4th Royal Guards
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One of the prestige units of the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces in the early Succession Wars, the Fourth Royal Guards were destroyed in 2848 but ultimately served as the trigger for Operation Praying Mantis, the assassination of Coordinator Yoguchi Kurita.
Contents
History
The Death of Archon Viola
During the Reunification War, Operation Mailed Fist, the task of pacifying the rebellious Rim Worlds Republic, was entrusted to Archon Viola Steiner-Dinesen of the Lyran Commonwealth. Though nominally a Lyran operation against the Republic benefitting the Star League, the invasion force initially deployed consisted mainly of Star League Defense Force Regulars and the Free Worlds League Military. However, the 4th Royal Guards were among the units deployed against the Rim Worlds Republic, the personal guardians of then Archon Viola.
Though acquitting themselves quite well, the campaign to conquer the Rim Worlds Republic was quite difficult, due to
- the immense Republican army composed mainly of conventional infantry and vehicles
- Archon Viola's outside distractions (specifically the kidnapping of the Archon-Designate by Estates General Speaker Henry Gram)[1]
Fourteen years into the campaign, in March, 2595, the 4th and Archon Viola landed on Apollo. Sensing her opportunity, Archon Viola decided to risk herself and two companies of her best soldiers to win the war. The elements of the Fourth would try to draw the Republican line thin, allowing the remainder of the regiment to break through the weak point. A communications failure doomed the plan, and Archon Viola's two companies were trapped by three Republican regiments. Though the Fourth was able to fight free of the trap, Archon Viola had suffered mortal wounds, and died one month later.[2]
Death of the Fourth
The Fourth Royal were deployed to Caledonia to counter an anticipated DCMS attack. The Kurita attack force consisting of two 'Mech regiments and a single armor regiment led by Hugai Kurita, son of then Coordinator Yoguchi Kurita, struck in 2841 and was successful enough to establish a beachhead, though Colonel Hinders felt sure that his troops could push the invaders back in short order.
However the conflict dragged on for the next seven years as every attack and defensive move the Fourth made was countered by the DCMS forces. After the hidden Caledonia aerodromes were compromised and destroyed by the Kurita forces, Hinders and his brother Michael could only conclude there was a spy in their midst. With the aid of the spy and Archon Claudius Steiner's indifference to Hinders and the LCAF high command's pleas for aid, the Fourth was utterly destroyed in July 2848. [3]
Hugai Kurita, feeling the need for entertainment to celebrate his victory, offered Colonel Hinder the chance to duel the "traitor", the Lyran officer leaping at the chance to take revenge for his destroyed unit. Taken to a bowel shaped valley surrounded by Kuritan troops, Hinders and the traitor both received a battered and weaponless Thunderbolts to destroy their foe. Smashing and battering each other for over two hours as the Combine forces watched, Colonel Hinders, now dying from radiation poisoning from his 'Mech's damaged reactor shielding, made one final desperate attack and defeated his foe. After removing the cockpit canopy of the "traitor"s 'Mech, a horrified Tiber Hinders was confronted by his brother Michael's body. Though nobody knows if he really was the spy or the whole duel was just part of game played by the sadistic Kurita, Hugai "humanly" dispatched the despairing Colonel Hinders with a laser blast, making sure to record and send the event to Claudius Stenier.[3]
While he had previously ignored the pleas to save the Fourth, Hugai's calculated insult led Claudius to secretly initiate Operation Praying Mantis. While he wouldn't live to see it come to fruition, a LIC deep-cover operative known only as Snow Fire succeeded in killing Coordinator Yoguchi Kurita in 2848, placing a hand embroidered version of the regimental patch of the Fourth Royal Guards on his body before she took her own life.[4] The fact that her true love was apparently a member of the destroyed Fourth lent her actions the air of tragic romance and helped inspire countless paintings, dramas and ballads celebrating her actions across the Inner Sphere.
Officers
- Colonel Tiber Hinders - Commanding Officer as of 2841 until the unit's destruction in 2848.
Tactics
Composition
Recruitment
Like all Lyran Royal Guards, the 4th Royal Guards was formed (and replenished battlefield losses) with only the best warriors, by invitation only. Unlike the other Royal Guard units, recruitment was not limited to a particular state. Whereas the First represents Donegal, the Second Skye and the Third Tamar, only the Fourth represented a united Lyran Commonwealth. The breadth of officers available, and the prestige of representing the Commonwealth as a whole, made invitations to the elite Fourth the most coveted posting within the LCAF.[5]
Notes
References
- ↑ Field Manual: Lyran Alliance, p. 10 - "Star League"
- ↑ The Periphery (sourcebook), p. 43 - "Operation Mailed Fist"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 61 - "Death of the Fourth"
- ↑ House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 61 - "Operation Praying Mantis"
- ↑ Field Manual: Lyran Alliance, p. 95 - "Royal Guards"