Editing Richard Westrick

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = Richard Westrick MW5.jpg
| caption             = Richard Westrick in MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries
| name                = Richard Westrick
| birthdate           = 
| died                = 
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[Crater Cobras]]
| rank                = [[Colonel]]<ref name=HD:TFSp136>''House Davion (The Federated Suns)'', p. 136</ref>
| title               = 
| position            = 
| profession          = [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]]
| parents             = 
| siblings            =
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
}}
'''Richard Westrick''' was the commanding officer of the [[Crater Cobras]] from at least [[3025]] to [[3029]] and best known for his leadership while trapped on [[Sarna]] during the [[Fourth Succession War]].

==History==
By 3025, Westrick was the senior CO of the two Crater Cobras regiments: the 789th Striker and Westrick's Black Cobras.<ref name=HD:TFSp136/>

{{ApocryphalContentStart}}
In [[3026]], Richard Westrick and the Crater Cobras participated in the [[Operation GALAHAD]] wargames on [[Avigait]], joining another mercenary unit, [[Nik's Cavaliers]], in defending a decommissioned orbital defense system from a [[Federated Commonwealth]] coalition led by [[House Steiner|Steiner]] Colonel [[Steven Zaks]] and [[House Davion|Davion]] Marshal [[Jackson Davion]]. The lack of coordination between the two Houses allowed the mercenaries to repel their forces and launch an immediate counterattack on their headquarters. Westrick advanced with the bulk of his Cobras as a diversion, prompting the coalition forces to overcompensate with too many units to face them after their earlier failure, allowing the Cavaliers to conduct a surgical strike and take out their leader, Colonel [[Ardan Sortek]], behind enemy lines.<ref name=MW5Ma>''MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries'', Kestrel Lancers Missions: "Operation: GALAHAD"</ref>
{{ApocryphalContentEnd}}

===Sarna===
During the Sarna campaign of [[Operation RAT]] in 3029, the [[Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers]] landed on-planet two days earlier than scheduled and were slaughtered by an ambush from the [[McCarron's Armored Cavalry]]. Rather than face censure for backing out of their mercenary contracts, Westrick and the regimental commanders of the 789th Striker and [[Second Screaming Eagles]] decided to go ahead with the attack on Sarna, but changed plans and landed together at drop zone "Blackhole," two hundred kilometers from the Big Mac—far enough away that would allow them and the remaining attached conventional regiments to prepare defenses and hold out for reinforcements.<ref name="NAIS4SW2p48">''NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2'', p. 46-48</ref>

After having landed near the city of [[Sarna#Planetary Locations|Backtal]] on May 29, Westrick and a [[battalion]] of his Cobras cautiously advanced on a small weapons and ammunition factory and discovered a freshly laid minefield. Westrick followed a hunch and split his [['Mech]]s into two groups, having them move around the perimeter of the minefield, and one of them found that it ended at the edge of a forest. Westrick quickly reunited his battalion and had them race in from the trees, capturing the factory swiftly enough to prevent the militia inside from destroying anything. Davion troops were able to unload the warehouses full of autocannon ammo and [[vibrabomb]]s before the complex was destroyed later by McCarron's forces.<ref name="NAIS4SW2p49">''NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2'', p. 48-49</ref>

By late August, McCarron's Armored Cavalry had arrived near Backtal and the mercenaries chose [[Sarna#Planetary Locations|Graves Hallow]] for their last stand. McCarron's [[3rd McCarron's Armored Cavalry|Third Regiment]] stumbled upon some of their defensive positions and Westrick ordered his Black Cobras off the roads and into the woods, turning the battle into a deadly game of hide-and-seek among the huge trunks of tremendous Sarnan Pines. The fighting started on September 11 and lasted into early December.<ref name="NAIS4SW2p50">''NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2'', p. 49-50</ref>

[[Lieutenant]] [[Fiona Fields]], commander of an assault [[lance]] with the Black Cobras, First Company, wrote in her diary on November 30 she had heard a rumor that Colonel Westrick was killed by a lucky shot from a [[Rifleman]]. She hoped it was not true and did not tell her lance, as their morale was already pretty low.<ref name=FSp28>''First Strike'', p. 28</ref>

{{ApocryphalContentStart}}
In mid-October, Westrick and his Cobras had taken refuge in the interior of a derelict [[WarShip]] located deep in northern [[Sarna#Geography|Jacarlos]] after having repelled an all-out attack from the Third McCarron's Armored Cavalry at Graves Hallow the previous week. The Cavaliers, there on special assignment with the [[Second Crucis Lancers]], linked up with them after having been located by the [[Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers]] and together repelled another attack by the Third.<ref name=MW5Mb>''MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries'', Kestrel Lancers Missions: "Sarna"</ref>

Westrick's forces had spent months probing the facilities the [[Capellan Confederation|Capellans]] had been using to disrupt long-range communications on-planet, but didn't feel they had the numbers to launch an assault on any of them without heavy losses. With the Cavaliers now present, Westrick devised a plan similar to their strategy during the GALAHAD wargames and moved with all of his remaining forces to meet McCarron's head on and provide the Cavaliers an opening to destroy a number of regional jamming arrays. As the situation looked grim for the Cobras, they learned that Ardan Sortek and the [[Davion Heavy Guards]] were already in-system and about to make planetfall. Westrick relayed their coordinates to Sortek at fifty klicks east of the city of [[Sarna#Planetary Locations|Catatonia]], notifying that they were pinned down by the Big Mac. The Fusiliers and Cavaliers moved to reinforce their position, allowing their combined strength hold out long enough for the Guards to arrive via an orbital 'Mech drop and push McCarron's forces back, eventually forcing them to retreat off-world.<ref name=MW5Mb/>
{{ApocryphalContentEnd}}

==Behind the Scenes==
In [[MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries#Legend of the Kestrel Lancers|''MechWarrior 5: Legend of the Kestrel Lancers'']], Richard Westrick was voiced by [[Nicolas Greco]].<ref name=MW5Mc>''MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries'', closing credits</ref>

== References ==
<references />

== Bibliography ==
* ''[[First Strike]]'' (scenario pack)
* ''[[House Davion (The Federated Suns)]]''
* ''[[MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries]]'' (video game)
* ''[[NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2]]''

[[Category:Mercenary Characters|Westrick, Richard]]