Operation: VORAUSSICHT

Details of the SPARTAN-II Program are hard to come by. As far as the UNSC civilian population is concerned, Spartans are handpicked soldiers from the UNSCDF branches who can go toe-to-toe with the Covenant and come out on top. Rumours of genetic and cybernetic augmentation circulate among the Soldiers and Marines who regard these warriors with a mixture of fear and awe, but for the most part the truth of their origins is a classified secret among the upper echelons of the Office of Naval Intelligence - kidnapped as children and trained as professional soldiers for the rest of their lives, augmented and provided with state-of-the-art MJOLNIR powered armour, the Spartans history is brutal and tragic but has produced the greatest warriors humanity, and perhaps even the Covenant, has ever seen.
There are, however, mysteries that even ONI has been unable to solve. Official records state that while 150 were identified, only 75 of these were actually "recruited" into the program and trained, while of these only 33 Spartans "graduated" the augmentation process - the rest were either killed or maimed by adverse reactions to the augmentation process, were unable to cope with the program and "washed out". This has led to general confusion over just how many Spartans are actually active - some of the candidates who were injured by the augmentations may have been rehabilitated by advances made in medical knowledge and technology and improved techniques derived from the Spartan-III improvements; others seem to have simply disappeared, possibly reassigned intentionally by ONI or another intelligence branch to operate outside of Doctor Halsey's chain of command. The fact that some "official" Spartans, such as Ralph-303, are higher than the theoretical 150 limit to numerical designations, indicates that at least some of this confusion was intended from the very beginning by Halsey herself.
Other developments, however, complicate this picture. Rumours of parallel programs to train and field Spartan-II grade warriors are nothing new, but that some of these programs ran concurrently with the original S-II Program is something that is troubling - the fact that even the most advanced intelligence service in the UNSC has no real idea how many surviving supersoldiers are still active, is unable to gauge their success, failures or even the theatres of operation they have engaged in, and is equally unable to evaluate the potential risk they present to the UNSC itself, or the fragile alliance of humanity with the Sangheili, is an unacceptable threat. Investigations conducted by ONI operator SHOGUN were termed Operation: VORAUSSICHT and were ordered by the then-Deputy Director of Operations, codenamed OLYNDICUS, in order to determine the extent of a potential internal cover-up of the project. Uncovering an alarming number of supersoldier development programs, such as Project: LEONIDAS, with varying degrees of success and ethical adherence, many of these were traced to a small group of powerful officials within the UNSC Army, Navy and Marine Corps, and included small research cells within ONI itself that were immediately shut down until the investigation was concluded, its members questioned or arrested, and information gathered. A timeline is difficult to set out - many of the projects may have been independently authorised and funded without knowledge of each other - and a number of key suspects managed to escape custody, quickly disappearing. Worse still, attempts were made by these elusive operatives to sabotage the investigation - viruses were released into the ONI network, deleting data indiscriminately; computers were rigged with explosive devices, killing crime scene investigators from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at two sites, and assassins were hired to hunt down the lead members of Operation: VORAUSSICHT. Enlisting the aid of Spartan-II Indigo Team, ironically products of the early phases of Project: INDIGO, SHOGUN would proceed to hunt down and capture thirty one fugitives, killing three in self defence and unable to prevent another from committing suicide. Indigo served on these capture operations, either performing the operations themselves or serving as support for other, more public teams, and played a key role in the capture of the last fugitive, codenamed CAIN.
By the end of the investigation, more than one hundred and twenty personnel were suspended for negligence, charged with conspiracy, or publically shamed by allegations of bribery and corruption. In the ensuing period, another two hundred personnel would be fired or resign willingly, with forty three people prosecuted for Project: INDIGO. The investigation revealed that the illegal project had even penetrated into Project: MJOLNIR, run by Doctor Halsey, and that technological innovations were stolen from MJOLNIR and Project: EXCALIBUR. The extent of the project was staggering - seven NOVEMBER BLACK clearance research projects had been infiltrated, their classified developments leaked to unauthorised personnel - in two cases, revolutionary improvements in slipspace navigation and railgun efficiency were sold by corrupt Naval officials to insurrectionists in exchange for a truce in the Outer Colonies, shortly before they were glassed - the former being a flagrant violation of the Cole Protocol leading the Covenant to the Dahaha colony and the deaths of thirty thousand colonists, the latter allowing the Covenant a detailed look at state-of-the-art UNSC railgun technology, factors that are estimated to have sped the fall of the Outer Colonies by two years.
