Echelon, Private Military Fanfaction- Lawyers, Guns and Money Options

[Adoge]

Echelon

Tactics: Firepower, later units tend to glass cannons
Strengths: Early game units can unleash large amounts of firepower, later game units have devastating firepower
Weaknesses: Mobility in the early game is somewhat lacking, the later game units tend to be a little weaker such as the Super Hind and O-4
Manpower: 350,000

The military-industrial complex has long been an integral part of the US. Responsible for equipping and arming on of the most powerful militaries in the world. But the GWOT changed all of that. As the US forces retreated from Europe, battered and broken to focus more on "National Security", public opinion swung massively against the Military-industrial complex, who were in turn, blamed for causing the massive crashes the US economy endured following this pivot to isolation. The lack of US involvement in world conflicts slowly saw the shrinking of many private military companies including Raven and Valor, two relatively new but powerful PMCs that had arisen during the GWOT. Raven and Valor, who often operated together, had secured several lucrative contracts protecting mining operations in South America. However, the arrest of the CEO of PMC Kruger-Rheinkampf, Manheim and the dismantlement of K-R saw many of the PMCs operating outside the US being reevaluated and many were forced to abandon their international contracts.

Raven Contractors train during the GWOT

As the late 2020s set in and conflict around the globe ramped up, Raven and Valor, merged into a single company, led a delegation of PMCs and Arms manufacturers to Cape Town where they met with PMC/Arms representatives from South Africa, as well as the Australian PMC Desertline, who had been making a massive profit out of providing troops for South East Asian civil wars and the like. Jason Krueger, head of powerful South African firm Efficient Outcomes, suggested the creation of a single Private military entity; Echelon, which would both produce and sell high-quality arms to the world, and provide high-tech, well-equipped soldiers to ensure globalised security. The move was welcomed by all of the assorted PMCs and arms manufacturers. The aim was to build a global military-industrial complex and private military and ensure that mistakes made would not happen again, such as the loss of 1000 Raven operators during an attempted evacuation following the GLA insurrection.

The original Echelon headquarters in Cape Town before its upsizing

Echelon was born out of the shaking of hands in Cape Town in 2029. As the Middle Eastern War was raging, Echelon began to strengthen its forces and produce its first prototype weapons. With its official headquarters in Geneva, Echelon was compartmentalised into two sub companies, Echelon Armaments limited and Echelon Security Outcomes. The aim of this compartmentalisation was to ensure the effectiveness of the two wings and Outcomes was placed under the control of Jacob Schoefield, formers CEO of Raven Valor Contracting. However, both companies still secretly reported to Krueger. As a young politician named Nikolai Suorov and the people of Russia overthrew the corrupt and sometimes friendly oligarch regime, Krueger saw his chance for a massive investment in the new Federation. Within days a sleek black gulfstream jet touched down at Moscow Airport carrying a delegation of Echelon Armaments and Outcomes representatives to see Suvorov and offer their help in protecting Russian domestic and foreign interests and assisting in reforming the Russian military. However, they also had a second agenda; as the delegation met Suorov and sealed the deployment of a small group of Echelon Outcomes advisors and operators in the Russian Army and the deployment of several Outcomes teams to protect Russian oil sites, a small group of Outcomes representatives headed eastward, hoping to ship a few of the defunct BMPT “Terminators” to Outcomes premier manufacturing plant in Cape Town to reverse engineer a new effective tank hunter. This was not the only such operation, following the insurrection as China and Europe began to repair the idea of a new “Continental Alliance”, Outcomes operators swept in on an abandoned warehouse in Poland, where the prototype PL-01 stealth tank lay forgotten. The PL-01 would then reappear later in the Echelon arsenal as the O-4 Future Tank.

