Name: Reya Wyatt
Nickname/Callsign: None really, sometimes goes by ‘Rey’ for short.
Age: 25
Gender: Female

Position: Weapons Engineer - Primarily Beams (Pulse, Standard & PPC)

Nationality: Draconis Combine - Tabayama Prefecture



Biographical History:

The outlying borders of Draconis territory make for a picturesque mix of wide open woodlands and mountainous expanses across the inhabited Earth-like worlds of the Tabayama Prefecture. Mining and agriculture are the primary functions of the populace in respect to the Combine economy and there is little chance of upward movement aside from being within the nobility of the interstellar trade bureaucracy. For generations the line of Wyatt heirs governed the movement of raw materials and assets far enough away not to draw the inquisitive eyes of the capital and still profitable and efficient enough to go relatively unnoticed. It was a careful equilibrium for Denton Wyatt, the same patient dance explained by his father and the same one he only practiced explaining to his daughter. Her younger brother would be the rightful successor to the Administration when he was older.

There had been female heirs before, but it was not the preferred in the Way and the arrival of Reya’s younger brother brought about some repose for Denton, however there was no denying that Reya was much different than her contemporaries. She was bored by politics, trade and customs, having few real friends, while her mind placed her easily at the top of her classes. The word “prodigy” was used regularly by her instructors in relation to her studies and it was obvious that even the most exacting curriculums afforded to Combine nobility were of little difficulty for her. If only such a mind had fallen to a male heir.. was the quiet sentiment among the local circles of nobility. If nothing else, the prospects of high-level university training at the prestigious Imperial Institution of Technology closer to the capital were essentially a guarantee and the thought of marrying her off to one of the ministry families seemed almost a waste of her abilities. It was an unexpected problem.

For Reya, there was no real enjoyment in the life of nobility. It was merely all she had ever known. If something was needed, there was a servant to take care of it. From meals, to wardrobe, to social outings- everything fell into place nicely, the same as it had for generations. As she grew older and became more self-aware of her status and much higher than average aptitude, the world of her family, their mountain feudal compound and their noble social caste became increasingly small and unchallenging. Granted there were some ideas and beliefs in the traditions she found naturally appealing, she knew the socially focused day to day life of her mother in politics supporting her father was not for her and that university would be the only other admissible path. The arrangements were made and she was accepted into the most difficult curriculum: beam weaponry and particle physics.

In some ways university was more rigorous in that for the first time in her life, she had true competition for head of the class with most of her classmates also coming from various noble backgrounds. However, from a social standpoint, the rigid structures were much the same as being back home. There were the same servants and monitors that took care of handling every small detail so that all focus could be set upon studies, only the faces were different. For the first time in her life, Reya began to feel a pang of actual revulsion towards her own nobility. Though she knew that failure or quitting were sentiments that could not even be remotely entertained, she could at least, for the time at hand, use her father’s own strategy of doing well enough to go purposefully unnoticed and she set her mind to things she enjoyed: hands on work; placing consistently at the head of lab practices, but always holding her efforts back in academics, spending her time looking for something that would take her out of the caste systems, even if just for a little while when she graduated.

The expeditionary forces always had need of capable engineers out in the distant periphery and with the increases in pirate activities the monetary reward was getting substantial for anyone willing to risk their neck on the frontier. Unfortunately, she knew no commander would likely take on a high-ranking nobleman’s daughter knowing the level of reprisals should any harm come to her. Any hope of adventure or freedom was going to have to come from outside the regular channels, somewhere where plausible deniability was going to have to be the criteria rather than the exception.

With even base-level astechs being highly desired, picking up a Combine trained engineer for a song was too good a deal to pass up, but there was a catch: The girl was going to have to set herself up and sell any prying eyes on joining something no less than just another private expeditionary force on the level, something she seemed, for some reason, to have wholly planned and was surprisingly efficient. It was an odd situation at first, something like seeing a piece of fine china set in place at an underground pub, but Reya became a regular fixture and something like a filter to new members of the crew. Her work was always top-notch, but finding people willing to put up with her eccentricities usually was a good sign that they were worth their salt. She demanded little, did her job, and once the defensive layers could be navigated, was as loyal a crewmember as could be asked.

At present, Reya has been with Colonel Wayne for about two years as an invested partner in the company. Occasionally she has to carefully deflect probing questions from her parents, particularly her mother wondering why she hasn’t married, but with her father’s main focus divided between raising up her brother in the trade bureaucracy while continuing to perform the job to Combine standards himself, it has been fairly easy for her to continue on without gathering a lot of unwanted attention. She has access to a tremendous amount of her family’s wealth and connections, but only draws from it in amounts inconspicuous enough to go unnoticed by the myriad of servants, bureaucrats and underlings that manage the multiple layers of her family’s accounting practices. With the current revolution on Espia, she has been forced to pull more and more to keep the company afloat while the Green Knights have been cut off from their contracted revenue stream.

Personality:

Despite the setting, it is very difficult for Reya to not exude the airs of her upbringing to newcomers to the squad. She can be vain, aloof, immature and egotistical. Attributes for which she is fairly self-aware and actually enjoys to some extent particularly in situations where she is confident that her understanding is the highest in the room. Conversely, she wants to be liked and trusted by others and tries to use her work rather than her status to gain that appreciation from others without having to overtly work for it socially.

Apropos, she is very hands-on and detail oriented in her engineering projects. Nothing is ever viewed as whole, only parts working together in a system that has the potential for improvement. Her tendency to over-analyze and master the peculiars of various weaponry can sometimes slow her down in the mires of perfectionism and she likewise becomes very attached to her projects. A mechwarrior returning with a heavily damaged unit, even through no fault of their own, will often receive a piercingly disapproving glare upon return.

Reya doesn’t view her investment in the Knights as a “job” or even that much of a lucrative business maneuver. Being with the company checks a number of personal yearnings for rebellion, adventurism and challenge. She’s not a warrior by any stretch, however, over time she has simply found herself more at home with her company of mechwarriors and technicians than she ever really felt in the sterile and composed backdrop of nobility.

Assets:
A bright orange sportbike that she uses to get around when they are at port.
A myriad of tools, diagnostic equipment and their associated storage.
A few worker drones and a large stereo system- tends to listen to music at deafening levels while she works.

Callsign: Giggles

Age: 23

Archetype: Rookie out to prove herself.

Guiding Motto: Deeds, not words.

Fatal Flaw: Brutal honesty: Marit will say whatever's on her mind without a care and usually without being asked.

Expertise:

• Artillery.
• Sensor Operations.
• Negotiation.

Nationality: Rasalhague, Draconis Combine. No allegiance.

Bio:
Marit was born in 3007 into the Sons of Kalev, a mercenary company in good standing with the MRB mostly staffed by personnel of Rasalhague origin, operating on behalf of House Davion. A daughter of one of the Sons’ MechWarriors, Idun Lindgren, and a mission control officer, Joakim Saarinen, she fits the definition of a “mercenary brat” to the letter. Living among mercenaries on their dropship, the Kalevala, from day one and expected to eventually inherit the C1 Catapult passed down the generations of the Lindgren family, she’d been learning about BattleMechs and their operation since she was six. She first drove a BattleMech on her own at 15, saddling a clapped-out Locust the Sons used for training under her mother’s tutelage. She took part in her first mission in mid 3027. A band of supposed pirates raiding a remote military depot, the Sons retroactively coming to suspect they were in fact Taurians belonging to one noble or another, turned out to be much more effective than anticipated, leading to a sudden shortage of pilots and combat-ready BattleMechs. Marit was put into a mostly-restored Dervish the Sons dragged out of a lake they dropped it into a few months beforehand, even though it was missing its left arm and the SRM launchers weren’t working when she deployed, but who needs that anyway with two tons of missiles and two LRM 10 launchers?

