25th Skye Rangers

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History

Active within the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces during the Age of War and Reunification War, the Twenty-fifth Skye Rangers was one of three regiments chosen to serve in the Lyran Auxiliary Corps formed in 2581[1] to support the Star League Defense Force when the Star League decided to intervene in the civil war that had been raging inside the Rim Worlds Republic since 2575.[2]

Operation MAILED FIST

Black Earth

Assembled on Roadside alongside the Fourth Royal Guards Regiment and the Tamar Tigers[1] as a part of the buildup to Operation MAILED FIST - the name given to the SLDF intervention in the Republic civil war - combat operations for the Lyran Auxiliary Corps began in September 2581 with the campaign to conquer Black Earth. Black Earth was both the fourth Republic world to be targeted by the Star League Defense Force and the first world targeted that lacked a front-line Republican force as garrison.[3]

With Black Earth lacking regular army forces it was believed that the planet would be only lightly defended, but the landings by the various elements of the Lyran Auxialiary Corps met stiff resistance from Republican AeroSpace Fighters and the Twenty-Fifth took heavy damage before making groundfall; whilst an inauspicious beginning for the Twenty-Fifth, the losses taken weren't sufficient to prevent the conquest of Black Earth.[3]

Later Campaigns

Operating as a part of the Lyran Auxiliary Corps the Twenty-fifth took part in the military campaigns to secure Qurayyat in 2584, Fjernet in 2585, Kwangjong-ni in 2588 and Luanda in 2590.[1][4]

Barcelona

General Nathan Isaacson of Task Force MAILED FIST assigned the conquest of Barcelona to the Lyran Auxiliary Corps and the 2nd Marik Auxiliary Corps along with the Thirty-First Armor Division from the SLDF VIII Corps; Archon Viola Steiner-Dinesen led all three regiments from the Lyran Auxiliary Corps while Duke Narinder Selaj led the Second and Sixth Marik Militias and the First Brigade of the Fusiliers of Oriente. This left a triumverate of senior officers responsible for the operation - Duke Selaj, Archon Steiner-Dinesen and Lieutenant-General Margaret Beck - and when the Mailed Fist forces landed on Barcelona they found the Fifth Amaris Legionnaires in place on the world under the command of Colonel Franchetta Wong.[5][4]

Colonel Wong was a distant cousin of First Consul Gregory Amaris, and initially tried to use this familial connection to convince the three senior MAILED FIST officers that she was a representative of the ruling family. These claims were swiftly dismissed, although Duke Selaj recommended using Wong as a figurehead to try and stabilize the world; Selaj's recommendations were dismissed by the Archon, acting in the belief that to countenance such a charade would only create more political problems on Barcelona, and as a result Colonel Wong turned against the Star League forces and began to lead the Fifth Legionnaires in a campaign that proved her to be a skilled commander, using her numerically inferior forces in ways that stretched the Star League forces significantly over the next two months.[5]

Despite Wong's best efforts, the Star League advantages in numbers and equipment eventually swung the campaign back in their favour, and by early July the Fifth Legionnaires had been forced to fall back into the rugged terrain that dominated the northern continent of Barcelona, known as Norn. The Fifth Legionnaires would have been quickly defeated if not for events within the Lyran Commonwealth.[5]

Day of Rage

On the 19th of July 2591 courier ships brought news to Barcelona that the Archon-Designate, Viola Steiner-Dinesen's son Kevin Dinesen had gone missing in March and was presumed to have been kidnapped. Arriving along with the official news were rumors from the Commonwealth that the Duke of Skye and the Duke of Tamar - Aldo Lestrade and Simon Kelswa, respectively - were responsible for the abduction. The rumurs reached the Archon ahead of the official news, and the rumors combined with the frustration of years of campaigning in the Republic was enough to cause the Archon to snap; she led the Fourth Royal Guards personally to the cantonment within which the Twenty-Fifth Skye Rangers and Tamar Tigers were bivouaced where she promptly destroyed the 'Mechs performing sentry duty and began a rampage through the camp, attacking the Skye and Tamar forces.[6]

The results of the Archon's rampage scarred the psyches of those involved for decades afterwards; the Skye and Tamar regiments had been in the midst of rearming and resupplying when the Archon's rampage began, and faced the horrific dilemma of having to decide whether to defend themselves and their comrades by attacking the Archon. The warriors of the Fourth Royal Guards were equally horrified but attempted to protect the Archon as 'Mechs from the Skye and Tamar units began defending themselves. With many of the Skye and Tamar 'Mechs out of ammo because of the resupply effort going on when the Archon arrived, a large part of the battle was a chaotic and confused melee. Forces from the Thirty-First Armor Division[6] and the Fusiliers of Oriente[7] arrived to seperate the various combatants, but by that point the Archon was unconscious as a result of her cockpit being crushed, and was discovered to have lost her left arm and suffered serious injuries to her head and chest.[6]

Following the battle the Rangers and the Tigers both requested and received permission to withdraw from Operation MAILED FIST, as both units were unwilling to continue serving under the Archon. The Archon herself took weeks to heal to the point where she could travel again, having refused to be fitted with a prosthetic limb to replace her missing arm, by which time she had been briefed by both the Lyran Intelligence Corps and the Hegemony Central Intelligence Directorate that evidence pointed to a member of the Estates-General, not the Dukes of Tamar or Skye. Faced with a political crisis at home, the Archon also withdrew from Barcelona; the Star League forces had successfully completed the conquest of Barcelona in mid-September, a few weeks prior to the Archon leaving.[6]

Star League

The Twenty-fifth were stationed on Pardeau in 2765. Their presence convinced HartfordCo to build a plant for Von Luckner tanks in that system.[8]

Officers

During the Reunification War the Twenty-fifth was commanded by Colonel James Rechard. Colonel Rechard was a fan of Terra's Wild West, and was nicknamed "Pistol Jim."[9]

Tactics

The Twenty-fifth was skilled in skirmishing tactics, and served as a multi-role unit in the Reunification War.[9]

Composition History

2765

Twenty-fifth Skye Rangers (Elite/Fanatical)[8]

Notes

Rules

Reunification War

  • The Twenty-Fifth Skye Rangers receive a +1 bonus to rolls on the Random Experience Table.[10]
  • The Twenty-Fifth Skye Rangers receive a +1 bonus to rolls to determine the availability of Advanced Equipment.[10]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Historical: Reunification War, p. 152, "Rim Worlds Republic Front (Jump-off - 2587)
  2. Historical: Reunification War, p. 131, "False Starts (2579-81)
  3. 3.0 3.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 132, "Persistence, Treeline, Star's End and Black Earth (May-December 2581)
  4. 4.0 4.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 153, "Rim Worlds Republic Front (2588-2596)"
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Historical: Reunification War, p. 136, "Barcelona (April-September 2591)"
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Historical: Reunification War, p. 137-138, "Barcelona: The Day of Rage (19 June 2591)"
  7. Historical: Reunification War, p. 38, "First Fusiliers of Oriente"
  8. 8.0 8.1 Field Report 2765: LCAF, pp. 18-19, "Skye Rangers" - Regimental Status
  9. 9.0 9.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 40
  10. 10.0 10.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 183, "Lyran Commonwealth"

Bibliography