TekTeam Technical Services

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TekTeam Technical Services (aka TekTeam) is a mercenary unit with notable technical skills.

Canonicity

TekTeam, invented by Gerald Hall, featured in a number of his articles that were published in the BattleTechnology and MechForce Quarterly magazines, neither of which is currently considered canonical anymore. For lack of being mentioned in a canonical source so far, the unit and its exploits as published must be considered apocryphal.

History

In 3024 and starting with a single Mule class DropShip converted into a mobile repair base, Thomas Kim from the St. Ives Compact and his wife Sarah from a wealthy commercial family in the Lyran Commonwealth, built a premier salvage and repair firm known throughout the Inner Sphere as TekTeam Technical Services. His technical skill and her financial savy led to the creation of a most innovative and successful organization. Their first SAR (Salvage, Acquisition and Repair) team was a company-sized combined arms unit that supported a unit of highly skilled and innovative technicians. The security element supported the technical element in a reversal of roles from most other mercenary units. The SAR company would have a lance of Mechs, all of which would have two hand actuators to assist with the salvage of damaged and abandoned military equipment on the battlefield. The composition of the first TekTeam Mech lance was a Fire Javelin, a Griffin, a Wolverine-M and a Grasshopper. These Mechs offered a nice blend of speed, armor protection, battlefield endurance and firepower. They would be supplemented by several fast but capable armed vehicles like Savannah Masters, Pegasus and Condors. For defensive missions, a handful of large tracked vehicles with LRM’s and other heavy weapons are included. Air cover was provided by rotary wing VTOLs, Guardian VTOL conventional close support fighters and a lance of AeroSpace fighters. Infantry trained as astechs provided a supporting role. In the defense, the use of minefields was key to the survival of TekTeam SAR companies. Scouts would be an integral part of each SAR company. They would not only covertly travel to gain intelligence on threats and for any possible clients, but they would also spend considerable amounts of time in harm’s way on the battlefield, looking for equipment to salvage. TekTeam scouts were skilled with a wide variety of weapons, surveillance devices, vehicles and even used animals such as Tabyrinths to travel swiftly and quietly on the ground in order to complete their missions. TekTeam’s scouts were often unsung heroes who were greatly respected by the other members of each SAR company. To give an idea of the eclectic nature of TekTeam’s order of battle, the first lance of AeroSpace fighters to join the unit consisted of a pair of ex-Kuritan Shilone’s. They were a long way from the Combine when they became part of TekTeam.

The Mule became a mobile home for the unit as it traveled from planet to planet, selling their services to the highest bidder. When the Mule was converted to the mobile repair base configuration, a dozen Mech bays were installed, half a dozen heavy vehicle bays, a dozen light vehicle bays and a pair of small craft bays. Normally aerospace fighters were based in the small craft bays though. Each bay was equipped with supplementary repair and maintenance equipment to enhance the SAR company’s ability to rapidly repair and refit a client’s equipment as well as the team’s own equipment. The Mech bays on a TekTeam Mule lead to a quartet of doors capable of dropping Mechs from orbit just like what the Union, Leopard or Overlord can do with theirs. The doors to the Mech bays and the small craft bays were hidden behind movable panels to conceal the unique nature of a TekTeam Mule. Enough accommodations for over one hundred personnel were also installed in the Mule’s former cargo bays. The DropShip’s armor and armament were also upgraded since the Mule was likely to see some combat in the course of performing its mission. While these modifications ate into the Mule’s cargo bays, there was still more than enough space for the fuel, food, spare parts and other supplies needed for an extended mission. Usually, they provided technical services to mercenary units that couldn’t afford to maintain a permanent technical staff to service their equipment.

