5th FedCom RCT

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File:Fccorp5.jpg
5th FedCom RCT
Formed	3037
Nickname	The Black Rats
Affiliation	Federated Commonwealth
Parent Command	Federated Commonwealth Corps

The Fifth Federated Commonwealth RCT was a military unit of the Federated Commonwealth and, later, the Federated Suns. Contrary to their parent unit's ideal of being the best and brightest, the unit was accident prone, fatalistic, and generally looked down on by other units thanks to their reputation of cowardice and abuse of weapons of mass destruction.

History

Formation

The unit was officially established in 3037 and almost immediately began to earn its bad luck reputation. While in transit to a training operation on their homeworld of Tsitsang, before the unit had even seen combat, one of the Fifth FedCom's DropShips suffered a catastrophic propulsion failure. The resulting crash killed over a third of the unit's MechWarriors and sent the unit's morale plummeting. As they were still recouping their losses only six weeks later, a marauding Free Worlds League force attacked the planet. The raiders succeeding in inflicting further casualties and absolutely gutting the Fifth's morale before they were eventually beaten back. Murmurings about the unit's perpetual bad fortunes began to spread throughout its ranks after a freak accident completely destroyed one of the unit's repair bays while the unit was attempting to refit 'Mechs damaged during the raid. The resulting fire seriously injured or killed many personnel and led many to believe the unit was cursed.

War of 3039

This talk did not affect High Command's decision to send the unit to the Dieron Thrust during the War of 3039. The Fifth was ordered to secure the world of Halstead Station, which High Command saw as an easy victory that would boost the unit's faltering confidence. Though they were fairly confident the unit would redeem itself, the generals hedged their bets on the Fifth's success by assigning the Fighting Urukhai's Roman's Bar Hounds as an additional unit. The invasion was quite routine, as the mercenaries' early landing managed to wipe out all but the most token resistance. The Fifth FedCom merely had to mop up the few pockets of irregular fighters left in the mountains, which they did without much trouble. General Nial Slattery then turned his troops to fortifying the planet against the expected Draconis Combine counterassault.

When the counterattack arrived in August, it was not the expected Dieron Regulars but the First and Seventh Sword of Light regiments, elite and storied Draconis Combine units. The Sword of Light regiments immediately used a two pronged attack to fix and flank the Fifth FedCom, who attributed their initial successes in the defense to skill and not planned enemy concessions. While the First Sword of Light held the Fifth's attention at their fortified defensive line, the Seventh Sword of Light staged a daring orbital insertion directly to the rear of the unsuspecting FedCom unit. The Seventh landed square in the cached AFFS supplies and, bristling with Star League-era BattleMechs and weapons, immediately fell upon the hapless Fifth FedCom. Now surrounded on all sides, the Fifth panicked and broke. An entire battalion, led by Major Donald Trent, flat-out deserted their comrades, taking their DropShips, stealing one of the Fifth's JumpShips, and fleeing to the Free Rasalhague Republic to found a mercenary unit. Those who chose to stay fought desperately to survive and managed to hold until an assault by Roman's Bar Hounds broke the encirclement and allowed them to fall back to their remaining DropShips.

The dire circumstances of the Fifth's retreat forced them to abandon a large amount of BattleMechs, supplies, and equipment on Halstead Station. When they returned to their duty station on Tsitsang, they were reissued BattleMechs and assigned new personnel, but these replacements were second rate when compared to what had been used to found the unit. This was the final nail in the coffin for the unit's esprit de corps. After a series of horrific disasters, defeats, and setbacks, the perceived insult of receiving what amounted to surplus solidified the unit's perception of themselves as losers and led them to believe that even High Command considered them as such.

Interwar Years

In 3047, General Slattery's guilt over the loss of so many of his troops drove him to commit suicide. He was replaced by Hauptmann General James White, who helped the unit attain one of its few victories by crushing an uprising on Tsitsang fomented by the Zhanzeng de Guang in 3055. At some point between 3055 and 3061, the Fifth FedCom was transferred from Tsitsang to Chesterton and took up station there. By this point, it was clearly noted that the RCT's loyalties were moving more and more towards Katherine Steiner-Davion's camp.

While commanding the Fifth, White developed an addiction to a prescription narcotic called Taleridol, raising concerns amongst High Command about his fitness for duty. High Command was hesitant to relieve the Hauptman General, as they felt that the unit had grown attached to him and that doing so would further damage its tenuous morale. Instead, they suggested that his executive officer, Leftenant General Annette Leyland take over the day to day administration, allowing White time to kick his addiction. Unfortunately, deep in Taleridol-induced paranoia, he believed that she was conspiring to kill him and take his place.

