SOC got Erinyes BEFORE they were even announced by the GTVA to public. SOC is SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND. The name itself states that they are higher in rank than normal Command.
The hell it does.
The name says they're in Command of Special Operations. PERIOD.
And yeah, big deal on the Erinyes. How long did the United States have the F-117 Stealth Bomber before it was announced to the public? You've been watching the discovery channel too much if you think militaries tell the world about all their new toys. Here's quote from Wikipedia:
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a stealth ground attack aircraft operated solely by the United States Air Force. The F-117A's first flight was in 1981, and it achieved Initial Operational Capability status in October 1983.[1] The F-117A came out of secrecy and was revealed to the world in November 1988.[2]
Incase you missed it, the F-117A became an operational fighter in 1983. Then it was revealed to the world
FIVE YEARS LATER. Having the Erinyes operational in a limited capacity before becoming wide-spread knowledge is status quo, not "proof that the SOC roxxors, omg yay!"
Let me give you another real-world example.
In Afrika in World War 2 there was the British/Commonwealth army which had a bunch of tanks and infantry guys, etcetera etcetera. Then aside from them, there was the Red Devils, basically british paratroopers/commandos who didn't do much parachuting but instead rode around the desert in trucks, behind enemy lines, scouting and shooting the crap out of German supply trucks and generally were a big nuisance, etcetera.
So on the one hand, you have the normal military. Which is doing it's job as per normal, fighting the german and italian panzers across the desert. Then you have the Commandos, who are contributing to the larger war effort but are largely doing their own thing, acting autonomously etcetera.
Now in terms of freespace, the Red Devil Commandos would be the SOC. And the rest of the Brits would be the normal GTVA military. They're both working under Command, and both working towards the same goal but the SOC/Commando operations are not standard operations, they're SPECIAL OPERATIONS which benefit the larger war effort but are largely removed from regular fighting. They don't give orders to anyone, but they have their own separate and subordinate command structure.
So in a nutshell, SOC is a tool of Command. Just a special tool, because they're
specialized in convert ops. But for the sake of secrecy and efficiency, they have their own special command structure subordinate to command but outside the regular military.
Because really, what are the SOC missions? There are basically ONLY two kinds:
1. Reconnaissance behind enemy lines through infiltration (posing as NTF, posing as Shivan)
2. Extraction of reconnaissance members
Though perhaps the one mission with enemy fighters exploding everywhere would count as a "raid" of sorts.
, I just remembered something. You think Command is Subordinate to SOC?
Remember the mission, where you're flying along and your NTF buddies think you're a spy so they tell you to attack some civilian transport? What happens if you do attack it? Command says your a traitor basically and basically wants to kill you. NOW, if you as SOC were really above command, couldn't you attack that transport without problems? You're SOC, you can do what you want. Oh wait, no, you can't do what you want . . .because Command is in Command not the SOC.
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