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	The origins of the Heart of Blake stem with a small group of [[Word_of_Blake#Politics|Counter-Reformists]] among several [[Level III]]s dispatched in July [[3069]] to suppress resistance against [[Berenson]]'s entry into the [[Word of Blake Protectorate]]. The Word's method of "pacification" on Berenson was to round up suspected League loyalists, their families and other "deviants" to ship them to hastily built prison camps far from any populated area for two weeks of brutal and torturous interrogations before executing them before the next group was rounded up. While many Blakist guards privately questioned the atrocities they were ordered to perform, fear of swift retribution by [[ROM]] kept any from protesting openly lest they were to be included in the next batch.<ref name=MSU-69>''Mercenaries Supplemental Update'', p. 69: "Heart of Blake"</ref>		The origins of the Heart of Blake stem with a small group of [[Word_of_Blake#Politics|Counter-Reformists]] among several [[Level III]]s dispatched in July [[3069]] to suppress resistance against [[Berenson]]'s entry into the [[Word of Blake Protectorate]]. The Word's method of "pacification" on Berenson was to round up suspected League loyalists, their families and other "deviants" to ship them to hastily built prison camps far from any populated area for two weeks of brutal and torturous interrogations before executing them before the next group was rounded up. While many Blakist guards privately questioned the atrocities they were ordered to perform, fear of swift retribution by [[ROM]] kept any from protesting openly lest they were to be included in the next batch.<ref name=MSU-69>''Mercenaries Supplemental Update'', p. 69: "Heart of Blake"</ref>
−	This continued until the [[Hampton's Hessens]] mercenary unit unsuccessfully raided Berenson for desperately needed food and supplies in late August 3069. Unable to reach the supply depots they were after, as the Hessens withdrew they stumbled upon a cluster of the prisons that housed the dissidents, fully packed and ready for execution. Not willing to leave them to die, the Hessens broke them out and loaded in their empty cargo vehicles. Unfortunately, the Hessens found their escape route cut off by two Level IIIs commanded by [[Precentor]] [[David Hunter]]. But when his superiors ordered him to wipe out both the mercenaries and civilians, several members of Hunter's command who knew he was dismayed with the government's extremist methods privately pleaded with him not to follow the orders.<ref name=MSU-69/>	+	This continued until the [[Hampton's Hessens]] mercenary unit unsuccessfully raided Berenson for desperately needed food and supplies in late August 3069. Unable to reach the supply depots they were after, as the Hessens withdrew they stumbled upon on a cluster of the prisons that housed the dissidents, fully packed and ready for execution. Not willing to leave them to die, the Hessens broke them out and loaded in their empty cargo vehicles. Unfortunately, the Hessens found their escape route cut off by two Level IIIs commanded by [[Precentor]] [[David Hunter]]. But when his superiors ordered him to wipe out both the mercenaries and civilians, several members of Hunter's command who knew he was dismayed with the government's extremist methods privately pleaded with him not to follow the orders.<ref name=MSU-69/>
	Choosing instead to follow his heart, Hunter responded by quietly ordering those who he knew were not loyal to him to advance and engage the Hessens, before openly announcing on all channels he would take no part in the massacre of civilians and that he would protect the prisoner convoy. Caught between the mercenaries and Hunter's men, the Blakist loyalists were swiftly defeated. Moving quickly before the Blakists could regroup, Hunter's group sacked the spaceport, commandeering a pair of [[DropShip]]s to escape with the Hessens, haggling with a merchant [[JumpShip]] to flee the system.<ref name=MSU-69/>		Choosing instead to follow his heart, Hunter responded by quietly ordering those who he knew were not loyal to him to advance and engage the Hessens, before openly announcing on all channels he would take no part in the massacre of civilians and that he would protect the prisoner convoy. Caught between the mercenaries and Hunter's men, the Blakist loyalists were swiftly defeated. Moving quickly before the Blakists could regroup, Hunter's group sacked the spaceport, commandeering a pair of [[DropShip]]s to escape with the Hessens, haggling with a merchant [[JumpShip]] to flee the system.<ref name=MSU-69/>

