26Return of the Wolverines
By Silver Eagle
Prologue Part 3: A Meeting of Minds"Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
as long as ever you can."
-John Wesley, from "Way of the Wolverine," by Ramon Suarez, Goro Taniguchi, and Sarah McEvedy, Central Clan Press, 2830
"They saw little
And knew even less
But they welcomed us
When others would not
Fought by our side
When we were beset
Honor them, warriors
Defend them to your last breath
The Outworlds Alliance will never fall
So long as a single Wolverine lives."
-Wolverine Remembrance, Passage 4, Verse 2, Lines 109-119
March 2, 2827
The War Room
Underneath Valley Farms Agrocomplex, Tarasole
Quatre Belle
Outworlds Alliance
"Hideyoshi Matsuda." Kieran Winthrop sounded as bored as he was. The endless rounds of questioning and interrogation of all the prisoners and soldiers from Richmond were finally coming to an end. Gaining their own world from the Outworlds Alliance had given them a permanent headquarters and sped up the process.
All but a few dozen of the refugees had found homes and jobs either among the Wolverines or in the Alliance. Many had joined Jake Walker in forming the Crimson Corsairs, a mercenary aerospace unit that they had "loaned" to the Alliance in exchange for Quatre Belle. Still others had joined Minato Takayama and the War Fleet on their exploratory mission.
A lanky young man rose from the ranks of the remaining prisoners and walked over to the makeshift witness stand. Kieran scanned the biographical file before him as Matsuda adjusted the microphone.
"Mr. Matsuda, your occupation's listed as…artisan. If you don't mind me asking, how does an artist wind up as a political prisoner next to a bunch of disgraced soldiers and nobles?"
"Sumimasen, Commander. I have a habit of letting my sense of humor run away with me. I am not so much concerned with aesthetics as I am with the arts of subterfuge, interrogation, sabotage, surveillance, and of course, blackmail." Hideyoshi Matsuda winked and laid a finger on the side of his nose. "At least, I would like to think that I have raised the practice of them to an art form."
"So our artisan is ISF." It was both a statement of fact and an accusation. Matsuda shrugged.
"Did you expect me to trumpet it to everyone?"
Kieran Winthrop leaned back in his chair, his expression dubious. "We trust the ISF about as far as we trust Jinjiro Kurita, which is not at all. You realize I could simply have you shot?"
"If you were going to do that, Commander, you would already have done so. Judging by your reluctance, you appreciate my potential value."
"I don't see any value in our people clutching a serpent to their collective breast. ISF doesn't let anybody go. Once you're in, it's for life. You're going to have to do better than this to convince me you've got any value."
"A predictable, and wise mindset, Winthrop-san." Matsuda nodded in appreciation. "Very well. I shall tell you why I am here, and what I can offer you."
"You know that Jinjiro Kurita is mad. In fact, he himself knows that he will inevitably degenerate past any standard of competency. What you may not realize is how he came to know. Some years ago, a small group of officials had the Coordinator examined during one of his periods of insanity. The doctor determined that Jinjiro's madness was incurable, and would eventually claim him. The ISF naturally caught word of this development.
"At the time, there was considerable debate over what should be done. Should we tell the Dragon of his infirmity, thereby revealing that we placed no belief in the myth of his godhood? Should we stay silent, thus risking death and worse for our disloyalty? The arguments went on deep into the night, for weeks on end. I was a low-ranking officer at the time, rising through the ranks rapidly, based on my service along the front lines, as well as behind them. But when the medical information debate reached my ears, I knew what had to be done.
"That night I circumvented the security barriers in Unity Palace, and found myself at the door of the Coordinator's Quarters. I was in luck. The Coordinator had long known of the ISF's loyalty to him; to have an agent come to him in the dark of night, avoiding the sycophants and hangers-on, could only mean that the news was of great importance.
