Spearhead

Left-Right: Ranger, Wanderer,Powell, Wildcat, Solar and Midget

Spearhead is the name of one of CLEA’s specialist teams. Like the rest of the “head” teams Spearhead is a fast deployment unit. Their purpose is to get to a situation anywhere in the world and perform the vital groundwork before the “enemy” has a chance to get organised, unlike other mission profiles where CLEA teams deal with known situations where the criminals are already firmly established, head teams are used when limited intel is known.

CLEA DATA FILE

Primary Role:

• Fast land based insertion into “enemy territory,” where speed and mobility are considered higher priorities than fighting capabilties.

Mission Types:

• Intelligence gathering.
• Protecting civilians in danger until a bigger force can arrive.
• Extracting a CLEA operative that has “gone dark”.
• Sabotaging a criminal force’s means to fight.
• Any combination of the above

Team Identities:

• Commander Alexander “Sandstorm” Powell
• “Midget” – Kieran Reid
• “Ranger” – Hayato Nakamura
• “Solar” – Lana Russow
• “Wildcat”
• “Wanderer” – Kioni Michieka

CLEA Classification:

• Powell – Specialist Combatant
• Reid – White Guardian
• Nakamura – White Guardian
• Russow – Alpha Superior (civilian hence no White Guardian Status)
• Wildcat – Cyborg
• Michieka – Alpha Superior (civilian hence no White Guardian Status)

Special Skills and/or Abilities:

• Alpha ability – Reid has the means to shrink himself and other people/objects.
• Alpha ability – Nakamura with the ability to communicate psychically with animals (note: communicate NOT control).
• Alpha ability – Russow has the means absorb solar energy and use it to fly or discharge as a heat blast.
• Alpha ability – Michieka  is an extremely powerful telepath.
• Cyborg – Wildcat, as a “reformed” Raider. She has superior strength and can heal quicker than normal.

Tactical Weakness(s):

• Vehicles used by the team are lightly armoured. Against heavy fire they are vulnerable.
• In crowded situations Michieka can be ovewhelmed by too many thoughts in her head to the point she can no longer function properly.
• Ground based only – criminals can escape by air if they can evade Solar.

Notes/History

Spearhead, Thunderhead, Arrowhead and Beach Head teams were the brainchild of Chief Stephanie Naylor. Her idea came about after the lives of 200 civilians were lost when the ecoterrorist “Greenhand” took charge of a Arizona chemical refinery. During the incident a rescue attempt was made on the hostages and when that failed the refinery was blown up. Despite the refinery’s remote location local authorities beleived they had the situation in hand and by the time they got people to the area, “Greenhand” and his crew had set up heavy weaponry.
The first time an attempt was made to rescue the hostages the transport taking armed officers was picked off long before they reached the entrance. CLEA was called in and by this time “Greenhand” had fortified his position. Since Greenhand had covered all approaches to the refinery, Tristan was deployed in a night time air drop.
With equipment that was dropped with them Tristan was hopelessly outmatched against the heavy weaponry and the vastness of the refinery meant their chances of finding the workers held hostage were made far more difficult. Those members of Tristan that were not picked off as they searched the faciltiy were killed along with the hostages when Greenhand blew the refinery up after the deadline had passed.

The loss of an entire team was a severe blow to CLEA and it was following this incident at the joint cheifs annual meeting the Chief Naylor proposed the creation of teams which would be deployed fast and get involved in a situation inexperienced local forces took charge and before the enemy (a person such a Greenhand) could get properly organised. Her idea was to totally disrupting a criminal gang’s means to perform their plan by putting CLEA operatives in strategic positions using the elements of speed and suprise.

With permission to create the four teams Chief Naylor had here section chiefs examine the personnel files for suitable people to lead each unit. When it came to setting up “Spearhead”, one name stood out, Commander Alexander Powell. Previously he had been recruited from a US special forces group and brought in to replace the commander of the Cyberfight task force. Though he was not with the unit for that long Powell was the one who came up with the idea to laying the trap in at the “fake” Chinese facility, which caused such a severe blow to the Raiders their threat level dropped drastically. Naylor looked at the recommendations and liked what she saw. Powell had demonstrated a means to think outside the box in order to get the job done and she felt that sort of thinking would have worked well in the Arizona “Greenhand” incident.

Word was send out as Powell no longer worked for CLEA, having returned to his old job. Ironically in stopping the Raiders Powell had succeeded in removing himself from his position because once Cyberfight was disbanded CLEA had no use for his military skills. Rehired again, Powell accepted the job but only on the understanding that he could select his own team.
Though Naylor would have preferred a team created from within CLEA ranks, since Spearhead was going to be military based then there was not much to choose from. She expected him to look at people in other military forces around the world (just as he had been before Cyberfight) so it was no surprise that he spend weeks scouring personnel from every military force anyone could think of.
When he first handed his “dream team” list she was pleasantly surprised that he had selected two White Guardians from CLEA ranks. They were military combat trained so with only weapons training needed she saw no problems with them.

