Davion Heavy Guards History
Created
in 2642, the Davion Heavy Guards were the seventh
unit to belong to the Brigade. Commissioned during the "Century of
Peace" the Heavy Guards were soon chosen to garrison New Avalon. But more
importantly the Heavy Guards were also to be ready, at a moment’s notice, to
deploy anywhere in the Federated Suns to bolster key defenses or to repel any
invaders. During these early years of our history peace was the order of the
day. The Star League was a dream for mankind and a dream worth keeping. Our
first true call to action did not come until 2725, when Mary Davion-Kurita’s oldest son, Vincent Kurita, would press his
claim to the throne. Later history would call this time the War of Davion Succession. Others would say it was the beginning of
the end for the Star League.
The Draconis Combine, lead by Coordinator Takiro
Kurita, attacked the world of Marduk in an attempt to
force their claim to the Davion throne. Soon the
clash over the world Marduk would become a full-scale
invasion by the forces of the Dragon. Not prepared for this invasion, the
Federated Suns, and the Heavy Guards, was repeatedly thrown from world after
world. The shear number of troops that the Kurita’s had thrown into the
invasion raised serious doubts as to where all those troops where coming from
so suddenly. (It was later learned that they had been violating the Cameron
Edict of 2650, which limited house armies, for years) It was not until General Kessem reached the Combine world of Ludwig, threatening to
cut off the Kurita advance that the “Army of the Crucis”
finally gained some breathing space. It was during this time that the forces of
the Federated Suns rallied and began to take back worlds from the Dragon, with
the Heavy Guards in the lead. Wanting to stop the invasion and put the Dragon
on the defensive, General Kessem began to fight his
way to meet up with Prince Joseph force. Both forces met on the planet Royal in
2729. The Combine army had not expected both forces to suddenly merge, and were
thrown into disarray. In an impulsive moment, the Prince opted to lead the
forces on Royal personally from his Marauder. It was a decision that would cost
him his life and threatened to cost us the war. The Princes Mech was disabled
in the fight, and a malfunctioning escape mechanism trapped Prince Joseph
inside his Mech allowing the Kuritans
to close in and killed him. With the Princes death all Davion
troops retreated from Royal. It was at this critical moment the Star League
chose to honor its promise to help the Davions in the
advent of a Kurita invasion. The Star League Regular Army arrived at Royal and
imposed a cease-fire. The war was over and all Davion
units now began the process of rebuilding. The Heavy Guards returned to New
Avalon more determined than ever to never again allow a foreign power to do
what House Kurita had done. Unfortunately history would show these plans to be
ineffective.
For the
next thirteen years the Heavy Guards prepared for what their Prince thought
might happen, the end of the Star League. A militia system was created on all
worlds, and the entire Federated Suns military was expanded, but never in
violation if the word of the Edict of 2650. Then in 2743 the First Lord of the
Star League was killed in a freak accident while inspecting a mining facility.
In an unprecedented show if faith in the Star League, newly christened Prince
John Davion argued for, and won, the support of his
fellow Council Lords to appoint General Aleksandr Kerensky, then commander of the Star League Army, as Regent
and Protector until the young First Lord (then 8 years old) reached his
majority at age 18. During the Regency years Prince John was a strong supporter
of General Kerensky’s initiatives as Protector and
Regent. It was during the Regency that our Prince could see the beginning of
the end. The last straw was the passing of the Periphery taxation act, which
our Prince opposed to the end. Then starting in 2758, the Capellan
Confederation forces began to harass mercantile interests along the border.
This continued until 2760, when the Prince finally felt obliged to muster a
force of Household troops for a strike into Capellan
space. The Heavy Guards were assigned the world of Wei
to take in the mane of the Federated Suns. The invasion lasted for two years
and ended with the withdraw from Wei and Tsamma, as the Prince now had more pressing matters to
attend, Richard Cameron had come of age.
The new
First Lord had passed Executive Order 156, calling for the disbanding of all
the House armies. Once the Council Lords were all on Terra, Prince John rose to
talk to the new young First Lord. In an eloquent speech, he admitted that an
ideal League would eliminate the House Armies that could create such internal
disputes as the Kurita attack on his own realm 40 years earlier. In an ideal
universe, all six Houses would be united under the banner of the Star League
Regular Army. He went on to say, however, that the Star League was a voluntary
association of sovereign states created to promote cooperation and discourage
needless conflicts. The Star League had specifically left domestic policy-
including defense – in the hands of the member states, and it had no right to
encroach on the sovereign rights of any member now. Prince John further
maintained that each state in the League needed its own armed forces for
protection in case a tyrant ascended to the throne of First Lord. The Executive
Order was repealed, and the Council Lords minds were only briefly put at ease.