What followed was a month of rebuilding damaged ‘Mechs and hiring new MechWarriors, followed by a fairly standard few months for a rookie mercenary MechWarrior, until fortune smiled upon the Sons of Kalev and the Saarinen family in late 3027, when Idun’s Lance managed to beat the brakes off a lone Marauder that wandered into it as it tried to reinforce its friends that were getting pummeled by the Sons. As one of the most experienced MechWarriors of the company and the one whose leadership led to its capture, it was decided it would become Idun Saarinen’s new ‘Mech. This event bumped up the date Marit would inherit the Catapult from “At some point in the future.” to “Whenever we get the Marauder running again.” meaning the pressure was now on to prove that she could be trusted with it. Eager to prove herself - in what in hindsight may have been a pretty stupid decision - Marit decided to leave the Sons of Kalev for a while to strike out on her own and signed on with Gawain's Green Knights. Babysitting a backwater Capellan world - whatever her displeasure at aiding the Confederation - should've been easy paycheck. Oh, how the tables can turn…

Personality:
Marit is a free spirit, eternally chipper, chatty, upbeat and completely lacking a brain to mouth filter. Notorious joker with a penchant for singing on the job and distaste for hot weather. With the Rasalhague people's placing high value on family connection, be it between actual family or a fighting unit, Marit treats the whole mercenary company as such, manifesting itself in a tendency to be on everyone's good side, handle internal conflicts peacefully and deescalate where tempers have already flared.

An inexperienced MechWarrior comfortable in the fire support role - though she’d be the first to admit a trained monkey could drive a LRM carrier - trying to live up to her ancestors, she can sometimes try a little too hard to prove she belongs, often to the amusement of more experienced MechWarriors, and in some instances to the detriment of the mission.

Class: Archer-2R

Type: Heavy (70 t)

Appearance: For the duration of its stay on Espia, the Archer is painted an old camo pattern from centuries ago with low-vis Green Knights insignia on the shoulders and above the cockpit.

Equipment: At some point in the past, the 'Mech's usual dual LRM 20 launchers were replaced with a combination of an LRM 15 launcher and two LRM 10 launchers in the right and left torso respectively, using the three tons saved to add three heatsinks (engine and each leg).

As part of the SERE kit, Marit has a semi-automatic shotgun loaded with slugs plus a bandolier with 16 spare ones strapped to the side of her ejection seat.

Character Name:
Born Tereza Aranda, but as far as anyone in the Green Knights knows, her name is Emma Ziska.

Callsign:
Alleycat

Character Archetype:
Reformed Gangster Pirate

Character’s Guiding Motto:
Speed is life. C-Bills are C-Bills and a job is a job. Don't make things complicated, just go fast.

Character’s Fatal Flaw:
Ziska is always looking for trouble.



Character’s Expertise:
Reconnaissance, Tactics, and Criminal Expertise (Pirate)

Nationality/Allegiance:
Ziska is a Canopian noble living in self-imposed exile. Despite her origins she holds no particular allegiance to the Magistracy of Canopus.

Background:
Mysterious in all matters personal, Emma Ziska is a capable MechWarrior, respected for her talents piloting a BattleMech and her abilities as an officer in Gawain’s Green Knights. Far from sullen, she speaks freely, but rarely seems to say much of any truth or depth about herself.

Shaped by her ever changing answers, there are many stories about Ziska that circulate through Gawain’s Green Knights. Some old hands say she's a former pirate. They see cold eyes, quick hands, and the familiar, confident swagger of a scoundrel. Fresher faces, particularly those from the Periphery, mention the infamous Canopian Pleasure circuses, and the Canopian mercenaries that accompany them. Ziska knows many things about the galaxy. She has many tales to tell and amusing adventures to share. Wayne himself seems uncertain about Ziska's past and seems content to let the matter lie, lest he lose a talented MechWarrior to unnecessary politics or red tape.

Unsurprisingly, Ziska offers no clear answers when directly asked about any criminal acts she may have engaged in or questionable contracts she may have once signed. With a shrug of her shoulders and a mischievous smile, she simply dances around any serious questions about "complicated" matters like piracy.

---

Jealously guarded Magistracy of Canopus records, if acquired and carefully examined, indicate that Tereza Aranda was born on August 10th, 3005, in the city of Crimson, on Canopus IV, the planetary capital of the Magistracy of Canopus, to noblewoman Sarah Aranda and her husband Thomas. A well-respected family belonging to the Frone faction of the Canopian nobility, the Aranda family were among the few remaining descendants of the original founders of the Magistracy of Canopus.

Steeped in tradition and privilege, Tereza, the third of five children and the youngest of three daughters, was carefully groomed for a life intended to culminate in a leading position at the very top of the Magistracy Armed Forces (MAF). For a displaced Periphery pirate, Ziska thus possesses a remarkably first-rate education, carefully curated talents, and welcome social graces.

---

Pragmatic as only the citizens of the Periphery can be, Aranda's parents saw that she followed the usual pipeline intended to usher Canopian youths towards a successful, useful future. She was raised surrounded by diligent servants, serious tutors, and dedicated security forces.

Growing into an uneasy youth, Aranda completed her compulsory education with exceptional grades. Guided by a rotating collection of exhausted tutors, she received grades that did not fully reflect her lack of discipline outside of the select few topics that interested her. Still, it was clear that she had a sharp mind, and given her parentage, at the age of fifteen, Aranda was quickly shepherded into the MechWarrior training program on Canopus IV.

Her family name and the careful politics of her parents, paired with a natural aptitude for all things involving stompy robots, ensured that Aranda was quickly selected as an officer candidate. Thus, instead of being sent off to a Militia Defense or training battalion Aranda was delivered to Raventhir's Iron Hand, first regiment of the Magistracy Royal Guards, the most prestigious unit in all of the Magistracy of Canopus and the very unit tasked with protecting the Magistrix herself. Posted as a military aide-de-camp under Major Vernyce Alkobar, she received "on-the-job" training in all the finer aspects of warfare, military leadership, and the social life demanded of any serious officer. Knowledge deemed critical to thriving in the upper echelons of the MAF.

By the age of seventeen, Aranda had earned the rank of Banner Sergeant in the Magistracy Armed Forces. Well pleased with her achievements and eying a suitable future marriage following continued success, her parents purchased a commission as an Ensign for Tereza in the 1st Canopian Light Horse of the legendary Chasseurs á Cheval brigade soon after her seventeenth birthday. A storied regiment, famed for their bravery and success in battle, to the Canopians, the 1st Canopian Light Horse represented the very tip of the spear of the MAF.

In the years that followed, officially Aranda spent several years fighting pirates, killing Free Worlds League mercenaries raiding Canopian space, and keeping Marian Hegemony troops honest through the judicious application of firepower. Unofficially, along with the rest of her unit, Aranda participated in a number of clandestine raids targeting nearby Free Worlds League controlled planets. Proving herself in battle after battle and operation after operation, Aranda seemed poised for a proper promotion.

However, he culmination of what should have been a most carefully cultivated career was smashed to pieces under unclear circumstances. A band of pirates were subdued. A planet was liberated. Aranda was put up for a medal. There was a disagreement. Strong words were spoken. Alcohol was suspected to be involved. There were rumors of worse, far less palatable vices. In the days that followed, Aranda had a storied falling out with her commanding officer, a disagreement that still echoes in the memories of the 1st Canopian Light Horse. No less than five BattleMechs were heavily damaged in the brawl that ensued and some fourteen vehicles were damaged to varying degrees. Several venerable BattleMechs were left as complete write-offs, reduced to mere salvage and spare parts. With her entire company confined to quarters, Aranda, in an uncharacteristic rage, resigned her commission while still nominally under arrest. According to her commanding officer, Aranda then feigned illness, attacked one of the soldiers guarding her, stole a Heavy Gyrojet Gun, took an Astech hostage, and escaped the base pursued by four infantry squads. The soldiers that served under her tell a different story, suggesting that Aranda simply bribed the soldier guarding her and calmly walked off the base occupied by the 1st Canopian Light Horse.

