OPFOR of the Five Pillars: The Salvage Dragons [3020s]

[Tegyrius]

This idea has been rattling around in my head for a while, and recent fanfic by Valles and Drakensis solidified some of the ideas and gave me the impetus to get it written and posted.


The year was 2991 and Hauptmann Reinhard Yamazaki was incandescent with long-suppressed rage.  Despite continuing a family history of unflinchingly loyal service to the Lyran Commonwealth, and demonstrating superior tactical acumen in the cockpit of his family's salvaged Panther, the New Kyoto native had been subject to the full spectrum of prejudice during his time in the LCAF.  Upon being posted to the 3rd Lyran Regulars, Yamazaki was informed that the unit had no company command slots – but the regiment would graciously allow him to prove himself at the head of a recon lance.

The hauptmann's already-dampened enthusiasm reached a new nadir when he discovered his "recon lance" consisted of three disfavored MechWarriors riding a second Panther, a Dragon, and a PPC-armed Catapult, none of which were combat-capable.  Further investigation in the junior officers' mess revealed that Yamazaki had inherited the regiment's "Drac trash" lance, the dumping ground for ex-DCMS 'Mechs unsupported by the LCAF's logistics chain and pilots and techs who the regimental staff loathed but couldn't legitimately find excuses to imprison or drum out of the service.

Expecting this to be a career-ending assignment, Yamazaki quickly learned that most of the people under his command were actually fairly competent when allowed to do their jobs.  Field exercises revealed that all three MechWarriors had fallen into the lance for reasons unrelated to their competence.  Neuville was a former Dispossessed MechWarrior who'd bought his Dragon at a salvage auction, placing him somewhere beneath the bottom rung of the LCAF's social ladder, and had brought further attention to himself by cleaning out several superior officers at poker nights.  Shizuko Berggren's grandmother had brought her Catapult into LCAF service when she defected from the DCMS, but that heritage made Berggren deeply suspect in the eyes of the regimental intelligence section.  Neve Jordan was a former jump trooper who'd captured her Panther with persuasive satchel charge placement but had subsequently demonstrated other infantry skills to a staff officer who wouldn't take "no" for an answer.

Under the stewardship of the hard-drinking, two-fisted Warrant Officer First Class Niels de Jong, the lance's technical staff was similarly adept at succeeding despite its chain of command.  True, many of the techs had issues with discipline, substance abuse, mental health, or petty crime, but de Jong knew how to get the most out of his people and had ways of weeding out the truly dangerous.  Moreover, he'd taken the assignment as a personal challenge to succeed despite interference from the battalion commander he'd punched out in a bar fight.

Deeply depressed but unwilling to let his people down (and grudgingly impressed with their capabilities), Yamazaki began ruthlessly exploiting the skill sets available to him.  The "leftover lance" was designated as a recon unit?  Then it would train and fight like one, 65 kph top speed notwithstanding.  Jordan's new assignment was to instruct the rest of the lance in how to scout – and fight – outside a 'Mech.  For signals intelligence, Yamazaki and Berggren began teaching the rest of the unit Japanese and Swedenese – including the techs, to make best use of any DCMS maintenance manuals.  Yamazaki tapped his family finances to bankroll Neuville and turned the regiment's most notorious cardsharp loose on the planetary nobility, then channeled the proceeds into the technical staff's black market connections, circumventing LCAF logistics to bring the lance's 'Mechs back to full capability.

The investments began to pay off in late 2992.  Deployed as an expendable recon screen and expected to "die" as speed bumps , the lance stunned referees by punching well above its weight in a series of regimental field exercises.  At the end of the sequence, it was credited with direct kills at twice its own weight, and artillery calls for fire accounting for six times its mass. 

Somewhat predictably, the reward for unexpected (and, in some cases, undesired) success was a harder assignment.  In mid-2993, the 3rd launched a battalion-strength raid on Bushmill.  Yamazaki's lance was again deployed in a position just shy of deliberately sacrificial.  Jordan's fieldcraft and Berggren's linguistic skills enabled the lance to interdict a headhunting attempt by a Rasalhague Regulars heavy cavalry company.  The victory was nearly Pyrrhic, though.  Even with reluctant backup from a line company, the lopsided fight cost Neuville an arm and his Dragon, and the lance's other three 'Mechs incurred critical damage.

