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| “ | Forget about Freeman, we are cutting our losses and pulling out! Anybody left down there now is on his own, repeat, if you weren't already, you are now fu- [static]! | „ |
| ~ A HECU Soldier talking on a radio |
The Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, or HECU for an abbreviation, is a special operations branch of the U.S. military that specializes in surviving in harsh environments unsustainable to regular soldiers. They are introduced as one of the antagonistic factions in the FPS thriller Half-Life, where their job is to combat the oncoming alien invasion at the Black Mesa Research Facility, and silence the facilities science team in a cover-up operation. Overall, they are the secondary antagonists of Half-Life and its expansion Half-Life: Blue Shift.
In the expansion pack Half-Life: Opposing Force they appear as allies (due to the player taking the role of an HECU soldier Adrian Shephard).
Description
The HECU is a special operations division of the United States Marines, consisting of specially picked soldiers who are trained and readied to operate in harsh environments that include things such as:
- Extreme Heat
- Radio-active Materials
- Dangerous Machinery
- Explosives
- Structural Collapse
- and Treacherously Maneuvered Terrain
Thereby making them better qualified than regular soldiers for hazardous situations, however this usually only amounts to a couple baby-sitting jobs. HECU personnel consists of squad leaders, grunts, medics, engineers, and snipers, dressed in black and white camouflage fatigues, and a Powered Combat Vest, with several miscellaneous items such as ammo pouch belts, gas masks, balaclavas, and night vision goggles. HECU soldiers tend to be heavy-handed, being eager to kill anything that moves and going out of their way to kill it, often getting upset because it's not challenging enough.
Black Mesa
The HECUs biggest (and last) mission was to take care of the Black Mesa incident, a large 'Inter-dimensional rift' leaking hostile aliens throughout the Black Mesa Research Facility in New Mexico. However the HECU were not told what their mission was when they headed out, it was believed to be nothing more than another baby-sitting job by soldiers, but as the soldiers entered the uncontrollable chaos that was the Black Mesa incident they knew it was anything but. It was there that the soldiers got their orders to cover-up the situation, meaning kill all the aliens, and the scientists, and especially, Gordon Freeman. The HECU entered armed with helicopters, tanks, artillery, and more than enough ammo to take on the alien forces as best they could, often remaining in a stalemate between the two that would eventually be broken by Freeman.
Gordon Freeman
Gordon Freeman was working as a research associate at the Black Mesa Research Facility, where he was working in the anti-mass spectrometer in the Anomalous Research laboratories of Sector C. It was there that the spectrometer failed disastrously and was destroyed, thereby opening the inter-dimensional rift between Earth and Xen, officially marking the start of the Black Mesa incident. With this knowledge in hand the HECU were convinced that Gordon had sabotaged the spectrometer and caused the rift purposely, making him their main target in the operation. The HECU were thereby reluctant in stopping Gordon from escaping the facility, using whatever means they could to stop him including, tanks, helicopters, and heavy explosives. But with all of this combined in their ultimate anti-Gordon effort he still managed to prevail, taking down everything and everyone in the way of his goal to stop the invasion. The HECU finally decide to forget about Freeman and cut their losses by retreating from the facility and launching airstrikes throughout the facility, leaving behind only a number of "last chance" soldiers that are still determined to take him down with them.
Opposing Force
After the HECU failed to kill Gordon Freeman, it seems a large remnants of the soldiers were left behind, and were soon facing a new threat; the Black Operatives were deployed in silencing the incident themselves when the soldiers failed to contain the Resonance Cascade incident, and are openly hostile towards the HECU, either by interrogating them or killing them on sight. In addition, it was revealed that they were arming a warhead intended for wiping out the Black Mesa facility entirely when all else failed.
Outlook
The Hazardous Environment Combat Unit maintains heavy malice towards Black Mesa employees and personnel. They are openly hostile towards Black Mesa employees going as far as to force them into interrogation. All "questioning" of Black Mesa employees ends with inquisitorial tactics. Most member of the Unit maintain a cynical sense of humor, casually ending or attempting to end lives while trading snark about the assignments.
It wasn't until they were met with a bigger threat, with the Black Operatives killing most of the HECU soldiers, whom the Black Operatives express serious distaste towards and are forced to engage combat against them, often being outmanned and outgunned as a result.
Quotes
| “ | This place makes boot camp seem like Disney Land. | „ |
| “ | This mission is way beyond FUBAR. | „ |
| “ | I don't care what we're goin' in for as long as I get to kill me somethin'. | „ |
| “ | You've gotta get out of here. Listen to me Shephard...those things...they'll kill all of us. | „ |
| “ | Don't...go in there corporal...That monster...wiped out my...squad. Aaaargh. | „ |
| “ | I killed twelve dumb ass scientists and not one of 'em fought back. This sucks. | „ |
Trivia
- The military was actually taking orders from the government because of the saying "To clean-up the incident.".
- It's also possible that entire science crew was framed as "terrorist" who started alien invasion on purpose. This misunderstanding would not be cleared until after two sides were too deep in mutual war to stop
- It is weird for them to wear Urban camo along with green equipment while in a desert-region facility; most likely it was done on purpose, as to make them actually easily recognisable (and thus killable) for a player despite wearing camo
 / Villains
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The Combine Aperture Science Xenians United States Government | ||