A lengthy investigation by the Magistracy Intelligence Ministry (MIM) resulted in few clear findings and the ranking officer in charge of compiling the logged report could only speculate that Aranda had probably signed up with a passing mercenary company. After all, it was hardly the first time that a Canopian noblewoman had vanished into the deep periphery before anything could be done to stop her. It was widely expected by all involved that Aranda, like many a wayward noble scion before her would eventually, inevitably, come crawling back to the Magistracy of Canopus when she had exhausted the limited funds available to her.

---

Following the conclusion of the MIM investigation, records concerning Aranda are spotty, if not entirely nonexistent. A precious few reported sightings of Aranda manage to reach all the way back to Crimson, Canopus IV, and the Magistracy of Canopus. However, identification proved inconclusive, information arrived corrupted, and nothing much of value was learned. The Aranda family reluctantly accepted that they had lost a daughter. Life in the Periphery moved on, as it always did. Most people chose to forget. In the end, not even the operatives of the Magistracy Intelligence Ministry prove able to satisfactorily divine the whereabouts of the rogue Canopian noble.

However, files logged deep within ComStar databanks indicate that a suspected pirate, Emma Ziska, appeared in the Periphery during the early 3020s. Loose ties to the pirate kingdom of Tortuga were mentioned by confidential informants, but never conclusively proven. Working her way through a number of mercenary companies in questionable standing with ComStar's Mercenary Review Board (MRB), Ziska somehow established herself as a reputable MechWarrior. Anyone with knowledge of the sometimes shady dealings of the Mercenary review board, would perhaps rightly suspect that Ziska greased the right palms, sweet-talked the right ComStar Acolytes, and simply purchased the right digital documents to avoid any greater scrutiny.

With little fanfare, Ziska eventually arrived on Galatea, nominally to find more honest mercenary work with a reputable mercenary company. Armed with a positively glowing recommendation from one ComStar Precentor Alexander Wanyika, she was snapped up in record time by Colonel Gaius Wayne of the rising mercenary outfit Gawain’s Green Knights. Despite occasional problems related to her distinct disinterest in proper decorum, procedure, and avoiding trouble, Ziska has somehow managed to remain gainfully employed as a member of the Green Knights for almost three years now.

Battlemech or Vehicle:
Ziska currently pilots a Raven light mech (RVN-3L) that she has most certainly acquired through dubious means.



Appearance:
Average in height, Ziska has the athletic build expected of many a MechWarrior and professional soldier. She has a dusky complexion with brown eyes and long, curly dark hair that has a habit of straightening from the heat of her BattleMech's cockpit. She has no tattoos and despite having suffered equally from across the wide range of injuries inherent to plying a trade as a system traveling soldier for hire, she has no particularly noticeable scars.

Comfortable in the shadows, Ziska moves with a catlike dexterity and is known for being alarmingly quiet. She has a habit of prowling the decks of the Green Knight's DropShip in search of minor amusements to occupy her time, especially during the lengthy transit time between contracts. More than one unfortunate Green Knight has been scared half to death by the sudden, unexpected appearance of the MechWarrior, often in places where her presence is exceedingly hard to logically explain.

A casual dresser with a military flair, Ziska wears a rotating collection of combat uniforms. Largely military fatigues of a recent Capellan Confederation Armed Forces (CCAF) make, her outfits consist of a jacket, trousers and shirt or T-shirt.

Ziska is also inordinately fond of lounging around in the classic flame-resistant coveralls favored by mechanics all across the Inner Sphere and she keeps several pairs that she has permanently 'borrowed' from her Astechs and Technician. Most of the coveralls she wears appear to have been manufactured for the Federated Suns Navy (FSN) and Lyran Commonwealth Navy (LCN).

As a seasoned MechWarrior when piloting her BattleMech Ziska wears the familiar garb of a MechWarrior. Well-worn combat boots, tattered shorts, a breezy tank top, and fire resistant gloves.

Ziska's pride and joy is a heavily customized neurohelmet that she claims to have won over a game of poker in a deep periphery backwater tavern that she couldn't possibly reveal, not without having to kill someone, maybe a couple of people even. Lighter than the usual bulky neurohelmet that a MechWarrior relies on, Ziska's helmet is painted midnight black and has her call sign written in swirling red letters on both sides. Her Cooling Vest is standard, but sports a sewn on patch depicting a black cat with an arched back and raised up fur. Due to the cramped nature of a BattleMech cockpit, Ziska keeps her sidearm in a chest holster attached to her Cooling Vest.



Equipment:
Adopting a loose military dress, Ziska carries a Calaveri 10mm Auto-Pistol in a holster on her right hip. A sleek, small black pistol, it is an ideal sidearm for a MechWarrior often operating inside of a cramped BattleMech cockpit.

As a final insurance policy should her BattleMech be disabled, Ziska has tucked a Mauser and Gray Firearms M-75 personal defense weapon beneath her ejection seat. A rugged design, the M-75 is a modular and compact PDW chambered for a respectable 6.5×25mm round. A bargain purchase, the M-75 comes standard with a detachable low power optic, wire folding stock, grip safety, threaded barrel, and hollow foregrip which can be used to hold a spare magazine.

As a reminder of home, Ziska keeps a Ceres Arms Slasher Combat Knife. Originating from the Capellan Confederation, the SCK is a double-edged, forged out of high quality nickel steel knife. Balanced for throwing, the SCK has a hollow, rough steel grip complete with a removable cap. Designed for export markets, the knife was popular in the Periphery, selling well in the Magistracy of Canopus and Taurian Concordant. Although Ziska chiefly uses it to cut fruit, the knife is equally useful for acts of violence when situations demand it.

Bonus Music:
youtube.com/watch?v=bz3Yw3XbsVQ

Name:Alexander Kerensky
Age: 2
Gender: Female
Species: Felis catus
Crew Position: Unofficial Official Ship Cat
Rank: Commanding General of the Star League
Nationality: Lyran

Appearance:

An adorable calico cat, with a coat of soft, glossy fur, and surprisingly sharp claws reserved for those that offend her. Being a cat, Kerensky wears only a tasteful leather collar adorned with a small metal tag listing her name, mercenary affiliation, and Star League rank.

Personality:

The exceedingly proud, mostly benevolent ruler of the No Leaf Clover, the DropShip maintained for her by Gawain’s Green Knights. Kerensky is fond of napping, pets, scritches, and the occasional belly rub. Convinced of her own supremacy and divine right to command the mercenaries Colonel Wayne has assembled for her benefit, Kerensky does not respond well to her unspoken orders being refused. Mercifully, Kerensky is quite adorable and the vast majority of her power is used only in the pursuit of snacks or cuddles.

Biographical History:

General Kerensky is confusingly, given her namesake, a female calico cat that Ziska saw fit to adopt from some derelict Steiner planet. In an impressively irreverent act, bordering on tasteless according to some ComStar adjacent mercenaries, Ziska has named her cat after the famed Star League general and hero, Alexander Kerensky. Sauntering throughout the No Leaf Clover at all hours of the day or night, regardless of the status of any doors, Kerensky manages an impressive fiefdom centering largely on the mech hanger and Ziska's private quarters. The bane of many an Astech, MechTech, or unrelated Technician, Kerensky appears certain, quite certain, that she is in fact in charge of the entire operation, and reacts poorly to any suggestions or actions that would imply otherwise.