From the time of TekTeam’s inception, Thomas and Sarah Kim tried to make the unit as much like a family as possible. They would always try to make room for the family members of the techs as well as the security personnel. Sometimes, entire families would travel together for missions on board the SAR’s DropShips. At the Texlos asteroid base, a school was set up for the children and work was found for the dependents, both male and female. Space inside the asteroid base for shops, hydroponics gardens, entertainment centers and even places to worship were provided for. Little by little, that base grew into a small city of families that worked, played, fought and sometimes even died together. New recruits were encouraged to be a part of TekTeam’s extended family. In the long run, the interpersonal relationships cut down on attrition and made for stronger bonds of commitment to the taskings and to each other. Over the years, as the children grew up, most of them learned to be techs. This was often through hands on training at Texlos. A few chose to join the SAR companies’ security elements. They certainly had enough Mechs and other types of equipment to become familiar with during their childhood. The variety of backgrounds from which TekTeam drew its personnel was as varied as the Inner Sphere itself. There were people from all of the different Successor States as well as parts of the Periphery. They came in all sizes and colors as well. They swore no loyalty to any particular nation but were utterly loyal to TekTeam Technical Services once they joined. That powerful sense of family made an incredible difference here. Thomas and Sarah worked very hard to take care of their people. Their dedication to their people was rewarded by the hard work and loyalty that was a hallmark of TekTeam’s personnel. They weren’t all alike, but they all had something in common.

The Fourth Succession War provided TekTeam many opportunities to grow. Throughout that conflict, the unit provided valuable services to both the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth. An opportunity presented itself to establish a more permanent base when the St. Ives Compact was created at the end of the massive conflict. For Thomas Kim, this was like returning to home. They built a small base on the St. Ives Compact world of Texlos.

Within five years of the Fourth Succession War, TekTeam had increased in size to two SAR companies, a pair of converted Mule class DropShips and a former Capellan Invader class JumpShip that had been “acquired” during the middle of the Fourth Succession War. The Invader had jumped close enough to a nearby TekTeam Mule for a boarding action to be accomplished before the JumpShip could escape. The second JumpShip gave TekTeam far more ability to pursue opportunities independent of hired transportation. During the relative calm between the end of the Fourth Succession War and the beginning of the 3039 War, TekTeam’s technicians were busy for a while repairing and upgrading clients’ Mechs and combat vehicles but eventually the work dried up. Needed repairs on the poorly maintained ex-Capellan JumpShip took up a large portion of TekTeam’s cash reserves though. At this time, TekTeam also managed to obtain one of the many copies of the Helm Star League library. This piece of good fortune would help TekTeam personnel in understanding the lostech that would be entering service throughout the Inner Sphere over the course of the next three decades.

The decision was made to gather the unit’s resources and go out on a deep salvage mission. Intelligence had been gathered that indicated that somewhere near the Dark Nebula had been a large battle among worlds in the old Rim Worlds Republic that still were only sparely populated centuries later. Taking a gamble on a strange combination of clues, TekTeam jumped into an obscure star system where a dead mining colony had been. They explored the star system for weeks until they came across a derelict Royalty class JumpShip that had arrived centuries before after a misjump into what was by coincidence was a transient pirate point for the star system. The JumpShip and its carried craft had drifted for nearly three hundred years, getting closer and closer to one of the star system’s asteroid belts over time until it was practically impossible to observe them from anything more than point blank range. The JumpShip’s K-F drive had been damaged severely in the misjump. Breaches in the JumpShip’s hull from the misjump had killed a large percentage of the crew and crippled the vessel’s life support system, leaving the surviving crew to die. On the four docking collars of the JumpShip, was a most unusual variety of vessels and equipment. There was a Model 96 Elephant tug, a Snowden mining station, an Aqueduct class liquid carrier and a Lion class DropShip.

The Aqueduct and TekTeam's old Scout were sold to pay for repairs to the recovered JumpShip, Elephant, Snowden and Lion. The Elephant and Lion were modified to also serve as mobile repair bases like TekTeam's two Mules. The Snowden was moved to Texlos and attached on one of the system's larger class-M asteroids. It would not only being mining ores from the asteroid, but the station would begin hollowing out chambers within the asteroid for use by the unit. The station itself would serve as the home for many of TekTeam's dependents as well.

