Beeshor Yekel

Beeshor Yekel
Character Profile
Affiliation ComStar
Rank Precentor
Profession MechWarrior

Beeshor Yekel was a Precentor in the Com Guards, most notably being the commanding officer of the Sixth Division during the Battle of Tukayyid.

History[edit]

Commander of the Sixth Division[edit]

Promoted to the rank of Precentor in 3045, Yekel was assigned command of the green-ranked Sixth Division sometime prior to 3049. Immediately prior to the Clan Invasion, the headquarters of Yekel and his Alert Words was Kearny in the Free Worlds League.[1] Intensely proud of his division, Yekel unfortunately consistently overestimated the abilities of his troops, which would have disastrous consequences on Tukayyid.[2]

Assigned along with the rest of the Sixth Army to face Clan Steel Viper during the Battle of Tukayyid, the Sixth Division was positioned just outside the hellish Devil's Bath, a horrific combination of geysers, boiling mud and narrow paths walled by massive granite columns, stretching for dozens of kilometers between the Vipers' intended drop zone and their target cities. After an initial exchange of fire, the Sixth withdrew into the Bath, luring the Steel Vipers in.[3][4]

With the tight paths negating the Clan weapons' superior range and missteps sending entire Stars into the bottomless pools of boiling mud, Khan Natalie Breen realized too late her troops had stumbled into a massive trap. As the Vipers attempted to withdraw, a desperate Yekel used his Atlas's Satellite Uplink to personally issue an insulting public challenge throughout the Tukayyid system to goad Breen into continuing the attack.[3][4]

Attention Steel Vipers. Attention. This is Precentor Beeshor Yekel of the Sixth Division. I see that you are retreating. And so early in your assault. You still haven't pulled up your reserve units yet. We expected more. A lot more from you, for sure. On Terra, there are two kinds of snakes: the kind with fangs, and the kind that slink away to hide. I guess in Clan space, there's only one kind. Slither back to the Periphery, Tin Vipers. You'll never see Mother Terra, but don't worry, we freebirths will keep it safe from any dirty little snakes. Bye, now! Have a safe cower home![4][5]

Now enraged by the insult, the traditional minded Vipers redoubled their advance, pushing the Sixth and Seventy-Eighth Divisions through the Bath. While inflicting extremely heavy damage on the Com Guard forces, both of the Vipers' Alpha and Gamma Galaxies used up their ammunition at a tremendous rate.[3][4]

With any hope of resupply dashed when the Com Guards' elite First Division struck the Vipers' supply lines, saKhan Perigard Zalman ordered Gamma Galaxy's Fifty-Seventh Striker Cluster to divide the Com Guard units and pin down the Sixth. While the Fifty-Seventh was utterly destroyed as a viable combat unit as the 78th Division desperately tried to link up with the Sixth, it allowed Alpha Galaxy to completely surround Yekel's division. Recognizing his unit was doomed, Yekel attempted to offer himself in return for the surrender and survival of his troops, but discovered the price of insulting the Vipers. Specifically because Yekel asked for mercy, Khan Breen ordered her warriors to refuse all attempts at surrender and pledged to hunt down any of his MechWarriors who escaped from either the Devil's Bath or Tukayyid.[3][4][6]

The enraged pilots of Alpha's assault OmniMechs fell upon the Sixth, obliterating it down to the last 'Mech as their Khan commanded, with Fifty-Seventh Striker Cluster commander Star Colonel Robert Grimani kicking Yekel's shattered Atlas into a mud pit. But it was thanks to sacrifice of the Sixth and its fellow Seventy-Eighth Division that the Steel Vipers were ultimately driven from Tukayyid in defeat, the Vipers' frontline Galaxies having expended all their strength to destroy them.[3][4][6]

Post-Tukayyid[edit]

Despite Breen's threat, Yekel was among the members of the Sixth Division to survive Tukayyid. For his performance in the Devil's Bath, Yekel was promoted to command of the Eighth Army, posted along the border of the Lyran Alliance and Free Worlds League. After the retirement of Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht in 3061, Yekel was open in his opinion that Victor Steiner-Davion's appointment as Focht's successor only increased the public relation problems for both ComStar and the Com Guard, but ROM considered his loyalty to ComStar was without question and Steiner-Davion tacitly approved of Yekel's stance as "loyal opposition".[7][8]

Yekel would remain commander of the Eighth Army until at least 3067 immediately prior to the Word of Blake Jihad.[9]

BattleMechs[edit]

Beeshor Yekel would pilot an AS7-D Atlas during the Battle of Tukayyid, most notably making use of its satellite uplink dish to issue his infamous insult against the Steel Vipers.[3][4]

References[edit]

  1. 20 Year Update, p. 70: "6th V-pi"
  2. BattleTech: Battle of Tukayyid, p. 88: "Clan Steel Viper Campaign - Combatants"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Tukayyid, pp. 79–88: "Campaign: Clan Steel Viper"
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 BattleTech: Battle of Tukayyid, pp. 83–85: "Clan Steel Viper Campaign - Background"
  5. The Icarus Lament
  6. 6.0 6.1 Tukayyid, pp. 85–86: "Annihilation of the Sixth [22] - Fighting Words"
  7. ComStar, p. 85: "8th Army V-Pi"
  8. Field Manual: ComStar, p. 34: "8th Army V-Pi: Stern Defiance"
  9. Field Manual: Updates, pp. 86–87: "8th Army V-Pi (Stern Defense)"

Bibliography[edit]