Unfortunately for the rest of the Green Knights, any complaints delivered to Ziska regarding the conduct of her cat are simply responded to with a well-practiced sigh, a half-hearted shake of her head, and a comment on the fickle nature of all generals.

As depicted wearing the military uniform of her noble house, which is what she's going to wear in most occasions. On the shorter side.

Character Name: Duchess Ingrid Daschke

Callsign: Ramrod, assigned to her by the others. She thinks it means "ramrod straight" but it just refers to the size of the stick up her ass.

Age: 30

Character Archetype: Stuffy Noblewoman

Character’s Guiding Motto: "Fachwissen ist der Grundstein des Rittertums!" (lit. Expertise is the cornerstone of Chivalry! There's a very long and boring story about how this came to be the family's motto as a result of their actions during the Age of War. It's in German because they take their familial LARPing very seriously.)

Character’s Fatal Flaw: Complete unwillingness to bend princples. Acting the part of a proud knight is important in every single action and interaction, even if there's no honor left to defend.

Character’s Expertise: Decorum, Swordfighting, Diplomacy.

Nationality/Allegiance: Lyran/House Daschke (defunct)

Background: House Daschke effectively no longer exists. When it did exist, from the early 25th century until about two years ago, it was a minor noble house ruling over the small Lyran Commonwealth planet of Poulsbo on the Marik border alongside the (comparatively) more famous House Astra. Despite their relative obscurity, the planet's proximity to FWL space meant that it did see action often during the Succession Wars and proved itself at least somewhat useful to Lyran national interests. As the second-in-line to the family title, she still insisted on being trained to the same degree that the heir presumptive, her elder sister did. She excelled...but that didn't do anything to affect her position in the family at all. She was committed, however - even if that meant she'd be stuck as retainer to her sister for the remainder of her natural life, she wanted to see House Daschke proliferate and expand.

House Daschke did not proliferate and expand, mostly because it was successfully scattered to the four winds after a sudden and unexpected betrayal by House Astra. To condense centuries of political intrigue into one sentence, the other nobles of Poulsbo saw House Daschke as being far too sycophantic toward the interests of House Steiner in opposition towards the near-independence minded nature of Poulsbo's population. The events of the takeover were confusing at best, and at the end of it, Ingrid was left running for the hills and presumed herself to be the sole living member of House Daschke - thus, Duchess apparent.

So far were these hills that she managed to end up at the complete opposite end of the Free Worlds League. Most of her ancestral funds had been spent in a failed attempt to regain Poulsbo with no progress made and little else to show, so she basically just threw herself at the first mercenary command that would take her - Gawain's Green Knights, joining within the last year.

Vehicle: An OSR-2C Ostroc given the edgy pet name of Susser Todd, the pride of the Daschke family line. Previously well-maintained through prior generations despite the 'mech's relative rarity, it's probably in worse condition now that Ingrid's been piloting it without the support of a noble house.

Character Name: Aroxty Sameve

Callsign: Steel Rain

Character Archetype: Consummate Professional

Character’s Guiding Motto: " Have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

Character’s Fatal Flaw: Egoistical

Character’s Expertise: Engineering, Stealth, Strategy

Nationality/Allegiance: Free World Leagues / Disillusioned Expatriate

Background: Born in a middle class merchant family, Aroxty's dreams of pursuing academic study in LosTech archaeology were dashed by the civil war bringing strife to the Free Worlds League. Initially conscripted as an infantry, Aroxty eventually rose up to the ranks to becoming a tank commander in charge of his very own crew of oddballs, misfits (and cannibals). Upon conclusion of the civil war in 3015 and with nowhere else left to go, Aroxty and his crew left the Free World Leagues and pursued mercenary work until they came into contact with Gawain's Green Knights.

Vehicle: " Merry-Go-Round" - Von Luckner MBT

Character Name:
Colonel Gaius Anthony Wayne

Callsign:
Gawain

Character Archetype:
Battle-Hardened Idealist

Character’s Guiding Motto:
"We do the job, and we do it right."

Character’s Fatal Flaw:
Savior complex. Gaius believes that it is his job to save everyone all the time, which leads to him hesitating when it comes to making the hard call.

Character’s Expertise:
Leadership: Gaius has plenty of experience in command, and knows how to get the best use out of those who work for him.
Tactics (Short-Term): Gaius has memorized the AFFS field manual and put it to good use for years, always ready to use the right plan for the right job, at least for the immediate situation.
History Knowledge: Gaius has the benefit of a formal education and is an avid reader in his downtime, which means he can recount the history of the Inner Sphere and its triumphs and tragedies better than most.

Nationality/Allegiance:
Federated Suns (House Davion), politically indifferent expatriate

Background:
Gaius Anthony Wayne was born in 2979, on the planet of Fairfax, a world near the frontlines of the Draconis March in the Federated Suns. He was born into a privileged life; the Wayne family had made their fortunes over a thousand years ago as industrialists on Terra, and generations of prudent investments and solid leadership had allowed them to remain comfortably wealthy for centuries. He had grown up hearing stories of his heroic ancestors, mostly Mechwarriors loyal to House Davion, crusading for freedom and justice against the corruption and tyranny of the other Great Houses. Gaius was an avid student of history, though his interpretation of that history was often romanticized. Like his father, grandfather, and so forth, he was a firm believer in the Lorix Creed, a chivalrous philosophy that professed the idea that a Mechwarrior was the pinnacle of what a warrior should be, and that their highest duty was loyalty to the people under their protection and to the state they served.

During his teenage years, Gaius prepared for training in the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, believing it was his duty and his destiny to serve House Davion to the best of his abilities. At sixteen he enrolled in the prestigious Albion Military Academy, and graduated with honors in the year 3000 at 21. His marks were solid enough to land him command of a lance in the Robinson Rangers, where he gained experience in border skirmishes against the Draconis Combine. When one of his commanding officers repeatedly misspoke his name by mashing his first and last names together, Gaius Wayne was given the callsign 'Gawain.' By 3010, he had been promoted to the rank of Captain, commanding a Battlemech company in heavy fighting against his hated Kurita foes. Now into his thirties, Gawain was a seasoned veteran, and a die-hard believer in the just and righteous cause of Davion.

In 3013, the Robinson Rangers were deployed as part of a larger Davion force to defend the agricultural planet Mallory's World from a Kurita invasion. While Gaius had seen plenty of short skirmishes and brushfire battles thus far, this was his first taste of long, heavy combat. Three grueling months of scorched-earth warfare left huge swaths of the verdant planet in ruins, and Gaius watched many of his longtime friends and comrades cut down by the Draconis Combine's guns. Still, Gawain persevered, driven by the inspiring image of his First Prince, the gallant Ian Davion himself, who led the fighting on the front lines against the elite Yorinaga Kurita...

...right until the moment Yorinaga cored out the Prince's Atlas and shot him dead.

Watching the head of state, the very embodiment of the Federated Suns and everything it stood for, die in front of him shook Gaius Wayne to his very core. All of the romance of Davion's 'Sword of Freedom,' the high-minded idealism of the Lorix Creed, counted for nothing in the face of enemy firepower. Just as his faith was drained, he saw it kindled again when Yorinaga Kurita attempted to claim Ian Davion's corpse as a trophy, only to have it stolen out from under him.

It wasn't a loyal Davion warrior who preserved the body of the First Prince, who embarrassed the dreaded Yorinaga, and who turned a crushing defeat into a victory that day. It was a band of mercenaries-- in particular, a hitherto unsung command known as the Kell Hounds, who had long been dismissed as 'rich kids playing soldier' that stepped up and cemented their reputation as heroes, and soon after, legends. Gaius had always turned up his nose at mercs, seeing them as money-grubbing contract killers little better than pirates, but on Mallory's World, he saw them in a different light. They weren't blinded by flags and fanfare, by patriotism and politics. In every way that mattered, they could be the ideal warrior personified, could uphold the image of the Mechwarrior purely through grit, skill, and loyalty only to each other and to the job.

