Archer Christifori

Archer Kendrick Christifori
Character Profile
Born c. 3020[1]
Died 3069[citation needed]
Affiliation House Christifori
Rank Major General[2]
Title(s) Knight of the Sword[1]
Profession MechWarrior
Siblings Andrea Christifori[3]

Hailing from Thorin, Archer Christifori was a seasoned MechWarrior and respected commanding officer best known for his actions during Operation BULLDOG and the FedCom Civil War.

History[edit]

Operation BULLDOG[edit]

Along with Task Force Serpent, Operation BULLDOG was part of a two-pronged Inner Sphere plan to destroy Clan Smoke Jaguar. BULLDOG's purpose was to fight planet-by-planet to push the Jaguars out of the Inner Sphere, while Serpent snaked around the Exodus Road to strike the Jaguar's homeworld Huntress.[4] A major in the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth at the time, Christifori supported BULLDOG by commanding a company of Victor Steiner-Davion's elite Tenth Lyran Guards.[5] The Guards suffered only light losses during the operation, and were able to link up with Serpent on Huntress, only to find the Task Force remnants under intense siege from the very Jaguar forces BULLDOG had chased back to the planet.[6] As BULLDOG forces dropped to assist their comrades, Christifori was ordered to relieve the Northwind Highlanders, who at the time were engaged in a pitched battle against the Jaguars. Christifori ordered his company dropped directly between the two sides, and formed a line to defend the Highlanders. Christifori himself engaged and destroyed six Jaguar 'Mechs and three Elementals. For his efforts, he was awarded the Star League Medal of Honor for extreme courage during combat, one of only two BULLDOG members to earn the award on Huntress.[5]

Civilian and Militia Commander[edit]

After returning home to the Inner Sphere after the Great Refusal that followed the destruction of the Jaguars, Christifori eased back into civilian life on Thorin. He resumed operation of his eponymous interstellar shipping company Christifori Express and accepted a reservist position as CO of the Thorin Militia. He reunited with his sister and only family Andrea Christifori, who was becoming known for her several planet-wide editorials critical of Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion's policies and fitness to rule. Though he considered himself somewhat apolitical and feared for her safety, he adored his sister and her dedication to principle, gifting her his Medal of Honor.[3]

As militia commander, Christifori reported to Colonel Felix Blucher, commanding officer of the Fifteenth Arcturan Guards. The two units conducted exercises together, though tensions would eventually grow between the ostensibly pro-Katrina Arcturan Guards and the militia. Katrina Steiner-Davion was gaining a reputation as willing to employ a heavy hand when dealing with criticism of her rule, and many feared the Guards were on Thorin to be that hand if necessary.[3]

During a "house call" at Andrea Christifori's residence, ostensibly to ensure mutual understanding and "cooperation," the Guards' XO Luther Fisk shot Andrea to death, claiming to have mistaken a letter opener she had picked up for a knife and deadly intent, though he was a good distance away from her.[7] Colonel Blucher, disgusted with his inept yet politically-connected XO, had Fisk court-martialed immediately and assured Christifori justice would be done.[8] Fisk was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison; satisfying Christifori's hunger for justice.[9] However, Luther's father and Count of Odessa Nicholas Fisk carried heavy weight in the Royal Court, and Luther's sentence was quickly commuted by the Archon herself. For Christifori, it was the final straw that led to his decision to revolt.[10]

FedCom Civil War[edit]

Thorin[edit]

When Christifori decided to liberate Thorin, he did so with the counsel of his close friends and fellow militiamen Sergeant Major Darius Hopkins and Hauptmann Katya Chaffee. They set their initial goals simply and clearly: to kick the Fifteenth Arcturan Guards off of the planet.[9] Conveniently, an upcoming exercise between the Guards and militia offered an opportunity for them to gather as much intelligence as they could on their soon-to-be adversaries.[11] During the exercise, Christifori engaged newly-reinstated Luther Fisk in his Salamander, which fell to the ground in the exchange. Christifori approached the fallen 'Mech, and held his Penetrator's foot over the cockpit in an unmistakable threat. Over the radio, Colonel Blucher and Katya Chaffee talked him down, and Christifori returned his 'Mech's foot to the ground, leaving his sister's killer unharmed.[12]

