For The Republic
Fighting the enemy isn't the way to win a war. You need to make sure to scare the fucking hell out of them so they won't even think about ever pissing you off again.
General Patton, United Republic Ground Forces, 1940
My God… What have we done?
Unknown crewmember of B-29 that dropped Atom Bomb on Ravenna
The United Republic doesn't fight like other people on the planet. Instead of a straight up fight they prefer to bleed their enemy dry from afar until there is nothing left but a dried up husk and when the coast is clear they will then precede to beat that husk relentlessly and without mercy. It is shocking to some to think that the peaceful fun loving republicans the world has known can become such a monster in war time. A similar beast exists in all humans. The republican's is just bigger and well-hidden…
Vladimir Chernovtsy, Military and Psychology
FTR
"So Tom what do you see?"
Corporal Thomas Shepard looked through his binoculars from his squad's hilltop vantage point at the alien convoy moving towards the city of Saigon. A few columns of infantry and armored vehicles marched down the streets like they owned the place. The range of his binoculars let him see everything in clear detail. The no doubt smug expressions of the aliens faces as they moved towards the city. The terror on the faces of families living on the outskirts as they were forced from their homes and the utter horror of those that were shot when they refused or fought back.
"It isn't good." Said Shepard as he handed the binoculars to his sergeant.
Sergeant Rick Harris looked through the binoculars and his mouth became a snarl as he gazed at the scene below. "Those fuckers." He said with as much venom as he could muster.
"That just ain't right." Said Sniper Corporal Ellis Hale
"What kind of military does that?" asked Shepard
"The kind that doesn't give a shit about the people their fighting." Said Harris
"We're gonna make em pay for it. Right sir?" said the squad's Medic Private Lyle McCoy.
"I'm more worried about the Hanoians." Harris said simply as he handed Shepard his binoculars back.
The entire squad shuddered at that. The Republic's retaliation will no doubt be swift and brutal but the Hanoians? They were a warrior people but even they understood the difference between soldiers and civilians. To see an army completely disregard that may very well turn the Hanoians and these aliens into permanent enemies. Treaties that go back thousands of years make it so that if you are an enemy of Hanoi you are an enemy of the Republic.
"We scouted out the enemy's numbers so let's get back to base." Said Harris. "Move Out!"
Harris and the squad made their way through the abandoned villages and farms around Saigon. They were headed back to the Vietnam Militia HQ right in the center of Saigon under the command of General Ho Chi Minh who was advised by the Republic Base Commander, Colonel Williams.
The Republic only operated a small base on Vietnam and in the event of an attack the base and all of its personal/equipment was to be placed under the command of the current head of Vietnam's militia until the Republic military comes in to relieve them. This was done with little difficultly since the Republic and Saigon have used the same rank structure for thousands of years.
General Minh's plan was to turn Saigon into a fortress so the aliens would get bogged down in hopeless urban fighting after they get softened up by the many traps scattered around the city outskirts. By the time they make any real progress the fleet currently on its way would have blown theirs to pieces. They wouldn't have to worry about civilians since they're currently hiding in bunkers built deep deep under the city. The things were designed to keep a large population alive for at least 10 years so no worries there.
After getting stocked up for an extended mission and filling up their stomachs with warm food from the mess hall the squad returned to battle. Their mission was to observe as the aliens got torn apart by the traps and report on their progress. If there were stranglers then they were given the green light to pick them off with suppressed weaponry.
As Shepard gazed through his binoculars he grimly noted that the Hanoians can make a good trap. An entire alien squad which was advancing down the street of an abandoned village just fell into a pit filled with what the Hanoians called punji stakes. The pit was only about 3 feet deep and filled with simple sharpened bamboo stakes but by God it was effective! He heard the Hanoians even dipped the stake in feces so if by chance the soldier survived then they would get a deadly infection.
