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Waco Rangers
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In 3007, Captain Wayne Waco of the soon-to-be disbanded 1st Tau Ceti Rangers resigned his commission from House Liao and recruited 15 down-and-out Mechwarriors to form a mercenary company called the Waco Rangers. Oddly enough Liao was their first employer, and the Rangers were soon on the front line, attempting to stem a Davion advance.
While on New Aragon in 3008, there, Waco Rangers were strung out on picket duty for McCormack's Fusiliers, awaiting the assault of Wolf's Dragoons. However, Wolf's attack was unexpectedly quick, and the Dragoons trapped Captain Waco's only son, Lieutenant John Waco, in the El Diablo Pass. No one is sure what happened next, but some observers later reported that no fewer than four Battlemechs surrounded John Waco's Stinger and systematically tore it apart. Young Waco ejected, but the Dragoon 'Mechs pursued him, and one crushed the Mechwarrior under its foot.
Although those reports were never verified after the Liao forces retreated off New Aragon, Wayne Waco and his men swore a Death Oath to show no mercy to any member of Wolf's Dragoons and to refuse to work for an employer that employs that unit. To this day, every recruit of the Waco rangers must take this oath, and all Ranger contracts specifically state that their contract is null and void if their employer also hires Wolf's Dragoons. Some years later, the story of this Death Oath reached Colonel Maeve Wolf commander of the Dragoons. While denying any outfight cruelly to Wayne Waco's son. Wolf reportedly said, "Fine, fine, another merc to test. I just hope we eventually meet up with the Waco Grangers, or Rangers, or whoever they are."
During the next four years, the Waco Rangers grew rapidly and became known as a unit of misfits. Mechwarriors who left their old units could find a new start in the Rangers with few questions asked; all they needed was some degree of skill and a Battlemech, regardless of its condition. Waco's Tech staff soon developed a reputation as miracle workers for restoring the unit's dilapidated Mechs. If a Dispossessed Mechwarrior was talented enough, Waco would give the mercenary one of the unit's spare 'Mechs.
By 3010, the Waco Rangers were one of the most reliable mercenary units in the service of House Liao. As such it was constantly jumping into one trouble spot to another. Notable among these skirmishes was the defense of the planet Thomas against House Davion's 42nd Avalon Hussars regiment in 3011. The Avalon Hussars assaulted the planet en masse, making them easy prey for Waco's hit and-run tactics. By the time Liao reinforcements arrived, forcing the Davion regiment to retreat off-planet, Waco's Techs had recovered nearly 30 enemy Battlemechs. Soon the unit was battalion sized, and Captain Waco gave himself promotion to major. After replacing battle losses, the Rangers still had acquired enough Battlemechs to add two companies to their unit. Within a year, the Waco Rangers had two full Battalions.
By mid-3011, Lieutenant Colonel Waco discovered that Maximilian Liao had hired the hated Wolf's Dragoons. Angered by this breach of contract, the Waco Rangers raided Liao's supply bases on Korion and departed Capellan space. Liao was outraged, feeling justified in hiring any mercenary unit he wished According to the contract, however, Liao was supposed to have given the Rangers advance notice of his intention to hire Wolf's Dragoons so that they could leave Liao's employ officially Thus, the Waco Rangers gained a large amount of spare parts, and Liao was left cursing the peculiarities of mercenaries.
As its fame spread throughout the Successor States, the Waco Rangers attracted more and more Mechwarriors to the Unit. As most of its numbers either had no family or were outcasts, the Rangers developed into one big family. As a result they did not mind that some of their pay went toward repairing or rebuilding old Mechs. It was still in the family.
In 3014, after extensive training and refurbishment, the Rangers negotiated a contract with the Draconis Combine. For its first mission, Kurita ordered the Unit to raid the planet Sara, which was defended by the 3rd Ceti Hussars. As soon as the raiders jumped insystem, their air lances diverted the defending fighters away from the descending Dropships. However three Davion fighters did delay Noble's Battalion's Overlord Class Dropship, and Kellers Company landed without the support of the assault battalion. As a result, the Hussars battered the company until the Unions arrived, bringing five companies to Keller's aid. The Ceti Hussars fell back to higher ground, tar any from the Rangers' drop zone.