The fallout of VORAUSSICHT was devastating for the UNSC, resulting in a substantial drop in morale and loss of public confidence in the defence forces. Worse still was its effect on the administration of Secretary General Jerome Smithson - in the wake of what the colonial media would dub "Spartangate," seven heads of government departments were fired and replaced by vehement supporters of the investigation, resulting in strained relations between the UEG and the UNSC, and the resignation of seven generals and admirals in the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps in protest at the increase of government intervention in military investigations. The loss of military support would prove crucial in the reelection of Secretary General Pierre Plantard.
==Notes==
===Prologue===
===Opening===
===Middle Game===
==Details==
Project 	Duration 	Discovered	Prosecuted Personnel 	Additional Notations
SPARTAN-III 	2531-onwards	2552 	None (involved personnel KIA during Onyx Incident) 	Creation of cost-effective super-soldiers by Colonel James Ackerson of ONI.
INDIGO 	2525-onwards	2549 	Codename: CAIN 	Recruitment of original SPARTAN-II personnel through various means, especially among the "failed" augmentees, forming a number of offshoot special warfare teams, including but not limited to Indigo Team. May have been affiliated with Project LEONIDAS.
INDIGO-II 	2541-onwards	2557 	Codename CAIN 	Recruitment of SPARTAN-III personnel from Alpha, Beta and Gamma Companies, producing as many as a dozen special warfare teams that would continue to operate during and after the Human-Covenant War. Produced Noble, Winter, Kukri, Baselard, and other teams.
VAJRA-II 	2525-2552 	2557 	Henry Ulster (Project lead, acquitted)
Jeremy Sanford (Development lead, acquitted)
Harold Firth (Research lead, acquitted)	Parallel development of MJOLNIR Mark IV improvements and enhancements set up within Project MJOLNIR itself by former Project VAJRA staffers. Seems to have been coerced to cooperate by Project INDIGO personneol to equip Spartan personnel outside of Doctor Halsey's chain of command.
LEONIDAS 	2525-onwards	---- 	Codename: MAGPIE (ONI Director/Project lead(?), deceased prior to investigations)	Procuring of SPARTAN-II's for personal use by ONI. Precise number of involved ONI personnel is unknown, as is the precise number of SPARTANs or SPARTAN-grade operators that were procured - the very least, seven, but this is highly conservative.
CHISEL 	2525-2538 	2552 	Codename CAIN (Office of Naval Intelligence)
Colonel Harold Pharzhi (UNSC Army)
Major Gregory Valdaram	Aumentation research, using abducted homeless civilians from a number of Outer Colonies. Begun by elements within ONI recruited from the UNSC Army to field soldiers of a similar quality to Project ORION (SPARTAN-I Program), CHISEL was deemed a total failure and resulted only in the murder of the abductees, either killed during forced augmentation or afterwards to prevent word from reaching ONI Section One.
GENOME 	2537-2540 	2553 	---- 	Attempts to create a cloned army of SPARTAN-II grade soldiers. The program was deemed a failure, as the clones were often unstable or unable to withstand the augmentation procedures. A small number of GENOME-made soldiers would enter the field, but of them only three would survive the war. Possibly related to Project CHISEL.
ACCRETION 	2556 	2556 	Codename BLIGHTBLOOD (KIA)
Codename VECTOR (MIA) 	A research facility studying Flood biomass. The facility itself was a concrete bunker located deep in the heart of a glacier, surrounded by nuclear mines and with GORGON-grade security measures in place, intended for such a contingency. With Flood outbreak imminent regardless, the site was bombarded from orbit after investigation team was extracted. Investigators were engaged by two hostile operatives, near-Spartan level using EXCALIBUR-derived equipment, killing an entire Marine squad and nearly eluding three SPARTAN-II warfighters. One operative was killed, the second apprehended and later lost during exfiltration - declared MIA, likely survived.
TROJAN 	2536-onwards	---- 	Brigadier General Valor Geisel 	UNSC Marine Corps attempt to create mass-produced super-soldiers with ORION-grade augmentations or better. While VOLSUNG, the Army equivalent, would go on to produce more soldiers, TROJAN would be composed of arguably stronger warriors, as TROJANS were nearly the equal to VOLSUNG members even though they operated without powered armor systems. May have shared assets with VOLSUNG, noted for fierce rivalry with Army initiative.