Upon returning to garrison, Quartermaster Command stunned Yamazaki by refusing to provide even basic armor and weapons to effect repairs to his lance's 'Mechs.  Phrases like "exigencies of service" and "limited access to foreign-made resources" made it clear, in unimpeachable bureaucratic language, that the lance had embarrassed senior officers by refusing to die conveniently.  Disgruntlement among both the MechWarriors and the techs quickly reached near-mutinous levels.  To forestall someone (perhaps himself) committing a breach of discipline that couldn't be overlooked, Yamazaki secured an off-post site and held an all-hands intervention under the guise of a "mandatory fun" barbecue.

According to unit lore, Neuville – still orbiting on pain medication from his series of pre-prosthesis surgeries – was the one to point out that the lance's MechWarriors owned all three of their surviving 'Mechs, and that they'd been getting better support from the black market than official channels.  What advantage, he asked, was there to staying under Lyran colors if this was what they could expect for the rest of their careers – or lives?

Yamazaki later admitted that, of those present, he was perhaps the most surprised by the unanimous vote to resign en masse from the LCAF.  But the vote was unanimous – including his own ballot.

[Tegyrius]

The Early Years

Early 2994 saw four MechWarriors, three 'Mechs, and their technicians disembark on New Karlsruh.  Like many multi-regiment mercenary commands, the Eridani Light Horse sponsored a hiring hall for subcontractors, and Yamazaki's fledgling unit needed many of the services available at such a location.  While Neuville went to work breaking in his new myomer arm at the off-base bars, Yamazaki engaged with the MRB to charter the unit and Berggren, Jordan, and de Jong began recruiting.

The level of interest in what should have been a hard-luck unit stunned all involved.  While some of the initial recruiting success was doubtless due to Berggren and Jordan's respective appearances, several pilots rushed to sign up on the strength of de Jong's claims.  It seemed there was a buyer's market for owners of Combine-built 'Mechs in desperate need of expert maintenance.

MRB registration required a name, and this may have been the hardest part of forming the new unit.  The formation's emerging niche was its accumulation of Combine designs, and this suggested several plays on words.  Unfortunately, all of the obvious names were taken.  Founders generally credit (or blame) de Jong for the final answer.  Having just acquired a load of DRG-series scrap sufficient to assemble three mostly-complete 'Mechs, he reportedly peered at the list of rejected names, scratched his jaw, and said, "just add an 'L' to 'Savage Dragons."

Officially chartered on August 3, 2994, the Salvage Dragons' initial combat strength was ten 'Mechs (Neuville having won enough to purchase a replacement 'Mech), thirteen MechWarriors (including three Dispossessed who joined in the hope of salvage shares), and an ex-DCMS infantry platoon who'd surrendered en masse and fled the Combine when ordered to die gloriously against ELH 'Mechs.  Yamazaki organized his almost-company into two five-'Mech lances, an arrangement of convenience that would become a unit tradition.

The company spent its first few years on a series of ELH subcontracts, largely to avoid the prejudice that had pushed several of its founders and early recruits out of the LCAF.  This work yielded moderate success and slow but steady growth.  More importantly, it established patronage which yielded the Salvage Dragons' big break in 3001.  When the ELH left House Steiner service in favor of House Davion, it offered the unit a longer-term subcontract to supplement the defenses of its new garrison world.

By the turn of the millennium, the Salvage Dragons had attracted a number of former DCMS troopers who'd left House Kurita service for one reason or another.  While the unit's TO&E had begun with a distinctly DCMS flavor, these recruits added a propensity for DCMS tactics to the mix.  In 3002, the command staff met to set the unit's long-term business strategy.  The Salvage Dragons emerged from this conference with the intentionally-designed identity and mission specialization that they still maintain today.

[Tegyrius]

The Salvage Dragons Today

The Salvage Dragons of the mid-3020s are a reinforced combined arms battalion.  Their effective strength is two 'Mech companies, two armor companies, and an infantry company, but these assets rarely conform to contemporary standards of organizational structure.  This stems from the unit's primary specialization as an AFFS OPFOR contractor, providing Federated Suns and allied mercenary units the opportunity to train against a force that plans, fights, looks, and even speaks like DCMS regulars.

