"Lest We Forget"

[cellestron]

Unit Name: Andai Mountaineers

Date Formed: 17 April 29209

Date Retired: 18 January 29222

Description: Formed by residents of the Andai Mountain region, who were mostly farmers and scouts, the unit was originally named "Andai Mountain Rangers". It was perceived as a Recon and "Special Operations" unit and was used to conduct raids on various OMNI facilities. While it's members were motivated and did posses a strong knowledge of the Rubi-Ka terrain, they lacked "Special Operations" training and equipment. Nevertheless the Rangers conducted several strikes on OMNI facilities betwen July 29209 and October 29210 with mixed results.

In November 29210, the unit, having lost most of it's original members, was reclassified as a "regular" Clan combat unit and renamed the "Andai Mountaineers". The Mountaineers served with distinction for the next decade participating in several key battles and campaigns.

Notable History: The Mountaineers most signifigant engagement occurred in February, 29221 at the Rising Sun under the Command of Capt. John"Retro"Chamberlain. At this point in time, the Clans were fighting a losing battle with Omni-Tek(see timeline). The Mountaineers had been involved in a delaying action along the east shore of Stret West Bank and were forced North into Aegean. Under the cover of darkness they eventually retreated to The Rising Sun for resupply and rest.
At the time, Rising Sun was the home of several civilians and refugees and had a military Garrison consisting of The Sword of Light, a regular Clan unit out of West Athens.

Unknown to the clans, Omni-Tek was preparing a to strike at the Rising Sun the next day, and had already moved several hundred soldiers, also under the cover of darkness, to the North and East face of the Mountain. Unable to land troops directly on top of the Rising Sun due to fixed gun emplacements, OT planned a coordinated attack up the side.

Just prior to dawn, OT forces began to move out. All went according to plan until units on the east face inadvertently tripped a clan placed alarm wire. Within minutes the defenders rallied to the defense of the Rising Sun. Quickly assessing the situation, they decided on a course of action. The Sword of Light would gather the civilians and cover their escape through a tunnel in the south face of the mountain while the Mountaineers would make a stand at the perimiter of the encampment and fight yet another delaying action.

Soon all units were engaged in a signifigant firefight. The Sword of Light was able to successfully see to the evacuation of the civilians, who were moved South and then East, by water, to a nearby island. The Sword of Light itself became pinned down in the lowlands south of Rising Sun by OT reinforcements and was cut off from returning. The Mountaineers, already fighting a pitched battle, were forced to close the tunnel to the South with explosives to prevent use by OT. As more OT troops began to be called in, as well as airstrikes, the Sword of Light was forced to retreat, also by water, to Athens.

The Mountineers were successful in fighting off the first OT assault wave but were now trapped in the Rising Sun. OT, sensing victory at hand, ordered new assaults up the mountain. The siege lasted just under 2 days. The Mountaineers refused several offers of surrender and successfully held out against 7 OT assaults. Eventually, fatigue and dwindling supplies took a toll. The Mountaineers had lost approx 70% of it's members and had nearly run out of ammunition. Knowing that they would be unable to hold off another assault, Capt Chamberlain was faced with the inevitable...surrender or die fighting. Refusing to accept this, he came up with a daring, and potentially destructive plan of of his own for escape.......

He gathered his remaining men into 2 small huts in the center of the compound and repositioned the 2 remaining functional artillery cannons. As the 8th OT assault began, they quickly realized that there was no one on the perimiter. Thinking that the defenders had decided to surrender, or were hiding, OT units began to cautiosly enter the area. at this point Capt Chamberlain ordered both cannons to fire.....at point blank range.....in a random pattern. At the same time, the remainder of his unit, most of whom were out of ammunition, quickly struck to the West of the compound. In the chaos that followed the OT assault wave, all of the structures atop the Rising Sun, both pulse cannons and many Mountaineers were destroyed. The explosions were seen as far away as Athens.

In the end, OT gained control of the Rising Sun, which was now essentially a pile of rubble and useless as a staging area for further assaults. As for the Mountaineers, out of an original unit strength of 108 men and women, 7 survived to reach Athens, including Capt Chamberlain.

The Mountaineers were not reformed and it's surviving members joined other units. The units "colors" were officially retired by the clans, along with 4 other units, in a small ceremony on the outskirts of West Athens on 18 January 29222, some six months prior to the end of the first Civil War.

The unit's insignia was a crossed rifle and sword, set on an Orange triangle.


Disclaimer - The above is just a small story I came up with to try to add some smaller bits of history to RK and is in no way endorsed or approved by anyone.....so feel free to ignore it, like it or hate it.

[Arila]

Originally posted by Nomad
In November 29210, the unit, having lost most of it's original members, was reclassified as a "regular" Clan combat unit and renamed the "Andai Mountaineers". The Mountaineers served with distinction for the next decade participating in several key battles and campaigns.

hehe... very funny. the Andai Area is named after a beta tester.... and he was hardcore OTer

[______________Barlau]

(ooc: Didn't know about Andai-the-OT-Beta-Tester, but that was a really excellent story

KB

[cellestron]

Doh!

I didn't know that either.

[Dabblez]

Good story. Had the ring of truth about it.