Alpha Company

Alpha Company was the first class of supersoldiers trained and deployed under the , a top-secret initiative undertaken by of the under the . Believing that Dr. Halsey's SPARTAN-II program was a good step taken by the wrong person, the project was conceived by Army Colonel James Ackerson and a handful of high-ranking ONI officials to create a batch of cheaper and expendable super-soldiers to be used in suicide missions against the Covenant to slow them down. Ackerson brought in the Kurt-051, and Chief Petty Officer to assist him in the project.
Instead of children with special genetic traits, Kurt recruited orphans around the age of four to six years—with a few notable exceptions—who were given a chance to fight back against the xeno-organisms that destroyed their lives. The recruits arrived at the planet in December of and the program was officially initiated. Alpha Company's training regime was arguably tougher than that of the SPARTAN-II Program's Class I, with more emphasis on combat efficiency and individual skill. The recruits, mostly refugees from Outer Colonies attacked by the Covenant, showed remarkably high aggressive traits for their age and maturity. After five years of intensive training and practice in the art of war, the candidates underwent augmentation procedures and became active in late 2537.
After their trial-by-fire that was the , Alpha Company's success would be proven through their instrumental participation in the , the , and Operation: VENOM. After a year of constant combat, however, the remaining 300 SPARTANs took part in , a high-risk operation to destroy a Covenant shipyard in . A critical mistake with their satellite equipment saw the deaths of most if not all of the 300 SPARTANs, but their mission was a success. Only those pulled out of the main company prior to PROMETHEUS, such as and survived. By , the war had ended, and the surviving SPARTAN-IIIs of Alpha Company were allowed to transfer to the . Alpha Company was succeeded by Beta Company.
==History==
===Origins===
The planning for what would become Alpha Company began in June when and , initiated the development of Project: THEBES as a replacement for Spartan-II supersoldier program. Using files acquired from contacts within the Office of Naval Intelligence, Project: THEBES would be developed over the next six years based on wartime developments and experiences from the . In 2526, this process was aided after Dr. Halsey transferred control of the planned SPARTAN-II Program, Class II due to problems preventing its implementation before the mid-2530s. Taking advantage of this development, Ackerson utilised his connections within ONI to have Class-II cancelled, using concerns about its cost-effectiveness to successfully terminate the project and have its funding reallocated, along with acquiring files for THEBES' development. 
In Colonel Ackerson learned of the disastrous Project VARANGIAN, a classified attempt by ONI to develop their own version of the Spartan-II Program in a shorter time frame and at a lower cost than its predecessor, allowing for further refinement to own project by learning from VARANGIAN's failures. It was during this time that Ackerson, aware of the combat success of the Spartan-II's in combat against the , decided to 'rebrand' Project: THEBES as the '' to make the project more appealing to his superiors within ONI by marketing as a 'production model' of the Spartan-II Program, rather than as its replacement. 
Having finalised the Spartan-III Program, Colonel Ackerson called a meeting among ONI leadership on October 24th aboard ONI Section Three's command ship, the to reveal his program's existence and to promote its adoption. Unlike the Spartan-II Program, the Spartan-III Program would make several changes, taking advantage of medical developments to widen the criteria for viable candidates, and the abundance of war orphans to allow for the production of Company scale Spartan formations for use against high-risk targets with limited odds of survival. The Program would save additional funding by equipping its Spartans with the cheaper and more easily produced , a more advanced development of earlier ONI stealth suits, over the infamously expensive used by the Spartan-II's.
Despite some concerns over his previous issues with the Spartan-II Program, Ackerson would successfully convince to give the Spartan-III Program official approval, with permission being granted for the use of the classified planet to build a training facility, later named Camp Currahee, along any equipment and personnel required. In addition to this, Ackerson was permitted by ONI leadership to 'obtain' a Spartan-II to help lead the training program, unaware that Ackerson had already established the groundwork for his plan to abduct his chosen Spartan-II, .
During a staged mission to on November 7th, an accident and subsequent equipment failure were engineered to conceal the Spartan's disappearance as him being lost in space, and subsequently being declared as 'Missing In Action' by the UNSC after a failed recovery by the prowler . In fact, Kurt's location had been deliberately concealed by an ONI Prowler hidden in the system to wait for his unconscious form to drift along a predetermined course towards the vessel which quietly extracted the Spartan from space and placed him in cryogenic stasis for his journey to the Point of No Return. After holding Kurt in medically induced sleep to allow for his injuries to heal sufficiently, Ackerson had the Spartan awakened and briefed on his reassignment to the Spartan-III Program, deliberately concealing the true reasons behind the termination of Class-II to successfully recruit Kurt as a willing member of the program, now under the identity of Kurt Ambrose.
===Implementation===
After receiving authorisation from Admiral Parangosky, Ackerson instructed his operatives to search orphanage records from across human space to locate war orphans that would make suitable candidates. A process aided by both the UNSC and some colonial government's efforts to genetically screen all war refugees that arrived at other colonies for both criminal records and any harmful diseases or conditions that they might have carried. In addition to this, these efforts also helped officials in locating distant family members who could take care of their relatives, with particular impetus being directed towards the number of orphaned children that were steadily arriving from glassed colony worlds. Often being the only civilians evacuated, due to parents and many officials' efforts in ensuring the safety of their planet's youth populations over even their own survival, with some pilots even arriving with their craft overloaded with kids in efforts to save as many children as possible. Efforts which ONI now used to efficiently source a supply of sufficient candidates for use in the Spartan-III program.
ONI analysts were directed to identify potential candidates by the two criteria of their genetic profiles matched against the specified marker criteria for the augmentation procedures, but also by the level of anger each child showed towards the Covenant for the deaths of their families. Candidates who presented both the correct genetic markers, and displayed a motivation to hatred of the Covenant for they had suffered were then scheduled for interviews with ONI operatives under the guise of psychological evaluations, with those deemed to be suitably motivated being marked for conscription. However, the recruitment of Kurt-051 to lead the training of the Spartan-III would see an immediate alteration to this plan, as recalling the vague traumatic memories of his conscription into the Spartan-II Program, Kurt successfully convinced Ackerson to move away from a conscription-based model. Instead, arguing that it would be more productive to allow candidates the option to volunteer for the Spartan-III Program due to the children's existing desires for revenge against the Covenant, motivations that he and his instructors could use to mould them into efficient soldiers.
