Aaron DeChavilier

Aaron DeChavilier
Personal
Born13 October 2714[1]
Died15 May 2801
AffiliationStar League
Profile
RankDeputy Commanding General[1]
Family
SpouseCynthia[2]
ChildrenRoger DeChavilier
Kristina DeChavilier
Benjamin DeChavilier
Julia DeChavilier
Angela DeChavilier-Banacek

Aaron DeChavilier was the Deputy Commanding General of the Star League Defense Force and the best friend of SLDF Commanding General Aleksandr Kerensky. DeChavilier is remembered in history not for his accomplishments in life, but for his death, that resulted in the infamous DeChavilier Massacre.

History[edit]

Early Life and Military Service[edit]

Born on the Federated Suns world of Kestrel, Aaron DeChavilier's formative years and future path were shaped by the War of Davion Succession, the young boy closely following the course of the conflict and deciding to join the SLDF after watching them crush the invading Draconis Combine forces. DeChavilier was initially unable to gain admittance to the Star League military academies he had set his sights on, instead entering the Suns' Sakhara Academy for his first year with his impressive grades, especially with regards military studies, earning him a place in the Star League run Albion Military Academy's corps of cadets. Though having to repeat his first year because of his entry into a new academy, DeChavilier excelled, easily qualifying as a MechWarrior.[1]

Assigned to the 320th Dragoon Regiment upon graduation, by the end of his first year of active service the 320th had earned top honors in the 2736 Martial Olympiad with DeChavilier himself having the second-highest individual score, earning him a promotion to lieutenant and position within the next class of the Gunslinger Program. He would also briefly meet his future friend Aleksandr Kerensky at the 2736 Olympiad. Over the next ten years DeChavilier quickly rose to first company and battalion command within the 320th Dragoon Regiment before receiving overall command of the 3843rd Battle Regiment. Facing some of the heaviest fighting against "bandit" forces during the Third Hidden War, his unit's fantastic performance and high level of morale even in the face of difficult and stressful pirate-hunting duties earned DeChavilier promotion to Lieutenant General and transfer to the SLDF's Citadel on Terra. Again encountering Kerensky during this period, DeChavilier was deeply unhappy at such a staff assignment and after a year was able to manage a transfer to the 149th BattleMech Division as assistant division commander, rising to command of the entire division itself in just a year's time.[1]

DeChavilier would serve in this position for four years, guiding the 149th through the turmoil and confusion following the death of First Lord Simon Cameron, before he was offered command of the XXI Corps, one of the three SLDF corps responsible for the defense of the Terran Hegemony. It was during his time with XXI Corps that now SLDF Commanding General Kerensky truly took note of DeChavilier, seeing in him a good tactician but more importantly a ceaseless motivator and peerless organizer, someone who was also intensely loyal, dedicated and unimpeachable. From that point on, the careers of both men became linked, ultimately becoming a deep friendship after Kerensky promoted DeChavilier to General and command of the First Army in 2758. In 2760, Kerensky advanced DeChavilier to the position of Director of the Regular Army, making him responsible for the training and motivation of the SLDF's millions of soldiers, pilots, and MechWarriors.[1]

Star League Civil War[edit]

After the outbreak of the Periphery Uprising, DeChavilier would receive his final promotion, becoming Deputy Commanding General of the Star League Defense Forces. Charged with preparing the entire SLDF for war, DeChavilier followed Kerensky into the field, inspiring and leading his armies as they went to war against the rebellious Territorial States.[3]

In 2771, DeChavilier planned and organized Operation INTRUDER as part of the Hegemony Campaign. This plan called for all the surviving regimental combat teams to start reconnaissance probes and raids into Amaris-held worlds in a effort to gain intelligence and contact resistance groups; paving the way for Operation CHIEFTAIN the main assault.[4]

DeChavilier was placed in charge of Task Force Sun during Operation CHIEFTAIN in 2772, this gave him overall command of three Army Groups: the Fourth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-first, comprising a total of twenty-six BattleMech divisions, seventy-seven infantry divisions, and sixty-three independent regiments.[5]

Star League in Exile[edit]

After joining the Exodus and surviving the long journey to the Pentagon Worlds, DeChavilier remained by the side of Alexander Kerensky. DeChavilier was his oldest friend, though even he could not rouse Kerensky from his malaise after the death of his wife. Full blown rioting and civil war soon broke out, finally giving a threat Kerensky could respond to, but the outcomes would be far-reaching.[6] DeChavilier and Hazen were ordered to disarm a historically-Liao separatist faction ahead of a diplomatic mission on Eden.

Death[edit]

Main article: DeChavilier Massacre

General Aaron DeChavilier died in 2801, killed by insurgent inferno-infantry as he attempted to eject from his BattleMech[7] His death would be quickly followed by that of Protector of the Star League Alexander Kerensky, all of which would go on to have profound impacts in the Second Exodus, the founding of the Clans and their return to the Inner Sphere.[8]

Legacy[edit]

Aaron DeChavilier married and had five children. Like General Kerensky, DeChavilier had left his family behind in their Unity City home on Terra after deploying to the Periphery, with his wife Cynthia and his three youngest children—Julia, Benjamin, and Kristina—killed by agents of Stefan Amaris while searching for members of House Cameron in the wake of the Amaris Coup. His two eldest children, Major Roger DeChavilier and Colonel Angela DeChavilier-Banacek, would both ultimately die during the Periphery Uprising and Operation CHIEFTAIN, respectively.[2]

DeChavilier was rumored to have been lover to the first Clan Jade Falcon Khan, Elizabeth Hazen. Falcon historians have waffled between having sparse evidence and outright admitting their relationship, but little is confirmed. It is likewise quietly insinuated that DeChavilier broke the confidentiality of the upcoming Exodus and traveled to Budapest to break Hazen's self-imposed exile and ensured her inclusion.[9][10]

BattleMechs[edit]

DeChavilier piloted an Atlas BattleMech at the time of his death.[11]

Quotes[edit]

“ By the time we got to them… These weren't human. They couldn't talk. They just lashed out at us… The doctors are already saying they will never again live aboveground in society. It would be better to put them down now. More humane than letting them live another minute. How the hell? ”
  — General Aaron DeChavilier, Personal Diary, 23 May 2780[12]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 59: "Aaron DeChavilier"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 60: "Aaron DeChavilier"
  3. ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, pp. 59–60: "Aaron DeChavilier"
  4. ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 116: "Never Give Up"
  5. ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 121: "Operation Chieftain SLDF Order of Battle"
  6. ↑ Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 22: "Second Exodus"
  7. ↑ Jade Falcon Sourcebook, pp. 10–11: "The Legend of Turkina"
  8. ↑ Wolf Clan Sourcebook, pp. 10–11: "Time of Darkness"
  9. ↑ Jade Falcon Sourcebook, p. 9: "Elizabeth Hazen"
  10. ↑ Field Manual: Crusader Clans, pp. 90–91
  11. ↑ Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 20
  12. ↑ Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 14: "The Fall Of The Star League"

Bibliography[edit]

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