REVELATION 	2482-onwards	2554 	Doctor Kelvin Rucker
Doctor Daisuke Serizawa 	Begun prior to the Great War as a means to deal with the threat of Insurrectionists quietly, REVELATION was meant to develop deadly diseases that would kill quickly, effectively and silently. After contact with the Covenant, REVELATION would be repurposed like many other projects to deal with the genocidal threat of the alien alliance, but dealing with the alien physiology proved more difficult than expected. The crown achievement of REVELATION was the Raizon Strain, a seemingly incurable disease that sat dormant for three weeks before showing symptoms, killing the subject within 72 hours of the first appearing physically. Cross-project work was carried out with ACCRETION, and in turn numerous scientists and pieces of valuable information were passed on to Projects VENATOR and GREY
SPARTAN-III Delta 	2551-2557 	---- 	Major General Conan D'Souza 	An expansion of Project SPARTAN-III carried out by ONI post-war with the aid of D'Souza,
KNIGHT 	2500-2565 	2565 	Codename: CANDLEMAKER
Codename: WOTAN
Codename: ILLUSTRATOR
Codename: HOLLYWOOD
Entire Project: STYRKT personnel	Dabbling in multiple projects including, but not limited to, MJOLNIR designs, reverse engineering MJOLNIR PAA in order to create a new armor system, tampering with genetic material of not only UNSC military personnel but civilians as well, attempting to create another "SPARTAN-like" project, kidnapping UNSC military personel, the kidnapping and re-education of (S-113), and conspiring against head investigators involved with VORAUSSICHT.
VOLSUNG Initiative	2542-2552 	2555 	Codename: GARUDA 	UNSC Army attempt to field Project ORION-grade soldiers. While CHISEL was a total failure in the augmentation stages, VOLSUNG used information stolen from a number of other projects, such as SPARTAN-III and EXCALIBUR to dramatically improve the quality of its soldiers, fielding Special Warfare teams SpecWar Team LEOPARD, SpecWar Team PANTHER and SpecWar Team JAGUAR. May have shared assets with Project TROJAN.
Project Persian 	2538-2541 	---- 	None (involved personnel KIA during Operation: THERMOPYLAE) 	Attempted creation of SPARTAN-II grade super-soldiers by the United Rebel Front. Investigation turned up involvement of traitorous Admiral Ulysses Lee and presumed renegade Spartan-II Randall-037; three PERSIANS were confirmed as being created, all others failed. One Persian operative MIA; later determined to be Miranda Talavera, kept in Sangheili custody. Punishment by the UNSC is currently stalled due to Sangheili involvement.
AEOLIA/S-057 	2489-Onwards	---- 	Codename: MAESTRO 	Creation of advanced war machines dubbed "Mobile Suits". (Later authorized)/Manipulation of S-057
AVATAR 	2535 	2552 	Codename POCAHONTAS (Acquitted)
Codename JOHN SMITH (Acquitted) 	Infiltration of Covenant society using holographic technology acquired from TEMERITY. Approved by UNSC Security Committee.
SUPERNOVA 	---- 	---- 	---- 	A last resort plan, SUPERNOVA was a plan to use every available NOVA Bomb and similar weapons to bombard the Covenant forces into submission. Directly tied to Operation: RED FLAG, the plan was for the SPARTAN-II's gathered at Reach to go behind enemy lines and locate major Covenant worlds, capture their leadership, and then SUPERNOVA would bombard the planets once the other forces evacuated
ANIMATION 	---- 	---- 	Codename: PUPPET MASTER 	Creation of "Living Shields"
MYRMIDON 	2511-onwards	---- 	---- 	Project used turned down candidates of the SPARTAN-II program
DHARMA 	2543-onwards	---- 	---- 	Research into augmentation procedures, used by Project TROJAN. Discovered through a CHISEL leak, DHARMA had procured some of CHISEL's research, but had continued in humane methods, surpassing its' predecessor and becoming a major force in ONI super-soldier programs. One illegal branch expanded upon older, outlawed drugs, leading to Project CHRYSANTHEMUM
VERONA 	2525-Onwards	---- 	---- 	A project headed by DRACULA dedicated to development of shielding technology through studies of captured Covenant technology and intelligence stolen from Project MJOLNIR. Closely connected to the ELERI, MARISKA and GREY projects, but also to HAYABUSA, the project behind the creation of the Hayabusa Powered Assault Armor.