The aliens were visibly shaken at the sight and Shepard could swear one off them might have puked. One of them, most likely their commander, restored order quickly and ordered his troops to search the houses. Phase 2 was in motion.
An explosion rocked the village. One of the houses erupted in a ball of fire and shrapnel. Before the aliens had time to fully react to the first fireball a second and third appeared around town. The Alien Commander quickly surmised that the buildings were wired and ordered his troops into the town square. It activated some type of holographic device on its arm and spoke at length into it. Not to long after an extra platoon of alien soldiers, armored vehicles and even a gunship arrived on the scene along with a team of heavily armored aliens that might be a bomb squad. This was proceeding exactly the way Command wanted so it must be time to tell them.
"Command" said Harris as he radioed in. "This is Little Birdy."
"Roger, Little Birdy. This is Command. What do you have to tell us?"
"Enemy has halted in Sector 11-5 and has called in reinforcements. Requesting Permission to begin Phase 3."
"Permission Granted Little Birdy. Show them your talons. Over and Out."
Sergeant Harris then turned towards Ellis. "Hit it."
A malicious grin crossed Ellis face as he pressed down on the detonator he'd been holding. "Burn in Hell you sonsabitches."
In almost an instant the entire town was a gigantic fireball which destroyed everything in its path. The gunship tried to escape but it too was caught in the blast so many others. Soon dazed and heavily burned aliens stumbled out of the flames. The squad was under orders to leave no survivors in these attacks.
Shepard wondered if the alien fleet could see the huge inferno which used to be a 100 or so of their troops. The alien fleet couldn't see the fireball but they most certainly heard about it and unfortunately for them this wouldn't be the only time they would hear about an abandoned town exploding today. Eventually the aliens stopped going into abandoned towns and villages.
The aliens then started coming across small farming or fishing communities still with their citizens but upon closer inspection these were just plain clothes Hanoian Commandos known as the Viet Cong who specialize in Guerilla Warfare. After losing to many troops to these commandos the aliens stopped going into the towns and villages period preferring surround them and send in robots. To bad half the bombs were manually activated by a detonator...
This engagement was not going the way the turians wanted it. These aliens didn't fight in any way their used to and they are having serious trouble countering it. Turians were trained since they were 15 to fight a certain way and that they were invincible. In the week since they've been on this planet this 'upstart' species has completely deconstructed everything they knew about warfare. Not only that but they can't counter it since the Hierarchy frowns upon the 'unorthodox'. Anything seen as Un-Turian was promptly thrown out the airlock especially changes to the military structure that has defended all civilized space for centuries.
Turians were trained to advance slowly and brutally forward forming an invincible wall that no one could defeat head on. The aliens showed that if you couldn't knock down a wall with one big blow then you do so with smaller blows. Entire squads would be wiped out without warning and by the time their comrades would figure out the direction the shots came from the alien soldiers would be long gone. This continued until the 'invincible turian wall' that was feared by other species in the galaxy had lost a full quarter of their number and they haven't even seen the enemy yet.
Turians were trained to secure all towns and cities. The planet had only one major city and from what orbital surveys have shown it's a well-stocked fortress. All of the towns were either rigged with explosives or filled with guerillas lying in wait. General Desolas would like nothing more than to destroy the settlements from orbit but that would have been against the Citadel Conventions due to the large amounts of damage mass accelerators could do to a garden world besides Admiral Veralia would never let him get away with something like that. So they had to clear them out the old fashioned way.
Turians do not distinguish soldiers from civilians due to how ingrained the military is in their society. This has led to them butting heads with the Asari quite a few times. Standard Procedure dictates that all enemy non-combatants are to be removed from their dwellings to secure holding facilities. Any that resist must be terminated to keep them from fighting Turian forces. This species must be somewhat like the Krogan since at least 60% of them resist and must be shot. The remaining 40% from the day they enter the camps do everything in their power to disrupt turian activities somehow. They refuse to speak to linguists or camp personnel. They are constantly aloof, refuse to even look in a Turian's general direction for too long and those that do are near constantly glaring.
