Dechan Fraser

Dechan Fraser (30?? – 30??) was an officer with Wolf's Dragoons, and later became the trainer and commander of the rebuilt Ryuken regiments with the Draconis Combine.

Early career with Wolf’s Dragoons

Little is known about Dechan Fraser’s life before joining Wolf’s Dragoons. What is known is that he was one of the relatively few Inner Sphere warriors to have been adopted into the Dragoons, and was at a relatively young age at the time. After a customary training period, Fraser was made a full Dragoon approximately around early 3023. He was assigned to Alpha Regiment, widely considered the elite of the elite.

Fraser quickly became a rising star with the Dragoons. As a Sergeant on Quentin in June 3023, he assisted Minobu Tetsuhara, the Draconis Combine liason officer, in rescuing Colonel Jaime Wolf when Wolf’s Archer over-heated in combat. By November 3024, he had made Lieutenant and was give a Lance command. He saw particularly heavy fighting on Barlow's End in 3026, when circumstances placed him in command of more than a company’s worth of Dragoons during combat against the Eridani Light Horse. By April 3027, he was promoted to Captain, with a Company command in Alpha Regiment’s Baker Battalion, and fought against the 7th Crucis Lancers on Misery and Udibi. Along the way, he became enamored of a fellow Dragoon officer, Jenette Rand, although it is unclear when exactly they began a relationship.

The Dragoons relations with their employers took a downward turn once Tetsuhara was re-assigned to build a Kuritan unit based on the Dragoons’ tactical doctrine, the Ryuken. Warlord Grieg Samsanov was determined to put the under his personal control, and when his efforts inevitably failed, he became determined to destroy them. He was aided in this by Jerry Akuma, an old rival of Tetsuhara’s. By the close of 3027, matters were quickly came to a head. Outright fighting broke out on An Ting between the Dragoons and a regiment of the Ryuken under Akuma’s command after attacks on the Dragoons civilian dependents. Fraser was instrumental in that battle, personally taking out the Ryuken field commander, and later killing Akuma himself. To cover the Dragoons’ withdrawal from the Combine, Wolf would send a challenge to the Combine to meet in battle on the world of Misery. Opposing them would be the four remaining regiments of Ryuken, the 17th Galedon Regulars, the 21st Galedon Regulars and the 8th Sword of Light. All under the command of Minobu Tetsuhara.

The Battle of Misery and the Bounty Hunter

On April 23, 3028, during a reconnaissance mission before the main battle, Fraser and his lance successfully ambushed a Ryuken lance, and discovered they had captured Dragoon traitor Fadre Singh. Singh had betrayed the Dragoons to Samsanov in return for a rank of Tai-Sa in the Ryuken. Fraser personally dragged Singh before Colonel Wolf, and after Singh revealed he had informed Samsanov of the Dragoons’ Hegira plan, he was immediately executed by Natasha Kerensky.

Like every other Dragoon unit, Fraser’s company took heavy losses during the battle. However, it was ultimately Fraser and his remaining warriors that defeated Tetsuhara himself.

At the conclusion of the battle, Dechan and Jenette Rand were ordered on a special mission to accompany Michi Noketsuna, the former aide and pupil of Tetsuhara, on his quest for revenge against those who had wronged the Dragoons during their service to the Combine. As a result of this mission, Dechan missed the Dragoons’ further battles with House Kurita during the Fourth Succession War. That fighting reduced them to barely a single battlemech regiment, but it did see them succeed in a final victory over House Kurita’s troops on the planet Crossing in late 3029.

The exact details of the trio’s adventures are sketchy at best. It is known they spent time in the Periphery, and at some point Noketsuna assumed the identity of the infamous Bounty Hunter, apparently legitimately inheriting the Marauder, the power suit and the legacy. Dechan and Jenette accompanied him in this new identity as part of the Bounty Hunter’s lance, along with a man named Vic Travers, who was known to have extensive yakuza contacts. Under uncertain circumstances, the trio re-entered the Combine and Fraser assisted Noketsuna in killing Samsanov, after Samsanov refused to commit seppuku. The exact timing of these events is unknown.

In January of 3030, Dechan accompanied Noketsuna as he presented Samsanov’s head to Tetsuhara’s widow, Tomiko. Tomiko had joined a Buddhist nunnery on Awano, Tomiko refused the offer, however, and told them to give it to Tetsuhara’s father, Minoru Tetsuhara. Later, it was claimed that they had done so, and the senior Tetsuhara had also refused to accept the head.

In October of 3030, Fraser again accompanied Noketsuna in an ambush on Benjamin of Internal Security Force agent Panati, who had aided Jerry Akuma in his efforts. To the surprise of Fraser and Noketsuna, Panati was accompanied by Theodore Kurita and Ninyu Kerai, with all three being incapacitated in the ambush. When Theodore Kurita protested the execution of Panati, Noketsuna revealed his identity and his vendetta. Theodore agreed to allow him to kill Panati, but persuaded him to forestall his vendetta any further, as the Combine was in a dangerous situation facing the newly formed Federated Commonwealth, and could not survive the loss of Coordinator Takashi at that time, in Theodore’s opinion. Noketsuna agreed to this, and agreed to serve Theodore in his attempt to save the Dragon. He turned the Bounty Hunter identity over to Vic Travers. Out of loyalty to their companion, Fraser and Rand accompanied him.

