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Iron Tiger Battalion
| Status: |
Active |
| Location: |
En-route to Donnegal |
| Strength: |
Reinforced Battalion |
| C.O.: |
Major Davis Keith |
| X.O.: |
Capt. Ferris Wycoff |
| Homeworld: |
Galatea (official) |
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Fort Necessity (unofficial) |
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Sarah's Specters (detached unit)
| Status: |
Active |
| Location: |
Solaris VII |
| Strength: |
Reinforced Company |
| C.O.: |
Capt. Sarah Johannsen |
| X.O.: |
MW Katherine Wong |
| Homeworld: |
Galatea (official) |
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Fort Necessity (unofficial) |
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Major Keith's Mission Log
Click here for data access...
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| IRON TIGER BATTALION: UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE |
The Iron Tiger Battalion is the remnants of the Steel Crows mercenary unit shattered by the Clans while fighting in the Deep Periphery. As the surviving senior officer, Major Keith has taken control of the unit's assets and reorganized them into a flexible, rapid strike force. After finding a long-forgotten Star League cache on their way back to Outreach, Major Keith paid off the unit's debt and led the team out of Clan-held space into the safer seas of the Inner Sphere.
After two-years of fighting alongside, and supporting, the 66th S.O.G. and Tyler's Terrors in the Chaos March, Major Keith has started accepting contracts that take him further away from his erstwhile allies. This may suggest a rift is forming between the three, given the Terrors have reestablished ties with the Federated Suns, and considering rumors of sectarian violence directed against the Word of Blake by the 66th S.O.G. Or it could be that the Tigers are on the trail of another trove of LosTech.
Recently, the Iron Tigers have been exhibiting odd behavior, even for them. They have absorbed several mercenary commands and individual mercenaries from Solaris VII and Outreach; have expanded their unit into a reinforced Battalion with air, artillery, and BattleArmor support (including several suits of Taurian-built Asterion armor and Federated Commonwealth Infiltrator Mk I armor); and are sporting a full contingent of IndustrialMechs for security and battlefield recovery.
Most curiously, after a raid in Marik space, they were last seen stripping a combat vehicle assembly plant bare. Given the rumors of the Tigers doing the same to a Capellan stealth armor factory, this decidely un-Mercenary-like behavior cannot be discounted and has caused both conspiracy-theorists and paranoid-delusionists a serious lack of sleep.
The Iron Tigers have no set paint scheme, preferring to paint their 'Mechs according to the mission. However, they do favor dark colors that make it easier for them to blend into the night.
Dragoons Rating:A
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OFFICERS
Major Davis Keith was born in the Taurian Concordat but travelled to Outreach as part of the new openness between the Concordat and the Star League. Trained in the Dragoon Academy, Davis was offered a commission in Wolf's Dragoons, but turned it down in favor of a mercenary unit that offered a more flexible merger with his favorite pastime: Lostech Prospecting.
Captain Kym Skaarsgard is both the unit's surgeon and conscience. A lover of Star League medical technology, she's the perfect fit for a unit that loves to explore as much as fight. However, she takes 'unacceptable risks' according to Major Keith. While he doesn't mind Kym taking her Star League vintage MASH unit into towns to provide medical care for the impoverished (it is good PR after all), his nervousness has only been recently tempered now that the 66th Special Services Division has taken to providing security while she goes off on her 'do no harm' tours.
A Goliath Scorpion MechWarrior, Rachelle met up with Major Keith shortly after his former unit was shattered by the Star Adders in the Deep Periphery. One of the 'seekers', Rachelle had grown tired of the Clan homeworlds since there was now a whole universe to explore. When she stumbled upon the same Star League depot while it was being excavated by the newly formed Iron Tiger Battalion, conflict ensued after laying claim to a vintage Spector in true Clan form. A long conversation with Major Keith, followed by a short fist fight, saw Rachelle in posession of the Spector BattleMech and the Iron Tigers with a new Lance Commander.
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TACTICS
The Iron Tiger Battalion fights conventional battles with unconventional warfare. Major Keith is training the rest of the Battalion to be a highly mobile and flexible strikeforce; no matter what the battlefield, Keith does his best to choose the most favorable time of day and weather conditions to fight the enemy. The Iron Tigers never fight the enemy on their own terms. Ever.
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SUPPORT
The Iron Tiger Battalion can provide full technical and administrative support, and boasts over 300% of its medical requirements. The unit has an obsolete Fortress-class dropship (the Fortune Hunter), captured during a daring raid with the 66th Special Services Division and Tyler's Terrors and a Tramp jumpship The Steel Crow, captured during the defense of a pirate raid on Acamar. Recently he has added the Tomb Raider, a vintage Colossus-class Dropship assumedly recovered from a Star League depot, and the Bone Collector, an upgraded Wolf's Dragoons-vintage Lion dropship seized from the Word of Blake, escorted by a pair of Stingrays and four LAMs. When asked about the origins of his Lostech machines, Major Keith only smiles and says 'hey, sometimes you get lucky.' Periods of time when the Iron Tigers are 'off the grid' have led to speculation that, unlikely as it may seem, Major Keith's motley band of Tomb Raiders have found another Star League cache; however the contents and location, even it's existence, are unknown at this time.
