Darkhorse A/N: removed a third self-deprecating authors note.

LP A/N: More stuff about the RIU. Was planning on releasing this with the Broker assault chapters, but I'm having some blocks there.

Marine Tactical Considerations, 2185 Edition

THE SYSTEMS ALLIANCE ORDER OF BATTLE

With Addenda Regarding Citizenship Tiers and Your Government

Prepared by the Systems Alliance Commissariat

Distribution limited by the Manswell State Security Act

OFFICER EDITION : DO NOT DISTRIBUTE TO NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS OR ENLISTED PERSONNEL

Section K: Field tactical deployment : Rapid Intervention Units

ERRATA 8.2.2 – Update

A forward by Admiral Tradius Ahern

There's a lot of pieces in the SA infantry and ground pipelines, and each part has its place. We don't have the luxury of being able to afford full-time super-heavy infantry and that idea didn't work so fucking hot back in the FCW, so we try for flexibility nowadays.

The problem with 'flexible' is it often paired with limited resources and reaction time lapses. As command officers, it will always be on you to deploy your units in a fashion where we don't waste lives and maximize the strengths we have.

However, there will always be 'gaps' in that coverage. Sometimes we don't have the lift for moving enough A-rates. Sometimes, local defense forces are overrun or pinned by orbital bombardment. And sometimes, like it or not, someone fucking drops the ball and someone else has to fix the issue.

Our 'fix' is the Rapid Intervention Units. Their entire purpose is to get into the fight where we are lacking and hold the line long enough for more reinforcements to arrive.

As you can imagine, this is basically a suicidal job, and the people who sign up for this kind of unit are all goddamned crazy. They're also some of the toughest, best, and scariest hardasses we have in the entire SA military, the kind of guys and gals who think the DACT are cowardly wimps and laugh at facing down upwards of twenty times their number of enemies.

Personally, I never served with the RIUs. Thus, I will have my command warrant officer – who spent twenty years in the RIU – present her take on the units, their organization, equipment, foci and tactics.

I will say this - the RIUs are some of, if not the most, brave men and women wearing the Blue. Officers who cavalierly get them killed will be courts-martialed and if found guilty stripped of rank and assigned to the front-point man spot in an RIU. Don't disrespect their bravery, ingenuity, and skill by using them as distraction fodder - let them fight as they are designed to and the enemy will run in terror.

A forward by Senior Warrant Officer Vanessa Glade, KoAAF, command drill instructor, Pinnacle Station, PINTRNCOM

The Systems Alliance trains officers who have once been enlisted. We don't have officer academies where the sons and daughters of the rich can play at war, each and every command officer has once stood in the shoes of an E-1 with a shitty Avenger rifle facing down enemies. Because of this, thankfully, we don't have a lot of stupid and inefficient crap messing up our small units.

The biggest drawback of our military is by far the limited numbers we have outside of Sol. This is a document for officers to grasp command level tactics and usage, not a fucking political primer, so I'll skip the why and how and just get to the meat.

The RIU is always going to be the poor bastards who get stuck in where someone didn't do the homework and left us open. It could be stupid planning, it could be saving some colony in the ass-end of nowhere, and it could be doing recon work. Whatever it is, if you are assigned as an officer of an RIU, you need to keep three things in mind.

First, you'll constantly hear the refrain 'fight big'. That means you have to make sure that all of your command actions lead to disproportionate damage on the fuckers you're trying to kill. There aren't a lot of soldiers in an RIU and you are there to inflict so much damage and send off so much confusion that the SA has time to get more soldiers on the ground. Playing it defensive or conservatively will simply get your unit piecemeal shot to bits or overrun – you need to hit hard, then hit harder, and keep the enemy reeling and off balance.

Second, the op-tempo of any RIU is insane, and you will need to make sure your sergeants and supply teams are keeping an eye on your people's conditions. Fights are likely to end up with a lot of casualties and more injuries, and cyber takes time to implant and acclimate to. If your RIU is not combat ready then fucking tell command that, don't put your poor boys and girls in the line of fire if they aren't ready.