Despite some concern from within ONI, Ackerson agreed to Kurt's request, trusting in the Spartan's aptitude for social skills that had led to his recruitment in the first place. Although he did order that the intention of using the Spartan-III for missions with lower odds at survival was to be withheld from the potential candidates, until much later in the training program. Regardless of the hesitancy of some, the change was proven to be the correct course of action as almost all the prospective candidates accepted the chance to join the Spartan-III Program, with only a small percentage refusing the offer, resulting in 497 candidates being successfully recruited for Alpha Company. Following their recruitment, the candidates were removed from their orphanages by ONI agents disguised as UEG officials, under the pretext of them being relocated to live with relatives that had only recently been located. After which they were loaded aboard a transport ship and placed into cyro until all the remaining candidates had been extracted and brought to the transport which would then ferry the entire group to Onyx.
===Training===
On the night of the candidates for Alpha Company arrived at Onyx and were shuttled down by from their transport ship to Camp Curahee's parade ground, under the supervision of Chief . After disembarkation the candidates assembled to receive the Company's commencement speech by Kurt, wearing his full set of to enhance his speech and inspire the children that he had been entrusted to mould into soldiers for the UNSC. However, due to the limited number of 300 final slots for the full Company, Ambrose was forced to take immediate action to begin to weed out any candidates who did not have the drive needed to survive the intensive training regime that he had crafted over the last six months that was considered to be harder than he had experienced during his Spartan-II training.
Immediately after concluding his speech, Kurt gave Mendez orders to have all the candidates reboard the Pelicans, where they would be equipped with and ordered to conduct night drop to demonstrate their resolve by forcing the children to jump into the pitch black night. Despite the conviction the assembled candidates had displayed on the ground, the fear of jumping out of an aircraft defeated several candidates who were immediately washed out of the program and removed from Onyx after their memories of the program were erased to ensure the project's security.Nonetheless, the majority of the candidates completed their jump and qualified to begin their formal training to become potential Spartan-III's which commenced the following morning after they had been settled into their barracks and issued with all the effects that they would require.
However, witnesses to the evening events who saw the children both before and after the exercise would note their higher than normal aggression levels, especially following the night drop, with the base's resident ONI agent going as far as sending a report highlighting their concerns in this regard. Due to being the first training class of the Spartan-III Program, Alpha Company would suffer from numerous teething issues during their training, owing to much of Camp Currahee's facilities having been left inactive before Alpha Company's arrival, and the need for many of the D.I's to adapt to the requirements of training children rather than adults for combat.
====Negligence====
However, these issues would be rendered trivial when on candidate Pierce-A492 drowned in an accident during an underwater exercise on Amphibious Assault Course Randall. During the exercise to practice underwater navigation, Pierce's air tank became lodged in the coral reef at the deepest part of the coursewhere he subsequently drowned after being unable to free himself or signal his situation, before his air supply ran out due to his panic increasing his air consumption.
Despite the presence of D.I.'s, the child's absence was overlooked due to the presumption that he would surface before his air supply expired. However, the other candidates expressed more concern due to their better knowledge of Pierce, and the ease at which it could become lost in the caves that made up the course and so after pooling the remainder of the air supplies, a group of volunteers re-entered the course in pairs to search for him whilst some of the remaining candidates went to raise their concerns to their superiors. After a search of the more likely spots, it was candidate Ayrton-A384 and his dive partner Willow-A461 located Pierce's body and carried it to the surface where they were met by both Kurt and Mendez as both immediately grasped the severity of the situation and brought a medical team with them, along with qualified divers to conduct a thorough search of the entire course. Unfortunately, the efforts of the candidates would be in vain, as an autopsy of Pierce's body and an examination of his recovered air tank, eventually determined that the young candidate had run out of air and drowned before his absence had been noticed by his fellow candidates, with Pierce's story later becoming a ghost story to later Spartan-III Company's.
====Training teams====
Following an investigation into Pierce's death that concluded on the 16th which led to the removal of the D.I.'s that had supervised the exercise, changes were immediately made regarding all future training scenarios, with all candidates now being placed into formal teams to assist each other, rather than operating as individuals. To help establish three-member training teams to prevent any further avoidable fatalities from occurring, on May 26th Kurt ordered a week-long exercise to be conducted where all the candidates were dropped into Camp Currahee's main training ground and left to fend for themselves with only distant supervision to prevent any serious incidents.
This was done to help identify suitable training compositions but also to help single out suitable leadership figures within the Company, with candidate being highlightedas one of its strongest leaders due in part to him being one of the oldest candidates. Whilst some elements of the Company descended into savagery, the exercise was deemed successful for helping to form the candidates into training teams that would persist for the remainder of their training, along with identifying several candidates who were unsuited to the Company structure with some of the worst offenders being washed out as a result. However, some of the more 'interesting' individuals who showed promise, such as would be retained in the Company, with information gleaned from these individuals being combined with the 'exceptional' performance reports on a number of the other candidates, prompting inquiries into potentially useful combat roles for the Company's more 'unconventional' and 'exceptional' candidates.
====Morale issues====
Despite placing the trainees into teams to prevent further accidents from occurring, on candidate Theodore-A399 of Team Wasp was crippled following a botched attempt at disarming a landmine that another candidate had stepped on. This situation had occurred because the candidates had strayed outside their approved training area after they had become disorientated in Onyx's jungles and had entered a minefield that ONI had laid to defend one of the planet's classified facilities. Fortunately, Theodore's efforts were sufficient to prevent any fatalities as both candidates had been able to move sufficiently away from the mine before it detonated, with Theodore being hit by most of the resultant shrapnel whilst the other candidate suffered only minor injuries.
Unfortunately, to protect his face from the blast, Theodore suffered catastrophic injuries to both of his arms with sufficient damage being inflicted that Camp Currahee's doctors were forced to amputate the ruined limbs to save his life. Due to the limitations of the replacement cybernetic limbs that he had been issued with being insufficient for combat operations, Theodore was washed out of the program. Albeit that he was permitted to remain on Onyx at the discretion of Kurt and Mendez for the remainder of Alpha's training period.
