2997:AD
Andromeda galaxy:Classified location
November 25th:0940:hours
The sounds of the forest was soothing like a bedtime lullaby suong from a mother to her child, that combined with the night sky made it the most peaceful place on the planet for all to hear and listen.
BANG!
Until that single shot fired that is, as a thundurus roar of gunfire awoke to battle each other the forest was erupted in a show of quick blinking lights each signifying a roar of death has been unleashed on an offending adversary. If one looked hard enough though they could tell that a majority of the flashes are directed at the minority of flashes facing toward them, one would also notice that many flashes of the majority are going out at a fast pace whilst the minority haven't even lost one of their own yet. The Majority are in a circle-like formation to try and utilize their superior numbers to outlast their opponents whilst the minority seem to use the perfect counter-strategy against them, hit them when an opening presents itself then deal as much damage as possible before moving to a different location on the battlefield to repeat the process. The deadly dance of flashlight continued for a few more seconds before a loud but silent pulse swept across the battlezone, for a few more seconds only five flashes still continue until the rest of the flashes returned but this time with clam but chaotic chatter.
"Dammit! EMP!"
"Shit! Where are they!?"
"How the fuck shou-!"
"Goddammit! They got Chris-!"
"Toss some nades NO-!"
"Fucking Nova-!"
As the last of the voices fell silent so too did the sound of gunfire and flash of lights, before long the entire scene change in a wave of blue lines from the tranquil forest to a large box like room revealing 120 soldiers laying on the floor with their weapons spread about the place and five other soldiers standing triumphantly above them.
The five victors wore advanced body suits that have little armour on them and four out of the five had the same weapons as the defeated around them only more customised to suit their roles. The soldiers meanwhile wore standard bodysuits under armour that protected much of their bodies without limiting mobility, their weapons were more basic than the five victors but had access to a larger variety of arms like DMRs, assault rifles, LMGs, HMGs and even rocket launchers .
The only similarity that can be found in the two groups is that they both wear a T-shaped helmet with a small fin on the back which acts as a com-link.
As the participants pull themselves together after the training exercise (or slaughter-house depending on who you ask) the door to the room opened revealing two officers of notable rank, the first officer held the rank of staff commander and wore the standard BDUs of the human race since its milky way days, whilst the second wore the title of specialist captain or spec-captain for short these are Nova officers who have exceeded their field work and now maintain the Nova corps as points of contact for their teams.
Both officers walked into the room as the gathering of soldiers organised into their respective groups, the company to one side and the five man fireteam on the other.
Taking a quick moment the Staff commander said to his company "Now that was some fine work indeed gentlemen."
For a moment the men of the defeated company seemed hopeful that they did well above average as was usually the cause with these kinds of match ups.
"I have never seen such a cluster-fuck in my entire carear!"
Instead they got the opposite.
Wasted.
"I will have a word with whoever thought taking on Nova was good idea later but right now these fine men and women are needed else were...SO MOVE IT YOU STUPID PIECS OF SHIT!"
With that the (frankly scared) company of marines filled out in an orderly joge out of the training room leaving the spec-captain with his people.
After the last of the marines left the captain turned to the finest team-leader he'd trained and whilst smiling he said "Kicking ass and taking names Shepherd?". Ignoring the slight laughter of his squad Specialist commander Hadir Shepherd took off his helmet, revealing a twenty year old man with hints of indian descent, red hair and red eyes along with his skin colour fitting his heritage.
"With respect Anderson, Corporal Chris made a bet that his company can win in a fair fight." Shepherd said whilst running a hand through his hair.
"And we all know how Nova fights" said Hadir's oldest friend Ashely Williams who also took her helmet off.
"To win em! Bin em! And Date em!" Shouted James Vega the squad's heavy gunner and loudest joker in the crops.
"Pretty sure that's YOUR motto Vaga" Kaidan Alenko muttered as he checked his weapon whilst everybody (exsept Vega) laughed at the jabe at the heavy gunner's lame joke streak.
"So you have our assignment captain?" The last member of Shepherd's team Miranda Lawson asked as if she read Anderson's mind which wasn't necessarily false. Miranda is a Pcionic a being capable of using their minds as a weapon they can connect to and bend it to their will, Pcionics can do all the things you expect from a telepath, mind reading, telekinesis and other stuff.
Looking to the mind-wielder like nothing special happen Anderson simply said "Yup team report to docking bay E-09 for transport to your new ship, Shepherd the fleet Admiral is going to debrief you himself."
That got everybody's attention, Fleet Admiral Hacket is the commanding officer of the Special naval warfare division or SPECNAV for short. Usually Hacket would send someone a message via Hyper-com, however if Hacket wants to see Shepherd in person it means that whatever is going on the higher ups want it kept under the radar as much as possible.
Wondering the Obvious Shepherd asked "Is it the Kett sir?"
Surprisingly the spec-cap shook his head "No all's quiet on the western front as they would say."
'Then what?' Shepherd thought.
