7th FedCom RCT

FedCom Corps 07th logo.png
Seventh FedCom RCT
Formed 3039
Disbanded 3066 (destroyed)
Nickname Spectral Menace
Affiliation Federated Commonwealth
(3039 - 3062)

Allies
(3062 - 3066)

Parent Command Federated Commonwealth Corps

For much of its history, the Seventh FedCom RCT has been understrength, not reaching its full authorized strength until four years after it initially entered service. The Seventh FedCom was stationed in the St. Ives Compact for most of its service history. After the Capellan-St. Ives War, they fought for Victor Steiner-Davion during the FedCom Civil War.

History[edit]

Formation and Capellan-St. Ives War[edit]

Formed in 3039, less than a month prior to the invasion of the Draconis Combine, the Seventh FedCom served as a false front for manpower, hiding the massive buildup elsewhere in preparation for the invasion. When it was first activated, the unit only consisted of about thirty percent of its actual rated strength, and would not achieve its full complement until 3043. The Seventh FedCom was stationed on Nashuar in the St. Ives Compact and built up a strong relationship with the people of that nation over their many years of service there.

When the Fifth Lyran Regulars were stationed on Nashuar in 3060 as SLDF peacekeepers under the orders of First Lord Sun-Tzu Liao, the Seventh FedCom, like the people of its nominal homeworld, were incensed. The two units butted heads constantly, with the Seventh seeing the Fifth Lyran Regulars as an invading force and a sign of growing troubles in the Federated Commonwealth. What started as barroom brawls led to open hostilities in 3061. Combat between the two units began to be commonplace, small battles that quickly turned into costly, all-out firefights that few on either side walked away from. The skirmishing culminated in a single massive engagement's in Nashuar's Khingan Foothills region that forced the Lyrans off-world by April 3062. The ferocity of the conflict was seen by many later historians as one of the first inklings of the FedCom Civil War that was to come, as the tactics employed and lack of mercy given by both sides were writ large in the later Civil War.[1]

After the Fifth Lyran Regulars retreated, the Seventh FedCom continued to defend Nashuar as best they could. During the events of Black May, most of the Seventh FedCom's senior officers and staff were killed by nerve gas released by Thuggee cultists, and command of the regiment fell to the most senior officer, Colonel Torri Hughes of the attached Seventh FedCom Armored Brigade. Soon after the war's end, the Seventh FedCom was relocated to Spica, where Colonel Hughes was promoted to Leftenant General and the unit was assigned to act as that world's garrison force while it focused on rebuilding.[2]

FedCom Civil War[edit]

The Seventh FedCom remained on Spica for eight months, garrisoning the planet until they could be officially relieved by St. Ives Compact expatriate militia units. Once they were relieved, they moved to Alcyone, where they relieved the Fifth Davion Guards and Third NAIS Cadre of their garrison duties and allowed those units to be redeployed elsewhere. The Seventh only remained on Alcyone long enough to finish its rebuilding process and was quickly ordered to move to Talon, in the Wernke system, in order to secure the Kallon Industries factory facilities there for Duke George Hasek and his Templar BattleMech pet project.[3]

Marshal of the Armies Jackson Davion, also realizing the value of the factory, ordered Marshal Donna Iona and her Twenty-second Avalon Hussars to the world to ensure the factories remained under Loyalist control. Marshal Iona beat the Seventh FedCom to the surface and quickly occupied the Kallon factory. When General Hughes arrived, she found no safe places for her unit to land outside the capital city of Portland and another city named Horgrave, well outside the mountainous regions where Kallon had located its factories and mining sites. As she was unclear on the Twenty-second's exact intentions and purposes on Talon, she requested further clarification on her orders from Duke Hasek, who attempted to order the Twenty-second off Talon, but to no avail. Marshal Iona had orders from the Marshal of the Armies himself and would not be moved, but communicated that she did not seek hostilities: her mission was simply to secure the factory and ensure no forces attempted to attack it. Until she was ordered otherwise or provoked, she would make no moves.

