Falling Angels: born again, and again ...

[Verloren Hoop]

So, I've been playing Battletech since the late '80's. During that time, I had my own merc unit that my brothers, and later friends, and I played.  I've played through a lot of scenario packs, a lot of against the Bot, and the unit's fortunes have risen and fallen. The unit has even had more than one name.  I thought I'd share the unit and history, and because it's long, I'm going to break it up into several posts.  As a side note, I am using Fighting Pirannhas' excellent CAV decals, adopted much later, as possible unit logos (as we could never agree on them in the early days).  I had fun writing this up, as the history contains a lot of things that make Battletech go: genealogy, daring plans, and unbelievable good and bad fortune.  So, here goes ...

The Falling Angels

The Falling Angels is a heavy/assault BattleMech company currently (3151) under contract to the Lyran Commonwealth.  The Angels specialize in combat drops and have a preference for physical combat.

Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings

In the early 31st century, the Maynards of Great Gorge served House Davion as a loyal MechWarrior family.  Normally providing service to the Crucis Lancers, the Maynards had grown somewhat dissatisfied with the Davions’ neglect of their periphery border and the constant pirate raids to which they were subjected.  After serving in the Fourth Succession War, Brock Maynard returned to Great Gorge, wounded and unable to pilot a ‘mech. Dying slowly of cancer, he passed his Grasshopper and a sizable fortune to his only child, Desmond Maynard.  In his will, Brock revealed that the Maynards were descended from the ancient naval officer, Robert Maynard—famous for slaying the notorious pirate Blackbeard.  “Pirate hunting,” Brock wrote to his son, “is in our blood.”

Desmond Maynard, along with his cousin Hera, decided to honor the late Brock's wishes.  The cousins contacted friends of their father and old service compatriots to form a mercenary lance.  On November 22, 3032, Maynard’s Marshals were born.  The Marshals took a garrison contract with the Federated Suns.  They repulsed their first pirate raid on Christmas Eve, 3032.  Desmond Maynard’s inexperience with negotiations lead to moderate pay terms but little salvage, and despite becoming renowned pirate hunters, the Marshals languished under this contract for some time. 

After several more victories, Maynard hired a negotiator from Great Gorge’s mining community.  The Marshals were able to leverage better salvage terms.  Over the next decade, the Marshals grew to a company as they traveled the periphery border.  The Marshals continued to develop a reputation as fearsome pirate hunters.  Desmond and Hera had become a potent leadership team; though Desmond commanded, it was Hera’s tempering influence and strategic acumen that complemented Desmond’s charisma and vision. At one point, the Marshals performed a daring rescue of a corporate scion from Tortuga.  The Marshals’ success kept them away from the Clan front, but this safety could only last for so long.

[Verloren Hoop]

Chapter 2: We're bloody pirates!

In late 3051, the Marshals received an offer too good to refuse.  Serving the Federated Commonwealth, they went to the Lyran front to support AFFC units against Clan Wolf.  Working in tandem with FedCom units, the Marshals helped to defend successfully against several Wolf raids.  During this time, the Marshals learned much from the FedCom units about how to use Clan traditions to their advantage.

In the days just before Tukayyid, the FedCom troops the Marshals were supporting were routed by a Wolf attack.  The Marshals were cut off from friendly territory.  Ironically, Maynard found a haven at Star’s End, where the Marshals joined with the New Belt Pirates for survival.  A company of ‘mechs and a Union DropShip made the Marshals a powerful faction, and they enjoyed some success raiding Clan Wolf’s rear areas.  The relationship with Morgan Fletcher was always tense; however, and Maynard was constantly looking for a way out.  The Maynards devised an escape plan; they just needed an opportunity.

Clan Wolf provided the escape the Marshals so desperately needed.  In 3053, a Wolf solahma unit attacked Star’s End in force.  The Maynards enacted a daring plan to steal a pirate JumpShip in the confusion.  The Marshals were joined by some of the Belt Pirates who had had enough of the pirate's life. Having to fight their way through pirates and Clan troops, the Marshals lost a third of their force.  Hera Maynard bought the Marshals’ escape with her life--she was personally slain by Susie Morgraine-Ryan.  Upon returning to the Commonwealth, the Marshals provided the AFFC with intelligence on the Belt Pirates as well as Clan Wolf’s rear areas.

