Zealot Special Operations

From Rebel Squadrons Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
Zealot Special Operations
General Information
Founder(s) Cody Qel-Droma
Leader
Headquarters EF76-B Nebulon-class escort frigate Unforgiven
Historical Information
Founding 17 April 2007
Dissolution 5 May 2011
Other Information
Assigned to EF76-B Nebulon-class escort frigate Unforgiven
Part of Redemption Fleet

Zealot Special Operations Unit was a wing in Redemption Fleet that is the home of fiction writing in the era of the RS-wide storyline. Fictionally, Zealot is attached to the Frigate Unforgiven in the Subterrel Strike Force. Zealot is a multi-purpose special ops unit, similar to the Wraith Squadron of X-Wing book fame.

Members

  • Current Members:

Cody Qel-Droma, Kaz Falcion, Sarriah James, Scott Jensen, Darik Klivan


Rules

1 - First and foremost, you are not a Jedi. You aren't a Padawan, you aren't even a Jedi's dry cleaner or a guy who lives down the block from a Jedi. What we mean by this is that in the RS' timeline, the number of total Jedi in the galaxy can still be counted on your fingers and toes. Fictionally it doesn't make sense, and Jedi would never do the kind of things we do.

2 - You're not a god or a superhero. The members of Zealot are for the most part human, with all of the vulnerabilities and frailties that encompasses. You CAN be injured, maimed or even killed in the course of any given mission, so please try to keep this in mind as you write your way through them. If you try to singlehandedly kill a Rancor with your bootlaces or leap onto the back of a speeding X-Wing, chances are we're just going to write a letter to your next of kin informing them that you've died of stupidity. We pull off some crazy stunts from time to time, but in a fictional sense they're all being pulled off by people with an extreme amount of experience in crazy stunts, and we do police each other to keep things realistic. So if you have a question about a particular action or aren't sure if something's going to be realistic enough, feel free to ask Kaz, Cody or any of the other longtime members.

3 - Our unit will be tasked with a certain objective at the beginning of each new assignment. While there's an overall goal and story arc in mind at the onset of these missions, the actually progress and conclusion of the mission is entirely up to the Zealot members themselves. Tasked with storming a Star Destroyer but you'd rather drink beer and watch tv in the squad breakroom? You're more than welcome to do that or anything else you feel like within the bounds of reality for the duration of the mission. Keep in mind though, your actions have consequences on the outcome of the mission, other characters and your "career" as it were. Go AWOL and you're going to be called on it, fly off by yourself and you might get left behind. You're free to accomplish the mission as you see fit, but remember reality is key in Zealot.

4 - ?

5 - You are allowed one character to begin with. If you prove to be active, skilled writer and want to introduce an NPC to the team, feel free to talk to the Zealot Command Staff. More characters always make things interesting but we want to make sure you're going to have time to post with them all and maintain some good quality.

6 - Respect other characters. We're a team, and teamwork requires cooperation. For Zealot, that can mean writing another character into your post or working on a joint-post together with another member. Regardless of how you go about it, please keep in mind the personality and abilities of the character you're depicting. Kaz isn't going to go with you to the movies or do magic tricks to cheer you up. Most of the tone and personality of the various Zealots can be gleaned from previous posts, but when in doubt feel free to approach the owner of whatever character you're interested in using for some tips or even help writing your post.

7 - Familiarize yourself with Zealot's history and surroundings. Most of this information can be obtained by going over past missions, and over time summaries of the missions as well as other pertinent information will be added to the wiki's Zealot page as well. Again as with anything else, if you're in doubt just ask.

8 - Keep in mind the words Special Operations appear after Zealot for a reason. Our missions involve space combat, urban warfare, stealth and infiltration and more often than not gleeful wanton destruction. We do it all, so be prepared for things to change and change in a hurry. If you like variety in your fiction writing we're sure to keep you happy.