Business was good…until the arrival of the Clans. TekTeam had even replaced its Invader with an old Star Lord and had a total of five DropShips. Then things changed for everyone. TekTeam was in the middle of the action, hired by the Federated Commonwealth to help keep equipment operational to continue the fight against the advancing Clan forces. TekTeam had its hands full repairing damaged Mechs but didn’t have many chances to salvage from battlefields that were now in the possession of the Clan attackers. The Clans also learned that the Royalty class JumpShip that TekTeam used had been a notorious unit of the Rim World Republican Navy. At least one of the Clans then declared a Trial of Annilihation against the ship and its crew. Eventually, the ship was lost in action along with an entire SAR Company.

After the end of the Clan Invasion, TekTeam returned to Texlos for rest and refit. Unfortunately, the period of rest was all too short. First, TekTeam received a contract to repair equipment for Victor's forces during the Fed-Com Civil War. Then, the unit was forced to evacuate its asteroid base at Texlos because of Capellan invasion of the St. Ives Compact. The entire unit and its dependents were evacuated aboard the Star Lord, the attached Snowden and the unit's three remaining DropShips. The Snowden had been heavily modified by the deletion of its mining facilities in order to enlarge its shipyard bay and expand its accommodations. The entire unit chose to move to the Lyran Alliance to take advance of Sarah's family contacts there.

At the beginning of the Word of Blake's jihad, TekTeam was specifically targeted by the Jihadists in order to reduce the Lyran Alliance's ability to maintain its armed forces. The last word was that the unit chose to escape the intense pressure by fleeing the Inner Sphere altogether.

Officers

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the TekTeam Technical Services
Major Sara Ann Kim 3054

Tactics

TekTeam Technical Services (TTS) is primarily a mercenary technical unit that sells its services to the highest bidder rather than a traditional mercenary military unit. TTS is primarily made of company-sized subunits known as SAR (Salvage, Acquisition and Repair) Companies. Each SAR Company is based in a DropShip that is modified to be a mobile repair base, usually a Mule class cargo ship. Each SAR Company has an combined-arms security element centered around a lance of Mechs, a company of vehicles, a company of infantry and a lance of aerospace fighters. Their primary purpose is to defend the DropShip but they also assist with salvage missions. To that end, all Mechs must have two operational hands actuators. There is a heavy tactical focus on combined arms ambushes with a significant use of mines. From 3052, a squad or more of BattleArmor are included with each SAR company.

Composition

3054

BattleMechs (The Iron Packrats) - 2 Companies/Veteran/Reliable

TekTeam Technical Services Air Support - Composite Conventional/Aerospace Wng

  • Wing Comdr: Major Douglas Kerr

TekTeam Technical Services Armor - Two Companies/Veteran/Reliable

  • Armor Cmdr: Major Stephen

TekTeam Technical Services Infantry - One Battalion/Elite/Reliable

  • CO: Major Julia Greer

In 3054, these are organized into four SAR Companies and a reserve component. Losses during the Fed-Com Civil War, the reintegration of the St. Ives Compact into the Capellan Confederation and the Jihad have reduced this down to three full SAR Companies and a small reserve element by 3068.

Notes

There is some confusion about the JumpShip used by TekTeam between approximately 3030 and 3054. Some reports have the vessel named the Phoenix while others referred to her as Lorelei's Hope. One thing is clear. The Royalty class JumpShip design was unique in the Inner Sphere by the time of the 4th Succession War with a history that dated back to the Rim Worlds Republic and the 1st Star League. This armed JumpShip was lost in action against the Clans in 3054.

The current disposition for TekTeam Technical Services is unknown. The most recent reports indicate that the unit had been specifically targeted by the Word of Blake during the Jihad. As a result, the unit had gathered all SAR units and dependents and left in the direction of the Deep Periphery. The unit's Star Lord was transporting three Mules, an Elephant and a salvaged Snowden space station. The Snowden eventually had all of its mining equipment removed. The available space was then used to expand its shipyard facilities and personnel accommodations. Some rumors say that the unit is in search of one of the derelict RWR Navy Pinto's and possibly also lost colonies far out in the Deep Periphery.

References