Finally, RIU teams die. They die a lot. I served in four and I saw well over seventy percent of my fellow soldiers get blown into red mist, taken down by sniper fire, or overrun by krogan mercs, batarian slavers, or other criminal garbage. To die holding the line sounds like some turian bullshit, but that's the job, really. You win or you die, but either way you make the enemy pay and hesitate and give the SA time to bring in the hammer to drop on 'em. No matter how you choose to lead, if it comes to that final sacrifice, you'd better be ready to give it – otherwise, don't sign the fuck up.

Rapid Intervention Units : the basics

Before we get into specifics and all that shit, let's clear up a few basics.

The Rapid Intervention Units, or RIU's for short, are some of the baddest and meanest motherfuckers that the Big 'Ol Blue has at its disposal, and yet there are enough myths and fallacies propagated about them that it makes the "Council Love Pentagon" Theory look positively fucking accurate.

"Why is this the case?" you Ask? Well, for a few reasons, my dear reader, the first being the simplest and that we are simply sneaky little bastards that enjoy fucking with people, giving them false impressions, and stealing whatever they have nailed down when no one is looking. The RIU have always been the bastard lovechildren of the N-series RRUs and the people too crazy for DACT service, and those of us who made it a career know that intimidation value and rep are weapons just as potent as a rifle. 'Everybody' knows the RIUs are crazy and pirates and other trash who see us land tend to back the hell off. Given our job, the myths serve a purpose.

The second reason is an outgrowth of the first, as RIU's are considered a "Dumping Ground" for individuals that are considered too "Free-thinking" or as "Cowboys" that disregard the SA and are only kept around for their usefulness. They aren't wrong – the problem is that the determination of such is coming from a bunch of uptight twat-waffles in BuPers that are all pissy over casualty rates, and as such are propagated throughout the SA as a whole. They tend to put in the marines that 'don't fit' into the RIU, and this is just how things roll. As such, expecting spit and polish from an RIU is hilarious.

The third and most important reason we get such a mixed and often completely false reputation? Because the RIU is a volunteer service. No one is ever forced to transfer or line-assigned to any RIU. You have to fill out two forms and waivers and then voluntarily sign up. We want every poor fool who joins the units to realize from jump street what they're getting into and that the expectation is to die, hard as fuck, on your feet, screaming 'Repensum!' and standing on top of a stack of enemy corpses.

So, with that aura of misconception and falsehoods at least exposed for what they are, one must wonder what exactly an RIU does under this veil of lies and misconception. Not to die (or not to die meaninglessly) but to do what's on the box - to Rapidly Intervene on any attacks against SA Colonies or against SA personnel. We get shipped in rapid deploys to a variety of places, and as such most of our missions usually fall into one of three categories. I say usually and not always because there is always some REMF that gets a unit and has a "wonderful idea" that ends up with nearly their entire unit getting zeroed.

By the way, since you're reading this – don't be that guy. An RIU is good at three things and three things only and using them for out-of-pocket whackass ideas only ends up with dead line animals and the B-rates burying us in a fancy ceremony.

Colonial Assistance- A really fancy way of saying that an RIU will get deployed to a planet that is considered to be "At-Risk" for an attack and will work with local forces to strengthen defenses, train and advise indigenous personnel, and generally act as a force multiplier if any uppity pricks came calling. This sort of operation is considered by most of us to be a "Soft" mission, as most of the time is spent in standard garrison duty, training, and is generally a vacation compared to most other mission profiles an RIU can be assigned to. This does not mean it is the easiest, however, as RIU's are ONLY ever deployed on these assistance programs to colonies that have a high chance of coming under attack and are usually the only non-local SA military unit available for sometimes weeks, meaning that despite how easy Colonial Assistance duty may seem, it is still rather dangerous.

Direct Action- More rarely, and despite the stupid hype given to the N-series teams, RIU is often sent into forward areas as the tip of the spear. The difference in RRU and RIU deployments is simple – RRUs only drop into the battlefield after a beach-head has been established. By contrast, the RIU are dumped onto the planet first thing (sometimes alongside the DACT, which makes you wonder about the sanity of command).