Whilst the Company's training had continued as planned following both events, concerns about candidate morale began to raise concerns among the trainee's psychologists, causing some disagreement between instructors as to how to resolve this problem with a range of solutions being presented as a result. This situation was underscored when an argument between candidate Delvin-A125 and other candidates during evening mealtime escalated into a brawl between Delvin's Team Salamander and at least ten other trainees before drill instructors could break up the fight. The brawl would lead to at least seven candidates being sent to the infirmary to be treated for their injuries whilst Team Salamander was sent to the brig by Mendez after they were determined to have been the instigators of the conflict.
Eventually, Kurt decided to personally intervene in the situation by conducting interviews with the candidates who had been most affected by both incidents, with it being ultimately decided to erect a small memorial wall to commemorate Pierce's death. With a small ceremony being held upon its completion with Theodore in attendance to allow the other candidates to process both events and utilize these losses to motivate the remaining candidates to become Spartans. Whilst it had been the plan to make only a simple marker dedicated to just Pierce, it was decided to create a memorial with additional room available so that any other candidates from either Alpha or any following companies killed during training could subsequently have their names added to the wall.
====Developments====
However, shortly afterwards Kurt became aware of both the death of Daisy-023 and the full extent of losses inflicted on his fellow SPARTAN-II's following his recruitment into the Spartan-III program, through connections that he had established within the Office of Naval Intelligence. At least Spartans in addition to Daisy had been killed in action since the start of the Human-Covenant War, with another four having been during the same period. This combined with his awareness of Ackerson's intention to use the SPARTAN-IIIs on high-risk operations with a low chance of survival, Kurt successfully made efforts to persuade Ackerson to allow for some Spartan-IIIs to be earmarked for duties outside the Company. Using the research into other combat roles for the Company's more exceptional candidates, and the Colonel's established dislike of Dr. Halsey to promote his efforts as a means of providing 'replacements' for the losses incurred to the UNSC limited number of Spartan-II's.
The results of this work were the creation of the SPARTAN-III Qualification Achievement Tiers and the implementation of specified criteria and examinations to identify candidates for these specialised operations, similar to those given to SPARTAN-IIs. Candidates who obtained these qualifications were issued with the designation as either or personnel, later dubbed as 'Spartan-III Commandos' and 'Spartan-III Headhunters' respectively after their graduation as Spartan-IIIs. Candidates who did not obtain either qualification were retroactively classified as Category-One personnel, whilst the Company's washouts were dubbed as Category-Zero's by members of the training staff as a result of this process.
thumb|300px|One unforeseen advantage of the candidates taking the opportunity to work in Camp Currahee's assembly plants was that it answered the concerns of ONI Logistics liaisons over sourcing a sufficient labour force to work the plants.|leftLate in Alpha Company's training, Kurt became aware of several candidates who expressed interest in the workings of their equipment and its maintenance beyond the limited courses already implemented into the training program. To this end, it was decided to modify the Company's training plan to incorporate lectures dedicated to teaching the necessary skills needed for the manufacture and repair of any equipment that they would theoretically encounter, or use in their service lives.
In addition, it was decided to allow candidates to volunteer to help work in Camp Currahee's Special Assembly Plant 1 where they could put the theory taught in the lectures into practical experience by helping to fabricate the equipment used by the candidates during their training. Thus the classes were expanded to learn how to assemble and maintain their SPI armour, following the completion of the dedicated Special Assembly Plant 2 with some candidates even learning how to improvise field repairs for their armour when replacement parts were unobtainable.
====Final selection====
Finally at midnight on , the formal education of Alpha Company's candidates concluded after 1,350 days of training, that evening Kurt would give the candidates a briefing regarding an overview of the final selection examination. This was followed by a discussion regarding the options for the candidates who did not pass the selection process and how Kurt and the UNSC would help them adapt to these new life paths. Finally, Kurt would outline the risks that the augmentation procedures presented, including recordings of the surgeries of both the Spartan-II Program and Project VARANGIAN that showed the results of candidates whose bodies had rejected the procedures. Even giving candidates the option of honourably withdrawing from the program if they were unwilling to undertake the risks posed by the procedures.
The following morning the remaining candidates began a pre-prepared final selection program designed to determine which candidates would earn the chance to become Spartan-III's. Each candidate was subjected to rigorous combat evaluations pitted against both their instructors and fellow candidates to assess each trainee's performance as both a soldier and tactician. With additional tests being conducted to determine each individual's aptitudes to specialised combat roles, and the ability of each to handle the stresses that were to be expected in actual combat actions. Eventually, this week-long process would finally conclude after cutting the Company down to its approved pre-augmentation figures with the successful candidates graduating from the program.
Meanwhile, the candidates who had failed at the final hurdle to becoming Spartans, along with other trainees who had washed out in the later stages of the program, such as Theodore-A399, were allowed to choose from the alternative options for their future service. Most accepted offers to become Drill Instructors for the then unapproved Beta Company where many would inflict the pain of the failures on the next Company of trainees, whilst some took the offer to be transferred into a UNSC training school to serve as regular personnel. Unexpectedly, some of the more 'interesting' washouts would even be recruited by ONI to serve in roles ranging from mission handlers and intelligence analysts to field agents and deep cover operatives.
===Augmentations===
 With the final selection process completed the chosen candidates departed from the surface of Onyx to undertake the augmentation procedures needed to become Spartan-III's. Taking advantage of the mobile battlefield hospital having recently completed a major overhaul to the station's fusion reactors and critical subsystems, ONI was able to divert the station to Onyx on its way back to the frontlines to provide the medical infrastructure needed for Alpha Company's augmentations. Meanwhile, the station's escort screen and many of Hopeful's medical personnel were sent ahead to wait for the Hopeful before continuing to their operational environment.
The development of the Spartan-III augmentation procedures started shortly after Colonel Ackerson had begun to develop what had become the Spartan-III Program. Originally developed by a handful of ONI medical specialists recruited by Ackerson for the task of conceiving a theoretical augmentation program, this work expanded to a viable procedure after the Spartan-III Program's authorisation, with additional experts being reassigned from other programs to help in the development of the project. The team would use research stolen from Dr. Halsey related to as the basis of this work, making refinements to this based on the work in rehabilitating Spartan-II washouts, research for the aborted Class-II program, and lessons taken from Project VARANGIAN.
