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Description
The MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark V was the fifth of seven versions of the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor. The suit was issued to the members of Noble Team on November 24, 2551 and to the remaining SPARTAN-II Commandos on August 29, 2552 and was in service until October, 2552, when it was replaced by the Mark VI.

In 2542, seventeen years after the MJOLNIR Mark IV entered military service, production began on the next generation of MJOLNIR Armor, in order to improve SPARTAN-II/MJOLNIR effectiveness against the Covenant in combat. A team under the leadership of Chief Technical Officer Dr. Catherine Halsey would spend the next ten years developing the suit. Using data collected from the Mark IV, hundreds of minor technical improvements were made to the Mark V, the suit's armor plating underwent a total redesign and better materials were developed for its use. Separating the Mark V from the previous version of the system are two major breakthroughs in the ways in which the suit improves its wearer's combat effectiveness.

The first major difference was a major overhaul of the suit's crystalline layer which is now split into two parts. Woven by molecular tools into a superdense optical computer memory, the first reactive metal liquid crystal layer is "sandwiched" between the external armor and the internal padding. This revolutionary crystalline layer forms a network, capable of supporting the kinds of Artificial intelligence usually reserved for warships, on a piggyback system. The second layer is still amorphous and amplifies force, doubling lifting capability and increasing reaction time by a factor of five. Unfortunately the system is still so reactive that normal human beings cannot use the suit without injuring or killing themselves. The synthesis of an Artificial intelligence with the human brain is not possible without an upgrade to the user's standard Neural Interface. This specialized version of the neural lace is issued to all SPARTAN-IIs before they can interface with the Mark V. Like the standard Neural Interface, the specialized neural lace translates electrochemical signals to digital code and routes them through an interface connection at the rear of the skull. Through this interface, the user's thoughts control the armor's movement and input from the on board sensors connect directly to the user's mind. In addition, an AI personality and processing matrices can be carried by the armor and delivered to the suit via the specialized neural lace and on board storage in a crystal data chip no larger than a personal credit card. Without the armor, a SPARTAN's reaction time is charted at twenty milliseconds; with the Mark V, and an AI installed, the time translating thought into motion is rendered almost instantaneous.

The second major breakthrough was the addition of a self-recharging energy shield system, reversed engineered from captured Jackal Point Defense Gauntlets, which repel objects and weaponized bolts of energy, in addition to any other environmental hazards. While impacts on the shield place a substantial drain on the system's power supply, the system's energy regenerates once the user is no longer under fire. However, the adaptation of the shield covering the entire body weakens the magnetic field, making the Mark V's shield system vulnerable to ballistic arms fire.

The suit also possesses numerous magnetic holsters for the attachment of additional weapons, equipment, and ammunition packs. The suit also possesses an advanced Heads-Up-Display (HUD) integrated with the helmet's visor. This is linked to various sensors to display an improved motion-tracking system for ally and enemy forces, biometric health readouts, and shield status which are all brought to the wearers immediate vision.

In its final phase the MJOLNIR battle suit weighs half a ton, or 1,000 lbs when in use and has a fully neural-linked system with an onboard AI using the human mind for parallel processing. The SPARTAN-II/MJOLNIR combination is designed to be the most devastating intelligence tool ever created.

On November 24, 2551 the Mark V was first fielded to the five SPARTAN-IIIs and one SPARTAN-II of Noble Team. Due to Noble's affiliation with the top-secret SPARTAN-III Program Dr. Catherine Halsey was likely unaware of this at the time, as with the existance of the S-III Program. It is interesting to note that the base MJOLNIR Mark V variant worn by Noble Team is aesthetically different than the variant issued to John-117 and the other SPARTAN-II commandos on August 29, 2552 during the final days of the Fall of Reach. This is likely due to Noble Team recieving an early prototype of the Mark V to field-test for the final version. One key advancement of the Mark V was the revolutionary crystalline layer allowing the support of starship-grade artificial intelligence, if this feature was included originally, than on August 30, 2552, SPARTAN-B312 of Noble Team should have been able to transport Cortana's fragment to the UNSC Pillar of Autumn directly within his armor system, but curiously he did this via a cumbersome protective casing attached to his lower back. It would have been much more practical and safer for B312 convey the Smart AI via a small data crystal chip within his helmet as was done for the very first time the day before by John-117. In addition, the external casing would be vulnerable to small arms fire in close combat. It is very likely that Noble Team was fielded a prototype of the Mark V that lacked this enhancement. This would also serve to explain why the SPARTAN-II commandos recieved the Mark V nine months after it was already fielded to Noble Team despite the declining state of the war. The SPARTAN-IIs likely were fielded the armor very soon after it was finalized, also sporting a modified design of the outer plating.

