Project: Spectre

Prologue: September 2071

OPERATION: ECLIPSE

DEBRIEFING OF SPECTRE OPERATIVE [NAME REDACTED], CODENAME GHOST.

ONE WEEK POST DESTRUCTION OF THE ASV EXILE'S RETURN

The development of faster-than-light spacecraft allowed for colonization of the moon and the planets in the Sol system and have allowed us to expand. A few hundred million miles between nations has a way of making us forget our differences. For the first time in Human history, we were at peace. At least that's what we thought. Time and time again, it was proven that every politician has his secrets. Some secrets merely make the politician look like a jackass, others can lead to all out war. It turns out that members of the Earth Space Government knew about skirmishes between Human ships and those built by a race of aliens called Tinians. The Tinians are a race of mammals that resemble humans, but they have blue skin and very little hair on their bodies- the only hair Tinians have is the hair on their head. Skirmishes during the Shadow Wars, as they were called, yielded very few casualties, as both sides allowed damaged ships to retreat. About a week before a treaty was signed, one ship, the ESG Lincoln kept up the assault despite taking major damage. The Lincoln was destroyed. After the treaty, various nations that made up the ESG seceded, forming a pro-Human alliance. This Alliance was bent on making the Tinians pay for the deaths of the Lincoln's crew. Several years later, what seemed to be a small group of rebels started attacking Unified Species Command space stations and colonized planets outside the Sol system in force. In 2096, war was declared between the Alliance and the USC.

The Alliance's army came from the descendants of the nations that seceded from the ESG 25 years prior. Once their feet hit solid ground outside the Sol system, the Alliance's new generation was training to invade. Many of the Alliance's earliest members were in the ESG Navy and Marine Corps. They knew all of our tactics, they knew how to operate and even build our weapons. The USC needed something new. Some may argue that using untested procedures on people is unethical. But sometimes there isn't time to worry about the consequences. Jarquin is a toxic plant native to the Tinian's home planet. Anything that ingests a lethal dose will go on a blood rage, with increased strength and speed, before being killed by the poison. However, in the right doses, mixed with other substances, the toxin will augment Human abilities with minimal side effects. The USC eggheads had developed their perfect weapon.

Project: SPECTRE started with one hundred recruits from the Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, and even some mercenaries. There were twenty five squads, each having four Spectres. Each Spectre had a suit of armor that could deflect bullets, enhance the wearer's already enhanced strength, and had reflective panels on its surface that could make the wearer invisible for short periods of time. The armor was expensive, each set cost the USC about as much as a Frigate. On top of that, anyone attempting to use the armor without the proper training and augmentations would be ground to a pulp. But I don't think we could have won the war without it. I certainly would have been killed several times over without it.