FedCom Civil War

Wave Two

When the Federated Commonwealth Civil War broke out, the Fifth FedCom pledged their loyalties to Katherine Steiner-Davion. They were allowed to remain on Chesterton for the opening salvos of the conflict, out of harm's way. In August of 3063, they were given a simple task: relocate to Axton and either convince the First Bell Training Battalion stationed there to join the Lyran Alliance and swear fealty to Katherine or disarm them. General White knew that trainees would likely not be able to offer up much resistance but assembled a formidable force anyway, as he predicted the Fifth's success on Axton could lead to further deployments elsewhere on the frontlines.

White took two battalions of his force to Axton, and arrived there in late August. Unfortunately, despite all his planning and hopes to improve his unit's fortunes, he could not escape the Fifth FedCom's streak of bad luck. As his DropShip was entering the atmosphere of the planet, it suffered a cascade engine failure that caused one of its engines to explode. Falling off course, the DropShip drifted into its formation partner and destroying both ships along with all hands aboard. The RCT's other DropShips suffered serious damage from the resulting debris field and were forced to break formation and land wherever they could. Scattered across the planet, the Fifth FedCom took almost a week to form back up. By that time the target training battalion had mobilized, and with the assistance of two planetary militia regiments, moved to "assist" the survivors of the Fifth. Rallying behind one of their remaining generals, the Fifth opened fire on the training battalion as it approached, making it clear they were not on Axton peacefully.

In its current damaged state, what was left of the Fifth FedCom expeditionary force could not hope to stand up against the numbers of the training battalion and its local forces. They requested assistance, which arrived in the form of the rest of the RCT, under the command of General White's XO, Leftenant General Annette Leyland. Leyland set about rallying the Fifth FedCom and was able to hit the training battalion hard, forcing them to flee deep into the rainforests of Gehenna, one of Axton's sub-continents. There, they launched harassing attacks against the Fifth that, while doing minimal damage, only served to stymie the already frustrated Loyalists. The training battalion managed to hold out for nearly a month, when they were reinforced by the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers. With the Fusiliers at their head, the Allied forces drove back the Fifth FedCom, compelling them to retreat deeper into the rainforests to the southwest. Leyland made the decision to lay low and use the monsoon season as cover while she waited for additional reinforcements. By February of 3064, though still conducting a running engagement with the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers, she had managed to navigate her unit through hurricanes, the Keilant Mountains, and the Fusiliers' air strikes to the safety of the Kel-Den Plateau's dense forests.

Wave Three

General Leyland's hope for reinforcements from New Avalon was waning and by June 3064, she had all but given up hope on receiving any support from Loyalist command when she received a coded transmission from an unknown source. The transmission pinpointed the location of a hidden cache of weapons and materiel made by the Federated Commonwealth several years ago. Not questioning the source of this sudden help, she marshaled her forces and quickly stormed the secret weapons depot, which was guarded only by a token detail of troops. Once the facility was captured it became clear that the transmission must have been made by someone shockingly high in the chain of command: in addition to much needed supplies and conventional weapons, the facility contained fifty atomic warheads and their associated delivery systems. As powerful as the weapons were, Leyland realized that they would not win the day for the Fifth FedCom. Using the weapons to obtain victory would mean annihilating half of the planet's population. Achieving victory without using the atomics would require at least another regiment of BattleMechs, forces which she did not have. Resolving to use the weapons only as a last resort, Leyland continued the Fifth FedCom's fighting retreat until she found her forces outmaneuvered and cut in two by the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers.

Seeing that several thousand of her men were in danger of being killed or captured, Leyland authorized the use of two atomic warheads. Delivered by an aerospace fighter on 17 June, they completely eradicated the First Bell Training Battalion and a large portion of the Fusiliers' armor and infantry detachments. Initially shocked that the Fifth FedCom had unleashed nuclear fire, the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers fell back to regroup. The Loyalists were able to link up and continue their retreat towards Topell, the planet's capital city and the location of a major Wangker Aerospace factory. When word of the use of atomics reached the Fusiliers' commanding officer, Major General Robert Koenig, he was enraged. He ordered an immediate heavy assault against the Fifth FedCom that heavily damaged the surviving Loyalist troops and threatened to cut them off from their escape route. Seeing no other option, on 6 July Leyland again authorized the use of atomics, deploying a total of fourteen of them against the Fusiliers over the span of a week. The weapons had their intended effect, completely obliterating much of the Fusiliers' command and allowing the Fifth FedCom to raid the aerospace factory and make their escape offworld on 29 July. Left behind were the shattered remnants of the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers, now down to a mere three combat commands, and a contaminated world that would require a full year of dedicated cleanup to restore.

