Darrin Keller

Darrin Keller
Personal
Affiliation	Clan Blood Spirit
Profile
Profession	Galaxy Commander

History

Darrin Keller was the Star Colonel of the 21st Crimson Guards between 3059 and 3067.

He rose to command Omicron Provisional Galaxy in 3073.

Two Clan Cloud Cobra WarShips - the York-class destroyer Nebulous and the Vincent-class corvette Hertzog's Staff - were deployed to Albion by the Cloud Cobras along with a small merchant convoy, to scout the system and assist with the rebuilding of New Bergen. The Star Adder personnel on Albion were starving by this point and had approached the Cloud Cobras for assistance, but the Cobras had little resources to share and couldn't help. When Blood Spirit forces in the form of Omega and Omicron Provisional Galaxy along with the recently repaired Aegis-class CBS Exsanguine, led by Darrin Keller arrived with the intent of attacking the Star Adders, the Nebulous and Hertzog's Staff were still in orbit. Rather than battle the two Cloud Cobra WarShips, the Blood Spirits bargained down the Trial to a duel between Stars of aerospace fighters, from the Cloud Cobra Beta Reserve and the best of Omega Galaxy's fighters. The Blood Spirits were ultimately victorious and went on to attack the Star Adders at Indicass Alpha and Beta.

Darrin Keller troops dropping swiftly onto the Star Adder holdings at Indicass Alpha and Indicass Beta, Omicron Galaxy was unprepared for the appearance of almost four Clusters of Star Adder ProtoMechs to defend the smaller Indicass Beta site. Galaxy Commander Darrin Keller acted quickly, inflicting heavy damage on the 1114th Gatekeeper Cluster, capturing warehouses and storage facilities full of badly-needed resources. Keller waited for a week before leading Omicron Galaxy to Indicass Alpha, which housed nearly a million civilians at this point. Despite the Dark Caste attacks, Indicass Alpha was still the site of a number of BattleMech and battle armor factories and associated industries, and the Star Adders fought a fierce defense to retain the enclave.

The 286th Adder Sentinels launched a flanking attack as Omicron Galaxy approached the city, plowing through the Twenty-second Blood Cavalry, before being pinned down by the Twenty-first Crimson Guards and destroyed. The Ninety-eighth Crimson Guards were the first to enter the city, passing the remains of the Star Adder police cordons and clashing with the remaining Star Adder forces; those defending forces, led by the 343rd, fell back further into the city, taking the civilians with them. When the Star Adders made a stand near a large OmniMech facility, the Ninety-eight realized they'd been drawn into a trap; hordes of armed civilians rose up to attack the Guards, and as Star Colonel Nad Johns attempted to strike out eastwards towards the main city DropPort, the Star Adders collapsed more than twenty city blocks onto the Blood Spirit forces. More than seven thousand civilians died and the dropping buildings buried many of the Guards' 'Mechs in a disaster that caused Keller to halt Omicron's advance.

During the fighting withdrawal that soon began, saKhan Constans Cluff was knocked unconscious. Galaxy Commander Darrin Keller took charge of the situation, organizing the retreat while facing a desperate Adder press. The Star Adders took advantage of the sudden pause, with their last Binary of aerospace fighters conducting a low-level bombing run that threw hundreds of tons of bombs at the First Blood Cavalry and Keller's Command Trinary. Keller was nearly killed in an aerospace fighter strike on his command star, though he would make it off world. The Blood Spirits engaged the Star Adder aerospace fighters with their own fighters, and the brutal dogfight that ensued left just three surviving Blood Spirit pilots. Keller ordered a full retreat from Albion; when the remaining Blood Spirit forces had left the surface of the planet, Keller then ordered the Exsanguine to bombard Indicass Alpha, and then Indicass Beta from orbit, destroying both. The Blood Spirits then left the system.

When saKhan Constans Cluff regained consciousness, he took grave exception to the orders to use naval bombardment. In a Trial of Refusal over the incident, he is said to have almost killed Darrin Keller in an unaugmented duel while still aboard the Exsanguine.

Bibliography

• Field Manual: Crusader Clans
• Field Manual: Updates
• The Wars of Reaving