From this work and advancements in medical technology, ONI would eventually develop . Designing a primarily chemical augmentation procedure that was cheaper and quicker to administer on a large scale, but also met the genetic criteria set out by Colonel Ackerson when the candidates had been recruited for Alpha Company. However, due to the need for candidates to be at least an age similar to the age of the Spartan-II's before the procedures, it had been necessary to artificially induce puberty in the candidates through supplements added to their diets, with the doses being tailored to each individual due to the variety of age present. More concerning was that the medical experts could not confirm if CHRYSANTHEMUM would be more successful than Project ASTER due to the multiple differences between the two procedures. The knowledge of this unknown caused great concern with Kurt due to his experience during his augmentations ten years prior.
Upon arrival aboard the Hopeful the chosen candidates were immediately taken to individual surgical suites specially prepared to automatically administer the chemicals under the supervision of a hand-picked team of medical technicians. Within hours of boarding the station, Alpha Company had been separated into individual medical bays where they were sedated to help them process the augmentations and began the procedures to become Spartans. Each candidate would receive a series of chemical cocktails developed specifically for CHRYSANTHEMUM, along with several necessary surgical alterations that could not be done through chemical means. This process would give each candidate the strength of three regular soldiers, decreasing their neural reaction time vital for combat operations and enhancing their physical durability rendering their bones almost virtually indestructible.
Despite the concerns over the washout rate for Project CHRYSANTHEMUM, Alpha Company's augmentations would demonstrate the effectiveness of the procedures themselves and the advancements in medical science since 2526. Of the augmented candidates, Alpha Company exceeded the expectations placed on them, with not only the intended 300 Spartans but with an additional number of supersoldiers who would act as a reserve for the main Company, along with the Spartan-III Commandos and Headhunters that Kurt had convinced Ackerson to authorise. Comparatively, only a handful would 'wash out' of the program due to being crippled by the procedures, requiring years of rehabilitative surgeries before they could serve the UNSC in non-combat roles. In addition, despite the worst fears of Kurt, Mendez, and some experts in CHRYSANTHEMUM's development, no candidates would be killed due to the procedures. 
On September 24th, after two days of agonising procedures, the candidates that had successfully been augmented awoke from their sedation and were informed that they had graduated from the Spartan-III Program, and had now become Spartans. Due to the need to limit the delays on the Hopeful, within hours of awaking the Spartans were transferred off the station to Camp Currahee's Orbital Station Li which had been temporarily retrofitted with accommodation facilities to help them recover from the augmentations in a lower gravity environment. After spending a week in orbit the Spartans were relocated back to Onyx's surface where they would undergo a month-long acclimatisation period to allow the new Spartans to adapt to their new bodies.
===Deployment===
====The Mamore insurrection of 2536====
Despite being trained to combat the Covenant, Alpha Company's first deployment would be against humans when the Spartan-IIIs were dispatched to help the UNSC put down an insurrectionist uprising on the colony of . By 2536, most groups had ended their hostilities with the UNSC due to the realisation of the true threat posed by the Covenant. However, the Mamore rebels were one of the few groups that had refused to cease operations and would continue attacks on the UNSC. Whilst the UNSC had decimated the rebels' leadership in late 2526, the remnants of the Mamore insurrection had retreated into the planet's ungoverned outer regions, where they had slowly rebuilt their strength over the following decades. Taking advantage of the outbreak of the Human-Covenant War forcing the UNSC's focus away from Mamore, and civil unrest caused by the influx of refugees displaced either by or the Covenant which quintupled the planet's population over the next ten years, the Mamore insurrectionists began planning their next moves.
Recruiting new members from refugees who expressed rebel sympathies, and joined by members of other insurrectionist groups who had fled to Mamore, the Mamore rebels incited further civil unrest which eventually led to large-scale riots breaking out on July 26, 2536. Using the distraction of the riots as cover, the rebels seized control of armament factories the UNSC had relocated to Mamore alongside a considerable number of assembly plants and shipbuilding stations due to Covenant encroachments into UEG space. Raiding them for weapons, the insurrectionists used this new firepower to capture Mamore's capital of Minas Gerais, overthrow the government, and declare Mamore's independence from the UEG. With the capital under their control, the rebels assembled all captured military hardware to repel any attempts by the UNSC to recapture the colony, whilst reinforcements from other rebel groups began arriving to assist in the Mamore insurrection. 
Despite the UNSC's efforts, their attempts to retake Mamore would be hampered by a lack of sufficient manpower and equipment to crush the insurrection due to the pressures of the Human-Covenant War. Taking advantage of the UNSC's struggles, rebel propaganda began publicising the actions of Jonathan Watts, the son of former URF leader , who had become a celebrated rebel Pelican pilot on Mamore after volunteering to aid in repelling the UNSC. In response, Colonel Ackerson persuaded the UNSC to deploy Alpha Company to help end the uprising, with authorisation given on October 24, 2536. Only hours after being declared combat active, Alpha Company departed for Mamore aboard a fast troop transport with the Spartans spending the week-long journey reviewing combat intelligence regarding the rebel forces and tactics to prepare for their debut combat mission.
Arriving on November 8, Alpha Company was given a briefing by the senior ONI agent on site, , who provided the Spartans with updated intelligence ahead of their deployment. This included a list of rebels marked for capture or elimination by ONI, along with cataloguing the primary facilities the UNSC wanted to be recaptured intact due to their importance to the UNSC's war effort. Hours after arriving in the system, Alpha Company landed on the planet's surface where they immediately began inflicting severe damage to the Insurrectionists' fighting capacity. The Company's main force quickly located and destroyed rebel supply caches and local command centres, rendering any coordinated defensive strategy impossible.
Despite being heavily prepared to repulse even the UNSC's elite ODSTs, the rebels were caught off guard by the arrival of the Spartans clad in near-invisible SPI armour, suffering heavy casualties as they were routed from their defensive fortifications. Due to the lack of supplies and firepower, along with the lack of local leadership, they lost their ability to either counter or resist the now overwhelming firepower of the UNSC. The retreating Insurrectionist forces then came under repeated hit-and-run Spartan attacks, inflicting further casualties. In response the rebels squads to counterattack then the Spartans, with these parties being easily ambushed and annihilated. Once the rebels were in full retreat, strike teams made up of a mixture of Commandos, Headhunters, and regular Spartan-IIIs were detached to lead efforts to both recapture the specified facilities and to capture or eliminate any remaining Insurrectionist HVT's still at large.
