Z Special Unit

The Z Special Unit is a subbranch of the Commonwealth of New South Wales' Commonwealth Marine Corps. The mission objective of Z Special Unit is to act in a similar fashion to the UNSC's Force Recon marines, as long-range scouts that operate in hostile territory on reconnaissance missions. Founded in 2555 as a reaction to the destruction of the CMC's 2/27th Battalion on the planet of Orpheus, the Commonwealth would build up the capabilities of the secretive military unit, not being revealed to the public or foreign nations until the successful completion of Operation: RIMAU in early 2557. Operating throughout the Created Crisis, the New Zanzibar Front and the Frontier Brush War, Z Special Unit is the Commonwealth's most elite, specialised and capable unit of special forces currently under their command.
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== History ==
=== Early Service, 2554-2558 ===
In January 2554, the Commonwealth of New South Wales would be founded after months of negotiations with the UEG. Almost immediately after its foundation, the CNSW would authorise the creation of the Commonwealth Defence Force, which would begin a huge program of military expansion and modernisation, and involve itself in anti-insurgency operations alongside the . One of the first operations to be conducted would be a military intervention on the planet of Orpheus, where the Commonwealth Marine Corps' 2/27th Battalion would be deployed alongside UNSC units and the NSWA Pathfinders. However, on Orpheus tragedy would strike as the entirety of the 2/27th Battalion would be either killed or captured by the New Colonial Alliance, and all remaining prisoners executed on a live video feed streamed to New South Wales and the other CNSW-UNSC forces on Orpheus. Retribution was swift and brutal, as the CNSW's elite 2/48th Commonwealth Guard Battalion would be deployed with the NSWA Pathfinders to destroy the NCA encampment and all personnel within.
The attack would have a profound affect on how the CDF would deal with insurgencies and organised militia groups, leading to a reorganisation of the CMC's doctrine in planetary invasions and counter-insurgency operations. It would also spurn the creation of a new special forces unit, separate from the CDF's other units operating within the command structure of either the army or navy. Whilst the Commonwealth Guard were an elite force, their doctrine was not geared towards running counter-insurgency operations or guerrilla warfare, and a unit specialised in these very types of unconventional warfare did not exist within the CDF's order of battle.
As such, in July 2555 the Commonwealth would successfully secure the transfer of Colonel Michael Etienne-Therry to the CMC, and, with a promotion to Brigadier, given free reign in creating an elite force of marines with combat capability far in excess of regular CDF units. As such, Z Special Unit would be founded, with 300 founding members. Over the next year and a half, Etienne-Therry would build up Z Special Unit (commonly called Z Force) to a size of 9,000 men, split into several battalions. Training in secret on Cameron, Darwin's sole moon, Z Special Unit would not see combat until Operation: RIMAU, a snatch-and-grab operation on a URF terrorist leader on the planet Darack. 
Etienne-Therry would volunteer Z Special Unit for the operation, and the 1st Battalion, under the command of then-Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Reinhardt, would be dispatched to Darack to undertake RIMAU. On the 5th of January 2557, Reinhardt would lead a company of the 1st Battalion in the mission, successfully capturing the URF leader and eliminating any resistance with five CDF casualties. It was a fantastic success that spurned the reveal of Z Special Unit to the public, although details on the organisation itself were left out. 
Z Special Unit would continue operating in the shadows, participating in Operations WARDEN (the destruction of a local insurgency group on Nobetov), CLAYMORE (the creation of a pro-UNSC insurgency group on Carapace), LETTERBOX (raids on New Colonial Alliance outposts across New Verdant) and PIRELLI (the destruction of a Flood outbreak on ██████████). By the Created Crisis, Z Special Unit was 12,500 strong, and had garnered a reputation throughout the Orion Arm as an extremely-capable special forces unit. The NCA had given them the nickname of "Butchers", an unofficial nickname that the members of Z Special Unit wore on their sleeve - indeed, the 2nd Battalion's unit patch was that of a butcher's cleaver, as a tacit acknowledgement of the reputation among human rebels they had gathered. 
=== Created Crisis, 2558-2560 ===
The reputation of Z Special Unit warranted their special targeting by the Created, as they rose up and began their attempted conquest of the Orion Arm. Whilst not warranting the intervention of a due to their small size, a battalion-sized unit of were detailed to destroy Z Special Unit. Inserted via Forerunner stealth craft, the garrison on Cameron was unprepared for their arrival. The unit assigned to guard duty on the 12th of September, Delta Company of the 3rd Battalion, were decimated in their posts as the Armigers advanced towards the barracks, however the alarm was raised and Z Special Unit leapt into action.
Utilising the tactics and expertise they had exercised and trained on time and again for the past three years, Z Special Unit annihilated the Armigers in a game of cat-and-mouse. Even though the Armigers had superior weaponry to the kinetic weaponry of Z Special Unit, they were heavily outnumbered by almost 10:1, and thus destruction was ensured - it was only a matter of time. The last Armiger would be destroyed on the 14th of November after two days of fierce combat, with Z Special Unit only having lost 750 men out of the 11,000 engaged - certainly a good omen for any further action they may face against Created forces. However, Z Special Unit was not full-size when the Armigers attacked their headquarters - 1st Battalion was off-world, under the command of Colonel Daniel Reinhardt. Training UNSC militia forces on the planet Polinas, they were trapped on the world when a Forerunner Guardian jumped in-system and disabled their communications systems and heavy equipment, forcing them to go to ground whilst waging a guerrilla war - against not only the Created occupying forces, but also Created-aligned garrison troops.
1st Battalion would be trapped on Polinas for the better part of two years, having suffered severe casualties, until they were finally evacuated from the planet by a joint Commonwealth-Lanuan task force that liberated the planet. By the time 1st Battalion arrived back at Cameron, they had just 287 effectives remaining out of a battalion of 1100 soldiers - but they had proved their worth to Etienne-Therry, and Commonwealth High Command was thoroughly impressed with their actions.
=== New Zanzibar Front, 2561-2564 ===
=== Intervention in the Red-Black Cultural Revolution, 2565 ===
=== Frontier Bush War and the Mamore Crisis, 2565-2568 ===
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