Arisota Neece

Aristoa Neece
Personal
Also known as	Try Again
Affiliation	Federated Suns
Profile
Rank	General

Arisota Neece was the commanding officer of the First Chisholm's Raiders as of 3050.

History

Hauptmann General Neece, serving with the First Chisholm's Raiders, was stationed on Breed in 3050 and remained there by 3062. Having served with both the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns and the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth over the course of a five-decade career, Neece's reputation for single-minded determination had earned her the nickname "Try Again." This persistence was thought to be responsible for her rise to regimental command, despite her lacking tactical skills, however her stubbornness and infamous temper were just what the First Chisholm's troops needed to be kept in line.

Flashpoint, Marduk

When the Federated Commonwealth Civil War began, Duke James Sandoval decided to launch his own invasion of the Draconis Combine and selected the First Chisholm's Raiders to attack the world of Marduk due to their close location and relatively expendable nature. Before the First Chisholm's departed for war, Sandoval's surrogates promoted Neece to general and gifted the regiment with the colors of the Draconis March, the same standard that flew over Bueller on Robinson after the planet's liberation in 2892. A final gift of one company of new 'Mechs and one company of new tanks solidified the First Chisholm's loyalty to Duke Sandoval and their support for war against the Combine.

Landing on Marduk on 22 December 3062, Neece made the Victory Industries production facility her primary target for the attack, seeing the corporate security forces as an easier foe than the Twenty-second Benjamin Regulars. Neece committed almost the entire First Chisholm's Raiders to the attack, leaving only the Twenty-third Breed Recon Regiment in reserve, and dropped two entire 'Mech battalions directly on the factory complex itself. The third 'Mech battalion, assisted by a company of armor and a battalion of paratroopers, quickly captured the nearby airfield for use as a DropShip landing site. Unfortunately, almost two companies of the units dropped directly on the factory were destroyed by a single company of OmniMechs equipped with a C3 network and the rest of the defending Victory Industries regiment was alerted in the time it took the First Chisholm's to eliminate the defending OmniMech company.

The confined spaces of the factory complex and the familiarity the defending forces had for the environment meant that, within an hour, almost a third of the First Chisolm's 'Mechs were destroyed and the remaining machines suffered from various degrees of damage. The ranking First Chisholm's officer, Major Robert Ryan, decided not to pull his troops out in order to maintain pressure on the corporate defenders and instead congregated his remaining machines into larger, harder-to-ambush forces. While the airfield forces rolled in to reinforce their battered regiment before the end of the second hour of fighting, the battle for control of the factory complex would continue to rage for four days. In the meanwhile, the reserved Twenty-third Breed Recon was placed in the path of the approaching Twenty-second Benjamin Regulars and successfully launched numerous ambushes, preventing the Draconis unit from ever reaching the factory complex.

By 26 December, the Victory Industries complex was under the control of Neece and her Raiders and any lost materials were quickly replenished from the factory's stores and production lines. After eight days of resupplying and recuperation, the First Chisholm's pushed out into the surrounding forest in order to meet and destroy the now-entrenched Twenty-second Benjamin Regulars. Neece's plan to entrap the Twenty-second Benjamin by launching a combat drop against the capital city of New Pontiac failed when the Raiders' armor commander Leftenant General Albert Vega attacked prematurely, giving the Twenty-second Benjamin the time to retreat from both the factory and New Pontiac. What followed was two weeks of skirmishes, as the diminishing Twenty-second Benjamin continued to retreat and the First Chisholm's continued to miss opportunities to destroy their opponents for good.

Fed up with the performance and behavior of Leftenant General Vega, Neece ultimately replaced him with Leftenant General Caleb Yung (an officer from the First Chisholm's command staff). Soon enough, the First Chisholm's Raiders began surrounding and capturing large proportions of the Twenty-second Benjamin's forces, including two entire battalions on 19 January 3063 and another full battalion on the 21st. The Twenty-second's commanding officer was finally captured on the 24th and General Neece returned to New Pontiac the next day with only a mixed regiment of the First Chisholm's still in the field hunting stragglers, bringing an end to the initial stage of fighting for Marduk.

Wave One

By March 3063, General Neece and her troops had almost entirely pacified Marduk, yet she was still grateful to have troops from Duke Sandoval's Primary Relief forces arrive on planet to help finish cleaning up the Twenty-second Benjamin Regulars. On 21 March, Neece cornered the Regulars' remnants on the edge of the Ku'ulu Glacier and utilized both aerospace fighters and VTOLs to attack them from the air. When she realized this wouldn't be enough to eliminate the Combine forces, she reluctantly commanded a battalion of 'Mechs into the fray and the resulting clash caused both avalanches and a shattering of some parts of the glacier's ice shelf. While the last of the Twenty-second Benjamin Regulars' 'Mechs perished, the First Chisholm's battalion lost seventeen 'Mechs to the Combine and the environment. Returning once again to New Pontiac, Neece raised the standard of the Draconis March above the capital city and declared the planet to be a part of the Federated Suns.