Within a few days of their arrival, the rebels were in retreat across the planet. The insurrection's leadership bunkered down in strongholds like Camp Lexington and ordered the remaining rebel forces to withdraw and attempt to reorganise and regain the tactical initiative. Unbeknownst to them, however, Camp Lexington's location had been determined by UNSC intelligence, and Alpha Company was dispatched to destroy the rebel headquarters and eliminate any rebel HVTs present. The Spartan-IIIs successfully infiltrated the Insurrectionist base before splitting into separate platoon-sized groups to plant explosive charges across the converted tungsten mine and ensure its destruction after withdrawing to safety.
However, the force sent to the hangar, led by Due to the close friendship displayed between Robert-A057, Shane-A112, and Jane-A203, their comrades amended the trio's assigned team name after they'd been grouped, turning 'Team Wolf' into 'Team Wolf Pack'. This change was universally adopted across the Company, with even Kurt Ambrose calling the trio by this name, even after they had been Killed In Action. was discovered by the rebels just before they had finished setting their explosives and engaged in a protracted firefight that alerted the rest of the base. Despite the desperate resistance of the Insurrectionists, they failed to kill any member of Alpha Company before they were forced to abandon the base, though only a handful escaped before Alpha Company destroyed the site. Unfortunately, this included some of the rebel leadership, as well as Jonathan Watts, who managed to escape in a Pelican dropship, despite the efforts of .
Regardless, by November 16th the Mamore Insurrection had been broken, with Alpha Company being withdrawn just as mainline UNSC forces deployed in force to sweep up any elements remaining. Very few rebels escaped into remote areas before they could be apprehended. Due to their impressive performance in helping to bring the 2536 Mamore Insurrection to a close on their combat debut, Alpha Company would earn high praise from senior UNSC leadership. Colonel Ackerson was also equally pleased by the Spartans' performance as it both vindicated his Spartan-III program and raised his standing within ONI, but also as it helped him to garner additional funding for the then unapproved Beta Company.
====Far-gone colony platforms====
In the early days of Alpha Company's deployment on Mamore, contractors for ONI Section Two had begun producing pro-UNSC propaganda to be broadcast over , to take advantage of the sheer number of rebels that had been captured to promote a positive viewpoint to the wider civilian population in a period where regular defeats to the Covenant were commonplace.Any reference to Alpha Company during the operation was carefully removed by ONI Section Two to preserve the secrecy of the Spartan-III Program, with any actions attributed to them going to a Unbeknownst to ONI, by November 12th, Rebel groups, already aware of the unfolding disaster on Mamore were already planning a response due to the knowledge that many of their operatives had been present on Mamore to aid the rebellion. Either to help fight in the uprising, liaising with the rebel leadership, or smuggling additional fighters to the planet in exchange for acquiring surplus military-grade weaponry and equipment that was not needed for the insurrection. Aware of the need to prevent ONI from extracting crucial information from the captives, the affected rebel cells chose to enact a plan originally conceived to secure the release of Colonel Watts.This plan had been cancelled due to the events of Operation: CERBERUS resulting in the capture of the plan's proponent Major Leonard Klein. A rebel strike force of 50 operatives would stage a hostage situation on the Pro-UNSC Outer Colony of , and take as many hostages as possible to force the UNSC to release the insurgents captured on Mamore. Considering the high-risk nature of the mission, the force was composed of a mix of volunteers willing to die for the Insurrectionist cause, and numerous desperate Mamore rebels who had been caught off-world when the rebellion had collapsed. 
A resort world known for its year-round tropical climate, Far-gone's surface was dominated by a global ocean that covered over 80% of its surface area, with the remainder being primarily the planet's single continent in the Northern Hemisphere and a scattering of small islands. Owing to the lack of buildable dry landmass, much of the colony's population and many of its resorts were located on a series of colony platforms built into the ocean's shallower regions. Aware of this, the rebels would target a remote complex of platforms in the Southern Hemisphere due to it being home to a collection of luxury resorts, which would likely secure a considerable number of wealthy off-world tourists as valuable hostages, and thus would be more likely to force the UNSC's hands. Arriving at Far-gone on November 22nd the force separated into strike teams for the journey to their intended targets under the guise of tourists with only hidden small arms to not draw the attention of the Far-gone constabulary. Meanwhile, the team's equipment, consisting of multiple , military-grade signal jammers, and a large supply of explosives, all ironically acquired from Mamore, were smuggled to the group's destination using agents planted in the .
Having recovered their supplies from where they had been delivered, the insurgents launched their attack the day after their arrival, first jamming all local comms channels before launching coordinated assaults across the complex. Due to their overwhelming firepower, the rebels effortlessly eliminated the complex's security personnel, quickly taking hundreds of civilians hostage, who they then secured in multiple easily defended locations across the complex. Following this the team began to prepare for the next phase of the operation, rigging explosive charges to the structures containing the hostages and preparing defences against any attempt at rescuing the hostages, whilst the group's elected spokesperson liaised with the authorities. Issuing the ultimatum that unless the UNSC released all of the prisoners captured during the Mamore Insurrection within 12 days, the rebels would begin executing ten hostages a day until their demands were met. Adding that there would be no negotiations, and any attempt at a rescue would result in the execution of twenty hostages in retaliation. Despite lacking the firepower needed for an airborne rescue attempt, the Far-gone constabulary offered to attempt to free the captives, only to be ordered by both the colony's government and resident ONI liaison officer to stand down after intelligence discovered the presence of the rebels AA missile launchers. Due to the rebels attempt to deliberately conceal the M-19s from the constabulary, analysts later hypothesised that the Insurrectionists had intentionally attempted to invite an aerial rescue attempt, and planned on using it to both reinforce their demands and demoralise any future attempts at rescue by a better-equipped force. Despite the war resulting in Far-gone having a UNSC security garrison present, this unit was made up of exhausted personnel who had been rotated there following frontline deployments, whilst any reserve forces that the UNSC could have dispatched to Far-Gone were still committed to the cleanup operation on Mamore.
