Editing Tara Campbell

{{Update Needed|[[Shattered Fortress]], [[Grey Watch Protocol]], [[Rock of the Republic]], and [[Shrapnel Issue 11]]}}
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{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = Tara Campbell.jpg
| caption             = 
| name                = Tara Campbell
| birthdate           = December [[3104]]<ref name=ER3145b>''Era Report: 3145'', p. 86: "Tara Campbell profile"</ref>
| died                = 
| othernames          = Angel of Sadalbari,<br /> Tara Wolf,<br /> Tara Jade Falcon
| affiliation         = [[House Campbell]]
| rank                = [[The Republic of the Sphere#Prefectures|Prefect]] of [[Prefecture III]]
| title               = [[Countess of Northwind]]<ref name=DARoSp36>''Dark Age: Republic of the Sphere'', p. 36: "Tara Campbell"</ref>
| position            = 
| profession          = Noble
| parents             = [[Jon Campbell]] (father)<br/>[[Moelene Jaffries]] (mother)
| siblings            = A sister<ref name=DARoSp36/>
| spouse              = 
| children            =
}}
'''Tara Campbell''' was the daughter of [[Colonel]] [[Jon Campbell]] and [[Senator]] [[Moelene Jaffries]].  She was born "off-world" (on [[Terra]]) but she grew up on [[Northwind]], attending the [[Northwind Military Academy]].  She was described as attractive at a petite 155cm (just under 5'1").  She had spiked, platinum-blond hair,<ref name=ASitHc3>''A Silence in the Heavens'', ch. 3</ref> blue eyes, and a fair complexion.<ref name=DARoSp36/>

==History==
During her first five years, either his father or her mother traveled to [[Northwind]] with her. She became a sister in [[3109]] and her mother decided to step down from the Senate and her father retired to spend more with the family. The returned to their hereditary estates and titles as Count and Countess of Northwind.<ref name=DARoSp36/>

===Early life===
At six, she was the youngest child ever to be accepted into the Republic's Diplomatic Youth Corps, drawing posters and assisting in fundraisers after natural disasters.<ref name=DARoSp36/>

During the [[Capellan Crusades]], she lost an uncle at [[Burton Marik-Davion|Burton Davion]]'s Last Stand, and she was one of a hundred volunteers to record several messages that were played over the [[RAF|Armed Forces]] Radio Band. She was put forward as the DYC poster child in [[3113]] to encourage others to volunteer their time and earn their citizenship.<ref name=DARoSp36/><ref name=ER3145>''Era Report: 3145''</ref>

When her mother died in [[3115]] and her father returned to active duty, Tara and her younger sister became "army brats".<ref name=DARoSp36/>

She opted for one of Northwind's military prep schools for her secondary education, and when she started the [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]] [[Northwind Military Academy]] in [[3121]], it raised very few eyebrows. Only a few years behind the well-known [[Katana Tormark]], she worked toward any cadet record Tormark ever set and broke nearly half of them, including small-arms marksman and, more unusual for her petite size, best finish in the entire history of the Academy's martial arts competition. In [[3124]], she led the Highlander Cavalry cadet corps, which barely missed stealing away honors from Tormark's [[Dragon's Fury]] corps for the Pass In Review ceremony at the end of the year. She graduated a year early, as had Tormark, but declined to stay on as an instructor. She was instead posted to the [[First Kearny Highlanders]] line unit under the command of Colonel [[Emil Wallace]].<ref name=DARoSp36/>

===Sadalbari===
She did not languish under Wallace's command, but neither did she flourish at first. Until [[3127]], her military career was noted as merely competent.<ref name=DARoSp36/>

During a combat drop against [[Black Dragon Pirates]], Colonel Wallace suffered a [[BattleMech]] malfunction, and it was Tara who stepped up into command of the operation with a masterful strategy that saved the Colonel's life, threw the pirates off [[Sadalbari]], and crushed an entire company of the pirates, even capturing one of their [[DropShip]]s.<ref name=DARoSp36/> Sadalbari earned her the nickname, the "Angel of Sadalbari", and after that, there was rarely a month during the next two years without an article covering her current post and tastes in fashion.<ref name=ASitH3>''A Silence in the Heavens'', p. 45</ref><ref name=DARoSp36/> Her fame drove demand for her ''[[Hatchetman]]'' variant of choice, the 5D, leading to it being returned to regular production.<ref name=S7Hatchet>''Shrapnel'' Issue 7: "HCT-5D ''Hatchetman''"</ref>