9 - If you want to play the part of a character that might be considered outside the normal human military type, please get in touch with someone from the command staff. Other races are generally cool, but do keep in mind it's not going to be easy to blend in and be stealthy if you're a Trandoshan karate master or the tallest three armed Rodian in the galaxy.

10 - Zealot is, like an original series on FX, intended for mature audiences only. While things don't typically get too out of hand, if you're uncomfortable with scenes of gratuitous violence or occasional swearing, Zealot's probably not for you. Our intent is to depict "real" life in a special operations military unit, which as can be expected isn't always very pretty.

Initial Background Context Briefing

Extract from context briefing presented by General Vaughan via HoloNet on 44:4:14 to members of the newly activated Zealot Unit, onboard the Frigate Unforgiven.

[ . . . ]

I guess I'd best start with an introduction. I am General David Vaughan, the Logistics Officer of Task Force Republic Shield. My job is to make sure that the entire task force, from the central territories of the Greeop Sector through to expeditionary forces such as yourself in the Subterrel Strike Force are as well-supplied as physically possible. I must extend my thanks to those of you who helped distract enemy forces during the most recent convoy shipment to your region.

Unfortunately another Imperial force ambushed the convoy near the sector border before it arrived in the Fersto system, so not all of the supplies made it, but if you hadn't helped Vigilance Starfighter Group forces in distracting that patrol force, then, well . . . the entire convoy would have certainly been lost. As it is, your efforts ensured that the most crucial of the supplies arrived safely. But enough of that for now; I'm sure you've been thoroughly debriefed about that mission by your unit commander. As I was saying, I am the Logistics Officer for the RS, so if you have any specific equipment needs, please provide them to Commander Ocopaqui for her to pass on to me.

However I am also in charge of managing many other types of strategic and tactical data, which is why I'm speaking with you today. Right now my job is to help bring you up to speed on events that have been happening recently. It is important to make sure you are all informed because these events are what has caused this unit's creation, and is the reason why so many of you have been reactivated from retirement, or transferred from other units. Those of you who have transferred from other units in the task force will be already acquainted with this information, so this is mostly directed at those of you who are new to the Republic Shield.

Many of you fought in the time of the Rebellion, and not all of you have flown under the colours of the New Republic; other than the hit-and-fade mission you undertook a few days ago, of course. While the services of the Alliance veterans among you were crucial during some of the darkest times of the galaxy, you are needed again to help drive the remnants of the Empire to oblivion.

You might still be wondering why you have been activated for duty and placed in this unit, and I'll get to that shortly. I understand that there seems to be a consensus that the Galactic Civil War is over. Some people classify it as ending with the Emperor's death, or the formation of the New Republic, or even the capitulation of Coruscant to the New Republic. These notions seem to be carried by civilians to make themselves feel more secure, or politicians to help gain supporters, but I have heard this idea being propagated by members of the New Republic Defence Force, too. In short, anyone who believes the civil war to be over is wrong.

For any of us fighting the remnants of the Empire out on the fringes, it is only all too apparent that the war is not over. The galactic situation might not be as dire as it was during the time of the Rebellion, but if we falter in our duty to crush the remains of the Imperial forces then the Empire will surely re-establish itself. Many of you have probably heard the rumours of a new Imperial commander rallying the warlords and remnants of the fragmented Imperial military into a more serious threat; into something that has more of a chance of standing against the New Republic. These rumours can be considered confirmed, especially with the loss of an entire New Republic task group of four Assault Frigates and three wings of X-wings to a lone Star Destroyer near Obroa-skai a few weeks ago. The Emperor is dead, and Coruscant is ours, but the Empire is still a grave concern.

As of two months ago our task force suffered the worst attack in its history. A massive Imperial fleet entered the Greeop Sector and laid waste to the RS capital of Blerthmore, ruining the surface command centre, devastating our primary shipyards, and decimating our operational fleet. Over forty thousand New Republic personnel lost their lives in this attack. They gave their lives to ensure that the Imperial force was repulsed, and to ensure that we did not yield our territory to Imperial tyranny.

