Hello all,
I was thinking about a mercenary command background when I decided to go with a “what if” Firefly crossover, turning the Serenity into a dropship and thinking what would have happened if the crew of the Serenity became mercs with mechs instead of dubious traders / heist experts. Or more accurately, what if they ADDED mechs to their “free trader” operations in the periphery.
FIREFLY MERCENARY COMMAND
Malcolm Reynolds was a periphery dropship captain in command of the Serenity, an old Danais class dropship. Some of the crew half-jocked that the name was chosen because you needed LOADS of patience not to get desperate at the continuous maintenance problems the ship had. The team was skilled in… “unconventional retrieval and access” methods, and were known in the market for their no nonsense almost-legal heists. They were de facto a small special ops infantry team if the price was right.
In one of their best heists they managed to steal the first model of a medium laser ever produced in the Inner Sphere. It had been in private hands before, a museum piece that earned them a significant price. And this allowed Reynolds to humour his childhood dream.
Malcolm Reynolds had always fancied himself a mech jock. The earned money allowed the unit to buy an initial lance of mechs composed of a Quickdraw, Wolverine, Phoenix Hawk. The revelation of the hidden Spector of River Tam and its retrieval made for a fast and strong mech lance, even if one with high maintenance issues.
The starting layout of the newly registered unit was as follows:
- Malcolm Reynolds: Quickdraw 4G “Browncoat”
- Jayne Cobb: Wolverine 6R “Saffron”
- Zoë Wasburne: Phoenix Hawk 1 (no nonsensical name)
- River Tam: Spector 4F “Dancer”
- Derrial Book: Special ops platoon “knee cappers”.
During the next 20 years the Fireflies suffered significant ups and downs, growing to strengthened company size just to get smashed (or becoming financially insolvent) and slowly reverting to lance size, just to start growing again. But under the calm leadership of Inara Sierra they persevered. Inara also cut any relationship the crew had with the merc command of Yolanda “Bridget” Haymer after Malcolm Reynolds died in a rearguard action. Bridget had already been a bad influence on the unit in joint mission, and even tried to take over the unit more than once, so she was terminated as a business partner b the new CO of the unit. Bridget still holds a grudge for that.
One of the main contractors of the unit during its early years was Cranston Snord. He selected them to acquire some items for his museum collection after the first medium laser job. Even if, of course , he was never proven to be behind that heist.
After 15 years in the field the children of the original crew started to trickle into the structure of the mercenary band and taking jobs there, or even commanding positions in the mercenary unit. After 30 years in the field all the original members had retired to a moon in a Lyran planet, had become casualties or died of old age. Except for Jayne Cobb. Cobb was the current CO of the unit in the 3030’s. And did NOT enjoy the position of commander but in his own words “someone had to lead the kids and prevent them being killed too soon”.
Here comes a description of the unit in 3035:
THE FIREFLIES in 3035
Leopard Dropship Malcolm. This was the second dropship of the unit after the Serenity. It used to be called Valley when it was purchased second hand, but was renamed after the creator of the unit when he died, being shot through the cockpit of his Quickdraw while defending the unit in a rearguard action after a failed mission. The Malcolm has been reconfigured to carry 4 mechs, an infantry platoon in steerage quarters and a trio of light vehicles.
Nathan "Dino" Washburne. Nathan is a young curly redheaded man. Has an extensive knowledge of weaponry and their usage, rivalling those of specialist infantrymen. At 30 years of age he is the oldest son of the original crew. He is quite easy going, something that he apparently took from his father, even if he is not as witty as he was.
Wasp 1A “Leaf” . Leaf is an old mech. It has been in the unit for over 25 years now, and Nathan loves it. It is the typical mech that has had 7 engines and 4 heads, and even more gyros and extremities. Nathan always complains that the only thing that has never been rebuilt in Leaf seems to be the old and worn out command couch. He is no aero pilot for sure, but he loves the nimbleness of his mount and the “gotcha!” moments he is able to pull with the small machine outmanoeuvring heavier opponents and vehicles. He tends to carry inferno rounds for the small SRM launcher of the mech.
Derrial "Reaver" Friye. Derrial has his mother’s name because she comes from a matrilineal tradition and his father agreed to it. He was conceived while the unit was embattled against the pirate band named “The Reavers”. When he grew up, he took his call name from that event. Derrial was 6 when his father was killed along with his sister River in a weird explosion of the Spector’s engine that the unit suspects to have been a Comstar hit. “Never trust an Adept or the Saffron spice” is a common expression in the unit. Derrial has a good memory of his father as caring and socially inept man, but his opinion is somewhat coloured from having spent a lot of time with Jayne Cobb.
Regardless of his genetic heritage, Derrial is quite a hothead and speaks up his mind, more often than not before thinking what he is going to say. Despite this, he is quite well read for a mechwarrior, since he enjoys a good book and educated himself in the frequent downtime periods the crew gets as well as watching cheesy holovids, Solaris fights and playing games. In combat he likes to get up close and personal. Cobb has always liked him “notwithstanding the sissy that your mother jagged”.
Shadow Hawk 2D (sorta…) “Steamer” . Steamer is a former Shadow Hawk 2D heavily modified by Derrial’s mother. Named after a slang work for “engine”, Reaver often jokes that he is unsure of who is the true love of his mother, him or Steamer. NOTE: Steamer has the operational stats of a Cronus 3M with the large laser in the left shoulder and a SRM4 in the right torso.
