- "We live, we die, we live again!"
- ― Team Motto and Battlecry
Spectre Cell is a Battle Team of House Galeres dedicated to defending Clan Arcona. They represent the elite of Arcona's warriors, soldiers, and assassins serving as the bloody right hand of the Shadesworn. Spectre Cell is assigned the most vital tasks the Arconan Armed Forces has, taking on the worst of Arcona's enemies and staunchly protecting their Clan against any threat. Spectre Cell spends most of their time deployed in the field, but are headquartered in Fort Blindshot under the command of Sera Kaern.
History
Founding and Dissolution
After the decommission of Battle Team Revenance Virtuom, the Summit of House Galeres spent several weeks deliberating with the Arconan Summit on whether a new Battle Team should be opened which, like Revenance Virtuom, would function with the Arconan Military, or whether it should have a new mission altogether. In the end a decision was reached and the Summit appointed Dark Jedi Knight Celevon Edraven with the responsibility of creating a new Battle Team.
Celevon sought to train a group of scouts and snipers to partake in covert operations. He based his ideas off of the techniques of ancient Sith Assassins, and sought to emulate their techniques. The young Dark Jedi decided Spectre Cell would operate similarly, and attack their foe from the shadows.
Following the Rite of Supremacy Horizons there was a shakeup in the Arconan Summit that saw Legorii retiring as Aedile of the House Galeres and Cethgus Entar replacing him. Spectre member Valhavoc was promoted to Battle Team Leader and charged with creating a new Battle Team within House Galeres. Obelisk Prelate Etah d’Tana, a longtime member of Galeres, was given leadership of Spectre Cell.
Etah decided on a different mission profile for Spectre Cell, as he believed the teams current methods squandered the Dark Jedi’s force abilities. Building on what the founders of Spectre Cell had created, he designed a more diverse skill-set for Spectre Cell to draw on and implemented systematic training of new Spectre recruits. Spectre Cell would become known for its disciplined training, tactics, and specialized weaponry.
Etah led the team through an assault on an Imperial Star Destroyer, the attempted invasion of one planet within the Sith Holy Worlds, and the successful invasion of a second planet within the Sith Holy Worlds. Spectre Cell did very well, accounting for a large percentage of the House Galeres’ kills. Due to personal reasons, Etah had to step down from the leadership of Spectre Cell, but stayed on to train his replacement.
Etah’s departure from leadership came as a shock to most of the members of Spectre Cell. The leaders of House Galeres quickly started to look for a replacement. While taking applications for the position, the leader of Dark Forge also announced that he needed to step down, and at this point, they weighed their options. They decided to reorganize both Battle Teams, close Spectre Cell and reopen Soulfire Strike Team.
Disaster
In the intervening period of the five years after Spectre Cells dissolution, House Galeres had formed Battle Team Nighthawk to take over the duties of Soulfire Strike Team. This team would serve with distinction aboard the Agave-class Picket Nighthawk until multiple catastrophes struck Clan Arcona simultaneously, resulting in a drastic change.
Plague began to ravage Selen, Eldar, and Arconae Primus, resulting in widespread chaos and devastation. At the same time, Hutt forces invaded House Qel-Droma's home, Port Ol'val. The original Nighthawk was shot down by hijacked station defenses shortly afterward, though most of the Battle Team survived, and would go on to assist in the reclamation of Ol’Val and quelling plague-fueled protests on Selen.
During this time, House Galeres abandoned Eldar, and its native population, choosing instead to focus efforts upon obtaining and distributing a cure to the Selenian population. Eldar’s entire population wss left decimated, the Keadeans and Sardinians assumed to be driven to extinction. The former crew of the Nighthawk remained planetside of Selen, assisting in reconstruction while awaiting further orders. In the interim, the crew participated in aid missions across the planet, and helped to crush a Collective invasion alongside the Dajorra Defense Force. Following this the team’s special tactics training was put to highly-effective use hunting down rogue Collective cells across the Selenian archipelago, assisted by Arcona’s Odanite allies.