In many aspects, the Salvage Dragons' presentation mimics that of the DCMS, both on and off the battlefield.  Since 3002, the unit has used DCMS rank structure and field uniforms.  Fluency in a primary Combine language – Japanese, Swedenese, or Arabic – is required for promotion to NCO or commissioned rank.  Although heavily influenced by its early years of training alongside the ELH, the unit cleaves closely to the tactics taught in Combine academies.  Contract clauses give the Salvage Dragons the option to exchange salvage for an equal value of AFFS-seized DCMS equipment.  This provision has skewed the unit's equipment set ever more solidly toward Draconis Combine products, as many AFFS commanders are eager to trade hard-to-support Kurita-produced material for more common equipment.

The Salvage Dragons' OPFOR capabilities extend beyond dissimilar ground combat training services.  A majority of its personnel – whether recruits from New Kyoto brought in by Yamazaki's reputation, Combine defectors, or Nihonjin from Federated Suns border worlds – speak some dialect of Japanese natively, making it one of the unit's two common tongues.  This extends to technical staff and dependents, many of whom also work in non-battlefield OPFOR roles.  While the battalion maintains its own base where its personnel can be truly off duty, it is capable of taking over a training area to stand up a mock Combine village peopled entirely with Japanese-speaking roleplayers.  This offers units training against the Salvage Dragons the chance to interact with a simulated Combine civilian population, practicing the linguistic, civil affairs, and counterinsurgency skills all too rare in 31st-century militaries.  This skill set extends to off-duty interactions – the perimeter of a Salvage Dragons base invariably features at least one pop-up restaurant run by unit dependents and specializing in cuisine from a Combine culture.

Necessity aligns with de Jong's early influence to give the Salvage Dragons a technical staff well-versed in the maintenance and repair of DCMS-standard equipment.  The unit is not only able to keep its own hardware in fighting trim, but in 3019 opened up a refit facility for a selection of designs that the AFFS struggles to support.  It currently offers maintenance and full rebuilds for Panthers, Jenners, and Dragons, several ground and VTOL conventional vehicles common in Combine forces, and the full array of DCMS infantry kit.

The Salvage Dragons' final revenue source is the entertainment industry.  Federated Suns' filmmakers are always looking for villains.  Since debuting in 3007's Storm Against the Samurai, Salvage Dragons 'Mechs, vehicles, and troops have appeared – and "died" – in dozens of climactic battles.  Anson Uchimura, whose on-screen persona is the honorable opponent of the eponymous Fletcher's Raiders, was a Salvage Dragons lance commander before jumping to full-time film work, and several other lesser-known dramatists also started their careers as scenery-chewing actor-mercenaries.

[Tegyrius]

Command Staff

Chu-sa Reinhard Yamazaki remains the Salvage Dragon's commander, though he retired from combat duty after sustaining severe injuries in a 3020 skirmish with elements of the Second Sword of Light.  Today, he handles the battalion's administrative duties and strategic focus, while leaving OPFOR and actual combat leadership to his company commanders.  As the unit has grown, the overhead necessary to keep it functional and financially solvent has expanded exponentially, but Yamazaki has risen to the challenge.  If the topic comes up, he'll dismissively state that he's a better staff officer than field MechWarrior, though his combat record speaks for itself.

Sho-sa Shizuko Berggren is the battalion XO and one of the few founding Salvage Dragons remaining on active duty.  She leads the battalion's BattleMech elements from the cockpit of her tiger-striped Catapult-K2, Bimyona Hanma ("Subtle Hammer").  Always a superlative gunner, she's replaced the lightning-fast hip-shots of her youth with a calculated precision that's brought her victory in over a dozen duels.  Tactically, she prefers to run Bunraku Company's cavalry and fire elements.  She's also an avid skier and competitive winter biathlete whenever the unit is stationed on a planet with actual winters (and the loudest source of complaints when it isn't).

Tai-i Esther Yamazaki, the founding commander's eldest daughter, is the heir apparent to Salvage Dragons command, but she, perhaps more than any of her formidable collection of mentors, insists she earn that position while learning every aspect of the job.  In combat, she's Sho-sa Berggren's second, coordinating Bunraku Company's skirmish and recon elements in Cait-Sith, the family Panther.  Off the field, she's an introvert who prefers the company of her parents' combined library to most social pursuits – though she and her lancemates also form the core of the battalion's New Kyoto-style pop band.