The Brigade was put on a high state of alert in preparation for any new trouble
from the new First Lord or its neighbors, but nothing ever happened. Then in
2765, the periphery again erupted in rebellion. The entire Federated Suns Armed
Forces were put on high alert, and the Heavy Guards began preparing for a Taurian assault on the rimward
portion of the Federated Suns. But the Star League Regular Army rapidly moved
to put down this uprising. By the end of 2767 almost 75 percent of the Regular
Army was in the periphery fighting the rebellion. Then the unthinkable
happened, the leader of the
General Kerensky immediately recalled all of the Star League Army
from the periphery and began the process of retaking the Terran
Hegemony. It was during this time that the Heavy Guards were released to
General Kerensky to help train replacements needed to
keep the Star League Armies manpower strength up. When General Kerensky began to retake worlds from the Usurper the Heavy
Guards would follow behind and garrison worlds that the Regular Army had
vacated. We would provide humanitarian relief and protect the populace from
renegade
Once
again the Federated Suns were on the defensive and the Heavy guards were called
into action. Unfortunately the Federated Suns had been preparing to attack the Capellan Confederation, and were completely out of position
to respond effectively to the Dragons advances. The best the Heavy Guards could
do was fight a delaying actions until the Davion
military could organize and respond. But this was not enough. So many units had
fallen or been mauled that even the entire Brigade of Guards could not stem the
tide. World after world fell and the Heavy Guards were almost reduced to a
ghost of their former selves. Then a miracle happened. A sniper killed the
Coordinator of the Draconis Combine on a world called
Kentares IV. The Combine military, in a fit of rage
had tried to slaughter the entire population of the planet. Soon the cry of
“Remember Kentares” was being shouted throughout the
Federated Suns. Davion troops everywhere were
rallying and throwing back the invaders. The Heavy Guards and the entire
Brigade was now able to redeem their losses in the eyes of their Prince and
nation. The invasion ended in 2818 with the Dragon being routed to near the
original border. The Heavy Guards and many heavily damaged units were rotated
to the rear to rebuild and re-supply. For now the Federated Suns had survived,
but peace was a long ways off.
By 2825
the war was heating up again, and the Heavy Guards were itching for some
action. Striking deep behind enemy lines at planets with supply warehouses, we
were able to tie up several key regiments. This enabled the Federated Suns
forces to take the worlds of Demeter, Algot, Velexa and Ulan Batar. The
Princes attention was turned back to the Draconis
Combine 2840. The Dragon had launched a series of attacks that had almost cost
the Federated Suns the worlds of Tancredi,
In 2876
Melissa Davion took command of the realm and army. In
a move to keep regiments working together she ordered of the permanent creation
of the Regimental Combat Teams around Battlemech
regiments. The Heavy Guards welcomed this chance to keep the units attached to
them. Working hard to overcome the inherent difficulties of working so closely
with other support units, the Heavy Guards became an even deadlier force now.
Unfortunately the Armistice of Van Diemen IV
prevented the Heavy Guards from carrying the fight to the Capellan
Confederation again. During this time Princess Melissa died from Joshallan Fever and the Heavy Guards would garrison New
Avalon until 2928, when Prince Peter Davion called
the Heavy Guards into action once again. Operation Rolands
Horn had the Guards attacking the planet Ruchbah. The
Heavy Guards landed almost unopposed and soon realized the defenders had
abandon the planet. Similar results were found when the Guards landed on Fomalhaut and took that planet. Then the Heavy Guards were
rapidly packed up and shipped to Lee in a very quiet operation and joined
several other regiments and a large Aerospace Fighter force. The MI10 had
discovered plans for the Confederations upcoming attack on the planet Lee and
Prince Peter was planning a surprise for the invaders. When the battle was
joined the Heavy Guards Aerospace Brigade was instrumental in repulsing the
massed Confederation aerospace assault while the Heavy Guards Battlemech regiment and supporting units drove the Capellans off the planet below. That day later became known
as “The Great Lee Turkey Shoot” because of the number of aerospace fighters the
Capellans lost that day. After the last Capellan forces were destroyed the Heavy Guards joined the
rest of the Brigade to accompany Prince Peter Davion
on a tour of the newly recaptured planet of Breed. It was here that the Brigade
suffered one of its darkest moments. Several traitorous Mechwarriors
killed the Prince in an ambush. Andrew Davion, then a
Major in the Heavy Guards, assumed the reins of rulership.
Several Davion regiments refused to swear fealty to
the new Prince due to the past “favoritism” shown to the aerospace branch in
the past. Gathering the Brigade about him and a large Aerospace Fighter
contingent, Prince Andrew swiftly and savagely attacked the mutineers. In the
course of the campaign that cumulated in the destruction of the 2nd
Avalon Borderers on Deshler, all the rebellious Mechwarriors
had either surrendered of had been killed in combat. Once again the Heavy
Guards returned to New Avalon to rebuild and prepare for when their Prince
would need them again.