However, unbeknownst to the terrorists on Far-gone, Alpha Company was about to return to Onyx from Mamore after an eight-day delay in acquiring a suitable transport vessel. Quickly determining that they were the only unit available, and impressed by the company's performance on Mamore, the UNSC rerouted the Spartans to Far-gone to resolve the developing crisis with the Spartans leaving for Far-gone on the 25th with Codename: USUAL SUSPECTS being assigned as their liaison aboard the cruiser . After a seven-day journey, the Spartans arrived in Far-gone's orbit where they were fully briefed on the surface situation based on intelligence efforts conducted whilst the company had been in transit, including a complete plan of the complex and lists of the identities of both the majority of the hostages, but also some of the insurrectionists. From this intelligence, an air insertion of the platforms was confirmed as being impossible whilst the risk posed by the M-19s could be countered by the use of the flare-equipped aircraft from the Chares, the discovery that the buildings holding the hostages were rigged for detonation if UNSC forces succeeded in boarding the platforms. Owing to this, it had been determined that any infiltration method would need to be covert so as not to alert the rebels and allow the Spartans to disarm the explosives before they could be detonated, which further ruled out an orbital insertion by from the cruiser for the same reason.
As a result, the only workable infiltration method for the Spartans would be a nighttime amphibious assault on the platforms utilising multiple concealed access points that had been identified from intelligence provided by the of the complex's former supervisors who had retired to the mainland the year before. A quick survey of the vessels available on Far-gone, quickly determined that the only suitable craft for the operation were the Far-gone Constabulary's fast patrol craft, which were normally used for coastal patrol work and as rapid response rescue boats. However, due to the limited number of vessels available to the Spartans, it was determined that each craft would have to carry 9 Spartans to transport the entire company to the platforms. Despite some concerns regarding the risk posed by concentrating multiple teams on a single vessel and the issues of the Spartan's SPI armour if immersed in the water, the plan was quickly approved and implemented, with the requisitioned boats being rapidly retrofitted for the mission.For the mission, the craft would be stripped of any unnecessary weight to improve their seakeeping and provide more space for the Spartans, the installation of additional hydrogen fuel cells to extend their range, and the application of matt-black paint to each vessel to help conceal the boats during the night. Alongside this, it was decided that the issue faced by the male Spartans due to their recently broken voices would require some of the team's compositions to be altered to group the more 'mature sounding' Spartans together to secure the hostages, whilst the rest of the company swept the platform and neutralised any rebels they encountered. After airlifting the modified boats as close as possible to the platforms, Alpha Company departed early in the evening of December 3rd for the six-hour journey to the complex, which came into sight just after midnight on the 4th, after which the Spartans shut the boat's engines down and paddling the remaining distance.
Having successfully boarded the platforms undetected, the teams tasked with rescuing the hostages separated into multi-team assault squads before moving to their designated target buildings, whilst the remainder of the Company spread out to locate the remaining rebels, with priority given to finding those equipped with the rocket launchers. Having maintained weapons silence until the assault squads confirmed that they were in position, the Insurrectionists were caught off guard by the Spartan's assault, with the hostage buildings being quickly stormed by the assault squads, who cut down any rebel guards present before they could react. With buildings under the control of the assault squads, the teams detailed to handle the explosives set to work disarming the charges and making the buildings safe, whilst the other teams secured the civilians in handcuffs as a precaution until they had been processed. A decision that was proved correct after several Insurrectionists who had remained hidden among the hostages in case of rescue were discovered, and immediately neutralised once they were identified. Simultaneously, the rest of the company struck any rebels that remained, rapidly routing those not killed in the opening volley, with the remainder hunted down in short order and quickly eliminated. With the terrorists now neutralised and the threat of the missiles dealt with, the Far-Gone constabulary, supported by the UNSC garrison, and Marines from the Chares were landed on the platforms to relieve Alpha Company, who withdrew to the cruiser. Despite the difficult operation, Alpha Company succeeded in rescuing the hostages without loss of life, with only a few being wounded, either by gunfire from the rebels as they fell, or by the desperate attacks by ones hidden among the hostages.
====Operation: VENOM====
On December 20th, Alpha Company would see combat against the Covenant for the first time when they were deployed to the uninhabited jungle planet of Erebus VII as a part of Operation: VENOM, to conduct a seek-and-destroy mission against Covenant assets that had been identified on the world. ONI intelligence suggested the presence of Covenant facilities on the planet indicated by a noticeable amount of Covenant naval activities in the vicinity, including reports of Covenant ships landing on the surface.
Aware of the ability of UNSC Prowlers to enter the system undetected, it was decided to covertly insert Alpha Company to the planet's surface via , taking advantage of the stealth coatings of the craft to conceal the Company's arrival from any Covenant sensors in the area. Upon landing, the main body Alpha Company deployed into multiple 'Platoon' sized strike groups to search the planet for any Covenant forces and infrastructure, whilst specialised recon teams made up of Spartan-IIIs with Commando or Headhunter qualifications liaised with Prowlers in orbit to provide limited intelligence to help locate targets of the surface and directed other forces to their location.
However, despite the mission's primary objective of destroying the Covenant assets, Alpha Company was ordered to prioritise maintaining stealth over overtly offensive activities unless this was a tactical impossibility before the primary target of the Covenants main base was located and destroyed by the use of the provided charges of allocated to each platoon. Therefore Alpha Company was limited to the elimination of distant enemy patrols that would not be missed and infiltration of smaller Covenant targets to plant smaller remotely detonated explosive charges in preparation for the need for stealth being discarded.
On December 27th, orbital assets caught a break when they were able to identify the primary objective after tracking a Covenant to its location and relayed this information to the nearest recon teams, who after sighting the target, began directing the nearest strike groups in preparation for an attack. Whilst ONI expressed an interest in the Spartans attempting to search the base for any useful information or equipment before its destruction, the presence of the large enemy warship made this tactically unfeasible. Instead, the assembled force decided to limit their actions to solely infiltrate the base and discreetly plant their Octas across the facility before withdrawing from the blast radius.
As this occurred, all other Spartans not involved in the main attack were directed to plant their remaining ordinance and their Octas on any other valuable targets that had been identified during the operation but had not yet been rigged for destruction, with emphasis being given to the destruction enemy AA installations that may hamper the Company's extraction attempt. Upon returning to the subprowlers, Alpha waited for the detonation of the Octas and all other remaining charges to take advantage of the distraction caused to allow the Company the best chances of withdrawing without attracting the attention of any other Covenant elements. Fortunately the widespread destruction inflicted by Alpha Company meant that the Covenant was completely distracted by the unfolding carnage which allowed all vessels to escape the surface without harassment from the enemy.