"I told the Dragon of what I heard, supplying him with a copy of the medical report. He took the news with much more grace than I had anticipated, and for a moment I believed I might be honored for my courage, as Talon Sergeant Tobiason was on Kentares.
"It was not to be. The Dragon was pleased with the ISF's loyalty, but believed that my superiors had sent me to him. What else would he do but tell those same men of my actions, anticipating that they would reward me?
"They were furious, of course. To them, that an insolent young pup would leapfrog all of them and make his own decision was a great insult. They 'rewarded' me with command of the ISF detachment on Richmond, to monitor the Unproductives there and report on their progress."
Kieran Winthrop didn't bat an eye. The two years after the last Combine raid had mellowed him and given him a reputation for methodical preparation and insight in everything he did, the prisoner debriefings being no exception. "That still doesn't tell me why I should believe you."
"My time on Richmond was brief, but it taught me more than a few lessons, Commander Winthrop. The most important is that unless one controls their own destiny, true freedom in any part of life is impossible."
"Why not simply escape and become a free agent?"
Matsuda's retort was dry. "The ISF would still know that I was alive, Commander. I do not like their leadership, but their abilities are not so easy to dismiss. My whereabouts would be no secret to them, no matter where I went in the Inner Sphere.
"Quatre Belle is safer, hidden underground as we are. Obviously, my capability to conduct operations for you is limited, but I will train volunteers if they can be found. All of my communications and whereabouts will be open for monitoring; I will even submit myself to having a shadow, a 'watchdog.'"
Kieran snorted. "Doesn't sound much like freedom to me."
"Trust, like cities, cannot be constructed overnight." Matsuda shrugged. "Make no mistake, Commander. I will only suffer these restrictions for so long. Once my loyalty is proven, I expect that my position as Director of Intelligence will be unchallenged, so long as I am up to the task. That is my price."
Winthrop stroked his newly grown goatee as he sat back to consider the ISF agent's offer. He's right about one thing. Human intelligence is the key to pulling off our mission, and we didn't exactly take too many spies along with us on the Third Exodus. But if he simply agreed to this without consulting the Khan… Her temper hasn't gotten any better in two years of peace. No, there had to be a solution.
And then he knew what it was. Rising from his chair, he walked over to Matsuda and extended his hand.
"You're hired, Matsuda, on one condition. I'll assign Colonel Taniguchi as your shadow, but your first student…" He fixed the younger man with a deathly serious stare. "…is me."
January 1, 2828
Clan Council Chamber
Underneath Valley Farms Agrocomplex, Tarasole
Quatre Belle
Outworlds Alliance
"This cannot stand, my Khan. There must be something we can do." Goro Taniguchi gestured toward Doctor Adam Calder, head of the Wolverine science and technology cadre. "Doctor Calder, your thoughts?"
"We could just dump the Raven legacies, or seal them away for emergencies." Thin, with unkempt hair, Calder resembled his nickname, "Einstein," though he was a distinguished geneticist and reproductive technician rather than a physicist. "I don't think that would be a good idea, though."
"You would have us employ stolen property?"
"These aren't normal circumstances, Colonel." Calder shrugged. "We lack intelligence on the Kerensky Clans. They could be months from invading the Inner Sphere, or decades away. In our current size, we can't hold off one Clan, let alone nineteen. Integrating the Raven legacies in our gene pool will let us grow faster than simple childbirth would."
"Hold on, hold on." Raising her arms, palms out, Khan Sarah McEvedy quieted the buzzing whispers in the Clan Council chamber. "I've talked with Dr. Calder, and he assures me we're not just going to create an assembly line of kids. Doctor, if you'd care to outline your plan?"
"Certainly, Ma'am." Adam Calder began to consult the datapad in his hand. "What I propose is that we stare our actions on Circe in the face. Of course, there's no way to punish saKhan Hallis and his Keshik for going overboard at Dehra Dun, but we can always make it an object lesson in the Remembrance. Theft is wrong, we'll atone, the whole nine yards. I'll leave that part up to people better with words than me.