Shortly after his time on Mallory's World, Gaius Wayne requested and received his honorable discharge from the AFFS. Spending the vast majority of the Wayne family fortune, he made his way to the mercenary hub world of Galatea, founded a small command of his own, Gawain's Green Knights. He brought with him some of his comrades from Mallory's World, such as Raven Rivers, and began looking for work as a Mech lance for hire. Within a year, he met Captain Sally Roth, owner of the DropShip No Leaf Clover, and the two became business partners. Since naval tradition declared that a force cannot have two Captains on the same ship, Gaius accepted the role of Colonel.

Gaius's relationship with Sally was...complicated, but mutually beneficial. Where he was strict, she was freewheeling. Where he was taciturn, she was brash. Where he was tactful and diplomatic, she was blunt and direct. In most situations, Gaius would see the options they had available and their consequences, while Sally would push him to make the hard decisions. As the command grew from a lance to a company, many saw Colonel Wayne and Captain Roth as the 'mom and dad' of the command. For years, rumors have circulated among the Knights of a torrid romance between Gaius and Sally, though according to both of them, anything between them is strictly professional.

By 3022, the Green Knights had established themselves as reliable pirate-hunters out on the Rimward Frontier, and were working for the Aurigan Coalition during the outbreak of the Restoration War. Gaius led the Green Knights through three years of bitter fighting against Directorate forces, as well as meddling House warriors who had heard rumors of LosTech caches being found in the region. While the Green Knights lost several Mechwarriors during the war, they also gained others, and ended up coming out ahead when House Arano was restored to power. Gaius was offered a knighthood for his efforts, but declined for reasons he has never disclosed.

After the war, Gaius returned to pirate-hunting, signing a contract with the Free Worlds League to protect their border worlds. From 3025 to 3028, he took the Green Knights on campaigns into the Periphery, primarily against the ruthless raiders and slavers of the Marian Hegemony. During one particularly nasty encounter, a shell from an enemy AC-10 caught his Battlemaster in the head, breaching the cockpit. The shrapnel from the breach mangled his left arm, and in the aftermath, Gaius had to have the arm amputated at the elbow.

The loss of his arm devastated Gaius; while he had enough C-Bills stored away to have a high-end prosthetic replace the limb, the cybernetic implants needed for fine motor control would interfere with the Neurohelmet needed to control a Battlemech. Even attempting to operate in a simulator pod caused headaches, dizziness, and nosebleeds; to pilot an actual 'Mech for more than a few minutes would cause irreparable, possibly fatal brain damage. After a lifetime of chasing the ideals of the Lorix Creed, his time as a Mechwarrior was well and truly over.

After the heavy fighting in the Restoration War and the Marian campaign, Colonel Wayne felt the need for some down time, both for the Green Knights to recover and rebuild, and for himself to adjust to his new role as a hands-off commander. Signing a contract with the Capellan Confederation for easy garrison duty, he believed, would give everyone plenty of time to heal their wounds. The outbreak of the Fourth Succession War, the CCAF's calamitous defeat, and the chaos breaking loose on Espia, however, has taken that recovery time away.

Now Gaius, still feeling as though he is half the man he once was, has to lead his warriors through a treacherous and desperate situation, knowing full-well his orders could get them all killed, and he has no way to save them if things go wrong.

Designed by the Star League for coordinating large-scale planetary operations, Mobile HQs boasted sophisticated communications equipment and tactical computer systems, allowing a crew to effectively command battalions across an entire planet. When linked to satellites, drone networks, and even far-away JumpShips, a fully-functional Mobile HQ with a capable crew can turn the course of a battle, or even an entire war.

Unfortunately, the loss of advanced technology caused by the Succession Wars has led most of the surviving chassis, such as Gawain Actual, to undergo significant downgrades. The holographic map table, for example, is long-gone, requiring the Green Knights to rely on conventional maps. The fusion power plant has been replaced with an internal combustion engine, making Gawain Actual reliant on fuel, and reducing its power output--for its comms arrays to function effectively, the vehicle must come to a complete stop, making it vulnerable to enemy fire. And without a satellite network to link up to, the Mobile HQ's range is greatly diminished. It is, however, still more than capable of coordinating a single company, which at the moment is all the Green Knights need.

Gawain Actual is armed with a single turret-mounted Medium Laser, allowing it only nominal defensive capabilities. The vast majority of its mass is taken up by its TharHes HQ CommSet and Diplan IX Sidesweeper target tracking system, which combine to provide accurate intel from dozens of friendly units at once. In addition to a driver, the Mobile HQ also requires a gunner for the turret-mounted laser, three comms officers to operate the CommSet, and a commander to issue orders.

Named after the magic sword of the mythical Sir Gawain, Galatine is a standard 1G model Battlemaster that has been handed down through the Wayne family for nearly two hundred years. While it doesn't boast the withering firepower of the Awesome or the sheer terrifying presence of the Atlas, the Battlemaster is a versatile and robust 'Mech that sees regular service throughout the Inner Sphere and Periphery alike. Its single Donal Particle Projector Cannon gives it middling-at-best long-range firepower, but it is devastating at short to medium range, carrying six Martell Medium Lasers, a Holly Six-Pack SRM Launcher, and a pair of Sperry-Browning .50 caliber Machine Guns.

Colonel Wayne piloted Galatine for a solid twenty-five years, for the Federated Suns and as a freelance mercenary, until the loss of his left arm left him unable to pilot a Battlemech. While he can no longer drive his ancestral 'Mech, he can't bring himself to part with it either, thus the Battlemaster has sat in the Green Knights' storage bay for three years, slowly gathering dust and occasionally being stripped of weapons and armor for active 'Mechs. Galatine, though still functional, is a shell of what it used to be...much like Gaius himself.

Currently, Galatine is aboard the No Leaf Clover, in the custody of the Espian Guards. Its cockpit is Neural-locked, making it impossible to override without an expert hacker to keep it from melting a potential hijacker's brain, but the mere fact that his 'Mech is in enemy hands drives Colonel Wayne up the wall, regardless of whether he can even pilot it anymore.

A born spacer, Sally Roth inherited command of the No Leaf Clover from her parents at a young age, and she has spent a lifetime learning the hard lessons of life in the Periphery. She is brash, smart-mouthed, quick to act, and highly protective of her ship and crew. Sally will more often than not be the first to call Colonel Wayne to task if she thinks he's in the wrong...and the first to shut down anyone else speaking ill of him. Any rumors of an illicit affair between herself and the Colonel are usually met with a month's worth of latrine duty for anyone caught spreading them.





A veritable "walking TRO," Sol memorized every Technical Readout available. Studying 'Mech Engineering at the New Avalon Institute of Science, he lost the shirt off his back (as well as his arm and leg) searching for LosTech during the Restoration War, and found himself in need of a job around the same time Colonel Wayne needed a new chief technician. Since then, Chief Aadil has become a tireless leader of the Techs and AsTechs under his supervision, his thin and somewhat mousy frame belying a lion's temper and a razor-sharp wit. Many Techs fear a tongue-lashing from the Chief more than they fear enemy fire. Despite this, Sol encourages the crew to play as hard as they work, personally refereeing the 'Scrap Yard,' the weekly off-the-books fighting ring in the Vehicle Bay that the Captain and Colonel pretend not to know about.





