Some of you may remember my Dateline: Berenson 3132 Dark Ages campaign - I'm considering this the sort of end game for that campaign. That's not to say I won't go back to Berenson and how we got here, but this is the idea that's been swirling around my mind for a bit.
Holdfast Legion - MRBC report 3144
History: Born from a core of Republic Standing Guard and RoTS citizens who felt abandoned by Terra merged with a bunch of down-on-their-luck mecs, the Legion is a true microcosm of the conflicts that engulfed the Republic in its final years.
The core of the Legion remain Berenson Standing Guard troops led by Captain Gabriel West - a reservist BA officer who distinguished himself during the low-level fighting that occurred in the days after the Blackout.
Berenson sided with the secessionist Senate Alliance, after several years of machinations by big business and the planetary Legate in 3134 and West, along with a loyalist component of the Guard found themselves no longer welcome on their home world. Between 3132-34, rogue business elements and Legate Mirabella Lopez - who was elevated to the position in ‘32 following the suspicious death of her predecessor - effectively created a private army of loyal militia troops and off-world mercs before turning on Republic officials and declaring Berenson a part of the Alliance.
Fresh from negotiating a ceasefire between warring regional counties (again, the San Ozit Range War is believed the work of pro-Senate business interests), Captain West found himself under arrest and charged with treason. That, along with mass arrests of other militia personnel, elected planetary deputies, trade unionists and media, triggered wide-spread riots and clashes across the planet. Within days, a loyalist Standing Guard element that had evaded capture broke West free, marched on the capital Beauna Vista and seized the main spaceport.
After several days of sporadic fighting, West made the decision to retreat offworld, fearing the civilian toll if he launched a coup. A former longshoreman and senior union official with the Berenson Planetary Union of Dock Workers in his civilian life, West had also harnessed popular support among spaceport workers, truck drivers and other associated workers - effectively shutting down Buena Vista during the siege. A large number of them chose to leave with West and his militia contingent when they boosted offworld in late 3134.
With the Republic crumbling around them, West and his men expected to be welcomed into the RAF with open arms, but only found suspicion and the threat of arrest for theft and desertion. As their accumulated Stones rapidly dried up, the group decided to turn merc - offering their services on the Capellan front along Prefecture V-VI: after a few months of drilling the Battle Armour platoon, attached infantry assets and a mixed Mech, IndustrialMech and Vehicle lance lance, West secured a contract as auxiliaries to assist the Swordsworn.
What followed was a series of bloody encounters as Duke Sandoval fed the auxiliares into the meat grinder against the CCAF. By 3135, West and his men found themselves recovering on Genoa, effectively broken and broke.
Fate interceded when West encountered Captain Sally Hind in a Genoa bar. Hind, the granddaughter of a Kell Hound hero who had joined the RAF in the wake of the Word of Blake Jihad, was almost as desperate as West and the two eventually agreed to merge their two broken down outfits - and despite their extreme differences agreed on co-command.
Between 3135-’38, the newly named Holdfast Legion earned their name - fighting and typically giving their all to hold the Capellans back on Azha, Pleione, Poznan and Woodstock, fighting for planetary governments abandoned by the Republic.
By adopting other shattered merc units or abandoned RAF elements, the Legion grew and were a crucial element in the effort to hold Suzano during the ‘38-40 fighting that actually drove the Capellans offworld for the first time.
That last action cost the Legion dearly and it fell back across the rapidly expanding Confederation into the edge of FedSuns space, working in conjunction with the III Principes Guards to hold Addicks and Small World against repeated attacks from House Kurita.
By 3142 the writing was on the wall - remaining Republic worlds were either being gobbled up by the Dragon or the Davions and the Legion made the decision to retreat back to Galatea to re-arm and rest
Officers:
Few would predict that idealistic but inexperienced troops and veteran but down-on-their-luck mercs would get along, let alone forge into a single unit. In the same way - Hind and West are dramatically different - he’s almost quixotic in his outlook and stresses fairness and collectivism in everything he does, while she’s more than happy to indulge in every form of vice and wears her avarice on her sleeve.