"As for the Ravens, we can create a generation of children originating in each Raven Blood House, to be raised by willing volunteers, preferably those who cannot have children of their own, or are too old to bear children themselves. They will be raised as any other child might, but of course they'll eventually be able to start their own Blood House, that will be as much a part of our society as any original House.
"We're also looking into using the Iron Womb Program for its original intent- helping families with reproductive problems have children. The only difference is that we add a few conditions to the program, like asking prospective parents to raise an extra child from their Blood House or a Raven legacy. We can even offer stipends to those families who accept, to cover the financial burden." He turned to Ramon Suarez, eyebrow raised.
"You're the other Keeper of Honor, Major Suarez. Would that be acceptable?"
"Honor is not always an ironclad barrier, Doctor. Based on the suggestions you have made, I believe it could work. The question is how to ensure that these Raven children will be treated right." Calder conceded the point with a nod and waved one of his fellow scientists forward.
"My colleague, Dr. Gina Rogers, is chief of obstetrics and child psychology. She'll handle this question." Another lab-coated scientist stepped out next to Calder, donning a pair of reading glasses.
"We've been doing some research on family law and customs of humankind throughout the ages, and in one of our searches on old Terran customs, we discovered a theory known as Parental Licensing. It was never actually implemented, but we think in a more disciplined society like we have here, it might work very well.
"Basically, before we allow anyone to become a parent, we put them through a series of courses and lessons on parenting. At the end of the course, they're given a comprehensive test that involves not only answering questions, but also being able to manifest parental skills and instincts. The ones who pass get a Parental License. If they choose to have more children, we run them through a re-qualification process for each extra child. That lets us screen for conditions like post-partum depression, which isn't always obvious with the first child.
"They'll be raised to positions of equality in society, and perhaps even higher than normal, with the knowledge that they are needed and special, just as any other child is. As much as is possible, the Raven children, and hopefully all other children, will be an integral part of the Clan's future." Sarah McEvedy rose and held her arms out to her Clan.
"We've done things we're not proud of, myself more than most, but that doesn't mean we can't learn from our mistakes and reach greater heights. So let us raise the Ravens as our own, and rectify this error as best we can."
October 16, 2836
Hangar Bay 1
Valley Farms Agrocomplex, Tarasole
Quatre Belle
Outworlds Alliance
Hideyoshi Matsuda squinted at the project laid out before him on his workbench for a moment, and then picked up the solder gun, ready to go back to work. It had been a long night, but he was almost finished.
"Hi." Nani? A tiny little voice from behind him made him straighten up. Turning around, he caught sight of an oddly familiar little brown-haired girl, no more than four years old, dressed in a nightshirt and clutching a large stuffed rabbit. A child? In here? The Director of Intelligence put his tool down, and smiled at the girl.
"Hello, little one. What are you doing here?" She said nothing for a second, peeking behind him at his project.
"Looking at the dolly." If you only knew what this innocent-looking toy is meant to do, little one, you would not want to see it.
"Well, you are quite the inquisitive child. Tell me, what is your name, and your little friend?" The girl held her rabbit out to him, answering in the same shy voice.
"Francie. This is Fluffy Bunny. Auntie Roberta gave her to me." The mystery becomes clear. Now he knew why she seemed so familiar.
"Aha! I know you. You are the Little Fox!" She seemed perplexed by that nickname. Matsuda chuckled.
"I see I am being too smart for my own good again. Of course you would not know. You see, child, your full name is Frances Marion McEvedy. Your mother named you after a very famous person, you know." The girl's expression brightened.
"Really?"
"Yes, Little Fox. In fact, you are named after two famous people. A long, long time ago, there was a great general on Terra named Francis Marion. He was so smart and tricky that people called him the Swamp Fox. And he was the first person your mother named you for."
"And who was the other?"