====Battle of New Constantinople====
====Operation: HWACHA====
====Operation: PROMETHEUS====
On May 2, towards the end of the , the prowler successfully attached a telemetry probe to a to track the ship as it fled from the rare UNSC victory. Despite numerous previous failed attempts with this technology, the prowler was successfully able to follow the enemy warship through slipspace, discovering a major shipyard complex located on a dwarf planet-sized asteroid designated as . Analysis of the asteroid showed that the Covenant was utilising thirty high-output plasma reactors located on the surface to artificially induce volcanic activity to refine the metal used to construct multiple enemy warships in orbit. Aware of the risk this facility posed being located only two weeks from human space, ONI immediately began planning an operation to neutralise the facility and remove the threat before it could materialise.
Initial suggestions of sending a UNSC Battlegroup to destroy both the orbital and ground facilities were dismissed due to both the lack of available warships and troops and the probable destruction of an entire force of vitally needed assets in exchange for a single enemy shipyard. As a result, ONI would designate the task of destroying the complex to Alpha Company, taking advantage of the Covenant's activities generating a breathable atmosphere on the asteroid to insert the Spartans and demolish as many reactors as possible. Thus causing K7-49 to sufficiently cool, solidifying the liquid metal which would permanently disable the facility before extracting via Calypso-class exfiltration craft via slipspace to a predetermined rendezvous point with the stealth cruiser . Despite the dismal odds of survival present, ONI would authorise the mission in mid-July, codenamed ''.
Due to the high-risk nature of the missions intended for Alpha Company, efforts had been underway since the Company's activation to remove as many of Alpha Company's Spartan personnel as possible for reassignment to operations independent of the company structure. Despite many assuming these efforts were due to the actions of solely Kurt, it was later revealed that much of this work was done by the AI who had begun posing as Kurt to engineer the removal of numerous Spartan-III's from the Company. A task inherited from Deep Winter's predecessor in 2536 who had begun inquiries into options for removing some personnel after learning of the missions Ackerson intended for Alpha Company. This process eventually resulted in the extraction of over a dozen Commandos and Headhunters before the company's 'inevitable suicide mission'. A side effect of this process would be the reshuffling of multiple team compositions to form squads of all Commando and Headhunter personnel to ease their extraction from the Company. However, due to the minimum personnel requirements, not all the Company's specialised Spartans could be extracted, leaving only a 300-strong main company available for PROMETHEUS.
Despite these alterations to Alpha Company's composition, Alpha Company would begin its 2-week journey to K7-49 on July 3 in the same craft used for their exfiltration. Making landfall at 0700 on July 17, 2537, the Spartans immediately began eliminating each reactor's meagre security force before demolishing the facility. By July 19, seven reactors had been destroyed, along with a quick reaction force that the Covenant had managed to dispatch to K7-49 to repel the Spartan's attack before they could cause further damage to the facility. However, Alpha Company eliminated this counterattack and proceeded to destroy an additional thirteen targets over the next two days, bringing the total to twenty destroyed reactors. Unfortunately, Alpha Company's luck ran out on the 21st when a massive Covenant counterforce arrived on the asteroid's surface and began to engage the Spartans. Despite being now heavily engaged by a superior enemy possessing overwhelming firepower, Alpha Company was able to bring its total of destroyed reactors to twenty-six, with a further one crippled and barely functional by the 23rd, only for additional Covenant reinforcements arrived who effectively cut off Alpha Company from their EVAC craft. Now hopelessly outnumbered and with casualties rapidly mounting, Alpha Company's unit cohesion fully collapsed, with many teams fighting futile last stands, isolated from the rest of the shattered company.
On July 30, Kurt and Chief Mendez were called to a meeting aboard Point of No Return to discuss the progress made for the assembly of Beta Company. During this meeting, the pair were given the final tactical report for Operation: PROMETHEUS, detailing how Alpha Company had completed their objective of disabling a sufficient number of plasma reactors to cause the asteroid to cool sufficiently to clog the mental refineries and render the entire shipyard inoperative. However, it was then revealed that this victory had come at a high cost of the majority of the Company being confirmed killed in action before ONI lost all contact with the Spartans on the ground, with the last information available being the helmet feed of a deceased Spartan-III that recorded the deaths of Team Wolf Pack. Due to the lack of any further contact, the size of the Covenant counterforce, and the inability of any Spartans that might be still alive to reach the Calypso's, ONI would declare all the Spartans sent to K7-49 as being Killed In Action by the Covenant, with Alpha Company deemed destroyed as a result. Despite the high cost, the operation was deemed a costly success as Alpha Company had eliminated a massive threat to humanity. Although this mattered little to Kurt and Mendez later consoling their guilt by reminding himself that had the mission failed, the Covenant could have destroyed all of humanity's Orion-side colonies.
In the aftermath of the Battle, owing to the sheer amount of damage inflicted by Alpha Company, the Covenant would remove any salvageable equipment and abandon any further activity on K7-49, leaving only the wrecked facilities and the bodies of both sides on the surface. Due to the resultant cooling to the asteroid, combined with the retention of the atmosphere established by the Covenant's activities and the ash clouds caused by the numerous volcanic eruptions, K7-49 would slowly begin to freeze over. The temperature drop would unintentionally preserve the bodies of the members of Alpha Company who had perished in the operation where they had fallen, resulting in the asteroid becoming a forbidden site by the remaining members of Alpha Company, who would dub K7-49 as 'The Grave of Alpha Company'.
===Legacy===
==Augmentations==
==Equipment==
===Mark I Semi-Powered Infiltration armour===
Based on earlier stealth suit designs created by ONI Section Three for ONI field agents in the mid-2520s. The Mark I Semi-Powered Infiltration armour (SPI Armour) was designed as a cheaper, more mass producible alternative to the MJOLNIR Armour issued to Spartan-II's. The armour is composed of an outer shell of hardened ballistic panels laid over an undersuit comprised of a layer of liquid nanocrystals, providing the wearer with more ballistic protection than three centimetres of Kevlar diamond weave. Integrated into the suit is a suite of photoreactive systems, giving the user a rough equivalent to the Covenant's more advanced active camouflage systems. 