Tai-i Valeriya Kozlov commands Noh Company, the battalion's armor element.  A former company commander in a now-defunct conventional forces merc regiment, Kozlov joined the Salvage Dragons with two of her partners after her polycule went through a vicious breakup and child custody battle.  She's a short, heavily-tattooed bodybuilder who looks like she can punch through 'Mech armor without deigning to fire her Tokugawa's main gun.  Lacking Japanese proficiency when she joined up, Kozlov started as an enlisted gunner and worked her way back to her old rank, discovering a gift for linguistics along the way.  In addition to her native English and Russian, she's now fluent in Japanese, Swedenese, and Hindi, and is working on Tagalog and Latin.

Tai-i Rikuto Shinoda joined the Salvage Dragons as the youngest, least clueful, and most scared member of the original ex-DCMS rifle platoon.  He recently resumed command of  Kabuki Company, the battalion's infantry element, having taken a leave of absence to complete his doctoral work on New Avalon.  Shinoda was a sociology graduate student before his conscription, and his youthful resentment of the Draconis Combine's power structures has grown into a professional, scholarly loathing.  As the commander of the combat element with the greatest "OPFOR roleplayer" duty set, Shinoda expects every one of his troopers to have a deep understanding of the culture they're portraying, and he's built a surprising collection of scholar-soldiers in what's traditionally the most maligned branch of service.

Tai-i Gideon de Jong is the youngest of Niels de Jong's five children, and the only one to inherit both his technical aptitude and his interest in hands-on mechanical work.  Although he earned his father's old position with hard work and study, Gideon struggles with his rank's social and leadership demands, as he's decidedly neurodivergent.  He's an exceptional engineer but interpersonal dynamics are opaque to him outside situations for which he's learned structured, scripted interactions.  Fortunately, both Combine etiquette and military protocol tend to be structured and scripted, so de Jong can generally fall back on these, and his staff is accustomed to the times when his hyperfocus on an engineering problem leaves little room for language processing.  Reminding him to eat and sleep, and translating subtext for him, are team sports among his NCOs.

[Tegyrius]

TO&E

By raw numbers, the Salvage Dragons can field two companies of 'Mechs, two of vehicles, and one of infantry.  However, their organizational chart leans into both unit tradition and the significance the Combine places on the number five.

Bunraku Company

A double-strength 'Mech company, Bunraku Company uses Combine designs or variants almost exclusively.  In fact, it has a greater percentage of these than most DCMS units.  To some extent, this is a result of the Salvage Dragons leaning into the stereotypes of their primary niche, but it's also a deliberate procurement strategy that gives opposing clients the best possible exposure to 'Mechs that may not be present in their own ranks.

Tsuru Lance (command/heavy cavalry) - CPLT-K2, DRG-1N, WVR-6K, SHD-2K, VTR-9B

Ryu Lance (cavalry) - DRG-1N, DRG-1C, QKD-4G, OSR-2C, CGR-1A1

Tora Lance (fire) - ARC-2R (slated for refit to -2K), CRD-3K, TDR-5S, GRF-1N, WHM-6R (slated for refit to -6K)

Neko Lance – Order of the Five Panthers (skirmish/recon) - 4x PNT-9R, PNT-9Z

Taka Lance (skirmish/recon) - PXH-1K, 2x JR7-D, WSP-1A (slated for refit to -1K), SDR-5V

Noh Company

The Salvage Dragons' armor company follows the lead of its 'Mech company: roughly double-strength, and arranged unconventionally.  Noh Company's main function as an OPFOR element is to give opposing clients a broad sample of Combine armor designs and tactics.  Accordingly, its equipment selection is somewhat haphazard compared to that of a formation designed for battle first and foremost.

Kabuto Lance - 2x Tokugawa-150, 1x Tokugawa-151, 2x Bulldog

Dou Lance - 3x Vedette, 2x Striker

Mempo Lance - 3x Saladin, 2x Scimitar

Kote Lance - 2x Skulker, 3x Packrat

Haidate Lance - 2x Maxim, 3x Goblin

Kabuki Company

Paradoxically, the Salvage Dragons' infantry element has far better equipment and training than the vast majority of the DCMS infantry forces it portrays.  Partially, this is because unit leaders don't consider their infantry to be replaceable meat-shields.  Mostly, it's because Kabuki Company needs to be capable of representing the full array of Combine infantry unit types.  The company's arms room is more of an arms warehouse, housing copious examples of captured (or black market-purchased) DCMS standard small arms, support weapons, kit, and uniforms.  The company also can act as Combine insurgents or Civilian Guidance Corps constabulary troops.

