Manticore Marine Corps

*“First ones in, last ones out...fight till we bleed for Commonwealth's bloody-handed doubt!”*

-motto of the MMC-

The Manticore Marine Corps are the fighting men and women who take ground combat to space and like the fleet have still retained status and funding after Voice, They are considered by the army as “navy grunts” due to them doing similar grunt work as the army in some aspects.

## **Humble Beginnings**

During the early age of the expanse project the fleet that would be the legendary Task Force Manticore was still in a young service wise and thus the MMC(at the time simply called fleet-watch) was no more then a bunch of navy officers with military combat training, however when the Ortus Council of Nations encountered the Kingdom of Yadra and the Yaanari league admiral Shu Lin during a conference with other OCN military leaders proposed a bill to increase the navy’s combat ability and (weather as a formality or due to paranoia of the nearby realms) established the Manticore Marine Corps to defend the fleets ships from offensive boarding actions.

## C**ombat Operations**

To the Historian of the four ages into the Commonwealth, you would quickly realize that most major engagements where via naval operations and not groundbreaking planetary assaults like that seen on Voice. This is likely due to how naval combat became a game of distancing yourself from the enemy due to the massive slugs, lasers, or in the case of the Unbidden "dissipation - telephotography radio-wave Emitters" also known as DTRE's.

The operations MMC units took part in veries from nowadays works as supporting ground based recon for fighter strikes to investigating distress signals, as a fleet based element the MMC rarely deploys planetside but can be used by army commanders as light scouts or reserved infantry for exploiting gaps in the enemy formation. After the battle of Voice however the MMC was given more funds to expand its range of operations (which whilst they do perform ground operations the MMC is still apart of the navy ) and have become the stars of the fleet though they do have a rivalry between each other giving rise to the quote “marines and fleet don’t mix” as reference to the amount of times navy and marines got into fights.

## **Equipment**

By the late 2290s the MMC got a new set of gear and armaments including a new armour set and weapon system.

### **AL-60 laser rifle**

The AL-60 is a more compact version of the AL-58 designed especially for the marines, the most notable feature is a more rapid fire rate and lack of a stock to allow better flexibility in tight quarters and a bio scanner to prevent the firearm from falling into the wrong hands.

### **Nevic suit**

The Nano Fibre Environment Versatility Integration Combat suit is a brand new set of heat resistance armour for the marines, the suit has two parts the first is a Nano fibre body suit that can be pressurised to work in vacuum as well as disrupting and distributing heat through out the body to decrease the possibility of death, the second is a thin layer of Durantium armour plates placed on top of the body suit to protect against shrapnel and other non-heat related damage, another piece of the suit is the helmet that has a built in life support system and combat computer stored in a fine like compartment on the top of the helm, the helmet‘s visor has an array of modes such as inured, night vision and others to allow maximum combat flexibility.

## Organisation

The MMC as a whole is divided into two commands with both answering to the heads of the Commonwealth Navy, **Detachment Command** is the most well known of the two and as the name implies the DC is made up of units who are assigned as **Marine Detachments** onboard starships, they are rarely deployed to the surface of planets and even less so in large numbers but when they are deployed it is normally for three reasons.

* 1. To provide support for ground forces either by establishing a LZ or operating as light Infantry.
* 2. To act as spotters for orbital bombardment.
* 3. At the request of either the ship’s captain or Navy Admiral.

The Second and less well known branch of the MMC is the **Special Operations Command** or simply just the **Operations Command**.

(More to be added)