Special Operations Command

Special Operations Command (abbreviated most of the time to SOC) is a subsection of Galactic Terran-Vasudan Intelligence, and is considered to be the heart of Terran intelligence gathering. It played a pivotal role in the defeat of the Neo-Terra Front and was likely the key player in the elimination of the Hammer of Light.

During the NTF Insurgency, Special Operations Command faced large pressure from Allied Command, who encouraged them to launch as many missions as possible to learn as much as they could about the NTF. Because of this, elite pilots often volunteered and most of the time never returned to their squads.

When these dangerous operations succeeded, the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance had enough information about the enemy to launch tactical strikes against any NTF targets. These accurate and co-ordinated strikes played important role in the Battles for Deneb and Regulus. SOC missions were carried out deep within enemy territory, and demanded stealth and discipline. When the operative's presence was revealed, they were often recalled to avoid needless casualties. As the Neo-Terra Front grew stronger and began to win engagements in Deneb, even the SOC operations were focused on making as much damage as possible with minimal casualties from GTVA point of view.

Known assignments

The mysterious ETAK device, believed for some time to be a weapon, was the impetus for Allied Command to infiltrate the NTF via SOC operatives. Alpha 1 of the 242nd Suicide Kings was one of these spies. Once inserted into the NTF, Alpha 1 made contact with Lieutenant Commander Christopher Snipes, the SOC's undercover mission coordinator within the NTF. Once they were established within one of the NTF's fighter squadrons, the first mission undertaken by the pair was to scan the NTF Iceni and acquire any additional data possible, especially about ETAK.

This mission was complicated by the actions of Admiral Ahmose, who, despite knowing the operation being carried out near the Iceni, ordered his Vasudan battle group to launch an assault on the NTF convoy against the orders of Allied Command. His choice threatened the safety of the operation and the lives of the volunteers, and the SOC operatives had no choice but to fire on the GTVA forces, not wanting the Iceni destroyed. The Iceni successfully reached the jump node to Epsilon Pegasi and Admiral Ahmose was branded a traitor and court-martialled.

The next operation did not go as planned, either. The NTF squadron the SOC pilots had infiltrated was ordered to defend an ''Argo-class transport, the NTT Sunder. The cargo and destination of this transport was highly classified, which led to the suspicion it had something to do with the ETAK project. Snipes, with the help of the crew chief of the squadron (also a SOC operative), installed overload devices to destroy the remainder of the squadron. Alpha 1 and Snipes then attempted to hijack the Sunder with the help of a GTVA agent piloting the transport. At this point, secrecy was paramount, and the alliance deployed their new AWACS, the GTA Charybdis, to jam communications in the area, allowing the operation to remain covert.

NTF fighters responded to a partial message warning of a reactor core breach, and raced to aid the NTT Sunder. Alpha 1 and Snipes, aided by the pilots of an SOC unit, the 99th Skulls, successfully hijacked the NTT Sunder, repelling NTF forces sent to aid in the recovery operation. Blowing up a decoy Argo-class transport, Snipes managed to successfully pin the blame on another NTF commander, who was court-martialled and executed. The NTT Sunder successfully reached the Regulus system and was recovered by GTVA Intelligence.

Snipes was reassigned, and the NTF began to suspect Alpha 1 of being a GTVA operative. Sending Alpha 1 on a suicide mission, they ambushed the fighter pilot and attempted to have him executed in the field. Once again, the 99th Skulls saved the day, and recovered the pilot, as well as sensitive data that had been stashed in the fighter's computers.

Shortly before Capella went supernova, the SOC launched another dangerous mission—using Alpha 1 and three additional pilots to rescue the NTT Grall and Commander Snipes, who had ended up stranded deep in the nebula. He was rescued from a highly electrically-active, Shivan-infested area, along with the crew of his ship.

Alpha 1, Snipes, and two others then volunteered to take part in a mission to infiltrate the area behind the second Knossos subspace portal, which had been discovered by a Vasudan patrol. They flew specially-modified Mara-class fighters, captured earlier by SOC, and modified for Terran use. Behind the portal, they found numerous Sathanas juggernauts, heading towards the portal to the nebula, as well as a large fleet of Shivan cruisers and warships. This expedition's main goal was only to gather intelligence and this succeeded as soon as they gathered information about the true strength of the Shivan fleet. During the mission, the SOC volunteers inspected and destroyed three Shivan devices of a type never before encountered by the GTVA. Game documentation refers to these devices as Shivan communication device, or Shivan Comm Nodes, but it is unknown if the GTVA had determined this to be their function by the end of FS2.

After the destruction of these devices, they rushed back to the jump node back to the nebula and escaped.