeup as a Schwarzer Hase supersoldier would interact with Spartan-IV augmentation procedures. Laura replied that she would be willing to take that risk, that as a Schwarzer Hase soldier she has reached her limit and that she wanted to strong and powerful without relying in the Infinite Stratos all the time. The Spartan program seemed like the next big thing for her now and she wanted to grow and advance as a person. When asked if she acknowledged the superiority of the Spartans over Schwarzer Hase soldiers and if she felt any lingering regrets or jealousy, Laura replied that as a current Schwarzer Hase soldier how would she be able to stand alongside someone like the Orimura (one family that produced Spartans of different generations), or more importantly the Master Chief. She wanted to reach them, to get to their height and confidently and proudly stand at their side as their true equal. She can't do that as she is now, which was why she wanted to join the Spartan program. Hearing Laura's answer, the other Schwarzer Hase too expressed interest in entering the Spartan-IV Program. Parangosky would send the former Schwarzer Hase personnel over to the Spartan-IV Program which was under the newly established Spartan branch. Osman would warn them that prospective potential Spartans, the UNSC would demand more of them now than ever before when they were Schwarzer Hase soldiers, but Laura replied that she was up for the challenge and see how the other Spartan-IV candidates would measure up to her and her Schwarzer Hase comrades.
Tabane and Chifuyu would discuss Ichika's enrollment into ISA and the status of Byakushiki and his MJOLNIR armor. Tabane remarked that the version of the MJOLNIR Mk-VII armor she was designing for Ichika and Madoka would be fully integrated and compatible with the Infinite Stratos, allowing the Orimura twins to materialize the MJOLNIR whenever they wants at their own without the task of having to put it on themselves or assisted by a machine. Chifuyu asked why Tabane cared about the MJOLNIR armor after all this time when she didn't want to take any design influences from her rival Halsey who originally came up with the design and concept of the MJOLNIR armor. Tabane responded that since how Ichika and Madoka were both Spartans and given how the MJOLNIR was the signature piece and part of the Spartans, it would be best to develop an MJOLNIR that would be compatible with the Infinite Stratos and vice-versa. Tabane remarked how the MJOLNIR Mk-V and Mk-VI weren't completely compatible with the Infinite Stratos as both the Infinite Stratos and MJOLNIR were separate exoskeleton armor technology and were not originally designed around working in tandem together, especially if they share the same user. There were always some sort of compatibility issue that translate into system errors, as what worked for the Infinite Stratos may not work entirely well with the MJOLNIR and vice-versa. Given how Admiral Parangosky had recently imprisoned Halsey, ONI reluctantly restored partial funding to Project INFINITE STRATOS abet with conditions such as Tabane agreeing to work on other projects that are of great importance to ONI. The Orimura twin's custom MJOLNIR Mk-VII armor would not be the only thing Tabane would be working on, as she would have to make MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor [GEN2] at that compatible with Infinite Stratos for Phantom Task, and former Schwarzer Hase soldiers who are currently training in the Spartan-IV Program.
AN: This is as far as I could squeeze my imagination of the IS characters and the IS themselves and how they would develop and interact in the the Halo universe. It took a very time for me to conceive this plot idea - I swear three weeks to a month - as I was focused on developing the metaphorical Halo sandbox and making sure the IS stuff conformed to the Halo setting and lore. This required me to use Halopedia and Halo Wiki extensively as I wanted to stay within the confines of Halo canon as much as I could while changing things around a bit to include IS characters and the IS themselves while avoid derailing the Halo story setting and lore. The major story premise and attraction of Halo itself is that it is one of Humanity was fighting brave, valiant, but slowing losing war to survive and exist against a genocidal religious alien empire. In my opinion this was something that Infinite Stratos as a mostly lighthearted series couldn't change no matter what, not with Halo's story setting, lore, and tone. Even with the Spartans, Humanity was gradually losing the war and with each successive lost the UNSC was growing weaker. Each destroyed colony meant less resources and people that could be utilized for the war effort, fewer shipyards to build new and repair damaged ships. Humanity was losing the space battles which were the battles that really mattered the most. As the Covenant continued to glass colony after colony and gradually make its way into the Inner Colonies towards Reach and Earth, it meant the UNSC Navy was grow progressively weaker as the war went on. The few reasons Humanity survive and won was because of the Cole Protocol (which prolonged the war as it made it difficult to the Covenant to quickly locate major human colony settlements) and the Great Schism that occurred in Halo 2 between the Jiralhanae-led Covenant loyalist forces and the Sangheili-led Separatists, which started then the San'Shyuum (i.e. the Prophets) betrayed the Sangheili. In short Humanity lucked out, and with the Covenant splintered apart into many separate self-interested factions, the UNSC are now somewhat the dominant faction in the postwar era. At least for awhile until the returning Insurrectionist threat, emergence of the Prometheans and Didact threat in Halo 4 and later the Created in Halo 5 (of God 343i, what terrible story writing and planning).
For this particular crossover concept idea, it was difficult to incorporate Infinite Stratos as there isn't a lot of detailed information from Infinite Stratos Wiki that I could draw from. As such I had to take some creative liberties so that I could fit in elements of Infinite Stratos into the Halo universe and its vast extensive story setting and lore. Like there wasn't a lot of information I could gather on Schwarzer Hase whom I had conceived as a rival supersoldier program/group to the Spartans. Thus I filled in the blanks with my creative imagination to make it compatible with Halo canon and lore. It is the same thing with the idea of Infinite Stratos itself and how to explain how it came about. I had originally thought about an origin story for the Infinite Stratos powered exoskeleton armor system, that was the result of Tabane reverse-engineering Ancient Humanity's version of a powered exoskeleton armor system, sort of like the Forerunner's Combat Skin. But atlas I decided to leave that part out and used another explanation for the Infinite Stratos appearing in Halo.
This is as far as my muse will go and frankly I'm tired of flesh out anymore ideas for this story concept challenge I present to you and everyone else interested in adapting this story idea and writing it themselves. As always feel free to adopt this story idea and make it your own and filling the blank. Feel free to change anything to fit how you would imagine or envision the story concept idea. This story concept idea like my previous ones are open-ended meaning you can easily fill in stuff that I haven't covered or elaborated on much to fill in the blanks. The obvious requirements are that the adapted story is mostly focused on the Orimura and that of other IS characters in Halo. Having POV of canon Halo characters is okay to some extent, just remember that the story is largely about the Orimura siblings. While there are some OCs that are featured in other Halo fanfics because it is such an expanded and extensive storyworld, I do not want this story idea concept/challenge to be turned into an OC focused wankfest story. If you want that, there are already a lot of IS crossover stories and plenty of Halo x IS crossover stories that already do just that. You are looking in the wrong place and barking up the wrong tree if you want an OP OC-centric story. This story was meant for the Orimura siblings and their tales and experiences living in and interacting with the Halo universe. While I do not forbid or ban the use of OCs as sometimes they are necessary for minor things, just notice how as you read this story concept/challenge idea that I took painstaking effort to use and reference canon characters from both Halo and Infinite Stratos. Halo has an extensive story setting and lore and therefore it has a lot of characters one can use and same thing with named UNSC ships. Heck I even made sure the both Ichika, Madoka, and Chloe's numbers made sense and weren't numbers that were used already like Ichika-033, Madoka-A201, and Chloe-212. To anyone who wants to adapt this story concept idea, feel free to do so. I hope to find and read your story someday when you do upload it here on FFN. Also feel free to expand a bit more on the story of this story concept post Human-Covenant War including the events of Halo 4, Halo 5, and Halo Wars 2.