Susie Morgraine-Ryan

Susie Morgraine-Ryan
Susie Morgraine-Ryan
Personal
Born3018[1]
AffiliationRyan's Rebels
New Belt Pirates
Profile
RankMajor[1]
ProfessionPirate
Family
ParentsRedjack Ryan (father)[1]
Maria Morgraine (mother)[1]
SiblingsKenny Ryan (half-brother)

Susie Morgraine-Ryan was a pirate queen in the mid-thirty-first century.

History[edit]

Early Life[edit]

Susie Morgraine-Ryan was the only daughter and legitimate heir of notorious pirates Redjack Ryan and Maria Morgraine, the rulers of the Greater Valkyrate bandit kingdom. As the future queen of the Valkyrate, she soon exceed both her parents as a capable, cruel, and ruthless leader. After taking command of the Third Battalion of Ryan's Rebels at a young age, she quickly built a reputation as a brutal fighter, leading the Third in countless raids and enjoying an unbroken record of success.[2]

Clan Invasion[edit]

The Clans' arrival in 3049 had devastating consequences for the Valkyrate. In very few battles, Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon shattered the Rebels' First Battalion on The Rock and later assaulted the Valkyrate's capital of Götterdämmerung, catching Susie Morgraine-Ryan and her battalion off guard. Realizing the enemy troops were vastly superior to theirs, the Third retreated with light losses thanks to the fact that the Falcons didn't take the pirates seriously. Maria Morgraine and a few of her MechWarriors dug in and and fought long enough to let Susie and two companies escape off-planet, fleeing deeper into the Periphery, away from the Clan invasion corridors.[2]

The Belt Pirates of Star's End, led by Morgan Fletcher II, had survived the initial Clan assault on the Inner Sphere and began raiding Clan-occupied planets. Shortly after the Battle of Tukayyid, Susie Morgraine-Ryan and her unit arrived in Star's End and together she and Fletcher formed an alliance, renaming their combined forces the New Belt Pirates.[2] And her people must have had some success, as they managed to capture at least a full lance of fully operational Clan OmniMechs.[citation needed]

Mission to Kore[edit]

Somehow, Susie learned about the existence of a Clan Steel Viper supply cache hidden on the ice planet of Kore, and forged a plan to take both. The planet had been retaken, years ago, by the mercenary group Storm Riders, working for the company owning Kore, Alfin Corporation. Despite the fact the Riders only had a lance of medium and light BattleMechs on Kore, Susie don't take any chances: her people captured the DropShip Tammuz, carrying supplies to Kore, and boarded it with her lance of Clan OmniMechs, Susie's Mad Cat, a Puma, a Uller, and a Fenris (painted as Clan Jade Falcon 'Mechs to keep the Pirates' identity secret) and an unknown number of infantry.

On 11 April 3060, the pirate force landed on Kore, and the attack was a total surprise: the lance of Riders were on the landing site, awaiting to help unload the Tammuz, fell prey to the DropShip weapons and the lance of OmniMechs. Two of the Rider's 'Mechs were downed in no time, their pilots killed. Susie in person executed the lieutenant commanding the lance, with a Centurion. The other two 'Mechs attempted to escape to give the alarm, but they failed: one of them, with a Panther BattleMech, was damaged and surrendered. The other, with a light Thorn continued escaping, being pursued by the Puma.

The Thorn's pilot, a young native named Sturm Kintaro, didn't go too far: he ambushed the Puma in the mountains, trapping him, but the Uller attacked him from the rear. Sturm managed to eject before his 'Mech blew, and the pirates didn't find his body.[3]

The Riders base fell easily under the pirate attack, and Susie interrogated the captured Panther pilot. He, named Lon Volker, identified her immediately. He was a young Kore native, ambitious, and was extremely cooperative, wanting to leave the planet more than anything else.[4] The next target of the pirates was Niffelheim, the only city on Kore. Without 'Mechs or armor, the Riders infantry could not even slow the pirates, and the city fell quickly. The next day Susie interrogated a local geologist Hidoshi Kintaro, Sturm's father, forcing him to help their forces to locate the Vipers Cache.

A short while later, two mysterious OmniMech with Steel Viper markings began attacking the pirates searching for the cache. In the first attack, they killed the Uller's pilot, but their next attacks weren't so successful. Frustrated, Susie suspected the "Ghost of Winter" - the name the locals give to the attacker after a legend of a Viper ghost 'Mech - was Sturm Kintaro, who had found the cache. She interrogated Volker, and later slept with him.[5] The same day the Ghost attacked the pirate base, freeing all the Riders prisoners, including Volker. The pilot really was Sturm, and guided the freed prisoners to the Viper's cache.[6]

Days later, the pirates' search for the escapees was a failure, and Susie broadcast a message to Sturm, ordering him to surrender at her base or she would execute Sturm's father. The boy infiltrated the pirate base alone... but it was a trap, and he was captured.[7] Susie was amused by Sturm's defiance. Even when he informed her that the Viper's cache had an HPG, which had sent a message to the Vipers after he got inside, she wasn't impressed. But before she could interrogate him, she informed him that she already knew the cache's location and left.