Jewel “Swan” Sierra. Jewel is the official leader of the lance. She is the genetic daughter of Malcolm Reynolds and Inara Sierra, but he was already dead when she went to the fertility clinic with his DNA. Having been schooled by her mother, she is well educated, but she is also a competent warrior since she grew up in a mercenary outfit. However, she got the place of unit leader for her parents, so she still has to prove her qualities as a lance leader; the contracts that they have undertaken so far have been mostly garrison or subcontracts under higher leadership, so she is still quite green. Reaver, specially tends to be quite hard on her, something that stresses her a lot, but Dino tends to take her side since Reaver is too hot-headed when it comes to analyse the tactical framework.
Griffin 1N. “Shindig” . Shindig is a relatively new mech, the core of it was acquired second hand from the Oriente Hussars from captured lyran and andurian equipment, and was rebuilt with spare parts by the techies of the unit. Before Shindig, Jewel piloted a beat down trebuchet that was sold to get the parts needed to repair Shindig.
Miranda “Universe” Blue will fill the (currently vacant) 4th mechwarrior slot. Miranda is a mercenary from the Lyran Commonwalth that they will meet in Illyria. She is a small woman, with a calm and purposeful demeanor. That demeanor does not mean that she is slow, but that she remains calm under fire. And she is boisterous and wants large and loud sex after combat. Not that the rest of the unit knows it.
Wolverine 6M: “Saffron” . The Saffron is an old Wolverine. It used to be Jayne Cobb’s ride until he suffered a crippling injury. He had named it after the quasi-wife of the CO of the unit “because she was hot” and didn’t think this was a bad name choice. The mech started as a 6R standard model, but has been modified to the 6M configuration by Kaylee’s team. Saffron does not have a pilot as the story starts, having had its previous mechwarrior headcapped by the Circinians in Illyria.
KNEE CAPPERS (infantry) . The Knee cappers have seen quite a lot of action. It is the unit with the highest rotation of personnel in the merc unit. They tend to vary in quality from green recruits to veteran special ops teams, and have performed actions ranging from high risk insertions and recovery missions to total surrender to a bunch of farmers armed with a pair of antiquated shotguns. When properly trained, they tend to specialize in close quarters and urban warfare but being a platoon their quality at any given moment can only be guessed by contractors since it varies a lot. They are armed with Callahan full-bore auto-lock guns and wear body armour when they expect trouble (that is almost always). They double as security if they are not required in the field. They are under the command of Lieutenant Mark Badger.
SNIPER TEAM: THE VERAS. A creation of Jayne Cobb and Zoe Washburne, “the Veras” are a sniper squad inside the Knee Cappers. They use the famous Extended Range Callahan sniper rifles. Not the most discrete of weapons, but certainly powerful enough to punch powerful holes in the target.
VEHICLES. The unit has 3 combat vehicles and a pair of transport trucks that double as recovery vehicles (dragging) when necessary. The 3 combat vehicles are a heavy hover APC used by the Knee Cappers and a pair of Saracen hovercraft.
Commander Jayne “Mad Cap” Cobb. CO. Cobb used to be the brawn in the unit and the pilot of a Saffron, but battle injuries (and war weariness) forced him to retire when his leg was smashed in the battle that ended with his mount almost destroyed. He has a strong limp and uses a cane now. The cane is actually a camouflaged laser gun. Over the years he has grown wiser than he used to be, and is quite shrewd, even if not the smartest kid in the class. Now that he has operational control of the unit and has seen its problems, he does not desire it anymore.
Morena Cobb. Head tech. Jayne adopted one of the orphaned kids from Jaynestown, a strong headed girl that he thought would make for a good fighter. Jayne's ideas were derailed when the strong-willed kid leaned towards the technical aspects more than the destructive ones. Morena Cobb learned under Kaylee Friye and is the current head tech of the unit.
Morena is also the owner of the original Vera, a gift from her father. She gets constantly encouraged by Jayne to train with her and use it since it is a very powerful sniper gun (and she has demonstrated to be a good shot in the shooting range), but she refuses. She hates violence against people (even if ironically her whole world is a mercenary unit), and that is a constant argument with his father, that tried to make her a mechwarrior or at least a warrior.
Joss Maher. Doctor. Joss is an inventive periphery doctor. As opposed to the old doctor the unit had, he has had no formal schooling, so his remedies include a lot more apothecary methods than those of Simon Tam, even if he knows about formal medicine as well. Despite this, his flexibility has allowed him to manage to get ingredients for his concoctions with independence of the planet they are operating. His surgeon methods are less refined in any case, and a lot of warriors have nasty scars to prove it. But they are alive and in fighting shape, so few complain.
Ron Tam. Dropship captain and pilot. Son of River Tam. Nobody knows when River became pregnant. She just said that “now it is the right time to have a son” and then 9 month later she just did. They had been operating in remote asteroid belts hunting pirates at the time, and the kid did not resemble any members of the crew, so it was quite strange overall... She was quite weird herself, so the unit left it at it. Ron is an OK pilot, with some occasional bouts of genius, when he seems to “just know” how to do some weird and successful manoeuvres. He is quite pleasant to be around, but you do not talk bad about the Malcolm or you might find yourself stranded in an asteroid somewhere. He is quite touchy about it. He drinks too much when the unit is landed due to boredom, but since he is sober (is he?) when they are spaceborne nobody minds it much. He says that he drinks because he “sees a lot of ghosts when we are landside, and they want to tell me their secrets”. He says such things with a smile and a laugh, but he has said it enough times to make him creepy to some members of the crew that noticed.
