DESERT HARRIERS
ORIGINSTitus McKenna’s Desert Harriers were funded as a part of the Lyran Commonwealth’s relief forces sent to support the newly formed military of the fledgling Rasalhague Republic during the Ronin War of 3034. Lyran brass decided against a significant show of force, partially due to fears of the Skye conflict spiraling out of control following the Republic’s declaration of independence. While plausible deniability was not an immediate concern, a mercenary unit with no overt affiliation to the Commonwealth was less likely to run the risk of causing diplomatic incidents with either the Combine or the Republic, something the Lyrans could scarcely afford at the time.
Split off from the veteran Third Donegal Guards (3rd Batallion, Harrier Company), the small unit would prove to be an invaluable asset to the Republic, loosely working together with prestigious units such as the 1st Tyr in securing the new state’s stability and independence. Donning the guise of a newly formed mercenary unit based out of Galatea, the Harriers started out under contract with a fighting force of two companies, one being made up of mixed-weight Battlemechs, the other a contingent of armor and artillery assets protected by two aerospace fighters.
The unit’s name and visuals harken back to the Third’s deployment in the late 20s on the arid world of Menkent, where they were defending the planet’s infrastructure from Combine raiding parties.
BRIEF HISTORYTHE RONIN WAR (3034)HarvestTheir first large-scale engagement they would face off against the invading 5th Amphigean Light Guard on the ronin's former staging planet of Harvest. After the Declaration of Freedom by Elected Prince Haakon Magnusson, a celebratory "Liberty Gala" was to take place in the Grand Ohio Theatre of Columbus City. However, after local riots, the event was postponed by a week - and due to the proximity to the Lyran border, the Harriers were deployed to protect the political and civilian celebrities gathered at the event. With the 5th swiftly securing the planet Rodigo due to the initial chaos, they moved on to seize Harvest, seeking to secure the breadbasket of the fledgling FRR by delivering a decisive blow to the Lyran-aligned citizenship. An attempt to crash the party would be made by assaulting the building with mechanized infantry, or failing that, demolishing the south side of the theatre, which contained the lodges reserved for government officials and high ranking military personnel.
The Harriers anticipated this, and initially offered only minor resistance to the Amphigean DropShip group’s landing, harassing mechs and infantry with light elements and posting their assault-weight command lance as the lone guards for the theatre. Predictably enough, the experienced 5th did not fall for the Harriers' obvious distraction tactics and refused to engage in a chase or protracted firefight, proceeding at high speed towards their destination instead, with local militia only being able to tie up a pair of the lightweight Amphigean lances. After successfully driving off the 5th’s spotters, the Harriers sprung their trap on the ronin DCMS unit, when the bulk of their forces marched up to face the assault lance guarding the gala, seeking to surround and pound the ponderous machines into submission. While the mercenaries' light and medium lances pushed in towards the flanking Amphigean light lances (which were comprised mostly of
Jenners and
Locusts), two pairs of heavy tanks - two
Demolishers and two
Schrek PPC Carriers - powered up in the nearby streets to assist the Harrier command lance, which was under grave threat of being swarmed. The ambush on the Amphigeans’ lead medium lance led to the crippling of
tai’sa Helen Cassidy’s
Shadow Hawk, forcing her to eject within the first minute of combat. Initially underestimating the elite assault pilots’ precision in destroying fast moving targets, regardless of the sensitive environment,
sho-sa Eiji Chambers led a costly withdrawal, losing an entire company of light ‘Mechs, and most of their medium command lance in the process. While managing to defend their target and oust the 5th for the remainder of the Ronin War, neither the Harriers nor the local militia were able to stop the remaining forces from retreating towards their heavily armed DropShips, and escaping from the site.
Intriguingly enough, their victory would remain in relative obscurity until a few years later, due to an interview with Annika Kyrkjebø, a beloved rasalhagian performer and media icon. Present at the Gala herself, she lauded the Harriers for their valiant defense, lamenting that she never really got the chance to thank them in person - a statement that shook up the population’s negative views about mercenaries, and resulted in a renewed stream of recruits inbound to their Galatean office.
The fighting over Harvest with the 5th Amphigean LAG would drag on until the end of April 3034. While the 5th was unable to secure Harvest for the ronin and lost another lance of light scouts during their encounters, their superior speed and agility made it ultimately impossible to pin them down until Lyran reinforcements forced them off planet. During their withdrawal, the ronin were able to hijack a significant shipment of provisions, however.
RasalhagueLater on in the war, the Harriers replaced Dragon’s Breath as the assigned mercenary unit of the 1st Tyr. Harassment from their lighter elements were instrumental in leading the Twelfth Sun Zhang Cadre towards the Hakkøn complex on Rasalhague where the Tyr’s assault 'Mechs would quickly force the ronin units to surrender.