The RIU never engages with an enemy unless they have a way already established to disengage and break contact away. Following this, and unlike the RRU, those in the RIU place well-made plans and pre-drilled contingencies backed by a raging streak of improvisation before any action, whether it be a direct raid against a hostile position, delaying actions in the face of massive enemy offensives, or any mix of operations where the intelligence and technician heavy RIU is forced to show every other band of wannabe hard-chargers what badass actually looks like.

Force Reconnaissance- The bread and butter of my old unit, the 34th, Force Recon is a beast unto itself.

(I can already hear some mouth breathing empty uniform talking about how "RIU's should not do recon and leave that to the AIS" or "Force Recon is a part of Direct Action". To those that think that first, note that command asked me and not you to write this up. To the second, 'direct action' is not fucking recon. Recon is recon, action is actual assault, and how the fuck anyone with a commission confuses the two is beyond me.)

Some RIU units do have members of the AIS as a part of their units, but the deployable and qualified number of 'AIS Marines' (basically, S-rates with an additional A or B rating) is far lower than every possible demand that makes its way up the chain.

Ultimately, this means that RIU's take up the slack, since Force Recon is a mission that very few units can do, and fewer still can do well. Force Recon is detailed intel and analysis of the four features – enemy numbers, terrain, deployment lines, and points of attack. We have to do an analysis of not just how many of the bastards we have to kill there are, but also how to get to them, how to get our people down safely, and how to approach the enemy. That also means scouting and in some cases disarming enemy minefields, infohacking sensor nets and if needed sabotaging GTS emplacements.

Since recon is useless if you get detected, RIU assigned to this have to drop light. This means that the RIU is not looking to get into a fight, and in many cases will only deploy with sidearms, sub-machine guns, and light carbines in order to pack more equipment like food, water, communications, and in many cases a rather disconcerting yet highly amusing amount of explosives. This lack of heavy weapons, focus on Recon, and enough explosives to make a Krogan cry means that while RIU Units conducting Force Reconnaissance cannot in any reasonable circumstance deal with any determined enemy force in a straight battle, sabotage and meeting those determined enemy forces with a fusillade of High Explosives, landmines, and innumerable other vicious, underhanded, and wonderful traps makes sure that RIU's don't have to. They can use the chaos that they create as a way to disengage, move to a different position, and use their discovery to act as a "Demonstration" of enemy forces, allowing more intelligence to be gathered in the field.

The RIU Marine

Alright, so with that line of wonderful education out of the way, what makes an RIU Marine so special - and why do they have so many missions even if many missions seem to be outside of their operation purview? The second question is rather easy to answer, as the chronic shortcomings in manpower and skilled personnel combined with the fact that the RIU does not have as much baggage attached to them like other Special Mission Units means that RIU's pick up the odd jobs, the slack, and the jobs that other egotistical and high-strung units (RRUs) seem to cast aside in favor of the larger and more "glorious" missions.

The first question has a rather long and involved answer, but one worth noting compared to others. The basis of an RIU Marine is one that holds both an A5 or above rating, that passes the Selection and Aptitude training, and holds a certain scrappy survivor mentality. The passing Selection and the Aptitude Training is easy enough, with the combined 12-week programs being mostly physical and endurance-based in nature, but all is for naught if a prospective candidate does not meet the criteria or requirements laid out by RIU Unit Leaders.

Unlike most other Systems Alliance Military Units, a candidate can be failed even if they pass these rigorous entry programs and have no outstanding issues. This is because, in order to be assigned to a Training RIU unit where various schools of warfare will be taught, a candidate must undergo an extensive number of panel interviews, evaluations, and reviews by both the instructors and the RIU Unit Leaders. During this array of interviews, a candidate must express the needed mentality, emotional and mental maturity, and solid character needed to both survive and thrive in the type of environments that RIU Units are deployed to.

