McKinnon's Company

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Unit Description

The McKinnon's Company better known as McKinnon's Raiders or The Fox's Teeth is a Special Operations BattleMech Company. Originally a SLDF combat unit, the company defected to House Davion at the breakup of the League.[1] During the next three hundred years the Raiders became, as an independent part of the 7th Crucis Lancers, one of the most famous commands of the Federated Suns until they choosed to join the Republic of the Sphere after the Jihad.[2]

History

Founding

The Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 142nd Battle Regiment, 251st BattleMech Division under command of Captain Kieran McKinnon was stationed at the Star League depot on Kesai IV when they refused to follow General Kerensky into exile and choose instead to join the AFFS in return for titles and lands on Kestrel.[1]

The Succession Wars

At the beginning of the First Succession War in 2786 McKinnon's Company proved their determination by repeling a much larger force of the DCMS, who tried to sieze the Star League Depot. Though victorious, the unit left the planet for a first Tour of Duty on the Periphery border, that would last ten years and was quiet uneventful.[1]

However, that changed in 2796 when McKinnon's Company joined with the newly created 7th Crucis Lancers on Kentares IV to form the First Company of the First Battalion. The defense of Kentares against the Combine invaders did not went well and the 7th Lancers were all but destroyed. The few survivers, led by McKinnon's Company, fled to the mountains and fought a guerrilla war against the DCMS until they were finally rescued by an AFFS taskforce. But before their retraction an infantryman of McKinnon's troop shot Coordinator Minoru Kurita. This fateful incident led Minoru's son, Jinjiro, to order the death of Kentares' whole population during the infamous Kentares Massacre. Kieran and his company however fought on against the invaders - again as an independent command after the effective destruction of their regiment - until 2808 when he was killed on Harrow's Sun.[1][3]

During the Second Succession War the company, under command of John McKinnon, fought mainly on the Capellan front. There they advanced deep into enemy territory and conducted famous raids on St. Ives and in 2861 on the Forbidden City on Sian itself. This last raid, though costly for McKinnon's Company, helped to convince Dainmar Liao to seek an end to the hostilities between the Houses Davion and Liao and earned the unit the name of McKinnon's Raiders.[1][4][5]

After a short time of R&R, where the unit had to exchange their last Star League equipment for Davion-made material, McKinnon's Company spent the next century on the boarder to the Periphery, fighting against Pirates. This long-time service was rewarded with an assignment to House Davion's capital of New Avalon, sometime around the millennium. In 3013 the Davion intelligence service learned about a traitor, somewhere in the Davion Guards, who had been convinced by agents of House Kurita to kill the new First Prince Hanse Davion. The Raiders, under the command of Ross McKinnon, one of the few units on New Avalon which were no part of the guards, were tasked with a secret mission. During an exercise on Imbrial III they destroyed the corrupted Captain Bright and his men. As reward for their loyalty the Raiders earned themselves the nickname of "The Fox's Teeth".[6][4]

Ronin War

During the formation of the Free Rasalhague Republic, the Fox's Teeth were among the AFFC troops sent as advisers and trainers for the newborn KungsArmé, assigned to train the newly formed 1st Drakøns on Tukayyid. Despite the expectation that the world devoid of all but farms and religious monasteries would not be targeted during the Ronin Wars, with Warlord Vasily Cherenkoff desperate for large quantities of food to supply his Ronin forces, in June 3034 elements of the Ronin 1st Altenmarkt Militia launched a supply raid against the breadbasket world. [7] [8]

Striking while half the Fox's Teeth were out on train maneuvers with the Drakøns, the Milita sent a small diversionary group against them while the bulk of their force moved towards the massive grain silos near the Davion unit's firebase in the Pozoristu Mountains. While the diversionary force was mauled by the Drakøns and Fox's Teeth command lance led by Ian McKinnon, the rest of the Milita rolled over the troops at the Davion troop's base camp before being being forced to withdraw, Mark McKinnon, Ian's brother, killed holding off the attacking Ronin. [7] [8] Ian would attempt to take care of Mark's only child, David in the wake of his death. [9]

McKinnon's Raiders stood down after the Ronin Wars to rebuild before getting involved in the War of 3039.[citation needed]

