 In the Halo universe , Earth and humanity 's various colonies are governed by the United Nations Space Command . Faced with the technological superiority of the Covenant , humanity 's chief hope is the tenacity of the SPARTANs , elite supersoldiers equipped with special armor . The protagonist of the Halo series , the Master Chief , is one of the few SPARTANs in active service by the events of Halo : Combat Evolved . " Armor Testing " takes place shortly before the opening of Halo 2 , as the UNSC field @-@ tests a new version of the SPARTAN 's armor in a series of exercises which prove to be a challenging endeavor for all involved . A lone SPARTAN puts the armor through its paces by dropping from Earth 's atmosphere and engaging in a mock battle against UNSC special forces . This SPARTAN is revealed to be a woman , Maria @-@ 062 , who has come out of retirement as a special favor to test the new equipment before it is sent to the Master Chief . 