After securing the landing area, the Rangers began a search-and-destroy campaign, which culminated in a Davion retreat into the dense forests of Mara. However, upon hearing reports of Davion reinforcements arriving in the system, Colonel Waco ordered a withdrawal. The Rangers were able to carry On all their disabled Mechs and six assorted vehicles of the Ceti Hussars, in addition to tons of supplies and spare parts.
By 3018, the Waco Rangers were nearly at regimental strength. Kurita employed the unit mostly in objective raids and offensive campaigns. Instead Of splintering the unit into companies to several planets at once, Colonel Waco insisted on keeping his unit together few planets could repel Waco's regiment, and the Rangers always managed to escape before enemy reinforcements could arrive.
In February of 3021, Colonel Waco and his men landed on New Wessex, a Kurita forward base and staging area, for a few months' rest and repair. While enjoying thin vacation, Waco heard that Wolf's Dragoons' Black Widow Company (now hirelings of House Steiner) had infiltrated the forest called Harlow Wood on the planet, from where they were harassing an entire regiment of Kurita regulars. As the Rangers were dispersed all over the world the Colonel assembled only a company of available, uninjured, and sober Mechwarriors. He immediately led the company in a two-day march to the command post of the 20th Draconis Regiment.
When Waco and his men arrived, the regimental commander, Brigadier Jinjo Yamashiga, had split his regiment into lances, which were conducting a massive sweep of the entire woods to find the Black Widow's base camp. Unfortunately, the Widows were decimating the lances. By the time Colonel Waco arrived. 18 out of the 27 Kurita lances had been battered although the Brigadier forbade the Rangers from participating in the battle. Waco studied topographical maps to find the Widow's most probable Dropship rendezvous point, and then led his 'Mechs to that area. His hunch was correct but came too late. Waco's company could only trade long-range fire with the Black Widow's Dropships as the latter lifted off. Cheated of his revenge, Colonel Waco sent a scathing report of the Brigadier's incompetence to the Draconis Combine High Command. Brigadier Yamashiga committed suicide one month later.
In 3023, House Kurita informed Colonel Waco of its intention to hire Wolf's Dragoons. Accordingly, Colonel Waco let his contract with the Combine expire and signed up with House Steiner, the Successor State recently vacated by Wolf's Dragoons. While conducting objective raids for the Lyran Commonwealth, Colonel Waco tried to discover the location of the Dragoons, but had no success. Then, in mid-3024, his scouts reported that a battalion of Wolf's Dragoons was stationed on the planet Hyperion. Waco immediately decided to organize an assault on the planet.
The Rangers' initial drop and advance went well, and Noble's Assault Battalion seized Ahsiz, the planet's capital, with no opposition. After an unsuccessful search for the Dragoons, Kelly's and Keller's Battalions also entered Ahsiz. However, Wolf's Dragoons soon appeared, and with no fewer than two regiments; the Rangers had stumbled upon one of Wolf's main staging areas. Against these superior numbers, Waco was forced to order a withdrawal, as the Rangers embarked on their Dropships, however. Colonel Waco joined Yuri's Special Operations Company to defend the unit against the advancing Dragoons. The resulting firefight destroyed over half of Yuri's Company, but also cost the Dragoons ten 'Mechs. Colonel Waco's laser-scarred Battlemaster was the last to board a Dropship, as it was occupied with blasting a Banshee into tin foil. Waco still intends to have it out with the Dragoons as soon as possible.
Operating as a deep-penetration unit, the Waco Rangers have given House Kurita many headaches. The Draconis Combine has been forced to detach both the 4th Benjamin Regulars and the 7th Sword of Light Regiment from the front lines to protect supply bases deep inside Kurita territory. The Rangers' fame is spreading, but it will never be a glamour unit such as Wolf's Dragoons. In some Mechwarrior circles, it is known as "The Waco Junkers", a name that has caused many broken jaws in planetside bars.
Unknown to the Jade Falcons or the beleaguered defenders of Coventry (the invasion of which by the Jade Falcons began in January 3058), the bitter struggle for possession of the planet was about to take another twist. Mandrinn Tormano Liao, acting in Archon Katrina's name, had summoned Wolf's Dragoons' Delta and Gamma Regiments, along with the Eridani Light Horse's First Regiment, to the Lyran capital of Tharkad. Under Liao's plan, the mercenary groups would spearhead a Lyran attack on Coventry, if circumstances permitted. If the Jade Falcons conquered that planet and began moving on Tharkad, the mercenaries would help defend the capital.