=== Prefect of Prefecture III ===
She acceptanced the post as [[Legate]] to Northwind in [[3129]] but declined the post of [[The Republic of the Sphere#Prefectures|Prefect]] of [[Prefecture III]] in favor of the more experienced Duchess [[Katana Tormark]].<ref name=DARoSp36/>

She was finally promoted to [[The Republic of the Sphere#Prefectures|Prefect]] of Prefecture III when Tormark renounced the Republic and founded the Dragon's Fury. Before switching allegiances to the [[Draconis Combine|Combine]], Campbell had valued Tormark so much that her treason would even haunt the new Prefect in her dreams.

After the passing of her parents, she became the Countess of [[Northwind]] as well as the Commanding Officer of the [[Northwind Highlanders]].

===Fortress Republic===
Once [[Fortress Republic]] was enacted, Tara took whatever forces she had that were outside of the Fortress walls and arrived within the territory of the [[Republic Remnant|Remnant]] on [[Callison]].  The Highlanders along with [[Kristoff Erbe]]'s Knights have built a strong force for the defense of the values of the Republic.<ref name=ER3145/>

====Northwind====
Elements of the First Kearny would end up engaged in fighting an invasion of Northwind itself, by [[Steel Wolves]], a Clan-oriented splinter group, twice. Over the course of nine months (first in June [[3133]] and in February [[3134]]) with minimum resources, Campbell and the elements of the regiment would end up fighting off two takeover attempts by the Steel Wolves and its uncanny leader, [[Galaxy Commander]] [[Anastasia Kerensky]]. Despite betrayal of Paladin [[Ezekiel Crow]], the Highlanders succeeded, mounted what amounts to a counterattack to stop Steel Wolves from its next destination, which would soon be found out as [[Terra]]. The First Kearny with the rest of the available Northwind Highlanders Tara Campbell could muster, end up fighting off Steel Wolves with the [[Tenth Principes Guards]] on the fields of former Nation-State of Russia in April.

As the CO of the Highlanders, she has led the defense of her homeworld twice against [[Anastasia Kerensky]] and her [[Steel Wolves]].

==== Terra ====
She participated also in the defense of Terra from Anastasia Kerensky and her Steel Wolves.

=== After Terra ===
She has defended multiple [[Republic of the Sphere|Republic]] planets from multiple threats that wish to tear apart the very fabric of what she believes in from the cockpit of her trusted ''[[Hatchetman]]''.

==== Skye ====
The regiment would continue to be stretched for a few more months until they would be requested to muster on [[Skye]], where they would face threat of invasion by [[Clan Jade Falcon]]. They would need to dig in and help build clever strategies as they faced elements of multiple [[Galaxy|Galaxies]] of troops after the Clan had captured a number of [[Prefecture VIII]] and [[Prefecture IX|IX]] worlds. The regiment, along with other coalition forces (including Steel Wolves) would manage to repulse the Falcon's first invasion in August 3134, however they would be forced to withdraw from Skye failing to fight off the second attack.<ref>''Era Digest: Dark Age'', pp. 8–10, 15–16: Brief highlights of the combat for Northwind, Terra, and Skye noted</ref><ref>''Field Manual: 3145'', pp. 14–15: Descend - Campbell and Highlanders effort noted and more details of the Battle for Skye</ref>

==== Republic Remnant ====
Tara Campbell was nearly captured by forces from [[Clan Jade Falcon]] on [[Galatea]] in [[3144]]; the Duchess had been cut off by Jade Falcon [[Elemental]]s on two flanks during a particularly brutal battle outside Galatean City when a scratch [[battalion]] of [[Republic Remnant]] forces consisting largely of [[battle armor]] and [[JI2A1|JI2A1 Attack APCs]] surprised the Jade Falcons. Striking from the Falcons' rear, the Republic Remnant forces killed a number of Elementals using tandem-charge missiles—one noted gunner on a JI2A1, [[Sergeant]] [[Bryan Charles]] accounted for three Falcon Elementals single-handedly—before launching a savage battlesuit-to-battlesuit clash that gave the Duchess time to escape.<ref name="TRO3145:FSp14">''Technical Readout: 3145 Federated Suns'', p. 14: "J12A1 Attack APC"</ref>

