Editing Michael Ryan

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{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = Michael_Ryan_CCG.jpg 
| name                = Michael Ryan
| birthdate           = [[3028]]<ref name=TotC-15>''Twilight of the Clans'', p. 15 "Personalities - Sho-sa Michael Ryan"</ref>
| died                = 
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[Draconis Combine]]
| rank                = ''[[Sho-sa]]''
| title               =
| position            =
| profession          = 
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
}}
'''Michael Ryan''' was the overall commander of DEST forces assigned to [[Task Force Serpent]].

==History==
===Early Life to Clan Invasion Era===
Born on the [[Proserpina Prefecture]] world of [[Junction]], Ryan was accepted in the [[Sun Tzu School of Combat]]. Excelling in the school's hallmark of coordinating disparate military forces and formations, Michael graduated in [[3050]] and immediately submitted an application to the [[Internal Security Force]] for acceptance into the Draconis Elite Strike Team school on [[Pesht]]. Attaining an excellent record of cooperation, leadership and determination, Michael graduated in [[3054]] and was assigned to [[DEST Two]], serving with distinction as assistant team leader on numerous operations against [[Clan Smoke Jaguar|Clans Smoke Jaguar]] and [[Clan Nova Cat|Nova Cat]].<ref name=TotC-15/>

In August [[3057]], Ryan was promoted to ''[[Tai-i]]'' and designated the leader of the newly formed [[DEST Six]], <ref name=TotC-15/>surviving the loyalty inquiry after [[Coordinator]] [[Theodore Kurita]]'s assassination attempt in [[3058]]. He and DEST Team Six were later chosen to escort the Coordinator to the [[First Whitting Conference]] on [[Tharkad]].

===Task Force Serpent===
A competent officer and imaginative field commander, Ryan's natural abilities to integrate his training in both conventional and nonconventional warfare made him a natural choice to command the DEST elements assigned to Task Force Serpent, promoting him to ''[[Sho-sa]]''.<ref name=TotC-15/>
Once on [[Defiance]], where all units of Task Force Serpent trained, Ryan's team led a very realistic exercise, assaulting "enemy" JumpShips in orbit. With the advantage of [[Kage]] suits, they won against soldiers wearing basic infantry armor, but at a heavy cost of casualties, including Ryan, who found himself eliminated by a single shot. Only later, after making contact with the OPFOR leader, did Ryan discover their enemies weren't common Davion Marines at all, but rather commandos of MI6, the famed "Rabid Foxes", troops with a reputation rivaling that of DEST<ref name=ACtA012>.''The Hunters'' p. 90</ref>.
The two groups of elite commandos started to train together, learning to trust one another. The forces even picked up some habits from the other, with the Fox Teams developing a more patient approach from DEST, and the Kuritan operatives learning something of the Davion penchant for Direct Action. Ryan's team found itself assigned to the Kuritan frigate [[Haruna]] for the operation. 
The first combat mission of Ryan and his team was in the [[Battle of Trafalgar]]. There, Commodore Beresick ordered the frigate and Ryan's team to board and capture the [[Winter Wind]], an Invader-class jumpship of Clan Ghost Bear that had been disabled. 
Ryan's team boarded the ship, and managed to capture it after defeating the Clan marine force of Elementals protecting it, without any fatalities. They also managed to capture a DropShip intact, the [[Ice Dart]].

===Huntress===
Ryan and his team were the first troops of Serpent to land on Huntress. Their objective was to destroy the Space Defense System guarding Huntress so that other troops could land. Ryan's team used the ''Ice Dart'', which for the Jaguars, was "destroyed" in a crash. The ship landed on continent Abysmal, while the troops performed a paradrop. 

It took the DEST teams three nights to make their way to their objective, as surprise was essential and maximum stealth was necessary, limiting their movements to only a few kilometers every night. 
On March 5th, only hours before the task force was due to jump in, the DEST teams arrived at Mount Szabo and reconnoitered the entrance to the facility, finding the main gate guarded by a three meter-high wall topped with razor wiring and a pair of armored Elementals. Hijacking a hovertruck and eliminating both Elementals with well-placed Tsunami sniper shots, the teams gained entry to the facility covertly and secured the door behind them. Inside, the teams split to hit three discrete objectives: Team Four towards the main planetary sensor network control station, Team Five to take out the main Command and Control room, and finally Team Six, led by Major Ryan, was tasked with taking the SDS control center. The teams initially ran into no problems, storming each room quickly, but at the SDS command center one technician managed to trigger an alarm before being gunned down. With surprise lost, the DEST teams swiftly planted their charges and executed the remaining technicians before starting their exfiltration. A rapid response team of two Elemental Points summoned by the alarm complicated matters however, arriving as Team Four attempted egress. A brief but vicious firefight broke out that cost the DEST teams six men before the rest of their commandos arrived and eliminated the enemy reinforcements.<ref name=SF15>''Sword and Fire'', ch. 15</ref>

The remaining 24 Commandos left the area before further reinforcements arrived and the charges detonated on schedule, achieving the primary objectives of the mission. However, by necessity, the DEST commandos were forced to leave their dead behind. 
After the first mission, Ryan's team joined without problems with the first units of Task Force, but they were too weakened to take part in the rest of Huntress battle, until the Jaguar's reinforcements arrived. Then, General Winston ordered them to protect the genetic repository of Lootera, now a field hospital for Task Force Serpent. 
Later, they leave his post under General Winston's orders and joined the Northern group. Their team had also taken heavy casualties, apparently while protecting the final units pulling out of Lootera, leaving them with 5 effective and 8 walking wounded.<ref name=ACtA03>''Sword and Fire'' p. 70</ref>.
Major Ryan, somewhat frustrated at being kept out of the fighting while the other units of the Task Force fought for their lives, proposed that he set up an observation post five kilometers out from the main Inner Sphere forces Bivouac to keep an eye on their back trail while they tried to get some rest and repair. Taking with them a number of Man portable TAG designators, the five Commandos would be in a position to spot for the half a dozen remaining units with Arrow-IV missiles should the Jaguars show up. Everyone being aware that the DEST team would not survive if the Jaguars detected them and charged, Winston gave a green light reluctantly. Later that day, a reconnaissance star of OmniMechs indeed appeared in the mountain pass they were watching. Ordered to let them go without revealing his position Ryan and his men waited patiently and half an hour later, two Trinaries of BattleMechs with many Elementals in support arrived and the commandos went into action.
Three Clan 'Mechs were destroyed by the guided missile attack and a fourth heavily damaged. Major Ryan personally made an anti-'Mech attack on a fifth, blowing off its leg, but in exchange the DEST team was destroyed - although Major Ryan and one other survivor would manage to break contact and eventually rejoin the Northern army and the four remaining WIA commandos who had been forced to sit the engagement out.<ref name=ACtA04>''Shadows of War'', page 96</ref>

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[The Hunters]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Shadows of War]]''
* ''[[Sword and Fire]]'' 
* ''[[Twilight of the Clans]]''

[[Category:Draconis Combine Characters|Ryan, Michael]]