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15TH RANGERS CLUSTER
CO: Star Colonel Sacha Sradac
Unit Status: Veteran/Questionable
Unit Nickname: The Bear Necessities
Unit Insignia: A silhouette of an SLDF infantryman carrying a Mauser 960, riding a saddled bear
Unit Colors: The standard Tau Galaxy scheme, flame red on the front half and ash gray on the rear half, with an undulating line of flame separating the halves

OFFICERS

Sacha Sradac

Decanted: 3113 (33 in 3146)
Homeworld: Alshain
Gunnery: 1
Piloting: 2
SPAs: Hot Dog, Some Like It Hot

Sacha Sradac is an Elemental turned Mechwarrior, and is often called something rarely used to describe Clan warriors: kind. Raised in a mixed Mechwarrior/Elemental sibko made from a combination of Bekker and Sradac legacies, Sacha passed his Trial of Position with a single kill. He was assigned to a Nova in the Eighteenth Battle Cluster, where he quickly befriended nearly everyone in the unit, warrior and civilian both. Always willing to be someone's sparring partner, get supplies for a fellow warrior's Great Work, or assist a technician working overtime, Sacha was so well-liked he never had a single Trial of Grievance declared against him in his career, and quickly worked his way up to Nova Commander. That career nearly ended when he was severely injured winning his Bloodname, losing both legs from his last opponent's final salvo. Extensive reconstructive surgery ensured he would never again be able to endure the strain of piloting his Rogue Bear battlesuit, so Sacha retrained as a 'Mech pilot with the help of the Mechwarriors in his Trinary, finding he was even better at the controls of BattleMech than he had been in a battlesuit. By 3143 he was a Star Captain, leading an assault Trinary in the First Rasalhague Bears squeezed into the cockpit of his Savage Wolf. When Tau arrived at Kufstein and Trialed the Bears for possession of a shipment of refitted 'Mechs passing through the system, Sacha's Trinary was chosen to defend against the Horses. The opposing Trinaries paired off into zellbrigen duels, and Sacha found himself outmaneuvered and outfought by the Horse Star Commander Aeneas O'Reilly. His Savage Wolf's engine crippled by precision fire from O'Reilly's Vapor Eagle, he watched as the rest of his unit was defeated in detail by the elite Horse warriors. He and the other survivors of his Trinary were taken bondsman by the Horses, who respected both their skill and the honor they had acquitted themselves with. When Galaxy Commander Amirault decided to form a Ranger Cluster around a core of Bear isorla, Sacha fought only a single challenger in the Trial of Position that followed; beloved by the warriors from his old Trinary, they rallied around him and have thrown themselves into training their greener counterparts from the 55th PGC. Over the past few months, Star Colonel Sradac has been putting his new Kodiak II through its paces. Due its extremely roomy cockpit, he often quips that he was assigned the Kodiak II because it was the only 'Mech he could fit in.


Demetria DelVillar

Decanted: 3121 (25 in 3146)
Homeworld: Alshain
Gunnery: 2
Piloting: 2
SPAs: Hopping Jack

Demetria DelVillar is, if not a ristar, a warrior who has experienced a sudden upswing in her career in recent years. Assigned to the 283rd Battle Cluster upon passing her Trial of Position, she initially did little to stand out from her peers. However, when the 283rd fought on Ganshoren against the Fourth Falcon Striker Cluster in 3144, Demetria took command of her Star after her superior officer was killed by an Elemental headhunter Star, holding off the attacking Falcons long enough to allow the rest of her Trinary to withdraw without taking further losses. One thing led to another, and before long she found herself a Blooded Star Commander serving with the elite First Rasalhague Bears. Demetria had just returned to the First after participating in a successful Clawing (an experience which left her with a noticeable scar across her right eye) when Tau Galaxy struck. She watched as her commander once again fell, this time in a zellbrigen duel, but when Demetria engaged her own challenger, she too found herself outmatched; her opponent, Aphrodite DeLaurel, cut her Karhu's leg out from under it with a series of precision laser barrages in less than two minutes.