"Well, you do not know him either, but he was your genetic father, Franklin Hallis. He died protecting all of us from some very bad men, who live very far away. Why, you would not be here, if not for him." She stared at him, rapt in his storytelling.
"So you see, you are a very special girl. Not only do you have a famous name, you are the child of two great heroes. That is why everyone knows who you are, even a lowly technician like me."
"You can still shovel it with the best of them, Hideyoshi. Lowly technician?" He looked up to see the Khan of Clan Wolverine striding into his workshop, trying to stifle a yawn. Sarah McEvedy picked up her daughter and glanced down at the doll on the workbench. Her face dimmed, sadness replacing the weary fatigue in her eyes.
"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but we really have no choice, do we?" The commander of the Central Intelligence Department shook his head.
"My sources tell me the fits are getting worse. If I had not told him of his condition myself, I would not have believed it, but the information was all there. The man was unpredictable at his best, but I truly fear what he may do as he creeps closer to total insanity. It is not that I trust the rest of his house, you understand, but almost anyone would be a better choice as ruler. Has the Council approved the plan, then?"
Grasping her child tighter, Sarah nodded. "We've been up all night debating this, trying to come up with alternatives; I guess all the talking was keeping Francie awake, so she started wandering around. Finally, Goro put it right out there on the table. To leave him in control would be a dereliction of our duty. After that, we just bit the bullet and voted."
Hideyoshi Matsuda's eyebrows rose slightly. "That was unexpected. Taniguchi Goro might sooner have advocated a direct assault on Luthien."
"I don't think he'd ever admit to it, but he really can carry a grudge."
"Well, it is of no consequence, as long as a decision has been reached. Shikata ga nai. It cannot be helped. We know what is to be done." The former ISF agent's expression was grim.
"Jinjiro Kurita must be dealt with once and for all."
February 14, 2837
Coordinator's Quarters
Unity Palace, Imperial City
Luthien
Pesht Military District, Draconis Combine
"There has been a delivery from the front, Tono. I believe it originated from Warlord Sugimoto's command post on Chandler." Jinjiro Kurita looked up from the military status reports on his desk to see a young member of the Otomo, his bodyguard unit, standing at attention in front of him, holding a brown paper parcel.
"Has it been tested?"
"Hai, tono. It is clean. No bombs, gases or other weapons were found within." The Coordinator grunted.
"Very well. Leave it on the desk and be gone." The officer saluted and left the room after depositing the parcel.
Some time passed before Jinjiro thought about the delivery again. Planning the newest raid on the Lyran world of Hesperus II was taking up most of his time these days. This time his forces would not fail to raze Defiance Industries to the ground. Entering the final changes to his strategy, he looked up and caught sight of the package lying on the corner of the desk. Sugimoto, eh? He cannot even plan a simple raid without begging me for help. I shall have to have him shot.
Tearing off the paper, he soon uncovered a metal cylinder with a screwed-on cap. Unscrewing the cap, he emptied the container's contents. Jinjiro froze as a toy figurine tumbled out to land face-up on the desk before him. Wearing the uniform of the long-departed Star League Defense Force, the doll looked up at him with an innocent, angelic smile. Suddenly, an odd, childish voice began to speak from within it.
"Why, hello there, Jinjiro. I see you've met my little friend Richard. Do you want to know why he's here with you today? He knows about all of your deeds, Jinjiro. You've been such a bad man.
"Does your mother know about you? Heaven's Gate would be so proud. Her son killed an entire world! Not only that, he managed to get rid of so many Unproductives at once, sending them off to die with empty promises of rescue.
"We're watching you, Jinjiro. Didn't you know? Did you really think Warlord Sugimoto was behind this?" That Otomo officer! He's no bodyguard!