Following the nearly bloody exercise, Luther Fisk set into motion a plan which he hoped would lead Blucher into finally cracking down on the dissidents on Thorin. While Colonel Blucher, a student of history and respected officer, preferred a light touch with the local population, Fisk openly wished for a more brutal approach. His plan involved placing a car bomb inside Blucher's personal vehicle and detonating it near the colonel; close enough not to kill him, but perhaps change his perspective. The bomb would be blamed on Davion terrorists, and the Guards would be justified in taking harsher measures against those who did not support the Archon.[13] Blucher was forced to arrest and detain anyone vaguely suspected of pro-Davion sympathies, including Christifori's confidant Katya Chaffee. Christifori was ready, and his militia began preparing to move to their secret base in the ruins of the ancient University of Thorin.[14] On 8 December 3062, Christifori resigned his commission, sent a recording to be broadcast to the public, marched his Penetrator to the police station where Katya was being held, and freed her along with the other detainees. Thorin was now embroiled in the FedCom civil war.[15]

Christifori had to learn how to fight a quasi-guerilla campaign, which he proved adept at. He made use of local resources and learned to utilize both criminals and spies.[16] His militia performed multiple successful hit and run strikes against the Guards, and succeeded in laying traps for the more rigid command.[17] He even planned and executed an operation that robbed the Guards' of some of their payroll in an effort to further demoralize the unit.[18]

On 26 December 3062, Christifori received a message directly from his former commanding officer Victor Steiner-Davion. With it, Victor offered him support and a commission as colonel in the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, giving him a regimental designation of Archer's Avengers, First Thorin Regiment (sometimes shortened to "A2"). The official designation gave Christifori and his former militia status and protection under the Ares Convention as regular military unit if captured, instead of being treated as terrorists.[19]

Following a brutal and ultimately unsuccessful battle at the recently-discovered Avengers' base, Colonel Blucher made the decision to call for reinforcements from the rest of his Guards on Thorin's sister world of Muphrid.[20] Thanks to a well placed spy in Blucher's camp, First Lieutenant Thomas Sherwood, Christifori was ready.[21] In a daring plan, Archer's Avengers traveled to Muphrid before the Guards could muster, and extracted a surrender from the unprepared Second Battalion.[22] On 2 February 3063, Christifori returned his unit to Thorin disguised as the Guards' Second Battalion and surprised Colonel Blucher, who had his Guards lined up in parade formation to receive the expected reinforcements. After a short battle, Blucher surrendered. In an unexpected victory for his underdog unit, and after Blucher withdrew his remaining Guards, Archer's Avengers could claim both Thorin and Muphrid in the name of Victor Steiner-Davion.[23]

On 9 February 3063, Commodore Alain Beresick arrived on Thorin and informed Christifori of his field promotion to Leftenant General.[24]

Odessa[edit]

After Christifori's liberation of Thorin and Muphrid, he and his Avengers took the hit-and-run tactics they developed on Thorin and applied them on a more strategic level. Still just one regiment against the armies of Katrina's LAAF and operating with limited support, the Avengers conducted raids against garrisons on planets such as Alcor, Syrma, and Milton, fading away before reinforcements could arrive. Christifori's raids created genuine political issues for Katrina, while also keeping her forces tied up in chasing him. In order to quell her nobles' concerns, Katrina ordered Snord's Irregulars to garrison Odessa, believing Christifori would eventually strike at the world and the Fisk family that ruled it.[25]

Victor did eventually order Archer's Avengers to Odessa, not to raid but to convince the mercenary Irregulars to leave Katrina and join his side. He warned Christifori that there was a possibility Katrina had placed the unit there as bait. Victor assigned an intelligence agent, Sergeant Anton Gramash, to Christifori's unit, and on 15 April 3063, Archer's Avengers arrived on-planet.[26]

When Christifori's forces touched down, Count Nicholas Fisk ordered the sorely outmatched planetary militia to contest the dropzone. As Archer's Avengers landed, Fisk summoned the Snord's Irregular's commander, Colonel Rhonda Snord, and her daughter / deputy commander Natasha Snord to view the battle-feed from a command dome. Nicholas hoped to use the militia's impending slaughter to blackmail Rhonda into ignoring her Lyran contract's clause which allowed her the liberty of not participating in civil, internal conflicts. After Archer's Avengers thoroughly defeated the militia, Christifori turned his sights towards his true mission: the recruitment of the Snord's Irregulars. A parlay message was sent to Rhonda and her Irregulars.[26]