In direct response to this attack, most of the task force has been consolidated into the Subterrel Strike Force, and in the past month Admiral Raven has led the strike force from RS territory to the Subterrel Sector, and battled the Imperial forces holding the region. However the situation has revealed itself to be . . . a little more complicated than anticipated.

Four years ago, almost to the day, Task Force Republic Shield was established here in the Outer Rim, charged with the duty of keeping the Imperial forces of the region in check and preventing them from advancing along the trade routes and striking at more populous New Republic worlds. And during this time we have done so successfully, halting Imperial advances through the Minos Cluster and Cadrel Expanse, and even driving them back from their forward bases in the Binaural Sector to the point where they were mostly contained in the Aurora Sector.

However it seems we have not been fighting a wholly unified foe. As far as Intel can determine, the Imperial forces in the region have suffered a major split at some point in the last year or so. Why? We have no idea, and isn't really as important as the tactical advantage it gives us. All we really know is that Imperial forces are concentrated in this region of space, and are being torn apart by internal strife. Even if they hadn't brought us into this conflict with the bloody assault on Blerthmore, it would be in our best interests to hit them while they're divided. And divided they are: there are two Imperial fleets in the sector, and they fight each other with as much ferocity as they do us.

Now, we don't know what the Imperial battle groups are so fanatically fighting over out here. The Subterrel Sector is not exactly a treasure trove, or location of any particular strategic value. In fact, all that seems to be of interest in this sector are archeological digs on Polis Massa and mining ventures on Subterrel; neither of which the Imperial forces seem particularly interested in. This sector is mostly uninhabited by spacefaring civilisation, and the few populated worlds are being largely ignored by the Imperial invasion forces. It is possible that this location itself is incidental, and these two Imperial groups are only interesting in wiping each other out. We don't really know; Intel have been working extensively to determine what is going on out here and don't seem to really have a clue.

All we really know is that to achieve our prime directives of keeping the Imperial forces out here on the Rim occupied, and to prevent them threatening coreward parts of the New Republic we are to take advantage of their division and try to cause them as much damage as possible.

Now this is where Zealot comes in. Admiral Raven has been doing an admirable job in leading the Subterrel Strike Force in its campaign against the enemy forces. However, both Imperial fleets outnumber the strike force drastically. Current estimates are about three to one, against. Meaning that either one of the Imperial fleets outnumber us three to one, and if they ever decided to ally themselves against us, it would be six to one. And while I am sure the Admiral would never willingly admit it, as far as a stand up fight goes, this is not one that we can win easily. In fact, the only thing we can be grateful for is that they seem to hate each other as much as they hate us. If they considered the SSF to be more of a threat to their plans, we would expect them to ally themselves against us. They have not, and we must push this advantage. By the time they realise what a dire threat the strike force is, we need them to be incapacitated so much that all they can do is regret their previous lack of action against us.

You have been assembled to fulfil our needs for a special operations division that can infiltrate enemy lines and undertake black-ops missions, sabotaging and maiming the enemy from within. While Admiral Raven will be leading the Subterrel Strike Force in a direct military campaign against our enemies, you will be the hidden and lethal force that erodes them from within, weakening them sufficiently for the strike force to defeat in open battle.

These are the operational objectives for the unit, and you will find that you have a much greater deal of flexibility regarding how you achieve these outcomes compared to other units in the New Republic. And you won't necessarily always be operating covertly, even though it is our intention for you to do so normally. I am sure that the amount of explosions and hell-raising you'll be causing will definitely involve you in some of the largest up-front battles in the campaign. So if any of you are feeling particularly bloodthirsty, fear not: you will have more than enough opportunity to cause your own dose of hurt to these Imperial bastards.

[ . . . ]

Operational History

Tour 1

Tour 2

Zealot 101 Redux

Tour 3

Zealot Tour 3 takes place at the beginning of the Aurora Force conflict, approximately four years before the "current" RS storyline as of The Fwatna Dilemma.

Links