Jerry Akuma

Jerry Akuma was an ambitious and ruthless MechWarrior in House Kurita's military who had little regard for the code of Bushido. He was also proud and haughty, and tended to look down on mercenaries.

Regarding Jerry Akuma's skill as a MechWarrior, Minobu Tetsuhara once observed that he thought Akuma to be a mediocre 'Mech pilot at best.

Military career

In 3021, Jerry Akuma was second-in-command in the command lance of Scout Company Gold, 2nd Sword of Light Regiment. During this time, he piloted a Panther. His company commander was Tai-i (Captain) Minobu Tetsuhara, for whom Akuma felt nothing but contempt for Tetsuhara was a staunch follower of the Bushido code. During the defense of Dromini VI against Wolf's Dragoons in September 3021, the command lance encountered an enemy Archer that had shut down from excess heat. Akuma wanted to finish off the helpless enemy but Tetsuhara would not allow it. Dangerously close to insubordination, Akuma gave in to his superior officer's orders, but secretly decided on that day that Tetsuhara had crossed him one time too often.

In the wake of the costly debacle that the defense of Dromini VI had been, many Kurita officers were reprimanded. Akuma and Tetsuhara parted ways. While the latter was relieved of his command and denied the right to pilot a BattleMech, Akuma gained the attention of Warlord Grieg Samsonow. By November 3024 he was the Warlord's aide and had risen to the rank of Sho-sa (Major).

Wolf's Dragoons had entered the service of House Kurita in 3023. After Samsonow's unsuccessful attempt to gain direct control of the mercenary unit, Jerry Akuma became Samsonow's right hand in the plot to discredit and destroy the mercenaries instead. To Akuma, this was a means to hurt his hated enemy Tetsuhara who was their liaison officer and had become a personal friend of their commander, Jaime Wolf.

Coordinator Takashi Kurita decreed in December 3025 that Wolf's Dragoons should assist in the creation of the Ryuken ("Sword of the Dragon"), a House unit trained in the fashion of the Dragoons instead of traditional DCMS doctrine. Tetsuhara received command of the trainee Ryuken, and Jerry Akuma was made liaison officer to Wolf's Dragoons in his stead by Warlord Samsonow. He used this position to hamper the mercenaries to the best of his abilities, including supply shortages, oppressive bureaucracy, misinformation and orders that forced the Dragoons to abandon personnel behind enemy lines.

In September 3026, the first Ryuken bataillon was ready and joined an assault on Barlow's End in conjunction with Wolf's Dragoons. The operation did not go well as the defenders were far stronger and better than Kurita intelligence had anticipated (they included the White Witches and the elite Eridani Light Horse mercenary units), and the Kurita command also suffered from Akuma's clandestine obstructive activities. His orders deliberately put Wolf's Dragoons in jeopardy wherever possible, and assigned House units such as the 2nd Sword of Light regiment to lead the final assaults where the mercenaries had previously done the brunt of the fighting, thus depriving them of the acknowledgement of their achievements. During the prolonged campaign, Akuma arranged for Tetsuhara's hovercraft to be sabotaged which resulted in a severe accident. Tetsuhara was critically injured, but not killed, and evacuated from the contested world. Akuma went with him, and later expressed regret about the high professional ethos of the doctors who succeeded in saving Tetsuhara's life. An incompetent officer replaced both Akuma and Tetsuhara in their respective commands, and the Kurita offensive faltered.

Despite their disappointing combat record on Barlow's End the Ryuken were subsequently expanded into independent regiments mirroring the Dragoons, and stationed alongside the Dragoons alongside their respective garrisons. It was clear under the circumstances that the Ryuken had become watchdogs over their teachers. Jerry Akuma received command of the Ryuken-ichi, the first regiment, which was stationed on the Dragoon HQ world of An Ting, along with a promotion to Chu-sa (Lieutenant-Colonel), while at the same time remaining liaison officer to the Dragoons. He purposefully escalated tensions on An Ting through propaganda, false evidence and engineered riots in his attempts to provoke Wolf's Dragoons to breach their contract, going so far as having the Dragoon orbital space station Hephaestus Station occupied and later destroyed by alledged Kurita "freedom fighters". He positively enjoyed the frustration and outrage of the helpless mercenaries.

Death

On January 3rd, 3028, Jerry Akuma finally ordered the Ryuken to attack the alledgedly rogue Dragoons. However, in the days of ensuing fighting the well-prepared Dragoons defeated the Ryuken, and on January 13, a Dragoon Shadow Hawk piloted by Dechan Fraser penetrated the defense line, marched into the city center of Cerant on An Ting and killed Jerry Akuma in his office building.