Rebuilding the Ryuken

Fraser and Rand soon proved their value to Theodore Kurita by training the new Ryuken and Genyosha. The long-term goal was to allow Theodore’s new military doctrine to take hold throughout the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery. During this time, they were even considered part of his shitenno.

In December of 3038, Fraser and Rand met Warlord Kester Chi of the Galedon Military District. Chi was pleased that Fraser and Rand were being assigned to his District for the coming war, and Fraser quickly realized that Chi was nothing like his predecessor, Grieg Samsanov.

War of 3039

Fraser personally commanded the Ryuken-roku during the War of 3039. In July, they counter-attacked the AFFS invaders on An Ting against the elite 1st Davion Guards. Fraser and his troops accredited themselves well, fighting with fierce determination and using tactics that the enemy commander, Field Marshall Ardan Sortek, was unprepared for. When Warlord Chi arrived with reinforcements, Sortek was eventually forced to retreat his unit. As An Ting was strategically critical, the Davion thrust in the Galedon district soon faltered.

Fraser continued to command the Ryuken after the war, eventually marrying Jeanette. For a time, they continued to send reports to Wolfnet, but they received no response to their communications.

Clan Invasion

By the time of the Clan Invasion, Fraser had become convinced that he and Jeanette had been forgotten by the Dragoons, and in fact began to deeply resent Jaime Wolf in particular. He became particularly resentful when Wolf chose another to deliver the invitation to Theodore Kurita to the summit on Outreach, where the Dragoons would reveal their origins to the leaders of the Inner Sphere.

During the second stage of the Invasion, Fraser and the Ryuken raided the occupied territory from Wolcott. In the aftermath of the Battle of Tukayyid, Fraser, Jeanette and the Ryuken were eventually transferred to Luthien. In 3053, he was summoned to a private meeting with Takashi Kurita, Theodore’s father and Coordinator of the Draconis Combine. There, he questioned Fraser’s loyalties, both to the Dragoons and to Noketsuna, who had not been seen since shortly after the War of ’39.

Dragoon Civil War

Upon Takashi Kurita’s death, Jaime Wolf arrived at Fraser’s home on Luthien to invite Fraser and Rand back to the Dragoons. Fraser confronted Wolf regarding his abandonment, dismissing Wolf’s claims that he had resisted contacting Fraser and Rand to avoid endangering them. Nevertheless, Rand – who had been born to the Dragoons – convinced her husband to go with her to Outreach with Wolf.

Upon their arrival on Outreach, the party was informed that Jaime Wolf’s son, Mackenzie Wolf, had been killed. During the Remembrance memorial, he was disturbed that another warrior was given credit for defeating Minobu Tetsuhara on Misery. Later, when Wolf was removed from command by the actions of Alpin Wolf and Elson Novacat, Michi Noketsuna warned Fraser that the new Dragoon leadership was planning to assassinate the senior Wolf. Despite his continued sense of betrayal, Fraser warned Dragoon officers still loyal to Jaime Wolf, and even took part in evacuating him, though he turned down Wolf’s offer to join them in the Outback. This set the stage for the Dragoon Civil War. After an argument with her husband, Jenette went off to join Wolf.

Elson Novacat soon approached Fraser with an offer to lead a newly recruited mercenary battalion against Wolf’s rebel forces. Those who fought well would be fully inducted into the Dragoons, and Elson believed Fraser was just the man to train and assess such a unit. He accepted the offer, forming Kappa Battalion using the unit Carter’s Chavaliers as a foundation. In one of the pinnacle battles of the conflict, Fraser and Kappa Battalion turned on Elson’s loyalists, immediately after Maeve Wolf killed Alpin in single combat, saving Maeve’s life and sending Gamma Regiment into a retreat. This helped lead to the end of the war and the return of Jaime Wolf to command. Fraser was reunited with Jenette Rand, though he remained cool to the senior Wolf.

It is hinted that Fraser continued to command an "Independent" Dragoon battalion after the civil war and reorganization of the Dragoons, but this was never confirmed.

Battlemechs

During his early career with the Dragoons, Fraser piloted a Shadow Hawk to great success, performing many heroic acts. While commanding the Ryuken during the War of '39, he used a Hatamoto-Chi of the -Ku variant. During the Dragoon Civil War while leading Kappa Battalion, he fought from the cockpit of a Black Knight.

Notes

• There is some discrepancy in whether Fraser commanded the entire Ryuken brigade in the years immediately following the Clan Invasion. The novel Wolf Pack indicates that he did, whereas Objective Raids indicates he was only commander of the Ryuken-ni regiment. It is notable that both sources indicate he was ranked a Tai-sa at the time, which was the standard rank for a regimental commander in the DCMS. It is further notable that he was not listed as a regimental commander as of 3050.
• Much of the Wolves on the Border novel, which chronicles the Dragoons' departure from the Draconis Combine among other events, is told from Fraser's perspective. He was an ideal choice for narrator given his "adoptee" status with the Dragoons left him ignorant of their secrets and origins at the time.

Bibliography

• Heir to the Dragon
• Historical: War of 3039
• Mercenary's Handbook 3055
• Objective Raids
• Wolf Pack
• Wolf's Dragoons (sourcebook)
• Wolves on the Border