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An intelligence report from my AU just back from holiday so this hopefully will get me back into the swing of things writing.

Star League Defence Force Intelligence Report – Wolf’s Dragoons

To:    First Lord Victor Steiner-Davion
Commanding General Victor Focht, Star League Defence Force
Protector General Devlin Stone, Kittery Prefecture
General Caradoc Trevena, Head of First Lord’s Staff
Fleet Admiral Anthony Fitzgerald, Star League Defence Force Naval Command

From:   General James Topher, Star League Intelligence, Annex IV, Mars, Sol System

Sire,

When you challenged intelligence with making this report I must admit my initial reaction was one of confusion.  Since their arrival in the Inner Sphere the Wolf’s Dragoons have been subject to dozens of intelligence reports first covering their stunning early successes, their willingness to work for any of the Succession States, the Battle of Misery, their stewardship over Outreach and giving the MRBC a place to operate, to the revelation that they had in fact originated with the Clans who themselves were descendants of the original Star League Defence Force and their subsequent operations that have seen them continue to work in the Inner Sphere serving the Succession States against their neighbours and against the Clans.

I have endeavoured to bring together where the Dragoons currently stand instead of rehashing previous reports into this document and highlighted their position in the areas that you requested.  For those who are unfamiliar with the Dragoons history I would direct you to previous written reports. [I’d also ask what rock they’ve been living under – CT]

Wolf’s Dragoons
Commander: General Sean Dorran
WolfNet: General Stacy Church
Affliction: Mercenary Command
Territory: Outreach, Star League Protectorate, Home, District of Bowang (FWL)

Overview
With the passing of Jamie Wolf in 3067 the command passed too Maeve Wolf and subsequently to other senior Dragoons until its current leadership Sean Dorran and Stacy Church took command in 3092.  Both current leaders hold the rank of General and it is believed that each has the authority to take command of any Dragoon unit though Dorran appears to concentrate on the regular Dragoon Regiments and Home Guard units while Church has direct authority over the Dragoon Special Forces and WolfNet. [Both also appear to have a very tight working relationship despite holding the same rank there’s no suggestion that there is a rivalry between the two – CT]

Outreach and Home continue to be administered by local authorities with little involvement from the Dragoons.  Since most industries supply the Dragoons with food, clothing, ammunition and construction materials the Dragoons actually have a hold over both worlds that is far more effective than trying to control the governments.  [Basically if they want to make changes the Dragoons change to an external supplier for a month and make a company go bust allowing a friendlier establishment to the Dragoons to move in.  Capitalism that actually works – CT]

Capabilities
The current total strength of the Wolf’s Dragoons is believed to be approximately at four front-line regiments of BattleMechs (Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta), all of which have been upgraded with significant Clan technology and have the best Inner Sphere technology available to them, each is supported by at least a wing of aerospace fighters, at least one Clan styled Cluster of vehicles, a full Battle Armour Battalion and an Artillery Battalion.  Individually the Dragoon Regiments can match any Inner Sphere or Clan command in open battle.

These mainline troops are supported by two independent clusters (Zeta Cluster and Black Widow Cluster) and the Seventh Kommando Special Forces Command.  The Dragoons further back up these forces with four Home Guard Regiments which are essentially Combined Arms Regiments for protecting Dragoon facilities and dependants. [The Home Guard are not your run of the mill garrison forces they’ve got a bite to them but completely lack transport assets restricting them to Outreach and Home.  The Kommandos are as good as anyone’s Special Forces – CT]

With full JumpShip and DropShip support available to the Dragoon’s ground forces the Dragoons also have three WarShips available to them a Congress II-class Frigate, a Davion III-class Destroyer and a Dire Wolf-class Heavy Cruiser. [Rumours suggest that the two Dragoon Generals want to increase the number of WarShips they have.  With their access to Clipperton it’s entirely possible that they could add more vessels to their fleet.  These WarShips continue to be one of the most potent WarShip forces in private hands with only the Subtlety being a stronger vessel – CT]

Facilities
The Dragoons continue to have significant training and manufacturing facilities on Outreach a world that they continue to hold as their own despite accepting membership into the Star League Protectorate.  Although most MRBC Hiring is now done through Galatea many mercenary commands are drawn to the Dragoons Homeworld trusting in the Dragoons to make sure the contract is legit which continues to bring in a significant amount of money to the mercenary command and Outreach’s economy.  To this date there has been no standing military presence from the SLDF on Outreach.  [They accepted the creation of the Outreach Training Battalion through gritted teeth WolfNet continues to keep a very close eye on the unit but the Dragoons are slowly accepting that not everyone who lives on Outreach wants to be a mercenary. – CT]

While Outreach appears to still be important to the mercenaries Home in the Free Worlds League has been gaining greater importance over recent years.  It is suggested that Home has as much manufacturing facilities as Outreach does though the quality of the products manufactured there is not known. [Truth be told I think it would be difficult to imagine the Dragoons are building anything but Clan tech on Home or Outreach.  Given their history I wouldn’t expect them to observe patents either. – CT]