As a hedge against failure, Liao also hired Waco's Rangers to safeguard Tharkad, despite the Rangers' hatred of the Dragoons. The former commander of Waco's Rangers, Wayne Waco, had sworn to kill any Dragoon his unit captured in revenge for the death of his son, John, at the hands of a Dragoon MechWarrior. Consequently, anti-Dragoon sentiments still ran high among the mercenaries. Mandrinn Liao, confident of the Rangers' personal loyalty to him, chose to rely on the unit to spirit him safely away from Tharkad should the operation fail and the Archon lay the blame on his head.
After abruptly returning from her secret mission in Clan space, Katrina approved of Liao's plans but insisted that Waco's Rangers accompany the relief force. On 10 April, the newly christened Coventry Expeditionary Force (CEF) launched its first effort to drive the Jade Falcons from Coventry.
Waco's Rangers and the Crazy Eights were the last task force units to land on Coventry. The CEF Command's decision that the Rangers and the Eights should make DropShip landings, rather than the more glamorous but dangerous combat drops, created some tension between Rangers' Commander Wayne Rogers and the Dragoons' Brubaker until the Light Horse's General Adriana Winston managed to calm things down. Shortly after 1125 hours on 10 April 3058, the Rangers and the Eights forced their way on planet. During their hotly contested approach and landing, the Rangers destroyed eight Falcon OmniFighters and five front-line OmniMechs. The Crazy Eights destroyed two more OmniMechs and an unknown number of Elementals.
In the gray predawn hours of April 15, Private Regina Walford of the Tenth Skye Rangers met up with a Waco's Rangers scout lance. For the past several days, Hauptmann Trevena of the Tenth Skye's First Battalion had been moving his battered unit through Falcon-occupied territory, intent on joining the reinforced defenders. When Waltord's Jenner loomed up out of the dim, rain-soaked twilight, Lieutenant Donna de la Kalb of Waco's Rangers mistook the battle-scarred machine for a Clan Fire Falcon, a relatively new model seen sporadically among the Jade Falcons. Fortunately for the Skye Rangers, the alarmed shout of de la Kalb's assistant lance leader, Sergeant Dale Freize, kept de la Kalb from ordering her troops to fire as the Skye 'Mechs materialized out of the thin drizzle.
With the arrival of Trevena's First Battalion, the majority of Coventry's defenders were concentrated in Lietnerton. After some deliberation, the CEF command staff decided to launch a three-pronged attack against the Falcons at Port St. William. The battle plan called for the Dragoons and the Eridani Light Horse to make a direct attack against the Jade Falcons defending the spaceport city. The remnants of the Coventry Militia, the Academy cadets and the Skye Rangers would swing westward, screening the mercenary column from a possible flank attack by the more mobile Clan formations, The third arm of the operation would be a strike behind enemy lines. Formed around Waco's Rangers and the Crazy Eights, this arm would move through the wild, hilly region known locally as the Dales. Once in position, the task force would launch a surprise attack on the Clan rear. The unenviable job of guiding the Rangers through the rough hills fell to Caradoc Trevena and his recon company. The Waco's Rangers' phase of the operation would be carried out quietly, with no engagement of enemy forces until the Dragoons/Light Horse attack was well under way.
Unknown to the Inner Sphere planners, however, the Jade Falcons had laid plans of their own. Clan intelligence suggested that Waco's Rangers and the Crazy Eights had been left behind in Lietnerton to guard the CEF base. Star Colonel Arimas Malthus found this highly questionable, considering the well-known hatred between the Dragoons and the Rangers. He reasoned that the reports of the Rangers' presence in Lietnerton must be incorrect and speculated that the Rangers were actually moving through the Dales to attack the Falcons from behind.