Captain Gabriel West (Co-commander, Holdfast Legion)
Born to a Trueborn Nova Cat Elemental who spent the early days of the Jihad fighting with Delta Galaxy before taking the extraordinary step of requesting a transfer to the unorthodox 212th Nova Cat Headhunter Binary (aka Stone’s Trackers) ahead of OPERATION SCOUR.
Star Commander (he would muster out in 3086 as a Major) Jalo retired on Berenson post-Jihad, married Victoria a local union organiser and raised a family - always instilling a sense of right and wrong, fairness and above all - a belief in Devlin Stone and the Republic - in his children. Employed as a longshoreman, Gabriel excelled at exoskeleton operations and set several records for safe but efficient shuttle offloads and led a series of negotiations that enforced safer operations for work crews before being elected to a union position.
All the while, he served one weekend a month, one night a week as a reservist with the Berenson Standing Guard in his Kopis armour.
Attracting the notice of a visiting Knight Errant in 3132 during a series of clashes with smugglers, West was rapidly promoted, paving his way to eventual joint command of the Legion.
He commands Bravo Company from his gigantic Kopis suit and typically takes more strategic command in battle while Hind focuses on Alpha Company and smaller unit tactics.
It’s West's ongoing commitment to Devlin Stone - but more importantly, his dedication to helping the oppressed - that has seen the Legion stick to smaller, lower paid contracts centred around helping planetary governments and independent nations.
Captain Sally-Anne Hind (Co-commander, Holdfast Legion)
Hind also grew up in the Republic, descended from Jihad era heroes - but she took a very different path to her co-commander. The granddaughter of a Kell Hound Mechwarrior who went on to join the RAF and the daughter of minor nobility on Epsilon Eridani, Hind’s life seemed pretty much mapped out - Sandhurst, a posting with the IX Triarii and promotion beckoning. But it all came crashing down in 3129 when she was implicated in a black market and smuggling scheme. Jailed for nine months and cashiered from the RAF, Hind was escorted to Galatea and told to leave the Republic as soon as possible. She signed on with the first fly by night merc outfit and spent several years on the fringe of the mercenary market before leading the remains of a shattered unit back to her birth nation post-Blackout.
Her career has been spent desperate for her to reclaim some of the wealth and glory she enjoyed back on her homeworld, which has seen her gain a reputation as greedy and selfish. In reality, it’s more a form of trauma as a result of her dramatic fall from grace.
Hind leads Alpha Company - 12 Mechs - from her Rifleman and wields the company like a scalpel. She also understands the precarious financial position the Legion is in, and is thus reluctant to soak up too much damage, preferring to retire her unit before casualties start mounting up.
Lieutenant Cian Connors (commander, Battle Lance)
Connors is probably the Legion’s deadliest Mechwarrior - but also, one of its most mysterious.
Connors and his Thor II turned up at the Legion’s encampment on the edge of the Great Rocks National Park on Azha in 3136 and offered his services. He was tight-lipped on his origins and prior service history but his skill in the cockpit and his possession of a Clan omnimech more than made up for that.
Since then, Connors has let slip in his Skye Irish brogue that he had served with Stone’s Lament at some point, had met Devlin Stone himself, took his Thor II as salvage after winning a duel with a Jade Falcon warrior and spent some time in a Capellan POW camp.
Otherwise, he’s an enigma - but scattered eyewitness accounts and BattleROMs put him fighting with the Stormhammers against the Falcons during their push on Skye, while later reports place him and his acquired Thor II fighting for various factions across Prefecture IV, V and VI up to his sign on with the Legion.
It’s unknown if any of the morsels of information he’s offered up are the truth or mere fabrications.
Lieutenant Jacinta Lee-Manuel (chief technician, Holdfast Legion)
Lee grew up in an upper middle class family on Menkar - blue collar Capellan workers who had enthusiastically accepted Stone and opened up a chain of machine shops and factories and thus, was expected to attend the typical round of parties, functions and finishing schools. Lee hated every step of it and, unlike her three younger sisters, preferred learning and observing on the shopfloors of her family’s workshops to the ballroom.
That rebellion led to her enrollment in the Our Lady of Many Sorrows Convent School on Menkar’s jungle interior in 3133.
