Gears of War:Reconnoiter

Hey, all, and welcome to Gears of War: Reconnoiter: Revised Edition! Reconnoiter v.2 will follow a strict biweekly update schedule until I build up a buffer (which I should have done with Reconnoiter v.1), and all updates will be on Tuesdays, as it is my guaranteed day off work. Before we start (again), allow me to make some serious disclaimers.
Gears of War: Reconnoiter was originally intended to bridge the gap between Gears 2 and Gears 3. As you probably know, this gap is now filled by Karen Traviss's novel, Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant. As a result, this story is rendered NCF (non-canonical fiction), aka, impossible within the Gears timeline. If you disregard the Traviss trilogy for any reason (as I do, mostly because I can't find any copies), this story can easily fit into your personal canon. Its ending WILL NOT conflict with the start of Gears 3. If you really want to fit this story in along with Jacinto's Remnant, you'll have to do a bit of timeline warping: switch the time between Gears 2 and Jacinto's Remnant from 3 hours to 3 months, and Reconnoiter will fit in that space. Otherwise, just enjoy it as an alternate interpretation of the events between Gears 2 and 3, or don't read it.
Reconnoiter is also original-character heavy. I assure you that Baird remains the main character throughout the story and that his personality undergoes no enormous changes during the course of the plot. The original characters, while playing important roles, are there to support the plot and flesh out the world of Gears of War. They are carefully kept out of Mary-Sue zone through extensive testing and revision, and I am very proud of them. However, if you dislike original characters in general, you may not want to read this story.
Finally, I love, love, love shout-outs. It's so much fun to tip my hat to my favorite works. But I recently discovered the (infamous) Cassandra Claire controversy, in which a fanfiction writer (Ms. Claire) plagiarized quotes, lines, and entire paragraphs of other works to make her stories. This has me concerned about my own unintentional plagiarism, since I don't usually cite my shout-outs. So let me assure you that apart from shout-outs, all my writing and prose is my own. Shout-outs will be in the form of single phrases (ex. "big damn heroes", a reference to Firefly) and, at most, single lines (ex. "You're stupid! And you're gonna be stupid and dead!", a quote from the Doomguy of Doom Comic fame). I am very bothered by the idea of accidentally plagiarizing someone, so I think most of the shout-outs from Reconnoiter v.1 will be reduced or removed.
Assuming you've actually read all that, my final disclaimer is that Reconnoiter is rated M for violence, extreme foul language, and mild sexual themes. If this bothers you, CLICK THE BACK ARROW NOW.
Thank you, and pleasant reading! :D
To view the original draft of Reconnoiter, please visit Gears of War:Reconnoiter/Original Draft.
==Chapter Directory==
===Prologue===
*Gears of War:Reconnoiter/Prologue
===Act I: Lines of Inquiry===
*Gears of War:Reconnoiter/Albescence
*To be published Tuesday, 29 September 2009 at some point over winter break.
Category:Fanfiction
Category:Reconnoiter