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{{infoBoxMilitaryCommand | image = [[File:Heart_of_Blake_logo_MSU.jpg|150px]] | Designation = Heart of Blake | Formed = | Disbanded = [[3081]] (destroyed) | Previous Designation = | Nickname = | Affiliation = [[Mercenary]] | Parent Command = | Sub-Command = }} A former frontline [[Word of Blake Militia]] military unit, the '''Heart of Blake''' [[mercenary unit]] turned on their brethren in response to the [[Word of Blake]]'s increasing atrocities during the [[Jihad]]. The unit would unwittingly doom the world of [[Poulsbo]] to nuclear bombardment at the hands of the rabidly anti-Blakist [[Principality of Regulus]] who sought their extermination. ==History== The origins of the Heart of Blake stem with a small group of [[Word_of_Blake#Politics|Counter-Reformists]] among several [[Level III]]s dispatched in July [[3069]] to suppress resistance against [[Berenson]]'s entry into the [[Word of Blake Protectorate]]. The Word's method of "pacification" on Berenson was to round up suspected League loyalists, their families and other "deviants" to ship them to hastily built prison camps far from any populated area for two weeks of brutal and torturous interrogations before executing them before the next group was rounded up. While many Blakist guards privately questioned the atrocities they were ordered to perform, fear of swift retribution by [[ROM]] kept any from protesting openly lest they were to be included in the next batch.<ref name=MSU-69>''Mercenaries Supplemental Update'', p. 69: "Heart of Blake"</ref> This continued until the [[Hampton's Hessens]] mercenary unit unsuccessfully raided Berenson for desperately needed food and supplies in late August 3069. Unable to reach the supply depots they were after, as the Hessens withdrew they stumbled upon on a cluster of the prisons that housed the dissidents, fully packed and ready for execution. Not willing to leave them to die, the Hessens broke them out and loaded in their empty cargo vehicles. Unfortunately, the Hessens found their escape route cut off by two Level IIIs commanded by [[Precentor]] [[David Hunter]]. But when his superiors ordered him to wipe out both the mercenaries and civilians, several members of Hunter's command who knew he was dismayed with the government's extremist methods privately pleaded with him not to follow the orders.<ref name=MSU-69/> Choosing instead to follow his heart, Hunter responded by quietly ordering those who he knew were not loyal to him to advance and engage the Hessens, before openly announcing on all channels he would take no part in the massacre of civilians and that he would protect the prisoner convoy. Caught between the mercenaries and Hunter's men, the Blakist loyalists were swiftly defeated. Moving quickly before the Blakists could regroup, Hunter's group sacked the spaceport, commandeering a pair of [[DropShip]]s to escape with the Hessens, haggling with a merchant [[JumpShip]] to flee the system.<ref name=MSU-69/> Choosing to enter mercenary service but unable to gain official registration by the [[Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission]], the Heart of Blake would primarily focus on collecting the bounties on Word-affiliated mercenary forces on contested [[Free Worlds League]] worlds. The unit would find its existence complicated by its Blakist origins, its use of distinctly Blakist equipment, Blakist rank structure and even its very name all causing unease with potential clients, forcing Hunter to utilize false generic ranks, fake Table of Organization and even different names for the Heart. Only when facing opposing Blakist forces would this camouflage be dropped.<ref name=MSU-69/> Using [[General]] [[Pat Hampton]] as a reference, Precentor Hunter would also seek to join the anti-Blakist [[Allied Mercenary Command]] but found the battered organization was lukewarm on the prospect at best following the betrayal of the [[Broadsword Legion]], not to mention the Command's lack of resources following the loss of [[Outreach]].<ref name=MSU-14>''Mercenaries Supplemental: Update'', p. 14: "Mercenaries of the Jihad - State of the AMC"</ref> In an attempt to prove their intentions and build trust, Hunter would divulge every scrap of Blakist intelligence he deemed reliable, a fact that earned him a twenty-million-[[C-bill]] bounty on his own head.<ref name=MSU-69/> The Heart of Blake would encounter the [[Lancelot#Variants|new 06 variant of the ''Lancelot'']] during the skirmish with Blakist forces, salvaging the 'Mech under fire before volunteering the wreckage to the AMC as a further gesture of goodwill.<ref name=TR3050U-205>''Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade'', p. 205: "LNC 25-01 Lancelot"</ref> As part of the planning for [[Operation HIGASHIKUNI]], [[Chandrasekhar Kurita]]'s attack against the [[Ruins of Gabriel]], [[Peter Abdulsattah]] reviewed a number of mercenary units for possible inclusion including the Heart of Blake. Dismissive of the value or possible success of their attempts to join the depleted AMC, Abdulsattah also expressed an unwillingness to trust the Heart as anything other than as a diversionary unit.