Now a bondsman to DeLaurel, Demetria worked hard to regain her warrior status, and within a few months she and her fellow former Bears were made abtakha and used to form the core of the new 15th Rangers Cluster. After Aliza Bekker's failed challenge to Sasha Sradac for command of the Cluster at its inception, Demetria fought her for command of the unit's second 'Mech Trinary but lost to Bekker in turn, and was instead returned to her old rank of Star Commander. She remains content in the role for now, but has her eye on Star Captain Bekker's position and intends to Trial her for it if Bekker shows any weakness.


Aliza Bekker

Decanted: 3123 (23 in 3146)
Homeworld: Satalice
Gunnery: 2
Piloting: 2
SPAs: Maneuvering Ace

Of the three Blooded Bears captured by Tau Galaxy on Kufstein, Aliza Bekker is the only one who could unambiguously described as a ristar. The direct genedaughter of Khan Dalia Bekker, Aliza was practically groomed from birth to one day command a Cluster, Galaxy, or the Clan itself, which is why she is deeply galled with her current predicament. A Star Commander out of the sibko, four years with the 3rd Bear Guards culminated in a Bloodname and a transfer to the First Rasalhague Bears to cultivate her political connections among the future elite of both the Ghost Bear and native Rasalhagian officer corps. Aliza had been serving with the First for just a few months when her fateful encounter with Aphrodite DeLaurel in March 3146 ended with her Executioner gutted and a bondcord around her wrist.

Following her bondsmanship and restoration to warrior status, she was Sacha Sradac's sole challenger when he Trialed for command of the 15th Rangers. Though defeated, she still managed to rise to Star Captain when she and Demetria DelVillar Trialed against each other for the position and Aliza emerged victorious due to meticulous maneuvering of her Mad Dog Mk IV through tight terrain that allowed her to get the drop on DelVillar. However, with the loss of her birth Clan she fears she has hit the upper boundary of her career in the warrior caste, and she is also keenly aware that Star Commander DelVillar covets her current command. She now stands balanced on a knife's edge, not knowing whether her future will see her rise like a phoenix or fall like a house of cards.


Isabel Johnston

Decanted: 3121 (25 in 3146)
Homeworld: Csesztreg
Gunnery: 1
SPAs: None

Isabel Johnston, the Cluster's executive officer, was sent by the Khans to "babysit" the newborn 15th Rangers, ensuring that the Bear adoptees are properly integrated into the Horse touman and brought into line with Horse doctrines and practices. The Star Captain's results have been somewhat mixed, as some of the abtakha believe there is a chance they may be recaptured by their old Clan. Only the rigidness of Clan honor has allowed Johnston to keep the Cluster in line, although she has had some success pointing them to the example of Jake Kabrinski, the famous Bear-ristar-turned-Horse-Khan.

Isabel received this assignment partly because, unlike the more powerful and numerous House Grimheald, House Johnston's fortunes have greatly waned since the end of the Jihad and thus they are dependent on political patronage from the more powerful and well-connected figures within the Clan. While success will prove valuable to her House, Isabel is personally dissatisfied with the posting, seeing it as potential career poison if she fails. Since her chance to advance to Cluster command likely rides on her shaping the Rangers into a reliable force, she is determined to see it through despite her reservations.


TACTICS

The 15th Rangers were raised in the months between Clan Hell's Horses' recapture of New Oslo and the Rasalhague Dominion's counterattack. Composed largely of a mix of abtakha and salvage from the First Rasalhague Bears and 55th PGC, the two 'Mech Trinaries are backed by a veteran ProtoMech Binary sent from Csesztreg. Due to the origin of its salvage, nearly two-thirds of the Cluster's 'Mechs are heavy- or assault-class, and nothing lighter than forty tons. The Bergan Industries factory megaplex, still swarming with Horse laborers and technicians, is expected to supply the 15th with enough 'Mechs to expand to full size once the new lines are fully operational. While the Cluster has yet to fight any actual opponents as a unit, they have been training relentlessly against the rest of Tau Galaxy; so far they have experimented with breaking Binary Zeta into its constituent Stars and operating in support of each Trinary separately, acting as flanking elements after the 'Mechs have engaged.