RadstadtAt the vanguard of the Tyr, they arrived first to assist the 1st Kavalleri in the pacification of Radstadt. There they gained an enmity towards Vinson’s Vigilantes, the mercenary unit assigned to defend the Wakazashi electronics complex. While the Vigilantes adhered to the letter of their contract, they refused to assist the militia against marauding ronin units during an emergency, citing a clause that allowed them to remain neutral unless the complex came under direct threat. Such practice is commonplace among mercenary businesses who wish to stay afloat, exploiting the inexperienced negotiators of the newly formed Republic was not something the Harriers could condone, given their origin and nature of their own assignment.
Due to their diligent service to the people of the Republic and honorable conduct during the Ronin War, a single lance from the disbanded 1st Tyr regiment joined the unit after their regiment was disbanded, giving the Harriers a very solid powerbase to expand upon.
PEACE PERIOD (3035-39)The Desert Harriers were one of the few mercenary units contracted by the new republic, with the primary assignments of rooting out fractured ronin units which have gone into hiding, and the training of planetary militia (on Harvest, for example), later even Kungsarmé recruits on planets such as Trondheim and Thule.
AlshainTheir exploits precluding the War of 3039 peaked with a dubious raiding mission on Alshain, close to the Rasalhague border. Following the earlier success of deep mercenary raids within the Combine as a preliminary to the offensive, a window of opportunity presented itself when the 6th Alshain Regulars were deployed to the front (to Alnasi), leaving the planet relatively unguarded. The Harriers’ target was an armored train carrying
Panther and
Dragon ‘Mechs to the spaceport from the Bergan Industries ‘Mech factory complex seated on the planet. Ironically, the information on the supply line reached Lyran officials from within the corporation itself - with the delivery changing hands at the facility already, the only party who would be really inconvenienced was the DCMS. General Christian Månsdottir had full knowledge about the raid, and - in spite of the Elected Prince protesting against allowing Lyran-affiliated mercenaries to abuse the FRR’s neutrality - allowed the Harriers to use Altenmarkt as their supply base and drop off point, along with providing neutral transportation. In exchange, the Kungsarmé would receive the majority of the spoils from the raid, urging the mercenaries to turn the hit and run mission into a full blown heist. While on a tight schedule and fighting outnumbered, the veterans under the command of the recently promoted Hauptmann Shadi Haynaba conducted a ferocious attack on the supply train, making short work of the ill-prepared militia forces and leaving with a company’s worth of fresh BattleMechs and two containers worth of replacement parts, including two dozen Lord’s Light PPCs. Most of these war materials would be returned to Altenmarkt and distributed quietly among the Kungsarmé regiments, leaving Magnusson none the wiser.
WAR OF 3039AltaisImpressed by their success and discretion during the Ronin Wars, the LCAF hired them to help stabilize their control over Altais, hunting down rogue elements from the dispersed and mangled 2nd Ghost Regiment, which continued to harass Lyran positions despite the inital success of the task force which included the 8th Donegal Guards, Dragonslayers and the famous Gray Death Legion. Their role in the ensuing conflict was marginal compared to the more massive mercenary commands, and while they were able to retain a certain degree of command independence due to the inexperienced Lyran liaison officer assigned to them, the 2nd Ghost taught them harsh lessons in urban guerilla warfare, the most painful of these being an ambush conducted by two
Dragons and two
Hunchbacks masked by a prototype high-power ECM suite. The devastating hail of fire unleashed upon the lead 'Mech of the Harrier formation resulted in an SRM-6 ammo explosion within McKenna’s
Battlemaster, causing him to eject and leaving the unit’s leader crippled and hospitalized for the remainder of the year. Seething, his second in command, Kommandant Arno Jansen engaged in a devastating battle with the former yakuza, with no regards to civilian safety or damage to assets, exemplified by him deliberately causing a multi-story office building to collapse onto one of the retreating
Dragons.Their task was a long and gruelling one, with their deployment lasting until November when the inevitable DCMS counterattack forced them off the planet. The great personal sacrifice and crippling injury of Hauptmann-Kommandant Titus McKenna caused Lyran brass to review their strict salvage clauses and allow the Harriers to replace the commanding officer’s destroyed ‘Mech with a mangled
BattleMaster BLR-1C recovered from the 2nd Ghost Regiment. While a lot of its components were destroyed during the fighting, the fairly intact Command Console allowed his daughter, Cadet Deirdre McKenna to take over piloting duties while her crippled father would continue to act as the de-facto commander on the battlefield.
POST-WAR PERIOD (3040-45)HolmsbuThe Harriers had technically conducted a breach of contract by causing excessive damage to civilian infrastructure during the late war of '39, putting a dent into their otherwise good status and reputation with the MRB. Fortunately, the generous terms and numerous extensions of their contract by the Lyran Commonwealth repeatedly making use of an emergency-powers clause during the exhausting conflict netted them with enough C-Bills to not just recover their losses, but to expand their unit significantly. With the near death of their commander however, the unit was in desperate need of recovery, and thusly settled for a series low-risk missions within the FRR to lick their wounds and integrate the large influx of material and personnel in a smooth fashion, ready to face the adversities of the years to come.
As of the spring of 3045, the unit is on garrison duty under FRR contract, training and reinforcing the 7th and 8th Corrugated Lancers on Holmsbu.