This level of evaluation and scrutiny placed on the candidates means that many of the "Disliked" characters that may inhabit other Special Mission Units are quickly and efficiently snuffed out before they can begin any additional RIU training. This is not a political process – the RIU can't afford glory-hounds, lunatics who just want to die or those who cannot work well with a team.

With just the selection process over and those not capable separated from those that are, all RIU candidates will attend what is colloquially called "Superman School". Even during any point in this process of nearly yearlong schooling, instruction, and exercises, RIU candidates can and will be washed out of the course and returned to their original units if they do meet the requirements set before them. This Yearlong period consists of completing the requirements to become A7 Rated, and if no other requirements beyond the bare necessities to qualify for RIU training are met, these candidates will also become D2-O2-J2 qualified before they are even mobilized to their perspective units.

For the uninitiated or for those that do not want to go digging through the manual to figure out what ratings those are, the breakdown is easy and indicative of what is to be expected of the RIU Marine. To begin with, the A7 rating is not only the highest attainable A-Rank but also means that the Marine is a graduate of the Hostile Environment and Survival course while also qualifying to be able to go to the N-School if a sudden fever pitch strikes them fancy.

Beyond that, D2 means that each RIU Marine becomes qualified to handle and use many commonly found explosives and has been taught how to slap-dash together a bomb that only has a mild chance of violently removing their face in construction. O2 signifies that the Marine has become at a basic level proficient with the premise of combat engineering, tactical info-war deployment, and in general becoming a shifty fucker in terms of Electronic Warfare. J2 is considered to be the most important rating that an RIU Marine can possess beyond their A-Rate, as it means they have been observed, tested, and are qualified to act as medical Corpsman while deployed. This is seen as a matter of extreme import among the RIU, as unlike other units in the SA that hyper-fixate on nothing more than being muscle-bound gun monkeys that simply pour fire on an issue and leave the fixing to someone else, all RIU Marines are instructed and proficient in trauma medicine to an extent that they are equally proficient in medical treatment in a combat zone or assisting in a medical bay.

These qualifications are considered to be mandatory and entry-level, with it not being particularly uncommon for RIU Marines to specialize in a certain field, whether it be combat medicine, ordinance handling and disposal, or in the case of an RIU Marine in the 34th, become rated to fly ships up to frigate weight. There are instances of RIU marines with even more ridiculous levels of qualifications, and it's worth noting that sixty percent of the X-rates in the SA weren't former RRU – they were RIU.

RIU Marine Loadouts

Even with all the training in the galaxy, even an RIU Marine can only do so much clad in nothing but a cloth shirt and a heavy rock, and not for a lack of trying. Despite all of the training and deployment on missions that are considered in many cases to be only completed by N-Teams, RIU Units as a whole get the short, brown, and sticky end of the stick, with much of the issued equipment being only barely a step up from what is issued to normal marines.

While even the most basic of N-Marines are clad in armor costing more than a decent-sized house on a colony, RIU Marines are stuck with the standard-issue ONYX pattern of body armor, with the standard selection of personal weapons barely any better. However, ever since the founding of the RIU's, there have been those that see what we are issued not as trash or beneath mission requirements, but rather they see it as a starting point to begin modifying the kit in-house into something more than convenient meat packing wrap.

The modification and 'tweaks' of the RIU have become standardized in the past few years, and it's worth taking a look at.

ONYX II (RIU) ARMOR- The Standard Armor sucks, there is no way around it, it is too heavy to be agile and flexible in, yet it does not provide enough armor to make up for that fact. It chafes like hell, will rub certain parts of the anatomy red, and in general is too bulky in the wrong places making you lose range of movement, flexibility, and in some cases will cause blind spots to appear in the Marines movement.

The problem of maneuverability was solved quite quickly by many RIU Marines simply shaving down or outright removing parts of armor to remedy these problems, but that solution made the lack of armor even more apparent. Eventually, one enterprising RIU Marine began experimenting with forming the armor into different shapes and profiles, creating, and testing dozens of designs before eventually settling on a series of designs that, accompanied by the newest generation of ONYX armor being able to take laser steel insertable plates, meant that the RIU Marine was able to enjoy a much expanded and natural range of movement while only losing some armor in certain non-vital areas.