TO&E

Trinary Alpha
Kodiak II
Star Colonel Sacha Sradac
Gunnery [1], Piloting [2], Hot Dog, Some Like It Hot

Executioner
Mechwarrior Samuel
Gunnery [2], Piloting [3]

Executioner
Mechwarrior Makeen
Gunnery [2], Piloting [2]

Bruin
Mechwarrior Everett
Gunnery [2], Piloting [3]

Bruin 2
Mechwarrior Nuno
Gunnery [2], Piloting [2]

-----

Karhu
Star Commander Demetria DelVillar
Gunnery [2], Piloting [2], Hopping Jack

Arcas
Mechwarrior Trevor
Gunnery [3], Piloting [3]

Arcas
Mechwarrior Than
Gunnery [3], Piloting [4]

Beowulf IIC
Mechwarrior Nhat
Gunnery [3], Piloting [4]

Beowulf IIC
Mechwarrior Tiburcio
Gunnery [3], Piloting [5]

-----

Karhu
Star Commander Bjorn
Gunnery [2], Piloting [4]

Warhammer IIC 8
Mechwarrior Renato
Gunnery [2], Piloting [3]

Bowman 3
Mechwarrior Xylina
Gunnery [3], Piloting [3]

Sun Cobra 2
Mechwarrior Bill
Gunnery [3], Piloting [4]

Lobo 2
Mechwarrior Edna
Gunnery [3], Piloting [3]



Trinary Beta
Mad Dog Mk. IV
Star Captain Aliza Bekker
Gunnery [2], Piloting [2], Maneuvering Ace

Mad Dog Mk. III
Mechwarrior Nobuhito
Gunnery [3], Piloting [3]

Mad Dog Mk. III
Mechwarrior Melba
Gunnery [3], Piloting [4]

Stooping Hawk
Mechwarrior Constantia
Gunnery [2], Piloting [2]

Nova
Mechwarrior Calynda
Gunnery [2], Piloting [3]

-----

Archer C 2
Star Commander Karsten
Gunnery [1], Piloting [3]

Archer C 2
Mechwarrior Iria
Gunnery [2], Piloting [4]

Archer C 2
Mechwarrior Thalat
Gunnery [3], Piloting [5]

Archer C 2
Mechwarrior Melesse
Gunnery [3], Piloting [5]

Archer C 2
Mechwarrior Idola
Gunnery [3], Piloting [5]

-----

Beowulf C
Star Commander Rosina
Gunnery [2], Piloting [3]

Beowulf C
Mechwarrior Maria
Gunnery [3], Piloting [4]

Beowulf C
Mechwarrior Liesbeth
Gunnery [3], Piloting [4]

Beowulf C
Mechwarrior Zalika
Gunnery [3], Piloting [4]

Beowulf C
Mechwarrior Katinka
Gunnery [3], Piloting [5]



Binary Zeta
Sprite 2 Point
Star Commander Isabel Johnston [1]
Warrior Veronica [1]
Warrior Vanessa [2]
Warrior Nicholas [2]
Warrior Anisa [2]

Sprite 2 Point
Point Commander Sun [1]
Warrior Ivano [2]
Warrior Cenk [2]
Warrior Panas [2]
Warrior Yoshii [2]

Sprite 2 Point
Point Commander Tokie [1]
Warrior Yanthe [2]
Warrior Handan [2]
Warrior Foolan [2]
Warrior Rhodes [2]

Minotaur Point
Point Commander Adonis [1]
Warrior Natasia [2]
Warrior Zinaida [2]
Warrior Timothy [2]
Warrior Clare [2]

Minotaur Point
Point Commander Denes [1]
Warrior Estralita [2]
Warrior Mariam [2]
Warrior Habib [2]
Warrior Yin-fat [2]

-----

Minotaur 3 Point
Star Commander Persis [0]
Warrior Giolla [2]
Warrior Adala [2]
Warrior Alim [2]
Warrior Haidar [2]

Minotaur 3 Point
Point Commander William [1]
Warrior Apija [2]
Warrior Iarshek [2]
Warrior Inghean [2]
Warrior Sugimoto [2]

Minotaur 3 Point
Point Commander Zenaida [1]
Warrior Okan [2]
Warrior Sophie [2]
Warrior Jorge [2]
Warrior Kadidu [2]

Boggart HH Point
Point Commander Belen [1]
Warrior Lainie [2]
Warrior Maria [2]
Warrior Osileani [2]
Warrior Janji [2]

Boggart HH Point
Point Commander Vegard [1]
Warrior Edgar [2]
Warrior Quinn [2]
Warrior Katsuyoshi [2]
Warrior Carmelina [2]