Editing Team Venom

{{Update Needed|[[Shrapnel Issue 16]]}}
{{infoBoxMilitaryCommand
| image          = 
| Designation    = Team Venom
| formed         = 
| Disbanded      = 
| Previous Designation = 
| Nickname       = 
| Affiliation    = [[Mercenary]]
| Parent Command = Independent
| Sub-Command    = 
}}
'''Team Venom''' was a [[mercenary unit]] of unspecified size and composition.

==History==
{{ApocryphalContentStart}}
During a raid against a [[Draconis Combine]] installation in early [[3044]], the unit was effectively wiped out save for a lone ''[[Commando]]'' that managed to board the evacuation [[DropShip]] before it lifted off with the recon data that had been the mission objective. Unit CO [[Colonel]] [[Holly Harris]]'s ''[[Zeus]]'' was left behind and was destroyed in full view of the DropShip when the pickup zone was overrun by enemy [[BattleMech]]s, her 'Mech having been too slow to reach the DropShip in time before it had to lift off.

The DropShip arrived at [[Outreach]] on 10 May 3044.

The ''Commando'' pilot—implied by circumstantial evidence to be [[Grady Kiefer]] (see Notes below)—inherited the 'Mech and all funds in the unit's bank account. He continued to work as a mercenary, but it is unknown if he created a new unit around himself, rebuilt Team Venom, or joined another mercenary unit.

==Officers==
{| class="wikitable"
|- 
! scope="col" width="220" style="background: #dedede;" | Rank
! scope="col" width="220" style="background: #dedede;" | Name
! scope="col" width="220" style="background: #dedede;" | Command
|-
| colspan="4" style="background: #efefef;" | '''Commanding Officers of Team Venom'''
|-
| [[Colonel]]||[[Holly Harris]]||[[3044]]
|-
|}
{{ApocryphalContentEnd}}

==Canonicity==
Prior to the publication of [[Shrapnel_(magazine)#Issue_12|''Shrapnel'' issue 12]], Team Venom had been mentioned exclusively in the intro sequence for the ''[[MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries]]'' computer game, which is an official BattleTech publication but does not meet the current criteria for [[Canon]] and must therefore be considered [[apocryphal]] at this time.

In ''Shrapnel'' issue 12, [[Eric Salzman]]'s report ''[[Death to Mercenaries: Rhetoric vs. Reality]]'' identified Team Venom as one of the small mercenary units the Draconis Combine hired, under then-''[[Kanrei]]'' [[Theodore Kurita]], in the 3040s in contracts subsidized by [[ComStar]] and routed through [[Matabushi Incorporated]] to hide them from [[Coordinator]] [[Takashi Kurita]] and his supporters.  This had the effect of canonizing Team Venom's existence as a unit, though not all the actions attributed to them in the game as outlined below.

==Notes==
* In the ''[[MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries]]'' computer game, the demise of Team Venom in the opening sequence provides the player with his own 'Mech and some funds, and thus the opportunity to run his own mercenary unit (and enable the economic metagame) instead of joining an existing mercenary command (and simply play through assigned combat missions). If the player elects to form his own unit, he is theoretically free to name it Team Venom though he is equally free to choose another name.
* Over the course of the game storyline, the player will enter the [[3049]] [[Solaris Games]] championship which was open to all comers, regardless of arena standing or ranking. The 3049 champion's name was given as [[Grady Kiefer]] in official canon.<ref>According to the Player Book in the ''[[Solaris VII: The Game World]]'' boxed set, p. 14 ("Champions of Solaris")</ref>
* The Team Venom ''Commando'' piloted by the player in the opening sequence and at the beginning of the game is identified as a COM-7X, a variant that had not previously been described and which remains apocryphal.

==See also==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at9hxU864Fg MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries intro sequence] (YouTube)

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
*''[[MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries]]'' (video game)
*''[[Shrapnel (magazine)|Shrapnel]]'', Issue #12


[[Category:Mercenary Commands]]