On 16 April 3063 and via holoprojector, Rhonda and Christifori spoke for the first time. They set a formal meeting to take place that day at 2100 hours at Moseby's Crossroads, a small and isolated area situated between their two forces.[27] As Christifori and Rhonda, along with their entourages, made their way to the appointed meeting place, separate disasters greeted them. Rhonda in her Highlander and Shorty Sneede in his Lancelot were ambushed by six 'Mechs bearing First Thorin Regiment markings. Christifori, Gramash, and Darius Hopkins were attacked by 'Mechs bearing the symbol of a buffalo-nickel—Snord's Irregulars' symbol. In the end, Hopkins and Sneede were killed. Gramash and Rhonda Snord was incapacitated, leaving Christifori's intelligence on the planet blind and the Irregulars in command of Rhonda's daughter Tasha.[28] Believing the other was responsible for the respective ambushes, Archer's Avengers and Snord's Irregulars laid into each other on Odessa.[29] What neither side knew at the time was that the ambushes were ordered by Count Nicholas Fisk, planned by Loki operative Edwin Vester, and executed by the Wolverton's Highlanders' commander Colonel Robert Feehan; all in the hopes that the Snord's Irregulars would either sign Katrina's contract and join the fight against Victor, or grind themselves and the Avengers to dust in a brutal war of attrition.

Eventually, Christifori and his closest advisors began to suspect the truth. Chaffee and Gramash captured Vester, and extracted from him the evidence they needed to convince the Irregulars that they had both been duped.[30] Rhonda Snord awoke from her coma and found her unit bottled in by Archer's Avengers. In another attempt at parlay, Christifori drove an unarmed munitions carrier, loaded with food and water and bearing a white flag, up to the encircled Irregulars, where he was greeted by Star Captain Norris's Masakari and PPC fire.[31] While under capture by the Irregulars, Archer was able to present his case to Rhonda and Tasha directly. Convinced by Christifori, he and the Snords hatched a plan of their own; one that would result in the destruction of the Blackstone/Wolverton Highlanders, and eliminate Fisk's hold on the planet.

By the time the Irregulars and Archer's Avengers had engaged the Highlanders, the Irregular's contract with the Lyran Alliance was up. In a last ditch effort, Count Nicholas Fisk attempted to retain the Irregulars in the service of Katrina, but the effort was futile. With no other options remaining, Fisk and Feehan attempted to decapitate both the Irregulars and the Avengers through headhunting attacks.[32] They failed. The Wolverton's Highlanders were bankrupted, and Nicholas Fisk was taken as a prisoner of war. Christifori was able to persuade Snord's Irregulars to sign a contract with Victor Steiner-Davion that kept them out of the civil war, and the unit was assigned to Tukayyid to help defend against Clan incursions. In early May of 3063, Christifori and his Avengers could claim another planet in Victor's name: Odessa.[33]

Operation AUDACITY[edit]

In May of 3064, Victor Steiner-Davion secretly met with Christifori on the planet of Halfway. Victor promoted him to major general for his efforts to rid the Lyran Alliance of his sister's rule and introduced him to some of his strongest supporters: Caradoc Trevana, Jerrard Cranston, Dan Allard, Morgan Kell, and Khan Phelan Kell. Some time ago Victor had asked Archer to design a strategy for dealing with the Jade Falcons in the event they made an incursion into the Lyran Alliance in order to take advantage of the civil war and expand their holdings while honing their warriors. That had come to pass, and Victor needed a plan to deal with the clansmen. Archer proposed to hit the Falcon front line and rear worlds, forcing them to double back to maintain their territory and logistical supplies. According to Victor's intelligence, his sister's forces, under command of General Sharon Bryan, had concentrated her armies at Melissia, practically inviting the Falcons to hit the planet. After quick deliberation, the plan was set. Operation BLUDGEON would hit recently-conquered Lyran front line planets, and Operation AUDACITY would strike the current Jade Falcon occupation zone. Victor asked one last thing of Christifori before he left the planet to take his war into the Federated Suns: he asked Archer to replicate his success with the Snord's Irregulars and convince his cousin Adam Steiner that if he wouldn't join Victor's side, he would at least refuse to believe the poison Katherine dripped into his ear.[2]