It is possible that Dr. Catherine Halsey only showed hostility to Noble Team upon seeing them wearing a variant of what she believed to be her currently unfielded armor design. Halsey would have also noticed that these SPARTANs, apart from Jorge-052, were obviously not her S-IIs, thus confirming her long-held suspicions of UNSC efforts to create secret SPARTANs. She would not learn that Noble was officially composed of SPARTAN-IIIs until acquiring the data inside CASTLE Base.

On August 29, 2552 John-117 was the first SPARTAN to ever test the MJOLNIR Mark V with a Smart AI implemented within the armor during a live-fire combat scenario. His test was to ring a bell after traversing through a dangerous obstacle course. This course involved ten fully armed ODST's, a field of Lotus Anti-Tank Mines, three automated 30mm chain guns, a forest of wooden poles, and an unexpected aerial assault from a Skyhawk aircraft intending to kill him utilizing its four 50mm cannons and Scorpion Anti-Tank Missiles. This test showed that onboard AI's could exponentially improve the armor's reaction times. This was exemplified by John-117, who was able to deflect a speeding anti-tank missle with a lightning-fast melee strike, a feat of unprecedented speed and reaction time- made possible by John's accelerated neural synthesis with his MJOLNIR by the AI Cortana.

Description
The MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark V was the fifth of seven versions of the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor. The suit was issued to the members of Noble Team on November 24, 2551 and to the remaining SPARTAN-II Commandos on August 29, 2552 and was in service until October, 2552, when it was replaced by the Mark VI.

In 2542, seventeen years after the MJOLNIR Mark IV entered military service, production began on the next generation of MJOLNIR Armor, in order to improve SPARTAN-II/MJOLNIR effectiveness against the Covenant in combat. A team under the leadership of Chief Technical Officer Dr. Catherine Halsey would spend the next ten years developing the suit. Using data collected from the Mark IV, hundreds of minor technical improvements were made to the Mark V, the suit's armor plating underwent a total redesign and better materials were developed for its use. Separating the Mark V from the previous version of the system are two major breakthroughs in the ways in which the suit improves its wearer's combat effectiveness.

The first major difference was a major overhaul of the suit's crystalline layer which is now split into two parts. Woven by molecular tools into a superdense optical computer memory, the first reactive metal liquid crystal layer is "sandwiched" between the external armor and the internal padding. This revolutionary crystalline layer forms a network, capable of supporting the kinds of Artificial intelligence usually reserved for warships, on a piggyback system. The second layer is still amorphous and amplifies force, doubling lifting capability and increasing reaction time by a factor of five. Unfortunately the system is still so reactive that normal human beings cannot use the suit without injuring or killing themselves. The synthesis of an Artificial intelligence with the human brain is not possible without an upgrade to the user's standard Neural Interface. This specialized version of the neural lace is issued to all SPARTAN-IIs before they can interface with the Mark V. Like the standard Neural Interface, the specialized neural lace translates electrochemical signals to digital code and routes them through an interface connection at the rear of the skull. Through this interface, the user's thoughts control the armor's movement and input from the on board sensors connect directly to the user's mind. In addition, an AI personality and processing matrices can be carried by the armor and delivered to the suit via the specialized neural lace and on board storage in a crystal data chip no larger than a personal credit card. Without the armor, a SPARTAN's reaction time is charted at twenty milliseconds; with the Mark V, and an AI installed, the time translating thought into motion is rendered almost instantaneous.