Tacked on top of this now heavily improved design has been a series of near-constant internal electronics updates, making the internal suit design and infrastructure all modified by their wearers to fulfill their individual needs.

CROSSFIRE SPATHA- While the Crossfire Rifle is, as a basic infantry weapon, certainly a step up from the standard-issue Avenger pattern rifles, they do have their own problems that come with the design. The first of these problems was the simple fact that the recoil was too punishing to use on its select-fire mode even if you were trained to handle it, to such a point that the only way to effectively use it with select-fire was to be clad in Devastator Power Frame Armor.

(Ahern: I am sure that even the newest and inexperienced of you morons can understand how that is less than fucking ideal, even for highly trained individuals. Goddamned BuWeaps couldn't make a fucking toaster.)

Another glaring problem with the design was the shoddy way the trigger was adapted to select-fire, with its burst mechanism making even semi-automatic fire difficult as the trigger was both incredibly stiff, at nearly seven kilograms, and remarkably squishy, with no consistent position in which the trigger would break. This meant that for a Unit like the RIU, one that prides itself on its marksmanship and being able to run circles around even N-Rates, the Crossfire was a weapon that one wanted to like but was not particularly useful.

This problem was solved almost unilaterally, with many separate RIU arms-rooms technicians coming to a variation of the same conclusion at approximately the same time, resulting in easily a half dozen different variants peddled by the different RIU's for others to adopt. What all of these weapons had in common, however, was that most of them were built along the same premise.

Firstly, the trigger was not only heavily optimized to break at only a kilo and a half, but any provision for the select-fire was removed entirely. With the removal of the giggle switch, many of the problems regarding recoil were solved, with aimed semi-automatic fire being easy enough to control by any experienced Rifleman.

The second was a provision for the attachment of an underslung grenade launcher for the rifle, as many RIU Marines had found the grenade launcher on the Avenger to be a welcome friend when some big bastard is trying to invert your asshole through your mouth, so it was torn from the Avenger and mounted underslung the rifle to provide that extra little bit of "Fuck You".

The final modification that was universally made on the SPATHA pattern of rifles was ensuring that each rifle had the ability to mount a variety of optical sights, with anything from a simple magnified scope with rubber eyecups to Omni magnifying smart sights that take into account a multitude of shooting factors, all of these possibilities had to be accounted for.

Beyond these universal design choices, each SPATHA pattern rifle is unique based on which modification plans any RIU chooses to adopt, which means that despite all SPATHA rifles being based on the CROSSFIRE platform and modified using System Alliance sourced parts, each rifle will have its own quirks that the RIU Marine must get used to. Most RIU armorers will have plans and mods loaded into their field omniforges and omnifacturies, but some are actually conducted by hand-tooling and manual adjustments by the armorer when not in the field.

KOPIS MACHINE CARBINE- The RIU had a problem in that they lacked a weapons system that could fulfill the needs of both Force Recon elements and the more technically minded RIU Marines. These RIU Marines required something smaller and lighter than a standard-issue rifle, yet still had enough damage dealing capability to punch through both higher-end kinetic shielding and shred even heavy non-powered infantry armor.

Prior to the "development" of the Kopis, the Eagle Machine Pistol had been the go-to choice for many of these Marines, but the Eagle, and later the Eagle II, had enough issues that a replacement was needed. This replacement came first as the Hurricane Submachine Gun, but despite the fact it may have been an upgrade in some areas, it performed worse than the Eagle in others.

The solution - reached by RIU armorers and weapons specialists - was the Kopis. Taking the external frame of a Hurricane and removing all firing internals, an Eagle Machine pistol had been stripped down to its components and jury-rigged to fit inside. Beyond that, the barrel had been extended, the LAM from the Eagle had been spliced to the fore-end of the weapon, and provisions to mount various attachments to the top of the chassis had been made.