The original PL-01 before it was redeisgned as the O-4

The Moscow deal would be the first deal struck of many for Echelon that would see its profits double and then triple. Echelon would see its first combat deployment in Ukraine, as the Russians sought to unite the country and Africa, as nations collapsed, internationals split the continent and the GLA arose one more. The mysterious soldiers with Jet Black infantry clothes with stripes of orange, grey combat gear, and faces hidden by Balaclavas and HUDs, began to spread across the world. Krueger believed that PMCs needed to move away from the Baseball cap and Flak Jacket stereotypes of the early 21st century and that Echelon would develop itself as a faceless and efficient private military force. They protected mining operations in South and Central America, pacified Nationalist terrorism in the streets of Kiev and operated against various warlords and militias who festered on the borders of Central Africa. Its security teams protect businessmen in Shanghai, Tokyo and Gibraltar as well as banks and financial institutions in Switzerland and across the world.


As Outcomes’ operations across the world raked in billions in profit, Armaments began to develop a new family of weapons: The SR family. The SR-X was Echelon’s small recoil, high-powered assault rifle, the SR-S its high powered and compact sniper rifle, the SR-420 its machine-pistol and the SR-J an Anti-Tank launcher. While the SR is still experimental, it is the premier armaments in Outcomes, given the belief held by Outcomes that every operator should be a walking armoury. Reportedly Armaments Ltd. has signed deals with the Maghreb Union, who are no longer receiving as many weapons shipments from the ECA, and SANDFOR to ship over 1,000 SR variants to the respective military forces by the end of 2046. Should these shipments go ahead, the MU and SANDFOR will be the first to field the SR family. The EAF also has extensive contracts with Outcomes and Armaments. Armaments cheaply replicates the equipment EAF forces use and then sell them to the EAF while Outcomes operates alongside EAF forces in hunting down GLA-affiliated militias and groups along the EAF’s border.

An Echelon Super Hind on patrol in Eastern Africa

As the Great Middle-Eastern War winds down, Echelon has secured several contracts to support the MEC and its peacekeepers in both hunting down rogue forces and rebuilding the Middle-East. As profits rake in from its operations across the world, Echelon has withdrawn its operators from both Europe and Russia. Threats of Neutron Weapons, collateral damage and nuclear apocalypse have lead Echelon and Krueger to seek not to repeat the mistakes of the European Insurrection in which over 1000 Raven and Valor contractors were killed while protecting German companies when a massive chemical leak spread through the Rhine and Ruhr systems and anti-capitalist insurrectionists ambushed the Contractors. As such Echelon has a policy that its Outcomes and Armaments personnel must always be supported by vehicles and aircraft to facilitate evacuation if necessary, which is why sprawling Echelon bases are often found across the world. Echelon operates over 350,000 active Private Military and Private Security Operators worldwide, backed up by management. While not a superpower, Echelon troops are well trained and employ massive amounts of firepower and advanced prototypes to every warzone they enter.

As the US one again enters into the global stage, Echelon Armaments has begun to invest massively in developing militarised drones that can be utilised by the US forces in combat, this includes the X-15 drone helicopter, which has already seen service against Bolivarist guerrillas in Central America and Central African militias and the Acolyte Drones, whom echelon hope will replace the ageing battle drones in the US arsenal and whom operate from a central hive often used by Echelon to protect its own bases as well as its clients’ interests and buildings. There are also rumours swirling around the far flung facets of the internet, started by the “Last true left wing journalist” David Spears, of Echelon and Israel cooperating in a secret research facility on the shores of the Levant to develop chemical weapons that will be used to usher in a new fascist world order that the US and Israel failed to implement in the earlier stages of the 21st Century. While the facility does exist, the cooperation between Echelon and Israel is to develop combat gear entirely resistant to various chemical weapons use by an assortment of armies around the world. The awareness of Echelon is slowly growing around the world. Accusations of it being “Fascist” in its views of global security have not been helped by allegations it has used “disproportionate amounts of force” to rescue various hostages and property taken by the likes of Abdul Bin Yusuuf, in which one attack on a village involved 1000 Echelon Operators, several Superhinds, 2 O-4s, swarms of Acolyte drones and several x-15s, that led to the deaths of over 2000 civilians and Brotherhood troops. However, coverage of this event was small compared to the chaos that has erupted in Europe and the unfolding possible nuclear apocalypse.