Reformation
In 36 ABY Spectre Cell would make an unexpected return to the forefront of House Galeres. After the months of constant strife, skirmishes, and open warfare, the House was put under the command of Quaestor Qyreia Arronen and her Aedile Rrogon Skar. They decided that a new Battle Team was needed to replace the now defunct Battle Team Nighthawk. This new team was founded under Spectre Cell moniker, with Grot given leadership over the new team. Stationed aboard a new Marauder-class vessel, branded once again as the Nighthawk in honor of the preceding ship and Battle Team, the team is now far more closely tied to the Arconan Armed Forces, with Satsi Tameike taken on as a Special Operations advisor. As a team building mission, the new team was immediately taken down to Arconae Primus for training and an impromptu big-game hunt.
Training missions continued for months, alongside a concerted team-building effort. Specter Cell undertook a variety of missions during this period, ranging providing security for a Selenian soup kitchen, to assisting in investigations of brutal murders within Estle City’s powerful elite in the immediate aftermath of the riots. The group was particularly concerned with hunting down remnants of The Collective on Selen, a concern that was soon proven to be justified.
Conflict against the Collective
Not long after this period of training Spectre Cell took on its first real offensive action. The Collective cells on Selen revealed themselves in an explosive attack on the team, bombing Satsi Tameike’s home, and striking multiple Selenian villages, some of which were utterly destroyed and razed to the ground. The team launched an immediate, vicious counterattack. The Collective saboteurs were slaughtered, and the remainder of their cells were driven violently off of Selen.
These operations continued after Grot stepped down from team leadership. From their base at Fort Aurora, the team launched harrying attacks and counterstrikes against the Collective, targeting the forces of Capital Enterprises in particular. Acting alongside Clan Odan-Urr, the House even launched raids on nearby Collective holdings, bringing credits and fame back home to Selen.
Return to Eldar
Eventually, an expedition to Eldar found that a remnant of the former populace had survived the lethal pandemic that had forced Galeres to abandon the planet, and was struggling to rebuild, having lost much of their technology and infrastructure. Many were held under the grip of pirate and slaver rings, which had also been feeding the Collective information about Dajorran military installations. Working in concert with the Arconan Armed Forces, Spectre Cell came down hard upon the slavers, eliminating many of them and freeing the remaining Keadeans.
Before Eldar could be fully reclaimed, however, Galeres was caught in a series of escalating conflicts elsewhere in the galaxy, namely the war against the Collective and ongoing negotiations with a faction directly on Dajorra’s border, the Severian Principate. Closer to home, a massive drug-den was discovered within the heart of Arcona, Estle City. Investigations into the group behind the dangerous and extremely addictive substance, called “Nova”, are ongoing. After this, Spectre Cell returned to Eldar, preparing for more substantial operations by assisting the native Keadeans in their fight against pirates attacking their villages. Spectre Cell has founded particularly close ties with a Keadean leader by the name of Toronaga, who has cooperated closely with the team in their efforts.
The situation is still fragile, and a new Battle Team leader, Sera Kaern, was appointed by Consul Lucine Vasano to oversee ongoing operations.
Unit Award: Spectre Dagger
Daggers were originally going to be heavily incorporated into Spectre Cells mission profile, until Etah changed Spectre Cell into a more orthodox and well-rounded military unit. The Dagger was retained as a Unit Award to members who make significant accomplishments to the unit. However, after the string of disasters that befell House Galeres, the original Spectre Cell dagger was lost, and the reward was discontinued.
Years later, however, the original pattern was rediscovered by Sera Kaern. A lover of pointy things, she “reforged” the Spectre Cell dagger as a ceremonial blade, a monthly award passed between members of the Battle Team for their individual acts of heroism, leadership, and courage.
Recipients:
Kratus Vahillus
Legorii Entar
Wes Biriuk