The Spartans

The enormous soldiers were gathered in the starboard storage room on the engineering deck when I found them. Emerging from the elevator, I instinctively started towards one of the doors that led to the engineering department proper, like I used to when I was coming down to visit Tali. Laughing a little at myself, I stopped and moved past the door to find my newest, and most interesting, squad. As I entered, Mace was going over the procedure for when we landed on the asteroid. We had no Intel as to what we would be going into, and if there were enemies present who were going to fight us. The Spartans wanted to make sure that they were ready. I could not get over the size of them. Misha, wearing the red stripe upon his helmet and shoulder pads, was the smallest of them and yet he must have stood a full foot taller than me. They were not exactly lean or lithe either.

The armour certainly bulked them up, but I could tell that, under the armour, there were broad shoulders through which they could channel the immense strength that they carried within them. Mace saw me enter and called the Spartans to attention, but I motioned for them to carry on their preparations while I observed. There was no doubt that these individuals knew each other well, and had probably all joined the Spartan program at the same time and therefore gone through all the rigourous training together.

That was important, as a team of people who were only just meeting generally did not gel together as easily. The only exceptions that I knew of were my teams that came together on my three campaigns when I commanded the Normandy. The Spartan program had started very early with the first volunteers in 2187, so this team knew each other very well by now. Despite this, I noticed that there was something lacking in the way the team discussed their tactics and planned their movements upon landing: Emotion.

I remembered all the times that I would be planning out an operation or mission with my team and every so often someone, usually Garrus, would throw in a quick joke or poke fun at me to keep the mood lighter. I had never once felt the need to tell anyone that the humour was unnecessary, or that it was not the right time. A little bit of a laugh could keep the spirits of the troops up, even when our prospects looked bleak or when things were not going our way. As I listened to Mace, Misha, Axel and Dexter there was something a little robotic about the way they went about their business.

However, as I pondered these exemplary specimens of Humanity, they finished up and stood patiently as they waited for me to say something. The corners of my mouth turned up as I cracked a smile to their treating my visit like business.

"Relax guys, I just wanted to find out more about you. More about the Spartan program as well."

"Of course, Sir," Mace answered, "you're one of the few who we can actually discuss it with."

"Oh?"

"Miranda said you'd probably ask and said to tell you anything you wanted, seeing as how Lazarus plays a large part in creating Spartans."

"Fair enough," I said, "so… go from the start. What happens? How do you apply? Or are you picked?"

"Miranda and her staff assessed hundreds of new Alliance recruits. The ones who not only showed great promise, but showed that they were there because they truly believed in what the Alliance stands for, were forwarded an offer. It's purely voluntary, of course," Mace told me.

"We're told right from the start that it will be a living hell," Misha said, "and that's before we're given the serum."

It was minute, but I thought that I saw all four Spartans shift uncomfortably at the mention of the serum. Naturally, I asked about it to see how much they were willing to tell me.

"After a year of constant physical, weapons, survival and operational training, we're assessed," Dexter took over, "if we pass the almost impossibly high standards, then we're given the choice of carrying on with the next phase which is being given the serum. It… it changes you."

"We're also told, when we're given that choice, that just being given the serum could result in death, no matter how fit and strong we are. A few didn't make it."

"Wait," I had to stop them, "people died?"

"They were given the choice knowing that they could die… and they went ahead with it anyway."

"How does the serum… I mean," I was a little stunned, "how can it kill you?"

"It takes everything about us, our strength, our endurance, our entire physiology, and boosts it beyond natural levels. The strain that our bodies and minds go through in the first few days are like nothing I've ever felt before. The pain crippled me," Mace admitted, "I was sick, I blacked out, I pissed blood, screamed, cried, begged them to kill me, everything…"

"But then there's that moment when that all starts to subside," Axel said, "and it's like… I don't know," he looked to his fellow Spartans for aid as he tried to find the words to do the experience justice. However, Mace held me with a steady stare and nodded in my direction,

"I think the Commander will know what we're talking about. Think how you felt after you became conscious again for the first time, after you died. I think you'll know more than anyone else what we went through. Except we were awake while our bodies were effectively being torn apart inside our own skin, and then rebuilt bigger and stronger than ever."

"They kept you awake?" I was seriously starting to wonder if I had ever truly known Miranda if she was capable of this, but Mace reassured me.