A year later, when Menkar was targeted in the initial CCAF probe, the school was looted by marauding pro-CapCon insurgents and their CCAF support and Lee vanished.
In 3137, the Legion was dispatched to raid Menkar as part of an attempt by House Davion to destabilise the border and encountered a band of rebels still fighting the Capellan occupiers - Lee was among the rebels’ tech pool, having proved to be a mechanical genius and was holding the insurgency’s machines together with little more than balling wire and spit.
The insurgents were largely absorbed into the Legion during that campaign and Lee fell in love with senior technician José Manuel, a Berenson militia original, despite the 15 age gap and the fact Manuel was notoriously shy.
When the Legion pulled offword, she signed on officially, married Manuel (some say she all but marched him down the aisle. But never in earshot) and was soon the battalion’s chief tech.
Sergeant Hollie Hayes (Mechwarrior, Battle Lance)
Sgt Hollie Hayes Is an oddity among the legionaries in the sense she’s not a RAF veteran and doesn’t hail from the Republic. Instead, the statuesque, dusky skinned woman hails from Magistracy space and in fact once faced off against the Legion.
During the brutal fighting for Pleonie, the Holdfast Legion repeatedly clashed with the Tau Ceti Rangers and the First Canopian Lancers, of whom Hayes was a serving Mechwarrior.
During one particular clash in the Deep Basin region, the Legion destroyed two MAF Mechs, damaged another and destroyed two vehicles.
Hayes was among the six POWs taken and spent several weeks paroled and relatively free among the Legion before the next truce where she was set for exchange.
Hayes surprised everyone by petitioning Legion leaders to join - she’d never been comfortable with the MoC’s alliance with the CapCon and its invasion of the Republic had never sat well with her. To cap things off, while a POW, she’d received word her mother had died in an accident.
Since joining the Legion, she’s cemented her place in Battle Lance in a salvaged Lineholder (replacing her destroyed Vindicator). Her and Conners soon became lovers and there’s a growing betting pool on when they’ll start a family.
Sergeant Dane Jordan (Scout lance, Charlie Company)
Sergeant Dane Jordan could be a case study of the Republic - his grandparents were all resettled on Berenson by Stone’s post-Jihad reforms, some from Lyran space, others from the Federated Suns. Despite none of them having any knowledge of agriculture (in fact, he counted two computer technicians and a metallurgist among his ancestors) all agreed to work in Berenson’s rapidly expanding farming industry and Jordan was raised in several rural logging and farming towns.
Naturally, he wanted something different and set out on a series of careers ranging from DJ, bartender and fashion photographer. Nothing stuck and by 23, he was back in the rural farming community of his youth, unemployed and bitter.
A string of drunken brawls, hovercar crashes and drug arrests eventually culminated in him seriously injured in a crash that caused thousands of Stones worth of damage and left two passengers hurt. He was offered the choice by a judge: two years jail once you’re out of hospital or four in the militia.
The Standing Guard’s discipline and sense of duty turned his life around and Jordan was soon a corporal attached to the armoured scout platoon, using his driving abilities for good.
He was part of the company who sprung West and despite leaving his family behind, jumped at the chance to do good elsewhere.
He commands a Fox Armoured Car and is considered the battalion’s chief scout - routinely spending days deep behind enemy lines, often hiding his vehicle and mapping their position on foot before speeding back to report in - frequency with unfriendly types in hot pursuit!
Lieutenant Elton Tang (Commander, Charlie Company)
Lieutenant Elton Tang is a true mercenary - an orphaned child of the Draconis Reach, raised in squalor and knowing full well the flag over his city could change at any time, he joined a small merc outfit at 14 as a vehicle Astech by lying about his age. By the time it folded four years later, he was a gunner on a Galleon tank. He held a variety of roles ranging from vehicle commander through to senior support roles over the next 20 years before linking up with Captain Hind in 3132. She knew a solid operator when she saw one and lured him over to her unit, only for it to go bust shortly afterwards.
Tang likes the Legion, even if he thinks too many of them think with their hearts instead of their heads (and bank accounts). The grizzled soldier chafes at being an officer, but he’s the backbone of the unit.
