The Battle Corps Legion

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This article is about the mercenary unit. For the website/online magazine, see BattleCorps.


Insignia of The Battle Corps
The Battle Corps Legion
Formed 3065
Affiliation Mercenary
Parent Command Independent


Overview[edit]

The Battle Corps Legion (also occasionally referred to as The BattleCorps, The Battle Corps or The BattleCorps Regiment) is a combined arms mercenary unit with a reputation for high standards, honesty, and compassion. They are renowned for their "civilians first" doctrine.

Canonicity[edit]

The unit, as well as some of its background history and exploits, is canon by virtue of its appearance and write-ups in several canonical sources (see Bibliography section below).

The Battle Corps is the canonized version of the BattleCorps Regiment, a mercenary group developed as an ongoing, online fan project by subscribers to the BattleCorps website. Although moderated by BattleCorps site admins and BattleTech author Joel Bancroft-Connors, the rich and colorful writing about the BattleCorps Regiment by various contributors in the BattleCorps forum is not considered canonical. However, given that the unit and most of its history were carried over into proper canon, the remaining information can arguably be regarded as apocryphal.

History[edit]

Formation[edit]

The unit was raised on Outreach in early 3065 by Joey Nichole. It was constructed from disparate elements hailing from all corners of settled space, even including some expelled Clansmen. Nichole is said to have family ties to ComStar, the Word of Blake, and Smithson's Chinese Bandits.[1]

Within a week of forming the Battle Corps had received their first contract from Duke Randy Hasek-Bills, a noble of the Capellan March of the Federated Suns; this contract called for the Battle Corps to perform a number of raids and extractions along the FedSuns border of the Capellan Confederation. This was followed by the Battle Corps being hired by Lyran Alliance "talent scouts" in 3066, a contract allegedly arranged by relatives of Nichole's within Smithson's Chinese Bandits without her direct knowledge, although this has not been proven. This was then followed in 3067 by another contract apparently arranged through Smithson's Chinese Bandits, this time with Australis Ales of Alula Australis.[1]

The Jihad[edit]

Having suffered a run of bad luck on Kansu in 3067,[2] the Corps earned the enmity of the Blakists through a contract dispute with Australis Ales, who were backed by the Word of Blake.[2][1] Subsequent testimony given to the MRBC by Nichole following the Battle Corps filing a grievance and terminating their contract with Australis Ales after being ordered to destroy a local supply dump while wearing the colors of another unit, something that the Corps felt clashed with their ideals.[1]

The unit had suffered significant losses against pirates and mercenaries by 3070. It took the combined intervention of the Allied Mercenary Command and Duchess Alys Rousset-Marik to prevent the Corps from disintegrating entirely; Rousset-Marik offered the Corps a focus for activities sanctioned by the AMC against the Word of Blake by operating through or in conjunction with Rousset-Marik's resistance network along the border between the Free Worlds League and the Skye Province of the Lyran Alliance.[1] The Battle Corps also joined the AMC, who helped the Corps rebuild their numbers by developing a recruiting network on Galatea.[3] The second battalion of the Legion was then almost wiped out on Liberty by the Opacus Venatori.[2]

Despite the efforts of Rousset-Marik and the AMC, the Battle Corps found itself constantly on the edge of imploding after two years of constant anti-Blakist combat; the promise of revenge against the Blakists helped hold the unit together and ensured a constant stream of recruits from Galatea, but with travel routes from both Galatea and Rousset-Marik's homeworld of Augustine running through enemy territory, many recruits were in danger before even being able to join the Corps, and the Corps was perennially short of working machines to put their new recruits in.[1]

Despite the constant combat, supply problems and human resources problems that went with drawing on personnel from seventeen nations, by 3071 the Corps had been pulled into a cohesive combat unit that allowed each member to retain their personal culture, in large part due to the efforts of Major John Al-Hawad, the CO of the Corps' second battalion, which while barely holding onto its status as the second battalion still served by providing training and indoctrination into the Corps for new recruits.[1]

As Operation SCOUR began the Legion was one of a number of units selected to serve as a part of the mobile command tasked directly by General Belle Lee, rather than being specifically tied to a particular task force. General Lee assigned the Legion to a reconnaissance mission on Yangtze ahead of the planned Federated Suns front attack on the world, only for the Legion to be in trouble from the very start. Within half an hour of landing on Yangtze the Legion's Alpha Battalion had lost a complete company, with the remaining ground forces going to ground shortly after having taken heavy casualties. The CO of Alpha Battalion ordered the Legion's transport ships to lift off immediately, and the information obtained by those ships that survived was used by Field Marshal Katheryn Sandoval-Ito when she planned the follow-up attack on Yangtze. The level of defenses reported by the Legion saw Sandoval-Ito task all three Fox-class WarShips available to the task force to the attack on Yangtze. The few survivors of the Battle Corps recovered from Yangtze provided enough intelligence for Group I to outflank the Blakist defenders on the ground and to hit the strongest areas of resistance with targeted strikes from orbit.[2]