Wave Three

The First Chisholm's Raiders' uncontested occupation of Marduk ended on 2 June 3064 when a combined force of the Second Genyosha and Sixteenth Galedon Regulars landed on the planet under direct orders from Coordinator Theodore Kurita to take the world back. Neece's defending forces in the Victory Industries complex took to using C3-linked machines in order to more effectively resist the Second Genyosha's assault and the first week of fighting was characterized by a lack of effective support due to confusion on both sides of the conflict. Meanwhile, Major General Wilson Florr and his infantry's numerical superiority in New Pontiac was offset by the skill and determination of the Second Genyosha attackers, the citizens of Marduk, and the last vestiges of the Twenty-second Regulars. Realizing the precarious situation his forces were in, Florr effectively ordered the leveling of New Pontiac in order to resist the Draconis assault, although in doing so he unleashed the fury of the city's citizens.

General Neece's situation in the Victory Industries complex was equally troubled, as her good defensible position could not overcome the size of the Second Genyosha's forces. This numerical advantage, combined with the presence of specially-trained Combine special forces teams, meant that the Combine had reclaimed half of the VI factory by the end of the week (Neece was not comforted by the high cost her troops had forced the Second Genyosha to pay in order to achieve this). On 20 June, Neece gave the order for the First Chisholm's Raiders to retreat from Marduk, as the Victory Industries units had easy access to the spaceport they had captured months ago and most of the detached FedSuns forces could disengage just as easily; the exception to this were the forces entrapped in New Pontiac. Neece attempted to rescue the three regiments of troops still engaged in combat around the city but often found her landing zones overrun by Second Genyosha units. Ultimately, only two battalions of FedSuns troops could be extracted and Major General William Florr and five hundred other soldiers were executed for war crimes, in addition to the 1,500 soldiers held prisoner past the cessation of hostilities. Neece returned to Breed with the First Chisholm's and Marduk returned to the control of the Draconis Combine.

Wave Four

Believing themselves to be safe from reprisal on Breed, Neece and the First Chisholm's Raiders made very few preparations for a defense of the planet. On 6 December, numerous Combine ships arrived in-system and deposited forces on Breed within an hour, taking large swaths of the world and fortifying the city of Cahars as their command post. Every time Neece tried to launch an attack against the Second Genyosha and Sixteenth Galedon, counter-attacks from the invading forces cost the Raiders more territory. After eight days, Neece was able to organize her own resources but Combine attacks against Breed's communications network meant that the local militia forces were too busy dealing with civil unrest to reinforce Neece's troops. By the time communications could be restored, yet another mixed brigade of Combine troops had arrived in-system and specially-assigned Combine infantry and light armor units had been dispatched to intentionally worsen trouble spots across the planet.

Utilizing a staccato attack rhythm and striking both the First Chisholm's flanks and rear areas with fast cavalry units, the Combine forces bought time for more and more reinforcements to be brought into the Breed system. By the end of the Civil War's fourth wave in May, 3065 Neece's situation was extremely poor but she had not given up hope of victory.

Wave Five

By late August, the Second Genyosha's forces launched an assault that finally convinced General Neece that holding out for reinforcements would no longer be viable. Striking the heavily-wooded Porter Moraine region with significant infantry concentrations and following up with 'Mech and heavy armor attacks, the Draconis invaders pushed the First Chisholm's Raiders back to the towns of Mayfield and Kurn in two weeks. Deciding that, because the towns overlooked the entire region, these sites would make for a good last stand, Neece set up her remaining artillery assets and waited for the encroaching Combine troops to appear. While the Second Genyosha destroyed most of both towns and the First Chisholm's defensive positions with its own artillery and aerospace forces, Neece's entrenched batteries prevented the Genyosha from dislodging her troops entirely.

On 8 October, the Second Genyosha's commander finally ordered a direct charge on the First Chisholm's positions. What followed was five days of brutal warfare as the Draconis Combine troops pushed towards and up the hills leading to the two towns, with hundreds of soldiers and dozens of tanks and 'Mechs lost from both sides. On 13 October, the Sixteenth Galedon succeeded in gaining a foothold in Kurn and the Second Genyosha pushed up to take the rest of that town and the most of Mayfield as well, destroying Neece's artillery and stealing much of her supplies. By the end of 24 October, Neece's casualties and hopeless situation forced her to make one last ditch attack before retreating from the world, losing two of her remaining four 'Mech companies in the process. Neece lifted off-world on 26 October with only a fifth of the First Chisholm's Raiders intact and left the Breed system on 5 November for New Valencia, conceding the planet to Combine control.

Wave Six and Destruction

Following their expulsion from Breed, the First Chisholm's Raiders declared their loyalty for Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion, which directly lead to the following disaster. Waiting on New Valencia for routing orders for either New Avalon or Marlette, the Raiders were instead assaulted by the Second Robinson Rangers under Duke Tancred Sandoval, son of the man that sent the Raiders on the disastrous mission to Marduk almost four years earlier. Unable to stand against the much larger Second Robinson, Neece once again gave the order to retreat from a world nominally held by the First Chisholm's Raiders on 24 March 3066 and the battered unit left to assist in the final Katherine-loyal defense of New Avalon.

While the exact details of the First Chisholm's fight on New Avalon were not recorded, the unit was definitively destroyed during the battle and removed from the AFFC's deployment tables.

Bibliography

• 20 Year Update
• FedCom Civil War
• Field Manual: Federated Suns
• Field Manual: Updates