An X-15 prototype taking off in Maine

Echelon’s business has been good, since its formation in 2032, it has raked in billions in profit and operates in almost every continent across the world. As Echelon’s operations around the world bring more and more order to places once in anarchy, Krueger’s dream of globalised security and peace is closer to being realised.

This post has been edited by Adoge: 4 May 2015, 0:29

[TimeBurner]

nice images!

[Adoge]

Thanks man

[Adoge]

Unit and Building list (Under construction)

Buildings: (There is no power plant for Echelon. Rather buildings are upgraded with Power generators which increase the global power level)

Command Centre (With built in Power Generator)

Supply Depot (Trains Drone helicopters which gather resources)

Barracks

Vehicle Depot (Can be upgraded with power generators)

Air Pad (Can be upgraded with a power generator)

Armoury (Tier 1 tech building)

Experimental Weapons Plant (Tier 2 Tech Building)

Arms Manufacturing Plant (Secondary Eco building- here is where Echelon produce weapons and sells them to local militaries. Several Salesmen can be produced here who, if garrisoned in the AMP, increase the flow of income.)

Hive (Commands a swarm of Acolyte drones which deploy when enemies are nearby.)

Railgun Turret (powerful T2 defence)

Vulcan (Phalanx like AA turret)

Units:

Infantry:
Operator (Basic Infantry unit, is slightly more expensive than normal infantry. Can activate Detection mode which he utilises his HUD to hunt for enemies and is armed with two SR-420s rather than an SRX.)

Protector (Armed with an SRJ, this unit target air and ground units, he can deploy to increase his damage, at the disadvantage of a slower rate of fire)

Stalker (The Rich Man's pathfinder this unit mows down infantry with its SR-S sniper rifle, while not stealthed, te unit has the ability to go prone and fire a high-powered round which kills the crew of an enemy vehicle. This Vehicle can then be sold by the Salesman.)

Peacemaker (A drone controller, the peacemaker operates similarly to the Vanguard except he uses more drones and more firepower.)

Devastator (Covered in slabs of protective gear, the Devastator is a Juggernaut on the battle field, unleashing huge amounts of firepower)

Salesman (Built from the AMP, the Salesman can be garrisoned in the AMP to increase the cash in flow. The Salesman can also sell vehicles de-garrisoned by the Stalker to local forces, increasing Cash revenue- limit of 5 Salesmen)

Roland (A Danish mercenary, Roland is known as "The Headless Gunner" for the devastation he can wreak with his SAW heavy gun)

Vehicles:

"Terminator" (Modified version of the BMPT, this unit hunts infantry and vehicles and destroys them with masses of firepower)

O-4 (Heavy tank with a Railgun and the Ability to stealth itself, Armour is a little lacking).

Aircraft:

Super-Hind (Wielding heavy firepower and good mobility the Super hind is a punisher- "They never saw us coming")

Upgrades:

Rubberised Armour (Gives all vehicles a sort of Rubber armour overcoat, reduces damage and allows vehicles to self-repair.)

General Powers:

This post has been edited by Adoge: 3 May 2015, 6:38

[Adoge]

I'm just going through the Wiki timeline and see that I've adhered to the canon, but I'll also wait on what MARS thinks to see if Echelon becomes canon.

[MARS]

Pardon the late reply. At the moment, I rather wouldn't think about which of the new fanfics could be canon because I need to keep my own options open for the official storyline. What I can give you for reference though is this official story on the subject of PMCs in the ROTR setting that I posted a while ago, to give you some reliable information on what can be considered reliable. For now, I won't engage in any canon/non-canon evaluations in general, because I do feel that people should write their stories because they -like- them and -enjoy- the creative process, not because they want to contribute something to canon with their name on it for its own sake.