"They tried to sedate us, but there was no sedative strong enough!"

I still felt like I needed to quiz Miranda on the true ethics of the Spartan program, but I let it slide for the time being.

"So… this was when a few of you died?"

"Yeah," Axel said, "you knew when one of your friends stopped screaming that they were gone. Out of the first batch, we only lost fourteen out of fifty though, so it's not as bad as it seems."

"Are you all men? Or are there female Spartans as well?" I asked. The Spartans all shook their heads in answer.

"It's planned but… the current version of the serum that we and subsequent batches have been administered isn't safe. It alters everything about the person right down to the genetic and chemical composition of their minds and bodies. Men and women are different in most ways. Just the way we've evolved. They ran millions of simulations and the results showed that one hundred percent of females given the serum would have been killed by the procedure."

"No sense trying it if they'll all die," I agreed.

"The only woman who could survive the current version of the serum is Miranda herself, and that's because she's already an artificially created super-Human," Dexter said flatly.

"Don't ever say that in front of her, the "artificially created" bit. She's a bit sensitive about that," I smirked. "So… what about after the initial effects wear off?"

"Like being born anew," Mace said without hesitation. "I woke up and just could not stop looking around me. Everything felt new again. Sights, smells, the way the floor felt under our feet, the sensation of the sun on our skin, the weight of a rifle in our hands and the "crack" when you fired off a round. My eyes could even follow the bullet it was so clear. Everything's enhanced. Everything's better. You notice tiny details that you had never, ever known were there before."

"The most incredible thing I've ever felt," Misha said and his team mates promptly agreed.

"Sounds like I have to try this out sometime," I chuckled and that was the first time that I heard even a whisper of a laugh from the grim super-soldiers.

"So how much longer did the training go on after that?" I asked.

"Still going," Mace said. "The Spartan II Project is a ten-year program where we're evaluated at every turn. Subsequent Spartan Projects won't be as long, but that will be down to the results they draw from us. They'll form a sort of template around how far we progress, I suppose."

"So, this might be the first time you see combat?" I asked them. All except Mace nodded and I looked at him and waited for his answer.

"As a Spartan, yes. But I fought in the Reaper War, Sir," the Spartan Officer replied, "I was home visiting my dad on our family farm in the US when the invasion hit. There wasn't really anything else to do but grab what guns we had and join the resistance. I was a fast little guy, and when our comms would go down, I made a bit of a name for myself as a runner."

"What do you mean fast "little" guy?" I asked.

"I was only sixteen, Sir," he said. My eyes widened in amazement as I gazed at the four monstrously large men.

The Spartans all had the aura of aged soldiers and deep, gravely voices that completely defied what I now understood to be their actual age.

"You're only twenty?" I was hardly able to speak. "I knew Miranda wanted young subjects, but I thought she would start with twenty-year-olds. Eighteen at the youngest."

"To achieve the best results, the subject's body has to be as malleable and available for change as possible. Miranda told us that she'd considered starting far younger, but there were… ethical concerns."

"I'd like to think so," I said. "You should all still have a few years of living before you commit to something like this."

"We all volunteered, Commander," Mace said and I began to detect a hint of a defensive tone in his voice. "None of us wanted to go through those care-free, alcohol-soaked years that many do. We wanted to make a difference. We wanted responsibility, and lots of it. After the Reaper War… this was how we knew we could help Humanity the most."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to offend. I guess I never really had those years either. Spent my teenage life hiding away in my room, eating crap and playing video games. Once I joined the Alliance… well, I like the man it turned me into."

"And so does the whole galaxy… for the record," Dexter quipped. Finally, an attempt at a joke from the Spartans.

I greatly enjoyed conversing with these enhanced soldiers, and was absolutely fascinated by their story of how they came to be Spartans. It truly was a marvel of science. Yet again, I should not have been surprised considering that the woman in charge of the Spartan Project was the same one who resurrected me. The Spartans reinforced the point that they had all consented to being a part of the program, and helped me to feel better about the ethics of the procedure as a whole. In light of this, I heartily anticipated seeing them in action. They truly were remarkable men. I took my leave of them and told them to make sure they were ready to go as soon as Teukria was reached. To this order, I received the reply from Mace,

"Roger that… Spartan I."