ELERI 	2525-Onwards	---- 	---- 	Another of DRACULA's pet projects, officially focused on development of accessories and minor upgrades to powered armor or exoskeleton systems, but secretly also intent on developing full armor systems (in close cooperation with Project VERONA's shield development), most recently for Project GREY. It was also responsible for refitting and patching Katana Powered Assault Armors for field use, producing field upgrades to Hayabusa and GUNGNIR suits used by supersoldiers managed by DRACULA, and development of exoskeletons for non-augmented personnel, as well as battlemechs.
MARISKA 	2525-Onwards	---- 	---- 	Another brainchild of DRACULA, Project MARISKA was created to develop advanced weaponry. Though the assets produced by the project was shared with a wide variety of special operations units or programs (such as JAVELIN, INDIGO and HEADHUNTER), a highly secret subcell of the project was focused on producing weapons solely for Project GREY, making use of technology stolen from other projects or of Covenant origin.
GREY 	2550-Onwards	---- 	---- 	Shrouded in mystery due to its extreme secrecy, Project GREY was started as an attempt to produce a new wave of superhumans on par with the Spartans, without the need for the Spartan augmentations. At some point, DNA from the Flood anomaly was incorporated into the project (suggesting possible cooperation with ACCRETION), seen as a possible future alternative to the Spartan augmentations.
VENATOR 	2490-onwards	2556 	Codename DRACULA
Codename VENATOR
Codename OXFORD
Codename PUPPET MASTER 	Attempts by various organisations, both military and civilian, to study "Linguafoeda acheronsis", also known colloqually among intelligence circles as "xenomorphs". Most prominent among those attempting to study the creatures was DRACULA, in cooperation with Weyland-Yutani Corporation officials. At least seven small colonies are deemed to have been killed during these attempts to study the creatures' life cycle. May have been affiliated with Project ACCRETION in some capacity. While initially suspected to be affiliated with DRACULA, subsequent investigation would prove this not to be the case, despite DRACULA's intense interest in the project and its results.
HEPHAESTUS 	2534-2542 	---- 	---- 	----
BLACKSMITH 	2549-2555 	---- 	---- 	----
CHIRON 	---- 	---- 	---- 	----
HUNTRESS 	---- 	---- 	---- 	----
FORGE 	---- 	---- 	---- 	----
YOUMA 	---- 	---- 	---- 	----
MYSTIC/MANDATE 	2551-Ongoing	2553 	CMDR Randall O'Grady, Codename(s) CERBERUS, PAPPY 	Amber Team ("MANDATE")was formed as a multi-mission, low-profile SPECWAR strike force. Highly active in the aftermath of the Human-Covenant War, Amber Team killed man and alien alike, quietly and efficiently crushing Insurrectionist cells, killing Covenant leaders, and collecting vital intelligence on the UNSC's and ONI's enemies MANDATE's roots can be traced to a Section III-SPECWARCOM DEVCOM joint project, the "Multi-Mission SPECWAR Composite Team X-ray," better known as MYSTIC.
 	 	 	 	
==Involved Personnel==
===Investigators===
* ONI Deputy Director of Operations (Codename: OLYNDICUS)
* Codename: SHOGUN - operation head, later Section Chief of ONI S-ZERO
* Codename: HEPHAESTUS - project head of EXCALIBUR (not to be confused with Project: HEPHAESTUS). Assigned in an advisory and liaison role.
* Codename: VOLUND - project head of TEMERITY. Assigned in an advisory and liaison role.
* Lieutenant Janice Forrester (Codename: RAINFALL) - deputy field operation head, former UNSC Army COIN operative, daughter of ODST Colonel Verdani Forrester
* Indigo Team (SPARTAN-II Beta Five Division/Indigo Subdivision) - combat liaisons
** Chief Petty Officer Andrew-306
** Petty Officer Second Class Jeremy-068
** Petty Officer Second Class Laura-125
* Commander Jared-091 (Codename: ORPHEUS) - Director's personal operator, cleared for involvement.
