3rd Calderon Guard

History

Founding

The Third Calderon Guard was founded in 3072 along with its two sister regiments, the First and Second Calderon Guards. Officially, the Calderon Guard was a brigade, but each regiment started with humble beginnings and grew at the same rate. The avowed purpose of the Calderon Guard was to curtail the increase in pirate raids against the Calderon Protectorate since the beginning of the Jihad.

The Jihad

By 3075 the Third had reached only a single mixed, reinforced company in strength; much of the equipment being supplied to the Third and her sister regiments had been acquired outside the Calderon Protectorate and smuggled in via various routes. Some of the equipment even originated as far away as the Federated Suns and the Magistracy of Canopus; speculation was that while the Federated Suns industries supplying the material were intending for the Protectorate forces to counterbalance the push into Federated Suns space by the Taurian Concordat, the material being supplied through the Magistracy actually originated with various Free Worlds League companies. It was also considered likely that sympathetic elements within the Concordat had been providing supplies, up until the combination of the asteroid strikes at the heart of the Concordat and a devastating campaign by FedSuns mercenaries that targetted the Taurian industrial base choked off the supply.

The largest problem facing the Third by the middle of the Jihad was a singular lack of manpower; each regiment within the Guard needed a supply of skilled, vetted recruits, but the Protectorate lacked any formal military training establishment, and much of the Protectorate consisted of either mining outposts or agrarian settlements. The bulk of the manpower for the Third actually consisted of Concordat expatriates, and the number of expatriates dwindled sharply as the Jihad went on. This situation was unlikely to improve until after the construction of the New Hope Military University, which wasn't predicted to begin training its first class until 3079.

One of those involved in assisting with the expansion of the various Guard regiments was Talia Martens, Captain of the "Second" Prey's Divisionals and mother of the Protector-designate, Erik Martens-Calderon. Despite the troubles the Third and the other regiments of the Guard were experiencing in reaching full strength the Calderon Protectorate Force made a great deal of noise about their rising strength - a measure apparently intended to dissuade both pirates and the Taurian leadership from attacking the Protectorate. Pirate attacks on the Protectorate actually dropped in the wake of the asteroid bombardment of Taurus, but Baron Cham Kithrong continued to direct resources into allowing the Guard to expand.

By 3079 the Third had reached approximately one-fifth of full size - still far from their intended strength, but a notable achievement given the reduction in size of their Taurian counterparts. It was still considered likely to be years before the Third reached full strength, but the CPF was diligent in ensuring that the Third and its sister regiments grew at an equal pace, ensuring that there could be no charges of favoritism in how the various regiments were treated.

Dark Age

The Third continued to grow during the Dark Age; in 3084 the Third were guarding the Protectorate Arms Conglomerate facilities on Diik when a pirate band attempted to raid the complex. The pirates had timed their attack to coincide with the departure of the Quixote-class missile frigate CPS Redemption', and showed their competence in the opening stages of their attack.

The raiders used a company of heavy and assault BattleMechs to push through the Third's 'Mech lines and make for the loading area, where a consignment of BattleMechs - newly constructed Toros - were being loaded onto DropShips. The raiders had almost reached the loading ground when the Third's infantry and armor forces launched a counterattack against the raiders' flank. After seven of their number were taken out of action the pirates quit the field, fleeing for their transports. The Third lost six MechWarriors in the battle, including their commanding officer, Colonel Erwin von Trapp. Von Trapp's successor, Brigadier Julie Phelps, rewarded the tank company that had carried the day as "von Trapp's Boys", a nickname that the company continued to maintain with a solemn pride. The actions of the Third during the battle earned the regiment the nickname "The Fervent Protectors" from the rest of the Protectorate.

By the mid-thirty-second century the Third had reached full strength - or a close approximation thereof - but suffered from the feeling that it was a forgotten command, stationed as it was on the quiet worlds of Lastpost and Oscar. The Protector helped to ease that feeling somewhat by giving the Third permission to undertake a number of operations at range, both spinward and rimward, as well as to make occasional sweeps through uninhabited systems close to their garrisons to identify any pirate bases or bandit camps in the area. This meant that one battalion of the Third was invariably operating in deep space at any given time, but it also meant that the Third's garrisons were continually understrength.

Officers

In 3084 the commanding officer of the Third was Colonel Erwin von Trapp; he fell in battle on the planet Diik, and was succeeded by Brigadier Julie Phelps. By 3085 Phelps had been succeeded in turn by COlonel Uaithne Kavanaugh.

In 3145 the commanding officer of the Third was Colonel Aaron Hendrix.

Composition History

3079

Third Calderon Guard (Green/Reliable) At this point the Third Calderon Guard were deployed to Diik and were operating at just one-fifth of full strength, as were the Third's two sister regiments. The Third also had no access to advanced technology.

3085

Third Calderon Guard (Regular/Reliable)

• CO: Colonel Uaithne Kavanaugh

At ths point the Third Calderon Guard were still stationed on Diik and were operating at forty-five percent of full strength, although they still had no access to advanced technology.

3145

Third Calderon Guard (Veteran/Questionable)

• CO: Colonel Aaron Hendrix
  

At this point the Third Calderon Guard were deployed across the worlds of Last Post and Oscar and were operating at ninety-five percent of full strength.

Notes

• The names of the officers involved in the battle on Diik in 3084 - Colonel Erwin von Trapp and his successor, Brigadier Julie Phelps, may be a reference to the film The Sound of Music, in which Julie Andrews played a young woman who leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the seven children of a widowed naval officer named Georg von Trapp.

Game Rules

Bibliography

• Field Manual: 3085
• Field Manual: 3145
• Field Report: Periphery
• Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers