UNIT HISTORY
General locator for missions in early 3028:
To be updated:
Early 3028
January
Kearney command and get assigned two companies of the merc unit Bradley's Bravoes.
As the Bravoes began their sub-orbital hop in two abused Union-class dropships, the team
set out on a fast march to the Fleet Yards--the most likely place of attack.
Shaken but alive, VanDoorn waded into the fight with the newly arrived Catapult
bearing the insignia of the 34th Aragon Borderers
to assist the besieged Warhammer. As the fight slowly turned into a series of back-alley muggings,
the nearly-crippled team succeeded in taking down the pirate king Baron Herkimer Randal of Exeter.
Without their center of support the pirates faltered, calling on clear bands for the promised
support from their spy on the ground Visp Lewin. Shocked that they had a traitor amongst them,
the team quickly changed their minds when she pointed out that she had done all she could
to dissuade the pirates from attacking--including activating the VLA and repairing the Claidhaemhmor.
Using her position in the pirates as leverage, she and the team were able to get the final two
members to surrender. The team rounded up the prisoners and split up the salvage, quickly
turning their attention to repairs and to Visp.
that had originally granted her her 'mech. He was in a bind and needed their help.
He offered to pay all expenses if the newly equipped team would take the dropship,
capture the pirate jumpship, and jump to Errai to find the location of a missing
Davion "package". This package had been captured by Kuritan forces and the only
person that knew where it had been taken was on Errai, about 27 lightyears from
Northwind. After taking the mission, Duke Sandoval was only too happy to reinstate
the pirate's former Letter of Marque--making the team official Privateers for the
House of Davion and the Federated Suns. The crew had little time to reflect on their
new-found status, having to quickly repair their 'mechs, repaint the newly christened
Screamin' Banshee and blast for orbit. Visp talked with the Jumpship captain
during the four day approach and was easily able to sway him to their side with
a few boxes of fresh fruit and the Letter of Marque and Reprisal
(relieving them of all previous crimes). Once this
was done the crew of the Slipstream happily took the Leopard on-board and jumped for
Errai a mere two hours later on the morning of January 13th.
Quickly establishing communications
with planetary control they held off an attack long enough to get the new transponder codes
that Sandoval had given them loaded into the Screamin' Banshee. Convinced that the ship
was legit, Errai Control let them proceed to the city of Greymesa under escort. Flying low
over the terrain, the surface of the planet resembled a series of steppes and savannahs
broken up by the occasional river or cooled lava flow. There were no mountain ranges to
speak of, and thus the land was quite dry as a result. They overeflew their destination,
making it out as a once large walled city that had mostly fallen into ruin. The grasslands
had crept back into the town through the destroyed sections of the city wall and had gone
about reclaiming as much of the ruins as possible. There was a large river to the north of the
town and a large basalt lava-dome mesa to the east. Finding no landing strip, and not wanting
to put down on the steppe, they decided to take a chance with the semi-flat mesa top. Sorro
maneuvered the Banshee to a rough, but acceptable, landing. The group unloaded unto
the chilly world, some more quickly than others as Ian proved by immideatly disembarking
with his 'mech the second the wheels had stopped turning. From his aerofighter,
Sinclair had spotted a switchback road cut into the side of the mesa that would allow
them down to the valley floor and into the town. Deciding to take a lower-profile approach,
they quickly assembled the Backstep tank and unloaded the
Warrior H-7D that JC had "borrowed" from the Fleet Yards and
stashed in the empty aero-bay. The team stationed Van Doorn in his Hatchetman
and the technician Daniel Timmons in a partly-repaired Rabid Mosquito
to guard the dropship as they loaded up in the vehicles to head into town.
Ian wanted to waltz there in his Warhammer, but was talked out of it
on the premise of maintaining a lower profile. Travelling a short distance
across the surreal surface of the basalt mesa, they quickly came upon the
remains of a sunken road. Using this to their advantage, they followed
the pre-cut roadbed off the mesa and onto the valley below just as the sun
began to set on the evening of the 18th. The sped across the featureless
plain towards the remains of a walled city on the edge of a wide river.
Mired in the ever-changing fog and sandbanks of the river were what looked to be the
long-dead and rusted remains of a combined 'mech/vehicle invasion force.
While thouroughly stripped out, the skeletal remains thrusting from
the mud cast an eerie feel to the place. As they approched through the
increasing gloom they noticed that the city hugged the wall on the river
side, leaving the grasslands of the steppe to slowly overtake the less-used
sections of the town. While there were watchtowers manned, only one looked
to be armed with any sort of heavy weapon. As darkness finally fell, the
town was lit with feeble lights but the watchtowers each sported a massive
spotlight. The two vehicles were stabbed by the light and challenged.
They were unable to respond before an anti-aircraft gun on the main
tower began firing in their direction. The quickly realized that it was
shooting at some sort of massive centipede that had crawled out of the
river towards them. Under covering fire from all sides, the tank scrambled
into town with a 'Pede three times its length on their tail. Taking no
chances, they rotated the turret an placed an AC-10 shot into the creature's
flank--effectivly stopping any further persuit.
as the temperture dropped into the single digits.
Upon arriving at the bar they were immediatly made passes at by two local
hookers. Amazed that they were outside they almost missed the large bouncer
and his quiet asian friend. The guards were more curious about them than anything,
letting them enter with only a minimal door-charge. They passed through to
find a small establishment with a bar on the left, a few round tables on the
floor and a strange two foot wide neon blue catwalk where the second floor
would be. The catwalk had three doors, numbered as such, and the tables
each held strange tricolored cylinders in their centers. They asked the
Steiner barkeep what the deal was and quickly found out that this was a
strip club. The patrons tipped in the cylinders, ringing one of three
bells to promote their choise of favorite dancer. Strange, but it seemed
to work. A man checked his watch as some locals came in and got up to leave.
A man in the back wearing a wetsuit-like Skimracer outfit taunted the poor
man that he couldn't stay and enjoy the drinks like
the poster above him advertised. The man turned out to be the sheriff,
stringly built along the lines of classic western marshalls. He couldn't
stay, as it wouldn't be proper to be in the establishment while the
illegal show was going on, but was quickly convinced otherwise by the
female members of the group. Sadly, he had very little information, but
could confirm that Zaffir wa not in the ever-growing crowd. The barkeep
suggested that Fiona and Visp take their turns at the stage, as it would
allow them to then mingle with the crowd and ask some questions. A few
drinks to the wind, they agreed and went in the back to change while the
team worked the bar up front. This prompted JC to turn up the music and
begin her collection of reasons she hated this planet, jotted down on
coctail napkins.
buildings along the wall. JC and Ian jumped at the chance to become
deputies and joined the Sheriff out back to go bust the spies. They
rode to the site atop his pet Odessan Raxx, a six-legged reptile
that functioned as a very large horse. Rex took a liking to JC, but
creeped her out a little bit. They reached the site quietly and
made their way towards a dilapidated two-story house along the
wall with a horse-drawn wagon out front. The Sheriff had backup,
but when he gave the code words he didn't get back the proper
responces. They dove into a neighboring house under fire from a
sniper behind them. JC called Rex to bail them out. The beast
came lumbering down the street towards them just as the Sheriff
took out the sniper with his laser-rifle. JC, terrified of the charging
monster, panicked and had to be drug back inside by Ian. The Sheriff then
jumped outside and pointed to the horses, shouting "Dinner!" The Raxx leapt
on the wagon, crushing it and attacking the trapped horses. ISF agents,
still in uniform, came rushing out to stop the creature but were
cut down under a hail of fire from Ian and JC. The began a successful
assault on the building with the help of the door-busting Rex, letting
only one ISF agent escape through a hole in the wall. This problem
was quickly solved when the Sheriff ordered the spotlights turned off
to give the 'Pedes a chance to feed. Searching the building they
found a trap door occupied by thirty asian childern of various
ages and genders. Realizing they just broke up a slavery ring they
all called in backup.
Visp: [sighing, unzipps the front of her jumpsuit] Bouncer: "Simple, but effective. You're in." Rabid: "Ummm..." Bouncer: "You're Van Doorn the arena pilot aren't you?" Rabid: [grudgingly] "Yes." Bouncer: "Sorry about what happened, first drink is on me." JC: [grumbling] "Stupid planet..." Bouncer: "Your envirosuit says you're a member of the Borderers, is this true?" JC: "Formerly." Bouncer: "The planet owes you one, you're always welcome here." Red: [pointing at Ian and Fiona] "We're from Northwind." Bouncer: "You're all a bunch of crazy bastards aren't you? I like that." [thumbs them in]
One of them, a leather-clad female
gunslinger named Black Rose, was sitting next to then when her poster came up. She quickly finished her
drink and headed out the door. Realzing that this was a stupid thing to be doing they
quickly found Zafir's poster, matching it fairly closely to a man in a dark asiatic
jacket surrounded by three tables of bodyguards. On his collar he wore two lapel pins,
one Davion, the other Kuritan.
The group took a table near the protective ring of guards, trying to figure out what to do next.
They eventually sent Red and Fiona over to try to talk to him. The women were allowed to
sit with him, but Visp noticed a sawed-off shotgun mounted under the table pointed at them.
Zafir orderd them drinks, which were proven to be safe.
They quickly entered into negotiations
with Zafir for the location of the package despite his accent that sounded like Paul Riser and
Joe Pesci had dropped acid together. The debate turned slightly hostile when he refused
to give up the location because he was "working for Kurita at the moment, they would have to come
back next week when he was working for Davion." It wasn't long before the hostility
broke into a point blank four way firefight--cumulating with Black Rose charging through door
to kill Visp but accidently taking out one of Zafir's guards instead. She was killed shortly
after as the team drug the unconsious Zafir out the door and to their J-27. Making a break out
of the city, Red interrogated the bound Zafir by threatening to throw him off the back of
the vehicle to the creatures that were again following them across the darkened grassland.
He quickly spilled that he was not Zafir, but just his aide. The real Zafir Widakas was
hiding out in a cabin two days ride to the north. He was terrified that the Kuritian ISF
might kill him if he told the location of the package and that the Davion MIIO would kill
him if he didn't. He had no more useful information to offer them and was handed over
to the sheriff upon their return to the more civilized parts of Greymesa. The group wanted
to load up the dropship and pay Zafir a visit, but the Sheriff told them that he would just flee
into the hills when he heard a vehicle approaching. Since the only way to get to him was to sneak
up in less that modern forms of transportation, the Sheriff and a deputy were coerced into
helping them secure horses and two pack-Raxx for the trip as well as be their guides. The motly
collection of riders set out at first light for the river and the open plains beyond.
Figuring that they had
the scout's attention, especially when he started bragging to the other one about the
show he was getting from the Davion locals, the rest of the team began to follow the
smaller trail uphill to the north. Fiona ran past them shortly after, arms crossed over her
chest as Geoffrey followed--swinging her bra over his head. The first scout said that he had lost
them, but a third voice said that he now had them in sight. Fiona and Geoffrey frolicked
their way up the trail towards what first appeared to be tangle of branches in one of the
larger pines. Landing on her back directly under it, Fiona could tell that it was some sort
of converted hunter's blind. Geoffrey had managed to pull her pants off and fall on top of her
when he recieved a sharp thump to the back the armor vest he was wearing under his jacket.
He quickly rolled off of her and fired a few fast shots of laser-light up into the blind.
He was rewarded by a brown-clad body falling from the tree, but noticed that Fiona had also
been hit by some sort of tranq dart. She was going to be out for hours, but Geoffrey
did manage to recover the dart gun and some Kuritian digital binoculars. He he carried her
to the others and lay her down for later recovery. Moving up the trail, and now looking for
more blinds, they quickly spotted a smaller one. Firing one shot to cut the rope holding
some of the branches they proceeded to fry the camera hidden inside. Realizing that this would
attract attention, Geoffrey placed Fiona's bra on a low branch under the ruined camera and
waited with Rabid for whatever was going to happen. The Deputy went back to check up on JC while
Visp and Ian made their way further up hill. Just as Visp and Ian reached the small clearing that
the cabin sat in they heard a second biker-scout buzz past them.
His traverse was followed by laser flashes as the two Knights took him out. Mere seconds later
the Visp-Ian team heard a camera focusing in on the commotion down the hill and blasted it, just
as a technician ran screaming from a small open garage into the cabin. Realizing that the gig was
up they began to bombard the building with weaponry. Those inside the structure quickly
closed their armored shutteres and began firing back through small weapon ports under the three
main windows on the front deck of the cabin. Visp and Ian tried to call the others to back
them up only to discover that they were being jammed. The other team had already realized this
moved forward to assist. Rabid began firing slug-shot through the windows as the others oped up with
everything from laser-rifles to flare guns. The were pinned down, but were able to slip sideways
slightly to hit the cabin from two angles. They finally managed to nail a large antenna on
the roof of the garage, clearing up the jamming, about the time the flares started the
front of the building on fire. Ian and Geoffrey both called Buffy Sorro in the Screamin' Banshee
to get her ass movig and come pick them up. Just as things were looking their way, a previously
unimportant silo-like affair of ferrocrete began to open. Fearing that 'Mechs were about to
emerge, Ian and Visp fired like mad at the exposed hydrolics. They managed to close
one side, but not before the other had completed it's cycle. In the meantime, Rabid kept
the entrire front of the cabin under constant fire while Geoffrey downed a small aerogyro
that had taken off as air support. Shifting their attention to the silo, they were all
amazed as the cargo lift completed it's run--bringing a silvery three winged aerofighter to
the surface. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief until it opened up with 'mech-scale
laser weaponry. They all dove for cover deeper into the forest, telling Sorro to try to cripple
the fighter but not destroy it--figuring that the little two-seater contained Zafir.
The fighter had just begun to fold down it's fings and poer up the engines when the
Screamin' Banshee came ripping into the area at Mach 2 and at nearly tree-top
level. The shockwave itself was enough to knock down trees, snuff out the cabin fire,
spin the aerofighter around, and toss the members of the party like little dolls. Only
Rabid suffered any real damage on landing, managing to impale himself on a small
branch. Buffy hovered the Leopard, burning off armor sheets with the downward facing plasma
engines as she obliterated the cabin with an two LRM-20 strikes.
She then set the ship down on the garage, facing the crippled aerofighter. The team now
moved in to cover the small ship with their rifles as Ian made a break for his 'mech.
The two people in the ship were ordered to put their wepons on the front controls and
open the hatch with their hands up. They complied, revealing Zafir Widikas and his female
pilot, Ishima Zobu. Zafir, dressed in a stilish mix of Kuritan and Davion infantry uniforms,
stepped out and surrendered to the assorted team members when Ian marched his 'mech
up and he realized that it wasn't Kuritan. Zafir managed to cut a deal with
Geoffrey to where he'd reveil the location of the Package in exchange for the chance to flee
from the Kuritan spies that would surly be sent to kill him. Zafir then told them what he knew,
the package was being inspected in the main military compound on the planet
Murchison--in Kuritian
space. The package was going to be transferred in ten days by meglev train to a military
supply depot before being shipped to the capitol-world of Luthien. It the team wanted it,
then that's when they would have to get it. Hearing this, the pilot screamed at Zafir
for being a traitor and ejected. She was easily recovered and drug into the Screamin' Banshee
to be placed in the brig. Sadly, the walls of the brig and medical facility had long ago
been knocked out to form the lounge. Daniel Timmons and Red werethere attempting to patch up
Rabid, at which the pilot almost lost it. She rushed to the side of her personal hero Rabid,
and personally patched up the formet arena pilot. Though technically enemies, Rabid had just
met his biggest fan.
which the Duke easily agreed too. They headed out, but not before Franko made Ian a full
Marshall for the Planet Errai. Beaming with giddyness they got back to the dropship just as
two Union-class dropships from the Kuritian mercenary unit Amphegean Light Assault Group
landed on the far side of the mesa. Still sporting the Davion Diplomatic transponder, they
negotiated a peaceful launch vector as the mercs began raiding the tunnel system that
Geoffrey discovered. The team pondered the implications of this action before cutting for orbit
and the five day burn to the jumpship--during which language lessons and crosstraining exersizes
wewre implimented. Once back at the Slipstream on January 15th, they would leap 20
light-years into Kuritan space--and would for the first time be behind enemy lines.
Bad jump in system Huge planet, very pretty, nasty radiation belts Chase NETC ships in Land at Dumas, capitol of Swordpoint Regime Convince the head honcho to lend you his military to smite the DCMS Battlemechs of the Swordpoint Regime Visp Lewin's tactical breakdown of the Swordpoint 'mechs Get sabotaged as a parts raid for the Swordpoint assault dropship Go to comstar for help, get the board fixed.. kinda Find out that the Draconian Mercs are back in system. Repair ship and head to Equatoria No one told Buffy to go slow. Crash the ship in Equatoria. Geoffrey sets up radio decoys and ambush. Team performs chaos on a scale not seen since Zeta Tucanae... Team 1 head to Supply Base to steal the DCMS Leopard (or parts) Team 2 head to the ambush site. Northwind-Swordpoint team attack DCMS mech and Shinkansen (bullet train)Northwind wins, Swordpoint loses, DCMS officer flees, last mech surrenders. Janessa on the train? No! It's her near twin: Melissa Arthur Steiner. huh? Yeah. Damn. Fiona calls over the Comstar satellite--holding out against multifaction troops. Comstar helpful. They're all gunning for Jenessa... A third Jumpship arrives in the area. The DCMS Intelligence officer? Comstar communicator rig is destroyed. (Satellite's still ok). DCMS aerofighters on the way. Team flees into the wasteland with Melissa. 
Kat Masterson and J.M. Ryoko catch up on a stolen ComStar jeep. The team try to cross a ravine, landing in an underground city. JC paints the town red, Ryoko inherits a 'mech. Ian saves JC from a superflamer, Inga leaves the party. 
The Fascist Chicken Party is formed. Crossing bridges and hidden ambushes near Bree. Playing "Pop the tanks" and avoiding the city. Through the Contego Quinquiplicoequus forest. Into the abandoned city, pulling armor from the train yards. Encountering the Komodo Megadragons. Placing a call with the Ministry of Communications HPG. Melissa calls for her Steiner unit on Achernar, and Rabid gets worried. Contacting Fiona, things going poorly there but questions are answered. The ComStar satellite is shot down, aerofighters are on the way. Pushing the button, EMPing the mechs (and the chickens...) Losing containment on the reactor as DCMS aerofighters close in. The Hatchetman lends a hand, Geoffry robs a bank. Everyone into the water, Ian finds a beacon and a PPC while Geoffry covers their tracks. Into the deep, JC finds a drip, Ian hears to creak, Melissa starts to freak. 200m under the waves a wall is found--and it isn't happy to see them. 
The Pleasiagators begin to circle and attack, Melissa is screaming, and a sub is listening. JC notices airlocks and the mech begins to leak. Everything is looking pretty bad at this point, and then Ryoko remembers a nursery rhyme... into the base... launching a decoy... 
onto the land... into the riot... 
escape with ship.... repel the boarders... jump to ozawa... The NavBouy says this is Ozawa, gives the correct date and recognizes the T.A.S. Freedom. It does not, however, recognize the Slipstream or ComStar. Stellar analysis by the jump crew confirms that this is Ozawa. The cargo jumpship that just passed you is not Inner Sphere standard. The crew of that ship expressly avoided all radio and laser contact attempts. They instead used a maglight and Morse code to ask what type of ship the Slipstream was. The bridge crew tuned in to the standard military channels and picked up encoded signals. Tuning to a civilian channel, they were greeted by an ISN (Imperium Stellar News) reporter. She spoke Terran English and reported on the continued terrorist attacks by the rebel nation "Federated Suns" against Imperium WarShips in the Achernar Frontier Zone. At this point CoB called a briefing to relay the info on the mis-jump. Into the Gammek Base... Making a deal with the PsiCop for supplies and a copy of the Encyclopedia Imperium... Meeting Captain Crais of the T.I.V. Zalbinion after killing his brother... 
Landing on planet, going through Customs... 
Discovering a Prince, heading to the Triumph in style... 
Using the Cult of the Warship to help rescue Buffy from the PsiCorps... 
Escaping offworld with Lizzie's help, fighting the Zalbinion, calling in help... The Jump to Northwind... Find four more warships and a very confused Gammek Base commander... 
Just wait 'till the Invincible arrives... 
Figuring out when they had to jump back in time to fix the chain of events that cause this reality, the party fled for the Ozawa jumpgate to steal a quickcharge and jump out. With the help of the last of the Inner Sphere WarShips (who had also misjumped into this alternate universe at the end of the Second Succession War and caused the Cult of the WarShip), the party fled for a jumpgate while the Invincable covered them. The ancient ship took out several of the smaller Imperial PeaceKeeper warships before succumbing to her wounds. As the great ship sank she activated her jump drive within the field of the jumpgate, destroying everything for hundreds of kilometers around.
Meanwhile, the party successfully jumped back in time to 2236 above Northwind. There, they mounted their 'mechs and single-handedly managed to fend off an entire Terran Alliance invasion. Then again, 'mechs wouldn't be invented for a few centuries, so they had the tactical advantage. Even so, Ian's beloved Warhammer was shot out from under him. The tale of Ian's bravery lived on through the ages though, as the symbol painted on the chest of his 'mech led to the legend of the Burning Claymores.
With dwindling irradiated Germanium ("Chronitons" as the CoB put it in his briefing) and time running out, the party loaded up the Freedom (still sporting a Terran Imperial transponder) and blasted back to the Slipstream. They had left most of their passengers from Murchison behind. The civilians looked forward to helping colonize such a world rich with life. Ryoko, one of the mech pilots, quietly decided to stay as well--slippnig out before the crew launched. It was later revealed that Ryoko married the leader of the Murchison colonists, who's last name was Merritt. Written notes from Ryoko have already begun popping up places, warmly teasing her great great great great and then some grandson Ian.
The party split the crew and remaining passengers up between the Freedom and the Slipstream for the time-jump to Terra. There was worry that the Freedom might get sheared off in the passage, so most of the people went over to the jumpship. Ian, JC, Rabid, Visp, Red, Gabriel, Sinclair, Jenessa, Melissa and a few others stayed behind on the dropship. Good thing too, during the strained jump something terribly odd happened. The normal 30 second jump seemed to take over 30 minutes on the Freedom, but through a horrible time-dialation the crew of the Slipstream experienced a voyage of just over 300 years.
The events seen through the viewport into the jumpship were a blur, with the burst of grenery growing through artificial seasons and the occasional flashes of wars. The crew that the party met at the end of the voyage was one far removed from the one that had boarded the jumpship a scant half hour earlier. The leader of the tribe was named Cob, a rank title. The girl was in her 20's and was wearing the tattered remains of the original Chief of the Boat's jacket. They told an amazing tale of survival and hope. Born to several generations of spacefareres, they had kept the crew of the Freedom alive when rebels threatened to eject the dropship. This had aparantly occured several times over the years. It quickly began to hit the party that they would never see their friends again, Fiona, Daniel, Meredith and the rest were gone forever.
The combined crews had successfully arrived in the Cradle of Humanity several months after they had dissapeared fleeing the Murchison system. The party and the tribal crew of the Slipstream were just getting acquainted when the two ships were hailed. They had survived their trip to Terra, only to land under the guns of an ancient automated defence network. It was not pleased to see them. It is here that we begin the Northwind Irregular's second campaign.
The Northwind Irregulars can be contacted at 1stIrregulars@northwind.fedsuns.gov through any Comstar HGP transmitter.
Thank-you for your interest!
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