The commander of the Green Knights' infantry platoons, Master Sergeant Dalton embodies the phrase "beware the old man in a profession where men die young." A tough old bastard originally from the Taurian Concordat, Dalton has survived three decades of combat, eight bullets, and three divorces. He is gruff and irascible, and has a grim sense of gallows humor, but can always be depended on to lead his team through hell and get them out on the other side, even if he has to drag them kicking and screaming. Dalton's First Knights Foot Platoon, better known to the other Knights as "The Buckshot Boys," almost exclusively favor shotguns over assault rifles as their primary weapon.





Captain Sally Roth's younger niece, Cynthia is the Green Knights' Quartermaster. Sarcastic and dry-witted, Cynthia does not suffer fools for long, and it is well-known she has Captain Sally's ear when it comes to her opinion of certain personnel. Cynthia does not care for Colonel Wayne personally, though she respects him professionally. Currently, she is one of the prisoners held captive by the NPDRE.





A gifted surgeon originally from the Draconis Combine, Dr. Nakajima is the Green Knights' chief medical officer. Doc Yuri is serious-minded and in dire need of a sense of humor, but would gladly put her own life on the line to save another.





The three officers that operate the Comms suite in the Green Knights' mobile HQ, collectively known as "The GDK" (or "Those God-Damned Kids," as the Colonel refers to them), Lieutenant Lyons and Cadets Higgins and Windham would never be caught dead with each other if it weren't for the fact that they function so well as a team. Lieutenant Lyons is uptight and quotes regulations as if they were holy scripture, Higgins is little more than a walking libido, and Windham seems to think he's on the set of the latest Immortal Warrior. When they are not bickering or picking at each other, they somehow manage to come together to make the Mobile HQ's equipment sing.

Physical Appearance:
Tarak is a 24 year old man with tanned skin, stands at 6'4, and weighs 265 pounds where it seems every ounce of that weight seems to be dedicated to his muscular physique. His body is much more like a worked machine running at top efficiency, he has low fat on his body and is quite prone to being cold. Tarak has short to medium-length black hair that he lets down more often than not. His eyes are these golden brown eyes that seem to always have a sharpness and almost shininess to them. He has many scars across his body, the most numerous being on his back, his torso, and on his legs, many of which look quite nasty as many were never properly treated but easily hidden by simple clothing, except for the one on his face the he received when he was younger.

Tarak is a simpler man, he has some money, but he spends very little of it on clothing. He has basic clothing at best, a tee shirt, black pants, some shorts, a jacket, and some thick and sturdy boots. Leaving to where Tarak has very little in the way of variety in clothing, to the point people will often think he has multiple sets of the same outfit, but sometimes he just forgets to clean some of his clothing and wears it, but nobody notices.

Character Archetype:
Hotshot with a haunting past

Character’s Guiding Motto:
Face forward and clench your fists, nothing comes to those who sit and wait.

Character’s Fatal Flaw:
Tarak is trying to do the best for those he has with him left. He tries to run from the things he has done, the enemies he's made, and the people he's lost. He tries his best to keep those who he has close from being lost, yet he is slowly noticing and fearing he is losing himself. Almost to the point where all he is his machine and the murder he causes is his existance.

Character’s Expertise:
Combat: Brawling, stealthy takedowns, and some Weapon training- Tarak lives to fight, his existance has always been in combat. May have it been inside the cockpit or out of it, he had always danced the Macabre Waltz with death. While out of a mech, Tarak's skills are exceptional yet improvised. He had never had any formal training, yet was taught to fight by life. He is as much a brawler as a Battle Mech pilot, he uses a variation of wild hits and precise efficent strikes while using stealth to deal with multiple opponents in a small area. Using improvised combinations, weapons, and the enviroment to deal with opponents quickly. Even with his most exceptional combat skills being in the form of brawling, he has been known to use many different weapons, firearms, and even heavier weapons such as machine guns, rockets, and other such things.

Tactics: Combat & Bounty/Pirate Hunting- Tarak's insight and instincts are beyond that of a normal person's. He is able to read deeper into most things as his intuition is that of a seasoned detective. His deductions skills were fostered from his years as a slave, a bounty/pirate hunter, and mercenary and these skills were honed especially when dealing with the many different people while being used by many different factions across the Galaxy. Yet his skills weren't just deduction and reading people to understand what they want and are thinking, it also a supernatural hunting instinct and combat intuition. His thoughts on their movement, how they'd react, and even where they are almost seem like he can read their mind. Yet this comes from years of experience from life or death experiences where a wrong move might mean he misses his mark, or worst, he becomes their prey.

Engineering: Scavenging & Field Repairs- During the years Tarak was a Mercenary and Bounty Hunter for hire, he had to spend much of his time away from base and anywhere to get proper repairs. So he to learn how to do repairs in the field to ensure he had a higher survival chance. After much time Tarak became quite good at doing quick repairs to Battle Mechs. Often spotting faults and make sure they are repaired, often the battle mechs when he first started looked as if they were scrap brawlers, using different pieces of strangely colored metal, rubber, and plastic that could be found to repair Mechs. As Tarak got better the Mechs began to become better looking, his repairs became more solid, to the point where one would never think he was using scraps. These skills came to great use when found in long solo missions, damages need to be repaired after battles and skrimishes, and often it can mean life and death if he is unable to keep his machine working, so he will scavenge what he can from other machines. Rigging broken systems to reroute power, jerry rigging operating systems and armor onto his Mech to complete the mission. This often leads to Tarak preferring Mechs that have hand actuators to take hold of things so he can actually repair things.

Nationality/Allegiance: Solaris 7/No allegiance.

---

---

Background:

Tarak was an orphan born on Solaris 7, he was in a orphanage that abused them and one night after the Caretakers killed one of the orphans in the orphanage, Tarak killed them and burnt the Orphanage down. From there the rest of the Orpahns and him lived on the streets until they were picked up by a 'Stable' that wanted to give them a chance of a better life for working for them. Once there they realized that they were stuck there as now slaves to do the work of Technicians, Mechwarriors, and other such things with no hope of actual escape from the 'Stable'. Once they were trained enough they began to sent the Mechwarriors into underground battles to begin to rig games in their favor. Either having them take fall, or substituting them out with better pilots to always come out as winners.

One night after one of the kids decided to forfeit, he was killed. Making the rest of the Orphans now plan their freedom, as once Tarak was 15, they had planned enough for them to finally make an escape. First Tarak assassinated each of the guards on the base with the planned weapons and hideouts made for this night, and once they scrap yard was cleared, they took everything they could and sold it all. Yet they were given a few hours before the owners knew, so they sold anything they could, and traded their mech for a different one, losing a lot of value on a lot of their gear, yet they had enough. While in the escape Tarak was almost cornered and died, but by the grace of god and luck he was able to get away as another criminal group they made a deal with killed the other group.

Once in Free Worlds League territory, they began taking small jobs until they were finally able to get their first real job as pirate hunters. After teaming up with a few other rag tag groups of mercenaries, many decided to go their separate ways, yet it did give the Orphans a jumping off point. They began to continue their job search, taking jobs as Bounty hunters and Pirate hunters, acting like a scalpel Tarak made a name for himself not only as an exceptional Mechwarrior, but also as an exceptional Bounty Hunter. As after a few years as a small act, the Orphans were found by the Green Knights, with them all being nearly adult age at this point with Tarak being 20 by this point, they began working for the Green Knights, putting their skills to some real use. As the Green Knights gave them a better chance at fortune than what they had before. The next 4 years have been the most profitable they've seen, until they've hit this little snag with Espia, but the Orphans have gotten out of tough situations, this time won't be much different, as long as they have each other.

---

---

Equipment:

Character Name:
Beauregard McKeough

Callsign:
Hugh (“You know what? Just call me by that handle anytime, I don't mind. Really sad that nobody calls me Beau anymore these days.”)