Politics/Influence
First Lord the Dragoons have traditionally tried to distance themselves from politics however over the last few years it’s difficult to look at a few of their moves other than see them as politically motivated.  First was their propping up of the District of Bowang in the Free Worlds League, which netted them the world of Home, the Dragoons choose to support Bowang as part of an extended contract and then renewed their contract further supporting the small district.  Although not part of Bowang’s official military it is known that Dragoon advisors have been seen on several worlds of the small district.  The second is their continued refusal to work with the Capellan Confederation a feud which we believe goes back to the death of Maeve Wolf at the hands of Capellan MechWarriors maintaining closed links with one of the great houses has not crippled the Dragoons but still a strange thing for mercenaries to do.  [Considering they now accept contracts with the Combine despite the Death to Mercenaries Command issued against them by Takashi Kurita I think we’ll see the Dragoons go back to the Confederation perhaps not for another ten or twenty years but they are mercenaries. – CT]

In the past the Dragoons were also part of the Allied Mercenary Command which played a pivotal role in the destruction of the Word of Blake and the MRBC, which has brought the mercenary trade into the respected position it currently is in.  Although the AMC is long gone the Dragoons continue to hold strong ties to the commands that were once part of that organisation and with other major mercenary units.  While the Dragoons continue to operate their own Hiring Hall on Outreach they maintain close links with the MRBC on Galatea Station as well.  [A small understatement the Dragoons have been known to send emissaries to the likes of the Lexington Combat Group, a unit which works exclusively in the Federated Suns, and Eridani Light Horse and Northwind Highlanders despite both of these commands now being aligned with the SLDF.  They’ve also maintained links to commands like the Star Seeds, Chaos Irregulars and Periphery Star Guard despite those units not really doing much of notice over the last few years.  While the Seventh Kommando are rarely seen attached directly to a contract where the Dragoons go the Kommando and/or WolfNet are never far away.  In short the Dragoons remain one of the most influential organisations in the Inner Sphere. – CT]

Economic
While the Dragoons did not come to the Inner Sphere to make money they have made money since the day they arrived in the Inner Sphere.  Initially they made money through their own contracts and then through their dealings with the MRBC on Outreach.  More recently they have been making money through both Outreach and Home with training, equipment and support being supplied by the Dragoons.  The SLDF has even contracted the Dragoons for assistance in maintaining their Clan technology – something that the Sea Foxes were quite annoyed about.  The Dragoons are without a doubt the richest mercenary command currently active in the Inner Sphere.

Economic – the Dragoon Bill
For years a rumour has gone around the Inner Sphere that at their height of power the Dragoons planned to distribute what they called the Dragoon Bill a new currency that Jamie Wolf wished to rival the C-Bill as a universal currency.  The Dragoon idea reportedly was to release it first on Outreach to every mercenary command and have those commands distribute the currency throughout the Inner Sphere.  If rumours are to be believed the Dragoons would credit any of the Succession States who used their Bill instead of the C-Bill which would have allowed the currency’s use to expand across the Inner Sphere and beyond.  Ultimately if rumours are to be believed Jamie Wolf gave up on the Dragoon Bill in early 3060 when the Dragoons ceased to believe that ComStar was the threat to them that they had originally perpetrated.

Star League analysis believes that the Dragoons did not have the base to release a new currency from Outreach and that they would need external support and banks willing to carry the currency across the Inner Sphere.  While ComStar is long gone the C-Bill has continued to be printed across the Inner Sphere and is still accepted as a universal currency that almost everyone accepts for payment of goods and services while the Dragoons have returned to their previous military strength, and perhaps surpassed it, they still lack the resources and support to release their own currency.  [Vic, is this the point of this whole document?  The C-Bill is long in the tooth but this Star League was not created to create an economic revolution we’ve got worlds under our protection across the Inner Sphere but that kind of project would take decades to bring fruit and you’d need to get all the Inner Sphere’s banks to agree.  We’d need to open banking facilities across the Inner Sphere, hire staff and try to run it efficiently.  There is no actual proof that Jamie Wolf ever planned to launch this Bill in the first place I personally think he created the idea, the myth, to throw ComStar off and get them to waste money and resources. – CT]

Future
It is believed that the Dragoons will continue to invest in Home at the expense of Outreach in the future as Home becomes their defacto homeworld.  While there is no suggestion that the Dragoons plan on abandoning the landhold that First Prince Hanse Davion if anything Star League Intelligence believes that the Dragoons have fortified Outreach even more today than they ever have with their in system space stations now hosting an array of naval weaponry.  Facts about Home’s defences are just as thin but it is believed that the Dragoons have plans to deploy stations in that system as well as part of a makeshift System Defence System.  [If the Dragoons get access to Clipperton and maybe a ship or two produced from there combined with the space stations at Outreach and Home we will not budge them without a full assault force.  The Dragoons have learned from Wayne Waco’s attack on Outreach now they have layers upon layers protecting their civilians and production – CT]

With two of their front-line regiments constantly deployed while the other two are resting, refitting and training the Dragoon banks are being kept quite full.  Assuming they are able to avoid another debacle like the one made Koinz which cost them Epsilon Regiment when the Regiment was caught in space against a WarShip’s guns then the Dragoons should continue to be one of the premier units in the Inner Sphere.  [Epsilon is still off the books for the Dragoons it’s strange they have the resources to reconstitute it but for some reason it remains inactive.  Kelly Yukinov’s command that all Dragoon Regiments that are deployed against the Clans take WarShip support still stands so by rights they shouldn’t run into a Koinz issue again.  That being said with the amount of active WarShips that are currently in the Inner Sphere and beyond at the rate things are going no regiment will be safe without naval support.  It’s a problem either way we look at it if the Dragoons want more WarShips they have the funds and the resources to get them but they already have a small fleet of privately owned vessels and allowing them to gain more could be problematic in the long run.  – CT]