Putting that question aside Shepherd and team followed Anderson out of the training room and into a gray-metallic like hallway built with function and reliability in mind. On both sides of the hall were doors leading to other training areas with people from both army, navy and Nova looking at screens either watching what was going on inside or just checking systems for errors.
As the group came upon the exit to the training area, Anderson turned back to Shepherd's team before saying "Oh before I forget you boys and girls better get packed because your assignment is going to be a long one." The team minus Shepherd gave Anderson a look before Vega said "Uh with respect sir we've been packed ever since we got out of basic, we are primed and ready to rock!"
To that Anderson just smiled "heh you might want to check again Vega only this time we made sure it's not just YOUR stuff that needs attention."
That made everybody in Shepherd's team (minus Hadir himself) go wide-eyed in shock before having thoughts like 'Oh no' or 'He didn't!?' going in their heads whichever one fits the member's mindset.
For a moment they looked to their leader for salvation but found none on his face. 'Sorry guys, you should have known that our instructors wouldn't let us leave their care without some parting memory. Plus I can't carry you guys forever like a certain Vega said.' Shepherd thought and by the look Miranda gave James he is confident that they'll learn the lesson they should have learned in training which boils down to the 'Teamwork makes the dreamwork' motto.
Leaving his stunned team behind Shepherd rushed to his mentor who was already walking out of the training area with a smile on his face whilst Shepherd's own team would head the opposite way towards the docks.
Tannis station:Polars system:Titan cluster:Heleus arm:Andromeda galaxy
November 25th:2997
The Titan cluster is located in the imperium's core region and is home to key military infrastructure like Tannis and is home to the imperium's largest supplier of rare ores and materials, thus the name of the cluster.
Tannis itself meanwhile is a station built into an Asteroid within the field in the outer Polars system, the purpose of Tannis is to act as a naval resupply and construction yard for the imperial's elite fifth fleet and to also act as a testing ground for SPECNAV's new toys. The station's builtin structure means that most of the station is inside the rock itself, as such the outer shell is relatively unchanged save for a few docking doors to allow ships in and out of the station but other then that the turrets defending the station that are dotted around the surface of the rock are the only things not within the protective barrier of rock.
Within that same rock lies the command center of the entire station, it was a circle shaped room with a holomap of the surrounding area in the middle. Five groups of terminals, computers and the like make up the majority of the room with paths going between them and meeting at the center with the map. The map also displayes the location of the defending fleet in relation to the station to better coordinate a defence, the map can also be used to coordinate fleet movements outside of the local cluster for offence as well as defence. Just a level above it all on one side of the command center stands the fleet admiral's office where he oversees the entire operation.
The man himself is in said office looking over the final details before he hands the imperium's most advanced warship to a quit capable officer on his desk. The office was a half octagon shaped with the flat side housing the door and the three shorter sides being made of windows to give the Fleet Admiral a nice view of the nerve center in Tannis, aside from the desk the office also has two sofas one on either side of the room and both facing each other. Another decoration includes a flag of the imperium on one of the far walls of the room, as well as some plant pots whose contents are supposedly from earth making them near a thousand years old.
The admiral himself was (by 21st century standards) showing age with signs of combat on the right side of his face and a scar under his left eye, his uniform although coloured in the traditional white colouring of the navy was the same design used by the old systems alliance four gold bars on the shoulders and everything. The reason for this was because in the early days of the imperium the navy at the time had to rely on ships from the alliance fleet that fled with the exodus fleet to Andromeda, thus the imperial navy adopted the traditions of the SA from the fleet structure, ranks, order of battle, training and even the ground forces so in a sense the imperial navy is the descendent of the alliance navy.
After filing the last of the paper work on his computer (Dam you bureaucracy!) Hacket leaned back into his chair to enjoy the soothing sounds of muffed beeps and pings coming from the command center blow. Working as the head of the navy's special research division wasn't what Hacket thought his career would end up at but it wasn't an unwelcomed course as Hacket learned early in his career that the navy is the first line of defence before any imperial world and thus it has to have the best weapons, ships and men that the imperium could provide. However trying to create an invincible navy is impossible due to the resources required thus SPECNAV must make trade offs on what the navy needs and that requires a leader with good judgment and understands the bigger picture as it were, and Hacket's superiors certainly believed that he was what SPECNAV needed and so here he is.
After a while of relaxation Hacket notices a button flashing on his desk indicating that he has a call from somebody, getting into a formal position on his chair Hacket presses the button and a holoprojection of his aid is displayed before him.
"Sir specialist captain Anderson and specialist commander Shepherd are here as ordered sir" the aid said.
Nodding Hacket replied "Send them in."
Soon enough the door to his office opened revealing the two SPEC-OPs entering and upon arriving at his desk they saluted.
"Sir reporting as ordered" Anderson said as he and Hadir dropped their salutes and relaxed their stances somewhat.
Nodding Hacket motioned for the captain to leave and so he did, with a final look to his protege Anderson left the office to file more reports on Nova operations.
