Howling Comandos

A crack-team of multi-national veterans of the Reaper War escaped the Minos work camps into the French countryside. With some of their people still inside, they perform feats of gruella warfare on the occupying forces, raiding supplies and smuggling out civilians. Led by former Lt. Coltilde "Collider" Aresenault, these highly trained soldiers intend to take their planet back- one farm at a time. . .
== Members ==
=== Coltilde “Collider” Aresanult ===
Collider was a Lieutenant in the Systems Alliance prior to the Reaper War, where she was known for her somewhat unorthodox tactical style. After escaping the Minos work camps with her team, they fell back to her family's ancestral property in southern France. An accomplished equestrian, Collider uses her her camargue horse "Petit Tonnerre" to help make up for her team's lack of vehicles. Collider loves her little team fiercely and would do anything for them.
In the podfic, Collider is voiced by Lena Ross.
=== Aisha “Aces” Zhou ===
Unlike Collider, Aces was never officially part of a military. Prior to the Reaper War, Aisha was a successful freelance mercenary commando. She is an excellent sniper, even unaided by a scope, due to a quirk of her genetics giving her amazing vision. She at some point in the past worked with Zaeed Messani. Assigned to Collider's team during the Reaper War as part of Aria's mercenary contribution to the war effort, Aces often acts as a sounding board for Collider's plans. Unfortunately, Aces does not like to ride horses due to their size and power.
In the podfic, Aces is voiced by istie.
=== Jedidiah “Stone Cold” Coulter ===
Not much is known of SC's personal history. His family were second-wave colonists and reclusive homesteaders, coming in immediately after areas were surveyed by scientists and military to do the hard work off preparing prospective areas for human habitation. What he was doing prior to the Reaper War is a mystery, but his skills in stealth and wet-work are undeniable. An efficient stack of muscles, SC doesn't waste movement nor use three words when two will do. His observational skills are keen, and his ability to track easily outclasses the rest of the team. He has slowly been teaching the rest of his group how to read tracks and prevent their own from being spotted. No one has had the guts to ask him directly, but a few of the commandos have theorized that SC ended up in the work camps on purpose with the intention of breaking people out.
In the podfic Stone Cold Coulter is voiced by Chase Hutchison.
=== Raal’Lazh nar Worka ===
Raal'Lazh was extremely close to being of an age to go on his pilgrimage when the Flotilla voted to go to war with the geth to retake Rannoch. Raal was a talented engineer and extremely good at working under pressure, so despite his age he volunteered to serve in a military capacity in the Reaper War once peace between the geth and the quarians was achieved by Commander Shepard. Unfortunately, post-Battle of London, Raal ended up staying on Earth a little too long and was captured by Minos. Inside the work camp, he met fellow tech enthusiast Cahir Moore, who in turn introduced him to Collider. Raal is still often surprised by humanity due to his limited contact with them prior to the war.
In the podfic, Raal is voiced by JD Kelly
=== Isagani "Gani" Dimachua ===
Gani was a small child when his parents moved to an agrarian colony. A boisterous child, he was often out exploring the surrounding fields and woods- creating small "camping" areas and bringing home many bits of flora and fauna to be dubiously identified by his parents neighbors. Gani was lucky to be young enough to be sent to the Joh Grissom Academy when he started showing signs of biotic ability. While he was a passible student, he struggled with academic learning while he excelled at feats physical excursion. It was no surprise to anyone that Gani joined the Alliance when he turned 18, nor was anyone too shocked as he developed his skills as a vanguard. While he perches happily on the edge of being an adrenaline junkie, Gani has a remarkable sense of knowing the precise edge of his abilities and gauging others. However, this risk-taking nature has prevented him for progressing too high in the Alliance ranks. During time in the Minos camps, Gani met Collider, who immediately saw his skills. Gani is the only biotic among the Howling Commandos, and the one who came up with their name due to his love of old pop culture.
In the podfic, Gani is voiced by Paul Cox.
=== Cahir Moore ===
Cahir Moore was a civilian engineer when the Reaper War broke out and he found himself fighting for his life, unable to escape Earth when the Reapers hit. While never formally inducted into the military, he immediately tuned his mind and technical skills toward the soldiers around him, and very quickly picked up some combat skills. He was lucky enough to survive the Reaper war, and refused to leave once it was won- wanting to rebuild the world he worked so hard to save, and hoping to find any surviving members of his family. Unfortunately, his unspoken resentment of the growing power of Minos got him arrested and put in one of the work camps. His technical skills were so useful that when the Paris work camp began to have issues with their equipment, Minos shipped him over to force him to repair what was (unknowingly at that time) being fried due to Earth's sun. Shortly after arriving, he met the former Lt. Coltilde Aresanult and became friends with her, due to his work with the marines trapped on Earth during the war. When young quarian Raal’Lazh nar Worka was brought into the camp, the two found themselves bonding over tech. Cahir noticed the rations for dextro based life forms running short, so when the commandos were putting together the plan for escaping Cahir insisted that he, not Raal, be the one to stay behind- reasoning that he was both human and too useful to kill as long as he kept his head down. Since that time, he has been their man on the inside- hacking surveillance systems, shutting off alarms, and modifying their master list of prisoners as needed.
Sometime before December 4th, 2188, Cahir was assigned to Clara Goyle to be her personal assistant, who was reeling from the gnawing realization that she had made some terrible mistakes and was in far over her head. Sensing the time might be ripe, he offered the government figurehead some "connections" to help.
In the podfic Cahir is voiced by Paul Cox. 
=== Easter Eggs ===
The name "Howling Commandos" is taken from the Marvel Comics team of the same name- a group of soldiers assisting Captain America during World War II. The team is meant to be something between "Hogan's Heroes" and "The A-Team", with a more serious bent. 
The story was inspired by a conversation on the Every One That Asketh discord server regarding corrupt officials, a guillotine, rural France, and the course landaise.