The few prisoners they captured haven't said much. When they do say something it is usually their names followed by a string of gibberish over and over again until whoever is questioning them stops. There is also that look they have. If their facial expressions are similar to Asari then that look they all share is both smug and amused. Like they find this whole invasion a joke and only they know the punchline.
Though the Turians weren't allowed to call it an invasion. It was a 'Peacekeeping Action' to enforce the law against opening mass relays. A good portion of the fleet agreed that the aliens never really did anything wrong. They were never a signatory of the Citadel Conventions so that had no obligations to follow its laws and that's if they even knew about it. The truth about this is that General Desolas just wants to increase his prestige by turning a group of primitives into the newest Hierarchy client race. Desolas (and that brother of his) are some of the densest turians in the galaxy. He thinks that this is this species' homeworld but if he looked closer he'd see things aren't as they seem.
This planet on has a few major cities and there is no heavy industry required for a spacefaring species to be seen. The estimated population for this world is around 50 million. They should be in the billions if this was their homeworld then again they have no idea how long this species lives and how quickly they breed. Another was that the ships the patrol group met earlier were nowhere to be seen. That should have raised some alarms in Desolas' head but he was too focused on the matter at hand.
Desolas was prepping for an all-out assault on the biggest city on the planet intent on taking it hoping it will break the alien's will. They haven't even entered formal combat with the aliens and half their number was dead or dying from guerrilla attacks and traps. The turian soldiers spearheading the assault could only pray to the spirits that these aliens weren't as skilled in urban combat as they were in guerrilla warfare.
Unique Abilities for the Human Nations
Holy Empire of Rome (The Glory of Rome)- All colonies/cities get a 25% production bonus for buildings that are already constructed in Rome proper on Earth. (Rome already has built everything it can build so it can start colonies with basic buildings fairly quickly.)
Federal Republic of Germany (Furor Teutonicus)- 25% reduced maintenance for military units. Defeated Pirates/Slavers/and Mercenaries have a 50% chance of joining their side. (Instead of prison sentences or execution Germany operates a Penal Battalion called Strafbattalion. After a certain number of years of good service depending on the crime the soldier is released and with German citizenship.)
United Socialist State of Russia (Galactic Riches)- Strategic Resources provide +1 production and double Platinum, Iridium and Element Zero resources. (Russia is the only nation that has better mining techniques than the Quarians allowing them mine large amounts of resources for trade or domestic use.)
Republic of Carthage (Phoenician Heritage)- All new colonies receive a free spaceport. Carthaginian soldiers can cross mountains like it's an open terrain tile and fortify on them. (Carthaginian Colonial Procedure requires that a proper spaceport is built before any settlement can begin. So unlike the other nations they can land large scale ships on their colonies. Over the centuries they've also manage to perfect mountain combat and remains the only nation that can set up artillery positions or infantry bases in the most inhospitable mountain ranges.)
United Republic of States (Manifest Destiny)- The Republic has the most advanced sensors in the galaxy allowing them to 'see' a quarter of a star system. The Republic can purchase or acquire colonies at reduced cost. (The Republic can expand like crazy if they wanted but that isn't the way the Republic does things. The Republic looks at all the territory it can get and picks the best spots based on resources or tactical value. They don't settle on every piece of available land. I'm looking at you Hitler.)
% &ire of N*zi G^*%$($$* (Transmission Interrupted.)
AN: What the hell?! What's with that last entry?! Could it be...? No. That can't be possible. Wait a sec everyone I need to look into this. Oh and before I forget. Here is a little game.
The United Republic has a weapon up its sleeves that could bring the Council to its knees. You can only get it if you complete the Patronage tree (which the Republic has) and even then you might rarely get it but when you do… OH MAN… The entire course of the game could be changed by it if used correctly.