As Christifori and his regiments carved their way through the Lyran-Falcon border, scoring limited victories against the Falcons, the linchpin of Lyran loyalist pro-Katrina forces in the Melissia Theater were destroyed on 16 August 3064 on the theater's namesake planet. General Bryan was killed in the fighting. General Adam Steiner took command of the surviving forces, including those under Christifori's past adversary Colonel Blucher, and retreated to Chapultepec. Melissia had fallen to the Falcons.[34]

On 29 August, Christifori and his forces intervened to relieve Adam Steiner's beleaguered forces on Chapultepec. After the battle, Archer passed Victor's holodisk to Adam, and convinced him to abandon defending Chapultepec in order to join his Operation AUDACITY.[35]

Integrating the former, and technically still current, civil-war enemies was not without friction. Steiner and Christifori gather their command staff together to plan their next move and identify Operation AUDACITY'S next target. Though unsubtle barbs were traded between the two staffs, eventually they agreed to strike at a target would resonate with the Falcons' sense of honor, and force them to halt their attack on the Inner Sphere. That target was Twycross, site of both the Jade Falcon's disgrace and redemption; and garrisoned by the Falcon Guards. Christifori and Steiner would separate their forces to disrupt the Falcon supply chain, resulting in Christifori's forces striking Twycross, and then linking back up with Steiner on Blackjack before the Falcons could respond. However, Christifori took note that he was putting himself and his people at the mercy of Adam Steiner. If Steiner decided to leave Christifori's forces in a lurch by not linking up in time to save them from the Falcons' wrath; there would be little he could do; and Steiner would have stopped the Falcons and destroyed a powerful civil war enemy.[36]

After Christofori's and Steiner's forces departed Chapultepec, their forces hit multiple planets on their way to Twycross and Blackjack, respectively, including: Roadside, Black Earth, Malibu, Crimond, and Butler. Khan Phelan Kell and his Wolves supported them both. In the Butler system, Christifori managed to capture the Falcon Warship Black Talon. On 28 October, Christifori's forces landed on Twycross.[37]

Upon reaching the Twycross system, Christifori assessed his intelligence situation. Captain Anton Gramash had managed to pass along what he could: Adam Steiner had taken longer than expected to secure Black Earth, Prince Victor's status was unknown, and Steiner's progression along his planned attack vector was unknown. After a frank discussion with his old friend and confidant Katya Chaffee, Archer made his batchall to the planet's defenders: Gamma Galaxy's Falcon Guards and their commander Ravill Pryde. Pryde bid one trinary to defend the planet and granted Christifori safcon. The field of battle was to be the Plain of Curtains, just west of the Great Gash: site of both the Falcon Guards' shameful defeat at the hands of Kai Allard-Liao during Operation REVIVAL, and their redemption during the Refusal War.

As Christifori landed, the planet's massive storm of wind and sand named Diabolis raged, disrupting both sides' sensors. Pryde seemed to honor safcon as his forces waited for Christifori's forces to land their dropships and assemble. Archer needed to defeat the Falcons on their terms in order to maximize the Guards' defeat and loss of honor for the Falcons, so he issued standing orders to engage in Clan-style single combat unless otherwise directed. As Christifori's forces landed, an errant laser blast came from Raville Pryde's Timberwolf and struck his dropship Colonel Crockett. Not only had the Guards just shamed themselves by violating safcon, the single combat rules of zellbrigen were now off. Christifori's forces destroyed the Falcons, wounded their honor, and made public the gun-cam footage of the Falcons' shame. What Christifori didn't know was that Pryde's Timberwolf, in a strange coincidence resembling the historic Aidan Pryde's "cursed" 'Mech on Tukayyid years prior, had most likely malfunctioned when it fired its single laser against the heavily armored dropship.[38]

