Team Venom
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 | This article needs to be updated with material from Shrapnel Issue 16, BattleTech Universe (sourcebook). (For sources under moratorium, please wait until the moratorium period has ended two months after publication.) |
| Team Venom | |
| Affiliation | Mercenary |
| Parent Command | Independent |
Team Venom was a mercenary unit of unspecified size and composition known to be active in the years immediately prior to the Clan Invasion.[1]
History[edit]
Team Venom were one of a number of mercenaries who were paradoxically employed by the Draconis Combine in the 3040's despite Coordinator Takashi Kurita's infamous "Death to Mercenaries" edict. Even with the Combine's public "anti-mercenary" stance, the Coordinator's son and Gunji-no-Kanrei Theodore Kurita held more pragmatic views. Making use of contracts subsidized by ComStar as part of Operation ROSEBUD and secretly routed through Matabushi Incorporated to mask them from the Coordinator and his hardliner supporters, small units of "independent contractors" like Team Venom were employed for minor missions such as pirate hunting duty which would unwittingly place them right in the path of the attacking Clan invaders.[1]
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 BattleMechs, 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—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[edit]
| Rank | Name | Command | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commanding Officers of Team Venom | |||
| Colonel | Holly Harris | 3044 | |
Canonicity[edit]
Prior to the publication of 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 Sarna's criteria for Canon so was originally being instead apocryphal.
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 secretly hired. 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 above.
Over the course of the game storyline, the player can 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,[2] with many fans assuming due to lack of disputing evidence that therefore the game's player character was Grady Kiefer, ultimately being canonized as part of Voice of the Sphere: The Dark Horses in Shrapnel issue 17 which includes references to the game's Solaris plot and arenas, yet ironically does not mention Kiefer's small unit by name to firmly establish he commanded Team Venom.[3]
Notes[edit]
- 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.
- 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 until it received a record sheet in Shrapnel Issue 16.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
Bibliography[edit]
- MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries (video game)
- Shrapnel Issue 12