Streloks, Kazak Reconnaissance Unit (K-9)

In addition to furtive patrol duties, its functions include long-term indirect operations such as guerrilla warfare and other clandestine and low-visibility offensive ops. They have specialized in silent approach techniques, ground recon, and night combat, in all of which they are just as effective as they are deadly. 

Although the Streloks perform surveillance duties, the unit’s name defines its major operating role, since Strelok (Стрелок) means “shooter” in Russian. The unit is known for its highly aggressive tactical profile when engaging with the enemy. While their operating area before the Separatist War was the internal borders with the other Ariadnan nations, the climate of stability following the Unification of Ariadna under Kazak control would see them transferred to the external borders, where their aggressive style would prove less troublesome.

There, its main task was containing the Antipode incursions, until contact with the Human Sphere upped the stakes. The arrival of corporations greedy for Teseum and other valuable raw materials resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of mercenaries and adventurers in the frontier regions, lured in by the promise of a quick buck from the large corporations. Ever since, this unit has specialized in scouring the Ariadna Exclusion Zone bordering Tartary in search of illegal prospecting expeditions financed by corporations from the Sphere, and has even assembled K-9 teams with trained Antipodes. 

The Streloks are used to combating the hired guns that usually escort these groups, which is how they made a name for themselves during the Smuggler Wars. They were so effective in their duties and garnered such a reputation that the greatest trophy among mercenary teams was a patch with this unit’s insignia. Neither antipode fangs nor Dog-Warrior claws were as valuable; it was that patch that branded you as a real tough guy. Of course, there were few who could actually show off such an award, and those who did did so for a short time, because the Streloks always avenge their fallen comrade. The moniker "shooter" hasn’t been earned for nothing.