What this series of modifications had created was nothing short of both a wonder and a travesty, as even though not only did the Kopis prototype conversion meet all of the requirements that were laid out, but it had also created what can only be described as a hatefucked love child of these two platforms. It was lightweight, accurate, had the Hurricanes' blistering rate of fire paired with the armor-piercing power of the Eagle, but it had one major problem. The internal heatsink of the Kopis could not handle sustained fire without overheating and causing malfunctions.

However, with the introduction of the Eagle II Machine Pistol into the Modification program and the advent and proliferation of detachable heatsinks, the Kopis has seen a resurgence in popularity due to its light weight, its overwhelming rate of fire, and its punchy damage output that originally made it an RIU Favorite.

Gulok- The Gulok… What I can only describe as a joke that was not only taken far past where it should have ended, but one that by the grace of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph has somehow become a weapon that has quite literally blasted out a place in the heart of some of the less scrupulous and quite insane parts of the RIU's. As the story goes on a particularly boring evening while off duty, a group of Marines from the 19th RIU, yes that 19th, were consuming rather large amounts of alcohol when the discussion of the Shredder Pistol came to the forefront of the conversation.

(Ahern: why am I not surprised drinking was involved?)

Within the circles of the RIU's, the creation of the Shredder Pistol for standard-issue was and still is considered a godsend, as it allowed for nearly every RIU Marine to finally transition away from the heavily customized and sadly outdated modified Predator Pistols of yesteryear, and to have a weapon system that is both compact and performs multiple roles. So, with this rather drunken and boisterous conversation, a jest is made about how much fun it would be to have a double-barrel version of the pistol, joking about the sheer firepower and wrist-breaking potential that it would have against nearly everything. With those words uttered, a flash of inspiration took over the minds and actions of that group of the 19ths Marines, completely convinced that it could be done and creating such a thing would be both an incredibly amusing and a tall tale to tell to get free beers on leave.

What came out of that flash of inspiration and drunken weapon smiting was a brutal, ugly, and highly effective weapon that got no shortage of attention and laughs, followed by some requests for custom-made variants. Its basic model is quite simple, as it is just a pair of Shredder pistols that have been joined lengthwise with the pistol grips removed and replaced by a single, modified slim-line design grip. Because it is the equivalent of a bastard born behind a shed, saying that there is a rhyme or reason behind the design specifications beyond the basic characteristics is foolhardy, as there are variants ranging from pistols cut down to such a point that they are nothing more than angry stun grenades to seemingly high-quality carbine conversions.

The Gulok is a mutt of a weapon, made only by individual order and with permission from the company commander, but that has endeared it to many in the RIU.

RIU STANDARD SQUAD

Calling an RIU Squad "Standard" is a misnomer and a half, as nearly every individual squad in the RIU's are different from each other in both form and composition. A Squad assigned to Force Recon will inevitably be different from not only assignments like Colonial Assistance or Direct Action, but many times they are different from even other RIU Squads in the Same RIU undertaking the same mission. What can be assumed as consistent is that all RIU combat squads are the same size.

1x Squad Leader- The RIU squad leader has the magnificent achievement of having the very highest military casualty rate in the entire fucking galaxy at 92%. That is because they almost always lead from the front and our the core and soul of the squad, using both bravery and charisma to not only get into the fight but make their men and women fight big. The only consistent rule about these squad leaders is that they are either senior enlisted personnel or the very rare and treasured breed of intelligent field officers. Loadout-wise they are normally clad in RIU Armor and carrying whatever they can beg, borrow, or steal. There really is only a vague sense of standardization among the RIU.

2x Team Leaders- Same as the squad leader above, just on a smaller scale and amusingly enough, many times no regard is given to the rank of the Team Leader. It is not uncommon for a senior Corporal to be leading a team of fresh-to-the-unit Sergeants or Staff Sergeants due to the fact the Corporal having more experience.

8x or 9x RIU Marines- A motley mix of enlisted personnel and low-ranking officers, these "Main Body" RIU Marines can be anything from scout-snipers and saboteurs to certified combat doctors backed by DACT Rated Hooligans deciding to rough it with the RIU. As Above, many times the only standardization that these Marines may have is a set of Standardized RIU Armor and whatever Weapon Systems they can get their grubby mitts on. Note that AIS-augmented teams have 8 of these marines and one AIS guy.

