People tend to forget that most of the Human Sphere is a frontier territory, and that the presence and power of the state, as well as the rule of law, are either limited or merely symbolic. Those territories out there are the godforsaken Wild West everyone has seen in Mayaproductions, where the nearest sheriff is always too far away to be of any help. In such circumstances, colonists feel safer when they carry a weapon to defend themselves,
rather than calling for help that won’t arrive in time.
The problem is that the bad guys are always better armed, better equipped, and more used to unbridled violence than any colonist. To sum it up, in the Wild West of the Human Sphere, innocent civilians stand to lose.
However, there will always be someone who will stand between them and the bad guys, and that someone is Section Spatha of Bureau Aegis. It may not get there before the sheriff, but when it does, it will be able to accomplish far more than him. This is the purpose of the Gladius Teams—rapid deployment investigative and tactical intervention task forces—named after the ancient Roman sword. This is a hybrid unit composed of agents from different teams of Section Spatha who have been chosen for their special operational profile to fulfill various
critical functions in rapid deployments.
The Jackboots are the muscle, with a nickname given by those who didn’t follow their orders and suffered the consequences. The Vidocq are the spies, and anything else they are required to be. The Nightshades are the thieves, as well as assassins when necessary. And the Ment agents are the team’s sleuths. All of them make up the core of the Gladius Teams, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they always act together, since these teams also draw on other regular units of Section Spatha and Starmada
MULTIPURPOSE SECURITY BRIGADE VIDOCQ
The saying “it takes a thief to catch another thief” seems to be the key idea behind the Multipurpose Security Brigade, but it also reflects the biography of the historical character it’s named after. Criminalist and investigator Eugène-François Vidocq, before becoming the legendary French detective, was a thief, a soldier, a privateer, a smuggler, a convict, and a policeman. After a long criminal career, he began to work with the Paris police and became one of the first public investigators appointed by the French government. Vidocq suggested creating a special police unit called the Brigade de Sûreté (“Security Brigade”) that eventually became the Sûreté Nationale
(“National Security”), which he commanded with great success.
Vidocq always surrounded himself with personnel who, like him, had a criminal past, or at least a shady one, with outstanding results. And he has always remained a referent for all special divisions of any security forces willing to operate in unconventional ways.
Evidentemente, una de estas divisiones es el Departamento de Operaciones Especiales de SWORDFOR, siempre a la búsqueda de soluciones que permitan maximizar la efectividad de una fuerza de tamaño reducido como es la Sección Spatha. Desde el primer momento en que se concibió la creación del Equipo Gladius como un grupo operativo de investigación e intervención autónomo, quedó claro que sería una fuerza pequeña que, en ocasiones, tendría que enfrentarse a adversarios más numerosos. Por tal motivo, la preparación y una capacitación superior serían las ventajas competitivas que les permitirían tener éxito y culminar la misión. El problema era saber cuál sería el área específica en la que sus miembros deberían destacar y ser superiores a sus oponentes. Los escenarios posibles eran innumerables, además de que resultaba imposible que el equipo al completo estuviera formado por agentes tan altamente entrenados.
Obviously, one of these divisions is SWORDFOR’s Special Operations Department, which is always on the lookout for new ways to maximize the efficiency of a small force such as Section Spatha. From its inception, the Gladius Team was conceived as an autonomous investigative and tactical task force, and it was clear that it was to be a small force that would occasionally have to take on more numerous adversaries. Therefore their readiness and superior training would be the competitive advantages that would allow them to successfully complete their mission. The difficulty was determining what specific department its members were expected to excel in so
as to outperform their opponents. There were countless possible scenarios, and it proved impossible for the entire team to be staffed with such highly trained agents.
The solution was to include one or two elite agents in the team to provide these special skills and complement the rest of the troops, who could be more conventional. But even this was difficult to achieve, because there weren’t enough operatives available who were so skilled, so it was necessary to recruit outside the usual circles and broaden the search to find individuals who knew the business well, even if from a different angle.
ARMED PRESENCE UNIT JACKBOOTS
The members of this unit, better known as Jackboots, are assigned the nastiest and most dangerous work on the ground, the kind that no one wants because it’s risky and doesn’t get good press. They’re all volunteers, because you need to be strongly committed to Bureau Aegis’ values to join the Armed Presence Unit.
Their duty involves longterm deployments, spending months away from their families and what is considered a “normal life” in the most unsavory and undesirable corners of the Human Sphere, always exposed to being targeted by all hostile players in the area, and being constantly slammed by the press and activists.
Nobody likes having the Jackboots arrive, because they’re a reminder of how bad things are, so everyone tends to be biased against them and rejects them in a way that’s always obvious and never pleasant. Their job is not for rookies, nor for the faint of heart or mind. The scenarios they must face are always complex, if not downright impossible, but the Jackboots aren’t afraid to go for broke. With their enhancement implants, their weaponry, and their training and experience, they know they can handle any situation and tackle anything in their path.
MENT AGENTS, PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT BUREAU AEGIS
How can citizens trust Bureau Aegis if its officers don’t behave with the utmost integrity? Most police work is dependent on their relationship with the community, and when that’s not good, it’s very unlikely that law enforcement will be able to provide the quality service that citizens deserve.
Therefore, Bureau Aegis doesn’t tolerate dirty cops—period. Finding and arresting these dirty cops is the Ments’ job, and they’re damn good at it, because they’re excellent detectives, among the best in the Bureau. Experts in criminology, psychology, and intelligence, be it the result of their studies or just pure experience, the Ment are savvy sleuths capable of following any lead to the very end. This is why there are always some PSID agents assigned to the Gladius Teams.
The Ment are true professionals, they’re the officers who must police the police, and they fully understand the importance of their work. They realize that a clean Bureau Aegis ultimately translates into a safer Sphere for everyone, and any citizen’s safety is more important than the life of a dirty cop.
Go to Reinforcements: O-12 Pack Alpha
Go to Reinforcements: O-12 Pack beta
You can read more about these units in the Endsong book .