Clan Invasion and FedCom Civil War


Jihad

In 3069, the Fox's Teeth under Captain Ross McKinnon field tested the Hauberk battle armor on Demeter against Word of Blake troops. They lured the 9th Division's Call to the Faithful III-delta into an ambush, inflicting heavy damage.[10]

The Fox's Teeth had raided Towne in February, and returned with Group I as a part of Operation SCOUR;[11] it had been identified by the Fox's Teeth[12] that the Word of Blake had established a new facility deep within a mountain range on the continent of Howell that was capable of performing major DropShip refits and possibly the construction of new vessels. Group I attacked the facility, but the Blakists had established defenses around the facility that were almost comparable to a Star League-era Castle Brian. Not only were the defenses capable of repelling the allied coalition attacks, they created the very real possibility that the campaign to liberate Towne might fail completely; a daring strike by the Fox's Teeth was performed as the Fox-class FSS Indefatigable moved into orbit, with the Fox's Teeth targeting the capital missile launchers defending the facility to allow the Indefatigable to launch orbital strikes at the Blakists. While the Fox's Teeth attack was successful, the Indefatigable was almost lost when other capital missile launchers hidden within the local asteroid field were activated, flinging thousands of missiles at the WarShip, heavily damaging it.[11]

The Fox's Teeth would then suffer heavy damage in the Hean system on the 3rd of May 3077, when Group I fell afoul of a layered SDS network that destroyed the Indefatigable and inflicted heavy losses on the Fox's Teeth, the accompanying 15th Arcturan Guards and the AeroSpace forces available to Group I. As a result, Group I retreated from the Hean system.[13] The Fox's Teeth would soon be in action again, raiding the occupied world of Hamal, a raid that would cost the Teeth their commanding officer, Ross McKinnon.[12]

The last campaign of 3077 for the Fox's Teeth would prove easier than many of their combat actions; working alongside the 5th Crucis Lancers under Major General Walter White-Davion, the Fox's Teeth and their new commander, David McKinnon, played a pivotal role in ensuring that the campaign for Ingress in late 3077 would be brief and relatively bloodless.[14]

Officers

Tactics


Composition History[15]

2788[15]

3027[15]

3038[15]

3049[15]

  • Command Lance
    • Captain Ian McKinnon BL-6-KNT Black Knight
    • Sergant Major George Lytton CTF-2X Cataphract
    • Austin Vorster HCT-3F Hatchetman
    • Daniel Waylen ENF-3R Enforcer
  • Medium Lance
    • Leftenant Paul Danton CN9-A Centurion
    • Hiro Chipender DV-6M Dervish
    • Dave "Tiny" Hill JM-6S JaegerMech
    • Henrik Dekker JVN-10N Javelin

3054[15]

  • Medium Lance
    • Leftenant Paul Danton CN9-A Centurion
    • Hiro Chipender DV-6M Dervish
    • Dave "Tiny" Hill JM-6S JaegerMech
    • Henrik Dekker BZK-F3 Hollander

3071[15]

  • Recon Lance

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Fox's Teeth, p. 6, "Brief History"
  2. Field Manual: 3085, p. 59
  3. Starterbook: Sword and Dragon, p. 15, "History"
  4. 4.0 4.1 Starterbook: Sword and Dragon, p. 15, "The Succession Wars"
  5. Starterbook: Sword and Dragon, p. 16, "McKinnon's Raid"
  6. The Fox's Teeth, p. 7, "Brief History"
  7. 7.0 7.1 Historical: Brush Wars, p. 113 "The Ronin Wars - The Dragon's Anger (May-July 3034) - Tukayyid"
  8. 8.0 8.1 Starterbook: Sword and Dragon, p. 16 "The Fox's Teeth - History - Wedding Gifts"
  9. Starterbook: Sword and Dragon, p. 20 "The Fox's Teeth Personnel - Ian McKinnon"
  10. Jihad Hot Spots: 3070, p. 75 (Blake Ascending, p. 235), "Fox's Teeth Still Sharp"
  11. 11.0 11.1 Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 37, "The Tale Of Towne"
  12. 12.0 12.1 Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 38, "Last Words Of A Legend"
  13. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 37, "Situation Report: Naval Defenses"
  14. 14.0 14.1 Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 39-40, "Ingress, Fletcher Fall"
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 Starterbook: Sword and Dragon, pp. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 - "Unit Composition"

Bibliography