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RULES
Major Keith is tempering his Taurian paranoia with Dragoon training into a strategy based upon unconventional warfare. He forces the Iron Tiger Battalion to train when the weather is bad but he gives "shore leave" when the weather is good. It's common to see them on night maneuvers, in a rainstorm, practicing highly mobile hit-and-fade tactics in the worst terrain imaginable. Major Keith has the unit broken up into lances on paper, but in reality, he selects 'MechWarriors and 'Mechs based upon the mission objectives and not upon how well his people work together. This uncertainty has caused no shortage of grumbling among his soldiers, but has forged a group of individuals into a solid team. By adding an Arrow IV Demolisher and the Fortune Hunters' Long Tom artillery piece with cross-training alongside the armored infantry from the 66th Special Services Division, the Major is looking to field a fully integrated combined-arms unit in the near future.
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The Major's Own
Lance/Veteran/Questionable
CO: Major Davis Keith
XO: Captain Ferris Wycoffe
Major Davis Keith is a Taurian-born, Dragoon-trained MechWarrior who molded a shattered unit and an influx of new recruits with willpower, a love for Star League prospecting, and a generous profit-sharing scheme. Keith accepts nothing less than the best from his people, but he provides the best in return. His soldiers and support staff are well fed, paid, and supplied. On many occasions, Keith has gone without a paycheck so the least of his men could get a bonus for excelling in their given role. Major Keith leads from the front, sharing equally in the risks. A stubborn Taurian to the core, he is the first to enter the fight and the last to leave--and the rest of the Tigers love him for it. Wherever the heaviest fighting is, the Major will be in the thick of it. Something that Goliath Scorpion Seeker; Rachelle both respects and wishes to see tempered. Privately, she fears that if the Major falls during one of his risky tactical maneuvers, the rest of the Battalion would shatter.
Support Lance
Lance/Veteran/Questionable
CO: Lieutenant Kaitlyn McNamara
Skye-born and Dragoon taught, Kaitlyn McNamara is a wizard when it comes to technology. Hauntingly beautiful, she possesses an encyclopediac knowledge of tech--both old and new. Although well versed in old and lostech, Kaitlyn knows her way around Clan-tech, however she doesn't get the chance to practice this venue much. Cross-trained as a dropship pilot, Kaitlyn runs the Battalion's support staff with a mixture of iron-willed drill sergeant and old world charm to coax the best out of the technical, medical, administrative, and new transport staff.
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The Scorpion's Sting
Lance/Regular/Questionable
CO: Lance Commander Rachelle
After Major Keith assigned MechWarrior Rachelle as a Lance Commander, she proceeded to fight each and every one of her lance mates to prove her worth as a leader. Afterwards, Rachelle ruthlessly trained her lance, as she was trained by her clan (sans necrosia), and started challenging the other units within the Battalion to trials designed to prove her lance's worth. When not on duty, Major Keith and Rachelle can be found arguing tactics for hours over coffee in the mess halls. Their philosophies on highly mobile warfare differ only in what is deemed 'honorable combat.' Rachelle strictly adheres to her belief in Clan duellist dogma. Davis favors a more pragmatic approach of using any advantage he has to win. Slowly but surely, the two warriors are starting to rub off on each other. Davis has become more cautious not to undertake actions that would portray his unit unfavorably and Rachelle has started to adopt Inner Sphere gang-fighting tactics when absolutely necessary to carry the day.
McCabe's Maulers
Platoon/Regular/Questionable
CO: Lieutenant Brenda McCabe
Michael's Maulers was a former mercenary security team for Tao MechWorks. Originally a mixed regiment of armor and infantry, the Maulers were caught in the crossfire of the FedCom Civil War and were badly beaten. Dragooned into the LAAF, they were decimated and left with no way to claim payment for services rendered. Captain Michael McCabe then brokered a security garrison contract with Tao MechWorks shortly before his demise. Knowing that his death was near (due to old age aggravated by a lifetime of serious injuries), Michael's hope was providing a secure garrison contract that would allow his daughter Brenda the opportunity to rebuild the Maulers in relative safety. They got their safety. But the contract Michael was forced to sign contained some legal loopholes that allowed Tao's Board of Directors to company store the Maulers beyond the two year contract. Morale plummetted and Brenda saw herself facing the possibility of massive defections from the enlisted and mutiny among her NCOs. Salvation came in the form of a job offer broadcast by Capt. Ferris Wycoff during a raid on Styk. Impressed with their daring and tenacity, Brenda jumped at the opportunity to join the Tigers and escape Tao. After the battle ended, she cited an emergency escape clause in the contract that allowed the Maulers to disband (at the expense of surrendering their remaining armor to Tao) only to reform as the security arm of the Iron Tiger Battalion.
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