Character Archetype:
Good Old Boy

Character’s Guiding Motto:
“It's five o'clock somewhere – 'cept when it's raidin' time!”

Character’s Fatal Flaw:
Heavy drinker (“I'm responsible though... I swear!”)

Character’s Expertise:
Reconnaissance, Stealth, Survival

Nationality/Allegiance:
Capellan Confederation Supporter caste, loyalist (“I ain't a diehard patriot though, more like better the devil you know”)

Background:
When twelve-year-old Beau McKeough learned that he would be learning to pilot a 'Mech, he leapt in excitement right then and there, as rambunctious young boys are wont to do.

As soon as his father and older siblings told him what for exactly, however, that excitement quickly died down.

The reason he was to pilot a 'Mech, they told him, was twofold: for him to learn the family trade (for the McKeoughs owned and ran no less than the biggest timber company on Espia) as well as to render, in the words of the Ministry of Social Education, “some kind of volunteer work that can be interpreted as having made some contribution to the state,” which in the case of young Beau was to clear out swamps and forests using a Lumberjack gifted to him from the McKeoughs's fleet of IndustrialMechs.

Despite the dream having been turned into a chore, Beau nevertheless performed quite well at land clearing, even picking up a good deal of land surveying and speculating from the senior members of the government crew to which he was assigned. Upon turning 15, Beau passed his citizenship evaluation with flying colors and joined the older members of his family as a bona fide member of the Capellan Supporter caste, which counted among its number captains of industry and trade in addition to educators, economists, and members of the judiciary.

Such was Beau's performance in service of Espia that he was offered a spot at the Capella War College – which he promptly declined, stating that he knew that the chances of ever going home to one's home planet are slim to none should one become an officer, and that spending most of his boyhood day in and day out in the dank cockpit of his Lumberjack had left him burned-out and jaded as far as piloting was concerned. Desperate for a change of scenery, Beau matriculated at the University of Balya Gora (UBG), purportedly to major in civil engineering but actually to party like an animal and enjoy himself like he never did before. For not only was the “Bee Gee” Espia's number one institute for higher education, it was also the place where the best and the brightest from all over the planet got together to get drunk, get laid, and pursue a different kind of “higher learning” altogether. Nevertheless, in between the partying and the studying and the having to assist his siblings at the McKeough Timber Co. headquarters, Beau managed to graduate with honors and was given a sinecure by his father.

Beau had just completed his first year of graduate studies in geological engineering via distance learning with Sian University when news of the Capellan withdrawal broke out. Upon hearing this, Beau immediately rushed to the McKeough headquarters, where he found his parents, his siblings, their extended family, and their most trusted retainers and employees all gathered in the boardroom.

Steeling himself against the tears, Beau's father announced to all present that already he could sense where the wind was blowing, that he could feel it in his blood, for even on long-ago Terra the McKeoughs of ancient Ireland were no strangers to the never-ending cycles of calamity and upheaval. It was for this reason that the elder McKeough, in agreement with senior members of the family as well as members of the board, management, and the employees' union as well, decided to sell the company before the inevitable backlash from the increasingly-restive Servitor underclass would reduce everything they worked for into piles of worthless ash.

Before dismissing everyone for the final time, the patriarch added that while he would like nothing more during this difficult time than for his family and closest friends to accompany him to the Espian outback to lay low, perhaps it would be just as good for them, if they so wished, to go their separate ways and survive independently of one another to the best of their ability, for that was how the McKeoughs survived wars, famines, and genocides throughout the millennia; so long as a mere handful or even just one of them remained standing at the end of it all, the family could always begin anew.

With that final family reunion having adjourned as quickly as it had begun, Beau went over to his parents and informed them of his decision to find a way to stay and fight for his home, if not for the Confederation at large – but not the conspicuously unwieldly and corrupt planetary government, which as a university student he had grown to hate. After getting their blessing, Beau drove to the McKeough hangars out in the boondocks to retrieve his Lumberjack and got in touch with some politically-active loyalists he knew from university, who then put him in touch with a cell of the Capellan Citizens' Combine which during this time had not yet been subsumed into the Espian Free People's Movement.

To his horror, Beau found out that the leader running his cell was none other than Margaret Bo, an erstwhile UBG student council president. Hailing from the Directorship caste ("more like the Dictatorship caste, haha") and notorious for being a veritable Machiavellian queen bee even during their Bee Gee days, Bo didn't pass up the chance to poach him for her own cell, for he was the closest thing to a seasoned 'Mech pilot she could get from a pool of mostly civvies. Furthermore, she demanded that while serving under her, Beau should relinquish all claims to his first name, for there could only be one Bo/Beau in her cell – namely, herself.

With his first name taken from him and finding it irritating for others to either mispronounce his surname or lazily call him some variant of “Mac,” “Mackie,” or the slur-sounding “Mick,” the pilot eventually settled on just being called “you” by the others, which in time became “Hugh”: his callsign as well as the name he went by from that moment on.

Despite their working relationship having gotten off to a rocky start, the cell leader reluctantly agreed that in exchange for his unquestioning service to her excellency and as a hazard pay of sorts, as the cell's only pilot he was to be allowed to keep a moonshine still in his trailer as well as some grain and all the liquor looted from their raids in lieu of pay. After all, he reasoned, his job during raids and ambushes was to draw to himself as much enemy gunfire as he could take if they weren't close enough for him to hit with his chainsaw. “Booze helps to calm my nerves when we're not raiding, besides I'm literally a dead man walking now ain't I?” was his excuse to her. "I believe I'm entitled to that at the very least."

Margaret Bo was more of a bureaucrat than a field commander, but Hugh didn't mind her hogging all the credit each time they scored a win against the regime they both hated, so long as he got his agreed-upon share of the spoils and was permitted to drink to his heart's content in private. Bo, being uncompromisingly domineering and a teetotaler to boot, continued to secretly resent him for this; at the same time, the Capellan Citizens' Combine and the Espian Free People's Movement began to closely associate with one another.

Unfortunately for Hugh, Bo was also ambitious – so much so that after being told that she was considered for a higher position in the Free People's Army, she thought it would be a good idea to seal the deal by seizing the pilot's stash of alcohol to give to the FPA honchos as a gift, and as a grandiose show of authority, to subject him, her top (and only) pilot, to "long-overdue disciplinary action" – all the better to remind all concerned of the pecking order.

Hugh found out about this and reckoned that it was high time to get out of dodge. Later that night, he loaded into his cargo bay all the worldly possessions he still had with him, including his still, his stash of alcohol, and just to spite Margaret, an old jukebox from the cell's mess hall that he figured was a Bo family heirloom.

After convincing the guards that he was on a solo covert mission to take the stuff in his hold to some potential allies (which was still technically true, he told himself), Hugh hopped into the cockpit, powered up his Lumberjack, and strode off in search of the source of that exotic moonshine he got from the black market whose label was stamped with nothing but a green knight's helmet. That fine hooch had been on his mind ever since his first sip.

“Pretty sure it's those mercs from offworld who made that good shit,” Hugh thought to himself as an ancient Terran song* started to play on his stereo. “Gotta be.”

Battlemech:



Hugh pilots a dull-gray Lumberjack, originally an LM1/A, which with the grudging approval of Margaret Bo he paid the technologically-inclined members of their cell a significant amount of liquor to upgrade with looted weapons. The souped-up ForestryMech now sports an LRM-10 in place of one of the dumpers, additional armor, and machine guns instead of its signature lift hoist. Painted on the 'Mech's left chest plate is the iconic green Capellan Confederation emblem, now weathered. And in case anyone's wondering, it still rocks its chainsaw.

