Malavai Fletcher

Malavai Fletcher
Personal
Died	3065
Affiliation	Clan Hell's Horses
Profile
Rank	Khan

Malavai Fletcher was a Trueborn Elemental who rose to the rank of saKhan, and later Khan, of Clan Hell's Horses.

Rise to Prominence

Malavai Fletcher became saKhan of the Hell's Horses during a time of protracted conflict with Clan Ghost Bear, after the previous saKhan Darwin Lassenerra acceded to the rank of Khan following the abdication of Aaron Cobb after the Hell's Horses' defeat in the battle for the Mechworks on Tokasha which saw the death of Ghost Bear Khan Kilbourne Jorgensson. The outcome of this battle would cause a lasting animosity between the two Clans.

At some point after Malavai Fletcher's promotion to saKhan, the Ghost Bears issued a Trial of Possession against the Hell's Horses for the Horses' production facility Industriplex Alpha centered on the planet of Niles. During the battle, Khan Lair Seidman was killed by Clan Ghost Bear in the conflict, forcing a wounded saKhan Fletcher to take command even after he had been medically evacuated. The Horses won the battle, but it was a costly victory for both them and their sworn enemy. Malavai Fletcher survived the conflict, but his severe injuries caused him to undergo intense medical care and require cybernetic prosthetics in order to survive. He would later become Khan of the Hell's Horses, succeeding the fallen Seidman.

Khanship

After Fletcher became Khan, he learned of the alliance between the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth after it was reported back to the Clan Homeworlds. Fletcher, an adherent of the Crusader philosophy at a time when much of his Clan took the Warden view, changed many of the Warden policies of the Hell's Horses to fit with his own Crusader viewpoint. The Clan's warriors would later be described as "Wardens led by Crusaders", indicative of the overall shift in the Clan's ideology.

After the Clan Invasion was halted with the disastrous Battle of Tukayyid, and in the wake of the Refusal War of 3057 between Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon, both Wolf and Falcon Khans sought a way to weaken the Homeworld forces while rebuilding their own toumans. This concept would emerge as the Harvest Trials, as both Vlad Ward and Marthe Pryde announced that any Home Clan unit who wanted to fight in the Inner Sphere once the Clan Invasion resumed would have to participate in a Trial of Possession to join them. This would prove to be beneficial as the two battered Clans would take this opportunity to recover well from their shattered toumans quickly by skimming other Homeworlds units. While most Clans would bid away their loyal units to either the Wolves or the Jade Falcons, Khan Fletcher instead offered a contract bid to the Wolf Khan Vlad Ward. Though initially a supporter of Clan Ice Hellion Khan Asa Taney's Home Clan Coalition, Fletcher saw a better opportunity dealing with the Wolves than the Ice Hellions. The goal of the bid was to allow the Hell's Horses to fight on behalf of Clan Wolf while retaining loyalty to their parent Clan. Fletcher would bid his elite Twelfth Mechanized Cavalry Cluster to the Wolves. The bid between the two Khans bore fruit as it would allow the Horses to have three Inner Sphere worlds leased to them, while the Wolves would gain a new Cluster without fighting for one. With their new planets, Malavai would finally set his sights on the Inner Sphere territory of his hated foe, Clan Ghost Bear.

In 3061, during a battle on Bearclaw against both the Ghost Bears and Clan Snow Raven, Fletcher had his first encounter with Ghost Bear ristar Jake (who would later win the Kabrinski Bloodname). The two fought a brief single combat before Snow Raven forces joined the battle on the side of the Ghost Bears, forcing Fletcher to retreat although he swore to Jake that he would have revenge.

Two years later in 3063, Fletcher would attend a meeting with Vlad Ward in the Inner Sphere. Ward revealed to Fletcher that the First Combine-Ghost Bear War had degenerated into a stalemate, and the Ghost Bears were lightly defending their shared border with the nominal Hell's Horses Occupation Zone. This was a political maneuver on Ward's part to tempt the Horses into attacking the Ghost Bear Dominion, weakening both of the Wolves' rival Clans. Thus manipulated by Ward, Fletcher and the Horses attacked from their Inner Sphere holdings that they had been gifted by Clan Wolf.

Downfall

Like the Steel Vipers before them, Malavai's hatred of his rival Clan would prove to be his undoing. After the eventual conclusion of the First Combine-Ghost Bear War, Clan Ghost Bear would seek retribution against the Hell's Horses, who had been a thorn in their side ever since they arrived in the Inner Sphere. The Ghost Bears turned on the Hell's Horses, taking back the planets the Horses had initially captured and further conquering the worlds that the Horses had been given by Clan Wolf, forcing the Horses out of the Inner Sphere. Malavai would also suffer a second defeat at the hands of Jake Kabrinski, mirroring a situation similar to Perigard Zalman and Diana Pryde, ending in Fletcher's defeat. The Hell's Horses would be expelled from the Inner Sphere and to add insult to injury, Khan Fletcher lost his honor and reputation as many Horse warriors deemed him unfit to rule as Khan.

Death & Legacy

James Cobb, Malavai's slayer and successor.

The Bloodnamed warriors of the Hell's Horses were unsatisfied with Khan Fletcher's performance during his time in the Inner Sphere, and he was challenged to a rapier duel over his conduct and killed by James Cobb. Malavai would be succeeded by his slayer as the new Khan of Clan Hell's Horses. With his dying words, Fletcher urged Cobb to take revenge on both the Ghost Bears and Clan Wolf.

His successor would undo many of the changes done by Khan Fletcher, such as reverting the Hell's Horses status as a Warden Clan, getting revenge on Clan Wolf for their manipulation of his Clan, and making peace with the Ghost Bears. Cobb would also defeat and make a bondsman of Jake Kabrinski, who went on to become Khan of the Hell's Horses sometime after Cobb's own demise.

Equipment

Malavai Fletcher was a known user of the Gnome battlesuit developed by the Hell's Horses.

Notes

• Malavai Fletcher was known to be unhinged and unstable around his fellow Clansmen. His cybernetics only worsened his attitude.
• The extent of Fletcher's cyberware was known to include most of his skull and neck, including at least one of his eyes.
• Despite his mental instability, Fletcher was a supremely skilled fighter - he may have been the best Elemental combatant of his time.

Bibliography

• Field Manual: Crusader Clans
• Field Manual: Updates
• Test of Vengeance
• Turning Points: Tokasha
• The Wars of Reaving