Decker's Derelicts Unit History

UNIT HISTORY

Mid 3017

The Decker's Derelicts Mercenary Company was first formed in the summer of 3017 on the planet Caph by Chris Decker and Michael Scott. At this point in history both were unknown Mechwarriors with little more than two antique family 'mechs and a flair for dramatic tactics. Having met in a confused defence of the main spaceport against a determined Capellan advance, the two warriors recognised kindred spirits in each other and were fast friends.

Mid 3017 to Mid 3018

Davion's Draconis March was ablaze in the middle of the Third Succession War at the time, jobs and salvage were plentyful. It was the perfect fertile ground for a growing Merc unit. Within two months of the unsuccessful Liao raid the unit had grown to lance size. Now known as Decker's Lance they had not only repaired previous battle damage, but had also scored a cake-walk garrison position at the same starport. This put them in an exellent position to gather information on troop moventnts from the passing ships and crews. Word had it that the war was heating up on the Steiner/Marik front. Chris voted to relocate to Lyran space and negotiate a contract with House Steiner. Mike was sternly against the idea but got outvoted by the remaining two members of the lance, Jessica Janber and Robbie Williams.

Late 3018 to Mid 3020

This was the beginnig of the rift between Chris and Mike. Over the next two years the unit made several successful raids into Marik space. They had swelled to a full reinforced company under contract with the LCAF, but inter-company tensions rose almost as quickly. Disputes over policy, ranking, salvage and command finally tore the unit apart in 3020. Mike fled with over half the unit and the loaned LCAF Dropships into Free Worlds' space. They were granted exile and later formed the core of the merc unit Mike's Marauders. Meanwhile, the remains of the unit still known as Decker's Lance were left with a crippled fighting force, a large debt, and a very annoyed Steiner High Command.

Mid 3020 to 3024 (end of SW3 )

With Lyran debt-collectors eager to forclose the unit's 'mechs and equipment, the loyal followers re-negotiated a contract under the name Decker's Derelicts. The end of the Third Succession War was a long series of objective raids for the "new" unit. Not only were they able to test multiple tactics first-hand, but earned a respectable reputation at the same time. As the Third Succession War ground to a halt, a death blow seemed to land on the Derelicts as enemies and repair-bills started adding up.

3024 to Early 3025

On having received a token garison-duty position on the distant planet of Buena, Chris realized that the bumbling Lyran beurocrats knew the unit was broke and had seemed determined to keep them that way. Incoming funds in no way matched outgoing expences. It looked that the aptly named Decker's Derelicts would probably become little more than third rate House troops within the year. Chris and his seven remaining mechwarriors nonetheless pushed on. The slow months on Buena allowed time for many changes to be made to the unit in order to cut costs and instill the all important espri de corps. Life on the frozen Buena was harsh, but this had the effect of drawing the core members closer together. Whereas before they had to rely on each other in combat, they now had to trust each other and work as a team just to survive the climate. Chris tried everything to keep the team members in top fighting form as well as mentally sharp. In order to accomplish this, the unit drilled in tactics and maneuver while occasionally holding small parties and performing plays for the ice-bound locals. Recon missions more than once turned into a wild tromp across the frozen plains in search of a local "Star League Cache" legend. It was during one of these tromps when tragedy and triumph struck the Derelicts.

Early 3025

In early 3025, the team was marching their two lances of barely functional 'mechs across a little used mountain pass in the Southern polar region of Buena. The weather here was the worst that they had yet encountered during their six months on-planet. Incoming reports were sketchy at best, but all signs indicated that a big storm was on its way. Chris decided to try to push the 'mechs up the remaining section of mountain to get through the pass before the storm hit. The storm stood a good chance of blocking the pass and forcing the unit to skirt the entire range before they would be able to head north again. Every one agreed and began to coax their battered 'mechs up the ravines and boulder-fields. Robbie Williams in his one-armed Shadow Hawk scouted the path ahead. He had just crested the pass when the storm hit like a solid wave. The rest of the Derelicts watched helplessly as his 'mech was knocked from the saddleback and dropped out of sight over the other side. The storm pinned the 'mechs to the side of the mountain with its wild fury--it took over three hours before a single 'mech, Jessica's agile Grasshopper, to crest the ridge. The other side was a 100 meter drop-off onto a greatly sloping and barely visable rubble-field. The scanners were useless and Robbie's 'mech was nowhere to be seen. It took seven more hours before the rest of the two lances were able to join Jessica on the ridge. During this time she could see nothing of Robbie's mech, only the occasional flicker of laser-light in the clouds.

Robbie and his Shadow Hawk had ended up crippled at the bottom of the long rubble-filled slope. He noted with dispair that his 'mech's legs were crushed and the LH2 supply was slowly venting itself into the storm. When the Hydrogen ran out the Fusion reactor would shut-down, he would die of exposure as his cockpit slowly froze. Scrambling into whatever clothing he could find and unplugging his coolant-vest, he trained his only remaining arm-mounted meduim laser onto his own 'mech--blasting off any heat sinks that he could reach. As the cockpit temperture rose to a toasty 40C he aimed the laser straight up, giving the computer the command to fire it untill the power ran out. He sat back, listening to the thrum of the laser firing and re-cycling while dialing up any scanner systems that he might have left. He was quite surprised as to what he found.

Throughout the night, Chris and the others tried to coax their 'mech's down the cliffside, but the conditions and lack of adequate lighting made it nearly impossible. By the time they had made it to the bottom, the morning sun was already poking through the storming clouds. They found Robbie's Shadow Hawk buried up to mid-torso in snow, it's remaining arm extended forward and down--the hand pointing at a spot 20 meters in front of the 'mech. Not catching the meaning of this message, the saddened Mechwarriors retrieved Robbie's frozen body from his machine. Chris was the last to leave the cockpit, just as the sun broke through the clouds for the last time that day. There, glistening like prisms, were letters faintly etched into the cockpit carbo-glass. Robbie's last message to his friends was recieved at the same time the first mag-scan readings started flooding in: "Only Death can stop us now".

Directly under Robbie's fallen Battlemech was the ice-bound hulk of an ancient Star League Dropship. The local legends had been right after all. The ship was upright and sitting on the rockslide. The years of storms had buried it in snow and ice, just as they were trying to do to Robbie's Shadow Hawk, but the ship looked intact. After returning to base for a proper burial, Chris hired out local engineering teams with what little cash the unit had left. Returning to the site they dug out the mech and the near perfectly perserved Federal-Class Star League Dropship, the forerunner to the current Union-class ships. Although grand celebrations soon commenced, they wouldn't last long.

The watchful eyes of House security forces seem to be everywhere, even on backwater worlds like Buena. The engineering crews contained a single Loki agent, who dutifully reported the situation to his superiors. The chain worked it's was up until one night, two weeks later, Chris got a surpirse call from Archon Katrina Steiner herself. Katrina had heard of the cache and requested her fair share. Chris was impressed, with the unit's current debt to her House she could have rightfully demanded it all. What really cinched it for him was that she was honestly sorry for Robbie's loss. Chris and Katrina struck a deal, he would give her eight of the twelve 'mechs and one of the two aerofighters as payment for all outstanding loans. A new contract was also drawn up: it stated that after a suitable repair period, the unit (still known as Decker's Derelicts) would enter service for House Steiner as a deep-penetration raiding force. Chris agreed, but only if their first mission was to be considered a down-payment on a brand new Jumpship. Katrina smiled over the Comstar holo-link and signed the contract herself.

While Katrina and Chris never met in person, although he attended her funeral some years later, their exchanged letters were cordial to the point of friendly. The Archon promised to make-up for the treatment the unit had received by assigning their first "down-payment" mission to be an Objective Raid on her own planet of Solaris VII. The mission goals were simple: Find more members.

And find them they did. After repairing the reletively minor damage to the Dropship S.L.S. Galileo, they booked passage to the Solaris system. As it turned out, the Arena's themselves proved to be poor hiring-grounds. Most of the best arena-Mechwarriors were used to fighing for themselves, not a team. They proved to be too hot-headed and uncontrollable for this tight, tactic-based unit. In a fit of depresion, Chris hit the bars of Solaris City. After sliding from one Mechwarrior bar to another, hearing the same old stories with different names, he finally found something to perk his interest. It started as a small scuffle. One of the local dispossessed was harping on a recently 'mechless arena-warrior. The poor girl was desperately trying to forget this evening's 'mech-duel, but the gruff scum of a former Mechwarrior-turned gambler wouldn't leave her alone. Chris desided, in his less-than-sober judgement, to intervine. From the scum's point of view this was a minor annoyance better removed with a laser-pistol. What would have been just another random killing in the slums of Solaris City was stopped by the timely assistance of a tall, solem warrior. After the nasty and extreemly quick fight that ensued, this large man escorted the girl and Chris out of the bar. This turned out to be the best stroke of luck Chris had since Robbie found the Galileo.

The man's name was Jamie. He was a disgraced officer who had been kicked out of the mysterious Wolf's Dragoons some years earlier. When asked if he was any relation to Jamie Wolf, he flatly and sternly said no. Chris decided that it was something that the normally quiet warrior didn't like talking about. Irca on the other hand was friendly and jovial right from the start. She was a former arena-warrior in search of a new career. Irca was also looking for a 'mech and had a few friends that would also want to "try out" for the team. Chris ended up hiring most of them; bringing the Decker's Derelicts up to full Company strength once again, while completing the "down-payment" mission at the same time.

The unit had emerged from the Phoenix-fire born anew. Taking heart in their Star League saviors, they reorganized the Derelicts into a model of an SLDF fighting force. Chris swapped over the old ranking system to the traditional Star Leagues', while ordering that those 'mechs that bore original League paint schemes would keep them. The remaining mechs were repaired, modified, and repainted using the standard Decker's Derelicts paint scheme of dark grey with darker grey and black splotches. Each 'mech now also proudly bore a small Cameron Star on it's right torso.

Mid 3025 to Mid 3027

Time passed. The Derelicts established themselves as an efficient fighting force with a strong reputation for penetrating deep into enemy territory, for extended periods of time, with little in the way of support lines. This was mainly due to Chris's belief in low-ammunition 'mechs. Most of the unit had energy-based 'mechs or were converted to such. While energy weapons do build up more heat, Chris was quoted during this time period as observing, "Ahh Lasers, gotta love 'em--they never run out of ammo." Due to the long staying power of these energy weapons, the Derelicts began to favor long maneuver-based battles that allowed them to pick at the opposition while the enemy wasted valuable ammunition. This "Saber Dance" continued until the enemy was considered weakened enough to warrant a final sweeping blow. Multiple running battles were not unheard of during this time. Chris believed in maneuver and tactics above brute force--'mechs were too valuable to waste in mindless attacks. As many 'mechs as possible, including the heavies, were given Jump systems to assist in their maneuvers.

By 3027, Chris had talked Katrina into basing the unit out of New Earth. Chris proposed to set-up a Mechwarrior Training Base in the wilds of New Earth in exchange for ownership of the land that the base was to be built on. After carefully selecting the land for the base, Chris showed the proposition to the Archon. Katrina agreed and the plans began to roll. Not only were they near the front lines of both Kurita and Marik space, but Chris knew something about this planet that few others knew. The logs of the S.L.S. Galileo contained detailed descriptions of this area of space. The ship was once based out of a Castle Brian on New Earth. What no-one but a few select officers in the Derelicts knew was that the new Training Base was sitting on top of the long-lost Castle Brian! With those facilities secretly available to the Derelicts they could become one of the best Merc units in the Inner Sphere. But not to tip his hand too early, Chris is not using the Castle to anything near it's full extent. The Training Base provides a great cover and time will tell if "Alamo Base" will someday become fully-operational.

Mid 3027 to Mid 3028 (beginning of SW4)

In order to facilitate greater unity under the newly established Federated Commonwealth Treaty, the Second Company of the Derelicts temporarily traded places with some of their counterparts from the Federated Suns: the 2nd Company of the 1st Battalion of the Eridani Light Horse's 21st Striker Regiment. The Eridani were mercenaries of the highest calliber. Having survived mostly intact since The Exodus, they were the remainders of the 3rd Regimental Combat Team of the original Star League Defence Force. The two units worked together perfectly, both being steeped in the traditions of the SLDF. Combined actions against both Liao and Marik from seperate fronts formed strong bonds between the two merc units. While this swap was usefull for many purposes, both units were back to their proper postings at the advent of the 4th Succession War in August of 3028.

Explanation of ranking systems.

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Last Updated: 10/11/99