[Verloren Hoop]

Chapter 3: Against the Falcon

The Marshals slowly rebuilt over the next two years.  By 3055, they were a company again, and they served out of Arc Royal, from which they sortied to repulse a number of Jade Falcon raids.  After a particularly unlucky raid of their own, the Marshals were forced to leave a MechWarrior behind.  This was too much for Desmond Maynard.  Burdened by the memory of his cousin and others left behind, he developed a drinking problem.  The Marshals’ Dragoons rating began to decline as Maynard’s issues lead to bad contracts and questionable command decisions.

While repulsing a Jade Falcon raid in 3057, Desmond Maynard was severely wounded by a multiple hits to his cockpit.  Unable to pilot a ‘mech, he retired to Great Gorge.  Command of the Marshals passed to his niece, Dorothy.  Over the next several years, Dorothy Maynard lead the Marshals (mostly) successfully against the Jade Falcons, gaining the unit a reputation as experienced Clan fighters.

[Verloren Hoop]

Chapter 4: War

When the FedCom Civil War broke out, Maynard fell back on her family’s long loyalty to the Davion family as well as Victor Steiner-Davion’s successes against the Clans.  The Marshals threw in their support with Victor, joining the Outland Legion.  The Marshals served in this capacity throughout the Civil War until the victory on New Avalon.  After the battle, the Marshals promptly left the Legion and traveled to Outreach—just in time to be nearly consumed by the Word of Blake Jihad.

The Marshals took a series of contracts with Interstellar Expeditions, fighting pirates, the Clans, and the Word of Blake.  They traveled the length and breadth of the Inner Sphere.  Dorothy Maynard’s solid leadership and steady presence helped the Marshals grow to two companies—the Marshals took in war orphans and survivors of other decimated units.  Eventually, the Marshals absorbed an entire company from the demise of the Grim Determination. Now a battalion, the Marshals were invited to participate in Operation: SCOUR.

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Chapter 5: Dissolution and rebirth

The Marshals served well during the battle for Terra, arriving at a critical moment in the battle for the Devil’s Tower, where they helped to turn the tide on the East flank.  After Terra, the Marshals continued to hunt down remnants of the Word.  Upon the formation of the Republic, the Marshals who did not retire joined the RAF.  Dorothy Maynard served as a Knight Errant, eventually retiring to Great Gorge after years of faithful service.  The name, Maynard’s Marshals, faded into obscurity.

In 3130, Dorothy Maynard’s grandson, Jonas McKay, was serving as a lance commander in the RAF on the Falcon border.  After the HPG grid collapsed, McKay continued to serve, repulsing the occasional Falcon raid.  After a particularly brilliant and heroic defense against the Falcons, McKay became a Captain.  When the Fortress Republic was declared, McKay’s unit did their best to hold things together, continuing to fight against the Falcons and the Hell’s Horses.  Eventually, McKay’s unit was shattered by a Jade Falcon attack.  Without any support or communication, McKay and other survivors made the decision to go mercenary.  They made their way to Galatea, forming provisionally as the Republic Revenants (though McKay was wary of the similarity to Stone's Revenants).  On Galatea, McKay was put into contact with Andrew Redburn, who tried to convince him to join his Republic Remnant.

When the Jade Falcons attacked Galatea in 3144, McKay and his fellow survivors made their decision.  McKay's company made a combat drop in the teeth of a Falcon advance, just in time to stop the Falcons from overrunning Remnant troops.  Later, over drinks, a Remnant officer remarked that McKay’s troops were like “angels falling from the sky to avenge us.”  McKay quickly changed the unit’s name to the Falling Angels.

[Verloren Hoop]

By 3145, the Angels had come to specialize in combat drops.  Now a company, the Angels moved in a Union DropShip, and they served the Republic Remnant against the Falcons and the Horses.  With the atrocities being committed by the Falcons; however, McKay began to look for a contract away from the Jade Falcon front.  The Angels made their way back across the Inner Sphere and took up service once again with the Federated Suns.  They have since faced the Dragon's forces and performed well in several minor raids.

So that's it for now.  I'd welcome any fact-checking to point out impossibilities or discrepancies in the timeline.  I enjoyed writing this up, and I'll follow with unit personalities and a brief TO&E.