===Bondsman to Clan Wolf===
As a way to further weaken the power base of the Republic, Khan Alaric would land on the country of Scotland to challenge Countess Tara Campbell of the famed Northwind Highlanders. She accepted Alaric’s challenge where she would fight the vaunted Wolf Khan in combat. During this battle, she did what no one has ever done before: '''bested the Khan of Clan Wolf'''. Despite her victory however, Khan Ward had a trump card in his hand. Refusing to go down without a fight, he would send a coded message to Clan Wolf forces to move in on Tara and her Highlanders. Alaric would later tell her that the only way to save her people would be to stand down and become a bondsman, that way the Highlanders would not be destroyed and saved as a result. Although reluctant to do so both due her own viewpoints on the Clans and her comrades begging her not to surrender, Campbell tearfully and painfully accepted the surrender. During her time with Clan Wolf, Tara struggled with the idea of being a Clan Warrior along with her own heritage.<ref>''Hour of the Wolf'', pp. 301–304</ref>

===Tactician to Clan Jade Falcon===
To further begin the healing process between Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon, Tara would be given to the newly declared Khan, Stephanie Chistu. This was done as a way to help rebuild the respect and honor that Malvina has tainted among the Falcons. Given her roots to the Star League through the Highlanders and in addition to the Falcon’s heritage of Elizabeth Hazen’s Black Watch ancestry, Tara would be selected to join the Jade Falcons. Tara would make a vow to become the Falcon’s best tactician as a way for them not to turn into the monsters they were when they had the Mongol Doctrine. With Tara's vow to help redeem the Jade Falcons and heal the wounds of honor, she would go from “Tara Wolf” to “Tara Jade Falcon”.<ref>''Hour of the Wolf'', pp. 552–553</ref>

Tara was replaced as Countess of Northwind by her younger sister, [[Arabell Campbell-Stewart]], which took the first steps to keep Northwind safe and independent.<ref>''Unit Digest: First Kearny Highlanders'' in ''Shrapnel#11'', pp. 78–79</ref>

== BattleMechs ==
Tara Campbell piloted a ''[[Hatchetman]]'' 5D, nicknamed ''Dòrlach'',<ref name=S7Hatchet/> most of her career, until she was forced to self-destruct it in the second battle of Skye against [[Clan Jade Falcon]]. Later, she piloted an ''[[Atlas (BattleMech)|Atlas]]'' borrowed from Paladin [[David McKinnon]].<ref name=ACtA06>''Blood of the Isle'', p. 261</ref> After returning to Terra, she received a new ''Hatchetman'', which she used in the battle of Terra against [[The Republic of the Sphere#Civil War|Senate forces]].<ref name=ACtA07>''Sword of Sedition'', p. 296</ref> Currently she pilots a BLR-4S-A ''[[BattleMaster]]'' which she has named ''Caber''.<ref name="dossier">''MechWarrior: Dark Age, Dossiers And Pilot Cards'', p. 273</ref> During the ilClan Trial, she would pilot a ''[[Sun Cobra]]'' with [[Clan Wolf]].<ref>''Hour of the Wolf'', p. 414</ref>

== Titles and Positions ==
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Katana Tormark]]}}
{{s-title|title=[[The Republic of the Sphere#Prefectures|Prefect]] of [[Prefecture III]]|years=[[3132]] – 3???}}
{{s-aft|after=Prefecture dissolved}}
{{s-bef|before=[[John Campbell]]}}
{{s-title|title=[[Countess of Northwind]]|years=[[3129]] – [[3151]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Arabel Campbell-Stewart]]}}
{{s-end}}

== References ==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Blood of the Isle]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Dark Age: Republic of the Sphere]]''
* ''[[Era Report: 3145]]''
* ''[[Flight of the Falcon]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Fortress Republic (novel)|Fortress Republic]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Hour of the Wolf]]'' (novel)
* ''[http://bg.battletech.com/download/MWDA_Uniques.pdf?884bc4 MechWarrior: Dark Age, Dossiers And Pilot Cards]''
* ''[[Service for the Dead]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Shrapnel Issue 7]]''
* ''[[A Silence in the Heavens]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Sword of Sedition]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Technical Readout: 3145 Federated Suns]]''
* ''[[Truth and Shadows]]'' (novel)


[[Category:Northwind Highlanders Characters|Campbell, Tara]]
[[Category:Republic of the Sphere Characters|Campbell, Tara]]
[[Category:Notable Hatchetman Pilots|Campbell, Tara]]