Working around these parameters, Duke Hasek had the Seventh remain in place and sent in a WarShip, an assault DropShip task force, marines, and a full aerospace wing to reinforce them. Unbeknownst to Marshal Iona and the Loyalists, the Duke had also given these reinforcements orders to intercept Kallon's outbound shipments when they reached orbit. When this plot was eventually discovered, a fight between the Seventh and Twenty-second's aerospace elements ensued, a battle that prompted Duke Hasek to order the ground forces of the Seventh to attack the factories.[4] Hughes launched her assault on 6 April, 3064, but found it a bloody and difficult struggle. The Twenty-second Avalon Hussars dug in and fortified for exactly this type of attack and they stymied her every advance, costing her valuable men and matériel. She was forced to request reinforcements from New Syrtis by the time she had entered the Kulmen Mountains where the factory was located.[4]

A Loyalist attack on New Syrtis dashed any hope Hughes had of receiving reinforcements and after a solid year of attempting to reach the factory, a devastating counterattack by the Hussars forced her to pull her forces back to Portland in November of 3065. For four more months, the Seventh sat, attempting to recover and refit while keeping an eye on the Twenty-second, until they received word from scouts: the Hussars were prepping their DropShips for launch. Major General Hughes received a priority order from Allied High Command informing her that the Loyalists had recalled the Hussars to the battle on New Avalon. They could not be allowed to leave Talon. Mustering her remaining forces, Hughes launched a suicidal attack on the Kallon factory, inserting the last of her forces via DropShip. Together they stormed the factory and managed to wipe out almost eighty percent of the defending Hussars and disable three-quarters of their DropShips before being annihilated by the Twenty-second's outer perimeter units, which had returned to reinforce the few defenders still standing at the factory.[5]

Disbandment[edit]

After being almost entirely wiped out at the Kallon factory complex, the Seventh FedCom RCT ceased to exist. What survivors that remained were quickly folded into other units that were desperate for reinforcements. The FedCom Corps, having tarnished their reputation, was dissolved and the Seventh FedCom RCT was never reconstituted in any form.[6]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the Seventh FedCom RCT
Hauptmann General John Albion Pickett 3050[7] - 3054
Hauptmann General Timothy Seiser 3054[8] - 3062[2]
Leftenant General Torri Hughes 3062[2] - 3063
Major General Torri Hughes 3063 - 3066[6]

Tactics[edit]

The Seventh FedCom RCT does not believe in being subtle. Their version of tactics is flooding the battlefield with their equipment in hopes of overpowering their enemies with brute strength.[2]

Composition History[edit]

3050[edit]

Seventh FedCom RCT (Green/Reliable)[9]

3054[edit]

Seventh FedCom RCT (Green/Questionable)[8]

3062[edit]

Seventh FedCom RCT (Regular/Reliable)[2]

Seventh FedCom Regiment (2 Battalions/Regular/Reliable)[2]

Seventh FedCom AeroSpace Brigade

Seventh FedCom Armor Brigade (2 Regiments/Regular/Reliable)[2]
  • Seventh FedCom Heavy Armor: Leftenant General Torri Hughes
  • Seventh FedCom Armored Cavalry: Leftenant Colonel Jeremiah Bellamy
Seventh FedCom Infantry Brigade (3 Regiments/Regular/Reliable)[2]

Notes[edit]

  • Like other FedCom RCTs, the Seventh primarily used the FedCom Corps crest, but has also decided upon its own insignia: a phantom warrior brandishing a sword.
  • The parade colors of the Seventh is the same as other FedCom Corps units, which is navy blue with gold banding on the arms and legs of 'Mechs. Gold is also used to highlight panels on the upper torsos of 'Mechs and turrets of armor units, resulting in a checkerboard pattern.

References[edit]

  1. FedCom Civil War, pp. 19–20: "Nashuar"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Field Manual: Federated Suns, p. 95
  3. FedCom Civil War, p. 82: "Talon"
  4. 4.0 4.1 FedCom Civil War, p. 96: "Talon"
  5. FedCom Civil War, pp. 128, 142, 157–158: "Talon"
  6. 6.0 6.1 Field Manual: Updates, p. 130: "Federated Commonwealth Corps"
  7. 20 Year Update, p. 29: "Federated Commonwealth Deployment Table"
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Objective Raids, p. 43
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 20 Year Update, p. 29

Bibliography[edit]