The deadly effectiveness of Star Colonel Malthus's plan became apparent in the early hours of April 21. As the Dragoons/Light Horse column struck at the main Jade Falcon lines, the Falcons' Harrier group engaged the Rangers/Eights column near the Dales, drawing the mercenaries into a large grassy field between Port St. William and the Dales. Once the last Ranger 'Mech had entered the clearing, the OmniMechs of Red Tail group unleashed a barrage of missile fire from their positions behind the aspens surrounding the field. That initial strike destroyed five Ranger machines, and the advancing Falcon 'Mechs battered the remaining mercenaries. Only a delaying action fought by Hauptmann Trevena's Tenth Skye Rangers, which had been assigned to perform reconnaissance duties for the mercenaries, along with the timely arrival of the Dragoons' Delta Regiment, prevented the annihilation of Waco's Rangers and the Crazy Eights. In the end, the Falcon ambush destroyed 85 percent of the Rangers' and Eights' 'Mechs. The loss of the Waco Rangers column, along with the disruption of the main Dragoons/Light Horse attack and the Falcon success against the Coventry Militia's pinning force, prompted the CEF commanders to abandon their attempts to recapture Port St. William and pull their troops back to Leitnerton.
With rejuvenated spirits, the CEF launched its attack on Whitting shortly after dawn on May 30. Under the overall command of Colonel Brubaker, the under strength Dragoons Delta Regiment, the remnants of Trevena's recon company and a "tactical-response unit" of dismounted MechWarriors and infantrymen made their way under the Cross-Divides. At the appointed time, Brubaker launched an all-out attack against Whitting's defenders and drew them off to the north, while Trevena's smaller, more mobile force slipped into the city from the south.
The attack went off better than planned. Most of the Jade Falcon garrison pursued Brubaker's troops into the field, leaving only a handful of 'Mechs and Elementals behind to defend the town. Trevena's troops easily brushed aside this light force, swept straight up to the town hall and ransacked the Falcon headquarters. Less than forty minutes later, the raid was over. The attack yielded a wealth of information concerning the Falcons' purposes for launching their assault on Lyran worlds, as well as an important prisoner-Star Colonel Arimas Malthus, the Clan officer who planned the ambush of Waco's Rangers.
Uncertainty and apprehension hung over both sides of the battle line during the days following Prince Victor Davion's June 5 arrival with a massive relief force and reached a feverish pitch when Victor entered the battle-ravaged town of Whitting to meet with the Jade Falcon Khan. Then Victor did what no Clan warrior had ever expected from an Inner Sphere barbarian-he offered the Jade Falcons hegira, the traditional right of a defeated enemy to leave a battlefield with his forces and honor intact. For a long moment, the Falcon Khan stared unseeingly into the distance; then, with supreme dignity, she accepted the offer. In that moment, the campaign for Coventry came to an end.
In accordance with Clan custom, all prisoners were exchanged following the Falcons' acceptance of hegira. The bondsmen returned by the Clan included Colonel Wayne Rogers and a number of his mercenaries presumed to have died in the ambush of Waco's Rangers.
The Waco Rangers is structured for optimum results while conducting deep-penetration raids, for missions such as picket duty or reconnaissance. Certain 'Mechs are temporarily reassigned to form special lances.
Noble's Battalion is the Rangers' main striking unit. It usually attacks in a V-formation, with Noble's Company in the front and Henry's and Romy's Companies behind and on either side. Kelly's Battalion is the secondary assault force and handles most of the unit's mop-up operations. Occasionally, Colonel Waco uses the battalion as his primary strike force so that no one in the battalion can grumble about always getting the dirty jobs. Presently, Kelly's Battalion is the regiment's weakest unit, as its losses in the Battle of Hyperion have yet to be replaced. Keller's Battalion contains the least experienced Mechwarriors in the Rangers. Considered the regiment's reserve force, it supports the drive of either battalion.
The Technical Support Group has a long tradition of creating Battlemechs from piles of debris. Although most 'Mechs in the Rangers are not gleaming pieces of machinery, almost all operate with optimum efficiency. Like most mercenary units, their lack sufficient scare parts, and thus cannot field all their 'Mechs. As a result, many of the Rangers' raids center around capturing equipment rather than attacking enemies. It is not unusual for a Tech to weep with joy upon discovering a case of XP32M circuit boards in an enemy supply cache.
The Waco Rangers' standard is made up of an outlined five-pointed star. The inner star is red and blue and is divided by a white band and centered with a white W.
When he first organized the Rangers, Colonel Waco created a new rank, Mechwarrior Sergeant. This Mechwarrior acts as the lance's second-in-command, and assumes command when the lance commander is injured or unavailable. Thus, the loss of its commander in battle will not totally demoralize a lance.