Wave Four

After some time to regroup and reconsider, General Leyland made the decision to reinforce embattled Loyalist forces on Marlette. The unit arrived in system on 24 November, 3064 via a pirate point and immediately generated a controversy. Word of the atrocities she and the Fifth had perpetrated on Axton had reached both Loyalist and Allied commands. Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field

On the 24th of November the Fifth FedCom arrived at Marlette and joined the Loyalist forces there, though not without controversy. Some wanted the RCT arrested to a man and all senior officers executed, but calmer minds prevailed and the Fifth FedCom was given a place in the defense, soon after they would take the city of Argentan and later set up a static defense line against the Allied Forces. The Fifth Crucis Lancers received word the 20th Avalon Hussars had arrived in system and launched an attack on the loyalist forces. The 20th Avalon Hussars had not come to take the planet but to destroy the Fifth FedCom and as soon as they arrived set themselves opposite of the Fifth FedCom and attacked. One of these attacks was executed by the Fourth New Valencia Rangers infantry regiment, part of the 20th Avalon Hussars infantry brigade. This raid prevented the use of more nuclear weapons. After 25 days of fighting the the 20th Avalon Hussars were able to destroy a third of the remaining Fifth FedCom after separating it from the main group. By day 53 of the fighting the Fifth FedCom were on the verge of collapse so Leftenant General Annete Leyland chose to use one of the nuclear weapons as a warning, but the 20th Avalon Hussars ignored this warning and attacked. At this point, Leyland made the decision unleash further nuclear weapons against the 20th Avalon Hussars, who were closing in on her command post. She dispatched her fighter wing to drop the nuclear weapons, one succeeded in dropping its payload, but the nuclear weapon failed to function and the 20th Avalon Hussars shot down the rest of the attacking fighters and overran the Fifth FedCom's airfield soon after. At this point Leftenant General Annete Leyland and the Fifth FedCom withdrew on March 11th from Marlette with four BattleMech companies. The remaining Fifth FedCom were absorbed into the Marlette CMM. At this point the Fifth FedCom was considered effectively destroyed by the both sides, although elements had escaped and were still at large.

Jihad

During the Jihad the Fifth FedCom participated in the battle for New Avalon on the side of the Federated Suns, arriving in system on the 10th of December 3072 and using nuclear weapons to break through the Word of Blake naval blockade around the planet. Despite being depleted and mistrusted by the other Federation units, they helped push the Blakists off the planet. Redeployed to other continents in 3074, they kept the Blakists from fully destroying all of New Avalon's defense industries.

After the Jihad ended, survivors of the Fifth FedCom were allowed the chance to join the 12th Vegan Rangers while their unit was stricken from the AFFS roster of commands.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of 5th FedCom RCT
General	Nial Slattery	3037 - 3047
Hauptmann General	James White	3047 - 3063
Leftenant General	Annette Leyland	3063 - 3072

Tactics

The Fifth FedCom are generalists, with no special skills, though they have a reputation for retreating if possible or, if not possible, fighting with everything at their disposal if pushed into a corner.

Composition History

3040

5th FedCom RCT (Regiment/Green/Reliable)

• CO: General Nial Slattery
• Base: Tsitsang

3050

5th FedCom RCT (Regiment/Green/Reliable)

• CO: Hauptmann-General James White
• Base: Tsitsang

3054

5th FedCom RCT (Regiment/Green/Reliable)

• CO: Hauptmann General James White
• Base: Tsitsang

3062

5th FedCom RCT (Regiment/Green/Reliable)

• CO: Hauptmann General James White
• Base: Chesterton

Color Scheme and Unit Insignia

The parade color scheme of the Fifth FedCom is the same as other units in the FedCom Corps: navy blue with gold banding on the arms and legs of 'Mechs and gold checkerboard patterned highlight panels on the upper torsos of 'Mechs or the turrets of armor units. The unit often finds itself the victim of other units' vandalism, discovering their 'Mechs with broad yellow stripes painted on their backs.

Notes

• Like other FedCom RCTs, the Fifth primarily used the FedCom Corps crest, and for its insignia a black rat on a white disk.
• The Fifth FedCom is made up of primarily light and medium BattleMechs, usually older models with a handful of more modern ones. On paper, the Fifth FedCom has three battalions, but can field only eighty 'Mechs or so.

Bibliography

• 20 Year Update
• FedCom Civil War
• Field Manual: Federated Suns
• Jihad Hot Spots: 3072
• Jihad Turning Points: New Avalon
• Technical Readout: 3058 Upgrade