Migrant Fleet Marines

From FABT

Migrant Fleet Marines
(MFM)
QuarianInsignia.jpg

Active:

3 May 1896 CE - 22 July 2186 CE

Organization:

Heavy Fleet

Affiliation:

QuarianInsignia.jpg
Migrant Fleet

Type:

Naval land force

Role:

Planetary assault warfare
Expeditionary warfare
Land warfare
Asymmetrical warfare
Strike operations
Direct action
Counter-piracy
Pilgrim rescue
Force reconnaissance
Assault reconnaissance

Size:

23,000 (regular)
30,000 (reserves)
980 aircraft

Part of:

Migrant Fleet Marines Command

Headquarters:

Migrant Fleet

Motto:

"Memories of Rannoch, fighting hard."

Colors:

Red

Engagements:

Commanders:

Admiral Han'Gerrel (supreme commander)
LtGen. Foma'Fomor

 
"Memories of Rannoch, fighting hard."
— MFM motto.

The Migrant Fleet Marines (MFM), also referred to as the Flotilla Marines and the Quarian Marines to aliens, was the land and naval infantry service branch of the Migrant Fleet's Heavy Fleet, and one of two uniformed services of the Migrant Fleet's military forces. A spiritual successor to both the Greater Rannochian Army and Greater Rannochian Marine Corps, the MFM was formed in 1896 CE in the immediate aftermath of the First Morning War and the beginning of the Quarian Exodus. Having suffered substantial casualties over the course of their conflict with the geth, the then-nascent Migrant Fleet was forced to undergo a period of political, economic and military restructuring, no longer possessing the resources, population, military-industrial base, industrial output or economic/political connections that the former Greater Republic of Rannoch had: the Migrant Fleet Marines was the result of the military's significant reorganization, the roles of the Rannochian army and marines combined into a single branch to serve as the Fleet's main ground forces. Due to limited resources, the MFM was a shadow compared to its predecessor, possessing neither the equipment, manpower or funding that the former boasted, its role largely reduced to that of strike force, its purpose being strike ops, asymmetrical warfare, expeditionary operations, escort duties, force recon, assault recon, extraction and infiltration. Incapable of supporting a war of attrition or prolonged military campaigns, the Migrant Fleet Marines was forced to specialize in special operations and hit-and-run strategies, mostly used to escort scientists, extract/protect endangered pilgrims or infiltrate important military installations quickly and efficiently and, in a worst case scenario, use asymmetrical and insurgency warfare to hinder a superior enemy force. Made worse by the fragility of quarian immune systems as the decades passed, the marines' focused resources on the survival of its troops, providing improved kinetic barriers and strengthening their logistical capacity to supply first aid to marines on the ground to stymie infection setting in during combat. Despite a low budget and equipment restrictions, the Migrant Fleet was able to better specialize the MFM over the decades, and eventually the Marines were supplied with the best military equipment the Fleet had on offer, supplied with gunships or dropships where needed, but possessing no armoured vehicles or tanks, and only a handful of heavy weapons teams that were usually reserved for the most important operations. The special operations arm of the MFM, the Tecr'fer, would usually be deployed for extraction of high value assets, black operations, strike ops on geth installations, counter-terrorism and counter-piracy operations but sometimes would be deployed in support of standard MFM infantry teams, which became far more common in the Second Morning War despite still being limited.

Over the course of the Migrant Fleet's 300 year history, the Migrant Fleet Marines would maintain a steady size of 20,000 active personnel, with 3,000 Tecr'fer special operators (reorganized from the former Tecr'fer of the Greater Republic's military) and an additional 30,000 reserves. This made it an extremely small military branch by modern galactic standards, with all the major nations possessing active militaries numbering in the millions. Without armoured support and possessing a limited air wing, the MFM was significantly limited in its operational capabilities: despite this, it was able to adapt to its new role as a strike force quickly. Lacking any worlds of their own, the MFM switched to the mentality of defending a Fleet that is constantly on the move, with MFM squads spread across key ships within the enormous flotilla, capable of being deployed where needed if the Fleet ever came under attack, trained to handle boarding actions both defensively and offensively, and possessing significant experience in ship-clearing and boarding enemy ships. Despite this, the MFM's primary role was ultimately to fight geth, developing the tools and materials necessary to manage engagements with geth forces, but lacking the numbers and logistics to supply continuous combat with large concentrations of geth troops, and thus having to counter their numerical and technological superiority with hit-and-run strikes and force multipliers. Ultimately it wasn't enough, and the MFM was aware that any victory against the geth would be won by their naval forces and by developing a weapon that would render any war unnecessary. As a result, the MFM would not see large-scale deployment during the Second Morning War, with only a handful of squads, mostly Tecr'fer, ever inserted into combat zones on Rannoch. Following the formation of the Rannochian Coalition at the end of the Second Morning War in 2186 CE, the Migrant Fleet Marines were organized into the Rannochian Coalition Ground Forces, significantly increasing their size as a result of civilian volunteers and the geth's ground forces being merged with their own.

The Migrant Fleet Marines saw extensive action throughout its long history, mostly engaged in the Quarian-geth conflict, but also participating in numerous unrelated counter-piracy, counter-terrorist and pilgrim extraction operations. The MFM would also participate in the Second Morning War, before it was finally reorganized into the Rannochian Coalition Ground Forces at the conclusion of the conflict, which would participate in the larger Reaper War across numerous theaters of the conflict. As a result of the reorganization, the Migrant Fleet Marines was rendered defunct.

History[edit | edit source]

Formation[edit | edit source]