* Kukri Team (SPARTAN-III Beta Five Division/Indigo Two Subdivision)
* Baselard Team (SPARTAN-III Beta Five Division/Indigo Two Subdivision)
* Army Special Warfare Team LEOPARD
* Codename: NOVEMBER OSCAR - interrogator
* Codename: ISTARI
===Persons of Note===
Note: The following list contains unclassified personnel convicted after the events of Operation: VORAUSSICHT. Many more names remain classified to protect military assets from disclosure - and indication of just how far the infiltration had reached. Over all, forty three people were convicted and sentenced to execution or prison terms in military penal institutions, two hundred personnel resigned, and four were killed during apprehension, one self-inflicted.
* Brigadier General Faraji Masamba (UNSC Army - Convicted on charges of Conspiracy and Attempting to Pervert the Course of Justice)
* Colonel Behar Ylli (UNSC Marine Corps - convicted of espionage)
* Ensign Bashkim Pëllumb (UNSC Navy - arrested on unrelated child sex offences, involved in the trafficking of classified material to Insurrectionists)
* Lieutenant Slava Lev (UNSC Navy - convicted on charges of conspiracy)
* Rear Admiral Pherick Juan (UNSC Navy - Convicted on charges of Conspiracy and Attempting to Pervert the Course of Justice)
* Codename: CAIN - assumed to be the designated appointee to approve various projects, worked closely in conjunction with Codename: PUPPET MASTER
* Codename: DRACULA - high-ranked member of rogue ONI organisation hoping to counter VORAUSSICHT through effective coverup, intimidation, counter-espionage and assassination.
* Codename: OZYMANDIAS - former ONI Deputy Director or Operations, never apprehended by VORAUSSICHT. Suspected to have defected to Insurrectionist organisations.
* Helen Calypso (Codename: VECTOR) - blackmailed into cooperation by Codename: DRACULA, later assisted in apprehending other persons of interest.
* Codename: BLIGHTBLOOD - former Project ORION operative, later offered his services as a hired gun to both military and civilian employers. Employed by Codename: DRACULA, killed during investigation of Operation: ACCRETION.
* Codename: MAESTRO - an independent ONI member who headed Project AEOLIA using revolutionary & experimental technology. Was later learned that he was responsible for manipulation S-057 to perform treasonous missions for him. Possible subordinate of PUPPET MASTER.
* Codename: PUPPET MASTER - a high ranking ONI member whose identity remains to be disputed. From his actions, he seems to be extremely manipulative due to his elaborate infiltration and Project schemes.
* Codename: INNOCENCE (UNSC Navy) - Detained for questioning due to extensive involvement with MAESTRO. However, it was later learned he manipulated for their purposes.
*Codename: OEDIPUS - Aaron G. Gibson, former ONI Deputy Director and Cell Leader, never apprehended by VORAUSSICHT. Whereabouts unknown, presumed dead.
* Codename: ORPHEUS (UNSC Navy) - Detained for questioning after extensive involvement with OEDIPUS and possibly DRACULA. Unknown motivations and loyalties outside of his sheer devotion to the Office itself.
* Codename: VALERI - a subordinate of DRACULA, responsible for overseeing the latter's projects and contact network.
* Codename: MEDICI - a subordinate of DRACULA, responsible for commanding the latter's operations, as well as managing and reviewing all personnel employed by him.
==Quotes==
* "It's appalling. You look at the military, and you're supposed to see men and women of integrity, courage and honour, and for the most part you do. And then you find out they've been dumping gene therapy agents into the drinking supply, kidnapping hobos for augmentation experiments, and picking off investigators trying to get to the bottom of it."
* "I remember [CAIN]. He seemed like a model worker - he was the first one in and the last one out of the [office], got along fine with his coworkers, and had a spotless record. I guess it's the successful and enthusiastic ones you have to watch for."
* "A week after SHOGUN announced his findings to the UNSC Security Council, the colonial media were dubbing it "Spartangate." Secretary General Smithson was furious - department heads were fired, entire subsections were closed down, and Project EXCALIBUR's clearance was raised even higher until it became a treasonable offence to even access its files without authorisation. In hindsight, it's all part of his typical overreactive nature, but it didn't make him any friends in the military."
* "There were rumours of OZYMANDIAS's involvement in INDIGO, but the investigation never turned anything up to support it. Of course, he had considerable control over it - and there are those who believe that the whole operation was begun just to cover up his tracks. If SHOGUN ever caught wind of it, he didn't show it."