Before Christifori could depart Twycross, enraged Jade Falcon forces, including the remainder of the Falcon Guards, descended on the planet. Landing on the far side of the Diabolis, they were able to launch a surprise attack by marching through the storm. After hours of brutal combat, Christifori was victorious, and in the process destroyed the remaining Falcon Guards. He accepted the surrender of the Falcon forces from the ranking officer and Falcon Guard Star Captain Diana Pryde personally. In order to save her people's honor, he took her as bondsman and then immediately released her. He sent Diana back to Khan Marthe Pryde with a message: Archer Christifori was not done mauling the Falcons just yet, and the only way she could stop him was by abandoning her thrust into the Lyran Alliance. Khan Pryde debated the issue with her saKhan Samantha Clees, and decided to end her invasion. However, she wanted one more chance to avenger her clan's honor: she wanted one more chance to destroy Christifori as he retreated back to Lyran space.[39]

Khan Marthe Pryde's never got her chance. Unsanctioned Falcon forces made their own drive to purge Christifori from the universe and found him on Blackjack, Christifori's planned rendezvous location with Adam Steiner's forces. While a Jade Falcon taskforce deployed on the planet at roughly the same time as Christifori's forces did, Adam Steiner was still on Silver Springs, battling a stubborn Falcon force in almost guerilla warfare type conditions. Colonel Anne Sung, commander of a unit Christifori deployed to bolster Steiner's command, was severely injured in the fighting. After visiting her as she recuperated, Steiner made the decision to abandon Hot Springs and make immediate haste to link up with Christifori on Blackjack. Kommandant-General Seamus Kinnell, his aide-de-camp since General Bryan's death on Melissia, counseled against moving to support Christifori due to his rebel status. Adam Steiner relieved Kinnell of duty on the spot.[40]

After landing on Blackjack, Christifori linked up with intelligence assets under Anton Gramash. He learned Khan Phelan Kell had taken back Melissia for the Alliance, and the Snord's Irregulars had joined the fray against the Falcons on Rasalgethi. He also learned that in their pursuit of him, the Falcons had abandoned typical honor-linked combat rituals like batchall and zellbrigen. As the Falcons landed on the planet, Christifori began to realize he was losing the upper hand. The Falcons meant to avenge their honor by conducting an unsanctioned Trial of Annihilation against his command.[41] Luckily for Archer, he was able to call on the captured Falcon Warship, rechristened the Black Paw under Phelan's Wolves, to provide orbital bombardment in support of his beleaguered forces. The Clan Warship disengaged shortly thereafter to engage the Falcon space assets in system.[42]

As the battle raged and reached its zenith, Adam Steiner arrived to support Christifori on 24 December. As they fought, saKhan Smantha Clees arrived in system and ordered all Jade Falcon units to disengage from Blackjack as part of a larger order to temporarily halt offensive operations on the Lyran border. She spoke with Christifori, and offered a parlay of sorts on Blair Atoll, where fighting still continued.[43] During their discussion of how to deal with Khan Pryde, Christifori surprised Adam Steiner by nominating him to speak for the various factions involved, reasoning that he did not speak for the Alliance. Archer gave Adam his word that Victor would support any agreement that halted the Falcon invasion. Adam returned the favor by nominating Archer to be his second and advisor in the negotiations.

During negotiations, Christifori re-encountered Diana Pryde and learned the Wolves under Khan Vlad Ward had struck the Falcons as his forces were. Adam attempted to trade captured worlds with the Falcons in order to establish a clean border, but Falcon honor forbade such a trade. In fact, they made it a point to claim that they would not seek to reclaim Twycross, deciding the planet was "cursed soil." Operation AUDACITY ended with Adam Steiner offering the world of Blair Atoll as a perpetual Falcon/Lyran trial site, and in return winning peace for the greater Alliance.[44]

In the end, Adam Steiner saw the value Christifori had brought to the Alliance, and how Victor had offered aid against the Falcons when his sister Katherine did not. He decided to withdraw the Melissia Theater from the civil war. In refusing to aid either side with material or support, Adam hurt Katherine more than he did Victor. Christifori and Steiner shook hands, and Archer took his forces to the Federated Suns to link up with Victor and help finally end the civil war.[45]

New Avalon[edit]