Due to this, the completed sets are considerably lighter and smaller than the armour worn by the Spartan-II's, with only a minor reduction in enhancing the user's strength and mobility, whilst trading superior protection for enhanced stealth capabilities. However, whilst SPI offers better protection than standard UNSC infantry armour, the armour's hardened plates can take limited damage before failing and provides a level of protection similar to ODST armour, and is susceptible to plasma-based weaponry and armour-piercing ammunition. As a result of the armour's inferior protection compared to MJOLNIR, Alpha Company had to rely heavily on the stealth that the suits provided and use superior tactics to operate effectively in combat.
Unfortunately, the stealth of the Mark I suit given to Alpha Company suffered from numerous flaws that affected its use in combat. The software that controlled the suit's photoreactive systems, resulting in the panels struggling to adapt the armour camouflage patterns to complex backgrounds such as smoke and bright lights. Additionally, the armour was neither hermetically sealed nor equipped an internal air supply, limiting their deployment to planets with breathable atmospheres whilst offering no protection from the elements. As a result, Alpha Company would frequently have to make significant field modifications to their armour to allow the armour to operate in these unsuitable environments when orders required it.
However, due to the ad-hoc nature of these modifications, these alterations would cause drawbacks to the armour's systems, meaning that these field modifications would only be fitted for the duration of a single mission. Kurt had proposed to equip Alpha Company with the Mark II SPI Armour, which corrected a number of the flaws found in the Mark I suit, however, this proposal was denied on cost grounds. As a result, Kurt would instead focus on trying to have the flaws in Alpha Company corrected, such as updating the suit's software to fix the camouflage issues. Tragically, Alpha Company was deployed for Operation: PROMETHEUS before these upgrades could be implemented.
===MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor===
==Personnel==
<tabber>
Recruits=
While a total of almost five hundred trainees were brought to Onyx to be trained in some capacity and as a result retained their SPARTAN tags, ONI has lost most of the personnel information on the Company thanks to the destruction of low- and high-level data caches during the Human-Covenant War, with the most damage being caused during the . As ONI continues its efforts to catalogue its vast data network and more survivors are uncovered, this list will be updated.
*Daniel-A010Owned by . †
*Canonical characters. †
*Amita-A021 †
*Abigail-A026Owned by .
*Sonam-A031Owned by . †
*Kristoff-A035Owned by . †
*Tyler-A037Owned by .
*Dinis-A042 †
* †
*Ryne-A064
*Edward-A068
*Vinn-A079Owned by .
*Maria-A084
*Cassandra-A096Owned by .
*Quinn-A098
*Frank-A103 †
*Dan-A105
*Jordan-A111 †
* †
*Tanya-A116 †
*Alex-A121
*Nelson-A122 †
*Delvin-A125Owned by .
*Callister-A134
*Eugene-A133 †
*Martin-A136
*Lee-A137 †
*Sal-A142 †
*Nathaniel-A143Owned by .
*Damien-A149 †
*Vishal-A159 †
*Beth-A173Owned by . †
*Dom-A178 †
*Hugo-A180Owned by .
*Lucas-A186 †
*Dale-A187 †
*Dorian-A188 †
*Chris-A189
*Caren-A193
*Louie-A199
* †
*Aroha-A225Owned by .
*Obadiah-A227
*Jasmine-A229
*Hector-A236
* †
*Adesuwa-A242Owned by .
*Olothando-A255 †
* †
*
*Xavier-A274 †
*
*Marica-A288 †
*Thom-A293 †
*Faith-A299 †
*
*Clyde-A307
*Tyler-A319Owned by .
*Viking-A339 †
*Rosenda-A344
*Ayrton-A384
*Valerie-A391
*Theodore-A399Owned by . †
*Sarah-A420 †
*Axton-A428 †
*Willow-A461 †
*Kenneth-A463 †
*Benjamin-A484Owned by .
*Pierce-A492 †
|-|
Washouts and Specialised Personnel=
Officially, Alpha Company graduated with 300 SPARTAN-IIIs, however this number did not take account of the number of Commandos and Headhunters that were deployed separately from the Company. In addition to this there were a number of candidates who washed out of the program at some point in their training, most of which would become instructors to help train later Spartan-III Company's.
Known washouts
*Theodore-A399
*Pierce-A492 †
* †
* †
* †
*Ryne-A064
*Dale-A188 †
*Aroha-A225
*
*
*
*Axton-A428 †
|-|
Teams=
The following list is accurate as of Alpha Company's activation on November 1, 2536, and does not take into account personnel transfers made during the life of the Company.
*Team Bumblebee
**Sal-A142 †
**Chris-A189 
**Sarah-A420 †
*Team Cobra
**Sonam-A031 †
**Marica-A288 †
**Viking-A339 †
*Team Colt
**Xavier-A274 †
**[Redacted]
**[Redacted]
*Team Falcon
** †
**Dan-A105 
**Martin-A136
*Team Firely
**Lucas-A186 †
**[Redacted]
**[Redacted]
*Team Fox
**Quinn-A098
**Faith-A299 †
**[Redacted]
*Team Grizzly
**Beth-A173 †
**Ayrton-A384 
**Willow-A461 †
*Team Komodo
**
**
** 
*Team Lion
**Jordan-A111 †
**Nelson-A122 †
**Dom-A178 †
*Team Panther
** †
**Rosenda-A344
**[Redacted]
*Team Python
**[Redacted]
**[Redacted]
**[Redacted]
*Team Mamba
**Frank-A103 †
**Alex-A121 (Team Leader)
**Louie-A199
*Team Raccoon
**Lee-A137 †
**[Redacted]
**[Redacted]
*Team Sailfish
**Kristoff-A035 †
**Eugene-A133 †
**Dorian-A188 †
*Team Salamander
**Delvin-A125
**[Redacted]
**[Redacted]
*Team Tiger
**Caren-A193
**Clyde-A307
**Tyler-A319
*Team Vulture
**Thom-A293 †
**[Redacted]
**[Redacted]
*Team Wasp
**Valerie-A391
**[Redacted]
**[Redacted]
*
** †
** †
**‎ †
|-|
Staff & Trainers=
*Commissioned Officers
**Colonel †
**Lieutenant Commander †
*Non-Commissioned Officers
**Senior Chief Petty Officer 
**Sergeant Sieghard Schuchardt
*Civilians and AIs
**
</tabber>
==Gallery==
===Company Images===
===Team Emblems===
								
								
								
								
								
==Notes==
==Footnotes==
==References==
Category:Alpha Company