Grey Watch Regiment

Grey Watch
Formed	3145
Affiliation	Republic of the Sphere
Parent Command	Northwind Highlanders

The Grey Watch was a secret reserve 'Mech regiment, formed in 3135 by the Northwind clan elders to protect the people of Northwind against a new attack.

History

Origins

After the end of the Jihad, Devlin Stone's Military Materiel Redemption Program was launched in 3083, but the plan to demilitarize all the Inner Sphere posed a dilemma to Northwind Highlanders clan elders: they were willing to let almost all their regiments be absorbed by the Republic of the Sphere armed forces, but most highlanders owned a family BattleMech or had purchased one, and did not want to surrender their private property.

Besides, too much people viewed the Highlanders as suspected Blakists, after the liberation of Northwind. Refuse to give their weapons could gave them problems. Luckily, one of their own, Andrea Stirling was Paladin Exemplar, and understood the Highlanders' independence well.

So Andrea help to redirect MMRP's Materiel Oversight Division, and the clan elders instructed 'Mech owners to stash their machines in little groups. The 'Mechs stayed hidden until the Steel Wolves invasions of Northwind in 3133 and 3134. After Fortress Republic was established, Northwind's Countess Tara Campbell and their Highlanders were outside The Wall, and since the First Kearny Highlanders had been absorbed into the RAF armed forces, the clan elders took measures to ensure Northwind's security against another possible invader: they funneled technicians and resources to reactivate the aging 'Mechs.

First Activation

The exact date of the Watch's creation is unknown, but it appears to be near the first attack of the Steel Wolves on Northwind, after 3134. The first leader of the new unit was the Colonel Nicholas Borden, officially the commandant of Northwind Military Academy.

When the Steel Wolves attacked Northwind by second time, in 3135, threatening Tara, at least part of the watch was already operative, and Borden activated it to assist... but after a disagreement about how and when attack, he was accidentally murdered by his second in command, Colonel Halloran. The Watch remained decapitated, and its cell system organization prevented them to act faster. However, some 'Mechs made their way to Tara, but arrived there too late to make nothing good, so they were unable to fight, though that keep the Watch's existence remained a secret.

After the Battle of Terra, on 3135, a new leader of the Watch was chosen: Colonel Michael Griffith, retired from active service after the Steel Wolves attack .

Second Activation

Along the next decade and half, local instructors and cadets from the Northwind Military Academy secretly trained in 'Mech operations. The Grey Watch was activated when the feared attack materialized: After Devlin Stone's Wall fell, Republic space was invaded by four attackers. After successfully taking thirteen worlds surprisingly easily, the Capellan Confederation turned their eyes to their next target: Northwind. The Capellans were determined to erase the stain of the Northwind Highlanders defection to the Federated Suns in the Fourth Succession War and also take Northwind's operational HPG.

In 3150, the Capellans launched the attack, Operation CLARITY, and the Battle of Northwind (3150) began. The Capellan forces, three CCAF regiments led by Warrior House Imarra outnumbered the defenders, as they only had the Twelfth Hastati Sentinels, the Northwind Military Academy's training cadre, and a smattering of local militia volunteers. The Republic forces were so stretched than Stone did not dare to send more troops: Northwind, and the other worlds, had to resist with what they had.

On 19 November, the assault began, with the Capellan invaders splitting to neutralize all the key targets: Tara, the capital, Fort Barrett, the Twelfth's base, the Castle, old Star League's fortress, the HPG station and the Northwind Military Academy.

The Capellan forces progressed quickly, but on 23 November, when the Capellans were attacked by their backs on Tara, Kearny and Fort Barrett, by the Watch units, wreaking havoc between the invader forces, causing the Capellans to stumble and even the odds, it wasn't enough to turn the tide: in 25 November, the Capellans controlled Tara, the HPG compound and Fort Barrett. Only The Castle was still in the defenders hands. Worse still, the Watch had suffered casualties, forcing them to retreat to the hills and regroup.

The timely arrival of Countess Tara Campbell and the main Highlander forces evened the odds... until the Draconis Combine unit of the Hikage arrived. However, the defenders managed to make the Combine and Capellan forces, theoretically allied, engage each other. The Grey Watch fight the Hikage forces too. When the battle between Republican, Capellan and Combine forces moved to the HPG compound, Grey Watch infiltrators laced the complex with explosives and made it blow, forcing the Hikage, and later the Capellan forces, to retreat, ignoring than only the upper part of the complex had been destroyed.

Battle of Terra

It is unknown how much of the Grey Watch survived the campaign, but most of the unit remained active and was left behind to defend Northwind, along with the Hastatis; a battalion of the Ward, however, joined Tara Campbell and the main body of Highlanders returning to Terra. The Grey Watch battalion fought alongside the rest of the Highlanders in the Battle of Terra (3151), until the battle in Dumfries, Scotland. They suffered an unknown amount of losses, which included the death in combat of Colonel Griffin. His XO, Cadha Jaffray, replaced him. After the Highlanders surrendered to avoid destruction, all were allowed to depart Terra to return at Northwind, with all their equipment and surviving personnel, including Jaffray.

ilClan Era

The surviving Grey Watch members which stayed on Northwind expected to have time to rest and repair... but they didn't had it: After the battle, Daoshen Liao sent a constant wave of little mercenary units to keep the Highlanders busy, preventing them to aid nearby planets and slowly weaken them, but the attackers paid a strong price: the Twelfth protected the front lines on Tara, while the Grey Watch protected the city insides, taking a high toll on the attackers thanks to their knowledge of the place and experience. The 14 July they crushed an attack on Tara by the mercenary Whirlwind Strikers and Waxie Dargle.

The Highlanders, including the surviving Gray Watch members, after the end of the battle, returned to Northwind. There, Cadha left the unit, taking leadership of the newly formed First Kearny Highlanders, which was the Twelfth Hastatis. The Grey Watch was reinforced by the Twelfth Hastati's armor, and remained stationed on Northwind as his main defensive unit.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the Grey Watch
Colonel	Nicholas Borden	3134-3135
Colonel	Michael Griffin	3135-3151
Lieutenant Colonel	Cadha Jaffray	3151-3152

Other Officers

Griffin's XO was Lt. Col Cadha Jaffray, from a long-standing Highlander pedigree. Another of their key officers was Major Seamus Casey, which died before the Battle of Northwind ended.

Tactics

Unknown. The Grey Watch is said to operate using classic Highlander tactics.

Composition History

3149

1 medium 'Mech regiment

Notes

• Though the grey Watch members possess a reasonable talent as pilots, prior to the Battle of Northwind have never drilled together, and lack any experience in formations larger than a lance. That make them ideal to harassment and guerrilla operations, but unsuited to great formations movements.
• The name chosen for the watch may have been inspired in the Royal Black Watch, which survived centuries inside the Highlander regiments as a secret order.

Bibliography

• Grey watch Protocol

+ Paid in Blood

• Perception of Victory
• Shattered Fortress
• Shrapnel, issue #11