Soon later, the pirates trapped all the Riders with 'Mechs in open ground; Lon Volker had joined the pirates, betraying the Riders. But the young MechWarriors refused to surrender, putting up a fight.[8] However, though the pirates' victory appeared assured, Sturm Kintaro arrived with his Goshawk BattleMech. He had managed to escape the base and recover his 'Mech. Sturm, with his father's help, located a magma pocket on the mountains, and shot it with his weapons. The magma flow badly burned Volker's BattleMech, and heavily damaged Susie's Mad Cat. Now undergunned, she agreed to cease the fight.[9]

The pirates left Kore aboard the Tammuz, with their three remaining OmniMechs... and Lon Volker. Despite being badly burned, he was alive, and Susie planned to turn him into a living weapon, one she planned to use to make Sturm pay for the defeat.[10]

After Kore[edit]

After returning to Star's End, Susie resumed the raids against Clan space. Despite their continued successes, by 3064 both pirate leaders began questioning the wisdom of their partnership, as both began looking for ways to eliminate the other. Morgraine-Ryan, in particular, began launching independent raids against the Clans.[11] Fletcher, for her part, soon began to have private dealings with the Word of Blake, who were cultivating contacts with pirate kings throughout the Periphery.[12]

Facing the Wolves[edit]

In April 3064, Clan Wolf's Omega Galaxy finally launched a direct attack on the New Belt Pirates at Novo Cressidas on Star's End. The Wolves faced intense resistance both in orbit and on the ground, as the Loping Wolf, a Union-C-class DropShip was destroyed before making planetfall. By all accounts, the pirates gave a good accounting of themselves, taking full advantage of their knowledge of the terrain to cost the Wolves up to a Cluster worth of troops, though they reportedly lost twenty 'Mechs in the process, along with much of their infantry. The New Belt Pirates were forced to abandon their main base, withdrawing into the local caverns. Satisfied with the damage they had inflicted and wary of further ambushes, the Wolves did not pursue them.[12][13][14]

Group's destruction[edit]

Although they survived the Wolves' attack, the heavy losses led to irreparable divisions between Fletcher and Morgraine-Ryan. In 3066, Morgraine-Ryan, holding Fletcher responsible for the crackdown by the Wolf Clan, finally ousted the other pirate in an action that cost the New Belt Pirates another company. Susie Morgraine-Ryan now had sole command of the New Belt Pirates.[12][15][14] The bandits now went to ground, keeping a low profile as they attempted to recover their strength.[12] At this time, the New Belt Pirates were at 60 percent strength of their two battalions, with a veteran rating and fanatically loyalty to Morgraine-Ryan.[16] One noteworthy member of the pirate band was Jason "The Clyde" Marshall, a company commander and Venom pilot who had previously supported Fletcher and had survived her fall from power, but whose own future was now in doubt.[17]

During the early Jihad, Clans Hell's Horses and Ice Hellion were in perpetual conflict in the rimward Periphery. The New Belt Pirates attempted to take advantage of the chaos in a new series of raids against the Horses. Though they were initially distracted by the Hellions and the Wolves, Khan James Cobb never forgot about the New Belt Pirates, and in 3074 he sent Beta Galaxy to deal with the bandits once and for all. Although their asteroid field had long since proved an impressive defense against incoming DropShips, against crack Clan ProtoMechs and Elementals, they proved easier game. Realizing her vaunted orbital defenses were on the verge of failing, Morgraine-Ryan attempted to make a run for it. This led to a complete collapse of the New Belt Pirates' defenses, as the Horses secured the shipyards and Star's End.[14]

A report in 3079 by David Lear for Devlin Stone confirmed the destruction of the New Belt Pirates. It is unknown if Susie perished with them or not.[18]

BattleMech[edit]

On Kore, she piloted a Clan OmniMech Mad Cat. It is unknown what machine she piloted before capturing it.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 20 Year Update, p. 92
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Periphery, 2nd Edition, p. 82
  3. ↑ Ghosts of Winter, p. 66
  4. ↑ Ghosts of Winter, p. 75
  5. ↑ Ghosts of Winter, p. 128
  6. ↑ Ghosts of Winter, p. 149
  7. ↑ Ghosts of Winter, p. 214
  8. ↑ Ghosts of Winter, p. 217
  9. ↑ Ghosts of Winter, p. 254
  10. ↑ Ghosts of Winter, p. 257
  11. ↑ Field Manual: Periphery, p. 129: "New Belt Pirates: Harassing the Clans"
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Field Manual: Updates, p. 199: "New Belt Pirates"
  13. ↑ The Price of Conviction, pp. 17–20
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers, p. 144: "Star's End (Novo Cressidas)"
  15. ↑ Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 11: "Pirates"
  16. ↑ Field Manual: Updates, p. 204: "Periphery TO&E: Pirates"
  17. ↑ Technical Readout: 3055 Upgrade, p. 26: "Notable MechWarriors"
  18. ↑ Field Report: Periphery, p. 17: "Pirate Forces"

Bibliography[edit]

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