"We're the SLDF, and we're coming for you, Jinjiro. Richard has so many friends he wants to introduce you to. The monk you stabbed to death on Kentares, General Sorai, and oh so many billions of new friends for you to meet. Every day, there'll be somebody new, coming by to see you! Isn't that wonderful?" He could see them now, crowding into the room, through windows, doors, even through the floorboards. They approached him, ghastly wraiths, reaching out for him, demanding his blood in retribution. Jinjiro Kurita screamed, stark mad shouts of terror ringing throughout the palace.
He screamed for a very long time.
Hikaru Kuwata smiled at the gate guards as he slowly shuffled out of the palace, making sure his workman's cap was snugly pulled down over his contact-shrouded eyes, wheeling a barrow full of gardening tools (and one stolen set of Otomo uniform and ID) away. Sic semper tyrannis.
May 15, 2844
Research Lab Tango 4
Savonburg College of Medicine
New Cristos
Savonburg, Draconis March
Federated Suns
Doctor Lionel Dumatrait ducked behind his desk as more bullets whizzed over his head and into the wall behind him. The sudden terrorist assault had caught the entire DMI security staff off guard, and now he was stuck in his laboratory with no weapons other than scalpels and Bunsen burners. Merde! What do they want with me? I'm just a nanotechnology professor!
He shrank back against the desk as the locked door to his component storage room creaked open. A ghostly form crawled through the small opening, before the shroud around it resolved into a redheaded woman in a camouflage sneak suit, carrying a submachine gun.
"You Dumatrait?" she asked, screwing a silencer onto her weapon. "Valerie Eisen, CID. I'm here to get you out."
"W-what do you want with me?"
"Well, it ain't for your sterling conversation skills." Eisen smirked as she peeked over the desk at the terrorists, and then ducked back down. "Four on the left side, two on the right, and little ole me with a popgun. Guess it's back out the way I came in. Get into the storage room and you'll find a rope hanging out of the ceiling air duct. DMI must be getting sloppy; I only found one infrared sensor in there. Get up into the duct and stay there until I come get you."
"You're not coming along, Miss?" Lionel was crawling on his belly, but turned back to the sneak suited agent.
"Call me Val, Doc. And relax, I'll be with you in a minute." She lit off a burst from her weapon, causing the terrorists to back into the hallway, then reached into a pouch at her waist, pulling out a grenade. "I gotta introduce our terrorist pals out there to a couple friends of mine."
Finally, Dumatrait was through the door, and up the rope. Leaning down, he watched Eisen thumb the grenade's arming stud and roll the explosive toward the door. "Friends, Val?"
She grinned as she activated her sneaksuit and shut the storage room door behind her, cutting off the screams that began echoing behind it. "Yeah, Willy and Pete."
"Is it all right if I ask you something?" Lionel Dumatrait watched the countryside whiz by as Val Eisen's hovercar sped away from the College of Medicine. "You said you were CID. What is that, some internal, super-secret division of the DMI?"
"Not quite. You know what the crest of House Hasek is, the Capellan March Lords?"
"The All-Seeing Eye, I believe. Why?"
"You wanted to know what we are, Doc. CID is your basic All-Seeing Eye. We make it our business to know anything and everything we can about what happens in the Inner Sphere."
He looked at her, curiosity piqued. "You're not Federated Suns, then."
"We're not much of anything, if you really gotta know." Valerie Eisen's expression was grave. "If we showed favoritism to any faction we'd only screw up our job."
"And that job is…?"
"We protect the Inner Sphere. Both from what may be outside it, and from itself. No matter what the cost." She looked at him briefly and then turned back to the road. "You really think those maniacs back there were terrorists?"
Lionel shrugged. "They seemed crazy enough."
"Crazy can mean a lot of things. Crazy for crazy's sake, eccentric, or even fanatical zeal. Does that ring a bell?"
"I can't say it does." He shook his head, feeling a little overwhelmed by the information he was hearing. "I'm a nanotechnologist, not a spy."
"ComStar. The ultimate technogeeks. Or technofreaks, if you've ever seen those morons at work. I mean, come on, praying to an HPG?"
"What do they have to gain by killing me?"
