717th Battalion (R) Hardlight Unit

The Spartan Attaché "Hardlight Unit" of the , Romeo Company is a special mission-and-attaché assignment for the . Under the command of the Exploitation Group and the 717th's direct command, the Hardlight Unit began in for augmenting security and research efforts by ONI science teams and their security details based on a series of tragic accidents on ONI research expeditions into technology sites.
The Hardlight Unit began as a defensive and VIP-protection outfit formed from rotational and were not involved in direct action until the suspension of the due to the . After regrouping, sought to restructure the Spartan unit and the larger Exploitation Group operational structure due to increasing hostility and unpredictability of Forerunner and on-site . Subsequent trends uncovered by Merlin-D032 during the Created conflict of an elaborate -based Promethean surveillance network inspired the restructure.
By , the Hardlight Unit continued to serve the Exploitation Group but becoming an offensive, deep-penetration unit responsible for clearing and securing Forerunner technology sites for excavation, and in addition, Created splinters' data-fortresses as the Exploitation Group became increasingly involved in anti-Created "cleanup" or counter-insurgency operations.
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==Equipment==
The Spartans of the Hardlight Unit face some of the toughest adversaries known to ONI and are equipped appropriately in response but contemporary human military technology is often inadequate or marginally-capable of defeating Flood or Forerunner adversaries. In these scenarios, Spartans rarely have an "overmatch" capability and adopted alien technology from former Covenant and Forerunner war stocks to fill the gaps similar to other select units in the UNSC Armed Forces before the Created conflict.
Before the Created conflict, the Hardlight Unit received first-pick of repurposed Forerunner small-arms technologies from the Xeno-Materials Exploitation Group excavations and reverse-engineering efforts. They, and the 717th Battalion, received "cleaned/cleared" variations of recovered Covenant and Forerunner equipment; most often this took the form of alien weapon sights and attachments augmenting weapon capabilities.
*Energy bayonet (Covenant): Short Sangheili-inspired energy blade-bayonet for human military purposes. Increases melee damage and range, allowing for a one-hit kill against normal opponents.
*Hybrid sight (Covenant): Sangheili carbine "holo-scope" technology merged with human industrial methods. Achieved with miniaturized energy shield technology and compatible with exposed, legacy Covenant battle-networks.
*Kinetic bolts (Forerunner): Solidified "hardlight" flakes expanded over the surface of bullets as they leave the rifle barrel increasing penetration. Augments knockback and damage against vehicles.
*Knight blade (Forerunner): Recovered "hardlight" sword as a bayonet from defeated Promethean Knight automatons. Increases melee effectiveness, with extra damage and knockback against vehicles.
*Morph sight (Forerunner): Modified Z-250 light rifle "holo-scope" integrated into networked-human weapons with limited success after collaborating with Sangheili artisan-armorers and years of independent reverse-engineering.
After the Created uprising, the Exploitation Group took a more conservative approach to fielding alien weaponry due to the risk of manipulation and tampering by adversaries well-versed with reverse-engineered Forerunner technology, particularly rogue artificial intelligence (AI). This approach also reflected with the Hardlight Unit who attempted to wean off their reliance of Forerunner weapons. Assessments of Promethean weapon stocks by the Exploitation Group found they were most susceptible to Created-AI intrusion, especially as Cortana's forces built their capability backbone on Promethean weaponry and network systems.
The Hardlight Unit chose to adopt the Aggressor Sentinels' "sentinel beam" system, a common weapon found in most Forerunner facilities and used by the most basic of Forerunner security automatons and armigers. Designed especially for fighting Flood containment breaches, these fine-tuned hardlight "laser-beam" weapons are rudimentary in their design with far fewer moving parts and interfaceable subsystems compared to other Forerunner weapons, including other sentinel beam variants. It is half-humorously noted by Exploitation Group science teams that pinging the weapon artificial intelligence will offer illuminating conversational remarks from nothing to "I am a weapon. I do not talk."
One military field maxim taught by the Exploitation Group's security forces including the Hardlight Unit and the 717th Battalion is the securement of Sentinel manufacturing facilities or "factories" as they are commonplace around Forerunner technology sites and ruins. Because the factories rely on a local abundance of valuable and sometimes exotic, rare-earth materials to construct their sentinels/automatons following sentinels around will often lead back to their factories, similar to communal/social insect species (ex. ants, bees, wasps, etc.). Sentinel beams will similarly be in abundance, and usable for security forces when munition supply lines are unavailable for extended periods of time or in adverse combat conditions.
==Notable Members==