The Heavy
Guards would remain on New Avalon until 3014, when Prince Hanse
Davion would lead the regiment on one of the most
important missions of its history. MI10 had found out that the Draconis Combine on Halstead Station had discovered a Star
League Era university housing a huge, unopened vault. Realizing the value of
the vaults contents, the Prince gathered the entire RCT and went to Halstead
Station to recover the vaults contents. Upon landing the Guards fought their
way to the excavation site with their Prince in the lead. Smashing open the
vault with his Battlemasters hands Prince Hanse discovered books. But not just any books, technical
manuals on everything from metallurgy to zenobiology.
Gathering up as many books as possible, and destroying what they could not
carry, the entire RCT fought their way back to their dropships with the priceless
cargo. (It was later learned that a sizeable portion of the vaults contents
were not destroyed and the Draconis Combine recovered
most of them) These books, known as the Halstead Collection, became the
centerpieces of the New Avalon Institute of Science (NAIS) that was built on
New Avalon over the next few years. The Heavy Guards once again was assigned to
protect the Davion homeworld
and capital of the Federated Suns. It would remain this way until 3028, when Hanse Davion married Melissa
Steiner and launched his invasion of the Capellan
Confederation.
On
In the
years of peace that followed the Fourth Succession War the Heavy Guards sent
officer teams to many Lyran regiments and trained
then in combined arms tactics. Many Lyran ‘Mech
regiments were being formed into Regimental Combat Teams, and those regiments
had to learn to fight together and put aside the bickering that plagued Lyran units. During this time the Heavy Guards slowly
rebuilt their losses from the War and made the change over to the new
In March
of 3050 a mysterious attacker struck at the rim of the Lyran
half of the Federated Commonwealth. These strange attackers swept regiment
after regiment gefore them like straw before the
wind. It wasn’t until the Outreach Summit that all the Great house leaders
learned of the true origins of the invaders and of the mysterious Wolf’s
Dragoons. At the beginning of the invasion the Heavy Guards packed up and
headed for the frontier to engage and hopefully defeat the mysterious invaders,
but before they reached their station the ComGuards
had fought the Clans and won a fifteen year truce known as the Truce of Tukayyid. The Heavy Guards took up station on the world of
Fort Loudon, conducting raids on the Jade Falcon and Wolf Clans. Their orders
was to recover as much salvage as possible so scientists of the NAIS could
attempt to unlock the secrets of the Clans advanced ‘Mechs and construction
techniques. It was during these raids that the Heavy Guards began to install
refit kits into their ‘Mechs and began to receive new ‘Mech designs to test out
against the Clans. After almost 4 years of constant raiding, the Heavy Guards
were rotated back to New Avalon to rest and refit. While the years of raids had
netted the unit many captured Clan units, it had also weakened the unit. Barely
able to field two battalions of ‘Mechs and only half of their supporting
regiments intact, the unit looked forward to this period of rest and
relaxation. By the end of 3057 the Heavy Guards were once again combat ready,
with many new and upgraded ‘Mechs filling its ranks. In April 3058, the Heavy
Guards escorted Victor Steiner-Davion to Tukayyid to participate in war games sponsored by Comstar to learn the newest tactics to defeat the Clans.
The Heavy Guards had only just settled in when word came of a Jade Falcon
offensive that was striking deep into Lyran Alliance
territory. News filtered out of the Alliance and it was discovered that the
Falcon offense had stopped just short of Thakard, on
the world of Coventry. Victor gathered a relief force of some of the most elite
regiments in the Inner Sphere to accompany him and the Heavy Guards to relieve
the forces defending Coventry. Thanks to Victors brilliant leadership the
Falcons were driven off Coventry. This victory by a united Inner Sphere force
was the catalyst for the formation of a new Star League. And that new Star
League had a mission. The Heavy Guards packed up and moved to the Draconis Combine as part of the reborn Star League Defense
Force, where they would take the fight back to the Clans with the purpose of
utterly destroying one entire Clan. The Smoke Jaguars would be the target, and
everything depended on the success of their destruction. On May 15th
3059, the Heavy Guards sent one company of volunteers to recon the world of Asgard as part of Operation Bird Dog. Their mission was to
cause as much confusion as possible by destroying communications, command and
control centers and destroying any supply depots they could find. The rest of
the RCT would follow on May 20th with the Third Benjamin Regulars,
the Third Proserpina Hussars and the 278th
ComGuard Division to liberate the world. The Guards
and Comstar unit would secure key sites and stage
recon patrols while the two Kurita units destroyed the Fourth Dragoons Cluster
and the Epsilon Galaxy Command Trinary. The two
Kurita units drove the Jaguar units before them, using the Heavy Guards RCT and
ComGuard Division as the anvil to destroy them on.