1x AIS Specialist- S-rates with some infantry training and usually a lot of fancy-ass AIS spook gear, these are often attached to Force Recon RIU teams. They almost always utilize RIU rather than AIS warfighting gear, however, so functionally consider them a slightly less badass RIU marine.

RIU STANDARD COMPANY

The real strength of the RIU's is that rather than being deployed piecemeal to be fed into a grinder, RIU's deploy at company strength to any needed area. This means that in any given area, an RIU can have eight teams deployed to deal with a problem and its command-and-control element can relay information and advise troops on the ground what the situation at large is. For those that are mathematically challenged in the crowd, that means that a single RIU Company consists of 113 RIU Marines, a force that when deployed to a planet or sent in for aggressive reconnaissance, is large enough to stomp out most of what will try to keep up with them, and small enough to be able to outmaneuver anything that tries to bring itself to bear on them.

Again, insinuating that anything beyond the basic TO&E as dictated is followed or observed is a joke, as each RIU can, and many times does specialize in many different aspects of war. This is not aided by the fact that the TO&E itself is predcated on 2177 manpower levels and BuPers hasn't had the time or bribes to update the fucking thing.

If you want to know the actual strength of an RIU, go ask their Commissar nicely. (As a side note, all RIU companies have two Commissars. Like the marines, RIU Commissars are volunteers, typically 'Brute' Commissars, and they do less about keeping track of the troops as they do murderfucking the enemies of the Alliance.)

The ugly reality is that many RIU units are 'larger' on paper and smaller in practice. Anywhere from 10% to upwards of 30% of the unit may be out for injuries, surgeries, mental health issues, or cybernetics installation and maintenance. It's usually up to Company commanders to determine actual force strength and in some cases mix and match squads to form deployable units when a situation goes 'hot'.

RIU TACTICS

RIU Tactics? Beyond not running dick first into prepared positions like fucking idiots? Okay.

Most tactics breakdown at the squad level into three particular elements – approach, firelane setup, and attack. Obviously if a squad is doing force recon these don't apply, since the fucking point there is not to get into a firefight.

Approach tactics are a lot more elaborate than the meat-head charges of an RRU. The units prefer to keep to heavy cover and concealment whenever possible. This is not just to avoid being shot at – if the RIU can keep in cover until they're ready they can often achieve complete surprise on an enemy and thus, magnify the effect of their attack.

Aiding and linking to this is firelane setup. In the wild chaos of battle, especially one with mines and drones and heavy weapons flying, the very worst thing you can do is cross your own lines of fire. RIUs will pick overlapping and usually flanking or rear attacks on enemy units to cause panic, position snipers to pick off officers who try to reorganize the units, and finally place heavy weapons and mine-layers ahead of the enemy to tear them apart if they break and run.

The actual attack – the 'fight big' part – is thus prefaced off of superior positioning and firelane selection. When done properly, even hardened enemy units will break. Caught between overlapping directed fire and marksman focused targeting of sergeants from the flank and rear, enemy units can either turn to face the RIU or flee. Either way, the elements positioned further forward will either then unleash heavy weapons hell on the now rear of the turned enemy unit or shred and blow up the enemy as they flee in all directions.

This is a good explanation as to why RIU's have a massive raging hard-on for equipment such as micro mines, daisy-chained explosives, closed-circuit VI Driven Sentry Guns, and many more ludicrous things. The more toys they carry, the more havoc they can wreak and the more damage they can inflict on much larger units.

RIU's have learned through experience what works and what does not and having a seemingly never-ending bag of goodies to throw in the face of the enemy while fighting a savage shoot-and-scoot series of skirmishes is their specialty.

A good officer who volunteers for the RIU will try to internalize all of this. Keep the basics in your head – your line animals are your life. Stick to the use of ambush and prep before attacking then go all out and hold nothing back. And if the worst comes to pass and you are pinned and all that remains, go out metal as fuck, blasting the SA anthem and make the fuckers come and die at your feet.