Frangerian Special Forces: The Black Hats
Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 10:41 pm
The Black Hats are one of the most successful special operations teams within the Frangerian military. Named for their distinctive headwear (which is stolen from fallen enemies), the Black Hats have racked up a reputation for success in the few months they’ve been active. However, they’ve also developed a reputation for collateral damage, insubordination, and recklessness, one which means many of the team’s superiors have done as much as possible to disassociate themselves from the squad, lest one of the team’s misadventures reflect back on them. As a result, the Black Hats have become an almost autonomous unit within the Protectorate’s military, frequently picking their own missions, using non-standard gear and tactics, and occasionally securing funding via the odd bit of mercenary work.
Captain James Sullivan, codename “Boss”, is the Black Hat’s current commander, and the only member to eschew the rest of the squad’s habit of taking the headgear of defeated foes, instead wearing the helmet of the squad’s previous commander, who was killed on a high risk raid on an ASE navy yard. While probably the most stable member of the squad, he’s also prone to abuse his positions authority for his own amusement (such as assassinating the star of ghost rider reboots on the ground that they might be Warhead Sphincters, sneaking into soap opera studios and seeing how long it takes before they realizes he swapped the scripts around, breaking into Trattorian research labs and replacing the sugar pills they give to control groups with LSD, and repeatedly attempting to kill Gail Berman). Aside from that habit, he’s a professional soldier to the core. He cares strongly for the men under his command, and has frequently refused to take on missions that he feels put his team at unnecessary risk or aren’t worth the effort (but will gladly deploy on a the most suicidal missions HQ can find if he thinks it’s necessary). This insubordinate streak wasn’t present prior to the ASE raid, and may have formed after Sullivan saw so many of his friends and comrades die for a relatively minor gain.
Lieutenant Harold Miller, codename “Boomer”, is the squad’s explosive expert. Miller was recruited by Sullivan, during that latter’s effort to rebuild the squad following the loses the team suffered during the same raid that saw his elevation to command. At the time, Miller was in prison for his role a heist, where he’d managed to blast open a newly designed, bomb-proof safe. After getting a letter promising him a full pardon and a steady job should he reach a given location by a certain time, Miller built a crude explosive, blasted through the prison walls, and evaded a police manhunt for almost three days until he was picked up by the Black Hats. He still wears a riot helmet stolen from one of the SWAT tracker teams dispatched to catch him, which he neutralized with homemade flashbangs and other improvised weaponry. Since joining the Black Hats, he’s continued to refine his skills, and uses the contacts from his former life to keep the team supplied with high grade weaponry. His gambling habit has lead to several reprimands for using his commando skills to make up his loses via burglary, though some of his comrades have theorized that he deliberately loses just so he can have an excuse to return to his roots (a hypothesis backed up by his domination of the squad’s private poker games). The occasional heist aside, Miller has proved to be a loyal and determined member of the team.
Lieutenant Kevin Murdock, codename “Backfire”, is a former film stunt driver from the USA, who’s promising career was cut short when he slept with a studio executive’s daughter. After being blacklisted, he found himself working as driver for a floral delivery company. He joined the Black Hats during the aftermath of a raid on a USA R&D, when the team mistook his delivery van for their getaway vehicle, hopped in, and ordered him to drive away. After successfully evading heavy police and military pursuit (and now wanted for treason), Murdock became the next member of the squad. Since then, he’s become a skilled pilot, and has also been trained in the operation of vehicle mounted weaponry. Due to his experience in the film industry, Murdock is frequently called upon to infiltrate social gatherings or con targets. His current hat belonged to leader of a USA intelligence agent who attempted to capture him and bring him back to the USA to face charges for high treason.
Lieutenant Rick Wolfe, codename “Blackout”, is the covert ops specialist of the team, including computer hacking, sniping, and infiltration. Wolfe’s service history prior to joining the Black Hats is highly classified, and he’s managed to prevent more than a handful of details from slipping out. He’s been in the Black Hat’s for the longest, and along with Sullivan and Powers, was one of the veterans of the devastating ASE navy raid. Since that raid, he’s become much more withdrawn and somewhat paranoid, though not to a degree that affects his performance. He’s almost never seen without his balaclava, to the point that some of the newer members (Murdock and Chase), have never seen him without it. He also holds the distinction of starting the squad’s hat looting tradition, after stealing his distinctive cap off of a weapon’s dealer who’d attempted to double-cross the squad.
Lieutenant Thomas Powers, codename “Bouncer”, is the team’s CC specialist. Loud, boisterous, and aggressive, Powers has been slightly unhinged ever since the ASE raid, incurring several reprimands and even a stint in counseling after repeatedly starting bar brawls and street fights. Despite his issues, he’s remained part of the team in violation of several regulations, as his skillset is too valuable to lose (and because Sullivan and Wolfe feel that if they don’t keep any eye on their friend, no one will). Curiously, his behavior has also made him a capable social infiltrator, as few suspect that someone like him could possibly be in the military, and frequently ignore him. As the Neo-Prussian guardsman who’s hat Powers now wears learned, lowering your guard while he’s in stabbing range can be fatal a mistake.
Ensign Ellie Chase, codename “Bigshot”, is the newest member of the squad, and specializes in heavy weapons, In addition to being a skilled engineering. Rescued from an ASE prison camp where personal captured in the Shattering where being held, she seized a downed guard’s flamethrower and went on an impressive killing spree, made even more impressive by the fact that she’d lost an arm at the time of her capture, and didn’t receive her cybernetic replacement until she returned to Frangeria. After singlehandedly massacring several squads, Sullivan was impressed enough by her performance to offer her a job (a decision strongly opposed by Murdock, who complained that with 6 members, the squad would no longer be able use his favorite aircraft, the 5 seat Mantis gunship, on their missions). Chase has struggled to adapt to her new life, as she was imprisoned during the Protectorate’s formation, and has had to deal with quite a bit of culture shock. However, her natural aptitude with heavy weapons and training as a naval technician has made her a valuable member of the squad. She has an ongoing rivalry with Murdock, as he still blames her for being unable to use the Mantis as much he used to, while she knows he didn’t want he on the squad, and as the person in charge of maintaining the team’s vehicles, frequently has to spend her time repairing damage Murdock’s aggressive driving inflicts on the sqaud’s transportation.
Statwise, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the Hats. Right now I'm considering giving them one of the "team of heroes" rules floating around the forums, and maybe some custom tweaks to add flavor (I've been toying with the idea of giving Bouncer the CC weapon master rule, for example). The goal would be to make a versatile, flavorful team, and have my other special forces unit, the rangers (which will be posted once the last few parts I need for them come in), be more of the ultra-badass takes names and kick ass types. Feel free to weigh in on this, I could use the help.