[Adoge]

Pardon the late reply. At the moment, I rather wouldn't think about which of the new fanfics could be canon because I need to keep my own options open for the official storyline. What I can give you for reference though is this official story on the subject of PMCs in the ROTR setting that I posted a while ago, to give you some reliable information on what can be considered reliable. For now, I won't engage in any canon/non-canon evaluations in general, because I do feel that people should write their stories because they -like- them and -enjoy- the creative process, not because they want to contribute something to canon with their name on it for its own sake.

Thanks for the reply MARS, it wasn't so much I wanted to have my name on the contribution, it was more that I wanted to create a story around the PMCs and the Military Industrial Complex.

I guess this Fan-Faction sort of is irrelevant given that information. I should have done more research on the stories. I guess Echelon's massive operations in Africa, the Middle-East and South America in particular become implausible because Red River and Art of War are the major actors in Africa, and without Africa, the majority of Echelon's operations are seriously scaled down and there wouldn't be much work for Echelon in SA given the rise of the SAP.

I read in the story that Suorov was morally against PMCs, so the idea was that Echelon swept in as the Kremlin fell to protesters and made deals with the less morally inclined elements of the Russian power structure, as well as buying and spiriting away the BMPT and Armata prototype. Given that the PMCs are still going strong, the idea that Echelon was a formation of elements of the obliterated US PMC/MIC and South African/Australian PMCs and the MIC that has risen to prominence because of the Africa situation and the events leading up to it.

Given that Africa is sort of out of the picture, it cancels out the story development I was going to grow around Echelon supposedly selling controlled amounts of high-quality weapons to the GLA, to ensure that the EAF invades the 'Zone' and leads to a deployment of a larger amount of Echelon troops on the ground. Which would in turn tie into the idea Echelon was founded upon which was globalised security. Essentially Echelon is deploying its troops across the world to eventually take over from national armies and ensure piece across the world. When the Russo-European War is over, Echelon will be there to help rebuild the security structures of each country.

I guess I could rewrite a lot of this and change the ideas behind it. Idk, I guess I'm biased but I sort of liked the idea behind Echelon and its formation. I could make it a competitor with Red River in the EAF, where Echelon has contracts with the EAF as a whole, while Red River holds contracts with various companies and local governments. The Maghreb Union still works. South Africa still works as well. as does South America, and new contracts with the MEC and South American mining companies work I guess.

I'd appreciate any help from anyone who's willing to provide info and suggestions on re-writing the story (or down right dropping it).

[__CrUsHeR]

I see potential in you to write fanfiction, but you should notice some points to that literature becomes more interesting:

- Reduce slightly the amount of information of fanfiction; rather than introducing many ideas, however introduce less and explain more and better each; (when I write an fanfiction I always try to review it to see if I'm doing it this way).

- Check very carefully whether the subject matter is worthy of "spotlight" or a simpler approach; we often have the tendency to exaggerate a bit in what we are writing because you like the subject matter or for some other reason; in other words, "a good fanfiction need not be too eccentric or fantastic to be good''.

About fanfiction: I think that in the decade 20-30 the USA, China and other global actors involved in the GWOT demanded of private military complex your maximum potential in order to concentrate resources and means of production to annihilate the GLA; therefore there was not much room for something like Echelon birth, (mainly because the USA's economy was in recession and had made drastic cuts in military budgets).

Another issue I would like to comment on is the fact of Echelon operate super-modern tanks and helicopters; I do not see as something plausible since acquiring these military hardware requires several international agreements with governments and companies, under the supervision of several other agreements, then is something unfeasible from a technical point of view; an if the security services may be profitable repair or buy new hardware like these is always something billionaire and you need to buy a package deal that includes technical assistance by the provider and this is very expensive for the private sector; it is more logical to sign a contract authorizing the use of military vehicles of an army or local militia than buying the vehicles themselves.