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you're not the only target. Those "terrorists" back there were from ROM, ComStar's version of MI6. Since a few years ago they've been on a mission from their Primus Karpov, called Operation Holy Shroud. The object is to kill or intimidate technological researchers all over the Inner Sphere."
"To what end? They're communications specialists, linking the Inner Sphere. Other technologies shouldn't matter to them."
"Wrong, Doc. Think about this. If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
"You're quoting Sun Tzu now? What happened to technology and communications?"
"Technology and communications are as much tools of war as the BattleMech and gun. Consider the context we're talking in, Doc. Not 60 years after the SLDF left the Inner Sphere, even common tools and knowledge have been consigned to the dustbin of history. Lostech is the word of the day, and everyone's trying to hold on to it. In that scenario, he who has the most knowledge in the end winds up being the strongest power of all. The rest is just bloody war and battle.
"Ever read the Word of Blake? The guy's off his rocker, but some parts of his ramblings are true. Destroy research, sabotage factories, impede archaeological digs; everyone else inevitably loses their knowledge. They're busy getting bombed into the Stone Age. That was the lesson ComStar gleaned from it, and why they tried to off you today."
Lionel stared back out at the fields of grain rolling by his window. "It's odd; they seem so peaceful at the HPG stations."
"That's why we call them the Smiling Assassins." The CID agent sniffed in disgust. "You think they dressed as 'fanatical terrorists' for fun? ComStar's public image is one of their greatest weapons. Who would suspect an acolyte in his cutesy robes and quaint compound? Just hand the grinning automaton your message and be on your way. If you're interested in joining, come on in and enjoy a happy little brainwashing. These guys make Hare Krishnas look benevolent."
Cold, calm and shrewd were not words that could have described Lionel Dumatrait before he'd been attacked. He turned to Val Eisen, mind roiled with intrigue, fixing her with a calculating stare. "All right, so what are you going to do with me? I can't really do much without my research notes or lab, and you're obviously not taking me back to the College."
Reaching into the glove compartment in front of him, she pulled out a metal box with leads and wires trailing out one end, dropping it in his lap. "Recognize this?"
"What the hell? This is my hard drive! Where the hell did you get this?"
"Stopped by your apartment on the way here. I figured we wouldn't have time to go there after the extraction, so I cracked the case and took the hard drive with me. The rest of your notebooks and some clothes are in the trunk. I gotta say, though, your fashion sense is about as good as your language skills." She snickered.
"Don't worry, Doc. We'll get you some nice threads once you've settled in with us. We've already got a lab prepared if you'd like to continue your research."
Lionel Dumatrait laughed and threw up his hands helplessly. "With an argument like that, how can I refuse?"
"Good choice, Doc." Val pulled a communicator from the pouch at her waist, activating it with the push of a button. "Sanctuary, this is Aegis. Extraction complete, returning with subject Dumatrait."
The communicator crackled as an Asian voice on the other end responded. "Acknowledged, Aegis. This is Hidden One. Operation Salvation is proceeding according to plan. Doctor Dumatrait is the last of the Savonburg batch, so proceed to the spaceport in Carlsruth. We lift as soon as you are in the cargo bay."
In his cabin onboard the Wolverine DropShip, Hideyoshi Matsuda smiled. CID one, ROM nothing.
NOTES:
"Beware, Wolverines
The Word of Blake is a fiction
A cowl, a hood to hide
The ravening ambition
That is ComStar.
Do they truly think they are
The only ones with technology?
Delude themselves that only they
Were given a sacred mission?
We shall show them what happens
When you scheme against humanity."
-Wolverine Remembrance, Passage 32, Verse 11, Lines 101-112
-It's bonus time, baby! This time, we'll take a look at the flagship unit of the Wolverine Regular Army…
331st Royal BattleMech Division: The North American Division
Since Third Exodus, the 331st has always existed in some form or another, like the Minnesota Tribe raids. Whether organized within a Wolverine mercenary unit or in its current form, as part of the Regular Army, it is the flagship unit of the Clan. Every distinguished Wolverine warrior passes through it at some point, either in a training role, command of a component unit, or as a frontline warrior.