Force Strength:
The Legion boasts a full combined-arms battalion, consisting of a full Battlemech company, a mixed infantry company (an over strength BA platoon and two platoons of leg infantry), plus a vehicle company.
Much of Alpha and Bravo companies make use of former RAF equipment, such as the captains’ Kopis suit and 7X Rifleman. Captain Hind was delighted to trade her dilapidated, 250 year old Warhammer for the newer Rifleman when the commands initially merged.
Most of the equipment is older, with a handful of newer designs, such as the Jackalope and Havoc of Pursuit lance, of which the rest is mostly RAF surplus or salvage. Captain West made a point of trading in two squads of his older IS Standard BA for a squad each of Fusilier and Infiltrator MKII suits while working for the Swordsworn in 3135 and ensured all troopers are cross trained on all three types of suits maintained by the Legion.
Bravo company almost never deploys as a whole - lacking enough dedicated APCs or the ability to lift between the various VTOLs, the leg infantry typically pulls rear area security, while the BA platoon is rushed into harm’s way via the three transport VTOLs of Charlie company and either used as air assault troops or deployed in an ambush position.
Owing to the frequent detachment of the VTOLs - Charlie company also frequently deploys piecemeal, with Tan’s lance of heavy tanks typically supporting Alpha Company or digging in alongside the battle armour. The second lance of lighter, hover, vehicles generally ranges wide and far, operating as scouts, often breaking down into one or two vehicle elements.
Two Poignards - both defectors from the RAF’s shattered Border Fleet - joined the Holdfast Legion in 3138 and make up the aerospace contingent. Especially well trained at interception and deep space combat due to their previous roles, the two pilots are slowly increasing their skills at fire support and strafing operations.
Support:
The Holdfast Legion’s technical crews are efficient and well trained and can currently cover all support and maintenance needs. However, everything is run on a strict budget - with the co-commanders knowing one defeat, contract breach or even a pyrrhic victory is liable to send the unit heavily into debt. The Legion has been forced to buy much of its expendables and equipment on credit or following sizable loans and as such, owes a considerable amount of money to unsavoury banking and lending cartels. Both West and Hind are aware they need to keep working, lest they fall behind in payments.
This was exemplified by the Legion’s time on Suzano, where shortly after being hired by the planetary government they purchased a pair of Sparrowhawk ASFs to supplement their fighter element.
CCAF infiltrators, believed to be Death Commandos, destroyed much of the San Tropes Aerodrome in preparation for an attack by Warrior House Kamata, resulting in a week-long fire that spread into nearby bushlands and razed several communities. It also destroyed both brand new fighters, with the Legion still expected to pay off the debt.
Transport:
The Holdfast Legion boasts two Dropships, allowing it to lift its entire contingent - however the extreme cost of maintenance, fuel and upkeep is desperately cutting through the unit’s savings and leadership fears they may need to soon sell at least one of the ‘ships.
The Union-class Red Ryder was a smuggler’s vessel, captured and grounded by Berenson Standing Guard in 3133 and sat derelict on the space port apron until West and his men seized it and boosted - offering the detained smuggler crew a choice to join up or stay behind bars.
The centuries old vessel is in desperate need of overhaul and repair and is barely fit for flight, let alone combat. The life support systems leave a sharp, noxious smell onboard, damaged panels have been painted over rather than replaced, numerous lights are out and there appears to be a rat infestation in the hold.
In contrast is the much newer Seleucus Infantry Transport, Antiochus, a former CCAF Dropship that was seized by the Legion on Suzano after they overran the retreating Capellan’s landing zone.
The legion have modified the interior to house their infantry and vehicle assets.
The Antiochus suffered minor damage during its capture, which has mostly not been repaired, causing some minor issues throughout the whole ship. The Seleucus is notoriously hard to maintain (dubbed "fussy" by her crew) and spare parts are often hard to come by - despite that, West is loath to simply sell the Antiochus as it suits his company's purpose so well.
Insignia and colours:
The Holdfast Legion typically paint their machines in appropriate camo. On parade - or during operations when the co-commanders determine it’s worth showing off - the battalion paints its equipment black, with light grey lower arms and legs, trimmed in a darker grey around the limbs' joints.
The Legion’s insignia is a raised, clenched fist in dark grey against a black background.