Character Name: Jonathan McCord

Callsign: Hooker

Nicknames: Jon, Jonboy, Jay, J-Bone, Cord



Archetype: Grizzled Veteran

Guiding Motto: “Let God sort’em out”

Fatal Flaw: Problem with authority- Jonathan has an innate disdain for governmental structures and particularly the social protocols that follow. He finds most people/systems that believe they rule over him to be worthy of contempt and mockery.

Expertise:

Survival- Jon is able to be self sufficient in most climates and survive on his own for prolonged periods of time. He grew up being outdoors and is comfortable with even the most minimal arrangements.
Tactics- Small unit tactics and understanding the lay of the land come very natural. If he’s given an objective to take or defend, his methods may not be entirely by the book, but will usually be swiftly effective.
Rifles- Gunnery is one of Jon’s favorite hobbies in general. He can calculate shots based on MOA or MRAD measurements, understands compesating for windage, bullet drop and coriolis effect. He can quickly zero in a rifle or set the convergence on a mech for whatever the scenario may require.

Nationality/ Allegiance: Taurian Concordat

Background:

Hailing from New Vandenberg in the heart of the Concordat, the McCords are an old name on planet and trace roots to the uprising against the SLDF. Daily life and education were always accompanied by reminders of this lineage, but generally Jonathan and his younger brother grew up with a fairly common childhood. The family’s business was spread across the many interests of Jon’s father, Randolph, the most lucrative of which being a salvage operation, though also supported by a mass of farmland and a part-time hobby of running a mercenary/militia outfit that operated exclusively in Taurian space against pirates, mercenaries and the occasional probing forces of the neighboring great houses. McCord’s Legion were a popular force in defensive contracts and was far and away Randolph’s favorite business “hobby”. In Jonathan’s younger years, he idolized his father and the seemingly mystical nature of the Legion, known as much for their antics as their effectiveness.

Aside from the expected burdens of education, days were filled with being outdoors either on the farm driving agro-mechs, trucks, loaders- anything else he could get his hands on, going on long calls with his dad in one of their massive recovery vehicles or just hanging around the Legion. The violent history of New Vandenberg provided for plenty of work locally for excavated salvage, but offworld contracts were not out of the question. Being headquartered in one of the most hospitable climate zones on planet, not far from the protected avian preserve, meant the farm stayed busy and the workload was always backed up. Randolph was a profitable manager of his various operations, but not always the most effective one. His whims changed often and were mostly centered around the more entertaining work of the mech lance. Salvage and farming grew to lengths beyond his want or ability to manage while he was often too selfish to share the burden.

Graduating from regular schooling and during his late teenage years is when Jonathan began to glimpse the other side of the curtain in regards to the family businesses. The good and the bad. Randolph kept a lot of income moving, but also a lot of debt. There was a balance fueled by long days in the field, crafty negotiations and substantial amounts of alcohol. He was never violent or angry, just a man with a vice. Many remarked he was much more debonair with it than without and his lively company and expertise was often sought after. At the end of the day, the businesses did well. Even if they could do better, “good enough” was just perfect. The simple charisma of the man was something that Jon and his brother continually looked at with fascination as young adults and was ultimately a large part of the man he was shaped into as he headed away from home for the first time to complete his compulsory service for the Taurian Defense Force.

Even with his substantial experience with heavy equipment, like all McCords, Jonathan first volunteered for the infantry and did his first year with the TDF as a foot soldier. As with many of his peers who had grown up being outdoors around weapons and machines, military life came fairly easily and his gunnery skills more often than not put him at the top of his squad for marksmanship. After the first year his transfer to a mechanized formal training regiment was completed and he continued his service with the TDF for his required three additional years plus two more. It was during this time that he earned his callsign as he expertly retrieved another bogged down Rilfleman from his lance out of a swampy depression. It was not his favorite moniker at first, which made it stick all the more among his command and contemporaries, however over time he adopted a sort of comical ambivalence towards it, willing to simply accept it as "unique". After a career marked with battles and scraps large and small around Taurian space, Jonathan left the regular military to return home.

Growing older and having had a larger view of the space around him, Jon knew that permanent life as a mechwarrior was not for him and staying in it for very long could likely produce situations that drastically shortened his life. He struggled with it as he came to join the Legion as an “official member”. He liked to fight and he was good at it- like Randolph, it was his truest nature, but he had seen the long term effects on those that chose to stay in the cockpit. In his time away, many in the Legion had come and gone as more competition grew for contracts in response to the burgeoning Federated Commonwealth. The core regulars, the circle of pilots closest to his father, all were showing signs of their age: many with visible burns and injuries, others that had lost fingers or worse. None of them were forced to fight, it was a choice and often seemed to border on the nonsensical. It was easy to see that salvage and farming were the safe constants for the family, the steady and slow stream, but the rush of combat and quick paydays of mercenary work were hard to deny.

Jonathan knew he was going to have to make a decision and that it wouldn’t necessarily be a popular one. He wanted a life and family outside of fighting and it was within his grasp. However the decision was made for him when the Legion was ambushed in a trap on the border of Taurian/Davion space. Two members of the lance killed with mechs destroyed and Randolph’s Atlas nearly cored out leaving him paralyzed and barely alive. Jonathan scantly escaped in his Marauder covering their retreat, but the damage was done. McCord’s Legion was effectively finished in one battle. Rumors that their best days were behind them seemed to be confirmed and in the days and months following the defeat, the mystique surrounding one New Vandenberg’s oldest merc companies all but vanished. Jonathan along with his mother were left to sort out the tangled mess of Randolph’s business practices: a long line of handshake agreements, fast money and commitments that could no longer be satisfied. The thread that seemed to run common through all of it was debt and without the family patriarch at the reigns the whole balance would disintegrate.

There would barely be enough available capital to pay off the survivor debts from the Legion, ship fees and repair Jonathan’s Marauder. The complete refit and repair of Randolph’s Atlas was out of the question and would remain in its mangled state on the border of the family farm sitting alongside all the other salvage. The financial advisors made it clear: Selling assets would be the easiest way to settle up. Assets that would include the salvage company and the farm. Jonathan felt done with all of it, but he knew there was another way and if nothing else, he was going to keep the farm. The rest of it could be damned.

One man and one mech with little overhead made it easy to be the lowest bidder on a multitude of contracts, but the amount of work suited for such a combination were conversely, minute. For weeks Jonathan combed the listings for something until a niche contract popped on a small borderworld in the Andurien region of the Capellan Confederation: Protect a small number of key resources belonging to the Aqua Vitae Corporation. Travel expenses to be covered and a bonus to be paid in Neodymium upon successful completion of a set term. It seemed the locally wealthy needed some extra muscle protecting their property and thusly, Gulf Coast Recon was born and registered with the MRB to complete the task. The money from the contract would be enough to pay off his father’s debts, keep the farm and the bonus might even allow him to keep some of the more rare items from the scrapyard.

At present, Jon has been on Espia for around nine months operating in the south protecting AVC assets inland of Platform C around Yuzhny Portveyn and Nui Awa. What started as a relatively easy and mundane defense job rapidly became more complicated over the last few weeks and with his original contract period ending, Jon was ready to collect and get off system. Before the arrival of foreign mech forces and rapid dissolution of the Capellan puppet government, his AVC contact offered a payout on their original arrangement and a doubling of his existing rate in exchange for his continued service. His gut instinct warned him to take the money and leave, but he knew the extra cash could only help the family and the deluge of continued medical expenses for his father. Reluctantly he agreed to stay and less than a month later Balya Gora fell, effectively stranding him on the planet under contract.

Jon knows very little about the Green Knights other than what he has heard from the scattered remnants of the Capellan government in the south and the NPDRE propaganda machine. He has no opinion either way. AVC has been very good to him despite the volatile state of Espia, though he has his suspicions about the interworkings of their end of the planet’s political balance…