Editing Belle Lee

{{Update Needed|[[Jihad Hot Spots: Terra]]|[[BattleTech Dossiers: Lamenkov's Liability]]|[[Field Manual: 3085]]}}
{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = Belle Lee.jpg
| caption             = 
| name                = Belle Lee
| birthdate           = [[3041]]<ref>''Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers'', p. 228: Belle Lee</ref>
| died                = [[3119]]<ref name=ID>"The Inheritance of Duty": Jeremy Lee is "three times older" in 3132 than when he was six, ''i.e.'' he was born around 3114, and "Grandma" Belle Lee died lived to see his fifth birthday</ref>
| affiliation         = [[Federated Suns]]<br/>[[Republic of the Sphere]]
| profession          = [[Commanding General of the Republic Armed Forces|Commanding General]]
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
}}
'''Belle Lee''' was a [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]], officer, resistance fighter, and [[Commanding General of the Republic Armed Forces]].

==Character Description==
A brilliant strategist and hot tempered individual, who at times had trouble controlling her temper.<ref name="M&M,BL">''Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers'', p. 227: Belle Lee Profile</ref> She was described as having flaming red hair and blue eyes during her time commanding Stone's Lament.<ref>''Jihad Hot Spots: 3076'', p. 80: "Belle Lee on the Move"</ref><ref name=TFoH:GP>''The Fires of Hell'': ''Gathering Players''</ref>

==History==
===Early life and career===
Belle was born to a modest family on the [[Federated Suns]] world of [[Fortymile]]. A bright child, she went on to achieve a high score in her academy testing.  She won a planetary scholarship to the prestigious [[NAIS]] on [[New Avalon]].

While attending the NAIS, her fiery personality landed her into trouble, which resulted in her scoring lowest among her graduating class.  Once graduated, she was assigned as an officer in the [[New Syrtis]] planetary militia.  She mustered out of the militia in the middle of the [[FedCom Civil War]], where she was disgusted with partisan politics of the [[FedCom]].

She joined a local mercenary command, which she used as a means to keep her skills sharp. She became a respected mercenary commander during her career.<ref>''Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers'', p. 226: Devlin Stone</ref> She sent money to her family on Fortymile, until her capture by [[Word of Blake]] raiders.<ref name="M&M,BL"/>

===Jihad and Devlin Stone===
She was sent by the Word of Blake to reeducation camp, RBMU 105. Details of her capture and incarceration have not been fully revealed, and it's been suspected [[Devlin Stone]] has ordered her not to speak of it. What is known is that she joined the prison resistance group led by Devlin Stone, ultimately succeeding in overpowering their captors and taking over the camp.

She went on to become one of Devlin Stone's inner circle, organizing the fellow survivors into part of his new military force, [[Stone's Lament]]. Belle became a regimental commander whose tactics were adopted by the Lament.<ref>''Jihad Hot Spots: 3076'', p. ??: Behind the Stone Wall{{cn}}</ref>

She later became commander of Stone's Coalition of Allied troops, with rank of [[General]]. As she was commanding the multinational forces, her fiery temper led to problems between allied commands and media.<ref>''Jihad Hot Spots: 3076'', pp. 80–81: "Belle Lee on the Move"</ref>  However, she made up the difference by focusing her frustration on Blakists, and her compassion and regard for her people inspired strong loyalty among her troops.<ref name="M&M,BL"/>

In [[3074]], Belle had a short-lived relationship with Stone's Lament officer [[Jared Travis]], which ended with a rejected marriage proposal.<ref name=TFoH:GP/>

In early December [[3076]] the arrival of the ''[[Little Big Horn]]'' on [[Donegal]] prompted media speculation that Belle and various other senior military officers were meeting on Donegal to plan the invasion of the [[Word of Blake Protectorate]]. While the ''Little Big Horn'' had not been confirmed to be Belle's command vessel, adding credence to the rumors was the presence of both [[Field Marshal]] [[Katherine Sandoval-Ito]] of the [[AFFS]] and ''[[Tai-shu]]'' [[Isoroku Kurita]] of the [[DCMS]] on Donegal, where both had been in seclusion since mid-November, and the arrival of [[Duke]] [[Robert Kelswa-Steiner]] on Donegal the day after the ''Little Big Horn'' landed.<ref name="JHS:Tp16+">''Jihad Hot Spots: Terra'', pp. 16–17: "Big Doings On ''Little Big Horn''"</ref>

Belle led a number of planetary campaigns personally during [[Operation SCOUR]], the campaign to liberate the worlds of the Word of Blake Protectorate, including the second assault on [[Chara]] in October [[3077]].<ref name="J:FRp58">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 58: "The Jihad in Review"</ref>

===Road to liberate Terra===
{{Sectionstub}}

===Commanding General of the Republic Armed Forces===
As the [[Republic of the Sphere]] established itself as a nation, Devlin Stone and [[David Lear]] debated asking Lee to accept the post of [[Commanding General of the Republic Armed Forces]]. Lee refused to consider the high-level post, arguing vehemently that she should remain deployed along with the field army; while the indications are that this was accepted, Lear evidently pushed for her to move from a field position to a strategic position in the longer term, so as to avoid creating a vocal opponent to various reforms who would also enjoy the popular support of much of the armed forces. With Lee adamant about not serving as Commanding General, the second choice candidate fell to [[Victor Steiner-Davion]].<ref name="J:FRp102">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 103: "Leadership"</ref>

==Retirement==
Having fought with Stone for seventeen years since Kittery, Belle Lee eventually tired of warfare and retired to Fortymile where she had a son. She lived to see her grandson's fifth birthday in ca. [[3119]].<ref name=ID/>

==Titles and Ranks==
*Commanding General of [[Stone's Lament]]
*Commanding General of Stone's Allied Coalition

==Notes==
* After the former [[Federated Suns]] and [[Federated Commonwealth]] officer [[Andrew Redburn]] was found alive in a prison camp on [[Asta]] in [[3078]], he served with [[Victor Steiner-Davion]] on Devlin Stone's general staff before serving as Belle Lee's XO.<ref name="J:FRp57">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 57: "The Jihad in Review"</ref>
* It was rumored in the media that the ''[[Monarch]]'' class [[DropShip]] Little Big Horn was Belle Lee's command vessel during the Jihad.<ref name="JHS:Tp16+"/>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Belle Lee AToW.png|Lee standing beside the cockpit of her ''[[Victor]]''
</gallery>

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[BattleTech Dossiers: Lamenkov's Liability]]''
* ''[[The Fires of Hell]]'' (in: ''[[A Time of War]]'')
* ''[[The Inheritance of Duty]]''
* ''[[Jihad: Final Reckoning]]''
* ''[[Jihad Hot Spots: 3076]]''
* ''[[Jihad Hot Spots: Terra]]''
* ''[[Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers]]''


[[Category: Republic of the Sphere Characters|Lee, Belle]]
[[Category: Federated Suns Characters|Lee, Belle]]
[[Category:Notable Victor Pilots|Lee, Belle]]