The second major breakthrough was the addition of a self-recharging energy shield system, reversed engineered from captured Jackal Point Defense Gauntlets, which repel objects and weaponized bolts of energy, in addition to any other environmental hazards. While impacts on the shield place a substantial drain on the system's power supply, the system's energy regenerates once the user is no longer under fire. However, the adaptation of the shield covering the entire body weakens the magnetic field, making the Mark V's shield system vulnerable to ballistic arms fire.

The suit also possesses numerous magnetic holsters for the attachment of additional weapons, equipment, and ammunition packs. The suit also possesses an advanced Heads-Up-Display (HUD) integrated with the helmet's visor. This is linked to various sensors to display an improved motion-tracking system for ally and enemy forces, biometric health readouts, and shield status which are all brought to the wearers immediate vision.

In its final phase the MJOLNIR battle suit weighs half a ton, or 1,000 lbs when in use and has a fully neural-linked system with an onboard AI using the human mind for parallel processing. The SPARTAN-II/MJOLNIR combination is designed to be the most devastating intelligence tool ever created.

On November 24, 2551 the Mark V was first fielded to the five SPARTAN-IIIs and one SPARTAN-II of Noble Team. Due to Noble's affiliation with the top-secret SPARTAN-III Program Dr. Catherine Halsey was likely unaware of this at the time, as with the existance of the S-III Program. It is interesting to note that the base MJOLNIR Mark V variant worn by Noble Team is aesthetically different than the variant issued to John-117 and the other SPARTAN-II commandos on August 29, 2552 during the final days of the Fall of Reach. This is likely due to Noble Team recieving an early prototype of the Mark V to field-test for the final version. One key advancement of the Mark V was the revolutionary crystalline layer allowing the support of starship-grade artificial intelligence, if this feature was included originally, than on August 30, 2552, SPARTAN-B312 of Noble Team should have been able to transport Cortana's fragment to the UNSC Pillar of Autumn directly within his armor system, but curiously he did this via a cumbersome protective casing attached to his lower back. It would have been much more practical and safer for B312 convey the Smart AI via a small data crystal chip within his helmet as was done for the very first time the day before by John-117. In addition, the external casing would be vulnerable to small arms fire in close combat. It is very likely that Noble Team was fielded a prototype of the Mark V that lacked this enhancement. This would also serve to explain why the SPARTAN-II commandos recieved the Mark V nine months after it was already fielded to Noble Team despite the declining state of the war. The SPARTAN-IIs likely were fielded the armor very soon after it was finalized, also sporting a modified design of the outer plating.

It is possible that Dr. Catherine Halsey only showed hostility to Noble Team upon seeing them wearing a variant of what she believed to be her currently unfielded armor design. Halsey would have also noticed that these SPARTANs, apart from Jorge-052, were obviously not her S-IIs, thus confirming her long-held suspicions of UNSC efforts to create secret SPARTANs. She would not learn that Noble was officially composed of SPARTAN-IIIs until acquiring the data inside CASTLE Base.

On August 29, 2552 John-117 was the first SPARTAN to ever test the MJOLNIR Mark V with a Smart AI implemented within the armor during a live-fire combat scenario. His test was to ring a bell after traversing through a dangerous obstacle course. This course involved ten fully armed ODST's, a field of Lotus Anti-Tank Mines, three automated 30mm chain guns, a forest of wooden poles, and an unexpected aerial assault from a Skyhawk aircraft intending to kill him utilizing its four 50mm cannons and Scorpion Anti-Tank Missiles. This test showed that onboard AI's could exponentially improve the armor's reaction times. This was exemplified by John-117, who was able to deflect a speeding anti-tank missle with a lightning-fast melee strike, a feat of unprecedented speed and reaction time- made possible by John's accelerated neural synthesis with his MJOLNIR by the AI Cortana.