Part IV –
Busy doing nothing
By the end of the Jihad, the Irregulars were somewhat changed.
Absorbing several other commands had given them a more combined-arms structure,
while the ravages of the Jihad had taken their toll. Besides battlefield
losses, the Irregulars had lost experienced personnel, both to combat and those
who chose to stand down after the Jihad. (One of them, Chaver Hohsq, a veteran Longbow pilot, would go on to open a
string of pubs across the fledgling Republic). The Grunthos Group had all but
ceased to exist with the fall of Outreach, reduced to a small cadre of
technicians working directly for the Irregulars.
And yet, Anika persisted. Consolidating and continuing, she slowly
rebuilt the unit, growing at a pace they could support rather than simply
bounding outwards for the sake of it and outpacing their depleted financial
reserves. This measured approach saw them recover enough to field a full
BattleMech company by 3085 with expansion of other elements to follow. By 3100,
the Irregulars boasted a full combined-arms Batallion with a mixture of
BattleMechs, Armour and Battle Armoured infantry forces.
While the Irregulars did see action in the conflicts of the
period, including the Victoria War, the post-Jihad wind-down was evident in the
slowing of the Mercenary market. While work was still available, it was coming
less and less often and often missions would end with little or no conflict.
Rather then the small-unit raiding operations that had characterised the
Irregulars’ early years, the unit was more often pulling Garrison or Cadre
duties, along with pirate hunting operations. The unit’s size remained steady
with a slow turnover due to natural attrition more than combat losses.
Against this background, Anika made a personal decision that her
children would not be forced to follow in her footsteps as she had in her
father’s. Rather, she gave her three children the choice to do what they wished
with their lives, adding that none were obliged to take command of the unit for
the sake of tradition. In the advent that none chose to do such, she would
either dissolve the command or pass it along to another successor.
As if fated, her oldest daughter chose to emigrate to the Republic
and join the RAF, eventually becoming a knight. Her first son also emigrated to
the republic, but eschewed military service in favour of other pursuits,
eventually becoming an award-winning architect. Her second son, Bors, however,
chose to follow in her footsteps, and as such she began to prepare him for
command. Her goal was to enable a smooth transition of power when he was ready,
and not before. Eventually, in 3115, Anika stood down from day to day command,
with Bors Magyri becoming the unit’s fourth commander.
The next decade and a half proved to be even more peaceful then
those preceding it, with the Irregulars, much like the mercenary world as a
whole, seeing less and less work. While Bors proved to be an able day-to-day
commander, his personal life began to take precedence over managing the unit,
matters often left in the hands of subordinates while he attended parties or
festivals or managed a string of affairs. On contract, the Irregulars would
often serve as a flashy parade-ground unit while its commander hobnobbed with
local nobility or political and corporate leaders.
During this time, a policy of “Benign Neglect” set in as the unit
began to shrink in size again. With less and less work available, the pool of
experienced mercenary soldiers continued to dwindle as unit sizes contracted.
Members of the Irregulars who retired or moved on were often not replaced, with
lances becoming either short-staffed or being consolidated. The unit’s
experience and readiness also suffered as experienced soldiers cycled out and
the quality of replacements continued to drop.
Much like the rest of the Inner Sphere, the Irregulars were not
ready for what happened next.
No comments:
Post a Comment