The Heavy Guards Third Company, Second Battalion was involved in the battle of
Odin’s Retreat where the Epsilon Galaxy Command Trinary
was destroyed. With the battle for Asgard won, the
Heavy Guards repaired their units and prepared for their part in Wave Three of
Operation Bulldog. On the 10th of August the Heavy Guards RCT hit
Schuyler with the most elite units in the invasion force. The 10th Lyran Guards, 1st Genyosha,
91st ComGuard Division, 1st St.
Ives Lancers, and the 4th Wolf Guards Assault Cluster. Arrayed
against them were the 4th and 12th Jaguar Regulars and
the Nu Galazy Command Trinary. While fighting was fierce, the Clan clusters were
beaten back. The 91st, 1st St Ives and 4th
Wolf Guards pinned down the 12th Jaguar Cluster while the Heavy
Guards, 10th Lyran and 1st Genyosha went after the 4th Jaguar Cluster.
Despite chasing the Clan forces down and almost destroying them on several
occasions, a significant portion of the Jaguar forces retreated off Schuyler.
With the Jaguars in full retreat across their Occupation Zone, the Heavy Guards
headed to the Combine world of Wolcott for repair and refit, while Wave Four
commenced, before joining their Prince in his journey into the Periphery to
destroy any remaining Jaguar forces. Once the Heavy Guards joined Prince Victor
they learned that the Clans had not just retreated to the Periphery, but to
back to the Clan homeworlds, where their presence
would certainly spell doom for Task Force Serpent. Making a difficult decision,
Prince Victor took the Periphery force, 15 ‘Mech regiments and two RCT’s strong, to go and save Task Force Serpent from the
retreating forces. The force, including the Heavy Guards, arrived on Huntress
just in time to save Task Force Serpent for certain destruction. The Guards
then traveled with Prince Victor to Strana Mechty, where Star League forces won a series of battles
that forever stopped the Clan invasion of the Inner Sphere. The war was over.
Upon
returning to the Inner Sphere, the Heavy Guards took up their traditional post
on New Avalon. But not all was as they had left it. Katherine Steiner-Davion had usurped the throne from Yvonne and placed
herself on the throne of the Federated Commonwealth in Prince Victors absence.
While this action was totally illegal, Prince Victor did not want to see his
realm torn apart by a civil war. Prince Victor in turn was appointed to command
the new Star League Defense Force as its first Commanding General in almost 300
years! During this time the Heavy Guards rebuilt their strength. Unease with Katherines rule had turned ugly on many worlds in the
Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth alike. As
Archon-Princess Katherine harshly silenced critics to her rule, the Heavy
Guards began to rethink their position on Katherine. She had illegally taken
the realm from the true Archon-Prince and was now abusing her authority and
people she was sworn to protect. The Heavy Guards, and indeed the entire
Brigade of Guards, silently began to support a return of Prince Victor. To show
our displeasure we have reverted to our old Federated Suns uniforms and ranks.
This has not gone un-noticed though. We have been “exiled” from New Avalon and
sent to garrison the world of Galax. Our Jumpships and Dropships have been
“reassigned” and we have been marooned to guard an important world deep in the
heart of the Federated Suns. While Katherine thinks this had isolated us, her
lack of military training shows clear. We now openly support the return of
Prince Victor, and our patience and loyalty have paid off. On December 10th
of 3062 our Prince has returned to command us. The world that Katherine thought
to maroon us on has now turned into a treasure trove for the Allied forces
under Victor. She did not have any units powerful enough for forcibly remove us
from our new home on Galax. So we were sidelined for
most of the civil war guarding the Galax shipyards
and madding sure the Allied forces received everything the assembly lines
produced. We patiently waited until Prince Victor called us to assault New
Avalon and remove the Usurper Katherine from power. We spearheaded the assault
in the newly built Conquistador Assault Dropships.
While to fighting on New Avalon was bloody and brutal, we did prevail! The
Federated Suns is a free nation again. Free from tyranny, free from oppression
and free to once again plot our course among the stars. The noble and brave
union with the Lyran Commonwealth did not survive the
civil war, but we can only hope that the alliance is not completely shattered.
Yvonne is now the regent of the Federated Suns again, for like Katherine she
does not have the required 5 years of military service to rightfully claim the
mantle of authority. She must now lead her nation towards rebuilding, healing
and understanding. As this is done the Heavy Guards will rebuild its shattered
ranks on New Avalon to once again stand ready to defend the realm from all
threats, both inside and out.
Long live
the realm and God save the Princess!