<ref name=OH>''Operation Higashikuni'' Force Briefs Update document, p. 12</ref> Ultimately the Heart was not hired for this mission. The Heart of Blake would acquire further defecting Blakist troops who, like they, had become increasingly disillusioned with their progressively more brutal orders. One example is a [[squad]] of [[Phalanx (Battle Armor)#Variants|''Phalanx''-B]] [[battle armor]] led by Demi-Precentor [[Glenda Durham]] which defected to the Heart when the mercenaries raided [[Epsilon Eridani]] in [[3073]]. The ''Phalanx'' squad's [[Battle Armor Taser]]s aided their new unit in capturing many Blakists and Blakist mercenaries, proving an intelligence boon for anti-Blakist forces throughout the [[Inner Sphere]].<ref name=TRO3075-31>''Technical Readout: 3075'', p. 31: "Phalanx Battle Armor"</ref> The [[Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey]], their forces stretched thin but looking to retake Poulsbo from the [[Circinus Federation]] contracted the Heart of Blake to assist taking the former Lyran planet. After much debate about hiring a force made up of former Blakists, the Heart's track record of loyalty had been commendable, and their performance in establishing beachheads and zones of control had been very satisfactory. [[Photon Brett-Marik]] admitted that should this continue, he would consider the Heart to spearhead a long overdue counterassault against the [[Buena Protectorate]]'s recent acquisitions.<ref>''Field Report: FWLM'', p. 20: Irregular Forces</ref> As 13th of February [[3081]] the Heart of Blake remained on Poulsbo as a planetary garrison when a task force from the Principality of Regulus pursuing [[the Master]] arrived in-system in response to rumors troops loyal to the Word's shadowy leader were there. Well aware of the "harsh justice" the Regulans had inflicted on [[Gibson]], [[Paradise]] and [[Diamantina]], the planetary government refuted the rumors and insisted Poulsbo was a free world. With the Regulans ignoring the planet's increasingly desperate hails, the Heart of Blake offered to accept Regulan liaisons and offered intelligence exchange as the ''[[Thera]]''-class [[WarShip]] [[Delos (Individual Thera-class WarShip)|RPS ''Delos'']] reached high orbit, ultimately unleashing an intense nuclear bombardment that rendered the world uninhabitable and exterminating the Heart of Blake and the Lyran [[Fourth Alliance Guards]].<ref name=JFR-22>''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', pp. 22–23: "Mopping Up: 3079-3081 - Only Way To Be Sure"</ref><ref name=JFR-84>''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 84: "What Lies Beneath - The Lyran Alliance - The Defensive Situation"</ref> Triggering widespread condemnation, after repeated demands for comment from the media, the Principality of Regulus dispatched a junior officer - Junior Lieutenant [[Mitch Sherman]] - to justify the actions of the task force. Citing that Regulus had suffered from Blakist ruses in the past, Sherman indicated that Regulan field commands had been authorized to treat any ex-Blakist forces or any party giving aid to former Blakists as suspect and to be eliminated with prejudice as a precaution rather than risk further Regulan lives. When asked to comment on the possibility that the Heart of Blake's intentions had been indeed sincere, Sherman simply replied "There was only one way to be sure".<ref name=JFR-22/> ==Officers== {| class="wikitable" |- ! scope="col" width="220" style="background: #dedede;" | Rank ! scope="col" width="220" style="background: #dedede;" | Name ! scope="col" width="220" style="background: #dedede;" | Command |- | colspan="4" style="background: #efefef;" | '''Commanding Officers of the Heart of Blake''' |- | [[Precentor]]||[[David Hunter]]||[[3071]]<ref name=MSU-69/> |- |} ==Tactics== Unknown. ==Composition History== ===3079=== '''Heart of Blake ''' (2 Battalions/Veteran/Reliable)<ref name="frfwlm16">''Field Report: FWLM'', p. 16</ref> : Known Members: [[Adept]] [[Julie Spartan]]<ref>''Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade'', 184</ref><ref>''Technical Readout: Succession War'', p. 10</ref> : Note: At this point in time, the unit was stationed on [[Poulsbo]].<ref name="frfwlm16"/> ([[Tamarind District]]) | 80% strength | 100% Upgraded ==Notes== * The Heart of Blake consisted of a mixture of [[BattleMech]]s, [[combat vehicle|conventional armor]], and battlesuits, several [[Level II]]s of which were equipped with [[C3i]], including Precentor Hunter's own ''[[Legacy (BattleMech)|Legacy]]''.<ref name=MSU-69/> * The Heart relied heavily upon its DropShips - the ''[[Triumph|Assault Triumph]]''-class ''[[Hard Six]]'' and ''[[Union]]''-class ''[[High Price]]'' - both to transport the unit into battle as well as providing fire support.<ref name=MSU-69/> * As of 3071 the Heart of Blake had recruited enough support staff for seventy percent of its maintenance needs, making up the rest with techs hired on demand often unaware of the unit's origins.<ref name=MSU-69/> ==References== <references /> ==Bibliography== * ''[[Field Report: FWLM]]'' * ''[[Jihad: Final Reckoning]]'' * ''[[Mercenaries Supplemental Update]]'' * ''[[Operation Higashikuni (Canon Event)|Operation HIGASHIKUNI]]'' - 2007 Gen Con event player handouts/files * ''[[Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade]]'' * ''[[Technical Readout: 3075]]'' [[Category:Mercenary Commands]]

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