3x foot/motorized/mechanized platoon – can equip with any common DCMS weapon type

1x jump platoon – can equip with any common DCMS weapon type

1x foot rifle platoon (training and base security)

[Tegyrius]

Heraldry

In the OPFOR role, the Salvage Dragons use whatever DCMS paint scheme is appropriate to the assignment and environment.  When deployed for combat, their standard camouflage scheme is a splinter-pattern tricolor (think Swedish M90) of gunmetal grey, rust red-brown, and a third color appropriate to their AO's dominant biome.

The Salvage Dragons similarly use DCMS uniforms for OPFOR work.  The non-OPFOR duty uniform is gunmetal grey fatigues with black DCMS rank tabs.  Field uniforms are splinter-pattern camouflage fatigues matching vehicle color schemes.  Dress uniforms are modeled on the 2981 LCAF pattern, but in contrasting greys with deliberately minimal ornamentation – rank, branch, and qualification pins only.

The unit's insignia is a notched shield bearing a rampant four-legged dragon made of riveted steel plates.

Plot Hooks

Any, all, or none of the following may be true, depending on the referee's preferences.

Power of Five: The Salvage Dragons' organizational structure emerges from tradition and Combine culture, but seeing a force using five-pointed units may raise a few eyebrows among the Wolf Dragoons.  Will Seventh Kommando or another Dragoon intelligence unit try to find out what other Clan operation is under way here, or will they stay as far away as possible – or try to eliminate the Salvage Dragons – on the assumption that they're Crusader assets?

Pillarine Paranoia: One or more highly-placed Salvage Dragons are Order of the Five Pillars operatives.  They're in place to ensure the unit doesn't take offensive contracts that would enable it to disproportionately harm House Kurita.  They also cultivate the battalion as an attractive place for DCMS defectors and fugitives, either to ensure they don't join house militaries or to conveniently collect them in one place for eventual... re-education.

Pillarine Paranoia, Part Deux: One or more of the founding Salvage Dragons were, or still are, O5P operatives.  They formed the unit to give the Order eyes, ears, and, if necessary, knives in places its main intelligence assets can't reach.  They may or may not still be loyal to that mission, and they may or may not be keeping other Combine intelligence and special mission units from messing with the battalion.

Fox in the Henhouse: The MIIO, the DMI, or both are using the Salvage Dragons as more than a military OPFOR.  With or without Salvage Dragon command staff knowledge, a number of Federated Suns intelligence and direct action personnel have been placed in the battalion to gain long-term immersion training in Draconis Combine language and culture.  If Chu-sa Yamazaki and his senior staff are aware of it, the unit may be running a schoolhouse for agents destined for covert service, or may even have evolved into a wholly-owned MIIO or DMI front company.
 

[Daryk]

I LOVE IT!!  This is truly magnificent!  If you need any help on the AToW side, just let me know! :)

Also, I daresay the unit was sent a complimentary copy of Scarborough's 3020 catalog... ;)

...with a handwritten note reading "Drop us a line!" tucked into the Sutra pages with a direct address for an R&D lab... ;D

[Sir Chaos]

Ooooh, I like this unit!

[nerd]

This is very nice. It's a fun niche unit.

[DOC_Agren]

Love this unit

[EPG]

Very cool idea, and very believable.

[Tegyrius]

Thank you, gentlemen!

If I were going to devote more word count to this (which I'm not, immediately - at 3,500, I think that's enough for the moment), I'd probably delve a bit more into what the unit's culture looks like.  Even ronin and refugees who deliberately reject the Combine's power structures are still going to bring a lot of cultural baggage along on their exodus, and I think there would be ongoing dynamic tension between the founding leaders' Lyran values and the mindset of Combine exiles.

Like my other unit writeups, this isn't a unit I've run myself, but rather a concept that's presented more for narrative purposes than for tabletop optimization.  Feel free to use or adapt to your campaigns as desired!

[Daryk]

You're more than welcome!  Great concepts expertly presented are easy to praise! :)

[thesilverback]

I love it, I really don't know what to say.  Great idea on doing a unit as an OPFOR unit base off of the Order of the Five Pillars. Really great work.