The number of Echelon's professionals (350,000) is also something unlikely; equivalent for example to the size of the regular Iranian army; I advise you to reduce for 35,000.

I hope it can help you, and good fanfiction.

[Adoge]

I see potential in you to write fanfiction, but you should notice some points to that literature becomes more interesting:

- Reduce slightly the amount of information of fanfiction; rather than introducing many ideas, however introduce less and explain more and better each; (when I write an fanfiction I always try to review it to see if I'm doing it this way).

- Check very carefully whether the subject matter is worthy of "spotlight" or a simpler approach; we often have the tendency to exaggerate a bit in what we are writing because you like the subject matter or for some other reason; in other words, "a good fanfiction need not be too eccentric or fantastic to be good''.

About fanfiction: I think that in the decade 20-30 the USA, China and other global actors involved in the GWOT demanded of private military complex your maximum potential in order to concentrate resources and means of production to annihilate the GLA; therefore there was not much room for something like Echelon birth, (mainly because the USA's economy was in recession and had made drastic cuts in military budgets).

Another issue I would like to comment on is the fact of Echelon operate super-modern tanks and helicopters; I do not see as something plausible since acquiring these military hardware requires several international agreements with governments and companies, under the supervision of several other agreements, then is something unfeasible from a technical point of view; an if the security services may be profitable repair or buy new hardware like these is always something billionaire and you need to buy a package deal that includes technical assistance by the provider and this is very expensive for the private sector; it is more logical to sign a contract authorizing the use of military vehicles of an army or local militia than buying the vehicles themselves.

The number of Echelon's professionals (350,000) is also something unlikely; equivalent for example to the size of the regular Iranian army; I advise you to reduce for 35,000.

I hope it can help you, and good fanfiction.

thanks Crusher,
Reall appreciate the feedback.

Yeh the information is a little heavy on, I agree.

I was just wondering what sort of exaggeration you were talking about.

In terms of Echelon itself, i think I might move the merger of Raven, Valor, Desertline and Efficient Outcomes into Echelon at the end of the GWOT, a couple of years before the Cape Town deal in the original story. In terms of the formations of Echelon, I might make it more to cancel out the impact of Red River, which is really ramping up domestic security in the US. Echelon secures deals with companies and countries in South America and Africa. Echelon was the birth of Australian, South African and American PMCs and Arms manufacturers on the idea of globalised security and efficient operators bound to no one political ideology. I think I'll give them 30,000 operators because their idea is quality not quantity in terms of equipment. Krueger hopes to develop echelon into a tool that can replace national militaries as a single security entity. The BMPT and O-4 were secured through, in the BMPTs case, paying off Russian officers who hadn't been vetted yet by Suorov's new government, and the O-4 through cannibalising the PL-01 because of European austerity the Polish government had forgotten about their prototype. The Super Hind came because Krueger's company, Efficient Outcomes were the primary operators of the Super Hind following its modification. There is also significant corporate backing behind Echelon. It is the Fusion of 4 successful PMCs and elements of the American and South African military-industrial complex. The way that they generate money, especially in Africa and South America, is mass-producing copies of weapons like the AK-47 and RPG-7, given the non-existence of copyright in these countries. They also secure lucrative contracts because of the high-quality of their trademarked equipment, such as the SR series. Echelon's primary facility, in Cape Town, South Africa also is effective at Reverse-engineering equipment, for example their armoured vehicle is a modified MRAP. Echelon Armaments has also developed a trade-marked rubberised Armour that allows vehicles to be repaired quite well and can mitigate the damage of some weapons. The Drone prototypes are also quite high-tech because Echelon has secured grants with the US military.

Overall if Echelon only has 30,000 operators and earns quite a bit with a good bit of backing, its Specialised operators act in a support and combat role of major armies.

