Part III –
Feud
In late 3067, the Irregulars had cycled back to Campoleone as a
part of their downtime following a successful pirate hunting expedition when
disaster struck. In November, a terrorist bomb in the capitol killed Captain
Jelek Magyari as well as his XO and several representatives of the Commonality
military during a planning meeting. Within hours of the explosion, traffic
control reported pirate dropships burning their way towards the capitol.
Command of the unit very suddenly and unexpectedly fell to Jelek’s
only child, the then 22-year old Anika Magyari who had only just graduated to active
duty from training. Nearly overwhelmed by the combination of her father’s death
and the situation she had been thrust into, Anika turned to the best source of
advice that she had available; her grandmother.
With Sel’s help, Anika was able to rally the irregulars and turn
back the pirate force, stopping them outside the planetary capitol before they
could do any significant damage. While the Irregulars had suffered losses,
given the situation they were far less severe than they could have been with
Anika showing a surprising amount of determination and confidence, given the
situation. However, their greatest boon came in the form of a captured Pirate
Mechwarrior, one who yielded a lot of useful information.
Based on what they’d gathered, the Irregulars were dispatched on a
counter-strike into Marian space, aiming to hit the pirates at their base of
operations. Instead, they found no trace of them and departed, but not before
tangling with local militia forces and raiding a HAF storehouse for parts and
ammunition. Dissatisfied with the outcome, the irregulars returned to Free
Worlds space, only to be hit by Marian Forces not too long after their arrival.
While the Marians were again driven off, it became apparent that they were
retaliating for what was seen, by them, as being an unprovoked assault.
Rather than risk escalating the situation, the Rim Commonality
chose to pull the Irregulars off the front, especially after further investigation
revealed that the “Marian” captive was, in fact, a member of Redmond’s
Roughnecks, the same unit that the Irreguars had been betrayed by over fifty
years prior. The Roughnecks had been hired by the Circrinus Federation to
deliberately provoke a war between the Commonality and the Marians while also
having a chance to act on a generations-long grudge. (That none of those
involved with the original dispute were still active members of either unit and
several were dead didn’t seem to factor into it)
Attempts to track the Roughnecks down came to naught, especially
given the rapidly disintegrating situation in the Free Worlds League.
Unexpectedly, the situation was resolved when Alys Rousset-Marik’s resistance
bought out the Irregular’s contract, deliberately bringing them off the chase
and instead using them as a raiding force against the Word and allied FWLM
forces. While there was some contention within the Irregulars, Anika took the
opportunity to put her foot down and assert herself, stating that “fighting the
Word was more important than something that happened half a century ago.”
By late 3075, the Irregulars had been transferred again, this time
to the control of Devlin Stone’s coalition, and were now focused on raids
against the Word of Blake Protectorate. Details of what happened during the
next few years are surprisingly sparse, and it appears that a lot of the
missions that they undertook are considered classified by the Republic. Details
exist of battles on individual worlds, but the entire picture remains unknown
to this day.
However, by the end of 3079, the Irregulars had been one of the
lucky Mercenary units to have survived the Jihad. Left with two battered lances
of ‘Mechs and a smattering of armour and infantry, they remained operational under
the command of their now seasoned and determined leader. Anika took the step of
allowing any remaining members of the Irregulars who wished to stand down to do
such, but in the end only a few did. The rest continued, determined to rebuild
and continue working in the brave new world.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Redmond’s Roughnecks would disappear during the
Jihad with few clues as to their final disposition. Some sources put them in
the Circrinus Federation during the last days of the conflict, but the truth
may never be known)
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