In 3074 the Corps was sent to Hesperus II. There they and ComStar's 1st Army were ordered to remove the Word of Blake from the Defiance Industries complex. They weren't able to dislodge the 2nd Division and 38th Division but they did inflict heavy casualties on the Blakist units.[4][5]

As part of the Coalition forces on New Home, The Battle Corps fought against the 43rd, 45th, and 47th Shadow Divisions.[6] Though successful in destroying the Blakist units,[7] the fight cost the Battle Corps dearly: only 30% of the unit managed to survive the conflict.[6]

The unit's infantry, made up of young battlefield refugees from across the Jihad, were not intended to be deployed in battle. Being able to pass for teenagers (or even younger) the Irregulars specialized in infiltration of urban environments for the purpose of collecting vital information. The Irregulars successfully performed several vital intelligence operations during Operation SCOUR.[8]

The Dark Age[edit]

After the Jihad the Battle Corps sought work amidst the remains of the dissolved Free Worlds League. With a choice of at least half a dozen offers to draw from, the Battle Corps accepted a contract from the world of Al Jubaylah to defend the world against aggression from their large neighbor, the Principality of Regulus. The contract between Battle Corps and the Mullahs of Al Jubaylah formed part of a report by INN journalist Rachel Francis on the thriving market for mercenaries growing amidst the remnants of the League.[9]

In 3145 the Battle Corps was the only mercenary formation of a significant size employed by the Calderon Protectorate and were deployed to the world of Albaracht.[10]

Organization and Equipment[edit]

The Battle Corps has often owed its survival to the effective tactics of the Baker Street Irregulars, the distinctly unconventional infantry forces that acted as scouts for the Legion. Comprised almost uniformly of orphans from various worlds affected by the Jihad, all of whom were capable as passing for teenagers or even adolescents, the Baker Street Irregulars infiltrated cities and other urban environments to obtain vital information. With few people paying attention to "children", the Irregulars were able to gather information essential to the Battle Corps, just as their fictional counterparts had once done for the Victorian era detective, Sherlock Holmes.[11]

A few years before 3100, the Battle Corps acquired two Arrow IV Assault Vehicles. The vehicles had served the Legion well, being rebuilt at least eight times by 3145.[12]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of The Battle Corps
Colonel Jocelyn "Joey" Nichole 3065 - 3122[1][4][13]
Colonel Elisa Nichole 3122 - 3137[13]
Colonel Joshua Nichole 3137 - 3145[13][10]

Dragoon Ratings[edit]

3071[edit]

Dragoon Rating: D [1]

Composition History[edit]

3071[edit]

The Battle Corps

  • 1st Battalion: Consisting mainly of heavier 'Mechs, one company from the 1st Battalion consists of a mix of Inner Sphere and Clan BattleMechs organized as a trinary for the benefit of the Corps's members of Clan origin. A second company combines fast 'Mechs with heavy armor.[1]
  • 2nd Battalion: The 2nd Battalion is currently concentrating on recruiting, training and indoctrination of new recruits.[1]
  • Acme Delivery Company (Air Wing): despite the number of pilots available to the Corps and their high levels of skill and experience, the Corps has been unable to field a large air component due to a chronic lack of equipment. It was reported that Colonel Nichole was considering procuring cheap conventional aircraft with which to equip the Acme Delivery Company so that greater support could be given to ground operations.[1]
  • Baker Street Irregulars: Unconventional infantry force[8]

3145[edit]

The Battle Corps (1 Battalion/Regular/Reliable)[10]

- At this point the Battle Corps were at eighty-five percent of full strength.[10]

Other Information[edit]

There is another fan project that was canonized as a mercenary unit - the Chaos Irregulars. They became a regular military unit for the Rim Commonality following the Jihad, however, ending their mercenary career.

Unit Scheme[edit]

The Battle Corps utilize tan with blue highlights. Individuals paint their Mech's left leg or fighter's left wing in the colors of their previous unit to show their former loyalty.[14]

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Mercenaries Supplemental Update, p. 30, "The Battle Corps"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 36, "S.O.S."
  3. Mercenaries Supplemental Update, p. 14
  4. 4.0 4.1 Jihad Turning Points: Hesperus II, p. 9
  5. Jihad Secret: The Blake Documents, p. 66
  6. 6.0 6.1 Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 74
  7. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 134
  8. 8.0 8.1 Technical Readout: 3085 Supplemental, p. 6 "Mercenary Infantry"
  9. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 25, "Fear, Uncertainty, Fuel New Mercenary Market In Former League"
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Field Manual: 3145, p. 182, "Notable Mercenary Forces - Calderon Protectorate"
  11. Technical Readout: 3085 Supplemental, p. 6, "Key Infantry"
  12. Technical Readout: 3145 Capellan Confederation, p. 22
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Field Manual: 3145, p. 181
  14. Camo Specs Online

Bibliography[edit]