After watching his mentor leave Shepherd turned to the Fleet Admiral and asked the obvious "What's our assignment Admiral if not in Kett space? Sir"
Straightening his stance Hacket looked Hadir in the eye and said " This is a reconnaissance mission back to the milky way son."
"S-sir?" stuterd Hadir who could only look at his superior with wide eyes waiting for him to continue.
"You know Terra ferma?" Hacket asks to which Hadir nodded.
Terra Ferma was once a political party in the old systems alliance parliament however during the years following the exodus war it became a cultural doctrine of sorts, made to keep the cultures of earth alive whilst also allowing new cultures to flourish on new worlds. However, because of the rather zeloures nature in some of the groups who follow this doctrine the idea of retaking earth has never really left and has even threatened to over through the Ryder dynasty more than once with many almost ending in blood.
Nodding Shepherd asks "Are they becoming a threat again sir?"
Shaking his head Hacket says "It would be more accurate to say that this mission may put that issue to rest"
Waiting patiently Shepherd said nothing as the Admiral explained "Around the time we encountered the Kett, the Emperor of that time funded a project to try and recreate the wormhole that brought our Ancestors here. The reason being that if earth was retaken then Terra Ferma wouldn't have any reason to try and oust the Ryders because by this point they are a people who want nothing more then to get our blue world back so if someone else can achieve that, then it's a win win through as you might have guessed there are two problems with that. One is information, we don't know what the political landscape is like nor what kind of enemies we'll face if it came to war and that's assuming the same race that nearly destroyed us was still around, plus we had very little intel about the turians themselves before they reached earth with the only knowledgeable person being General Williams who at the time was having his career taken away from him for surrendering to the enemy. Now the second problem has been more or less resolved, I won't bore you with the scientific what-not but basically you'd need a lot of energy and the exact location of an existing wormhole to even begin the process so you can imagine it took us quite a while before we got where we are today."
Seeing a chance Shepherd asked "So my mission is to gather intel on the would be enemy and prepare for an invasion is that right?"
To his slight surprise Hacket shook his head again "Your mission is intel gathering but that will depend on the condition of Earth, for example if earth is unoccupied then it's safe to say war can be avoided through nobody's riding on that train. But if earth is occupied then it's safe to say that war is inevitable."
"You sound as if earth WILL be occupied sir" Shepherd said.
Sighing Hacket relaxed his posture and said " Wouldn't make sense if they didn't and whilst im no warmonger we have thousands of army groups just sitting at rally points waiting for an attack that will probably never come given how many choke points the Kett have to go through. If it were up to me id organise a offencive into their space and start hitting them where it hurts but command would rather stand still then play to win if catch my meaning Shepherd."
Seeing that he has his answers Shepherd decided to ask the big one "So what about my ship Admiral?"
At that Hacket smiled and pulled out a folder from under his desk which he then gives to Hadir.
"It's called the Normandy Major" Hacket said still smiling.
Codex: Imperial navy ranks
The ranking structure of the imperium's navy has its roots dating back to the day of the system's alliance and thus has adopted the unity of command style developed by the alliance. The ground forces (Marines) are a special branch of the navy with the same ranks as naval personnel with a few exceptions (like privates and corporals). The reasoning for this type of chain of command was that without a navy any army is pointless, whilst that reasoning is true unlike the imperial military the SA according to surviving records has never fought an interstellar war before first contact and thus while the alliance was able to coordinate their troops they did not have enough of them. As such the ranking system of the alliance only applies to the navy whilst the army has its own separate command.
ENLISTED
Esign 3rd class / Private 2nd class
Esign 2nd class / Private 1st class
Esign 1st class / corporal
Non-Commissioned officers
Service Chief
Gunnery Chief / Staff Sergeant
Operations Chief / Master Sergeant
Commissioned Officers
2nd Lieutenant
1st Lieutenant
Staff Lieutenant
Lieutenant commander
Staff commander / Captain
Captain / Major
Vice Admiral / Major General
Rear Admiral / General
Admiral / Mashal of the Marines
Fleet Admiral
Lord Admiral
Reviews
AN: so here's the second Chapter of Terran supremacy and the reviews of the first chapter I actually wanted to get this Chapter out by Christmas but my brain simply doesn't have any more energy to add more to this one. With that said i might not have every chapter with reviews from the previous one because i may not have enough motivation but only time will tell.
And now to the reviews!
WeLonelyOldSouls: Shepherd and company will encounter the Reapers but not in the way you're expecting.
MythianTechCorp: Nah that was just my profile photo that I decided to change, but if anybody is willing to do art for a mech then i might consider canonising it IF it fits the state of the imperial military. Other then that no mechs.
Cullen Walsh: Don't worry humanity will be beating the turians but they won't be commiting genocide.
Guest: Oh well SORRY PAL I DON'T TAKE ORDERS FROM YOU!
Vampirelord101: FOR THE EMPEROR!
AN: That's all for now!