[Adoge]

This is probably gonna take a few revisions and might be abandoned all together.
I'm not sure Echelon really fits in the lore, given this was designed before I realised there was a canon story on PMCs.

[Adoge]

After a lengthy hiatus from both my faction/game idea thread and this fanfiction I have come back to revise the idea behind Echelon.

A few new ideas behind Echelon

- Their secretive nature is continued, their operators hide their faces at all times.

- They have links to energy companies across the world as well as governments

- Their standing strength is now 50 000 due to the massive layoffs by many western security services in the 20s and 30s

- Their equipment is a mix of state of the art and upgraded older equipment

- The legality of their dealings are also questionable

- They remain both a PMC and an Arms Manufacturer

- They have significant financial backing from both businesses and aforementioned energy companies because of their area of operations.

Here are some of the inspirations for the new Echelon's infantry:









This post has been edited by Adoge: 2 Jul 2015, 8:51

[Adoge]

After reading about Executive Outcome's and their huge (and mainly positive) campaign in Sierra Leone which devastated the RUF, I wanted to make Echelon a mysterious, but powerful, Affluent and High-Tech PMC. Echelon will certainly have some questionable backing from the likes of Energy, Mining, Financial, Media and Arms companies, all of whom pay for this Mysterious Security Contractor to deploy to flashpoints across the globe that would cost Red River and Art of War billions.

Because of the pre-established canon regarding Red River and Art of War being two of the dominant companies, Echelon often operates in the shadows, silently excepting contracts and deploying to various hotspots, whether to clean up a companies mess, do a Government's dirty work or crush an insurrection or insurgency. however, once it is on the ground, it brings sheer volumes of firepower rivaling some of the best national armies.

Echelon's tactics focus on mobile Firepower and a search and destroy mentality, targeting out enemies and obliterating them with heavy firepower, supported by experimental weapons and drones as well as their fearsome "Super-Hind". Their bases are mainly prefabricated containers joined together.

[Adoge]

I'm thinking about unleashing a massive retcon on this to fundamentally change a lot of the inconsistencies that exist in here and also explain the actual existence of Echelon and their rise to prominence. The Echelon Conglomerate is the result of a merger between several multinational Private Military Companies and arms manufacturers (from the USA, Britain, Russia, Germany, South Africa and Australia). The nature of the Conglomerate is hard to explain and it is almost impossible to nail down the exact manpower and financial capital it commands due to fluid nature of the organisation and the various subsidiaries and subcontractors that operate under it. The Conglomerate has many competitors, with the two major ones manifesting in Red River SSI, based in America, and Art of War Consulting & Services LC based in Hong Kong. Echelon itself is based in the hills of Cape Town, in a major advanced compound where the Board resides.


- They would have got a significant market share from the post GWOT world - Russian oligarchs and cronies hired them to prosecute various 'missions' for them, the US needed 'cheaper' soldiers etc.

- Echelon however lost contracts with Russia following the rise of Suorov and their expulsion, along with several other PMCs, from the country.

- Since the Russian withdrawal, the EAF has hired Echelon to help against Militias and other border issues it is having

- Echelon is also heavily employed by US Companies in West Africa, where the Conglomerate competes with Red River for contracts.

- Echelon and its subsidiaries also enjoy sole rights to protection of the 'Compound'. A massive close-gate economic zone in Gibraltar that houses many private companies away from the public.

- Echelon is extremely private in its dealings but accumulated a huge amount of former american weaponry in the aftermath of the Military Surplus Economization Act of 2030 because it had not become a Conglomerate yet and was instead individual companies such as the American Raven, Valor and Damocles companies, Australian Desertline, South African Efficient Outcomes and other smaller companies had not grouped into significant clout. Raven, Valor and Damocles bought into a significant share of the weaponry being sold.

This post has been edited by Adoge: 1 May 2016, 6:26