Choosing Keiran Reid was an unexpected choice but an example of abstract thinking. Powell explained that since Keiran could shrink objects or himself he would be useful in an infiltration role or even perhaps to get civilians out of impossible locations undetected.
Hayato Nakamura was chosen for his means to “communicate” with animals. Powell believed that whilst airbourne drones might be knocked out or alert an enemy that the team was coming an animal “spy” would go unnoticed. Perfect for clandestine intel gathering.
After those two names though Powell had introduced his first shock in the form or Lana Russow. Far from being military trained or having served anywhere in law enforcement she was a vigilante operating around Europa. Though Lana, CLEA codenamed “Solar” was an Alpha, Naylor refused to allow Powell to recruit her. CLEA was a professional organisation and not a home for amateur crime fighters. Powell was insistent stating the Lana would bring to the team a heavy weapon’s capability without the need for bulky equipment. She also had the advantage of being able to “fire” from any location, unlike conventional weapons. Her only down side, as Naylor reminded Powell was the fact that the intel stated “Solar’s” ability to use energy blasts and fly was based on using solar energy, something of a problem at night. Despite this Powell still wanted her anyway.
If the request for Lana had kicked up a storm then things went from bad to worse when Powell asked that the Raider that had been incapacitated in the China incident, “Fixer” serve on his team. Powell had been aware that since he captured the Raider female had been held in a CLEA Fortress facility whilst the scientist studied her unique make-up of grafted parts and implants. Somehow, and much to Naylor’s chagrin Powell had managed to get hold of classified material, enough to know that since being held “Fixer” had shown no hostile intent, which scientists had put down to the fact that Lozen could not control her.

Naylor informed Powell that Fixer still was considered dangerous and would be incarcerated indefinitely for past crimes but that argument was countered when Alex said that technically Fixer having been influenced by Lozen was not solely responsible for her acts, in much the same way a person coerced into committing a crime by a dangerous superior. The law in most countries regarded those people as victims so Powell argued that the same should go for Fixer. He then argued that perhaps even if she was guilty then assisting CLEA in the field would be seen as working off her sentence. Naylor disagreed so Powell turned down the position.
Several weeks later Naylor called him back but he remained adamant that Fixer would be on his team. When asked why he wanted a “criminal” such as Fixer on his team, Alex explained that as an engineer her skills might be needed to bypass obstructions or dismantle traps left in place by the “enemy”. He also stated that just like Solar, should the team find themselves in a tight situation then her Raider physiology would make Fixer a weapon in her own right. With increased strength from her mechanical parts and a biological agent in her blood stream that made her heal at an incredible rate, she could keep on coming and strike fear into enemy units. Naylor though did not believe he was being straight so Powell admitted that whilst the Chinese trap had succeeding in capturing Fixer, unlike any other “criminal” she had never been given a trial but had simply been locked up to be examined like a lab rat, something he found distasteful. He went further to say that intel stated that apart from Lozen none of the other Raiders knew who they were originally because their minds had been altered. Powell viewed Fixer as a victim particularly since the latest scientific reports had hinted another personality, i.e. the one Lozen had tried to destroy with the mind wipe, was reasserting itself albeit without memories.
With the negotiations at stalemate Naylor talked with the other chiefs and agreed that Powell could have Fixer but he would be responsible for her and if she showed any signs of disobeying orders he would have to “neutralise” her. As well as that he would have to take her back to the CLEA bio research institute at regular intervals so they could monitor her progress.

Powell now had his team and he began the work of training Lana and Fixer in combat skills. Lana has problems initially fitting in with Kieran and Hayato since she was not of a military background and Lana along with the other two did not trust Fixer. They had all heard the stories of Raiders and this was reflected in their negativity so Powell suggested that perhaps in order to make a fresh start she should change her name. Aware she had not got her memories back, Powell suggested Fixer take the name Wildcat since she had displayed the ferocity of an animal in hand-to hand combat training.

By the time the unit reached operational status the initial distrust between the various members had practically melted away but it still took several months and numerous missions before the gelled together as a cohesive fighting force. The team though was to gain another outsider when a mission to remote area in the American rockies brought Powell into contact with Kioni.

The African female was unknown by CLEA or any other agency despite being an Alpha. She only “appeared” when Spearhead was going to dismantle a drugs growing operation. Able to read minds she knew the gang were aware of Spearhead’s imminent arrivals and felt compelled to warn Powell his team was walking into a trap, and so had made herself known to them. After the mission ended in success she informed them that she wanted to be left alone as a recluse. Powell though could see her value and tried to recruit her on the spot. It was then Kioni admitted she had lived in the city at one time and moved out to the remote location when her ability activated. Not only were the thoughts of thousands of people intolerable but when friends realised she could read their thoughts they abandoned her. Further more when others got wind of her ability she had experienced physical abuse because they assumed she was violating their privacy. Away from it all in the remote location her mind had become relatively quiet and that was how she liked her life.

Powell though was not giving in without a fight and asked her to join his team, suggesting they could solve her problem by using an Alpha neutralising collar. Such devices were often used on Alpha prisoners to prevent them accessing their abilities and it seemed logical that Kioni could use something similar to shut out the voices in her head when they were not on a mission. She agreed to the proposal and with that Alex finally had his team complete, and Naylor had been given another headache!

Wildcat Additional

A “damaged” Raider that is no longer directly influenced by Lozan. Powell once captured her when running the Cyberfight task force. He knew of her engineering skills and considered her unique physical attributs would be a valuable asset to the team. As some of her original personality began to appear she desired to try a look more “normal” as many were scared of her appearance due to her industrial looking bulky arms. Thought CLEA could not do anything the Knight’s Forge was able to help and eventually supplied her with a pair of arms that had more human shaped proportions.

Michieka Additional

An extremely powerful telepath Spearhead found during a mission in the in the American wilderness. Originally from the UAS, Kioni and her family moved to North America when she was a young girl. When her Alpha abilities presented she found herself unable to cope with the thousands of voices invading her mind so fled to the wilderness where it was “quiet”.
When a gang moved into her area to grow crops, she avoided them until her mind picked up Spearhead operatives. Realising they were entering a trap Kioni could not stand by and let them get killed so she made herself known. After the mission was a success, thanks to her help Powell persuaded her to join his group as she could pick up the thoughts of belonging to potential threats long before they are detectable by other means.

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