Christifori and his unit took part in the battles on New Avalon in early 3067. They undertook a diversionary assault on Avalon Island, pretending to be the main assault force to draw loyalist units away from the true intended beachhead on the island's opposite side. Although this action exhausted his troops and incurred heavy casualties, Christifori and at least some of his troops also took part in the assault on Davion Palace, though it remains unclear if they were deployed as an irregular floating "firefighter" unit or acting entirely on their own behalf.[citation needed]

Ultimately, Victor Steiner-Davion did Archer Christifori the favor of sending him back with Jackson Davion to arrest Katherine Steiner-Davion following her unconditional surrender: It was Christifori who got to handcuff and march the captive Katherine Steiner-Davion off from her throne.[citation needed]

Post–Civil War and death[edit]

Following the civil war, Christifori and the Avengers were posted to Gibbs and undergoing demobilization as of September 3067. This process was aborted as the Blakist Jihad began and the unit remained on the LAAF rolls for the next year and a half.

In response in a new Jade Falcon incursion into the Lyran Alliance, Christifori and the Avengers were tasked with assaulting Baker 3 alongside the Knights of St. Cameron. This strike into the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone was intended to threaten their lines of communication and divert Falcon units from Lyran territory; instead it ended in disaster for the Avengers. Confronting two veteran front-line Clan Clusters (the Seventh and Eighth Talons) rather than the garrison cluster expected, the Avengers were hammered from the start and only a surprise attack by the Knights upon the Falcons' rear allowed the survivors to retreat to their DropShips. Archer Christifori was not among them and was listed as MIA.[46]

When the Jade Falcons joined Devlin Stone's coalition some years later, they confirmed that Christifori had indeed been killed.[47]

BattleMech[edit]

Archer Christifori's trademark BattleMech was a Penetrator that was modified from its original stock model specifications over time, making use of captured Clan Extended Range Large Laser technology that was salvaged before he left Huntress. Clan technology gave him an advantage over Inner Sphere pilots not anticipating the advanced weapons' properties.[48]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Call of Duty, ch. 1
  2. 2.0 2.1 Operation Audacity, Prologue
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Measure of a Hero, ch. 1
  4. Twilight of the Clans
  5. 5.0 5.1 Measure of a Hero, Prologue
  6. Prince of Havoc
  7. Measure of a Hero, ch. 4
  8. Measure of a Hero, chs. 5–6
  9. 9.0 9.1 Measure of a Hero, ch. 7
  10. Measure of a Hero, chs. 4–7
  11. Measure of a Hero, ch. 8
  12. Measure of a Hero, ch. 9
  13. Measure of a Hero, ch. 10
  14. Measure of a Hero, chs. 11, 13
  15. Measure of a Hero, ch. 12
  16. Measure of a Hero, ch. 14
  17. Measure of a Hero, ch. 15
  18. Measure of a Hero, ch. 17
  19. Measure of a Hero, ch. 16
  20. Measure of a Hero, chs. 21–22
  21. Measure of a Hero, ch. 23
  22. Measure of a Hero, ch. 25
  23. Measure of a Hero, ch. 27
  24. Measure of a Hero, Epilogue
  25. Call of Duty, chs. 1–2
  26. 26.0 26.1 Call of Duty, ch. 6
  27. Call of Duty, ch. 7
  28. Call of Duty, chs. 10–11
  29. Call of Duty, chs. 8–10
  30. Call of Duty, chs. 20
  31. Call of Duty, chs. 21, 23
  32. Call of Duty, chs. 26–27
  33. Call of Duty, Epilogue
  34. Operation Audacity, ch. 7
  35. Operation Audacity, chs. 9-11
  36. Operation Audacity, ch. 11
  37. Operation Audacity, chs. 12-18
  38. Operation Audacity, chs. 18-19
  39. Operation Audacity, chs. 21-22
  40. Operation Audacity, ch. 24
  41. Operation Audacity, ch. 25
  42. Operation Audacity, ch. 27
  43. Operation Audacity, ch. 28
  44. Operation Audacity, ch. 29
  45. Operation Audacity, Endplay
  46. Blake Ascending, p. 205: "Avengers Fall Back"
  47. Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers, p. 99
  48. Measure of a Hero, ch. 3

Bibliography[edit]