Commanding OfficerThe Khan of Clan Wolverine, currently Edele Hallis, is nominally the commander of the 331st, but historically most Khans have preferred to lead the Clan from the head of their own Keshik. Under these circumstances, the commander of the 75th New Earth Armored Cavalry, the most senior unit among the four brigades, takes command of the division.
Lt. General Yoshiyuki Taniguchi, the current division commander, is also the Clan Keeper of Honor, tasked with making sure that every Clan member adheres to (or at least knows of) the Way of the Wolverine. His success in that role is partly responsible for his command of the 75th New Earth Armored Cavalry RCT, but Taniguchi, like many of his ancestors, is an able strategist and tactician. Similar to Clan Chaplain Roberto "Bobby" DeSouza's 6th Wolverine Jaegers RCT (Faith of the Fallen), General Taniguchi often splits his command into component units and joins Independent Forces like Haldane's Hurricanes in the field, to keep watch over the more far-flung Wolverine communities.
Support and DeploymentAs the best unit in the Clan, the 331st gets the best technology and supplies of any unit in the Regular Army. They reserve the most talented technicians available, and are guaranteed transport anywhere they are assigned.
Unit ColorsEach of the 331st's component units uses the division color scheme when painting their machines. The 331st paints its 'Mechs, armor and aerospace fighters white with gold trim when on parade duty, and in camouflage colors matching the local terrain when on duty. The 331st Division's unit insignia is a silhouette of the North American state of Minnesota next the number "331."
Component Units (with BattleMech strength noted) [Size/Experience/Loyalty]75th New Earth Armored Cavalry RCT- (R/E/F): Twin City Terrors
(CO: Lt. General Yoshiyuki Taniguchi)
Current Posting- Sarah's Hope
Insignia- Two Toreador BattleMechs shaking hands over a river, with the city of Port Frances in the background
Creed- "Who, Where, When, What, and Why"
[ED NOTE: The 75th's creed comes from the chewing out one of their commanders once received from Khan Michaela Sutherland. When she spotted him sneaking back to barracks after a night of heavy partying around Port Frances, Khan Sutherland lambasted him for being "Off with God knows who, to God knows where, until God knows when, doing God knows what, and only God knows why! Get your ass to bed before I decide I want the answers to those questions too!"]
4th Alcor Grenadiers RCT- (R/E/F): The Storm From St. Paul
(CO: Colonel Marlene McCorkell)
Current Posting- Sarah's Hope
Insignia- The outline of Minnesota, with a Cameron Star located where the Terran city of St. Paul would be, silhouetted against a hurricane.
Creed- "In war there is no substitute for victory." [Douglas MacArthur]
11th Oliver Rapid Assault RCT- (R/E/F): The Red Devils
(CO: Colonel Sevan Brodeur)
Current Posting- Sarah's Hope
Insignia- A red number "11" in italics with streaks coming from the left side, and devil's horns sprouting from the top.
Creed- "Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight." [Sun Tzu]
212th Altair Striker RCT- (R/R/F): Unfriendly Confines
(CO: Major General (ret.) Dane Suarez)
Current Posting- Sarah's Hope
[ED NOTE: Unofficial Training Cadre for McEvedy College of War]
Insignia- A small brown bear within the letter "C", on a field with six diagonal slashes, three on each side, similar to the Clan insignia. [ED NOTE: Rumored to be a historical insignia from old Terra. For some reason, former Khan Suarez always refers to his command as the "Cubbies."]
Creed- "Let's play two!" [ED NOTE: Again, nobody is particularly sure why Khan Suarez chose this particular expression for his training cadre, other than to display his cadets' willingness to fight as many battles as they must to win.]