[Prepared by Precentor Eliza Phereson, Research Team-chi, ComStar Archives]
The men of Fuchida’s Fusiliers trace their origins back to the former Rim Republic’s Tartan Brigade, one of the household units that fought valiantly—albeit on the losing side—during the brutal civil war between the usurper Stefan Amaris and the Star League forces under Aleksandr Kerensky. After the end of that war, the battered but still proud remnants of the Brigade quickly found employment as mercenaries pledged to Coordinator Minoru Kurita. In the intervening years, the renamed Fusiliers have led a nomadic existence, moving from contract to contract and never remaining in the service of any employer for more than a few years at a time. After three previous stretches under the House Marik banner (2834—2845, 2882—2898, and 2931—2935), they rejoined House Marik in 3021 following a campaign with House Davion. Thus far, they have been deployed along the Lyran Commonwealth border, where they have conducted a variety of raiding and sabotage missions.
Though the fortunes of Fuchida’s Fusiliers have risen and fallen over the years, the unit’s love of its traditional heritage has never wavered. The members paint their DropShips and AeroSpace Fighters in tartan plaids and wear stylized, synthweave variations of the ancient Scottish kilt as their standard uniform (even in the heat of combat). Over the years, the Fusiliers have honed a reputation for blood-thirstiness and a history of remaining on the battlefield long after more prudent commanders would have withdrawn. This brash and reckless bunch seem hell-bent on destruction in an age when most mercenaries have elected to take a more prudent course. Despite being kept almost continuously in action since their arrival, Major Iverson has found the opportunities for booty on the Steiner front to be less than he expected and has begun to consider shifting allegiance again at the end of his current contract.
Formerly a mercenary unit known for reliable and honest
service, the Fusiliers have degenerated into little more than
bandits. They currently control the Tortuga Dominions, filling
the power vacuum left by the resounding defeat of Pauly
"Lady Death" Trevaline by the AFFC armed forces in
3042. From Dominion territory, the Fusiliers conduct frequent
raids against worlds in several nearby realms, and also attack
Federated Commonwealth planets near the Periphery border.
The Tortuga Dominions were founded by survivors of the Federated Suns 237th Light Cavalry after a wasteful and suicidal attempt to capture a Taurian outpost during the Reunification War. Renaming themselves the Pirates of Tortuga, the 237th and their descendants raided countless Federated Suns worlds, eventually becoming prosperous and stable enough to colonize five star systems. The last of the Tortuga Pirates to rule the Dominions, Paula Trevaline was also among the most vicious bandit rulers in Periphery history. “Lady Death” was infamous for publicly humiliating prisoners before having them slowly executed, and under her leadership the Tortuga Pirates became the scourge of the Federated Suns during and after the Fourth Succession War.
In the mid-3030s, when the AFFC briefly made the Tortuga Pirates one of its major targets, Paula Trevaline shifted her operations to the Taurian Concordat and the Mica Majority.
Neither Periphery state could offer much resistance to the pirates—the Mica Majority because it lacked large-scale military resources, the Taurian Concordat because its Protector refused to recognize any threat aside from a possible Federated Commonwealth invasion. When the AFFC turned its attention to preparations for the War of 3039, Lady Death and the Tortuga Pirates were free to raid with impunity. From 3033 to 3040, the bandits of the Dominions seemed unstoppable.
After the Tortugans resumed raiding Federated Commonwealth worlds in 3039 and 3040, the commanders of the AFFC decided to end the pirates’ reign of terror once and for all. In 3042 the AFFC High Command sent the Ninth Regimental Combat Team to the region of space where they believed the Dominions to lie. After two months of searching for the Dominions’ capital world, the Ninth RCT landed on Tortuga Prime, taking Lady Death and her troops by surprise. The Ninth overcame the pirates after several pitched battles, capturing Lady Death and decimating her forces. Upon their return to the Federated Commonwealth, the Ninth RCT delivered Paula Trevaline to a maximum-security prison on New Syrtis, where she remains to this day.
Fervently glad to see the backs of their brutal pirate kings, the remaining residents of the Dominions continued to scratch out what livings they could on their resource-depleted worlds. The once-fearsome bandit kingdom existed as a leaderless collection of subsistence-level planets until 3054, when Fuchida’s Fusiliers arrived on Tortuga Prime.
The Fusiliers broke their contract with the Federated
Commonwealth in 3051, after the AFFC ordered them to the Clan
border without giving the mercenaries any of the cutting-edge
technology with which it had outfitted its own troops. Fearing
that the Clan forces would cut them to ribbons, the Fusiliers
refused their orders and took matters into their own hands. The
mercenary unit raided the Precision Weaponry plant on Tancredi
IV, capturing large amounts of equipment and severely damaging
the facility in the process, and then high-tailed it out of the
Commonwealth. Cutting through the Outworlds Alliance territory
and stopping only to raid for food and water, the unit wandered
the stellar desert just beyond the Alliance's borders. After a
brief stop in the Mica Majority, where they reportedly acquired
more supplies and some gold through legal means, the Fusiliers
continued their journey. Aside from a brief skirmish with
warriors from the Brotherhood of Randis, who defeated them in a
fight over a BattleMech cache on the world of Antallos, little
was heard of the rogue mercenary unit until 3054, when a
Periphery trader traveling between the Mica Majority and
Concordat space stopped over near Tortuga Prime to look for
customers. Fuchida's Fusiliers reportedly threatened to blow the
trader and her ship from the sky, at which point the trader left
Dominion space in haste.
In the seven years since the Fusiliers broke their contract
with the Federated Commonwealth, they have picked up where the
Tortuga Pirates left off, raiding all realms within their reach.
Federated Commonwealth worlds appear to be their favorite
targets, and the AFFC has responded to the raids by putting a
high price on the Fusiliers' heads.
(Deployment as of 3058)
Unit Name Experience Regiments Homeworld Fuchida's Fusiliers Veteran 0.33 Tortuga Prime (CO: Major Twylla Sumeral)
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